I am grateful for your questions because they show me where I have failed to convey important information! Today I wanted to write about how long our Flower Essences will stay fully charged with all their electrical information. I hope to address your questions and concerns in this blog.

Q: I just read your FAQ sheet and was struck by the expense of replacing one’s Essences every year.

A: First of all, our Flower Essences can hold their electrical charge much longer than a year. There should NOT be a need to begin again each year.  HOWEVER our Flower Essences have to be cared for if they are going to stay vibrant and full of information. This is true of ALL Flower Essences. They need your love and care to stay fully charged.

Q: So why do you say they may begin to lose their electrical charge and vibrational information after a year?

A: I say this because I’m not sure what will happen to the Essences once they are out of our hands.  Here at the farm, we grow the Flowers, create Essences then bottle and ship these Essences out to you, always considering how to make sure you get the highest vibration Flower Essences possible.  We look to the Angels and Elementals to help us at every step and follow their advice as closely as we can.  After you receive the Essences from us, the Essences need care from you or they will begin to lose their vibrational information after about a year. Its not an arduous amount of care but just a little bit of care.

Q: In what conditions do they last well?

A: I am not trying to make life difficult for you when I ask you to store your Flower Essences in a high vibration spot in your home. It’s just that if you put a high vibration product in a low vibration spot, it is more work for the high vibration product to stay full of light than if you store this product in a happy spot in the first place. For example, most of us would have an easier time keeping our vibration high on a serene beach in Fiji than at a toxic waste dump.

Remember also that if your Flower Essences have been somewhere where the vibration is not high, you can ask the Angels and Elementals to clear and recharge them. The Angels and Elementals are there for all of us. All you need to do is ask for this help, and it will be done.

Q: In what conditions would Flower Essences not last as long?

A:  If you store your Flower Essences in a locker in Grand Central Station, they are going to get tapped off my passer-bys. This draining of electrical information is a problem anytime Flower Essences are stored in busy traffic areas.   We try very hard to address this by shipping Flower Essences directly to your door in a fully charged condition. Additionally we are grateful that the shops and practices where we send our Flower Essences have staff that love and protect the Essences.  Shops where no one loves the Flower Essences are places where the Essences will soon lose their information to whomever pulls on them in passing.

Q: Would using brandy instead of Red Shiso make a Flower Essence last longer?

A: No it would not. Whether a Flower Essence is stabilized in Red Shiso or in brandy, it is still subject to people or animals pulling on the Essence. It will still will lose its energy if it is not cared for.  Brandy sometimes masks a flat or vibrationless Essence better than Red Shiso, but this does not mean there is data in an old, uncared for brandy based Essence. That is why I am so glad that everyone is getting more adept at feeling into the vibration of Flower Essences to see if they have helpful information or if they are either drained of data or not relevant to one’s situation. The more we work with Flower Essences collectively, the more routine it will be to care for the Essences and the more easy it will be to find the best most helpful Essences for any dilemma we face.

Q: Why do you prefer Red Shiso as your stabilizer?

A: I could go on forever in response to this question.  This plant is generosity incarnate.  As a stabilizer and preservative, it enhances each Essence much as a microphone makes it easier for us to hear a beautiful note sung.  Red Shiso tenderly and thoroughly protects the vibration of each Essence, and it works in complete harmony with the energy of every Flower. Red Shiso is a plant that completely and selflessly has the back of every Flower it works with.

Last spring, staffer Sage Dewey had a dream in which she saw a field of Red Shiso plants grown in an immense spiral.  In the dream she heard the words, “Red Shiso shows us the way.”  In response to her dream, we grew this year’s crop of Red Shiso in a spiral. We also have thought long and hard about what this dream meant.

