A gift of rest and relaxation from me to you for solstice and throughout the long, dark nights of winter.

After some time away on the road, I’m finally settling back into home, and it feels wonderful, jet lagged and all.

Travelling has always had a way of opening my eyes and my heart. New places, new rhythms, new people, and a fresh perspective on life. There’s something magical about stepping out of familiar routines and discovering what feels different, surprising, or even a little (a lot) challenging.

While away, I met some awesome people who travelled through Morocco with us. We got to chatting one day over lunch, and I shared how much my belly was missing my morning smoothie. I cannot tell you how grateful I was yesterday, my first morning home, to whirl this up in the blender and feed it to my very relieved belly.

When I go out in the evening - or even at home with friends and family—I love to have a tasty, beautiful drink that supports my healthy habits.

Sleep can sometimes be tricky due to my current stage of life. Tart Cherry Juice is a delicious and supportive alternative to wine, which inhibits sleep and increases anxiety, among other side effects. Organic Tart Cherry juice can be rather expensive, but so is a bottle of wine, so I don’t mind the splurge

In these dark days of winter, I thinly slice fresh ginger root and simmer it in a pot of boiling water on the stove for 10 minutes. Honey can be added to make an antiviral tea that helps prevent colds.

It is a lung tonic that helps reduce inflammation and irritation arising from asthma, bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Mullein leaf helps to clear the lungs which is super helpful for coughs, lung infections, and influenza.

These are a few of my favourite things, especially on hot summer days. There is nothing I love better than using watermelon to hydrate. So nutritious & delicious.

Calendula has taken over in a couple of my raised beds! What I love most about this is that I did not plant any of it. They are all volunteers from last year.

What better way to celebrate the wheel of the year turning than to gather some herbs and flowers and brew a beautiful and nourishing summertime tea? Partnering your solstice tea with your heartfelt desire for the summer is a powerful ritual/

I am in a season of life where sleep can be elusive. I try not to make it a big deal if I don’t get my 8 hours, however, I do prefer a sound sleep. This means that I do my best not be on any screens after 7pm. I do not consume any kind of caffeine after noon. I try to set myself up for the best chance of a long, dreamy sleep.

After six months of stepping away from teaching, from learning, from holding space for others, I am returning. Gently. Slowly. In rhythm with the turning season.

As the Fall Equinox arrives, I find myself reflecting on its quiet wisdom. This is the moment when light and dark are equal. A brief pause in the tilt of the earth, a sacred balance point between expansion and contraction, between doing and being. Nature reminds us there is power in stillness, and wisdom in transition.

Sage is used to support the respiratory system, digestive system, nervous system, and women’s health. It can help to reduce and relieve sweating and hot flashes.

The world feels like it is unraveling, like loose stitches in a seam that has needed attention for a while but has been ignored for far too long. I am constantly searching for ways to best respond to these times with well-thought-out action. It is an ongoing process.

When life comes at me as it has this past week, I am calmed by the knowledge that I know where I can work out my stuff in private and then decide what action needs to happen from a place of clarity and calm.

I took the challenging circumstances to my journal, and on both occasions, within minutes of writing, clear responses to these situations became abundantly apparent.

I wish I could go back and tell my 20-something self to focus on progress, not perfection. Each time I quit and started back up, I learned something about the harmful habit I had fallen into at age 13. I only saw starting again after quitting as a pure failure. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

If you know me even a little, you will likely have seen my “BFF,” my beloved art journal, who travels with me everywhere I go. This book is my lifeline. It has seen me through the best of times and the hardest of times.

I use it in many ways: to clear the clutter when my emotions sweep me off my feet, to help me show up in the best possible way when life circumstances or a relationship are not going as I want or need them to. It reveals limiting beliefs, keeping me small and unhelpful patterns that are unconscious until they are made visible on the page.

When the quiet of January descends and the busyness of December subsides, I brew tea and pull out my journals and day-timer from 2024. I get cozy whenever I can and begin my year in review.

After a decade of mirroring the seasons while living in my food forest and now in an actual forest beside the sea, I welcome winter.