Brittany Leah

Main navigation

Blog

The Arrival of Spring

By Leave a Comment

Finally Spring has arrived here in Southern Ontario.

I’ve been eagerly waiting for things to start popping up, as this is the first year I set out on a mission to catch some new plant growth as it happens.

We had an especially long winter this year, with a snowfall and ice storm in April. For the first time in my life it was cold, wet and snowy on my birthday, April 17th. So it has been an especially long wait!

I’ve deliberately walked along the same trails since the Fall in order to observe changes in nature and the plants. February, March and the beginning of April were a very long wait for anything interesting to happen. But then suddenly, I would say within 24 hours of our very first warm day, young sprouts are coming up everywhere as if by magic.

I have never noticed before how quickly these things happen! It’s really so delightful.

The violets and nettles that I have been dreaming about are here. These are both edible plants, and if I was in an area that wasn’t a popular dog-walking trail in the city, then I would forage some to eat.

 

Also Coltsfoot is one of the very first signs of Spring. They resemble dandelions. It’s so nice to see them finally appearing along the river.

 

I also saw bees among the scilla flowers! These flowers are a garden-escape species and they actually come up pretty early, before the last frost.

Life has regenerated and nature is alive again with new energy.

“The coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of Chaos and the realization of the Golden Age.” – Thoreau

 

Watercolour Robin

By Leave a Comment

The sight of robins around here signals the beginning of Spring. And for a long while, birds are really the only noticeable promise of the warmer season coming.

In January and February, I will usually see lots of them decorating crab apple trees. By the time it gets to April, they will be out hopping around in the fields and parks, presumably worm hunting.

It’s a very gloomy April here right now, but I do love the sight of these birds practically everywhere in the park when it is raining. On dark, overcast days the red of the maple blooms and the robins breasts appear so deep and moody.

 

I’ve been working on my bird sketches a lot lately. I never thought I would enjoy them as a subject as much as I do. Drawing animals and plants makes me feel so much love for the species.

Anyways, here is my little spring Robin <3

 

 

Spring Buds

By Leave a Comment

We have just passed the spring equinox and slowly we can feel things coming to life around here. In the northern hemisphere, there is no evident new growth or green yet, but the feeling in the air, and the songs of the birds promise that we will soon see flowers again.

While the landscape is still dead looking and colourless, the sun feels strong. It’s a good idea to get out and absorb some of its rays and the energy it offers.

 

Looking closely on the branches and twigs we can see buds slowly developing. They start to appear in February, taking their time until they will finally open, well over a month later. It’s funny that a lot of people in this region start to think about Spring already at the end of January, when really it’s quite a while away from that point! And it unravels so slowly and delicately … we don’t start to see colour and blooms until April. I think this is overlooked because most people don’t go outdoors much.

I thought this alder twig was a neat representation of this time between winter and spring. It still has its cones from last season while at the same time showing the growth of new buds.

One way that I am keeping with the seasons and connecting with nature is by working on my botanical illustrations and nature studies. There’s really nothing more beautiful and organic to sketch, in my opinion :).

Happy Spring! Do you do anything to celebrate?

 

Forager’s Harvest | Book Review

By Leave a Comment

As Spring is right around the corner, you might want to consider connecting more with nature this warm season. A great way to do that is to learn about the wild species that grow in your environment. It’s especially exciting when you can start to identify plants that are edible.

There are many good reasons for becoming knowledgeable in wild edibles and actually I think it is the most important thing a human can do. We are in a social and environmental crisis and I believe that is mostly because no one is connected to the natural world anymore.

Being out in nature is good for your health both mental, and physical. Learning about the environment that surrounds you helps you to become slightly more self-sufficient and develop a deeper connection with the land you inhabit. In addition, you might gain skills that are useful in an emergency situation or in the event of a societal collapse. All around, plant identification will enable you to become a better human!

I still have a long way to go in this process, and I’m still in the phase of getting my feet wet. But I think it is a very rewarding endeavour and an exciting pastime. I’m so looking forward to learning more.

Forager’s Harvest is an excellent introductory book for wild edibles.

First of all, Samuel Thayer is a very good writer and this book is pleasant and fun to read. He has a relatable writing voice, and the section for each plant comes with a little story or description that adds life and character to the species. I think this is a great quality for such an important topic. Many books on wild plants tend to be dry and non-engaging.

