Welcome to the Nurture podcast/ blog.
Let’s create the beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
Turn your 2021 goals into a life you love!
It’s the second week of January and already the resolutions we made might be feeling a bit shaky. The world continues its chaotic course and daily stresses pull at our old habits to reemerge and help us cope. Our brains are hardwired for survival and although this does tend to keep us alive- it doesn’t always lead us to our happiest and most fulfilled selves at the end of the day. To stay strong for yourself and your dreams here are some useful tips that work with your brain to keep you feeling calm (the place from which all good things flow!)
Slow Down
When everything in life is telling you to do more and pile it on your to do list. Don’t.
When it feels like there is not enough time in the day to get all the things done you are trying to do too much. You can’t win a fight with the reality that there are only 24 hours in a day.
Trying to pack more than you can do into a day is exhausting. To meet your goal of feeling more peaceful, having time for your journal, taking care of your garden, doing yoga, cooking healthy meals, diving into that art project, spending more time with your kids etc- you need to drop things to make room.
New resolutions to ourselves can’t just be added on top of the list of things we are already overwhelmed by, things will have to make way for a new reality to expand.
If 2020 taught us anything is that we can do much less and still survive- maybe even thrive! Commitments that we make out of feeling guilty and things we take on to make others happy can gracefully and lovingly be released.
What can you let go of to free up time for what you really want?
To get clues spend one day tracking your time. Create a paper with a list of each hour from midnight to midnight. Just observe with no judgement or changes. Note when you get up, and each hour or so take a minute to write down what you did on the paper.
Now see how much of your daily time actually lines up with your goals for the year? What you want to bring into reality needs space to grow, so what you can weed out of your day to make room for what your heart’s desire? If we spend our time first on all things we feel we need and hope we might have time later for our goals- they will never manifest.
Prioritizing time for what you want might mean that your house is a bit less clean or that you hire someone to help you out. It might mean that you spend less time on social media or answering emails each day. It might mean you go to bed sooner and rise earlier. Whatever your day looks like- if it isn’t filled with the life you want, ask yourself what you are waiting for? What needs to change to make room for your happiness?
Do Less
Maybe when you track your time you will notice your day looks like starting a thing and then switching to another thing and then sweeping the floor and then checking email and then running to get dog food and then seeing someone and talking for 30 minutes, then dealing with the next thing that comes at you etc etc until fall asleep.
Most of us spend our days reacting to life and spread so thin that we get into overwhelm mode- which leads to avoidance and procrastination of finishing much of anything- much less doing new things we want to try. At the end of the day we are exhausted but our to do list seems to have only grown. We have no time for ourselves but spend hours juggling the balls that other people throw us to deal with.
When your life feels like you are “getting through it” instead of enjoying it then it’s time to do less and enjoy more. Survival is the norm for our brains and so it avoids focus and trying new things and tends towards reacting and distraction which take less energy but never yields new results. The trick is to notice this habit, disrupt it and create a solid plan for having each day feel like a gift rather than a chore.
Schedule it
In order to create the life you love you have to plan for it. If you think that you’ll get to your new nature journal or yoga mat after you finish your “to do” list - your little sprout of a dream will struggle to survive. To avoid losing your deepest heart desires to the random chaos of the day- make a plan to get those dreams on your calendar first. Then keep those dates with your desires like they the most important meetings you will ever have.
It’s important to be specific about these dream dates to give your brain no excuses to back out on you.
What time are you starting to write that new book exactly? On Tuesday from 9am-11am.
Where are you going to do it? On kitchen table.
What do you need to gather up and who do you need to notify not to bother you?
Computer charged and ready to go.
Shut off my phone and all notifications
Tell my partner that I need total concentration for 2 hours.
I need a cup of tea and and a little snack ready.
Goal of writing straight without edits for 2 hours.
Don’t leave anything up to chance and keep it focused on one thing at a time. Piling too much on or not having a clear and focused goal and plan of action is a slippery slope for your brains to talk you out of it.
