Thanksgiving is almost here and along with the holidays comes a ton of entertaining. Place cards are always a good idea as they keep the peace in case of any inter-family drama but don’t hesitate to use them even if everyone gets along. Designating a special seat for each individual guest makes the event that much more special. So this year, knock place cards and favors off your list at the same time with rustic plaster cast leaf ornaments. Don’t let the long list of materials deter you! Most of the stuff you can find around the house and the rest can be picked up quickly at any craft supply store. So let’s dive right in and cast some leaves!

Materials

• Mold Putty (available in most craft stores)
• Variety of leaves
• Paper towels
• Self adhesive foam sheets (available in most craft stores)
• Brayer (rolling pin will also work for this step)
• Hole punch
• Parchment paper (available at the grocery store)
• Rolling pin
• 2 pencils
• Small craft scissors
• Plaster of Paris (available in craft or hardware stores)
• Water
• Plastic cup
• Spoon
• Fine grit sandpaper
• Acrylic paints
• Spray or brush on clear coat
• Paper tags
• Twine or ribbon

1. Collect a variety of leaves and break off the stems. When selecting leaves, make sure they have good texture, aren’t too dry or brittle, and the shape of the leaf is not too skinny in any one area or your casts will be too fragile. If the leaves are collected wet, place them between sheets of paper towel and set them under a heavy book until they’re dry.

2. Cut a piece of foam to fit one leaf and peel off the paper backing. Place the leaf face down (the vein texture is more apparent on the back of the leaf) onto the sticky side of the foam and press flat using a clean brayer or rolling pin. Repeat with the rest of the leaves.

3. Carefully cut around the leaf to maintain its natural shape with small craft scissors. When finished, adhere the foam backing to a second piece of foam and cut out. The double layer of foam will give the leaf added thickness when creating the mold. Finally, punch a hole through all three layers at the base of the leaf.

4. Cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to protect your work surface. Read through all of the manufacturer’s instructions on the mold putty before you begin as it will vary company to company. For most brands, mix equal parts of the putty together until a uniform color is achieved and there is enough to lay down a 1/2″ thick layer slightly larger than the object to be molded.

5. Flatten the putty out on the parchment paper in the shape of the leaf and press the leaf face down into the putty. Lay a pencil on either side of the mold and flatten with the rolling pin. The pencils keep the rolling pin at a uniform level so neither side of the mold is thinner than the other. Repeat for the rest of the leaves.

6. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the molds and place a heavy book on top. Let the molds sit for 1/2 an hour. When the molds are dry the parchment paper will be stuck to the putty so carefully and slowly peel it off.

7. Gently pull the leaves from the dry putty. If any part of the leaf becomes detached from the foam and sticks inside the mold carefully scrape it out with a finger nail or wet the mold and try rubbing it off.

8. In a plastic cup, mix 2 parts plaster to 1 part cold water. For example, to fill 3 molds I used 1/2 cup plaster and 1/4 cup water. Mix until smooth and then carefully spoon into molds. Tamp down to even the plaster out and get rid of air bubbles. Let stand 2 to 3 hours and then gently remove from the molds and repeat as needed. When the plaster is removed from the cast it will feel slightly damp and cold. Lay the casts flat to fully dry overnight.

9. Use fine grit sandpaper to remove any excess plaster and to clean up the shape of the leaf. In the photo below the leaf on the left has been sanded and the leaf on the right has not.

10. Make sure all the sanding dust is off of the leaves before beginning to paint. First, begin by painting the base white with one coat of acrylic paint. Let the paint dry completely.

11. To antique the leaves, rub a second darker layer onto the leaf with a clean cloth or paper towel. For example, I used a mixture of brown and silver paints. Quickly rub the paint on and then with a second damp cloth, rub the paint off. Keep experimenting until the desired effect is reached. Let dry.

12. Once the antiquing has dried, spray or brush on a matte finish clear coat to protect the surface and make the leaves more durable. Allow to dry.

13. Write the name of your guests onto paper tags and thread them each onto a strip of twine or ribbon 14″ long. Knot the twine at the top.

