Hello
A very warm, cosy welcome to this week’s newsletter.
Happy New Year (1st November is the start of the Celtic Wheel of the Year)!
I can't believe it’s November already and the start of winter. It still feels very mild here in Sussex.
I watched a bee bumbling about in a London park earlier in the week. Ever wondered what happens to bees over winter? They mostly hibernate.
We’ve had a half term packed with fun and friends - it's been busy. I’m looking forward to going inwards this weekend, with a little mini at-home retreat to mark day 1 of my bleed. And breathe!
Here’s what we’ve been up to:
Making Rose Petal Honey
This gorgeous floral honey was inspired by Lucy Jones' A Working Herbal Dispensary: Respecting Herbs as Individuals. This book was a recommendation from a friend, and it’s brilliant. It’s packed with knowledge. I like to open it at random and learn more about a plant; layering new information on top of what I already know. I feel like Lucy sees plants in a whole new way. I love how there’s an energetics section for each entry. Roses, for example, help us gently open our hearts and process trauma. Lucy says "Rose's action on the heart allows it to begin to loosen its grip on hidden experiences, and its action in supporting our livers and digestion helps us to better digest the emotions as they arise." Sounds nourishing, right?
Here’s how to make honey from rose petals:
We dried out some of the gorgeous roses from our garden, on a tray, in a sunny spot on the window sill. Then we ground the petals up in a blender. We stirred the rose petal powder into a jar of raw honey. Lucy suggests to aim for about 1 part rose petal powder to 3 parts honey.
The honey is still curing, but apparently it will thicken and be fragranced with rose. I just had a sniff and it smells subtly gorgeous. A spoonful of this honey can be added to tea when in need of rose medicine.
