Garden Plum
Welcome to the gardenplum.com healing blog. Read here for thoughts and inspirations about the collective consciousness of the world as we grow and develop through these changing times. Spirituality, herbal healing, the law of attraction, prophecy, abundance and prosperity- delightful creations and thoughts gather here.Archive for 1
Thinking of Money as Blood in a Local Economy
“When money is spent at a big supermarket, it flows out like a wound”
I was quoted recently in the Concord Monitor’s Whats in a Local Market which was an article on the Weare Farmers Market. In the article, it did not include the complete quote and so the concept fell a little short and I wanted to reiterate it here:
“Money is like blood. It needs to keep moving around to keep the economy going,” he (David Boyle) says, noting that when money is spent elsewhere—at big supermarkets, non-locally owned utilities and other services such as on-line retailers—”it flows out, like a wound.”
http://www.time.com.
When money stays within the same area, and gets spent over and over again, it bolsters the economic health of that area.
Sometimes in small town economies, people can develop certain stigmas about a local proprietor. It can be as simple as mentioning someone’s sandwich was bad or someone is having financial difficulty. If you take these comments to heart, you can soon find yourself unable to buy anything local and that’s not good!
Communication, good service & a commitment to buying local is key.
50% Off Sale PLUS free Susan Seddon Boulet Print with Every Order!
Now through the end of March, we are having a spring cleaning inventory reduction sale! We are offering 50% off everything in the store, excluding sale items, consignment items, flower essences, soaps, bulk herbs and teas.
There is a lot to choose from: Stones, books, sage… stop in and see! We also have a large selection of sterling silver jewelry, clear quartz spheres, oracle cards, essential oils, greeting cards and more!
Also, with your order you may choose one Susan Seddon Boulet image from her prior year calendars while supplies last. Many beautiful selections including the one pictured here.
Please stop by and enjoy your savings! If you are not local and would like to take advantage of the sale, since it is for items in-stock only, please call for details and we can process your order over the phone!
NEED SOME IDEAS? HERE ARE SOME PICS:
We are located in Weare NH and are open Monday-Friday, 9-5. Here are google directions.
Waking up From a Dream, Seeing Truth in Strange Places
There is a lot of talk recently about knowing where your food comes from. But what does that really mean? I was hit with this really nice, simple example recently in the grocery store. These products appeared side by side:
Kate’s Butter, made in Maine, with natural sea salt for $3.48
vs.
Land O’ Lakes, made in Minnesota, and made with table salt for $3.79.
Look at my cat Gephetto… she is saying “hey stupid ya finally get it huh?”. Look at her practically rolling her eyes.
Its true and so simple… our food model over the last 40 years has consisted of high volume packaging, corporately funded selling through our televisions, and high volume shipping and long distance freight trucking. And a beautiful truth hit me in aisle 12. “Kate really needs my money for her cows. Land O’ Lakes, Inc., sold $12+ BILLION (not million!) dollars in 2008 and guess where their profits were returned to? “The Members“.
I think LOL (funny acronym!) can do without my support and so can Wall St. These corporate type food producers put our farmers out of business – but not in this case as Kate’s butter was cheaper! Shame on you Land O’ Lakes for your high butter prices with cheaper ingredients!”
Of course, I bought Kate’s Butter with glee and was happy to see major grocery stores beginning to carry local products.
Keep it light & enjoy your weekend!
Wendy
The Environmental Footprint: Shopping online vs. instore
Yes!
Dr. Mercola published an article today that shopping in-store can have up to a 50 time larger carbon footprint than shopping on-line!
The studies, conducted by MindClick GSM and Carnegie Mellon University’s Green Design Institute, site “Typically retailers have products shipped from a distributor to a regional warehouse, and then distributed to individual stores. This requires not only extra energy but also extra packaging. Customers then drive to and from the store, and take their purchases home in another package, typically a plastic bag.”
Back in 2001, when I started Gardenplum.com, I wrote about its’ impact, envisioning the reduction in strip mall development, the reduction of big malls, and all of these factors being gentler to the earth. Its really rewarding to go back and read my words from almost a decade ago:
Plum Philosophy. Here are the points I observed about how much online shopping could reduce environmental impact:
1) Omit the gas & oil used to drive.
2) Omit the pollution omitted from the muffler of the vehicle.
3) Omit the money spent on the gas.
4) Avoid hazardous driving conditions & unwelcome weather.
5) Omit the chance of a motor vehicle accident.
6) By visiting retail stores less often, it decreases the demand to build more retail stores, which has a direct positive impact on sprawl. (Sprawl is the new construction of buildings, wherein the buildings ‘sprawl’ across the land like a destructive machine.)