Starting small and breaking bigger goals into easy do-able parts keeps our brains feeling calm and willing to participate.
Feel it all
We have the power to reprogram our brains to serve us in creating our heart’s desire. As we let go of things that have comforted us in the past- like eating sugar to soothe bad feelings- we find ourselves feeling the bad emotion with no way to make it better. That’s damn uncomfortable.
We have been taught since childhood that when we feel bad or uncomfortable to reach for a balm and to distract ourselves from the feeling. We are told “cheer up, don’t cry, don’t be mad, and to smile” But these bad feelings are just a part of being alive.
Normal life is about 50/50 feeling sad and feeling stoked- if we participate in the world around us we can’t help react to what is happening. Although ads and social media will only show you people living in their most happy and joyful expressions- the truth is life is ups and downs match our emotions.
Allowing yourself to feel bad or uncomfortable for a little bit is also allowing yourself to feel alive and to be present in the moment. Trust it, sit with it and honor it. For this I recommend a deep breath, some tea, a journal or just a hand over the heart and an inner voice to yourself saying “I love you. I’m listening”.
You will be amazed by what you learn from sticking with discomfort and the truths it can reveal just below the surface. Trust also that you won’t get stuck in discomfort if you allow for it. We get stuck in loops and habits by trying to avoid or numb our feelings but once we allow our emotions to be felt we can learn from them and move forward.
Drink Tea
Ok- tea is optional in this process, but I do believe tea is the perfect ally to help you slow down and to clear your mind so you can focus on what really matters to you. Sitting with hard emotions is helped by a cup of comforting tea. A little caffeine helps to get those essential projects on your calendar done throughout the day. At night a relaxing cup of herbal tea can soothe you and give you a great night’s sleep.
Unlike alcohol or even coffee- tea has a gentle effect on the mind and the body. It helps you to tune in rather than numb out or push through. For thousands of years tea has been used for meditation and to create harmony within and between people.
So Stay Calm, Do Less, Drink Tea and Live the Life You Love in 2021!
-xo
Ginger
2020 ways To celebrate Thanks & Giving
Yes we all know.. “things look different this year”! We have heard it a dozen times. 2020 has knocked normal on it’s butt and we are being asked to re-imagine our lives on the daily. In my opinion Thanksgiving was long overdue for a shake up. Here are some ideas on new ways to celebrate Thanks & Giving!
Get Creative and Have Fun
Cancelling your normal traditions can bum you out or you can embrace this rare moment and re-imagine what it is you truly want to celebrate and how.
Open a Jar of Gratitude:
Join a Community Gratitude Tradition. My friend Adria created a community wide Gratitude Jar tradition in Manzanita. She places large glass jars in area businesses a week before Thanksgiving. Folks waiting in line at the register can write what they are grateful for on a slip of paper and add it to the jar. On Thanksgiving the papers are read out loud at a community gratitude gathering and everyone shares the love. This year the jar has gone virtual! You can to the community gratitude from wherever you are!
Create your own group virtual gratitude jar. (This can be an email folks reply to instead of a webpage). It’s a great way to bring family and friends from afar together this year. You can gather the gratitude emails and jump on zoom call to read them aloud or share them back out in one group email on Thanksgiving day.
Create your own personal gratitude jar that you add to daily. Decorate a pretty jar and place it where you see it daily. Add to it when you are feeling inspired and read from when you need a reminder.
Embrace small and cozy
Go big or go home is now stay small and stay home. There is magic in simplicity and in having extra time to enjoy the moment.
Check out these recipes for chic Thanksgiving for two from Delish.
Cozy up your space with these Danish Hygge tips to embrace winter!
Play games. Here is my all time favorite (and celebrating Oregon weird) game pick for the holidays.
Get out your Seed catalogs- replace television with the luscious act of imagining your spring plantings! Here is one of my favorites!
Get Outside the Box
Get outside and get off the screens. Nature is the best healer.
Celebrate Get Outdoors Day instead of Black Friday!