The author also has a lifetime experience with wild edibles, as he never ceased experimenting with them since childhood. Most of us as children are really drawn to wild plants, but we get trained out of that natural inclination. Well, this guy persevered and now actually lives a life where foraging and having a connection with nature is a reality and lifestyle for him and his family.

The book offers an account of each plant’s use based on the author’s experience. He describes the problem with many other wild food books that they will simply just regurgitate information from previous publications without the author having had the experience themselves and sometimes the information is misleading or incorrect.

The book contains only a select few plants (32 in total) instead of every single possible edible in this region. This is a great quality for beginners since it would be overwhelming to be presented with a such a long list, and one would not know where to start. The selection does not necessarily represent his favourite plants, but rather a representation of a variety of food types, seasons and habitats, and those he feels he has sufficient experience with.

There are descriptions of how to collect the plant and what parts to use – other books I’ve looked at do not have this quality and it’s very frustrating. There are sections on harvest and preparation methods, as well as storing wild foods.

It also includes WHEN they are in season, and even a very useful chart and calendar. Again, something that is sorely lacking in other literature. The calendar is obviously fixed for his particular region but is applicable to the Great Lakes, Midwest, Northeast and the southern part of eastern Canada. He states that the information will be useful people in any part of North America.

Overall, this book is very useful and life-changing. I pretty much carried it with me all last summer, and I’ll always remember that as a time when I developed a new appreciation and zeal for life and when the natural world seemed magical to me again for the first time since childhood. I’ll carry it around with me this year too!

 


Watercolor Pine Cone Study | Eastern White Pine

By Leave a Comment

Pine cones are amazing, am I right? I think I wouldn’t be wrong in assuming most women have a habit of collecting some beautiful woody ones when we happen upon them.

I mean why are they so pretty, yet sturdy and seem to have such a perfect design? After a while of contemplating a couple of large ones I had collected, I felt compelled to draw one.

It took me a few tries, but finally I came out with a watercolor illustration that I’m satisfied with. Drawing plants is a new habit of mine that I really enjoy. It helps you to understand the fine details of your subject and develop a deeper appreciation of it.

 

I was delighted to find out that this cone is from a White Pine tree, one of the first trees I learned to identify. Their needles are most commonly used for pine needle tea, and are said to contain 3-5 times more vitamin C than an orange.

Its surprising to me that I’ve lived around these trees my whole life and didn’t even know that they have edible and nutritional properties! I think this is the case for most people in North America, to be totally oblivious to nature their whole lives, and I think I will continue to have the same shock every time I learn a new edible species.

Anyways, one of the characteristics for identifying this tree is by its needles which grow in clusters of five.

 

White Pine sapling.

 

After doing this study, I had to of course read all about White Pines and their cones, so the rest of this post is some interesting facts about that… If you’re ready to geek-out with me, read on …

I for one, was fascinated to find out – and I think you will be too, if you didn’t know it already – that all pine cones are female!

Okay, well there are male pine cones but they don’t look like what we think of as a pine cone. They are very small little tubular looking things that grow in clusters that come out in the spring.

On the Eastern White pine, the males are only 8-10 mm long, whereas the females grow up to 8 inches long at maturity.

The males have a very short lifespan of only a few weeks.The females on the other hand, can live for several years.

The male pollen cone clusters develop near the base of the tree, and the female ones are usually up higher. Males and females develop on the same tree, but their placement on different heights helps to prevent inbreeding.

Once a female cone is fertilized in the springtime by wind-borne pollen, it takes 12 to 13 months for the development of the seed. In August through September of the second year, the cone opens up its scales, releasing seeds into the wild which are dispersed by wind or squirrels. They then fall to the ground, and that’s when we collect them :).

White Pine trees produce female cones after about 5-10 years of age, and continue to do so every year after.

Other Special Things About White Pines

They are the Provincial tree for Ontario.

The White Pine was a sacred tree to Native American people. The inner bark is sweet and edible in the spring, and the seeds from the cones are nutritious. The bark and resin were used for medicinal properties, and also to make baskets and seal canoes.

They are the tallest tree in North America. When Europeans first arrived here, there were immense spans of White Pine trees, some of them growing up to 230 feet tall. Many of these ancient pines were cut down to make settlements and ships. They now grow up to 110 feet tall ( I guess that’s because the remaining ones are not as old?).

