This is not a candle newsletter. It’s a plant newsletter. But (candle)stick with me. It’s cold, the heat is finicky, and I am watching beeswax candles burn. They’re so pretty that I almost forget they are of this world; it’s like: did they come here from some celestial plane? No: “It all begins on a flower in a field,” says this explainer. Bees go about their bees-ness, collecting pollen from flowers and whatever, and then go home and eat honey (yum) which generates waxy abdomen bits that they use to build honeycombs. Beekeepers harvest the honey and clean and melt the wax.
I mean, this is truly epic productivity. These candles melt unevenly, making themselves into flame-licked lace. They smell faintly of earth and flowers. They glow like embers. The journey from flower into flame feels transformative on cold, gray days like these.
The other kind of candle I’m loving is the soy kind. These come from soybeans and there’s a more industrial process at work—no one’s stealing any bee’s house with this method. The soybeans are:
Cleaned
Cracked
De-hulled
Rolled into flakes
Worth it, I say. As much as I love plants when they are growing in the ground, I also love them when they are transforming into a flame and a scent. My beautiful friend Lauren Sharpe writes about picking just the right one, during a pandemic that has robbed us of lots of small joys:
I want a fancy candle. Things to smell and discern, maskless. What I want is a whole roomful of fancy candles. I enter the shops of my neighborhood, doors opened to the sideways rain. I pick up the candles one-by-one, bring them closer to my face and inhale deeply. I can barely catch the scent.
If you are craving flame and scent and tangible reminders that transformation is possible: Rachel Syme asked the Twitterverse about their favorites, and I’ll include a link to my sister’s shop at the end of this note.
What the plants are reading
Speaking of plants and flame but in a good way, there’s the art of burning wood, shou sugi ban. I’ll point you to Pioneer Millworks, an amazing company where my friend Deanna works, for a history. And, additionally speaking of flame and forests and Japan, this person is Japan’s forest ambassador.
You know what you’re missing but didn’t know you were missing? A longread on the Corpse Flower.
Roxane Gay found a rock in a walkway, and it feels like we all need to know about it:
I later learned that rocks are also home to Huldufólk or elves. Leaving the rock in place was a gesture of respect not only to the rock but to the elves. There is not a lot of cause for hope these days, but since I saw that rock in the walkway, I have been inexplicably moved. I think about it all the time. My faith has been renewed that a better world is possible, that respect for culture and the natural world are possible, that a better world starts with the most gentle of gestures.
Planter DIY innovations: I don’t even know what to say about this DIY marble planter but imagining the thought process behind the person who created it is amusing to me.
What else?
Well, this is a planter.
And this one seems to be saying something about how it feels to be constantly communicating all the time?
Oh gosh these vases are cool.
I loved this incredibly thorough breakdown of the hard choices involved in running a plant shop (click through for text).
I feel the need to show you this woman and her amaryllis.
If you want a whole indoor garden journey thread, well I have one for you. This person spun up an elaborate garden operation in quarantine.
And then, well, we have this relatable little tidbit:
If you’re low on soy candles, my incredible sister has a shop that sells ‘em. I also really, really love this one from Painted Swan but it’s sold out FML.
(And in other news of purchases and gifts, did you send me a watering can??? Someone did. It came from Germany. It’s a gorgeous minty green, and pretty like a jewel. Who did this?? I love it.)
Mind your own beeswax,
Lindsay
Administrative P.S.
Did you miss the last issue? Here it is.
This newsletter sends on Ẅednesdays because Ẅednesday is a great day to celebrate Vegetation 🌱 It arrived on the right day today. Last week I think I forgot it entirely but that’s sort of an aberration.
Feel free to reply to this, and I will get it like a regular email! Send me links or personal blooms for my entertainment. I love them all.