Dear Friends,

I have moved the posting of frequent  photos of the farm from other social platforms to the home page of our website

I have many boring reasons for doing this, some technical ( it is after all me), some political (it is after all me)  and some emotional ( it is after all me)  but I will spare you yet another tedious rant.

Instead, please know that if you want to check in with what is going on in the gardens or greenhouse here, look to the home page of our website for fresh photos and a bit of news- The photo is just below the scrollbar on the right.

Love and Blessings to you all on this very very very cold day at the farm!

WOW! It’s a nutty time!

To put it more diplomatically  We seek new paradigms for living on our dear planet and living with each other, because we need them ASAP.  The old structures are imploding   are being yanked away don’t work, and like a toddler learning to take those first few steps without hand holding, we are lurching around, stumbling, banging into each other and in every way making the mistakes necessary to find a new way of being.

Much as I wish it wasn’t so, the stumbling is necessary. There is never any other way to learn than by trial and error, but this is particularly true now as we must find new ways of being without a lot of role models. The new paradigms are so different than anything that have gone before that the old problem solving tools are crap not much help. Yes, I’m talking about you, patriarchy.

In our toddlerhood there were hands to catch us as we took those first steps  or at least I hope so. And now, as we stumble towards a new way of being, we have never been less alone.  Divinity floods the planet with Light and Love, offering support unlike any time ever before. No exaggeration.  I meet new Angels every day that are here to help us all. So really, there ARE hands ready to hold us up, and we can feel this rock like support if we turn off our cell phones  go within and listen.

We all hope for kindness as we stumble, both inner kindness and kindness from everyone else, and we find this kindness by making kindness our choice and opening to become the Light and Love being showered upon us. Yeah, I know this sounds trite but really, if we all tried this….

We are going to mess up make many mistakes as we find new ways to live together harmoniously and new ways to take care of our ailing planet. The Light and Love of Divinity helps immeasurably, but we are still going to stumble.  May we find the courage and strength and perspective to be gentle towards ourselves and each other as we stumble.

Flowers show us how to soak up all this incoming Light and Love  and be kind. I never met a Flower that wasn’t actively kind. I have never walked by a wildflower in a meadow or visited with a Dandelion in a parking lot and found it rude or honking its horn. 

If you read my last blog you know I am  humbled by my unsuccessful efforts  trying not to backbite.  It occurred to me yesterday as I picked myself up from yet another situation in which I should have said nothing,  that I have never heard a Flower EVER say anything negative about another Flower. EVER.  That really amazed me. And I have talked to a lot of Flowers.  They don’t even interrupt each other.  Flowers have to live with each other and often cede territory to each other, yet they never diminish themselves with unkind behavior. No, I don’t think a Flower with an unpleasant fragrance counts.

All this makes me look to the Flowers more than ever.  Each day in this uncharted territory, I awake and seek out Flower friends to help show me the way. Each day, they shimmer and shine and tell me and all of you who connect with them, “Yes, you can make this leap. You are doing it.”  And when I stumble every day, ever hour every five minutes, they shower me with comforting love and kindness, help me dust myself off post stumble  and offer gentle encouragement how to be more kind to myself and others.

I want us all to succeed in the wobbly trip across this bewildering new territory on our toddler feet. It’s a fantastic gig to be here now but really hard. May we all be forgiving as we stumble into each other. May we all see the best in each other. May we all be as kind to each other as a bouquet of our favorite Flowers delivered to our door.

FLOWER ESSENCES FOR KINDNESS AS WE STUMBLE                    Yes, all Flowers help us with kindness but here are some single and combination Flower Essences that jumped at the chance to offer themselves today to you. Okay, so ALOT jumped at the chance to support you! No worries. They’ll be kind if you just say no thanks.