Our local mall, The Steeplegate Mall, in Concord, just filed for bankruptcy. The on-line industry has surely had an impact in commercial development and building strip malls and tarred parking lots. The outlook for Mother Earth is definitely looking brighter every day!
When I was a small child… I drew a conveyor belt factory type object where food appeared in a magical box in the kitchen… and later saw a version of this on Stark Trek
and the Jetsons
where the food just appeared after a few buttons were pushed…
Perhaps an organic version of this is that our food will be just outside our door… in our newly designed sustainable gardens and greenhouses.
I remember both of my grandmothers talking about the single cow they had that they milked. Or the canning they used to do, and how they hated it. Between my grandmother’s generation and mine, something went seriously seriously wrong with our food chain… we developed some of the unhealthiest foods in the 70′s and 80′s, as if we were running from farms and a natural way of living as fast as we could. To get to something better. I would like to continue to get to something better… by going back. The government agrees with me, as the USDA recently claimed that our food chain is unsustainable. Local farming needs to be re-established, here it is right out of the USDA’s mouth.
Shall we shoot for 2020?
Related Links: Hoop House Grants Now Available – Winter Gardens
Reiki Shares – Commitment to Energetic Housekeeping
I invite you to join in a regular dedication to self care with other Reiki attuned friends and healers as much as you can. We will offer reiki shares from time to time at Garden Plum Herbals.
PREREQUISITE
* Must be reiki attuned or email info@gardenplum.com
50 Things to Know About Reiki
1. Dazed and confused? Reiki lets the sun rise again.
2. Have you abandoned the pilothouse? Reiki will help you captain your life again.
3. Have you lost yourself? Reiki will locate and return you.
4. Looking for your true North? Reiki will point the way.
5. Reiki alerts you to your blind spots.
6. Reiki boosts belief and patience.
7. Reiki brings all parts of you to the table.
8. Reiki develops your inner mettle and helps you wield it gently.
9. Reiki eliminates why me, why this, why now and accesses abiding qualities.
10. Reiki fills all the empty places inside.
11. Reiki helps you come home to yourself.
12. Reiki helps you dissociate from bad relationships.
13. Reiki helps you drop from your head to your heart.
14. Reiki helps you listen for peace.
15. Reiki helps you listen for silence.
16. Reiki helps you listen to life.
17. Reiki helps you listen to others.
18. Reiki helps you listen to yourself.
19. Reiki helps you value your relationship with yourself first.
20. Reiki is a personal GPS.
21. Reiki is a unifier.
22. Reiki is a way of seeing deeper.
23. Reiki is brain sex with life.
24. Reiki is life’s ultimate RSS.
25. Reiki is that relationship between you and every atom of life!
26. Reiki is the art of loving.
27. Reiki is the best bubble bath EVER!
28. Reiki is unconditional.
29. Reiki is wholesome.
30. Reiki IS.
31. Reiki joins heart and mind.
32. Reiki joins intent and execution.
33. Reiki joins psyche and soma.
34. Reiki joins purpose and actualization.
35. Reiki joins rational and creative.
36. Reiki keeps the heart & mind steady.
37. Reiki leads to energy integrity.
38. Reiki leads to wholeness.
39. Reiki lets you know your value is real and true.
40. Reiki looks inside & makes adjustments.
41. Reiki looks with you at difficulties.
42. Reiki loves all.
43. Reiki moves you from being in relationship pain, to being in relationship.
44. Reiki neutralizes time.
45. Reiki opens gateways of perception that are authentic and stay open.
46. Reiki purifies body, mind and soul.
47. Reiki removes mental clouds.
48. Reiki sees the unseen.
49. Reiki silences an overzealous inner critic.
50. Reiki sparks creativity.
Are you Skittish? Rosemary Flower Essence
Are you a skittish person? Do loud noises make you jump? Have you had a trauma or tragedy in your life that makes you feel as though you would *always* rather be somewhere else? These types of behaviors could indicate that your soul is physically out of your body. And thats not really a beneficial place for you to be! Many times in life, when we fear for our lives or experience trauma, our soul literally leaves the body out of fear.
Rosemary Flower Essence brings you back into your body, fully and completely, so that you can enjoy life to the fullest. So that the endless skittish or concern that you are in danger can end. Finally!
Just like when you eat fresh rosemary and you feel a warming sensation, when you ingest it in flower essence form, it gives the soul a warming sensation and coaxes you fully back into your body.
I was recently making a batch, and had some leftover. I decided rather than waste the Mother Essence, I would take a gulp. Boy was I surprised what happened next! Sometimes we dont’ even know if we are fully in our bodies or not! Friend me on FaceBook to join in…
For Those Parents Who Follow Their Gut. YES!!! Love Those Kids!