14. Adjust the tag so it’s at the top of the twine near the knot. Thread the bottom through the hole in the leaf, back to front, make a loop, and slip the knot and the tag through the loop. Pull tight, adjusting as you go so the knotted end is evenly centered at the top.

15. Now place the ornaments on your Thanksgiving table and ENJOY!

You can also check out our hand-made ceramic Fallen Leaves in the Beekman 1802 Mercantile.  Click here

Nature inspires us in our daily lives from the foods we eat to the art we surround ourselves with, and everything in between. This holiday season use that inspiration to decorate another important part of your life, your holiday packages! Not only will your gifts look amazing under the tree but they’ll save you some money too and that’s always a good thing this time of year.

Start with a roll of contractor’s paper which can be found at your local hardware or paint store and will run you about $10 for a roll 35″ wide by 140 feet long. Compare that to a roll of craft paper from the art supply store and you’ll save about half the cost. Next, collect things from holidays past like bits of ribbon, bows, tags, and twine and then grab your coat for the fun part. Wait for a nice sunny day between autumn rain storms or early winter snow falls and get collecting!

Take a walk and look for plants that have naturally dried on the stems like the eye of a Black Eyed Susan, or dried leaves. Collect twigs from the ground, pine cones, a strip of birch bark, or rose hips . Looking for something a little more colorful? Then look for greens like pine branches or clippings from a boxwood.

Simply wrap the gifts in the contractor’s paper, tie some ribbon on, and begin experimenting. The simple route can be the most beautiful so tuck in a piece of holly, a dried leaf, or a bundle of birch twigs. A branch of Magnolia blossoms or a sprig of dried Rose of Sharon seed pods spray painted silver take on a minimalist sculptural look. Or grab a roll of decorative tape and your finds take on the air of a naturalists specimen collection.

Or get a little more hands on by using a strip of birch bark as a name tag and gluing it over a simple silver ribbon and a piece of myrtle. All you need is some acrylic craft paint, a small paint brush, and a glue gun to hold the bark in place.

Everyday items we may look past like a branch of cedar become magical tokens from a winter wonderland with simple silver spray paint, silky ribbon, and a yummy candy cane.

Things can of course take a much more intricate turn and become works of art in and of themselves. For this special gift I cut a Styrofoam ball in half, spray painted it silver, and then stuck the tips of Black Eyed Susans into the ball to create this rosette. Finish it off with some cedar clippings and it becomes the perfect winter flower.

The possibilities are endless so get outside, explore, collect, and get creative!

Welcome to our first craft adventure of the new year! We’re a few weeks in and of course that begs the question, who has been able to keep their New Years Resolutions? Personally, I don’t make a single one. Years and years of making and breaking them has kind of soured me, but this year I want a change. I recently saw an interview on the Today Show with author Jon Gordon who wrote the book, One Word That Will Change Your Life. I haven’t read the book so I can’t vouch for that, but the interview I found incredibly inspiring. What I took away from it was that instead of making a list of specific resolutions you should instead come up with one word to focus on and in doing so, will automatically change your behavior. The word I chose is “Better”. I obviously always want to be a better wife and friend and mother, but it goes beyond that. For example, this year I want to commit to buying better. Instead of spending money on a lot of things, I want to buy less but of better quality. According to Mr. Gordon then, I need to focus on the word “Better” and that will help me when I’m faced with certain choices whether it be significant, like how to react in an argument or whether or not I should attempt one more round of cardio, or insignificant like purchasing something I don’t in any way need.

Because I was so inspired by this I wanted to make it the focus of my first project of the new year. I rolled it over and over in my mind, how can I incorporate this word into my daily life? Then the Beekman Boys came back from their trip to Kenya (have you checked out their photo stream on Instagram? Amazing images!) and I was instantly grabbed by the people they were meeting and their impressive and colorful beads. I put the two ideas together and ta da! The Resolution bracelet. My first idea incorporated the actual word I had chosen into the design but it felt a bit much and honestly I didn’t want to explain it to every person I came across. Instead I settled on a knot design to symbolize that I shouldn’t forget. So enough talk, let’s jump right in. It may look difficult but trust me, it can be done in under 2 hours with absolutely no experience.