Seeing ourselves and others as the Angels see us versus as our personalities sees us: Through Angels’ Eyes, Eyes of Mary, Love Prevails, Love it and Leave it, Don’t Worry-Bee Happy

Finding a loving view of self and other that melts the cloud of unforgiveness hanging over us:: Buddleja, Peach, Meadowsweet, Hardhack

Release from habitual patterns of judgment: Carry Less, All Ego Contracts Null & Void, Wild Rose, Crab Apple

Release from shame spirals: Konigin von Danemark Rose

Kindness towards self: Heliotrope, Buddleja, Meadowsweet, Hardhack, Eyes of Mary

Listening to your own body with kindness: Hontanas

Finding the bead on love in difficult situations: Rose Campion, Wild Pink Morning Glory

Confidence that humanity is evolving in a matrix of eternal love: Climbing New Dawn Rose

Hearing each other in an new way and  with kindness: French Marigold

Self-acceptance and self love: Pine

Knowing your value even when no one seems to see you: True Wood Sorrel, Dwarf, Common Centaury

Knowing your sweetness is a strength not a weakness: Dwarf Common Centaury

Knowing only God defines you: Maple

Yup there really is Love and Divinity in everyone: Agnes Rose, Arbor Garden, Peach

Having a true accounting of your strengths: Maple, Cretan Viper Grass

Letting go of the niggling feeling you are not enough: Common Knapweed

Self-esteem for teenagers: Common Scurvygrass

Help to ease up on the self criticism so you open to receive more love: Meadowsweet, Pine

Finding your self-esteem after traumatic experiences: Fremont Pincushion

Validation that selfless actions of caretaking matter: Henbit Deadnettle

Letting go of self-loathing: All Ego Contracts Null & Void, Mary Queen of Scots Rose, Crab Apple,  Sneezeweed

No more playing those negative tapes: Pennyroyal

Knowing ourselves to have been born one with Divinity with our infinite imperishable worth never anything but a truth of this Divine oneness: The Flower Essences from Crete( listed in the Mediterranean collection)

Knowing your value beyond personality or cultural ideas of success: Ginger

Unwavering sense of your own value no matter who steps on you: Fremont Pincushion, Wintergreen

Knowing your own strength and worth as a woman: Wild Red Morning Glory, The Sacred Feminine, Pomegranate

Restoring self-worth after betrayal: Calliandra from Taiwan

Knowing you are enough: Common Knapweed

Moving through the world with both kindness and appropriateness: Alpine Forget-Me-Not

Living like a honeybee in equality, consensus, generosity, loving kindness and JOY: Hairy Thorny Broom

Support for those who live to love with a vast generosity of loving kindness: Pink Rock Rose

Finding the inner kindness to listen to your body with tenderness: Hontanas

Clear the heart of old hates and bitterness: Sow Thistle

Kindness to others no matter where they are on their spiritual path: Galicia, Rabanal

The strength to stay present in the face of other’s suffering: White Chestnut

PS Posted this yesterday but failed to mention a new Flower Essence combination  Enhancing Empathy that a lovely psychotherapist in Manhattan asked us to make to support open hearted kindness. This mix was the inspiration for this blog but heck, I stumbled and forgot!  I’m learning what matters is not that we stumble but that we pick ourselves up and keep going!

At the New Year I received a message in a dream about “working clean, working immaculate”.  The message said that this was not about purifying the physical body but mentally working clean.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this message and what it means.

I am not sure I understand it, but I have some preliminary thoughts as well as objectives that I’d like to commit to more intently.  None of these are new issues, but I am grateful for the re-set button brought to us by the New Year that gives us all a chance to spiral through the same lessons in a more evolved way.

As always there are Flower Essences offering support for these challenges.  I’ve listed some after each topic.

#1. Not taking responsibility for other people’s behavior

In situations where I am uncomfortable with other people’s choices or choose to feel negatively impacted by them, I am renewing my efforts not to go into “fix it” mode.  The first day I was doubling down on my efforts to do this, a friend reminded me of the al anon maxim- “I didn’t cause this. I can’t control this. I can’t fix this.”

Some Flower Essences I find helpful for this include:

All Ego Contracts Null & Void– We may have been wired to take care of other people’s problems but that doesn’t mean we can’t rewire ourselves. I keep working with this Flower Essence mix  as I find new issues that need rewiring.

Eyes of Mary– This Flower Essence never fails to support me to detach with love from new situations where I need to learn how to do this.

