I have a very deep respect and passion for wind and its power. Wind is amazing. It is a powerful invisible force that provides relief on a hot summer’s day, or can simply rip a house to pieces. The dichotomy of wind is very profound. I can list numerous positive attributes along with its destructive powers. However, today, I am going to focus on it musical qualities.
When I was child, we lived in house surrounded by a forest and babbling brook. There were huge boulders scattered throughout the land. I spent my time lying on the boulders, looking up, watching the trees sway and clouds move, while listening to the wind flow through the leaves and pine trees. The wind created music in the forest. It was so exciting and awesome.
Over time, my fascination with wind has continued. I started buying instruments for this invisible force to play. I am excited by how diverse and beautiful my wind chimes collection has grown over the years. I have scattered wind chimes throughout our land so they serenade us daily. I love the music the wind makes.
I have been fortunate in the past to live near the Woodstock Chimes Warehouse, which has warehouse sales every spring and fall. This has allowed me to indulge in my passion at affordable prices. Woodstock Chimes make beautiful musically tune chimes, gongs, bell instruments. The next sale is May 18, 19, 20 & 21, 2017, 9am – 5pm each day. If you are in the area, go early, as it can become a mad house.
If you have been reading my blog, I am sure you know by now that gardening and maintaining a garden is just not my thing. But when it comes to foraging, now that is more up my alley. Although, you can claim removing last year’s dead stems and leaves is actually “gardening,” I view it more like exploration. Because the very act of removing all last year’s detritus from my little medicinal garden is always thrilling. It reminds me of when I would take Mathew into the woods to see what critters were living under logs and rocks. We would very slowly and carefully pick the object up to see who was there. It was always very exciting. That’s how I approach my little garden. Mind you, it is a very small garden perhaps only 10′ x 10′, but an enormous amount of love and intention goes into it.
This will be the 6th year I will be nurturing the garden. Every year, I add one or two more herbs to get to know and learn. Some of them I had never worked with before, so it has been very interesting. Gratefully, most of the herbs love the garden, coming back and flourish year after year. Unfortunately, some have enjoyed the garden a little bit too much. Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) and Catnip (Nepeta cataria) adore the garden but since they thrive all over our land, there is no reason for them to take up space here. Other plants have found their way into my garden and are welcome, such as Red Clover (Trifolium pretense). Several years ago, I learned how tenacious Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) was, silly me, I planted it in the center of the garden, thinking it would look nice. It really did until it started to crowd all the other plants who were stifled by its beautiful large overbearing leaves and flower stalks. The next fall, we tried our best to take it all out so the other plants could breathe again. We replanted the Comfrey between Mike’s baby apple trees, where is will help the trees thrive. Comfrey’s root system efficiently mines potassium, calcium along with other minerals enriching the soil around it. We did not do the best job eradicating it from the garden, as it keeps revealing itself, less each year but nevertheless she is always there. Truthfully, I am not too sure that it is possible to totally eradicate Comfrey, but I guess time will tell. It is a fabulous reminder that we really cannot manage nature. One of the very reasons I am more of a forager at heart than a gardener.
I have a very deep respect and passion for wind and its power. Wind is amazing. It is a powerful invisible force that provides relief on a hot summer’s day, or can simply rip a house to pieces. The dichotomy of wind is very profound. I can list numerous positive attributes along with its destructive powers. However, today, I am going to focus on it musical qualities.
