Hello beautiful friends,

I am celebrating Samhain today (or Halloween, as its known in these parts). Samhain is a time to mark the harvest, pay tribute to those that have past on this year and marks the end of our days filled with sun and hello early sunset and beautiful moon.

I am enjoying the harvest of beautiful apples from my local apple orchard by making mulled cider. Doesn't this look yum?



Its brewing away on the stove right now. A gallon of fresh apple cider mixed with cut up pieces of apples, cloves, allspice, orange peel and cinnamon sticks. It smells heavenly. Its the perfect background smell to our lazy day here at home, with B curled up with football and I have been floating around the house doing this and that in really thick wool socks. Its lovely. We woke up this morning and didn't quite know what to do with ourselves, given that the last few weeks have been so busy and crazy with wedding joy. I can't remember the last time I woke up and didn't HAVE to do something or be somewhere...sure, I always have something I am doing (a woman's hands are never idle) but today feels so wonderfully leisurely.

In garden news, well, it is quite dead. Wait. I take that back. The lemon verbena is still so happy, although I need to pick this bumper crop and dry it for some tea during the winter. Lemon verbena is a good tea to beat the blues, something I am prone to in general and perhaps more so with the lack of sun.

But things are still growing in my kitchen on a regular basis. Sprouts! Oh sweet, sweet sprouts. I love them. And they are so easy to sprout on your own and a million times tastier and FRESHER than those brown threads you buy at the store. My local health food store sells them in bulk. I buy a "salad" blend that has various radish and bean sprouts all mixed together. I love them on salads and on a bagel with cream cheese. Tasty!








You just get a jar, and put 1-2 tablespoons of your sprout seeds/beans in. Fill the jar with water and cover with cheesecloth and a rubber band overnight out on the counter. In the morning, drain the water through the cheesecloth. Place the jar tipped over at an angle, inside a wide dish (I use a casserole dish) so the water drains out of the jar throughout the day. At night, rinse the seeds/beans by filling the jar and draining the water, placing the jar back at an angle to drain. Do this for several days (my mix takes about 3 days to sprout the way I like it) and then place the jar with the cheesecloth over it (I sometimes replace the cheesecloth because all that rinsing makes it a bit weird looking) and put in the fridge and use whenever you like. They last a long time and I make small batches so I use them before they go bad.

You can buy fancy sprouter contraptions, but a jar and cheesecloth work for me. So that's what growing around here right now. Leaves are abandoning their trees and the wind is whipping outside.

What a good night to enjoy Samhain. It is said that the divide between our world and the spirit world is thin tonight. I have also read that Celtic pagans would make two bonfires and walk between them on Samhain, cleansing and purifying themselves. I don't think I will be doing that this evening, at least not this year! Just friends and food and that hot mulled cider that smells about ready.

Happy celebrations,

*aja

Herbal Journal



The Wheel of Life…

My herbal coursework has fallen somewhat to the wayside, which is auspicious given I was working on the lesson that discusses the notion of “balance” in one’s life. I really enjoyed this lesson because it discussed how the idea of balance, a persistent idea that we hear from various sources, is truly an illusion. Every aspect of one’s life cannot be in perfect balance with one another. Some aspects must be given in depth attention, while others ebb and flow with the tides of life. What is dangerous is completely neglecting any one are of life in support of another, thus the wheel of life falls too far out of balance and health, spirit and wellness are compromised. With the wedding, my energy and focus were drawn so fully to this event, many other aspects of my life had to sit patiently, not fully ignored, but not fully tended to either…much like my autumn garden, where I keep chaos at bay, but without the intensity of spring.

But my herbal work was still nearby during the lengthy and consuming process of a wedding. In fact herbs were a big part of the ceremony. Lavender was a theme through out the ritual – with guests taking handfuls of dried lavender and throwing this cleansing and purifying herb into the center of the sacred circle. Lavender was in my bouquet; the clean floral scent helping calm any nerves or worries. Our ceremony took place outside on a farm, where the trees rustled loudly and the chickens clucked in agreement throughout our vows.

