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local milk is a journal devoted to home cookery, travel, family, and slow living—to being present & finding sustenance of every kind. It’s about nesting abroad & finding the exotic in the everyday. Most of all it’s about the perfection of imperfections and seeing the beauty of everyday, mundane life.

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A long time ago in a different life (or at least i A long time ago in a different life (or at least it feels that way) I was riding in a car at night with @whereissionnie to meet up with @ruthielindsey and @1924us for bonfires and general cabin shenanigans outside of Nashville. 

I remember the drive so well. It’s a conversation that always stuck with me. We talked about trauma and crisis. And I don’t know much, but I shared the only thing I know, a thing that has served me well through the natural undulations life is bound to bring.

And that is simply sometimes you have to cling to the mast. You aren’t doing anything but surviving but that’s the most important work of all. Because the storm WILL pass. And you‘ll be left standing.

And when it does you can mend the sails. Untangle the ropes. And get on with the business of sailing.

I’ve learned to give myself permission to do nothing but make it through. To sleep a little too late. To dance in front of the mirror and feel myself even when I look ridiculous. To load and unload the dishwasher and allow that to be a great victory. To dress like a cartoon character in nothing but white t-shirts and denim shorts.  To eat mac & cheese from a box and frozen chicken nuggets sometimes. To not respond to text messages. To flail and get back up over and over. To ask for help. A lot.

And also permission to feel it all. Rage. Grief. Joy. Hope and hopelessness. And sometimes all within the span of a few minutes. 

And most of all, whether navigating calm waters or stormy ones, what matters more than anything is the crew you’re doing it with. Surround yourself with solid people.

People that challenge you with compassion. And humor. People whose strengths buttress your weakness. People that don’t judge you. That believe in you even when you think they’re maniacs for doing so.

I know a disproportionate amount of us have had rough seas this year. Cling to the mast in the storm. Choose your crew wisely. No storm ever lasted forever. But there never was a last storm in the world. Accept that they will come and be prepared.

How to Weave a Floral Crown

Create

09.01.2014

Making a Floral Crown

Making a Floral Crown

A couple of weeks ago, I wove a crown of flowers from local blooms as a farewell to the Estival Mother, a pretty little meditation on my gratitude for the swell of summer and all her wild, wild flowers. It was a study in a moments peace, and a nod to the fine tradition of floral wreaths that stretches back and back through May Days and Midsommers, through feast days and ceremonies. I don’t have long, languid hours stretched out before me to weave daisy chains. I doubt that any of us do. That’s a fantasy. But what I do have is a choice, and I chose, one afternoon, to say to hell with that load of laundry, I’m going to spend some time with these mad little poems and their spindly stems and nodding heads. I set to weaving them together with a bit of floral wire and within a few minutes, I had a crown. It was actually unbelievably satisfying. And I traipsed around in it doing the rest of the days work like a manic faery. I created a tutorial over on the Steller app (which, if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you know I’m obsessed with…download it now on your iphone or ipad and you’ll know why!) So if you’d like like a step by step “How to Weave a Floral Crown”, you can find it there. As for here, you’ll just find photos of flowers and musings on peace below.

Yesterday evening, I asked the universe about the path to peace. Serenity, the first thing I ever prayed for when I took to whatever one means by “praying” again. I remember it well, that first prayer three years ago in my little room in the half-way house that was built to look like a log cabin, a large log cabin with plenty of locks and certainly no sharps and safes in the back where all our meds lived. I’d just been wrest out of the grips of a very fine dipsomania, and these are the sorts of places one ends up after that. I was so excited to be out of in-patient and in that house because I could cook there. I was desperate to cook. There was a grill out back flanked by rocking chairs where we chain-smoked, and I dreamt of grilling eggplant with nothing but salt & oil. I find it spongy, and I don’t even like it that much, but for some reason I romanced smoky, salty eggplant. It seemed to me at the time to be the entirety of the dream of normal. So I grilled on the days they’d let us and started praying & making inspirational collages out of Better Homes & Garden’s clippings—that’s the sort of thing they make you do in treatment. I prefer my floral wreaths. Those first prayers were nothing but a silent, furtive plea for peace. I didn’t pray for success. I didn’t pray for love. And trust me, I had neither. I didn’t even pray for forgiveness. Just for some preternatural silence to fall on my heart. That’s how I always imagined it being. Like some sort of kind cotton.

Maybe I found it and lost it. Or maybe I never found. Or maybe I never lost it. But again, last night, I prayed for serenity, to be shown that path to peace. The answer seemed, at first, obtuse. Three images are what the universe gave me, as it often does, because that’s how I talk with that “wild unknown”. I wondered at The Fool, and he, spread eagle and looking to me quite golden, wondered back. It meant nothing. There he was splayed on the dining room table betwixt swords of ruin and disks of worry, all golden and tangled in umbilical cords with some senseless red tiger gnawing at his leg. The collective unconscious utterly failed me, and I saw nothing but technicolor bad omens. And I know better than that. The future’s too shimmering a thing for omens of any sort.