The Letting Go Flower- Letting go is a lot bigger requirement in life than I ever imagined.

Carry Less- This Flower Essence mix is for cleaning up life times of the habit of doing too much for others.

Musk Thistle– The Angels have me take Musk Thistle daily.  It helps smooth energetic feathers when they are ruffled so we energetically regroup from big and small energetic kerfuffles.

#2 Slow down in my decision-making process so as to check in whether what I want to say or do is an impulse from my personality habits or actually grounded in a clear place of love.

When I get confused and fall into the habit bred into women to carry other people’s problems around with me as my problems, it’s a pressurized situation that leads me to want to blow off steam by “doing something.”

Nothing about modern life encourages us to do this, but I’m renewing my efforts to go inward to seek clarity before doing anything. This dream message leads me to double down on going inward.

If I am in some situation where someone wants an immediate answer, my personality response to this bullying is to appease and respond immediately. Over the years, I have practiced waiting until I get clear, but being immaculate about this feels more important than ever.  Discomfort from waiting to get clear is better than doing something that might not be the best course of action.

And as far as inner guidance goes, one of you emailed this week to say that you were continually surprised by how your Angelic guidance was so firm about not engaging with certain situations and people.  I emailed back that I felt the main word the Angels use with me is NO! 

In pausing to check in, I get help and wisdom from a spiritual support team with a lot more perspective and insight than me. Thank you Angels.  Your NOs are much appreciated. I also am grateful you are happy to say NO more than once about the same situation! 

To Hear the Angels Sing– Because we are one with the Angels, they are there for ALL of us.  This is their mix for hearing them and our heart felt guidance more clearly.

Grounding– Being fully present and grounded inevitably crisps up the clarity of our guidance.

Redwood– When anchored in the eternal, a lot drops away as not real.

Spiderwort– What matters and what doesn’t? This helps sort through the data.

Arbor Garden & Indian Pipe– We really can take the time to slow down, experience the abiding reality of peace and get clear and heart centered guidance.

Kirengeshoma– This gentle friend softly deepens our ability to know self and know our right path.

Los Arcos– When our guidance is different than conventional wisdom, this Camino beloved helps us find the bravery to go on alone

Puenta la Reina– Another Camino gem. This one helps us know who sees our value and can support our growth.

#3 Resist people’s efforts to get me to re-engage in a drama that I have recognized as not my drama.

All of the Essences I have already mentioned are helpful for this. To this list I add:

Horseradish– It’s possible to say no as many times as necessary, and Horseradish helps us do this politely but firmly- think of it as  dragon breath delivered with charm.

Verbena Bonariensis– This one helps air lifts us out before we get enmeshed again.

Mandrake– So what if we’ve been rooted in this dynamic for eons? Mandrake can help us pull ourselves loose once and for all.

 #4 Resist the worry that if I don’t do it, the planet will collapse.

Divinity can handle things without me.  I suspect a lot of the NOs I receive in guidance are to remind me of this i.e. Divinity has things under control and doesn’t need me to interfere.

Our Venus Garden Essences are all about tangibly feeling the Love and Grace of Divinity that is WITH US  AND HANDLING THINGS during this tumultuous time on our precious planet.

Recognizing Divinity is in charge is not a carte blanche to not help. It means doing what we are asked to do from our deepest heart centered place of guidance and then LETTING GO TO DIVINITY which has the rest well in hand.

From the Venus Garden Collection:

The New Sunflower Spiral– Yes, the planetary situation looks like a mess but so does the operating room in the middle of surgery, and we’re in the middle of a big operation.

Through Angels’ Eyes– The Angels share their vibrational confidence in us and in the big picture. I find this one so deeply reassuring, so calming- an Angel pep talk in a bottle

Equanimity– “If you meet life squarely, accepting its opposites with equanimity while carrying on your duties in a spirit of selfless love and service, you will not only come in tune with the Infinite, but you yourself will become the Infinite which you seek” Meher Baba

Effort & Grace– Encourages us to keep going in the mess of human relationships knowing our efforts elevate grace and grace elevates our efforts i.e. as I bumble along, thank goodness for grace!