Materials:

• Cardboard or wooden box (tissue box, cigar box, shoe box, etc)
• Utility knife or scissors
• Heavy thread or specialized beading thread
• Scotch tape
• Collapsible eye beading needle
• Assorted seed beads
• 2 large beads
• Clasp

1. To build the bead loom cut the box if necessary to remove flaps so the top is open. Next, use scissors or a utility knife to cut slits for the loom threads. This design requires 12 slits on each side. For my specific loom I used a balsa wood box that a toy was packaged in and a steak knife to cut the slits.

2. Tape thread to the center of the bottom of the loom leaving a 4″ tail.

3. Wrap the thread around the box and into each slit. When all the slits are filled, tie the thread to the beginning tail and trim.

4. Take a long section of thread, about 2 arms length, and thread onto the beading needle. Tie the end of the thread to the first loom thread, just left of center. Leave an 8″ tail.

5. Pass the needle and thread under the loom threads and string on the 11 beads from the first column in the design. When stringing the beads, work from the bottom of the design to the top.

6. Ease one bead into each of the spaces between the loom threads.

7. Pass the needle back through the beads making sure the needle and thread stay above the loom threads.

8. Pull the thread tight and knot the thread to the beginning tail to keep the beads taught.

9. Continue on in this manner (except don’t make anymore knots) to build up the design.

10. When the design is finished make a single knot with the bead thread to the first loom thread. Cut the loom threads in the center of the bottom of the loom to release.

11. Tape one side of the threads and the beaded design to the bottom of the loom box and separate the threads into 4 sets (one set will have 4 threads, the rest will have 3).

12. Thread one set of threads into the beading needle and string on beads. Repeat with remaining 3 sets of thread.

13. When the threads are all strung with beads, thread all of the loom threads into the needle and slip on one large bead. Separate the threads into two equal sets, thread one end of the clasp on to one set of threads and triple the knot thread sets together. Thread all of the threads through the needle and pass the needle back up through the large bead. Trim the threads and repeat steps #11 to #13 with the opposite side.

There you go! I hope you enjoyed this first crafty project of the new year and I look forward to hearing how it comes out! And don’t be scared to experiment. Mix it up with more threads, less threads, bigger beads, a more intricate design, whatever you like!

It’s hard to think of spring with all this frigid winter weather hanging around but how about you warm up someone’s heart this February with a handmade Valentine infused with thoughts of spring! Everything you need to make your own recycled seed paper Valentine is probably stashed somewhere in your kitchen as we speak. Have a paper shredder? Then you’re already halfway there! Turn that old paper back into paper pulp, mix in some wildflower seeds, and you’ve got plantable paper and a handmade gift for everyone in your address book. I promise you, it’s just that easy! Here’s what you’ll need:

Materials for Seed Paper:

• Large bowl
• Medium bowl
• Hot water
• Shredded paper
• Slotted spoon
• Paper mix-in’s (mica flakes, bits of twine, dried petals, etc) *Optional
• Food coloring *Optional
• Blender
• Small seeds (lavender, coreopsis, coneflower, etc)
• Glass measuring cup
• Screen of some kind (I made mine from an embroidery hoop and tulle fabric)
• Heart shaped cookie cutter
• Dish towel

Materials for Cards:

• Plain white cards and envelopes
• Something to poke holes such as an awl
• Cardstock
• Printer
• Seed paper planting instructions (click to open up a window to print from)
• 1/8″ ribbon
• All purpose glue or tape runner

1. Place shredded (or torn) paper into a large bowl and fill with warm water. Let the paper sit in the bath for an hour or so or overnight. The longer the paper can sit in the bath the smoother the pulp will be.

2. Once the paper has soaked, scoop it out using a slotted spoon and place the paper into the blender. Fill the blender with clean warm water.

3. Now is when the mix-in’s are added to the paper. For this project I used mica flakes specifically marketed for paper making but feel free to experiment with anything from scraps of fabric and cut up twine to dried flower petals and food coloring.

