Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit!

March 2022, Newsletter

Mar 05, 2022

“Dear March—Come in—
How glad I am—
I hoped for you before—
Put down your Hat—
You must have walked—
How out of Breath you are—
Dear March, how are you, and the Rest—
Did you leave Nature well—
Oh March, Come right upstairs with me—
I have so much to tell—”

From Dear March, Come in by Emily Dickinson

Happy Almost Spring everyone!

First and foremost, if you’re receiving this in your inbox today it’s because you’ve become a subscriber since I released this dream of mine. I can’t thank you enough for helping me make it come true. When it comes to gardening, herbs, canning and preserving, making food of all kinds, seasonal celebrations, family, home life, wellness and beauty, I love to share my experiences and tell some simple and romantic stories that offer you a good excuse to pause for a moment and enjoy a quick and enjoyable break in your day. As a free subscriber at the beginning of each month you will receive a newsletter like this and then 3 more times a month you’ll receive an email from me with a current article and links to things I’ve done on my site.

So keep your eye out for more great stories. All subscribers will get some of them, but if you want to get all of them, you can upgrade your subscription easily! If you love what you’re reading, please consider sharing it with your friends!

Again, thank you so much. This newsletter is for all subscribers.

Now let’s welcome March and hopefully soon, the arrival of Spring!

So I’m wondering? Did anyone ever teach you to say “Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit“ for good luck when you opened your eyes on the 1st of every month? It must be spoken out loud and if possible, the first thing said at the very beginning of the month to ensure that good luck follows you all the way through! If you’re just learning about this for the first time, have no fear, you can still do it now, it’s not too late! This old British custom is such a fun thing to do with your children and grandchildren. Of course we could never prove that it really brings good luck. But seriously, what could it hurt!

Speaking of children, coming soon will be a series of Magical Herbalism, Herb Craft, Storytelling, and Gardening conversations that I am creating specifically for the children in your life. The world is so complicated and difficult right now for our young ones, and there’s so much that they don’t understand. My goal is to bring them a wee bit of love, creativity, and magic a few times a month. A simple treat that they’ll look forward to, with fun, safe, and successful herb & gardening crafts to try with you.

Nature is my muse, and passing on my love of it is one of the things I absolutely live for. There are so many ways to celebrate the turning of the wheel each year, so many fresh foods to be foraged, herb teas to be made, and flowers to be picked, making simple salves and sugar scrubs. Every season has it’s own special flavor, magic and rhythm, and I’m looking forward to sharing them all with you and your dear ones.

In Cleveland, we are so very lucky to have innovative chefs like Jeremy Umansky who really get the link between our natural world and great food. His restaurant, Larder, is simply wonderful! A traditional European delicatessen serving the most intelligent farm to table food that I’ve eaten anywhere, a foragers dream restaurant. You haven’t lived until you’ve eaten his fried chicken sandwich along with his fries and koji fermented vegetables.

It was the last meal I ate before everything shut down from COVID and I intend to go eat it again this weekend, possibly adding some kind of dessert like a creampuff, apple dumpling or piece of cheesecake. I’ll be the one rolling down West 29th, but I’ll be smiling!

As a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier Cleveland, I’m so proud that Cleveland Dame Elaine Cicora will be hosting a virtual evening with Jeremy on Monday March 14th where they will be guiding us through a fascinating conversation about foraging and fermenting. It’s going to be wonderful and You can read about it here!

So, when I made the decision to recreate my online life, I did so for one really important reason. My social media life was keeping me from actually writing and creating; I’m wondering if any of you can relate to that? Coincidentally at the same time I began noticing this (picture above is Brian Johnson from Optimize.me) I signed up for two programs that actually have helped me hone in and focus on my true passions. As a result, I have embarked upon a year long journey to become certified as an Optimize Coach, the program run by Brian Johnson, Author of Philosophers Notes and CEO of the new startup Heroic.

My life has become full of what he calls daily +1 (plus one) actions — small but intentional steps that move us in the direction of the best version ourselves. I’m learning to create my life exactly as I’ve always wanted it, one step at a time, and I can’t wait to share what I’m learning with all of you. What I’ve discovered is we all have big dreams, but most of us get stopped so easily, whether by life or our own emotions. I’m learning some very simple, practical and powerful strategies to help confront these barriers, transforming them into actionable steps that help make life rock! If any of this resonates with you, please check out Brian and his work here!

The other thing that happened at almost the exact same time was that my niece Kacy texted me and said, “Aunt Beth, you need to join my friend Kathryn’s online Yoga group, Haus of Phoenix, because it’s amazing!” The first thing to know is that I hurt myself pretty badly in a Yoga class many years ago and I never looked back. That being said, my niece is incredibly persistent. Three days later she texted and said, “Ok, if you won’t do full on Yoga yet, you need to join us on “The Coven Pass.“ I couldn’t resist. First of all, I knew she wasn’t going to stop bugging me until I joined her. Second, I was completely intrigued and now I’m so very glad I took the leap.

Kathryn Budig is an amazing instructor who teaches Yoga with the perfect blend of love, humor, sage wisdom and more than a little bit of magic. The Coven Pass has been singlehandedly the most powerful gift I’ve given myself in a very long time.

Each month I celebrate the New and Full moons online with this remarkable group of women using a blend of ritual and yogic practice. For me, these moon rituals have become my North Star, a powerful point twice a month that helps me focus my intentions and desires. I build a special altar, light candles, and make my dreams for the month known to the universe! All this while shedding layers of emotional residue and physical pain through a beautiful practice of movement, introspection, intention and breathe-work. I’ve begun to love movement again, and I’ve been blending Kathryn’s particularly creative form of Yoga with the 5Rhythms dance that I learned over 20 years ago when studying with Gabrielle Roth.

