Today is a special day. Two good friends are tying the knot. I get to participate in blessing them with the gift of flowers! No wedding can have enough flowers. Up early to get ahead of the heat and fill five gallon buckets with whatever said, “pick me!”. The morning sun cast long shadows and made everything sparkle with vibrancy.
Once again I was captivated thinking about my Creator God. “Oh Lord, how many and varied are Your works, in wisdom You have made them all. The whole earth is FULL of your riches.” Psalms 104:24
Foraging to me is a worshipful experience. It is a dialog between me and the One who made me, a dance of discovery and joy.
How I love daisies but I’m grateful that there are also wild geranium, snap dragons, evening primrose, yarrow, queen annes lace, delphinium…. The colors of the spectrum, scents mingled together filling my nostrils with their heady perfume, sizes and shapes adding grace to the whole.
As Skip and I hiked to my many destinations where the flowers awaited us I prayed for Shamba and Samantha and their life together. Laughed out loud a few times as I remembered the many wild memories Sam and I had foraging together in these mountains. Once we explored an old abandoned farm house and she had the nerve to climb the stairs to abate her insatiable curiosity. I was sure I’d see her foot dangle through the weakened upstairs floor boards at any moment. Another time, I helped them move from their teepee (across the road from my house) to a regular boring house…. just not fitting for my ‘out of the box’ friends. That did not last long so we helped them move again, this time to an off the grid cabin in the middle of nowhere.
The cabin is very very tiny, one room with a loft 10″ by 12″ to be precise. No electricity, no running water, (no water nearby either), a wood stove… It is tucked on a mountain side (high up with more mountain above it), thickly surrounded by trees.
Access to this hunting shack is via a “trail” I will not call it a road, that winds up the mountain. The trail was as wide as my truck and there was NO place to turn it around next to the cabin. My husband heroically managed to make two trips with firewood on the second trip and barrels of water. I could not even watch!
They moved right before the snows and the freezing weather but they survived and even thrived the Winter and love living simple. No electromagnetic stress for them! The sounds of the forest, the whistling of the wind, the hoot of an owl, the stars close enough to touch, the moon smiling on their slice of heaven… I have finally learned not to worry about Sam and Shamba, they are survivors and choose the best in any circumstance…
Such memories and many more swam in my mind as I snipped 100’s of happy flowers keeping them fresh by putting them immediately in buckets filled part way with water.
It was delightfully fun showing up at the wedding site with my car loaded with such wild gifts. I filled a few mason jars with flowers and the rest will go to decorate the altar and the path leading there.
This is going to be some party!
Leave a Comment