The Flower Moon

This last weekend was the full moon in what Annette Hinshaw calls the Mating Moon. Many other calendars call this the Flower Moon. When you think about it, that's one in the same, no? Flowers may be beautiful and smell divine, but those are just by products of a flowers real purpose - mating. Making more. More plants, more flowers, more life.

There are a hundred million ways to bring the magic of flowers into your life. The most simple is, of course, to collect flowers and bring them home. The flowers have been fantastically beautiful in Portland recently. The tulips and daffodils are gone but in their place are screaming azeleas and rhododendrons, lilacs and wisteria, poppies, daisies, bluebells and a million wild and garden flowers I don't know the names of. I've taken to collecting neighborhood flowers on my evening dog walks and creating beautiful bouquets for my table. My favorite flowers recently have been the irises. The purple ones are most common in my neighborhood but one yard has fantastic "chocolate" irises that are a deep mahogony red brown.

Another way to utilize the magic of flowers is to eat them. My dad's chive plant has been blossoming and I've been adding those flowers, along with wild mustard flowers to my salads. Rianna of These Days in French Life has many recipes that include flowers like elderflower fritters and sauteed holyhock buds. Plantainpixie made violet infused vinegar and We'moon in the Woods tried her hand at dandelion wine. Learning to identify and use edible flowers is a powerful way to bring their magic into our lives. And it is tasty!

Another way to bring the power of flowers into your life is to think about pollination and pollinators. In a Calendar Companion email a week ago Waverly Fitzgerald invited us to "consider what resources, what partnerships might pollinate your desires." It can be hard to ask for help, but the old saying two heads are better than one usually is a truism. How can bringing outside ideas and influences into your life help make your life more fruitful? What can we do to make ourselves more attractive to those who can spread our message or bring us messages from afar? I'm feeling a little stagnant in my personal life these days and the encouragement to make myself willing and open to cross polination has been timely.

What flowers are blossoming in your garden and in your life? How are you taking the messages of flowers, generally or individually, into your life? What's your favorite edible flower?