Listening to Waterfalls at the Rotary Islands

I wouldn't call it forest bathing. But definitely that chill vibe where you just sit quietly in nature...enjoying and absorbing the waterfall sounds and the scent of the lush plants and peaceful ducks resting by your feet. The key I would say, is just giving yourself enough time. 15 minutes is all it took for me to feel rested and connected.

Some folks get all scientific about it....saying that the ocean water has certain ionic qualities that help humans rejuvenate...but I really don't have the expertise on the sciencey part of it.

I just know that getting away to rest in nature restores my soul. God didn't make us to be trapped in front of a computer screen all day and then spend our free time on the couch watching a much bigger screen.

Sometimes it's important to actually experience in person the scent and feelings of being in nature.....of sitting on the ground and allowing a duck to waddle up to you and not be afraid.

The blessings were made for us.

Wishing you a good day Friends.

Peace be the journey.

Carla

Batteaux Park Food Forest

Batteaux Park Food Forest is located in Barrie Ontario Canada . It is only a couple years old. The apple trees with their labels still attached to the wee trunks are doing their best. 

Apples about the size of a toonie hang from the green limbs.

Those who feel drawn to permaculture will appreciate the effort that was made to plant and establish this food forest. Yay! Free food for all! 

Does your city or village  have parks or community gardens that provide free food for all?

I applaud the City of Barrie for investing in this ideal and allowing the volunteers to plant the saplings and edible landscaping. 

Peace,

Carla.

Harvest Mullein Stalks and Make a Torch

This is the time of year you can harvest the dried standing stalks of mullein. I found these as seen in the photos in a local park growing happily in a mound of dirt that has been naturalizing for the past few years.

I once watched a youtube video by a lady who makes her own torches in this manner. By the way, she does seem to favour the ¨witchy¨ side of belief systems... so I apologize if the link causes offense. I am not aligned with witch type of stuff, but I thought it only right to give the proper credit to the lady who showed me how to make this in her youtube video)

(https://youtu.be/DEKv9YUwfa4?si=q16eHYbEEvsr2rbv)

For the record...I subscribe to the Christian teachings of the holy bible, with faith in Jesus as Lord.

I am a maker. I love to make things. So ...learning how to recognize local herbs and where and how they grow is a passion of mine. 

So far this year, I am growing the following:

kale, wild raspberries, chives, green beans, marigolds, and parsley. The irises grew extravagantly well this year and I transplanted some lilies that someone else didn´t want in their garden any more. Not sure if the lily will bloom this year, as it is taking some time to acclimate to our yard.

So my adventure will be to melt some candle wax and pour it onto the dry mullein stalks and then let the wax dry and see how they work as a summer night torch. I hope the flame will not be too high!

Hope you are having a good summer so far, if it is summer where you live. And if it is another type of weather season where you live, I pray that you are warm and well fed and protected from the elements.

Peace and joy,

Carla.

P.S. New Update. I tried this ...and it worked wonderfully.

Yes the flames were quite high, so it is not something to do willy nilly and also the flaming piece broke off and fell onto the ground. But I did learn this wee tidbit of info....namely that dried mullein soaked with plain old white candle wax works great as a fire started. Perhaps if I don´t find a good spot to store these I might just break them up into pieces and seal them in mason jars or zip lok bags and keep them for the next time I try to start a fire in the chiminea.

I have watched prepper channels for years and rarely get to learn something new to add to my ¨preps¨....so here today I officially learned a new way to start a fire with low cost items.

By the way, for those of you who want to know...I did keep a bottle of water near by when I tried this experiment to make sure that the flaming pieces did not start random fires where they did not belong.

It´s always a good idea to have some water handy when you are starting a backyard fire, just in case a random spark or blowing piece of paper spreads your fire.

Peace,

Carla.