*A note on food coloring The food coloring has to sit and absorb into the paper pulp in order to hold a color. For this project I did not let it sit so the affect is just a slight pastel hint of color as opposed to a deep red.

4.  Blend the paper shreds and mix-in’s until a smooth pulp forms. If the paper isn’t moving freely around the blender add more water.

5. Once the pulp is thoroughly pureed, pour it into a clean bowl and add more water if necessary to achieve a smooth broth consistency.

6. Next, prepare the drain screen. Paper making screens can be purchased or use a window screen, flat kitchen strainer, or as I did, make one yourself! Tulle fabric from my studio plus an old embroidery hoop equals the perfect DIY paper making screen. Place the screen on top of a bowl to catch the drained liquid from the paper pulp and place your cookie cutter on top of the screen.

7. Pour about 1/4 cup of pulp into the measuring cup and mix in some seeds.

8. Pour the pulp into the cookie cutter to a thickness of about 1/4″. If necessary, spread the pulp out with your finger and press down on it to help the water drain out. Remove the cookie cutter.

9. Flip the screen over onto a dish towel and press down with a second dish towel to squeeze out excess water. Remove the screen and repeat steps 7 through 9 to make as many seed paper hearts as you need.

*Keep in mind that the hearts will retain the texture of whatever they’re sitting on. My dish towels have a deep texture so after they sat for a few minutes I gently moved them to a work table with no texture.

10. Let the hearts sit overnight or if time is a factor then gently place a heart between two pieces of cotton muslin and iron until the heart is completely dry.

11. To make the cards center a dry seed paper heart in the center of the front flap and poke two holes using an awl.

12. Thread ribbon through the holes and tie into a neat bow. Next, cut out the planting instructions and glue or tape them into the inside of the card over the visible ribbon.

Now go and make somebody’s day with a handmade Valentine surprise in the mail that will get their spring juices flowing!

Enjoy!

The Iroquois Indian Museum

Schoharie County has a wonderful resource for those folks interested in Native American history and culture: the Iroquois Indian Museum, located on Caverns Road in Howes Cave, about 17 miles from Sharon Springs, near the famous tourist attraction Howe Caverns. Founded in 1981 and formerly at the Old Stone Fort Complex in Schoharie, the museum moved to its present location in 1992. The museum’s website (http://www.iroquoismuseum.org) has the following description:

“The Iroquois Indian Museum is an educational institution dedicated to fostering understanding of Iroquois culture using Iroquois art as a window to that culture. The Museum is a venue for promoting Iroquois art and artists, and a meeting place for all peoples to celebrate Iroquois culture and diversity. As an anthropological institution, it is informed by research on archaeology, history, and the common creative spirit of modern artists and craftspeople.”

For those of you who wish to brush up on Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) history, please see our earlier blog on the Six Nations of the Iroquois confederacy. We’ve also written blogs on two historical figures, Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) and Kateri Tekakwitha, both Mohawk.

The Iroquois Indian Museum brings Haudenosaunee history and culture alive. The building itself is in the shape of a traditional longhouse. The museum’s holdings include an extensive archeological collection of Schoharie County artifacts as well as the world’s largest public collection of contemporary Iroquois arts. The Children’s Iroquois Museum on the ground floor offers an interactive space for children. The Museum Gift Shop has arts, crafts, and educational materials for adults and children. Visitors have access to a nearby picnic area. Also near the main building is found the Iroquois Performing Arts Amphitheater, used for Iroquois traditional and modern dancing and other performances, as well as educational talks and demonstrations.

Another attraction on the museum grounds is the 45-acre Nature Park. The park has marked trails through woods and fields and along a river and a stream. Visitors can view wildlife, including birds, deer, raccoon, beaver, woodchucks, and squirrels, as well as wild plants and flowers important to Native survival. The museum has had a special relationship with faculty and students of SUNY Cobleskill who have been involved in studies of the park’s ecology.

