#134 Daily Countryside Life in Spring | Foraging Magnolia, Making Candle, Raspberry Panna Cotta,..

#134 Daily Countryside Life in Spring | Foraging Magnolia, Making Candle, Raspberry Panna Cotta,..

Spring enters slowly, taking her time. She whispers, then mumbles, then belts sublime. For me it’s like stepping out of the shade into a patch of sunlight — suddenly, the world seems just a bit brighter. I feel like a kid again, savoring the peace and joy. So thank you, spring, forever and always.

In the first snowdrops brightening the valleys of roots beneath bare tree canopies, in the creeping-forward of the sunrise and the ever-loudening of the dawn chorus, spring is here at last. A welcome reminder that once given the time to rest, beauty comes forth with quiet confidence, bringing with it hope.

One of my neighbors has a hundreds of years old magnolia tree that sometimes he prunes to keep the tree healthy. The other day I walked by and saw he cut down some huge branches because they were overgrown and blocked the windows. so I asked if I can bring a few branches home.

It would save him a trip to the compost facility, so he was like, “Yes, yes, take all of them.” :)) If you take fresh-cut branches from some spring-flowering trees, bring them indoors, add them to a vase filled with fresh water flowers will bloom and brighten up your home during the gloomy weeks.

I secured the top of the branch to the ceiling with a fishing wire to make sure it won’t fall over. For magnolia, it will take 2 weeks to start blooming and the bloom will last 7-10 days. Perceptibly, there seem to be more than just four seasons, as we experience the gradual changes

Of the natural world through the cycle of the year. In ancient times the Japanese divided the year into 24 periods (sekki), from Risshun (Beginning of Spring) in early February until Daikon (Greater Cold). Each sekki are split again in three for a total of 72 poetic micro-seasons (kō),

Each one shifting every 5 days, to create a time map that is a fascinating mixture of culture and nature. Fundamentally, it is an invitation to reconsider our relationship to the passage of time. In breaking up the four seasons into discrete, more manageable chunks,

We start to pay more mindful attention to our immediate physical surroundings. This more nuanced and evocative way of seeing the natural world encourages us to appreciate our environment more deeply, to find beauty in the smallest details while realizing that the only reliable constant in our life is change itself.

I’m pressing some flowers to make flower candles <3 If you don't have a wooden press, a book works just fine. Compared to book pressing, the pressure is more evenly distributed with a wooden press. Plus, you don’t risk damaging any books. Book pressing gives the best color though. Drying times will depend on the thickness of the flowers used, but expect at least a week, or two. There is another method using a microwave. When you’re short on time, this is the ideal option for you! I haven't tried it though so can't comment on that. You can also apply low heat to dry flowers using a household iron, but it's hard to control and quality is pretty poor. “It is nature that gives me the most pleasure & inspiration, the changes through the seasons, the blossoms and leaves of autumn and spring, the shifting patterns of the skies.” To make pressed flower candles, you use the wax itself to stick dried flowers to the candle. I find that brush works best with big petals and for small details / fragile petals a scissors would work better. A small palette knife also works well. Art is genuinely a gift to the world. It's what we crave in the human experience. Art gives meaning to our lives and helps us understand our world. If you want to draw on the candles with acrylic paint, wipe them with rubbing alcohol first. When we give ourselves the opportunities to connect with art, we are able to take a step back, Reflect what's going on in our world, evaluate our lives, and learn. That is why I believe it is so important to incorporate art into our life on a daily basis. This could be through visiting a museum, seeing a concert, watching a movie, reading a great book, or even drying flowers. FEEL your emotion. Don’t suppress it. We can’t get rid of our emotions. To be human is to have them. And like clouds, feelings take time to be processed, to be felt, focused on, and then freed from our mind. And art is a great way to channel our emotions. "So beautiful, baby!" Don't use those candles unattended, since it could pose a potential fire hazards. Let's make coconut panna cotta with raspberry today. "Leave it here for me, baby." 300ml coconut milk 4.5 leaves gelatin You can also use agar agar powder as vegan substitute. Warm coconut milk over low heat. Add gelatin leaves to the warm coconut milk. A few vanilla extract drops, 2-3 tbsp maple syrup. 300g coconut yoghurt "Is everything alright?" "Let me take a look?" "Are they going to turn into jelly?" "It will set in the fridge." We also made another version with matcha. Add a bit of food coloring for a nicer green shade. Clean-as-you-go is my simple, stress-free way to keep my house neat and clean. Let it set in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Beautiful sunsets like this are now more and more often, so we took a walk afterwards. "Oh hey Jiji! What are you doing here?" We're going to make the sauce for the panna cotta tomorrow. 150g raspberry + 1/4 cups water. Add maple syrup according to your taste & simmer for 10 minutes. You can strain out the seeds if you like a fine sauce texture. Or include it and blend until smooth. Soak it in hot water for 15 seconds to remove the mould easier. I love watching Alexia's happy face when she tries new recipes. Though she can be quite a picky eater sometimes ;) Long time no journal! The narration of this vlog was taken from one of my February journal entries. ”Let’s allow journaling to be our meditation. Nothing more, nothing less.” Let this be my love letter to spring.

Spring enters slowly, taking her time.
She whispers, then mumbles, then belts sublime. For me it’s like stepping out of the shade into a patch of sunlight — suddenly, the world seems just a bit brighter. I feel like a kid again, savoring the peace and joy.
So thank you, spring, forever and always.

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