Day 343 of 365

Roses are red

This was another bittersweet day.

I don't have a green thumb, in fact it's shriveled dry earth brown and I feel the shame of being a plant killer. That vitality bowl that I planted for mom back on day 212 is mostly dead. They were herbs and in my defense I cooked with them a few times, but they did shrivel away to crackly death.

That's what makes today difficult. My mother would have loved this experience and I imagined her beside me sipping Nana tea while I infused the sticky good honey I harvested with the oil of petite roses.

Day 343 was all about eating roses. When my niece and I were sorting through the hundreds of gardening books my mother owned, we found "How to eat a rose." My niece and I decided this would be a 365 day experience but I was waiting for the perfect blooms.

They never came.

Here's another brown thumb moment. I have beautiful wild rose bushes. My mom and I have been caring for them for the last few years. She made suggestions about cutting and fertilizing and with her skills I was able to get that sucker to bloom last year. I was not so lucky in the summer of 2018 and I'm guessing it's because I didn't care for it in early spring.

My mother died in April and so did my plans to create the gardens around my home. I had hoped she would be my 365 day sidekick. I miss her every day.

As I stared at the tiny rosebuds that I cut from someone else's plants, I felt my mother's presence. I was planning to make rose water but it reminded me of sitting in a nursing home, so I went with honey infusion.

I plucked the petals off, I used petite roses and after dropping some bits in the water testing kit I was happy to find them pesticide free. As an FYI, most plants from a florist are grown with added chemistry and my instructions directed me away from cooking with them. I'm pretty sure my roses will bloom after my 50th birthday.

I added about 1/4 cup of honey to the pile of petals and cooked them in a double boiler until the honey was thin. It looked beautiful. According to the recipe I have to wait.

Patience, I'm getting so much better.

Day 343

Love & Light