Go for a Nature Hike, Clean up your Garden, Ride your Bike, Hunt for Mushrooms
Shop Local Saturday! If you gotta shop then go find your farmers markets, local independent bookstores, and small retailers. Amazon doesn’t need you but they sure do this year!
Tea on the Trail. Take a thermos of your favorite tea and enjoy it in a special outdoor location! Our is the cliffs overlook at Oswald West state park!
You get the idea! Keep it simple, local and fun.
If in doubt check in with your heart.
Do you feel expansive when you contemplate baking a pumpkin pie? Yes? Then go for it! No? Then skip it this year.
Give your stress a holiday and follow your bliss. You have permission to party like it’s 2020!
Guide to Planting Fall Garlic
One of the last planting tasks for the season is getting garlic in the ground. Garlic needs a cold cycle to perform well and time to set its roots into the ground so it is best planted from mid October to early November.
If you would like to produce your own seed stock and your own eating stock, plan to reserve the top 30% of your harvest for planting. Each pound of garlic can produce between 50-75 heads of garlic, since each clove can produce a full bulb.
Planting Garlic
Pick a sunny day in early - late October, when the soil is still warm. Try to leave enough time before the ground freezes solid for the garlic to set roots. (Garlic can be planted any time before the ground freezes solid, though, ideally 3-6 weeks prior.)
Begin by breaking apart the heads of garlic into cloves. Count the cloves and determine the amount of space you need. Most hardneck varieties have 50-75 cloves per pound. Garlic prefers full sun, so choose a spot that will get full sun for the spring and early summer. Each clove will be planted at 6" spacing, in rows 12" apart. Weed and work a proper amount of garden space. After cultivating the space, mark the rows. Plant cloves root side down, 2" deep, at least 6" apart, in rows 12" apart. Water and cover with mulch. Your garlic will need to be tended to in the spring, once the ground warms and it begins to grow.
Spring growing conditions and care: Garlic begins to poke through the ground as soon as the soil warms. If you covered your garlic with a thick mulch layer, rake it back to help warm the soil faster.
Garlic prefers rich, weed-free soil and ample water. Beginning in the spring, pull weeds when small, taking care not to damage your garlic when pulling them out. Hardneck varieties produce garlic scapes in the spring. If left on the plant, the scapes will draw energy from the bulb, reducing size and quality. Once the scapes emerge, cut them off immediately to direct the plants' energy into bulb production. The scapes are an edible spring delicacy.
Fertility: Giving your garlic a nutrient boost in the early spring is highly recommended. Garlic performs well with a nitrogen boost in the form of alfalfa meal, or a light side-dress of compost.
Choose your Halloween style
Making plans for anything in 2020 is a challenge! Here are some great ideas for a fun and safe Halloween!
Halloween is a magical night and a perfect time to get into a magical mood and have some fun!
Here are some ideas (and tea pairings!) to get you in the Spirit!
Cozy Home Halloween
Grab a good book or movie and get cozy!
What you need:
A good movie or book: (pick something spooky and magical!) I’m too wimpy for horror myself but there are plenty of options out there.
Movie & Book suggestions: Harry Potter series, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Witches, Hocus Pocus,What We Do in the Shadows and here’s a list of many more! or pick from this list of Halloween reads!
Snacks: Try some healthier Halloween twists on old favorites like these Peanut Butter Chocolate popcorn balls, Maple chili pumpkin seeds or indulge your inner child by getting a bag of mixed trick or treat candies and diving in!
Tea/Cocoa pairing: A mug of Beach Fire Cocoa will complement the salty popcorn and snacks perfectly or stand alone as warm and cozy Halloween treat!
Mushroom Hunt
The fungus is among us!
What you need:
A forested area to explore, hiking shoes, a small harvest bag, a sharp knife and a rain jacket.
Get outside and enjoy all the fall feels in the forest today. One of the creepiest (and most delicious) foods emerging from the underworld in October are mushrooms! Oregon is famous for mushrooms especially abundant in the fall and winter seasons.
