Harvest Crown

August snuck up on me with the scent of apples in the air, grey cloud covers, and rain that nature was in desperate need of after the drought months before. I have to admit I was slightly worried after seeing everything green and living slowly turning golden and lifeless from the touch of the persistent heat. While it was nice sometimes to fantasize about how the north suddenly had traded spots with someplace blessed with warmer, more sunny weather, seeing those warmer places being on fire was terrifying to witness. Have we crossed the threshold beyond the repair? With just a spark it all can turn into ashes. We are not prepared for what is coming or how quickly it will. I am grateful for the rain we have now. May it rain every day. May the greenness bleed back into my world.

We should not have taken our habitat for granted, but we did. I can’t know for sure what the future will bring, but I know this much. I wish to try and live my life in as close balance with nature as I possibly can and to witness as much of the beauty of our habitat as I can while I can. I don’t know about you, but I think we have less time than we think we have. I hope I am wrong.

I am such a pessimist, am I not? xD Now, now. What I am trying to say is this. Let’s appreciate what we have while we have it! While I was enjoying the walk the other day, I noticed all the beautiful flowers August brings. Such bright colors! They made my heart sing, and the idea of a harvest crown was born.

What the hell is a harvest crown? Is it some sort of tradition? Not really. Not yet! Flower crown tradition does, however, exist in Latvian culture, but usually, they are created for Midsummer’s celebrations, and there are even special, magical ways of making them. I did not make one for myself this year. It did not feel right then. Yet the ferns had something else in mind for me! The golden colors taking them over, struck the inspiration for the crown unlike any other I had ever worn. In my mind, it all came to a full circle as August brings not only the bright colors in flowers but also the harvest from my garden.

So the harvest crown might be something that could become a tradition for me from now on. As a celebration of all the things coming full circle, if it makes sense. The beautiful dance of life and death in nature.

But how to create one? Can you? Of course!

_{I wandered in nature and around the garden to seek the flowers that spoke to me the most. I was amazed by the variety, the composition, and the bouquet of scents they created together.}

_{I took three quite thin and straight branches and tied them together creating a base of the crown measuring the necessary size slightly bigger than my head. Why slightly bigger? As you add the plant material around the base, it makes the final diameter of your crown smaller. So that is something to keep in mind.}

_{The way I attached flowers was by adding them in small batches. Fastening a small batch around the base with a thread, then adding the next little batch on top of the thread and fastening that, and repeat until it came full circle.}