Red Shiso is an unforgettable plant.  It is beautiful and lush with its ruffled maroon leaves.  It is a tangy edible and makes a gorgeous deep cherry colored tincture for our Essences.  In so many ways it expresses its uniqueness yet never at the expense of any other sentient being.  It thrives with love then gives more love back.  It lives and dies in harmony and with grace and generosity.  It certainly does show us the way, and I am grateful it offered itself to be used as the common thread in all the Flower Essences here at Green Hope Farm.  I can think of no better friend.

I like the way gardens evolve both in response to what is planted and also what naturally thrives. In fact, I like the adventure of seeing what thrives best of all.   I plant specific plants because I love them or the Angels have suggested them. This effort is followed by results. And results are a different story than my plans. The results are more interesting and more beautiful than if I got what I wanted.

There is the surprise happiness when a plant takes to this place and spreads itself with abandon. Why has a lone Yellow Corydalis plant now self-seeded into hundreds of plants encircling the entire perimeter of every building at the farm? I do not know, but I am glad. There is also the letting go of my personality hopes when no matter how many times I replant something, it fails to thrive. The example that jumps to mind is Lupine. Please don’t let me ever plant another Lupine. They always disappear after a single season of bloom.

Over the last thirty years here in the gardens, this interplay of planning and letting the plants make their own way (or not) has led to much unexpected beauty. It’s the magic of the whole enterprise. As I let go of my plans, again and again I see how in this surrender the gardens are free to become much more than anything I could have imagined or controlled (even though I wish Lupine liked it here).

Surrender is involved with the Flower Essences too. When, so many years ago, an Angel in the garden asked me to make Flower Essences, I literally had no idea what the Angel was talking about.  It was another chance to listen to wise counsel, let go of MY ideas of why I was here and follows the bliss of working with Flowers that came into my life through no volition of my own.

No matter how many conversations I have with the Angels and Elementals, I never seem to guess where things are going. That first year of making Flower Essences, I thought the Flower Essences were just for my immediate family. How I could imagine that an entire pantry of Flower Essences was just for a few people is beyond me, but I did.

When the project expanded beyond the gardens of the farm, I was surprised again. Lynn Tidman and I were almost complete strangers when she invited me to go to her mother’s home in Bermuda. This seemed like a lovely but random junket, yet so many Flowers were waiting for us. And from the get-go, Lynn and I were game for the adventure of listening to the Flowers and bringing their Essences home to the farm. The first trip blossomed into many trips of Flower adventures. Climbing trees in hurricanes, borrowing step ladders during dinner parties, dragging cases and cases of “Flower potions” through customs. That sort of thing!

Later it made sense to me that Flowers grown in the very different world of Bermuda would have very different strengths and wisdom than Flowers grown here. It made sense to me that Flower Essences from two different worlds would mean more helpful tools for the blossoming community of people and animals who wanted to work with our Flower Essences. I never seem to get the bigger picture in advance, but events like this have helped me to let go when unexpected things happen, knowing that there is a bigger picture, just one that I do not know yet.

Yes, yes, I know. It’s easy enough to believe all this when it’s a trip to Bermuda. But these early experiences helped me when I had the choice to surrender and trust in a bigger picture when it was both my arms broken into dozens of pieces, death threats from a sibling, disinheritance. I may be Mollyanna, but it’s not because I never left the greenhouse.

This year it’s the Taiwan Flower Essences that fill me with awe about the bigger picture I do not understand.

When Sarah embarked on her trip to Taiwan, it was not organized around making Flower Essences. Yes, we discussed Sarah making Flower Essences in Taiwan IF SHE GOT THE CHANCE and left it up to the Angels from there. It looked like most of her time would be taken up in tutoring at the Taipei International School.

When Sarah came home, it was abundantly clear that this was one of those moments when the Angels and Elementals had a much bigger plan than we had imagined during our casual pre trip conversation about making Flower Essences.   Sarah had been led all over northern Taiwan by the Angels and Elementals. Like the treasure hunt that it was, she was sent from one place to the next with Flowers calling out to her on each of her adventures.