My favorite one to hunt around Halloween is the king Bolete, a truly giant mushroom that tastes like steak when cooked. The Oregon forest also has chanterelles, lobster mushrooms, matsutakes and many more! Just make sure you don’t eat anything that you can’t 100% truly identify. When in doubt- toss it out. Because the other scary thing about mushrooms is that some of them can be deadly (for real).
Check out this beginners guide to Mushroom hunting to get you inspired to hit the trail this Halloween!
You can also hike just to enjoy spotting them and perhaps gather some up along with few clumps of spooky mosses and dead branches to make an all natural Halloween decoration for your house or porch!
Evening campfire would make the perfect ending to your day in the woods. You can roast your mushroom finds or simply enjoy the full moon by the fire white sharing scary stories!
Snacks: Try your hand at these mushroom recipes or warm up after your hike with this savory pumpkin soup topped with mushrooms!
Tea/Cocoa pairing: Hot CHAGAlate is a blend of CHAGA mushroom powder with cinnamon, vanilla bean and rich raw cacao. It will give you plenty of stamina and energy to hike those trails and keep you warmed up and cozy afterwards around the fire.
Mystical Halloween
What you need:
A cup of tea and a saucer. Candles. Sage or Incense. Soothing music.
The veil is thin between the worlds on Halloween- especially under a full moon. If you are feeling mystical then take some time alone this year to tune into your intuition and inner wisdom. Find a quiet spot and set up a sacred space by lighting some candles, burning a little incense and playing soft soothing music (if you prefer).
Then try your hand at the intuitive art of tea leaf reading. Simply add a pinch of tea leaves to a tea cup (a wide mouth classic shaped tea cup works best here) and cover with boiling water. Steep for about 3 minutes then slowly drink the tea while you calm your mind and ask whatever questions you are interested in. When the tea is gone cover the cup with your saucer and tip the cup upside down and then right side up again. The remaining tea leaf in the cup will form shapes and patterns that you can then seek meaning in.
I tried this with my chai tea grounds the other day and I was surprised by how clearly I saw the image of a skull and a trail leading from the bottom of the cup towards the rim (representing a journey from the past to the present). That very day we found out that Brigham’s step brother had passed away in Texas and he bought a ticket to fly out immediately for the memorial (visiting his past in the present!). More tea leaf reading info here.
Snacks: It’s advised to eat lightly before divination to keep the senses open and to eat a good snack afterwards to help ground back into your body. Try these vegan goji berry cacao balls to keep your energy light before hand and this hearty rooted soup to nourish you afterwards.
Tea/Cocoa Pairing: For tea leaf readings it’s best to use black teas. Breakfast Buzz or NeahKahNie Fog are fine choices for a tea leaf reading as the leaves will remains in the cup. For the perfect herbal tea to sip during the day give you a calm and centered energy for divination I recommend Nap & Nourish.
Witches Tea Party
Invite your best Ghouls over!
What you need: Some ghoul friends. Tea cups. Tea. Costumes. Treats.
No trick or treats this year? Then what about a witches tea party instead?
Dress up in your best witches attire and host a little tea party to celebrate Halloween in style. Include some cut up sand”witches”, pumpkin doughnuts, and of course tricks and treats! Hit Goodwill for some tea cups and saucers and you are ready to go!
Got kids home from school? Get them into the fun to by having them help make the decorations, treats and costumes before the guests arrive!
For easy tea party hosting basics check out this guide!
For a kids Halloween tea party with decor printables and recipes check out this site! and this one too
Snacks: Bite sized eyeballs, Graveyard Mouse Cups, Deviled Spider Eggs, Bloody Falafel Fingers
Tea/Cocoa pairing: Try Elderberry Cobbler herbal tea for your witches party. Add ice and sparking water to fizz it up or serve hot with cinnamon sticks. For adults you can also nip in a bit of brandy or whisky for a quick delicious cocktail. Pumpkin chai lattes would also be wonderful treats at this party as well as Blue Enchantmint for the kiddos!
top 5 for the October Garden
It’s the end of the summer harvest season here in Oregon. While fall crops like cabbage, carrots and winter squash are still coming in, it’s a good time to batten down the hatches for the winter.