Don’t Worry-Bee Happy– Worry never solved anything. Truth.

Loving What Is– Our minds are a muddle of half baked ideas which is why we have to keep returning to our heart source for true wisdom.

Love It and Leave It– Supports detachment from the unreal, the momentary, the fleeting so we can ground in the real of Divinity and Love.

From other Collections:

Rosa Mundi– Yeah, the spiritual life is no personality picnic, but it’s worth it.

Gorse– Hope is never lost.

Joe Pye Weed– Support for those of us who keep taking back God’s business into our own hands.

Fragrant Ladies Tresses– “I AM not so much a promise of how resolution will look, but I am a promise that resolution will arise.  I will support you to trust in the mighty forces than come to your aid when you give any situation or relationship to the Divine.” 

 #5 When I feel flooded or log jammed, I need to clear my electrical field. Negativity enters our electrical systems through four doorways: Fear Guilt, Doubt and Anger.  If I can track which door I have open and why it’s open, then I can remind myself of truths so that I can not only clear my field but close the door so no more negativity comes in through that door (at least until the next issue crops up).

Fear Door- There are a lot for this door- Here are a few:

Be Fearless– Yup the Angels felt so strongly about this that they composed a mix.

Allamanda from Taiwan– Fear door specifically helping us not to give our power away to fear vibration or allow childhood fears to run the show.  Loving, non-judgmental but strong support.

Old Blush China Rose– Fear door specifically fear for personal safety.

Chinese Knotweed & Coral Pink Rose– Fear door specifically fear of loss.

Scarlet Runner Bean-General contractor for dismantling fears. This one makes it easier to close the Fear door no matter the fear.

Guilt Door

Hyssop– Guilt door, good for dissolving the habit of guilt as well as specific guilts.

Doubt Door

Goldenrod– Doubt door for when others cause us to doubt ourselves.

Maple– Doubt door for self-doubt.

Star of Bethlehem– When we doubt all the pain and suffering of the spiritual path is worth it.

Anger Door

Outburst– Anger door for a variety of types of anger

Orange– Anger door specifically volatile issues like sexuality.

Four Door Support

Seaside Heliotrope– Helps close all four doorways when the topic is romantic partnership

Love Prevails– Another one for multiple door closings.

#6 A few months ago I received the request in my guidance to stop backbiting/gossiping/saying negative things about anyone else.

Let’s just say, I have found this one a BEAR! I fail a zillion times a day, but I feel this dream message was exhorting me to keep trying. So I will.

Let’s face it, when I speak ill of someone else, I don’t know what I’m talking about, AND it doesn’t help anyone. In fact, it hurts others, and it hurts me. Sometimes when I’m trying to not backbite, I feel like I act very weird, dodging and weaving through conversations. So what? I am weird.

Snapdragon– Don’t say it.

Royal Ponciana– Really.  Don’t say it. 

7# Kindness to self as I work on all this.

Konigin Von Danemark Rose– I learn through my errors so stop with the shame spirals.

Meadowsweet & Hardhack– I think of these two as a pair for bring us self kindness and a gentler view of self and others.

Heliotrope– It’s way past time to let go of our grudges against our precious self.

Golden Hedge Hyssop– No more shame that we are “too emotional” or “too much.”

Hontanas– Listening to our bodies with tenderness and compassion.

Crab Apple– Could anyone live up to the inner judge we sometimes have living inside us? I don’t think so! Time to fire that inner judge.

Pennyroyal– We really don’t have to replay the negative tapes anymore.

Ginger– Knowing our eternal worth.

Fremont Pincushion– Yeah, I am saying it again and so is this Flower Essence, we are Divinity in a sea of Divinity so lighten up on the self judgment!

We have been here at Green Hope Farm for over thirty years.  From the first, the animals led us.  Even the day I first walked onto the land, there were hawks circling, a praying mantis at eye level and a porcupine leading me into the field.  The animals knew where we were going from the first, and always their plans came as a complete surprise to me.

Flower Essences for animals? I did not see it coming until it was a done deal.