When she came home, we agreed that tapping into the wisdom of each of these Flower Essence gems was a project best saved for summer when she could spend long days hearing the Flowers share their truths. When summer arrived, Sarah went out under the Larch tree and sat there for days, listening and learning. Together we read the amazing history of Flowers in this Flower loving country as we wrestled Latin names to earth. But mostly, Sarah went deep. Deep into conversation and connection with these old Flower friends.

Each time I read Sarah’s descriptions, it strikes me that I couldn’t have heard these Flowers speak in the same way as Sarah did. Her long loving connection to all things Chinese opened doorways of understanding that I don’t have. I can only feel gratitude to the Angels and Elementals for the perfection of their complex planning and to Sarah for her listening and following with such steadfast determination.

The fact that the Taiwan Essences felt outside my understanding showed me all the more strongly why I needed these Essences and why they may be a blessing to others. These gentle friends from afar help us understand ourselves to be part of a seamless unity of one precious planet. They help us know this unity with every cell of our being.

More specifically, this collection bridges east and west. I love how these Flower Essences take us into another frame of reference while also helping to dismantle anything in this world-view that doesn’t serve us all. That’s Flower Essences for you. I have never met one that doesn’t help us find greater harmony with each other.

There is a longer document describing the Taiwan Essences than the short descriptions online and in our brief handout of New for 2016 Essences. The long definition is available on request. I hope to post it here once I get some technical help during Thanksgiving to get the blog site to stop deleting the Chinese characters. In the meantime, I share Sarah’s introduction from this longer document:

“Collected from the island of Taiwan in January 2016, the Flowers from this collection have an important message to share with us. This message is largely about dismantling our outdated patterns of kowtowing.

For example, various Flower Essences in this collection push us to stop kowtowing to hierarchy, elders, and past ideas of self. The word kowtow comes from the Chinese ?? which is the process of bowing and touching your forehead to the ground. This was a custom that was used to show respect, most notably to the Emperor but also to others (such as elders or religious figures) who were deserving of such respect. When I say that the Taiwan collection is about moving beyond kowtowing, I do not mean to suggest that respect or custom is inherently bad, but I do think the Flowers are trying to teach us that this way of looking at the world is limited, that hierarchy is not a structure to be worshiped. The Flowers seem to live in a realm that is beyond these human constructs, sending tendrils of sweet wisdom down to greet us in our worldly sphere.”

To add to what Sarah says here, I am particularly struck by the geography of Taiwan and its history of breaking away and refusing to kowtow to mainland China. It does not surprise me that its Flowers would be all about peacefully but unapologetically holding one’s personal power and autonomy, sense of mission and purpose.

Humanity seeks a new balance of personal power within the context of interconnection. We are one big family, sometimes squabbling, but still one big family. We look for ways to hold out light and be our authentic self within the whole, respectful of others but also not subservient to any viewpoint that would repress anyone’s wholeness or holiness. The love of the Flowers with their incredible inclusiveness and individuality brings so much support. And here in the Taiwan Essences we find elemental voices of truth-speaking, strength, vision, respectful bridge building without kowtowing.   I am most grateful.

 

 

 

I have been feeling that my description of the new Venus Garden Flower Essence combination remedy, Equanimity, was sorely lacking in Oomph.  Today, a dear Green Hope Farm friend from Myrtle Beach, SC named Bobbi sent me a quote from Meher Baba that I have added to the description.  Whew!  I now feel the description has the oomph it needed!

” 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 infinity which you seek.”  Mehera Baba

The good news is that the vibration of the new Venus Garden combination remedy, Equanimity, matches the spectacular beauty and vibration of the garden itself.  The not so good news is that my photos of the garden don’t do it justice. All I can say is give this one a chance regardless of my photos, because it is an incredible support to keep calm, cool, collected and cheerful no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in.