For our shared meal with friends and family, pots of planted thyme and thistle stood on the tables and our celebratory cocktail featured elderflower and thyme. We toasted with champagne flutes filled with aromatic lavender, the two together having a sweet effect.



The whole evening could not have been more perfect and I was so happy to have the herbs and plants I so love take a role in the celebration. With the wedding know behind us and the season fully changing over to the cold of fall and winter, I have taken great solace in my herbal infusions of chamomile, peppermint and red raspberry leaf tea. For my bridal shower, my best friend organized tea making with a variety of herbs and teas from across the world. She explained the different flavors, qualities and properties of the tea and we mixed and matched the dried herbs together in small packets. Peppermint, red raspberry leaf and chamomile mixed together is a current favorite.

With the onslaught of chilly mornings, I practice abhyanga, an ayurdvedic practice of daily oil massage before showering in the morning. I add essential oils of ylang-ylang, orange, rose and patchouli which for me, help warm my body, wake me up, but also relax my mind. At night, I rub this oil on my feet, massaging my soles which instantly calms and distressed, allowing for sleep to come quickly and deeply.

Sickness is currently all around the workplace and thankfully I just read a great post about the benefits of an Elderberry (Sambucus) elixir to help build immunity and combat sickness. I will be making a batch soon.

Herbs and plants are always in my life and close to my heart, no matter how my wheel turns, but I am glad to have more dedicated time emerging to dive back into my studies.

Peace,

*aja

Dearest friends,

Love happens!
























That last one is my current favorite pic. Just look at his face. Its like we are doing something really mischevious. There are so many more pictures and so if you have the stamina, I invite you to look at them here.

Lots of love,

*aja

Dearest friends,

10 days until I enter that sweet and unknown land of holy matrimony. Getting to this point has been a journey – first in the cosmic sense of course, thinking of that fateful day when Ben and I first met and somehow through the grace of god, commitment and love, now ending up on the precipice of a sweet lifelong union. But also more mundanely, arriving at 10 days out from the nuptials has been a journey. Planning for a life event that attempts to combine ritual, ceremony, and celebration – all under the microscope of intense emotions, familial relations and expectations – well, it’s a little like having to walk over a bed of fire in order to prove your love.

10 days out. I am standing right in the middle of that bed of fire.

And I couldn’t be more excited, anxious and ready. We have put our heart and souls into this little shin-dig, through preparations that are locally-organically-seasonally minded. We have handmade and fair-traded. We are honoring old traditions while creating those unique to our union.

Buts it’s more than all that…

I delve into long dormant places inside that are woken, triggered even, by so many intense emotions swirling in my heart that it just might burst. Feeling more inside my feminine self than ever before, as we prepare to stand together before our small community of friends and family. Me reflecting the feminine in him and him the masculine in me. It has become more than just committing ourselves to each other, but just as importantly about our own individual journeys and how each arrived at this place of adulthood ready to come together as a couple, as a family, and partners. I hope to honor my journey and his as well. I hope our ceremony and celebration will do just that.

The ins and outs, the details. There is much to share with you. It’s all just now becoming my reality. A little teaser until more emerges…



Our invitations, full of textures, trinkets and words. I wish I could have invited the world to bare witness to my devotion and love of this one special person. But you will all be there in spirit…

Love + peace,

*aja

Dear beautiful friends,

Wherever you are in this beautiful world (I am so lucky to have friends near and far) have you noticed the coming of fall? Or is that only in my little New England neck of the woods? It happened this week, quite suddenly I thought. The weather is gorgeous – sunny and perfect. But the air smells a little different and the nights are crisp and cool. I walk to work from the train and need a shawl or little scarf (no coats or jackets for me, I hold off as long as possible) to keep the chill off. I love fall in Connecticut. It’s really wonderful. The colors, the traditions, the harvest. Its such a magical time. My eyes are also colored a little rosy because of the wedding which has just 5 weeks to go…which is insane. But hey, the invitations got out finally! We have a lot of those little slip-through-the-cracks details to stay on, but I think we are in a good place. The groom is now freaking out not about impending nuptials, but rather what he is going to wear. It’s very sweet.

