Reply To: Introduce Yourself!
Hi Everyone,
My name is Ingrid and I’m so happy to be here 🙂 I’m an environmental artist turned flower farmer on Salt Spring Island. My art practice is based on reconnecting people back to Nature. I had a busy art practice for years but felt like I wasn’t doing anything of true value towards creating a more sustainable planet for all Beings…I was aching to work with the Earth and grow things, not just talk about it.
Five years ago we bought a run down 10-acre farm and named it Alchemy Farm…because we were transforming something in pretty rough shape into something magical. We have since turned the property into an oasis for bees, pollinators and humans too. The first thing I planted was flowers for bees…and then I planted more and more flowers until I had so many that I started to sell them in our farm stand, which has now evolved into a flower shop that delivers locally grown flowers. I also created an oracle deck, the Alchemy Flower Oracle, based on 48 of the hundreds of different kinds of flowers we grow. It’s a sister deck to the Eco Heart Oracle which is more animal/earth based. My life is filled with flowers and magic 🙂
The farm has also become my studio and I’ve created site specific works here. Last summer the Alchemy Sound Garden opened for garden tours (will open again this summer). During the garden tour people can stop at certain plants, scan a QR code, with their smart phone/tablet, and listen to the music of the flower they were standing in front of…it’s an incredible experience. As someone who has worked with, and talked about, the energy of plants and Nature it was profound to hear the song of my first flower I connected the device to: Hellebores. (I recorded the music with a device, Music of the Plants, that converts the bio energy of plants into musical notes——each plant has a unique song.) The best part of the sound tour was seeing children sit down in front of plants, with headphones on, holding their devices to listen…with their hearts. I love using technology to reconnect people to Nature.
I’ve always been interested in herbalism and have made products over the years for myself and as gifts. Our property has an abundance of wild medicinal plants. I’d like to create and share products made from the plants growing here. I’d also like to offer a wild medicinal walk of our farm as part of workshops that I offer here.
I was so happy to find this online course, it’s hard for me to get away from the farm, especially at this time of year.
I apologize in advance if I don’t comment as much as I usually would, this is a very busy time of year filled with planting new babies and tending the gardens.
I’m looking forward to being on this journey of herbal learning with you all. I hope you can come and visit Alchemy Farm one day.
Have a wonderful day,
Ingrid