A well-tended garden offers more than a harvest
July arrives in the garden with a beautiful kind of abundance.
The early mornings have become my favorite time to wander the garden—before the warmth of the day settles in, when the garden is quiet and the first light begins to move across the beds. It’s in these moments that I notice what is thriving, what is ready to gather, and what the plants are offering in this season.
One of my greatest joys after years of tending this land is discovering that plants rarely have just one purpose.
Each spring I tuck nasturtiums into the corners of the garden beds as companion plants. They spill over the edges with their round green leaves and fiery blooms, weaving themselves between the vegetables, softening the borders, inviting pollinators, and bringing a little wild beauty wherever they grow.
But this year, as the vines stretched and flowers opened, I found myself looking a little deeper.
The nasturtiums weren’t just companions in the garden. They nourish the garden. They nourish the table. And they found their way onto the apothecary shelf.
They were another reminder that the plants we tend often have more to teach us.
After spending time studying nasturtium and the best way to preserve what this beautiful plant has to offer, I chose to craft an oxymel—a traditional preparation of apple cider vinegar and honey.
Into the jar went what the July garden was offering…
Fiery nasturtium flowers and leaves.
Deep orange calendula petals gathered from the herb garden.
Bright, fragrant lemon verbena.
The season, gathered into a single jar.
As the oxymel slowly comes together on the shelf, I find myself thinking about how naturally it bridges the worlds of garden, kitchen, and apothecary.
Before long it will be whisked with olive oil into a vinaigrette for fresh garden greens, drizzled over roasted vegetables, or stirred into sparkling water on a warm summer afternoon. Yet this same simple jar is also an herbal preparation, crafted with intention after learning the gifts of the plant and choosing the preparation that best honors them.
There is something I love about that.
Medicine doesn’t always have to live in a dropper bottle tucked away on a shelf. Sometimes it is woven into the food we prepare, shared around the table, and quietly becomes part of our everyday lives.
Long before plants were separated into categories of food or medicine, they were simply part of daily life. They nourished, comforted, and sustained us in more ways than one. I think we’re beginning to remember that again.
Perhaps that’s one of the greatest gifts of tending a place for many years.
The plants are no longer simply things we grow.
They become companions, teachers, a source of nourishment, and quiet reminders that every season has something to offer.
From the forest sanctuary to the herb gardens and finally to the apothecary shelves, this quiet thread runs through everything created here—grown with intention, gathered with gratitude, and crafted in rhythm with the seasons.
With love from the sanctuary,
Becky
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