It was as if one day I was making Flower Essences for friends, household animal companions and family and the next I needed to have Flower Essences at the ready for the groups of animals that were showing up at our door to “pick up their drops.”

These visits from so many animals in the early days of the farm were the Incredible Journey redux. In these versions of the tale, many groups of animals hiked over mountains from distant towns to settle down in our gardens and wait patiently for us to give them Flower Essences.

After a bit, we knew the drill whenever a new animal friend arrived. We would go out with whatever Essences we were prompted to give the visitor then watch him or her slurp down the Flower Essences from our hand or from a water bowl before curling up for a nap somewhere in the gardens.

Once when an animal communicator was visiting, she offered to do the doling out of  Flower Essences. Presto!  A crowd of 8 or 10 dogs appeared from nowhere and gathered around her.  I had never seen ANY of the dogs before. And we don’t live in a populated area!  These dogs had trotted in from afar.

Which of course made us grateful for dog tags, because we often had to call people to tell them that their dogs were at the farm.  We always waited until the animals had gotten their Essences before calling their people. Some dogs came from towns twenty or thirty miles away.  Their people often said that the dogs had never wandered off before.  All these surprise visits were a wonderful adventure for us too!

I hadn’t expected to share Flower Essences with any other two or four footed friends than the ones who lived here.  Before we built our Flower Essence building,  a friend peeked in our pantry where I stored all the Flower Essences  I’d made. The shelves were wall to wall Flower Essences with almost no room for food. She remarked that  she was sure a lot of folks were coming for these Essences.  I laughed in disbelief when she said this, but how right she was.  And a lot of those folks had four legs!

To recall a childhood story of a synchronicity: when I was ten, my best friend, Lynn, and I organized a pet show in the field next to our grammar school.  What we knew about pet shows could have fit on the head of a pin, but quite unexpectedly, a lot of people came with their dogs and cats all groomed and fluffed.  We gave everyone ribbons, but somehow we had $10 left over when the show was done.  I don’t remember how we got the $10, but I do remember what we did with it.  We sent it to PROJECT HOPE which was a medical ship than moored off ports in Africa and took care of local people. I find this an oddly resonant story since later the Angels of this property would tell me the name of the farm was Green Hope Farm.

A new Project Hope!

Anyways, eventually I realized it made sense to make some custom mixes for all these visiting animals and the animals whose people had begun to call for refills.  Our first mixes for the animals were Animal Emergency Care and Flee Free.

I’ve told the story before how one day I had an animal communicator on the phone asking me to make a collection for the animals and I said, “We’re kind of busy here.  It’s not like we are sitting around eating bonbons.” When I got off the phone, a “random” visitor to the farm came into the office with a box of chocolates.  So hmmmmm.  We WERE actually eating bonbons.

Then I said aloud to the Angels and Elementals, “If you want me to make this collection, you need to send me more help.” The phone rang and the person on the other end said, “My Angels just told me to call and tell you I’d like to come work at the farm.” That was Kathy, and she came and helped us launch the Animal Wellness Collection with her wonderful connection with the animals.

Well, you get the picture. The animals and I are connected by a metaphorical leash, but the animals walk me not visa versa.

Now we work with animals all over the planet with a particular focus on rescue animals. It is not an exaggeration to say we have sent Flower Essences to millions of animals.

I am BEYOND grateful for this.  I always loved animals, but the longer I am part of this precious work with them, the more I love them, the more I am in awe of them and the more grateful I am that I have an opportunity to serve them every day.

Just this week I heard someone say that animals are pure soul.  Yes. Exactly.

In recent years, animal beloveds have led me to new ways to live as well as new Flower Essences to share. About two years ago, my daughter, Lizzie, asked me to sit down with Sheba, my canine beloved, and watch the movie ‘What the Health’.

This movie changed my life.  Until I watched ‘What the Health’, I did not know the damage us eating animals is doing to our global climate. Nor did I really understand how the vast number of animals are raised and slaughtered.  My own experiences had been so small scale and death adverse.  Jim called my chicken operation of the 80’s and ‘90s the Chicken Retirement Home and with reason.  I never laid a hand on a chicken except to pet it.  Nor had I understood the damage that eating animals was doing to my body. I sat in stunned silence after watching the film wondering why on earth I ate animals when I spent my days trying to preserve their health and welfare? The night I watched ‘What the Health’ with Sheba at my side, something shifted in me. I was done with eating all animal products.