If you have any desire to study Yoga, meditation and movement with a dedicated and knowledgeable teacher, whose sparkling personality literally jumps through your screen, please consider joining us at The Haus of Phoenix.

Both of these new practices have been a real blessing in my life, especially this winter, which has been very cold, gray and full of really tough news. As a result of putting new practices like this in place, remarkable things are happening in my life. For example, I finally have gotten focused on my writing life, including a new book I’m writing that I’m calling Roses for Beauty, Flavor & Fragrance.

I’ve also begun to focus on my health and wellbeing in a whole different way. This looks very different than it did in my 50’s when I thought that I still had unlimited trips around the sun. What I’ve begun to realize in my 60’s is that I’ve never had unlimited trips, and that it’s time to make the most of everyday.

Upon turning 62 I began feeling sad and resigned, aware that the vitality that I’d once taken for granted was just not as easy for me to tap into. I began to lament my silver hairs and my lost youth and for the first time in my life I started looking backwards instead of forwards. Even putting on perfume began to be a chore. If you know me personally, you know that I love my closet full of vintage perfumes. That’s the moment when I knew that something needed to change.

My husband Jim, who is a bit of a cognitive science nerd, looked at me one day in late November and said, “You know, you’d probably feel a lot better if you put yourself on some sort of a schedule.“ Being me, I pouted about it for a bit and resisted it a lot, looking on jealously as my husband got even more done than usual AND had plenty of time for fun, rest and relaxation. He’s a bit of a bio-hacker who uses his Apple watch and Oura ring to track everything going on in his body.

So I gave in, thank the Goddess. I began by putting a few simple things into place, mostly because it was easier to give in than fight it! At first they felt odd and contrived, but now my body and mind are in love with the new rhythms.

Every night we have our dinner around 5:30 pm. We always sit down and eat a light supper at the dining room table with candlelight and music. Often we’ll wind down together by watching an episode of one of our favorite shows (right now we’re completely addicted to All Creatures Great and Small and Ted Lasso!) and sipping on some warm homemade golden milk. We are usually in bed now by 8:30, no later than 9:00. My iPhone is set on “do not disturb” mode from 7:00 on, with the exception of a small list of people who can contact me whenever they need to, and I get up every morning now around 4:30. The first thing I do is meditate for about 20 minutes and then I go downstairs and make myself a cup of tea and more often than not I put some whole grain cereal into the slow cooker. (See the details for making it here!)

After that its back to bed with my tea, a book or my laptop, and Rowan and Frodo, my two silly cats. I’ve begun to notice a real difference in my mood and I just feel so much better. I’ve also begun to lose a few extra pounds as a result of finally getting enough sleep. As I type, I’m drenched in a lovely Sisley fragrance called Soir de Lune, in honor of the beautiful new March moon. This pleasure of once again enjoying perfume may be the thing I’m most grateful for!

This is my winter schedule, my way of hibernating. I’ve discovered that getting the right amount of sleep and the right kind of sleep is paramount to my wellbeing. I’m fairly sure that in the spring and summer it may get pushed out a bit, as the days lengthen and I’m spending all of my time in the garden, but I’m firmly committed to keeping my body in a more natural rhythm so the actual schedule will stay the same. I’m not perfect about this, and from time to time I can still be found scrolling through Instagram at 3:00 am, but I am so grateful that’s much less of the norm.

I am mentioning this because I’ve noticed that the last two years have been so depleting for so many of us. Our bodies have been in a constant state of fight or flight between the stresses of daily living, climate change, COVID and the resulting fallout and politics. We have so much that we’re being bombarded with. The one thing that we have the most control over is ourselves and the way we choose to live our life with the time that is ours to manage. It seems counterintuitive but managing my body rhythms this way gives me more energy to manage my moods, freeing me up to enjoy expressing myself in the ways that I love, through cooking, writing, gardening, movement and love.

Speaking of gardening? Have you started your microgreens yet? How about some seeds? I’ve got two trays started that will be full of arugula, basil, chard, pea shoots and a mellow blend of lettuces.

Growing microgreens is such a good way to feel like you’re back in the garden even during these cold winter months, and you can easily do this indoors. These baby greens are fabulous in sandwiches, salads, or sprinkled onto soup or pizza. Plus, they’re really just so good for you!

Even better yet? When you grow them yourself, it costs so much less than when you buy a small box of them in the grocery store. You can buy microgreen blend seeds online and start them easily in seed trays with an organic blend of potting soil. Put them by your sunniest window and water them well every 3-4 days ( more if your house is dry), misting the soil in between waterings.

If you need extra light for them that’s easy too. Get an inexpensive tall lamp with three sockets and three grow light bulbs. Focus the grow lights on the seed trays for about 6 hours a day. That’s all you need to harvest nutritious and delicious microgreens all winter long! Once you harvest them, you can’t reuse the soil, so use it to fill up some outdoor containers in place of brand new soil.

I promise that there’s nothing like this project to banish the midwinter blues. Even though we’re closer to spring there’s no reason that you can’t start a couple of trays now. Your children will love this too because it’s such a simple way to get into the spirit of gardening season, even while there’s still snow on the ground!

Looking at my life through this lens helps me live in the seasonal way that I so enjoy. This provides some rejuvenating rest in the fall and winter, creating more time and energy for doing the things that I love all spring and summer long — like gardening, harvesting, preserving & CELEBRATING!

Won’t you join me?

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