I Love Parents Who Think Outside of the Box!
“People often think that children who can be easily guided, who always do what is asked of them, and who are easily compliant are very good children. But children who have minds of their own- who don’t want to go along with the ideas of others- are often regarded as troublesome and difficult. Problems do not usually arise until their own life experience has caused them to put things in their own Vibrational Escrow (that they are being called toward) and then someone else in their life tries to keep them from following that calling. Most of the struggle between parents and children exists because parents are not willing to allow their children to live the lives that the children have come forth to live…”
This is an excerpt from:
I wholeheartedly agree with this excerpt from Jerry and Esther Hicks in The Astonishing Power of Emotions. Children these days are becoming more and more confident in their knowing. They come to the world full of their own wisdom, and they sure are sure of that! I just wanted to give a word of encouragement… for those parents whose child consistently refuse to go into a certain store, or who refuse to let anyone else win, or gravitate to the animals, or tractors… Go With Your Gut! Nurture and nourish. Go inside and keep tapping your own parenting wisdom and don’t listen to the opinions of others.
Happy Friday!
Thunderstorms: Interpretations from Native America
Today Thunderstorms are forecasted to move across our state here in New Hampshire. To my pleasant surprise, this morning I pulled the Power Place card from Jamie Sam’s Sacred Path Cards.
Here is what the card talked about:
The Thunder-beings re-energize our Earth mother, since she is magnetic in nature, through the gift of lightning. The Fire Sticks, or lightning, find their way to the areas that have been drained of energy through overuse or human consumption. That is to say our bodies are fed from the electromagnetic energy of our Mother’s surface. That same energy can be renewed through Fire Sticks touching her body.
Jamie often speaks about our Earth Mother, being connected to her, walking in beauty, and honoring Earth. So today I am celebrating the electromagnetic rejuvenation that I will witness with glee! Wishing you all rejuvenating fire sticks, water, and a replenishing of resources in your area. Give your blessings to the earth and she will answer you.
Happy Home
Our most recent creation which will premier today at the Farmers’ Market, is a delightful little yellow package of good smells and happy sentiments. With the ingredients combined, this little container will bring good cheer to more than just one of the human senses.
Ingredients include baking soda, Organic lemon peel, Organic Peppermint, Organic Lemongrass Essential Oil, Organic Cardamom Seed, Wildcrafted White Sage, and Iris Flower Essence.
Smells wonderful, has drying properties, sparks creativity. As clearly as the name states, its makes the Home a Happy one! Come and try the tester at the market or order on-line.
Witnessing the Breaking of Spirit
I was out with my family eating at Friendly’s restaurant last weekend. Sitting next to us were a mother and daughter, the mother was in her forties and the daughter was probably around 6 years old. The little girl had bright blue eyes and she was very happy and they were laughing and conversing.
The mother even got her daughter a hot fudge sundae, I had made eye contact with the little girl several times and she was full of delight!
Towards the end of the meal, the daughter had gotten bored (and probably had a huge sugar high) and was using her spoon to try and cut a crayon in half. The mother said “Don’t cut the crayon in half.” The daughter continued playing with her crayon and spoon, humming, and didn’t appear to have heard her mother.
The mother reached over and smacked the daughter’s hand hard and said “I told you not to cut the crayon.”
The daughter flinched from the heavy handed smack, (I admit I jumped a little) and spilled her hot fudge sundae and immediately started crying and screaming “It’s all your fault! Its YOUR fault!”
The mother calmly stated, “No, its both our faults. I told you not to cut the crayon.” The daughter continued crying and whining and really just didn’t understand what just happened.
This mother just removed I would say ALL, if not almost ALL trust between herself and her child. Do you agree?
My question is… why didn’t the mother explain why the daughter should not cut the crayon? So many assumptions were made on the Mother’s part. (One of the main chapters in the Four Agreements book is “Don’t Make Assumptions”).
The daughter just learned a very important lesson that will be deeply rooted in her psyche and it goes like this:
“People who love me WILL suddenly lash out and hit me for no reason”…and when it happens in her adult life it will feel vaguely familiar and she will accept it.
I think its imperative that everyone read The Four Agreements, it speaks about this kind of Conditioning illustrated in the story. This isn’t abuse in the current eyes of the law… I call it “spiritual abuse”. Its subtle and usually the abuser is completely unaware of what they are doing, they are unconscious.
This is not a new concept for most of us, its just a really strong and deep issue that could help us all raise a better generation. Its the subtleties in life that are so important to individual peace.
_______________________
See also FLOWER ESSENCE MARIPOSA LILY:
Betrayal from the Mother, lack of nurturing from the Mother.