I wish I had done better with the camera because this was an extraordinarily lovely and uplifting garden.  I comfort myself that at least the Angels and Elementals did better translating the garden into an Essence for you all than I did translating the experience of being in this garden into a photograph.  And the Essence is MUCH more important than a photograph of the garden so that is good.

Here is the write up for this garden I have added to the Venus Garden collection section of the website.  This Essence is good to go!  And how glad we have been about that!  It is one we have been leaning on ourselves through this tumultuous time. It amazes me how often I need to reach for this one to help me simmer down and find my center.

Equanimity

This year’s Venus Garden was a glorious mandala of Zinnias in the shape of a Star of David. At the heart of the garden were rings of Heliotrope and Mehera White Marigolds while Each of the six triangles in the Star of David was planted in a different color Zinnia: lime green, pink, coral pink, magenta, orange and one triangle in white and gold. White Snapdragons and Sweet Alyssum punctuated the tip of each triangle. A vibrant and beautiful garden, it flourished through the extremes of a hot and very dry summer. No matter how many Flowers we picked, it never looked as if we had cut a blossom.

After we planted the garden, a GHF beloved asked if we were working on an Essence that would help her remain poised, happy and able to appreciate the joys of life during a time of challenge and suffering. The Angels said yes, this year’s Venus Garden would be about that. We could feel how true this was for the garden kept us all buoyed up during a summer of challenges. This garden had an uplifting vibration of joy but also a steadiness. It was expansive and elegant but also sturdy. We savored its energy and awaited the call to make it into an Essence. We knew it was going to be a very good one!

When the Angels told us it was time to make an Essence from the garden, they said the name of this Venus Garden Flower Essence combination mix was Equanimity.

Equanimity is defined as the state of being calm, composed, even tempered especially in difficult situations. Equanimity is the ability to remain poised and in balance even when pressed by painful experiences of failure and loss. It is not so much not caring, as being able to care in a calm and emotionally balanced way.

Were we ready for this Essence? All we could say was, yes, thanks! And here she is!

Here are some of my attempts to photograph this garden.

Sarah and I begin to plant the garden in the end of May.

An early photo when the plants were quite small but beginning to blossom, and the Star of David shape is still easy to see.

Pippa settles into the garden for the season.

An apologetic postscript- I was certain that the Taiwan Flower Essence collection labels, ordered a month ago, would be here by now, but they are not.  I apologize for my confident promise that we would launch the Taiwan collection this week.  If this delay continues ( and we are trying to get some information from the label company), we may well post the descriptions before the labels arrive and just use Green Hope Farm farm labels until they arrive.

When I first made Flower Essences in the late ’80’s I had no sense of mission beyond the deep pull I felt to Flower Essences and to cooperative partnership with the Angels and Elementals.

As events unfolded, I looked to the Angels and Elementals to guide me in all things Green Hope Farm. I knew next to nothing about running a business or a farm, and their advice made all the difference.

I also asked my partners to help me fulfill the mission of Green Hope Farm whatever that was. Eventually it was hard to miss that a significant part of this mission involved us creating Flower Essences from many places all over Earth.

To this end, the Angels and Elementals sent us beloved staffers who joined family members in the project of setting off around the world to make Flower Essences for Green Hope Farm.

Now our bottling room is a library of Flower Essences collected from all over the Earth, a library that requires a MAP for new staffers to find their way around!

Green Hope Farm now offers Flower Essences from Patagonia, Japan, Costa Rica, St John US Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Santorini, the Camino de Santiago in Spain, Ireland, Scotland, the American Southwest, Northern California, the American Rockies and a very extensive collection of Flower Essences from Flowers that grow wild and cultivated in the hills of northern New England.

To add to this diversity, in a matter of days we will officially launch our new collection of Flower Essences from TAIWAN!!! As soon as their labels arrive (hopefully next week) this collection will be ready to share with one and all!

To have this library of global Flower Essences at our disposal feels precious and timely. Light pouring into the planet requires us to hold more light. Holding more light requires we work through any glitches in our electrical system impeding the flow of this light. Specific Flowers from specific places can help with these specific glitches.

