Virgo

Happy Birthday to me!

I'll be sitting round a fire later with a Woodchuck cider in hand, friends around, stars above.

Be Blessed, Y'all!

Oh, and iffin you haven't, go and LIKE my shop, Pixies Pocket, on Facebook!  

When I reach 100 likes, I will host my FIRST BLOG GIVEAWAY!

There will be....dum dum dum....free honey....oh yeah!

*confetti* WHOO HOOO!!!

New: Pixies Pocket Mailing List

Hear ye, hear ye!  The Pixies Pocket now has a mailing list...join to receive special offers and updates. I won't post more than a couple of newsletters per year, most likely, so don't worry about me spamming your inbox. (Hee hee...that sounds kind of dirty...)

Ahem. Anyways.  This is all you have to do...insert email address, pick a format (or not) and click Subscribe below:

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Promo on PixiesPocket.com!

For those of you who might not be following me on Facebook or Twitter (and why the hell not?!)

please note that there is a 

BRAND NEW COUPON CODE

being featured on Pixies Pocket right now!

Enter PIXIEFB during checkout for 10% off of your next purchase!

Offer expires August 25, 2011

(That's this Friday, y'all!)

Rambling About Recycled Candles

Candles and Image by Amber Shehan

Making candles is fun, but candle-remaking is cathartic.

Bit by bit, I drop memories in the form of wax drippings into a pot resting over boiling water. As the bits of colors swirl and mesh, I remember when and for what purpose that candle was burned. This was a blessing for our new home - and this, this next stripe of yellow is from the candle that burned during our anniversary dinner...

My fingers and clothing are rough and speckled with wax, for I am a clumsy and hasty girl. I get myself wound up tight and I start to spin, swirling and melting into my craft like the flecks and flickers of candles from last years journeys now pooling before me.

I pour the wax into waiting jars, layers of my memories building tacky rainbows with which to light my nights.

If you are a packrat like I am and you save your candle stubs, send them in to me and I will create recycled candles. I use milk cartons, so they are rougher than a brand new candle, but they will burn longer since they have been melted once before. The cost depends on the amount of wax and cost of shipping.

Holy Peat Fires, Batman...

Severe Thunderstorm warning...aaaaah.....I keep sending thoughts of rain from here in Asheville up the mountains and into the Dismal Swamp up in Virginia, where peat fires are raging since the beginning of the month.  Lightning strikes, and sets aflame the layers of turf and the old, dead trees.  The peat fire can burn underground, virtually undetectable, until it flares forth when it runs into clumps of dried grass or methane pockets from decayed animals.

I love my new home in the mountains, but that there burning swamp still owns a portion of my heart and soul.  Knowing that the fires are chasing out the wildlife that makes that green spot on the map a home makes me tremble, knowing that bears and deer will soon be filling the roads and farmers' fields is upsetting.  The human civilization footprint is huge...there are so few sanctuaries left and the swamp ecosystem is already compromised.  And now she's burning.  So I've been touchy.

I keep looking at the rain falling outside of my window and being so thankful and yet so sad.  There is a terrible famine in Africa, worldwide temperature fluctuations are making the wet places burn, and the shifts are so rapid...

This too must pass.

Breathe.

Poem: August Today

August Today

What is this on the wind, this scent that stirs my soul?
There is a feeling riding it that's been more than ten years gone.
It smells like warmth, and rain, and something more
that I just can't put my finger on.

I want to buy a pint, and face the setting sun;
drink deeply, close my eyes and let it come tumbling in;
the rays, days, smells, tastes, every little thing
that drifts upon this wind.

I raise my glass again, all the better for the knowing
that change may come with swinging staves and reap a hefty toll.
The wind tumbles over and pulls the sun with it,
bathing me in gold.

Copyright August 9, 2011 - Amber Shehan

August 2011, Rambling On...

Visit my shop to see what's in stock!

Howdy, folks!

I've been busy lately, as is appropriate at this time of year for me...July to August always finds me scampering and starting to manage the first harvest of my yard and garden.

My days have also been spent with a dear friend looking to relocate to the area.  We showed her around, let her loose to explore, and spent way too many dollars out at places like The Thirsty Monk and Barley's Taproom and local sushi joints!

For those of you who didn't catch it, check out my Queen Anne's Lace Jelly post that was featured on Punk Domestics!

The Pixies Pocket is represented with a storefront at Poppyswap.com...a site for herbalists to sell their wares, including tea blends, wildcrafted and organically grown herbs, beauty care and more. My honey isn't listed there, but the beautiful dried flowers and leaves from my yard's yarrow is listed for sale by the ounce. PoppySwap also has a great and growing community section for chatting with other herbalists!

They are also working with Mountain Rose Herbs and their upcoming festival, Rootstalk!  To promote the partnership, Poppyswap is hosting a Giveaway until the end of the day on Friday, August 5th, 2011.

Just to remind you all, you can follow @PixiesPocket on Twitter and like Pixies Pocket on Facebook, too.  Between this blog and those social networks, I manage to say something every now and then, but not too often.  I'm just too busy living life and working on my myriad of projects.

Yesterday I harvested the flowering tops of wormwood to dry, and then grind into a powder to sprinkle in the chicken coop to arm against fleas.  Some will also go directly onto the chicken in a blend with dried and powdered rosemary and catnip to help keep the angry buggies at bay.  (Rosemary will also go onto the chicken, plucked and stewed, if she doesn't start laying again soon!)

I will keep everyone updated with my projects as they proceed...what are you up to in your home and garden now that it is August?