In the rainy PNW it’s often not the hard frost that will damage the garden but the return of heavy rains, that can mold and rot crops still in the earth. October is a great month to take advantage of the last warm sunny days and prepare for next spring!
My top five for the garden in October:
Harvest: This is the month to harvest remaining crops in the field that were spring or summer planted. Get those last zucchinis, pole beans, tomatoes, potatoes, winter squashes, fresh herbs and brassicas out of the field and into dry storage, a freezer or canning jars. Collect and clean any seeds you can from flowers, herbs and non hybrid veggies and place into a dry, cool dark space for storage.
Compost: You are going to have lots of debris in the garden as your summer plants die back for fall. Trim back your perennials (like mints and flowers) and pull your annuals up to add them to your compost pile. If you don’t have a compost pile now is a perfect time to make one. You can simply pile things up making sure you layer in some straw or fall leaves to balance out the nitrogen of the decaying garden plants. If you can cover your pile with a tarp or create a 3 sided pallet structure with a simple cover on top that will help your pile to not get overwet by the winter rain. You want the compost to stay moist but not soaking wet so that the microbes that turn your old plants into rich compost have the right working conditions.
Cover Crop: Once you have harvested and cleared out your old garden annuals and trimmed your perennials you don’t want to leave the earth bare to the elements. Mother Nature abhors bare soil and will quickly cover any spots left open in a bandage of weeds to protect the ground from rain erosion. If you plant a cover crop you get to beat out weeds, protect your garden soil and also grow nitrogen rich fertilizer that you can use in place next spring! Thanks to the magic of the Nitrogen fixing legume family of plants (peas, vetch, clover, alfalfa) which pull Nitrogen from the air and fix it into the soil on their roots- you can end your growing season by planting a crop that will give back all the nutrients that you took from the garden and get it ready for next spring. Order a cover crop mix for fall sowing (my favorite is red clover, oats and peas) and sprinkle the seeds on your cleared garden beds. Rake in gently and let the fall rains to the rest. In the spring you will get an early show of red clover blossoms which the bees will love and the oats will die back giving you a rich carbon layer to mix with your nitrogen.
Plant: It may be the end of the line for some plants but others do much better when started in the fall. This is a great time to plant garlic and spring flowers that need a time of cold stratification for germination (like poppies and love in the mist). It is also one of the best times to plant orchard trees, bushes and other perennials that are cold hardy. The deep watering in they will get over the winter season helps them establish roots while not having the pressure of also having to grow and produce right away. This is also the time to plant spring bulbs like daffodils and crocus for the flowery show they will give you in early spring!
Protect: If you are growing late into the season or even year round (as we can on the temperate Oregon coast) it’s a good idea to bring in your more tender plants to give them some kind of cover. If you have south facing windows you can often bring in your basil plants and other herbs/lettuces and keep them going for a few months in the warmth of your house. If you have unheated green house or high tunnel space then pulling in plants to give them cover from the rain and wind helps them survive the winter. I pull in my new lavendar and lemon verbena plants that are in pots and let them grow slowly or die back in protection of my high tunnel hoop houses as they would die from overwatering if I left them in the rain. Row covers can help protect crops in the field from frost but I have found that coastal winds demand that you give them very secure bindings to keep them where you want them! Instead of row covers I mostly cut back what plants I can, pull in what is still growing in pots and plant out what is big enough to survive in the ground and doesn’t mind a deep watering. If you do pull in your plants make sure to water them much less than you normally would. They are not growing and so don’t need water like they do in the spring and summer months. Too much water will cause root rot and death in the winter season.
Now you have my top 5 tips for the October garden.
The farmers almanac states that whatever is still in the fields after Halloween is left for dead! Take advantage of the time you still have to get those apples harvested, tomatoes roasted, seeds collected and plants tucked in for winter!
Happy fall gardening,
Farmer Ginger