Europeans were able to survive from scurvy and nutritional deprivation because of evergreen tea given to them by Native American tribes.

The White Pine was a favorite tree of naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau, one of my favourite philosophers.

 

 

February Bullet Journal Cover + the Meaning of Imbolc

By Leave a Comment

Hi, and Happy February!

This month is when I really feel inspired to put things into action. January is still dark and slumber-y and a continuation of the winter rest period.

This year I’ve decided to do a bullet journal, which is basically just a planner that you make for yourself in a blank notebook, customized with your own drawings and designs, and whatever other pages you want to use, such as monthly goals, reflections and habit tracking. And of course calendars and weekly planners.

I chose this blank notebook from Rifle Paper Co, because I LOVE the design and colours.

I did do a cover for January, but I was too shy to post it because I was not happy at all with how my evergreen drawings turned. I used coloured pencils, which I’m not used to. But, I’ll show it here anyway. I’ve added the Norse runes associated with the season in the design.

 

I should mention if its not obvious, that I do the cover drawings separately
and then glue them in my notebook.

For February I decided to do a water-color design. I did some roses, even though we don’t have them naturally at this time of the year, but it is something we are looking forward to and they are a classical symbol of life and femininity, which has to do with Imbolc, explained below. I wanted to do drawings of foliage that are actually around at this time, so that’s why I still am sticking with some evergreen for February, as there is no new green sprouting yet. The leaves are a reddish brown because that’s the colour the wild rose leaves look during the winter. I’ve added some Norse runes again associated with Imbolc, which I’ll explain the meaning of below.

If you like this design and the meaning of the rune symbols, there will be a link at the bottom of this blog post to download a free printable version. You can print it out and add it to your own journal if you like. If you share it on Instagram, be sure to tag me @imbrittanyleah 🙂

 

Since I’ve decided to learn about wild plants and follow along with nature’s seasonal changes, getting to know the old earth-based traditions has been a natural offshoot of that, especially since I’ve always had a keen interest in ancient history.

I find that keeping in mind all of the old festivals throughout the year (there are 8), helps to be more grounded, intentional, connected to the environment and helps with planning ahead. It also just makes life more fun.

I find it necessary to mention that I am NOT a wiccan. I think that the gods and goddesses are archetypes of human consciousness and maybe represent aspects of nature and humanity.

Anyways, on with Imbolc …

The first and second of February are traditionally marked as the festival of Imbolc, in ancient Europe. It marks the divide between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox and from now on, we will be noticeably getting more sunlight. It is a celebration preparing for Spring.

This time is represented by the goddess Brigit, who I think is an aspect of the mother Goddess in general. She is known to be a triple goddess, and during this time she is coming out of her crone phase of Winter and into the maiden phase of Spring.

She is a fire goddess, associated with light and sun. As such, this time of the year is when life is starting to stir again after a winter hibernation.

The symbolism of fire and light and return of the sun can mean for us new creative energy, sparks of inspiration and birthing new ideas.

Purification is also a theme of this time and I think this has to do with the purity of re-birth and new beginnings. Fire is associated with purification since it is a destructive force, and from destruction comes creation.

The name Imbolc means “in the belly” and so symbolically, life is not yet manifested, but is stirring. There is also an aspect of probability and chance involved with this time as it is unknown how the future will play out.

This brings me to the explanation of the Nordic runes representing this time. They are in order of how I wrote them on my calendar cover.

Pertho – This symbolizes mysterious, hidden potential. It is associated with fate and the role of chance with the evolution of things. It reminds me of a womb actually, which is probably why it is related to life that is not yet manifested.

Algiz – This is the symbol associated with Valkyries, female warrior divinities. It represents protection, and strengthening personal luck.

Sowili – This symbol is literally a sun wheel. It has to do with vitality, energy, action, success and goals.

Nowadays, we still have remnants of Imbolc in our yearly ritual of “Groundhog Day” which I think satisfies our need for omens in nature.

In the old days, Imbolc is when you would start preparing and planning for growing life and food for the year.

Most of us are not connected to the earth in that way anymore, however now might be a good time to think about what kind of metaphorical seeds you want to sow to be able harvest at the end of the year.

Basically, what kind of things do you want to have accomplished by the end of the summer?

Personally, I’m really excited for my second round of container gardening and I’m already thinking about what herbs I’m going to try to grow.