As the website states:

“In the Nature Park of forty-five acres visitors are introduced to the Iroquois view of nature – Our Mother the Earth, our Elder Brother the Sun, our Grandfathers the Thunderers, our Three Sisters (Corn, Beans, and Squash), the earth as Turtle Island, the nine clan animals, the four beings who are the winds, our Grandmother Moon, Morning Star, the Seven Dancers, and the Little People who control the medicine and herbs given by the Creator.”

The Nature Park also has two refurbished Iroquois log houses from the mid-19^th century, relocated from the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario.

A great time to visit the museum is Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day Weekend (August 30 and 31^st) for the 33^rd Annual Iroquois Indian Festival. Iroquois artists from New York, Ontario, and Quebec participate in an Art Market, where both traditional and contemporary works will be showcased. The Children’s Tent will feature arts and crafts activities such as beadwork and cornhusk doll making. The Sky Dancers from Six Nations Reserve in Ontario will perform traditional Iroquois social dances. Wildlife rehabilitator Kelly Martin will discuss wildlife conservation and present a variety of wild animals, including birds of prey. The Museum’s archeology department will give demonstrations on flintknapping and other traditional technologies and will help visitors identify their archeological finds. Native foods will be served.

We are fortunate that such an institution as the Iroquois Indian Museum Festival exists in the ancestral Haudenosaunee homeland, and that it hosts the informative and inspirational annual festival. Come enjoy all that it has to offer!

The History Boys are

Chris Campbell has made his permanent home in Cherry Valley, NY. The Campbell family dates back to 1739 in this town, situated about eight miles from Sharon Springs. Some family members were captured by Tories and Iroquois allies in the Cherry Valley Massacre of 1778 during the American Revolution and taken to Canada, released two years later in Albany as part of a prisoner exchange. Chris is a rare book and map collector and has had a lifelong interest in history, especially relating to upstate New York and colonial land patents. He was the founder and first chairman of the Cherry Valley Planning Board and has worked as a surveyor and realtor as well as a researcher for the Otsego County map department. His hobbies include Ham radio.

Carl Waldman, also living in Cherry Valley, is a former archivist for the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown. He is he author of a number of reference books published by Facts On File, including Atlas of the North American Indian and Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, both originally published in the 1980s and both in their third editions. He is the co-author of Encyclopedia of Exploration (2005) and Encyclopedia of European Peoples (2006). Carl has also done screenwriting about Native Americans, including an episode of Miami Vice entitled “Indian Wars” and the Legend of Two-Path, a drama about the Native American side of Raleigh’s Lost Colony, shown at Festival Park on Roanoke Island in North Carolina. His hobbies include music and he works with young people in the Performance and Production Workshops at the Cherry Valley Old School.

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There’s no doubt about it, Valentine’s Day is one of America’s most celebrated traditions. Every February 14, candy, flowers, gifts, and love notes are exchanged between friends and loved ones across the United States and in many places around the world, all in the name of St. Valentine.

More than just a Hallmark holiday, Valentine’s Day, like Halloween, is rooted in pagan partying; however, the lovers’ jubilee hasn’t always been associated with romance. Before the ubiquitous candy hearts, roses, and softly lit dinners, there were beheadings, martyred saints, and pagan rituals. Let’s take a look at the history and traditions that made February 14 the love fest it is today.

While the exact origins of Valentine’s Day remain shrouded in mystery, we do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance. Some historians consider the Ancient Roman feast Lupercalia, held from February 13 to 15, to be the holiday’s earliest iteration. During the festivities, Roman priests sacrificed a goat and a dog, using strips of the animals’ hides dipped in blood to whip women in the belief that it would make them more fertile. The ritual also included a matchmaking session, with bachelors selecting the names of their “sweethearts” from an urn.

The most popular account of the holiday’s origins date back to a temple priest named, not surprisingly, Valentine, a later-to-be-canonized saint who was executed on February 14 in 270 A.D. by Emperor Claudius II. His crime? Performing illegal marriage ceremonies on the Roman battlefield. Back then, as the story goes, the military-minded Claudius II believed connubial bliss was bad for war and made it illegal for soldiers to wed as a way to encourage them to join the army. Imprisoned for his battlefield-betrothing ways, Valentine, a man of many talents, supposedly healed the blind daughter of his jailer while incarcerated and, the night before his execution, gave the newly sighted young lass a handwritten card signed, “From Your Valentine.” And the rest, as they say, is history.

