Field Notes

Been struggling with feelings of writing burnout since Saturday. I decided to take a total break from NaNo, which I hoped would reset the burnout, but I was still struggling with it yesterday. So I guess unfortunately I am another two days behind in NaNo. At this rate, I don't know if I'm going to win, but I also don't want to hate this grimoire by the time it's done. It just sucks that I'm on such an intense deadline for it. But when I do take time off, the writing is ultimately better. 

I distracted myself yesterday with ... plants!

My indoor rosemary plant is officially dead (and I've harvested it for other use), my money tree has needed to be repotted for MONTHS, and Anais's orchid is desperately trying to escape its pot.
I wish I had time to work on more plant stuff today (esp repotting). Now that it's getting into "all of the outside plants are dead" season, I need some more houseplants in here - especially since a couple of them have recently passed on. 

At least with the rosemary, I can repurpose it into the herb wands I'm creating for my students. 

I'm excited about this wand recipe. I'm not using white sage or palo santo, because they are overused and not in my own tradition. Instead, I'm using the following: 

Cedar
Rosemary
Mugwort

All wrapped around Frankincense and Myrrh resin. 

It's a wand that's meant to assist in the process of death and rebirth, as well as setting sacred space. 

I went over to a friend's house to harvest some of his cedar, and I got about five wands wrapped yesterday (I'm planning to make 10). I'm SO curious to see how they burn! Mugwort and Rosemary both burn super hot, but cedar and resins obviously burn really slowly, so I'm hoping there's a good balance. 

I also finally made the anti-cold-sore oil I made over the summer into an ointment. I've put some in a chapstick tube, and the rest in a sealed jar, and I've still got some of the oil leftover. My next herbalism purchase needs to be a scale, so that I can weigh out measurements properly and get the right quantities of cocoa butter vs. beeswax vs. ointment. But those don't need to be expensive - I can probably find one for $20. 

Anyway, herbs! Yay!