Thanks for reading and I hope you found some seasonal inspiration. 🙂

 


Tibo Teas | Tea from the Canadian Wild

By Leave a Comment

 

As I’m writing this, it is a beautiful Imbolc morning and I’m having a cup of the Green Goddess blend from Tibo Teas. Seems appropriate, as today is a goddess celebration day, although I have been having this blend almost everyday for a couple months now.

As a person with a growing interest in learning about wild edibles and medicinals in my area, Tibo Teas was a great find. Their blends are made all with herbs and edibles right from the Canadian wild.

I really want to be able to forage my own plants and add local herbs to my daily diet, but I’m not currently in a lifestyle situation where I can easily do that, so these teas are perfect for me right now.

The Green Goddess tea contains herbs that I have heard are beneficial for women’s reproductive health. Particularly, I have been wanting to try having red clover and raspberry leaf to help deal with cramps and hormonal balance.

Well this blend has both of those and many more, all which I have been wanting to try as well. Here is the ingredient list.

 

Along with the Green Goddess, (which I’m on my second package now) I have the “Coureur de Bois” which is a woodland blend with white pine and juniper.

I’ve heard its important to have wild foods in your diet, because agricultured foods, even if they are organic, do not have the same mineral and vitamin content. Perhaps we are mostly deficient and that’s why we get sick all the time.

On the front label it says “tea is food, tea is ceremony, tea is life”, a reminder that our ancestors would probably drink herbal teas frequently, and this wisdom was passed down inter-generationally through the women – something we have sadly lost a connection with.

 

I love that this is a sustainable herbal option since there is no agriculture involved and it is local (to me anyways). It doesn’t involve ingredients that were shipped from all over the world.

I am infatuated with the Canadian forests and I love feeling like I’m drinking from them. Especially when I have the “Coureur de Bois” blend, which has helped me on days where I have tried fasting.

Tibo Teas does not have a website (I think it is a very small operation) but here is their Facebook Page. I purchase their teas from the Evergreen Brickworks in Toronto.

some reflections

I think there is something special about taking in plants from the land on which you live. Learning about plants in your area and how to use them helps to lend to a life that is a little bit less dependent the ever-destructive global food market.

Often people think they are being ethical by being vegan and only consuming fruits and vegetables which they get from the grocery store. But when you place a demand on the system that you want produce shipped to you all the way from a foreign country, you are in fact contributing to a huge, dire environmental problem.

The earth offers nutrition in our own local environments. Interacting with and learning about the land that you live on is probably way more “ethical”, natural and healthy than say, living in a Northern country and consuming tropical fruits everyday.

Cardinal Drawing

By Leave a Comment

Leave it to a cardinal with their most perfect, beautiful red imaginable to inspire one to pull out their pencil crayons

I often see these guys in the Don Valley trail, and they always make me wish I had a zoom lens to try to capture an image of them. This is the closest I managed to get the other day 🙁

What I didn’t know about cardinals is that they are only here in North America and actually, here in Southern Ontario is the northernmost region of their habitat.

They also don’t migrate, but I suppose we associate them with winter because they obviously pop out in the scenery during this time against the snowy background and bare trees.

Only the males have the vibrant red color and the females are red-tinged brown. They are known for their beautiful songs that they sing back and forth to each other. They are also known to be very territorial and defensive during the Spring and will often aggressively try to fight their own reflection.

Anyways, this is the first time I’ve tried a pencil crayon drawing (well since I was a child, duh), which I decided to do because I got a set of Prismacolors over the holidays. This was definitely a fun subject to start out with.

I was frustrated with my drawing originally because I couldn’t get the colors to look smooth, but then I learned that you can blend the colors by drawing over them with the white crayon, and layering.

I don’t think I did justice to this cute little guys color, but I’m not totally displeased with it either.

 

Hope you get the pleasure of seeing one of these beauties!

 

*Happy New Year 2018*

By Leave a Comment

Happy 2018, World!

winter-snow-portrait winter-snow-portrait

I’m enjoying the frozen beauty of winter, and the natural world at rest and repose before we slowly thaw into Spring.

Since it is hibernation season I think it is a good time to practice and enhance skills that require us to be indoors – like working on the computer and artistic endeavors.

