The gift of Elderflower
One thing that inspired me so much about the little place in the Northwoods that I visited and lived for a short period of time, was my friends’ teas. Both of my friends in the Northwoods are Herbalists. Their days in the summer consist quite a bit of hand harvesting berries and mushrooms and herbs that grow wild in nature where they live.
One day, years ago, when I was visiting, I was driving with my friend and about two minutes into our drive she said, “Stop the car!”, and she proceeded to walk about two blocks into the forest to harvest mushrooms…she could sense they were out there. These moments made my heart Sing so full with life, lightness and joy again. I still laugh in the most beautiful ways when I think about those moments.
When we would get together for dinner, we would have fresh wild harvested tea or a special tea from the place that my friend grew up in. One tea that my friend always had was “Fireweed” tea, here’s a link to a video she created about it… https://youtu.be/YViI9hsypjU . When I first drank this tea years ago, I felt so alive. It was a time in my life when I needed a little “fire” energy to get myself moving forward.
After that first cup of Fireweed tea, something awakened and came alive in me with the teas and the herbs. When I’d stay at my friend’s cabin, I would love to open up her cupboard and be in the presence of all of the different teas she had to choose from. As I would put the water on the stove to boil for a fresh cup of tea, I would stand and look out the kitchen window and something profound would happen for me; I would feel in my whole body, this feeling and deep knowing that This is how I want to live.
In the days, weeks and months to come from that first sip of Fireweed tea, I would hand harvest raspberries and make tinctures and teas with my friends. I would bring teas from the Northwoods home with me and touch that place withinside myself as I lived in the city.
Fast forward to this summer of 2025 and I am finding myself hand harvesting plants and flowers from my dear friend’s (who has the cabin in the Northwoods where I would stay) yard in the city here to make tinctures, teas and oils with.
This bunch of Elderflower, that I’m sharing as the photo for this blog post, smelled SO gorgeously amazing. After harvesting this bunch from my friend’s yard, I sat and picked every flower off and put it into a jar to make an Elderflower tincture. I then picked the rest of the flowers off of the other Elderflower bunches that I had harvested and placed them on trays to dry so, just this morning, I could put them in a jar and create an oil with them!
I am slowly living that feeling and deep knowing that used to come over me at my friend’s cabin and also slowly creating a freezer full of hand harvested berries and an area in my home full of tinctures and teas that I’ve made with my own two hands!!
Living this way brings so much joy to my heart. It inspires me to feel so aligned with my true nature and with the profound miracles of the plants and of Life! I feel so grateful for my friends and the plants who inspired me to remember this withinside of myself.
{My Dad is actually also an Herbalist, although he probably would never say that. It’s something sacred that runs through he and I…and our family. This connection with the plants and the knowing of what each plant is…it’s a specific frequency we carry…without even realizing it. When I’m with my Dad and we’re standing close to a field of wild plants, he’ll run his hand through them and in that moment I am always overcome with the feeling of “Yes…THIS…I am Home”.}