Our expanding light is inseparable from our experience as part of our planet. Even if we stay mostly in the same geographical place (as I now do), part of humanity’s collective journey is to be more global in our experience of ourselves. Flower Essences from all over the globe help us in this work. With Flower Essences from other places, we can receive the balancing wisdom of worlds far from our geographical home.

We are not separate from our beloved Earth. We are of her and one with her. Flower Essences help us awake to this.

The introduction of the Taiwan Essences feels particularly significant. As you read their descriptions next week, I think you too will feel as I did that these Flower Essences express a different point of view from Flower Essences made from Flowers in the west. It feels incredibly auspicious and wonderful that the Green Hope Farm Flower Essence library will now contain these gems from Taiwan.

Before presenting the Taiwan Essences and others new this fall, I want to share one of the new Flower Essences we made here this summer. It holds the intention of helping us bridge any gap we may feel between east and west. It offers its help so we can make the most of the Taiwan Flower Essences and receive their great gifts more fully. It also brings its own unique gifts complete in themselves.

This Flower Essence is Himalayan Balsam. Here is the description of this Flower Essence, now available from the Wildflower collection

Himalayan Balsam Impatiens glandulifera

an East-West door opener offering an energy of universal love

Himalayan Balsam is a wild impatiens introduced from the Himalayan mountains to gardens in the west in 1839. Easily grown from seed, this Flower blossoms in exuberant shades from pale pink to deep purple. With its explosive seed dispersal, excellent germination and high nectar production, Himalayan Balsam soon leaped from cultivated gardens into the wild. I found it growing abundantly in a marshy area next to a patch of Jewelweed, a native North American Flower from the same Impatiens family as Himalayan Balsam.

The history of Himalayan Balsam in the west is dramatic. It was marketed in Great Britain as “a poor man’s orchid”, because it could be inexpensively grown by anyone even as its beauty rivaled Flowers in the greenhouses of the upper class. Some viewed this as making Himalayan Balsam “splendid in its invasiveness.”

Others saw the plant as a menace to eco-systems everywhere, and this is the attitude that has prevailed. “Balsam bashings” in which people go along riverbanks and other wetlands to destroy this Flower are very popular. Meanwhile, current research describes these bashings as a highly destructive practice that does considerable damage to local eco-systems and makes way for more unfortunate plant introductions.

It’s hard not to feel that there is something more going on here with these plant bashings than getting rid of an invasive specimen. When a plant evokes this sort of extreme response, there is almost always something energetic going on!

This plant holds a very strong energy of inclusiveness and global connectivity. It encourages us to embrace anything we have viewed as “other” be it an unknown within ourselves or a stranger from a world away. Its inclusive connectivity of east and west seems to have made it a target as not all people want to connect these worlds or view them as equal.

Here at the farm, we feel that Himalayan Balsam is a great gift from the east. In fact, we ushered this Essence onto the property with a sacred ceremony of welcome. This Flower is a beloved that we have waited for. Its arrival just as we launch our new collection from Taiwan felt significant. We feel this Essence will help all of us more fully experience the Flower Essences from Taiwan as it acts to open the door more fully to the gifts of this entire collection.

We also feel that along with opening the doors to this new collection, Himalayan Balsam floods us with its own particular love and profound energy of universality and equality in diversity.

Here this lovely new friend speaks, “Arriving from the Himalayas, I bring forward my eastern wisdom about universal love. My western cousin, Jewelweed helps you to handle irritation and explosive emotion especially when the irritation springs from rubbing up against energies that do not match your own. I come to the fore to demonstrate an energy of peaceful coexistence and loving kindness amidst great diversity. I am a vibration of love that brings worlds together. I come to work with brother Jewelweed to help transform community vibrations from anger management to an experience of embracing each other with complete love and appreciation for differences.”

I AM Love unbound.