The gloomy winter weather is slowly passing us by, and here on the Outer Cape I am admiring the blossoming & budding trees and cheerfully welcoming the yellow beauty of dandelions, daffodils, pansies and forsythias.  Year after year, I am in absolute awe as every part of the ecosystem wakes up.  The peepers and the returning birds provide the most exquisite sounds as a backdrop to the trees reflourishing, shoots bursting out of the ground, and people slowly emerging from their winter slumber.  Give the Earth some gentle tending, rainfall, warm winds and sunlight...waaLa…she sings and blooms!  

Like so many of my neighboring growers and gardeners, my spring mind is buzzing with a litany of tasks.  Daylight hours are now spent spraying indoor seedlings, cleaning out the garden beds, moving around compost & manure, and thoughtfully planting particular seeds outside.  Alongside garden activities, my kids and I have been busy plucking cleavers for tea, nettles for soups & pestos, and young dandelion greens for salad.  Stuffing my face with chickweed, adding chives to each meal, and picking as many violets to nibble on brings me absolute delight.  The movement and spring nourishment definitely encourages a gentle awakening of the body’s organs and lymphatic system after the slower rhythms of winter.  Hello, body; hello, spring.          

With this season comes all the preparations gearing up for the season of local farmers’ markets!  Wild Blossoms Apothecary will be selling fresh batches of salves, syrups, tea & spice blends at the three Outer Cape farmers’ markets.  Each medicinal product is joyfully made in small batches by me exclusively using wild-crafted plants and mushrooms or locally-cultivated organically-grown herbs.  Every other ingredient used to make medicine, such as beeswax, honey, olive oil, etc. is thoughtfully sourced from local growers or regenerative organic farms.  My family and I wildcraft here on Cape Cod or elsewhere in New England, always with tremendous respect and consideration of the local ecosystem.  Chaga, for example, is consciously harvested from old-growth birch forests in New Hampshire and Maine.  Please be sure to check out Wellfleet Farmers’ Market, Truro Farmers’ Market, and Provincetown Farmers’ Markets for opening dates and the weekly hours.  We are looking forward to seeing you there!