In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius declared February 14th as the First Feast Day of Saint Valentine. Whether this was purely a move to honor a Saint, or a strategic effort to Christianize the unsavory pagan Lupercalia, is still a subject of debate.

Of course, as in most historical accounts, there is almost an infinite variety of competing legends. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints named Valentine — each of whom were martyred on February 14th. And to make matters even more heartbreaking, the official Roman Catholic roster of saints lists no less than twelve Saints named “Valentine.”

Indeed, depending on where you live and what you believe, it is possible to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day on six different days of the year — November 3, January 7, July 25, July 6 being four of them. Here at Beekman, we prefer February 14, not just because it’s an American tradition, but because February in Upstate NY is pretty bleak, and chocolate keeps our spirits (and blood sugar) high.

It wasn’t until the 14th century, however, that Valentine’s Day was associated with romantic love, and we can thank English poet Geoffrey Chaucer for that. Chaucer’s poem, Parliament of Foules, was the first ever to link the tradition of courtly love with St. Valentine’s day.

For this was on seynt Volantynys day

Whan euery foul comyth there to chese his make.

Not everyone agrees that Chaucer was referring to February 14 here, however. Some have argued that he was instead referring to springtime, when birds are more likely to mate in England. But when others, including William Shakespeare, followed suite, exchanging handmade cards and tokens became popular in England. The oldest known Valentine, dating back to 1415, was sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Handwritten Valentine’s Day cards were the tradition until 1847. That’s when Esther Howland, a budding entrepreneur and the “Mother of the Valentine,” began selling the first mass-produced cards in America in the 1840s, after ordering massive amounts of paper and lace from jolly old England, a country where no less than half the population was already in the habit of giving and receiving Valentine’s Day cards. Hallmark Cards entered the scene in 1913, and today, the Greeting Card Association estimates approximately 190 million cards are given each year in the United States alone. That number skyrockets to one billion if you count the number of cards school children exchange.

Of course, when we entered the digital age, the language of love also became the language of computer code, and the art of sending Valentines and declaring on-demand, undying love was forever changed.

Valentine’s Day first went digital 2005. Long before Tinder made swiping a thing for matchmaking apps, there was a little-known video site trying to play cupid to the Internet generation. YouTube originated as an online dating site believe it or not, and its co-founders still credit its invention as the result of, “three guys on Valentine’s Day that had nothing to do.” Maybe the matchmaking feature, though short-lived, was always in the cards, as the founders registered the domain YouTube on February 14. So the next time you default to YouTube for your next, “How to,” search, keep in mind that the world’s largest video site has romantic roots.

Fast forward ten years to 2015, when ride sharing behemoth Uber rolled out, “Romance on Demand,” allowing users to send flowers on Valentine’s Day via the app. This initiative continues to progress, with smartphone skywriting available to love birds in Southern California the following year, sending sweet sentiments sky high.

A social media analytics platform releases a Valentine’ Day “Sentiment Analysis,” measuring how people engage with and discuss the holiday on social media. In total, it measured nine million mentions of Valentine’s Day, with the vast majority of them mentioning a specific brand – Netflix. I guess they have a pretty good idea of when to release everyone’s favorite romantic comedies. The top trending hashtag? #happyvalentinesday.

Like so many other holidays, Valentine’s Day has experienced a transition into pop culture that has shaped the way it’s perceived, discussed, and celebrated. Sure, it’s often accused of being nothing more than an over commercialized, money-making holiday by some lonely hearts out there, but as long as you embrace the spirit of the holiday and its determined patron saint, then you won’t be a blue Valentine.

The post When You Cross Paths With Cupid This Valentine’s Day, At Least You’ll Have Something To Talk About appeared first on Beekman 1802 Mercantile.

An extremely hardy perennial herb with a sweet, long-lasting, vanilla-like fragrance, sweet grass is indigenous to the comparatively cool regions of Europe and North America, growing naturally in the nutrient-rich soil of wet meadows, low prairies, cool mountain canyons, and along the shady banks of streams, rivers, and lakes.

