Planting Roots, Sprouting Wings . . .

We hope you'll find time to join us as we celebrate this season of
renewal and growth.
Open for a limited time with a wonderful selection of
annuals, perennials and Moss Cottage style planters
and other goodies.  


OPEN in the GREENHOUSE


JUNE 3 - 19


Thursdays & Fridays 10-3
Saturdays 2-4  Sundays 12-4

See you soon!

Creative fun

Today I tried something I've been wanting to try for some time now -- dyeing fabric

with natural plant based dyes.  

This is the beginning of the final results. 

You'll have to wait and see the finished result when you visit

Can you guess what we used?

Finally

After a long slumber, new life, new hope . . .

The garden cleanup has begun and there in the winter's brush bloomed this pretty faced reminder of spring.  Oh Happy days!


Garden & Greenhouse details coming shortly. 

The real scoop

Hmmm . . . 

So, here's the real deal . . . For those of you who have read our posts fully, or visited me at the shop or taken the time to stop by and say hello at the market, then you know the real scoop about what's happening at Moss Cottage.  For those who don't or haven't but seem to be keen on sharing your understanding of what's happening at Moss Cottage, then this is for you and please -- continue to share! 

Moss Cottage isn't going anywhere.  I'm still here planning, creating, digging, planting and if you'll continue to have us, we'll continue to share.  We're just going to be doing it in a different way.  We're going back to our roots, where we started.  We're in the mood for re-evaluating, recreating, renewing -- plain and simple.  

So, you will still find us open from time-to-time.  Seasonally as a matter of fact.  And, at this point in time, that means twice per year - spring and winter.  We will be opening shortly for the greenhouse/garden season with not only wonderful plants, planters and garden goods, you'll find vintage and repurposed treasures, handmade soap and other needful things for home, garden + soul.  BUT, instead of finding us in the barn, you'll find us in the Garden House (better known as the greenhouse) --  until the winter season comes, of course.   The barn is now our studio where you'll find us silk screening and sewing and creating.
We'd love to hear from you so stay in touch, leave a comment, stop by the market and say hello and for seasonal visiting hours click here.

Mom's & Mother's

This is my mom, affectionately known as Maggie . . .

I love, love, love this picture.  What you don't see is her stunning auburn red hair.  I don't know, besides the fact I think it's because she's so naturally beautiful, I think it reflects her hip, cool quality.  I have many memories of my mom, not the least of which was her keen interest in holistic life.  She was into whole foods,  holistic medicine and yoga, long before its trendy stage.  I grew up on the West coast of Vancouver Island, in the village of Gold River.  One of my favorite memories is the trip into the health food store any time we took the drive into Campbell River.  Located within the store was a cafe with some of the best whole grain cookies ever!  My mom and dad loved to go for drives and they seemed to discover some of the coolest places to eat -- the "hippy" restaurants as my dad used to call them.  This was after all the late 1960's!  


Her fondness and commitment to the holistic, natural lifestyle stayed with her and graduated into some attempts at "healing" concoctions and other health and beauty products.  It wasn't entirely unusual to see her face covered in something or other made up of a little of this and a little of that.  Who needed moisturizing face creams when you had mayonnaise!  On one occasion, after a school outdoor education field trip, my other classmates and I had a case of wind burn on our  faces.  While the other mom's headed out to the local drugstore for a soothing remedy, mine headed off to the kitchen apothecary where I found her crushing Vitamin C tablets to be blended with plain yogurt.  
I don't recall it being so soothing . . . I think I quickly declared my displeasure with something like "get it off, it burns, it burns!".  


But, needless to say, I survived this and many other experiments and in fact found myself equally drawn to the qualities and sustainability of natural health and healing that she so generously shared with her family.  


"Maggie" experienced many things in her life, many joys and many sorrows.  Her own mother died when she was just 15, the death of a son, a husband, her father and a courageous battle with cancer were challenges many of us can only imagine bearing.  But, like many mom's, despite these painful experiences, she continued to give more than she took, a quality I am mindful of every day.


Whatever the memories, they are precious . . . what are yours?


To mom's, moms-to-be, mom's in kind . . .
Happy Mother's Day!