So the garden. Can I just tell you it pains me that I have not been able to take any good pictures of it? The reason being that it was truly a terrible year in the garden. The weather was VERY uncooperative and I fear that I was so busy planning this and that, it was neglected a little too much. The tomatoes died (not my fault, Connecticut had a tomato blight massacre), the zucchini died (my fault, zucchini is fool proof), and the dragon carrots weren’t thinned enough and mutated into big red weird aliens with lots of arms (still tasty though). The only thing saving my reputation is my cucumbers. My last cucumber post featured the tiny, delightful lemon cucumber. Continuing the tour of strange cucumbers from my garden is the Armenian cucumber. Long, ridged and a very light green color, this tasty cucumber has very big seeds and a very thick cucumber skin.





They look good together I think. I also have been drying my herbs. The lemon verbena is amazing. So fragrant and happy and its going to make a wonderful tea.



So yes. Fall is coming. The garden continues to delight, but mostly die a slow painful death. But this weekend I am looking forward to going raspberry picking. I am ALL about berry picking this summer. It’s relaxing and tasty and the results are always enjoyable (berry tart, berry cake, berry yum!) Unfortunately the blueberry and peach soda never turned out. Isn’t that sad? Over 6 quarts of handpicked blueberries and peaches all gone. I think it was too hot in my non-air conditioned house and the mixture didn’t get stirred enough and white stuff started growing before the liquid fermented. Yuck. Oh well, I will try again soon, but with frozen berries from the store next time…the insult to injury is less when you haven’t hand picked them yourself!

Love you all,

*aja

Dear friends,

I am a horrible person. Instead of finishing the wedding invitations, which are horrendously late at this point, when Ben said “Let’s go get clamming licenses and go clamming!” I said “Ok!”. Hopefully the couple that procrastinates together, stays together.

But it was so fun! And it was a lot of hard work too. Ben said it felt like digging for treasure. That is totally what it was like. You scrape your rake along the bottom and when you hit something that doesn’t roll with the rake, well that is probably a clam and you dig down and scoop up and sift like you panning for gold. Except you are sifting through wet mud and finding clam nuggets instead. The first hour wasn’t too fruitful, but I think that is because in our enthusiasm to go, we didn’t check the tide charts and the tide was way in. After that first hour, the tide started to go out and we hit our stride. We collected about 2 dozen clams. It was a work out, raking that mud around. We also found a lot just rooting around with our hands. We were such a dirty, stinky mess afterwards. But we were so psyched, it was just such satisfying work to dig for our super. We ended up grilling the clams on the BBQ, which was so easy. Just throw them on and they cook in their own brine (so tasty) we said a little blessing, thanking the clams for giving their lives to fill our bellies. We chopped up most of them and linguine with clams is on the menu tonight.







Captain Morgan, the informative man (click here to read his clam wisdom) who sold us our license and gear said that all you really need is a bucket, a rake and a crappy pair of sneakers. I wanted to go bare foot, but after Ben cut his foot on a super sharp oyster shell, I realized why the crappy sneaks are important. The coolest thing? The season is all year long and apparently the clams get tastier in the winter. I definitely see more procrastinating opportunities in the future.


Peace,

*aja

Dear beautiful friends,

Have you ever been driving around the country side and come upon a gorgeous field of grass and there in the midst is a large Buddhist stupa circle?

It was like a dream…..







And there was a garden too, with welcoming hand-painted signs at every turn.














We stumbled upon this magical place and I never wanted to leave.

Have thuper fabuluss day,

*aja

P.S. This magical place was part of Old Saybrook’s Great Cedar Conservation Area.