The plant grows to a height of about 24 inches with long, scented stalks hiding shiny undersides. Its scientific name, Hierochloe odorata, literally means, “fragrant holy grass,” and the plant has been regarded as sacred everywhere it is grown and harvested.

In fact, Native Americans called it, “the grass that never dies,” because they believed the plant retained its spirit and fragrance long after it had been harvested; some tribes believed it was the first plant to cover the earth.

This aromatic herb gets its namesake from its sweet blades and has been used by humans over the centuries in functions ranging from ingredients in herbal medicine to the production of distilled spirits. It has even been used as a flavoring for tea, tobacco, candy, soft drinks, and vodka.

Indigenous people of North America have been using sweet grass traditionally for their religious ceremonies as well as for specific therapeutic purposes. Many stuffed the fragrant grass into their pillows and mattresses with hopes of having sweet dreams, and they even wove the dried leaves into their fabrics and clothing to ensure the soft aroma of sweet grass followed them everywhere.

Sweet Grass didn’t just end with clothing; however, in addition, native tribes throughout North America used its long leaves to weave baskets and other traditional handicrafts, many of which retained the plant’s aroma long after weavers were finished.

In Northern Europe, sweet grass was laid on the ground in front of churches on Saints’ days so the sweet fragrance would be released when people walked inside. Among Native Americans, sweet grass has a long tradition of use in sacred rituals as a “smudging” herb and is still widely used for that purpose today.

Using an herbaceous healing and purifying incense, the act of smudging is ritual alchemy — changing and shifting the air element, transforming one’s environment to a level of mystical elevation. The use of incense and smoke to connect humans to the spirit world can be easily traced throughout the East in parts of Asia, and even dating as far back to Ancient Greece.

Smudging with dried white sage is a 2,000 year-old Indigenous American practice; shamans used dried sage plants on their fires as a ritual to call upon ancestral spirits. Any conflict, anger, illness or evil was absorbed by the sage smoke to be released or cleansed from the energy field of a person.

Next, braided and dried sweet grass would be burned to call forth the energy of peace and love. Sweet grass braids smolder and don’t produce an open flame when burned. This ancient mystical ritual is a simple one to incorporate into your life, or any time you feel like your aura might need a little polishing; some believe you can never really smudge too much!

Smudging your sacred space, your home or office, or even your body with herbs like sage or sweet grass is like a deep metaphysical cleansing. The smoke from dried herbs actually changes the ionic composition of the air and can have a direct effect on reducing our stress. In fact, sweet grass is the ying to sage’s yang, because just as sage is used to cleanse and clear negativity, sweet grass is used to bring peace and positivity.

Of course, one mustn’t rely solely on smoke and firepower to experience the benefits of sweet grass; the essential oils extracted from the seeds of these sweet stems are chock full of natural pick-me-ups for even your most stubborn moods or ailments. Its aroma alone cues your mind and body to relax, wading off tension and anxiety, thus promoting higher natural energy levels – perfect for when you need a boost, but don’t need another cup of coffee!

If you’d rather ease your way into using sweet grass as part of your essential oils toolbox, start by adding a couple drops to your laundry water, dryer balls, cleaning detergents, favorite lotion, or any place where you want an extra boost of that refreshingly light scent. Added bonus: though the scent is sweet to humans, it’s repulsive to mosquitos, so it should help eliminate the seasonal buzz in your ears!

Sweet grass has proven to be a sacred, powerful plant believed by many to dispel negative energy, elicit emotional strength, and engage our minds and senses. So while we’re at it, maybe we could all learn a few life lessons from these sweet leaves: stand tall, always keep growing, be persistent, it’s important to cleanse every once in awhile, spread the love, and while the grass isn’t always greener, it certainly may be sweeter!

1

Sweet Grass Whipped Body Cream

2

Happy Place Sweet Grass Essential Oil

3

Sweet Grass Face Wipes

4

Happy Place Sweet Grass Goat Milk Laundry Soap

Visit the Mercantile

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