winter solstice
"Needle-dark December smells. / She walks with wonder everywhere."
— Muriel Rukeyser, from The Collected Poems; "Christmas Eve,"
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Delighted to be cozied up in the studio over the last few weeks blending oils, pouring balms & candles and sending lots of nourishment for skin + spirit your way as the winter solstice approaches. In the garden, the garlic is tucked in and mulched with leaves, and one round of winter sowing of our native plant seeds is complete. Quiet grounding rituals to re-connect with the energy of the earth, in preparation for rest and renewal.
For our newsletter subscribers this past month, I’ve included one of our frankincense ritual kits as a little gift-with-purchase thank you. A fragrant treat to keep & enjoy or to share. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to hear about upcoming offers. So grateful that you’re here! And now just a few little notes from this month…
reading:
Snow & reserving a copy of this from the library
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listening:
to hot jazz for cold nights and this meditation on craft, plus recent Caroline Shaw
on my list:
a visit to this show, and this one
above from top left:
The most beautiful sustainably sourced honey frankincense from Oman for our kits this season. Truly one of my very favorite seasonal meditations. Each kit comes with enough for four scent rituals, including Japanese bamboo charcoal tablets, gold foils and instructions for putting it all together to release a beautifully fragrant smoke.
Fresh vintage treasures have landed in the shop to accompany your tea rituals, including this lovely piece with handles shaped like a sea shell, and this exquisite floral bone china beauty.
Our rose, cardamom & sandalwood botanical perfume has been the scent of the moment over these last few weeks. Rose steadies the heart as the cold, dark days settle in, while grounding sandalwood and invigorating cardamom warm the spirit.
above:
As much as I love a complex incense blend, lately I’ve been truly appreciating a simpler approach. I’ve been burning the bundle of dried mugwort I brought in from the garden over the summer, alongside sprigs of this beautiful juniper I found at the greenmarket. Now that it is well dried, it crackles nicely lit on a bed of sand, releasing its fragrant smoke.
More from the current vintage collection. I just adore sending these heirlooms off to you to start new lives as vessels of scent.
A very good crop of moonflower seeds this season, I’m tucking them away to start again when the light returns.
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below:
Truly delighted to be having a real winter. A cozy layer of snow is wonderful for our local ecosystems. And a joyful sight in the winter garden.
I’ve been so enjoying the elegance of the winter seedheads this year. From the goldenrod and asters, to these lovely native grasses (just above, right) catching the sunshine during a recent walk up at the Harlem Meer. The plantings there are looking so good these days, I hope you’ll stop by if you have the chance. The winter garden has such a sculptural quality, pared down to its essence. My appreciation for it grows more each year.
Sweetest solstice wishes,
more winter notes
A month for little creature comforts. I saw the planets all in a line on a clear night above the East Village. I looked after the doves of a neighbor, observed the beginning of ramadan with friends. The lunar new year arrived, the year of the snake.