Reflections on August

August is a month of golden light, heavy and slow with heat and (here in the West at least) smoke. It’s filled with honey sweetness of late summer wildflowers and the harvest season. It’s a time to celebrate those amber tones, from making wildflower amber facial serum to save for dry winter skin to crafting ultra-soothing and beautiful honeycomb soap to use in a meaningful hand-washing ritual (or just use as a skin-soothing shower aid!) It’s time to slow down and reflect - to stop and smell the sagebrush and brew up some liquid sunshine to get you through the rough days. It’s also a time to think of our relationships to time and place - how we fit into this beautiful world and the roles we play in the web of life that surrounds us. Making edible fossil cookies and amber candies introduces us gently to entomophagy, a dietary choice as old as time and sustainable enough to stretch far into the future. Making goldenrod cornbread reminds us to stay present and celebrate the golden hues of our native grain: corn. And finally, a glowingly yellow vegetable salad allows us to celebrate those sweet yellow days of late summer and make the most of harvest season, before the wheel of the year turns yet again and leads us into fall.

If you are one of my wonderful Patrons, head on over to your membership area to find a high-quality digital download of July's beautiful mandala for your personal use! If you're not familiar with this program, it's a way for generous like-minded people to support my efforts to share wonder with all of you, for free. I believe in generosity and am so grateful that others do too, otherwise I wouldn't be able to share all of this goodness with you! If you'd like to sign up, you can simply choose an amount to contribute every month and get some lovely goodies (like the mandala download) as thanks for your contribution. 

If you'd like to get this beautiful mandala in another form, please take a look at my Society6 Shoppe! There you can get this lovely design in everything from wall prints to clocks to tote bags to pillows. I get a percentage of the profits to help fund running this blog. Good stuff all around! And doesn't this design look lovely as a cutting board? 

Finally, whether you're a patron or not, I want to thank you for your support this month! Every sweet comment, interesting question, or share on social media means so much to me. I *especially* love it when you try out my recipes and let me know what you think of them! I feel so honored to be part of such a creative, generous, adventuresome, and magic-filled community. I appreciate each and every one of you.