Making a Floral Crown

Making a Floral Crown

Making a Floral Crown

Making a Floral Crown

Making a Floral Crown

It took me a full 24 hours to hear the answer: wonder, not fear. Create out of wonder not fear. The tiger gnawing at you is fear. Fruit born out of fear is bitter. Only what you create out of joy & wonder will be sweet. And there you will find peace. And by create I don’t just mean a photo, a dinner, or a crown of flowers. I mean, rather, that mad edifice built of the impossible geometry of yourself in relation to the rest of creation, that thing I call, unthinking, “my life”. What a strange phrase. Can we even talk about our lives as an object? Or is that such an impossibly abstract concept that one direct glance at it renders it nothing but a flurry of petals?

There are many reasons people create. They aren’t all savory. Insecurity and fear can drive people to all sorts of perilous heights and they do. But every success will turn to ash in their mouths. And each time I feel insidious fear creeping up my spine or twisting in my belly, I remember that faith yields meaning, purpose, and fearlessness. And that, in the end, there is no tiger. It’s not real. There is only light, suspension, and total realization. The only real things are flowers in my hair, morning tea, breathing, his skin, her smile. My unborn niece. A plane to catch. A clean load of laundry. That I can say to hell with if I please. It’s all so spacious, so much room to breath, to flow, to be.

Making a Floral Crown

Making a Floral Crown

Making a Floral Crown

Making a Floral Crown

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tags: app, bloom, blossom, crown, diy, floral, flower, how to, peace, prayer, serenity, steller, summer, wreath

38 thoughts on “How to Weave a Floral Crown”

  1. Millie | Add A Little says:
    September 1, 2014 at 2:52 am

    This is so beautiful and you look like a fairy queen 🙂

    Reply
  2. Olivia Rose says:
    September 1, 2014 at 3:46 am

    “I mean, rather, that mad edifice built of the impossible geometry of yourself in relation to the rest of creation, that thing I call, unthinking, ‘my life’.”

    These words.

    Thank you.

    Reply
  3. Mariuca from NNUMM says:
    September 1, 2014 at 5:53 am

    That is so beautiful I have nothing to say. o_o

    Reply
  4. Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says:
    September 1, 2014 at 8:30 am

    WOW!! I read every word and you are a brave soul. I haven’t traveled your path but from what I read your journey has been arduous but you are finding your way. You have such talent that whatever you want to call it – God or some Superior Being has given to you. Every journey begins with the first step — I have decided to Believe — that is what’s on my bracelet. Believe you’ll find peace and serenity — that will help if you do have dark days. I simply love your photo arrangements. Have a serene day.

    Reply
  5. Charlie says:
    September 1, 2014 at 8:35 am

    Your words, as always, weave a tale of beauty and paint a picture of serenity. I deeply admire your spirit and believe that you did indeed find an apt way to bid August farewell and usher in September.

    Reply
  6. Aysegul - Ice says:
    September 1, 2014 at 8:39 am

    I just wrote “Create out of wonder, not fear” on a Post-it note and put it in next to my computer.
    This wreath, your honesty, and writing inspire me.
    May all you wishes (and prayers) come true.
    Cheers!

    Reply
  7. Jenny Depa-Karl says:
    September 1, 2014 at 8:49 am

    “I remember that faith yields meaning, purpose, and fearlessness.” Amen to that! It’s very important to keep/renew the faith! Thanks.

    Reply
  8. Monique says:
    September 1, 2014 at 9:59 am

    Beautiful.
    Inside out.

    Reply
  9. myriam says:
    September 1, 2014 at 10:02 am

    ” Can we even talk about our lives as an object? Or is that such an impossibly abstract concept that one direct glance at it renders it nothing but a flurry of petals?”

    “And each time I feel insidious fear creeping up my spine or twisting in my belly, I remember that faith yields meaning, purpose, and fearlessness.”

    Thank you for such a brave and inspiring piece of writing. Your words, the photos, the evocative and meditative task of weaving flowers all work together to create some sense of peace and magic in this post.

    Reply
  10. Kate @ ¡Hola! Jalapeño says:
    September 1, 2014 at 11:15 am

    I love this idea! Can’t wait to make one for my daughter! Beautiful!

    Reply
  11. Sini | My Blue&White Kitchen says:
    September 1, 2014 at 12:08 pm

    This post is like a breeze of fresh air, a moment of wonder. Thank you. And yay to weaving flower crowns! xo

    Reply
  12. Patty/NS says:
    September 1, 2014 at 12:24 pm

    Such a beautiful, floral crown. And she will wear on her head, a crown of flowers, not a thorn amongst them…. Beautiful, soulful words too. Helped me slow my thoughts and just breathe. Thanks.

    Reply
  13. Chelsey says:
    September 1, 2014 at 1:34 pm

    Love you.

