an offering to the past & the future

when the end is recycled for the next becoming

Shelves lined with paint in every color.

Folgers coffee and Prince Albert tobacco cans filled with bolts and screws.

A creative shop where sawdust and wood are scattered and set for the next project.

A wormy oak coffee table, a white washed cabinet accented with a leaf stencil, and shelves made of ash and poplar. 

Before | Winter

After | Summer

Pappy’s shop, now lovingly called “The Flower Barn,” has gone through transformation this season — this entry from February offers a reminder of the recent past. The view out the old glass windows still holds the White Pines my grandparents planted decades ago. And now two seasons of summer flowers have bloomed as their neighboring sisters on this land.

What used to be, is still felt here alongside the new adornments — like the deer antlers from decades spent in the woods now embellished with dried flowers. New drop cloths hung as curtains and old wooden ladders hooked on the ceiling where flowers hang to dry, both a remembrance of Pappy’s painting business.

He had a way of mixing paint to create the color and look he wanted, so it was fitting that my husband and I gathered various shades of our leftover white paint and refreshed the walls and work benches.  A new light. 

I meet each turn of the evolving landscape at Forest & Flowers Retreat with a grateful bow to my ancestors and their creations that offered structure for this next evolution.

For their devotion and vision, for their efforts and sacrifice, for the ways they took risks and also said, “thank you.”

To that love that still beams through the cracks of each board laid by their hands.

To the beauty that comes from the patient cocoon of darkness.

To the inspiration swirling in the changing winds.

To each season past, thank you.

To each one who has offered their gifts, thank you.

Like the trees letting go in surrender, leaves falling to the ground and withering as an offering to the soil — embracing the end, and recycled for the next becoming.

I feel your gifts. I honor you. I thank you.

photo by Briana Pontius, Touch of Nature Healing

This new space has already hosted aromatherapy, yoga, and floral workshops. It's also available for private events -- ideal for those wanting a meaningful and elevated experience for gathering their team, a group of friends, or bringing people together for a special celebration. Find out more about upcoming workshops or hosting your own event here.

The natyrë journal is a free publication. If you feel supported by what’s shared here, consider becoming a paid subscriber — you’ll have access to all entries to come, as well as all posts since Spring 2022.