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recipes, adventures & herbal inspiration

Healing in the Dark

by Krista | Aug 24, 2025 | Spring

Some stories take a long time before they're ready to be brought into the light. They're too raw and devastating, requiring tender, patient care in the darkness before they can be gently eased out into sunshine. This is one of mine. I remember the first time that my...

Soften

by Krista | Jan 2, 2025 | Summer

“When you reach your edge, soften. Soften until you slip through the constraints and can create a new rhythm, a new route, a new release. Water is soft yet powerful. Reach your edge, and soften." Victoria Erickson I read Victoria's words over a year ago and they clung...

A Gentle Rebuilding

by Krista | Jun 4, 2024 | Winter

“I hope you believe that you can still make a beautiful life for yourself even if you lost many years of it to grief, or darkness, or a wound that wouldn't close.” Bianca Sparacino Many things are wondrous to me: love in a cruel world, plants that come back to life...

When Everything is Broken

by Krista | May 19, 2024 | Autumn

"I have been avoiding all society, skulking away at home in a kind of shame. I am staying away from others because...I'm afraid, and I don't have the grace to conceal it." Katherine May, "Wintering" When Bear died, I had no idea how long it would take to be part of...

Until You’re You Again

by Krista | Dec 3, 2023 | Summer

“Keep taking time for yourself until you're you again.” Lalah Delia For a long time after my Bear died last year, I didn't think I'd ever be me again. The day he died, I went into shock. The following days, weeks, and months are a blur to me now, a hazy memory of...

Glimmer Gathering

by Krista | Mar 13, 2023 | Autumn

Shortly after Bear died I found an article that said the opposite of a trigger is a glimmer. Whereas triggers set in motion trauma responses such as fear, pain, anxiety, and panic, glimmers prompt feelings of wonder, connectedness, peace, and joy. The article went on...

Tending

by Krista | Feb 17, 2023 | Summer

I haven't been here for a long time. My beloved Bear died suddenly in October after a brief and brutal battle with cancer. My world collapsed that day, and I needed to pull my borders in close and care for my grief-stricken self. I read once that grief cannot be...

Back from the Brink

by Krista | Jun 23, 2022 | Winter

I love the quiet darkness of winter mornings before the rising sun turns the frosted fields into shimmering gold laced with mist. I wrap cold fingers around my coffee mug and close my eyes, listening to the steady ticking of the cuckoo clock, the rhythmic thumping of...

I Belong To Me

by Krista | May 6, 2022 | Autumn

I spent the first 36 years of my life in a culture that regarded females as belonging to someone else from cradle to grave. From the time a girl was born, she belonged to her father. He decided what she wore, how she behaved, and who she spent time with. He dictated...