Good morning from Ellis Hollow.

  

Tincture – attempt #1.

Last month, the New Moon was in Cancer, and so it seemed like a veryfine time to give my first go at making a tincture.

I had no idea what I was doing beyond reading part of a book, and reading some posts by herbalists online about how to tincture Propolis.
Propolis is good stuff.
Made by bees from the gathering of resin, mostly from trees in this hemisphere.

This is the same jar about mid-month in after shaking it vigorously once or twice each day.
Today is the New Moon in Virgo – and so it seemed like a veryfine time to harvest the propolis

Doesn’t look all that different from a couple weeks ago, but to make medicine today seemed just so.

Gathering the equipment together
– low tech.

The book I had doesn’t say anything about Propolis in particular, so I just got to it
The aroma was strong, and the lid had Propolis goo stuck to the inside.
Amazing stuff

Thank you bees
Thank you so

It was hard to pour at the same time as taking a photo, but I somehow caught the goo (there’s probably a technical name for the material) sliding out from the jar
It smells really good
Seriously

It’s very very sticky

I tried squeezing the cotton cheesecloth bundle to remove as much of the goodness as possible

There is probably a better way of doing it, as my hands are now coated with resin (no longer sticky, and smells like Propolis)

I couldn’t bring myself to just compost the goo, figuring it will have some beneficial use, even if I didn’t know what that was in the moment…

The decanting begins!

Superfancy labels…..

Hooray!!!
Ready to share the goodness!!

Blessings on the mindful keepers of the bees
And for all who plant bee-friendly food (that is, flowers, trees, and plants which offer good food for the bees)
…
If you gave not already seen the movie Queen of the Sun
www.queenofthesun.com
I highly recommend it.

What if the commercial growers of fruits and nuts took 30% of their agricultural crops and made it into year round bee sanctuaries?
If swaths of corn, wheat, and soybeans all through the Midwest were made into bee sanctuary corridors?
Just creating and tending these corridors could be a source of employment.
Many people want to work with plants, be outside, be of benefit to the planet, feel their inextricable link to all things…
This could allow for that…
Perhaps

(I know it’s a bumble and not a honeybee… The honeys were all over the buckwheat)