On the Farm

Hyssop (left) is a drought hardy member of the mint family. It has a beloved spot in our Bees & Teas garden.

I’m currently processing our farm grown hyssop. After I strip the dried material from the stems, it goes into our some of our winter favorites: lavender, hyssop and oolong tea; elecampane, mullein and hyssop honey; and our herbal bath teas. We also offer it dried by the ounce for use in your own herbal projects.

And two essential resources are now available in our store:

Wheaton Labs Permaculture Playing Cards ($20 brand new in wrap)–A favorite gift for gardeners, homesteaders and herbalists. Cards have info and ideas for all kinds of permacultur-y and water friendly practices for home and garden. Learn while you play!

The Rocky Mountain Wild Foods Cookbook by Darcy Williamson Cookbook. Features recipes for everything from elderberry and huckleberry to milkweed, lambsquarter, nettle & cattail. (Gently used, $15)

Rod’s House

This week we served up Nona’s cornbread and Cincinnati Chili Spaghetti with Farmer Wren’s garlic. Our eggs went into smitten kitchen’s Consummate Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Local

Kids Christmas One Day Event at B & C Sewing & Vacuum
 “We’re excited to invite your young ones to another fun winter Christmas Sewing Camp! in this camp we will be making a Hanging Tea Towel and Lavender Sachets. All materials including sewing machine will be provided. This class is for kids ages 8 and older.
No experience needed.”
December 13th 10:30a – 12:30p, $25.00

Home Flight Program Sets Native Students Up for Success
“Inspired by the late Virginia Beavert, a Yakama Nation elder and UO graduate who dedicated her life to preserving Native languages, Grunlose enrolled in 2024 with dreams of becoming a teacher of her tribe’s tongue, Ichishkíin or Sahaptin.”
(Source: Oregon News, Dec 10)

WA State

Floodplains by Design Grant Program
“Local and Tribal governments, along with nonprofit organizations, are using Floodplains by Design grants across Washington to complete multi-benefit projects that reduce flood hazards to communities and restore the natural functions of rivers and their floodplains. These projects bring together many different stakeholders in the floodplain to:
Improve flood protection for communities that live and work in floodplains.
Conserve and restore habitat for salmon and other important aquatic species.
Preserve farmland to keep agriculture viable for future generations.”
(Source: Department of Ecology, end date: Jan 23, 2026)

National & Beyond

Human Rights Protect What it Means to Be Human
“‘Everyday Essentials’ is the official theme for this year’s Human Rights Day. It is an important reminder that human rights shape our everyday lives, often in ways we do not realise. Many of us take human rights for granted, as something that will simply endure without our vigilance. Having dedicated my career to defending human rights, advancing the rule of law, and standing with those whose voices are silenced by injustice, I know all too well that we cannot afford to treat them that way.
We must not forget that universal rights and freedoms can never be embodied and protected by declarations alone. It is people who embody and breathe life into human rights. It is people and their leaders who bridge the gap between lofty human rights agreements and the situation on the ground. Without these people, the Declaration amounts to nothing more than a hollow commitment.”
(Source: The Elders, Dec 10)

LISTEN: Justice Matters Podcast EP108
Human Rights Day 2025: Rethinking Rights for a New Era
“Co-host Mathias Risse speaks with four of our Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy Fellows to share their perspectives on why human rights still matter and why they may be more important now than at any point in the 77 years since the Declaration was adopted.
Together they discuss: what Human Rights Day means in our current moment globally, the most pressing human rights issues today, misinformation and state repression, whether the international system can constrain abusive states, the state of global legal structures and local grassroots movements, designing a human rights system to meet our present challenges, the impact of the Trump administration globally, what advice they have for young people entering the field today.”
(Source: Harvard Kennedy School Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights, Dec 10)

Unleashing Human Rights: Education For, With and By Young People
“The three-day Human rights education forum: unleashing human rights, which has just concluded at the European Youth Centre in Budapest, brought more than 200 young activists, education professionals from formal and non-formal sectors, government representatives and youth leaders from civil society organisations participants.
It turns principles into practice, translating the abstract into the everyday with empathy. It orients us when the world shifts and inspires us to live by universal human rights – with, for, and by young people. This forum brings together the community of practice that makes these rights tangible, lived, and lasting across the world.” –Nina Grmuša
(Source: Council of Europe, Dec 11)

RightsX Summit 2025: Governing Technology Through Human Rights
“By centring discussions on human rights, technology, data and innovation around Human Rights Day, the event reinforced that digital governance issues are central to rights protection in the twenty-first century. The alignment elevated technology from a technical topic to a political and ethical concern within human rights debates.
Digital transformation, when guided by human rights, creates opportunities to address complex challenges. RightsX 2025 demonstrated that innovation, governance and ethical foresight can converge to shape a digital ecosystem that safeguards human dignity while fostering progress.”
(Source: Geneva Internet Platform Digital Watch, Dec 12)

UNDP’s Digital Rights Dashboard:
A Conversation Starter on Human Rights in the Digital Age
“UNDP’s Digital Development Compass and Digital Readiness Assessment already help countries understand where they stand in their digital journey. Yet one critical dimension needed sharper focus: how countries are set up to protect human rights in the digital space. The DRD fills that gap by examining four essential rights online: freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of assembly and association, equality and non-discrimination, and privacy. It also explores cross-cutting factors like connectivity and rule of law, the foundations that make all online rights possible.”
(Source: United Nations Development Programme, Dec 10)

LISTEN: Sense Making in a Changing World
Nutrient Dense Food: Dan Kittredge in conversation with Morag Gamble
“When we grow for the microbiome, we start to see ourselves not as managers of land, but as part of the same web of nourishment.”
(Source: Permaculture Education Institute, Dec 10)


That’s all the news for this week… Back to the hyssop.

Maria