Unfurling Spring
Open up the Spring Founder box with me!
Let us rejoice, O my Beloved!
Let us go forth to see ourselves in Your beauty,
To the mountain and the hill,
Where the pure water flows:
Let us enter into the heart of the thicket.St. John of the Cross, excerpt from A spiritual canticle of the soul and the bridegroom Christ (16th c.)
Welcome! Whether you’re a longtime friend or a new kindred spirit here (I recommend visiting the Village Green to get your bearings), I’m delighted to be a companion to you through the liturgical year.
Pax+bonum, Kristin.
When crafting this season’s box, each and every item felt so much like an embodiment of “spring” that it wouldn’t surprise me to stumble upon all of these pieces unfurling along with all the ferns up in the woods here.
(So, naturally, I had to make that vision come to life for you all…)
In getting the Founders Box to you this Spring, I was weirdly met with some of the same challenges that accompanied Winter box shipments: high, long-lived floods!! I try to ship each box near the solstices & equinoxes, and flooding has been a wrench in that process the past few times.
So, to get your Spring Founders Box shipped out on time, we moved as much as we could up to the hillside before the water got too high - then we kept moving items via rowboat. (During a flood, we keep our vehicles parked on the hillside and can get out to town & the post office from there.)
Here’s David ferrying me back and forth…
Our friend/‘farmily’/CSA1 manager, Liz, lives on the hill here on the farm - and she’s the real MVP of the Spring Boxes. When we saw the flood predictions, she offered up her home and her help in packaging everything so that it could still get to you as promised. We set up an assembly line in her house…troubleshooting the packaging, getting the details just right, and putting it all together.
Here’s a peek into all that (Liz was helping to put hymnal pages into each box). Rest assured…lots of love and laughter went into each and every package!
I said it before, & I’ll say it again…I love what I do, high water and all! And I’m so grateful to be surrounded by people who will come in and support every aspect of this journey.
UNPACKING THE BOX…
In this year’s Spring Box, I shared some heralds of spring’s liminality - reminders of our heart’s springtime journey toward God. Threshold-plants that flourish at the edge of land and flowing water, delicacies made from tender new growth, poetry to accompany us on the way...it’s a selection that, I pray, will help us to nourish our nature as Christ’s pilgrims.
Here’s a peek into each treasure that filled up the Spring box…
THE WILD IRIS
By Louise Glück / Published by Harper Collins
This lush collection of poems is a perennial favorite of mine, and as irises are springing up this season, it feels like a fitting companion to a new season. Writing about the intersection of faith, nature, and humanity, Glück patterns this collection after the Liturgy of the Hours, with dreamlike call-and-response choir elements and the infrastructure of canonical hours guiding the cadence of the poetry.
The University of Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal has a lovely article helping to illuminate The Wild Iris
SPRUCE TIP JELLY
By Barnacle Foods / Alaska
“The true taste of spring in Alaska. A hint of citrus from the Sitka Spruce Tips makes for a sweet, fresh flavored jelly. Spread on toast, mix in a cocktail, or pair with your favorite cheese.”
Tender spruce tips are a harbinger of spring in the Pacific Northwest, and Barnacle has managed to capture their flavor and turn it into the most delightful jelly.
HERBAL MEDLEY FINISHING SALT
By Wildness Within Living / Washington
Our friend Rachael Witt is a registered Herbalist with a special passion for ethnobotany and herbal folklore, and we’ve been fortunate to feature her teas, salves, & more in our barn store for years - she also leads foraging courses on the farm every so often, really helping us all to better notice the landscape here.
For this spring box, I asked Rachael to create something quintessentially seasonal that would help to bring the taste of spring into a wide swath of your meals this season - she came up with this delightful spring salt!
SEED KIT
Alexanders Seed & Watercress Seed
Both Alexanders and Watercress were favorite early-spring herbs for Medieval Lenten pottages - here’s a kit for you to grow your own, including:
Two biodegradable peat pots (which can be directly planted into larger containers or gardens)
Two plant labels
One packet of Alexanders seed & one packet of Watercress seed
Seeding & transplanting information
ANNUNCIATION STICKER
By Hearthstone Fables / Washington
This Annunciation wheel features the swallow - that migratory bird of the resurreciton, so often featured in historic Annunciation artwork - surrounded by a wreath of florals symbolic of this poignant holiday.
ANTIQUE HYMNAL PAGE & HEARTHSTONE POST NEWSLETTER
Founders, I would love to hear about how you’ve been using the goodies from this season’s box! Do you have a favorite piece?
I hope it’s a welcome companion in your springtime pilgrimage.
Pax et bonum,
Kristin
Community Supported Agriculture