There was nothing righteous about my decision or really anything but messy mess.  After all, I ate animals for 60 years.  So I don’t bring to the current dialog about this topic anything but a lot of compassion for everyone- and regret that I didn’t make this shift earlier- But I didn’t.

If you read my Thanksgiving blog last year, you’ll know that the year after I watched this film was an incendiary time in our family kitchen. Let’s just say the response to me going plant based was mixed to say the least. I tried to get people to watch ‘What the Health’ or some of the 8,000 you tube videos I later found on the topic, but I also tried to just let people be where they were. That first Thanksgiving, we managed to sit down and eat our lentil loaf and Turducken with sausage stuffing in peace and harmony.

Mercifully, as I persisted in this plant based path, everyone began to think it was fun to be creative within the food parameters of their kooky mother/wife/friend. I was so relieved, because it was hard to cook two dinners for every gathering.  By this year’s Thanksgiving most of the rest of the family had gone plant based too, and  those who were not graciously went along with the homemade plant based Indian meal we created.

One thing that continued to gnaw at me after I made the switch to plant based eating was the Green Hope Farm cookbook.  I created this book in an effort to celebrate our diverse community, but when all was said and done, it was still a book exhorting people to eat animals. After much soul searching, I recently decided not to offer the cookbook for sale anymore. That is why you won’t find them anywhere on the website any longer.   We are using our remaining copies to decorate packages with Alli’s marvelous art.

The animals have taught me just about everything I know about love, and I want to thank them with every act I make, not just some of them.  It feels like a relief to be here.  Like awaking from a groggy sleep.  I appreciate the animals’ patience in waking me up so gently but persistently on this journey.

A number of you ask if the animals are still coming to the farm.  Yes, they are, but now it is mostly wild animals.  I guess the region’s domesticated animals get their people to order from us online.

Last week a bobcat spent the day about twenty feet from our kitchen window.  We see or hear owls almost every night.  It wouldn’t be a trip to the compost pile if beloved Sheba didn’t bark at the local opossum.  The deer that survived the hunting season are in the gardens each morning along with the birds and squirrels.

Every animal comes with a message. I try to listen closely and throw my preconceived ideas about everything out the window so I can hear better.  Sometimes I wonder if more animals are coming to the farm  because their habitats have been disrupted by local logging or if it reflects the truth that this farm is, at long last, a safe sanctuary for all animals.  I don’t know the answer to this, but I am grateful for every visitor. And grateful to every way the animals have brought love and meaning and healing to my life. I can’t begin to thank them enough.

Reasons for Hope? Reasons for Thanks?

In a word- You.

I know some would say I am naïve or in denial in my hope, but I am hope filled, and you are a big reason for that.

For thirty years I have journeyed with you.  There are so many ways you have revealed your love, light and courage.  This has kept me steadfast in hope.

You tirelessly pursue your spiritual work.  Night and day. Through thick and thin. Year after year.

You examine yourselves and your situation with incredible honesty and pick Flower Essences that will address what is genuinely going on.

You work so very hard to make full use of our Flower Essences, and you do so with such humor.  You do so when it is painful. You do so when you are weary.  You are dogged and determined. You  keep on keeping on.

You seek the right Flower Essences for the beloveds in your life with deep concern, wisdom and clarity. You observe other’s lives with great kindness and compassion. You care for so many.

Your work with animals astounds us.  You will do anything for the beloved animals in your lives. You take on the most challenging rescue animals, and you stick with them until death do you part.

You rise to every challenge with your health and with the health of those around you.

You act so generously to help others.  You contain them with great thoughtfulness and great heart. You don’t run away from being there in the most painful circumstances.

You share the most tender moments of your life with us.  The small silly ones and the big ones.  We read your missives aloud to each other. We laugh with you.  We cry with you.  You give all of us hope.

We love you.