    Reply
  14. Jennifer Farley says:
    September 1, 2014 at 2:29 pm

    Your photography always moves me <3

    Reply
  15. Niki cade says:
    September 1, 2014 at 5:17 pm

    So inspiring. You have an amazing way of writing that I look up to. Thank you.

    Reply
  16. Thalia @ butter and brioche says:
    September 1, 2014 at 6:30 pm

    this is a beautiful post & idea.. of course i had to pin these images many times!

    Reply
  17. kelli says:
    September 1, 2014 at 7:46 pm

    you and…
    thoughts that fit into words ….
    I can’t come up with the words….but the thoughts are there…
    ironic.
    start over…….

    it is so amazing, your life, and that you find the words that can express feelings and realities that I stumble over and delete
    do you delete
    do you go over and over your words
    or do they come all at once
    in a rush
    perfectly formed and
    expressive to a T?

    kindred spirit tell me your secret

    Reply
  18. Tara says:
    September 1, 2014 at 8:18 pm

    Your crafting of words (and the thoughts behind them) are beautiful Beth. For us Southern Hemisphere dwellers, this post is perfect for the beginning of Spring. My three little girls (and their mama) will love this.

    Reply
  19. Meghan says:
    September 2, 2014 at 1:52 am

    Beth, I may not know you, but I know something of your struggle; not all of it, of course, but perhaps, a smidge. I know that there are few things I can say to match up to what you have written, even less to make it more beautiful than it is. So, I tell you this:

    You, I, we, are here, now. And I know the thrash of this tigers’ claws, but there are thousands of flowers waiting for their manic-faerie-to-be to pluck them so that they might soften that burn. And life may be a flurry of petals, but here, you have pinned those petals down into something, vaguely put, beautiful. And you are wearing it. You are wearing your life in control. And that is something to be reckoned with.

    Reply
  20. Tamsin | A Certain Adventure says:
    September 2, 2014 at 7:15 am

    This is the most wonderful farewell to the summer that I’ve seen thus far! Your creation is beautiful – what a lovely way to use flowers. I hope that you are feeling much better, with flowers brightening up any darkness in your days. xx

    Reply
  21. Briar says:
    September 2, 2014 at 10:59 am

    Such a beautiful ode to the small things that make up our days and urge us forward. And to the spirit of summer, which I’m also squirreling away for cooler days as best I can before it’s gone. Thank you, Beth.

    Reply
  22. Christina says:
    September 2, 2014 at 2:21 pm

    Wow, wow and once more wow! It makes you look so fae and magical!

    Reply
  23. Rebekka says:
    September 3, 2014 at 1:55 pm

    Guess what? I love you so much.

    Reply
  24. Amanda says:
    September 3, 2014 at 3:03 pm

    Exactly. Thank you for writing.

    Reply
  25. Paloma says:
    September 3, 2014 at 6:06 pm

    Thanks for putting in words what I’m feeling inside. I love your blog!

    Reply
  26. Jude says:
    September 3, 2014 at 6:17 pm

    Thak you for being a Light.

    Reply
  27. Maja says:
    September 4, 2014 at 5:35 am

    Such beautiful images. Might be the loveliest, just-pictures tutorial ever.

    Reply
  28. Helen says:
    September 5, 2014 at 12:28 pm

    That is beautiful. And inspirational. Thank you.

    Reply
  29. Abby says:
    September 5, 2014 at 1:50 pm

    beautiful photographs, inspiring words.
    lovely, Beth! 🙂

    Reply
  30. ellie | fit for the soul says:
    September 6, 2014 at 2:01 pm

    I think it’s wonderful that you share the deepest things in your life. 🙂 And that floral crown is amazing! I was actually wondering how to make one the other day, too. Hah! You read my mind.

    Reply
  31. Joanna says:
    September 7, 2014 at 8:18 am

    I remember veawing gorgeously golden crowns using dandelions…so long ago…so simple and soothing. Photographs- as awlays, take my breath away!

    Reply
  32. Sara says:
    September 15, 2014 at 4:37 pm

    Yes, yes. Obsessed with Steller, obsessed with florals, but most of all just obsessed and enchanted by your photography. When I grow up I want to be you Beth. Except I’m possibly already older…

    Reply
  33. Amy says:
    September 19, 2014 at 8:30 am

    Thank you!!! Prayer and becoming aware was my saving grace from that tiger. I feel like you are my sister i’ve always known and just met. Thank you sooo much for this beautiful post… love & light

    Reply
  34. Pingback: Une revue de septembre | Le pamplemousse picoté
  35. Alessandra // the foodie teen says:
    October 6, 2014 at 10:23 am

    I’m absolutely stunned by the beauty of your words – thank you!

    Reply
  36. weight loss goals says:
    October 12, 2014 at 6:24 am

    Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked
    submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again.
    Regardless, just wanted to say great blog!

    Reply
  37. Ratika says:
    October 19, 2015 at 10:31 am

    I could read this for the rest of my life and still love it. Charming prose.

    Reply
  38. Miquila says:
    December 2, 2015 at 11:28 pm

    You’re an inspiration.

    Reply

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