Orla Kiely Journals

Orla Kiely has good taste. It's simple and satisfying.
I have a similar love for her designs as I do for Lotta Jansdotter's.
Nice bold colors, but never overwhelming.
Her new journals come in several formats. The bound journals are gorgeous. The oatmeal colored one is embossed with the same pattern you see on the multi-colored one.
They also have ribbon book marks.
The little pocket journal is so sweet. It comes in green, red & brown or in a package with one of each color.
They're practical and sturdy, but mostly I just love how pretty they are.
(available at Flora-link here for address)

Spring Flower Tonic

I love Oregon Grape.
I love harvesting the roots and scraping the bark down to a smooth magical twig.
I love finding a patch of bushes on a hike in the woods.
I love to eat the flowers this time of year and I love the berries in the summer and the tiny new leaves in the springtime.
But for today we are focusing on the flowers.
The taste of the flowers is strongly bitter and yet sweet somehow with a bit of a floral note.
What I didn't know until today is that they smell like heaven.
I've never cut the flowers except to pinch a few to eat on the trail, but when I brought them into my house and they came to room temperature, I couldn't believe the smell. Pure heaven. The smell is a bit like tiny magical daffodil, which is what the flowers look like up close.

As spring comes I change. Yes, I know we all change everyday but springtime completely undoes me.
I need spring tonics like some folks need meds.
I look for my spring tonic to do a couple of things.
First off the tonic should shed any winteriness in you. body/mind/spirit.
A tonic should bring vigor.
A spring tonic for me is a way to balance the transition between the winter me and the burgeoning summer me.
When I visioned for the perfect plant for me this season I kept seeing in my mind's eye, Oregon Grape's vivid yellow flowers.
Partly I wonder if it isn't Elizabeth from the English Dept. and all her fabulous yellows passing by me each day that is part of the vision, who knows.

I keep thinking about the cold energy of oregon grape and then I become concerned that it's not going to be stimulating enough to be a good tonic and then I am reminded of it's power to shift and change and yes, cool, the liver. I know that for me it's ok because I run hot, eat spicy foods, tend to get flushed cheeks, etc. but if you're a cold type with poor circulation this may not be the tonic for you. However, if you want make this work for you, just put a couple of slices of fresh ginger root or a cinnamon stick into the jar while making the tonic to warm it and you up.

Here are some pictures of one of the patches I harvested from.
From this big patch I took only 3 bunches of flowers.
It's hard to explain without being in person with you and the plants about the finer points of ethical wildcrafting. I've been thinking of the analogy of a jewelry box that someone has offered for you to take something from.
How do you choose what to take and what to leave?
Partly that depends on what is available. If in this case there are 40 jewels (blooms) I would take and did take one pristine beautiful flower and 2 other very nice but modest and out of the way blooms.
I went to another patch and did the same.
The most important thing to remember when offered something in the plant world just like anywhere else is to use your manners, then you'll be just fine.

The flowers have many of the same properties as the root and berries, but flowers are what I want and need right now.
Something light and fluffy and pretty and bright.
Oregon Grape is a superior liver tonic, is anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory. It is also a great blood purifier and a digestive tonic.
Always remember that anything that is good for your liver is good for your skin.


I made this spring tonic exactly like last years spring tonic. (follow the link to the recipe) It really is so simple.
The only difference between the recipes is that the cleavers were snipped with scissors and the oregon grape needs a little garbling.
Garbling is something we herbalists do, and it's a word that really means sorting this from that.
In fairy tales they're always garbling. Poppy seeds from dirt, moldy this from fresh that, the good apples from the rotten.
The word garbling I find annoying, but the process itself is incredibly calming and satisfying.
So here is a bit of the sorting. The flowers on the right will go into the jar, the green parts on the left go into the compost or to the chickens.

We always do garbling at Herb Camp with the kids.
It's a good life lesson.
I think if we could sort this from that on a daily basis with our papers, our burdens, our visions, our desires, we would move along our path of destiny at a much smoother clip.
xo

San Francisco

I recently had a little personal getaway to SF. Sweet little town, a lot like Portland, but away from my chores.





These iridescent fish, I love.










I'm pretty sure these are
fern fronds,
but there were several things in Chinatown that no one would identify for me.
My curiosity would not rest, so I bought many odd things just to be told what things were.
Folks were more helpful when I was spending money. One of the things that was never able to be explained except to say in a long conversation where neither of us spoke the same language that it was made very clear that I should never eat it. The mystery item looked like a dried hoof but smelled of the sea and burning tires.





This is a mallow sanctuary apparently. An entire building site chained off for the love and preservation of the beloved malva neglecta.

Even an herbalist likes a nice cappuccino every once in a while.














This is an amazing piece at Anthropologie.













I would have loved to have brought this home, but besides the $12K price tag, there were no lids. How practical is that?

springtime productivity

piper ewan

Piper Ewan is the second line I carried in my store beyond my own.
Kirsten Moore is the designer.














Here are some of the ones we carry.

pictures from our jewelry trunk show

Frozen Peas Accessories














Kiersten's display for the trunk show














Kiersten Crowley Designs














Ariel Cohn of tiny forge designs














Rebecca Bashara
river rock jewelry














Alberta Poon of Frozen Peas Accessories

Beginnings

I find myself at the beginning again.
I know I should be so happy, and to some degree I am, but I would like to feel as if I can ever get past a certain point instead of coming back around to the start again and again.
For now my beginnings are many, but namely my business is new again.
In September I changed the name of my shop from io herbal alchemy to Flora.
io is obscure, esoteric, magical, mysterious and not super accessible. Perfect for the brand of products that I create but too mysterious to draw in passers by.
Flora is warm and friendly, inviting and very accessible.
As soon as I changed the name it was like an invisibility cloak was lifted from the store. Every day people come in to marvel at the brand new store on the block. People who've walked by each day have seen us for the first time. In all honesty the store changed the day the name changed. There was a new energy and openness. There are only so many things you can carry that fit within the name of io-a moon of Jupiter herbal-to do with herbs-alchemy-the most mysterious and esoteric of all.
Most people assumed we were a spa.
Boutique, not spa. No waxing or pedicures. Just gorgeous botanical gifts, cards and products.
Flora is about beauty and abundance. Flora is flowery and strong. Flora is the true name of the store.
For anyone who has had a baby and had to choose a name, you just know when you've found the name. Not the prettiest or coolest name, but the right name, the name the being has always had, you just had to find it. Flora is that name. So in that way, yes, I am happy that I can begin again with a new name, a new business in some ways and the new adventure that comes with all the challenges of a new baby.