May 2019 Newsletter, The Oregon Lavender Association invites you to enjoy lavender all year round!

Announcements and Events

May 2019

This is an exciting month for lavender lovers and farmers! Our plants are greening up and sending up shoots! We will even see flowers from our featured lavenders this month, Lavandula stoechas, and maybe flowers from the early blooming L. angustifolia varieties, such as French Fields, toward the end of May!

There aren’t any events going on during this month, but June will be packed. Here’s a sneak peek of some June festivals and events so you can get them on your calendar:

Clackamas River Lavender Festival at Eagle Creek Lavender
June 22-23, from 10-4 Join us for our Festival at Eagle Creek Lavender on the Clackamas River. Live music, savory food, U-Pick fresh lavender, gift shop with lavender products, artistic vendors and awesome classic cars on display. A bargain at $5 per car for parking. No pets, please. 27525 SE Starr Rd, Eagle…

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Dandelion Lotion Bars

Dandelions with Bacon or Ham Recipe

A Hundred Years Ago

Each Spring a primordial urge pulls me out of the house –paring knife and bowl in hand– to the weedy natural area at the far edge of my yard. Luscious green dandelion plants peek through the brown leaf-covered grass. The winter has been long and hard, and I desperately need to renew myself. The tender foraged greens are my spring tonic (as they were for my parents and grandparents).

People traditionally ate a very limited selection of foods during the late winter months, and often they were nutrient-deprived by April. Their bodies told them they needed the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants provided by the emerging dandelion leaves.

Since I’m a dandelion connoisseur (Is it possible to be a connoisseur of weeds?) , I was thrilled to find a hundred-year-old recipe for Dandelion with Ham or Bacon.

I made the ham version. The ham bits nicely balanced the slight bitterness of…

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Native foods including rare strains of corn, beans and squash making a comeback

Druidry for the 21st Century: Plant-Based Spiritual Supplies and Global Demand

The Druid's Garden

Can you even imagine druidry without plants or trees? Plants and trees are some of our strongest allies for the work that we do, and are often connected to almost everything that we do spiritually. Plant spirits are teachers, guides, and allies. From before we had recorded history in any culture, the plant spirits were there, growing with us, guiding us, healing us, and supporting us on our journey. Today’s modern druid practice continues that tradition: we burn plants for smoke cleansing, clearing, and helping to energize spaces. We use trees as part of divination and sacred rites. We use plants as healers, for magical healing and physical healing, and to connect with on deep levels. Plants have long been friends of humans–and have long walked beside us, hand in hand, as we do our sacred work. And today, we’ll explore ways we can offer that same kind of honor…

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A Natural Antibiotic: Thyme Oil for Wellness and Cleaning

Good Witches Homestead

Superbugs like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus {MRSA} are on the rise and, unfortunately, are becoming resistant to the drugs used to treat them. When faced with a microbial infection, using natural antibacterial agents may not only be more effective but also safe and risk-free.

Apart from using spices like garlic, I recommend you try essential oils derived from herbs like thyme oil. Not only do they have antibacterial properties, but they also provide a number of health benefits. Before I go into thyme oil’s antimicrobial functions, let me share some information on the essential oil.

What Is Thyme Oil?

Oil of thyme is derived from thyme, also known as Thymus vulgaris. The perennial herb, a member of the mint family, is used in aromatherapy, cooking, potpourri, mouthwashes, and elixirs, as well as added to ointments. Thyme also has a number of medicinal properties, which is due to the herb’s essential…

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Spring Cleaning! The Magical Besom — Gather Victoria

Happy Spring Equinox! Blue skies and blossoms, what a day to welcome the official coming of spring! I was up bright and early today with a mission. To craft one of the most hallowed objects of spring cleaning – the Besom. I’ve been so busy with my cookbook and creating rewards for Patrons, my home…

via Spring Cleaning! The Magical Besom — Gather Victoria

Medicinal and Culinary Uses for the Shy Violet

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

While violets’ delicate blossoms are a treat only for the observant, the plant has enjoyed a long history of medicinal and culinary use.

Leigh Hunt, an English Romantic essayist, and poet is the first known author of the phrase “shrinking violet.” In 1820, he published a passage describing a bit of woodland in The Indicator, a poetry magazine: “There was the buttercup, struggling from a white to a dirty yellow; and a faint-colored poppy; and here and there by the thorny underwood a shrinking violet.”

Hunt was almost certainly referring to the native English, or sweet, violet (Viola odorata). This shy plant can often go unremarked underfoot, and it carries its small, slightly recurved flowers level with or just below its leaves. The phrase “shrinking violet” took a few decades to catch on — but when it did, it spread rapidly, much as its parent plant does…

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The Plant Medicine Summit March 18-22, 2019

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Free Online Event
The Plant Medicine Summit
March 18-22, 2019

In our fast-paced culture, we’re becoming increasingly disconnected from nature.

And in doing so, we’re losing touch with our symbiotic relationship with the plant kingdom… a vast life-giving resource for healing our bodies, balancing our emotions, and awakening our consciousness.

Our environment is suffering too. As a result of our failure to recognize our biological and spiritual connection with the natural world, destructive agricultural practices, and climate change are destroying the Earth’s ecosystems.

However, as you’ll discover during the eye-opening sessions in The Plant Medicine Summit, by honoring plants as our sacred evolutionary allies, we have great potential to heal not only ourselves but our beautiful planet as well.

Esteemed speakers joining for this life-changing, 5-day event include our host, David Crow, plus, Mark Blumenthal, K.P. Khalsa, Lupo Passero, Pam Fischer, Sara Crow, Nicholas Schnell, and many others.

Here’s just a small…

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