Sometimes we get the blues at the end of the year thinking we didn’t accomplish all we had imagined we would. But remember that even a year isn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things. And every little thing that we do, every day that we practice something towards a grander goal is like a drop that will eventually fill a bucket.

Have standards, be diligent and organized but be kind to yourself.

Create or learn something not because you are instructed to by a job, but because you want to and that is your human potential.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau


My 2017 Life Review : New Creative Energy & Accomplishments

By Leave a Comment

Its great that I’m seeing so many people posting about how 2017 was a good year for them. I feel the same!

2017 was a very notable year for me for many reasons. I totally changed my interests, my views on what I think is important, what I want to put out into the world and create … this was not a forced change, it just happened naturally within me.

First of all, this was the first year I started to live with the seasons. As in, I became fascinated with noticing the natural changes in my environment as we went through spring, summer, fall. I took pictures of interesting plants and flowers in my region, and tried to learn about as many as I could. I didn’t blog about this too much, because it was so new and overwhelming for me. Like a whole new world opened up.

Of course, I feel like I didn’t notice or learn as much as I wanted to, but the amazing thing about life is that it is a constant renewal and cycle which will start again and you can expand on your knowledge in the next season.

Becoming interested in nature is a different shift from what I originally started blogging about which was makeup and fitness. But I wouldn’t say that it is a totally new interest for me because as a child I was fascinated with plants and folklore, as most are, but of course we get ‘educated’ out of that.

Through blogging about ‘natural’ products and healthy living I started to think it was odd that we place so much value on those qualities, meanwhile we continue to live in an artificial world in ignorance of the natural world.

I also realized that I was blogging about lifestyle products you can buy, because all the advice that you hear about blogging successfully is focused on buying and selling – mostly having a business perspective with your blog.

I found this really hindered on my creativity and I felt like I wasn’t being myself, to be only talking about superficial things like organic makeup or fitness even though they were aspects of my life.

I still like to blog about things that I use or wear that I feel merit attention, but now it comes naturally as part of my lifestyle, rather than products being the main focus and purpose for blogging.

The good thing is, that through experimenting with blogging, content creation and social media, I revived my affinity for art and photography which had been dormant for several years.

In my late teens and early twenties, I had been really into visual art and I used to draw and paint and experiment with taking photos. But I quit progressing my artistic abilities believing it was frivolous and wouldn’t help me in the ‘real world’. (Which is an absolutely ridiculous notion because all businesses use art in some way or another.) And so, I went on and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Politics, which I don’t use now, but probably has helped in a way to steer me back into my artistic and nature-loving side.

Anyways, back to 2017 …

Through being on social media I started to notice that there is a niche of artists and creators putting out such inspiring content that really resonated with me. People that like forests, plants, folklore, the simple things in life or diy and natural home stuff creating beautiful images and art based on that lifestyle.

Through being in that community, and in combination with my desire to learn more about plants, forests and old myths, I feel so much more clear on who I am and what I want to do.

 

In a nutshell, this year I’ve :

– Taken an interest in learning about nature and creating art and photography based on that.
– Learned to identify a few wild, edible and medicinal plants in my environment.
– Taught myself photography! Okay well, there’s still lots more to learn, but over several months, I’ve learned how to use the manual settings on my camera. Lots of trial and errors, lots of fails.
– Taught myself how to use Photoshop and Lightroom. I went from absolutely zero knowledge in February, and now I have a working level of proficiency in these programs. Not expert yet and still lots to learn.
– Started painting and drawing again.
– Started my first container garden. Grew herbs, tomatoes and microgreens for the first time. Such a fulfilling endeavour!

(Please note that by “taught myself” I mean, watched YouTube tutorials. It’s awesome what we can learn these days at our fingertips.)

So that’s that. I’m not doing resolutions, but rather just celebrating what I’ve accomplished and looking forward to continuing with what drives me.

I don’t think I’ve ever stuck to a resolution, and when I’ve quit bad habits, it wasn’t around New Year anyways or because I tried hard … I just matured and became interested in more important things.

So I’m going to close this off with saying that I have a new energy for life that I’ve never had before. I never felt happy or clear about what I wanted to do when I was a student or working full time in the corporate/hospitality industry and spending too much free time at bars with peers. I was stunted, and I’m trying not to regret wasting time.

Instead, I will be excited about expanding on my skills and knowledge in art, nature and good literature.

Happy New Year to you!

What accomplishments are you happy about from the year?