Rhiannon Futch, Author

Months ago Byron Ballard (H. Byron Ballard, author and Asheville village witch) shared a post about the SENC Herbal Conference. I ran to the site as fast as my fingers would work the mouse.

Today was the day and I got up early to drive two hours toward the coast and spend time around a group of mostly women. There were a few men, but they were well behaved so that was fine. Children ran and played, that was a lovely thing to see.

I attended classes. Not as many as were available but as many as I had space for in me right now. My favorite, hands down, was Byron’s. I was blessed with a hug from her and some small bits of time where we were able to talk and get to know each other a small bit. I took so many notes in her class, four pages worth as she regaled us with stories filled with bits of information in the old way of passing on information. She is a master at it and my brain was a sponge.

I also spent a fair amount of time wandering the place, alone. I know that may sound unpleasant or even frightening to some, but I found it healing. I got lunch from a vegan food truck, it was delicious and safe and that was a lot healing too. Especially after being hit so hard with an allergic reaction this past week. I still wasn’t breathing especially well. Walking too far, too fast still caused a coughing fit. Sometimes just standing in line did it.

It was still a very good day and I look forward to going again next year. I came home with a variety of plants. Some ranunculus that I’ll plant tomorrow so they maybe have time to send up some little rosettes of leaves. A fern leaf lavender that will live in a pot, brought inside for the cold winter. Some sage, a couple foxglove that will live next to the fence in my little garden, away from the curious noses of my dogs. A gorgeous mullein baby, fuzzy leaved rosette in it’s first year.

On Monday I’ll talk to them and ask what they need this year, if they want to stay inside or be out in the yard. Using the winter to plant their roots ever more firmly in the soil while I walk over and commune with them on occasion. That s essentially what I did with my plants this year. Though I did bring them a bit of water if it was dry too long and they still looked wilted in the morning. The marigold that I planted this year grew massive and I let it go to seed many times. I collected some and some I simply strew about in the garden. I hope they will grace me with their presence again next year.

All in all, today was a good day of refilling the well. My well got real dry with the allergy incident, and I was still feeling it. But today, today I wrote near a thousand words while sitting in a pavilion, surrounded by people I didn’t know and one I am acquainted with if not as well as I would like. It was good. Tonight I arrived home and napped with my puppies after hugging my granddaughter. Then out to my office where I wrote this and read about half of the book I picked up today. The book is Staubs and Ditchwater, which I needed to read after hearing Byron talk about it. Hearing her explain that a staub is the part of a butter churn that does the churning. And her explanation on the good uses for ditchwater, well damn, I had no idea. It is an excellent book and if you would like a copy, you can find it here on My Village Witch.