If you’re looking to connect with other like-minded holistic parents, why not read Parent Tribe. It’s edited by Hatti Burt, here in Cumbria, and is available free online.
There is also the option to purchase a paper version.
In this issue you can read my article called The Creative Family. Enjoy. ~ Veronika
What does family mean to you? This is the question that is asked in my new novel, Sisters of the Silver Moon. Can you get by without family? Is there more to a relationship than blood?
It’s out now! You can get your paperback copy from Amazon’s Create Space, Kindle or signed copies from my website (the signed copies will be available in about a week, but you can pre-order now).
I loved writing this book. Here’s a description:
Azaria Linden, the community herbalist, spends her days tending herb gardens, concocting lotions, potions and tinctures, beekeeping, and being a mother to four grown-up daughters who have left home. Her handcrafted life is the envy of many, but when the lives of her children change in dramatic ways, she wonders if she can keep it all together. Is it possible to still live a heart-centred life when everything around you is falling apart?
Sisters of the Silver Moon
978-0-9931586-1-2
246 pages
Pbk and Kindle
£7.99 (pbk)
As an independent author, it would mean a great deal to me if you could take time to leave a review of my book (or any of my books) on Amazon, or on your blog. Thank you!
Meanwhile, I’m writing book 2 in the trilogy. I’m so honoured to have such beautiful artwork by Sara Simon. ~ Veronika
My dad’s beautiful sisters. I love this photo so much!
I remember the birth of my little sister, Ramona, so clearly. I suppose it’s particularly strong because my dad was looking after me. He spent most of my childhood working overseas, but for my sister’s birth he was home. I was obviously upset at my mother’s absence, and he went out of his way to make me laugh. His main method of eliciting a smile from me was to eat a raw lemon and pull funny faces.
My mother and Ramona
My mother returned from hospital with a beautiful baby girl: Ramona Rebecca. I was no longer the youngest child, and there would be three brothers born after Ramona. 
I haven’t lived near my sisters for about 26 years or so. What I do have, and am so grateful for, is that my life has been blessed with soul sisters. Sisters who are not connected to me by blood, but by choice. By love. These are the women who check up on me each day/week. It might be a note in the post, a text message, a PM on Facebook, a card, a walk in the woods, lunch in a café, a phone call, chocolate or love hearts in the mail. These are the friends who I hold close in my heart. The ones who I know are there, through thick and thin. They care about me, and the feeling is reciprocated. In amongst the daily rhythm of life, they are there: like sunshine. When writing my novel, Sisters of the Silver Moon, I wanted to explore the different faces of sisterhood.
What does it look like when there is an undeniable and deeply loving bond and you’re inseparable? What is sisterhood when you’re living in ways that are diametrically opposed? What is it like to be estranged from your sister? As a mother, we might hope that our daughters will be bonded through time, but life is never that simple! Our daughters are individuals with their own paths to follow which may or may not include a close relationship with each other.
My daughter, Bethany
With my daughter, Eliza
I love my sisters with all my heart, but (and I’m sure they feel the same) we don’t have the sort of connection that we might do with a best friend. And it is something I would deeply love.
With my elder sister, Heidi, 1971. I was four years old.
I have fantasies of great family get-togethers where we bare our souls and would do anything for each other. Where we laugh, cry, confide, trust and support the other. It’s fairly safe to say this isn’t something that’s ever going to happen in my lifetime. And perhaps it is because of this that I cherish my friendships so much. They fill a void. Needless to say, one of my favourite-ever TV shows is Brothers and Sisters. As one of eight children, family is important to me. My siblings shaped who I am. We shared adventures on our 700-acre property in rural Australia. We have history. Perhaps it is wrong to want my past to be part of my future. Maybe life isn’t about staying in touch with our family of origin, but moving on. I was overjoyed to discover my elder sister, Heidi, recently moved back to the UK. Now, we might only see each other once a year, but knowing she’s ‘nearby’ (if you can count a four-hour drive as nearby!) does make me feel happy.
After our vow renewal ceremony in April, my daughter Eliza said to me in the weeks that followed: “You have such lovely friends. You really have the nicest friends!” For Paul and I it was one of the highlights of our lives ~ to be surrounded by people we cherish. Many of my friends live quite some distance away, and I don’t have the luxury of them on my doorstep. For all the toxicity associated with modern technology, I’m really grateful for its existence, and that in seconds I can connect with those I love no matter where they live in the world. Of course, nothing quite beats a cup of tea with a friend and being able to turn up at each other’s doors…but connection is connection is connection, and I, for one, will commune with my soul sisters in whatever form is necessary for us to be with each other.
This week I had the pleasure of having my daughter home for a couple of nights. Seven weeks ago she left home to begin studying music at Bangor University (on the north Wales coast). She said she wanted to spend time together cooking. Turned out, I cooked and she chatted. And ate!
It is said, of parenting, that we give our children roots so that one day they’ll be able to fly. It is fair to say that we wondered how she’d survive away from home. We needn’t have worried, as it turns out. She is flying, and it’s such a joy to see her wings taking her to new worlds, meeting new people and discovering more of who she is.
Yes, those roots were solid and strong, and I’ve no doubt they’ll always have a place in her life. There was a certain sense of motherly satisfaction that she enjoyed being home again so much, and even more joy that she was so excited to head back to uni again. She is growing, changing, expanding and discovering. Roots and Wings.
Do you eat together as a family? What does tea time look like in your home?
For me, it is an important coming-together time. It’s a place where we share not only our food, but our day.
We light a candle, often play some gentle music, say a prayer of gratitude for the meal, and dine together. According to recent statistics, this isn’t how most families spend their meals.
It is in this part of our daily rhythm where we will feel the biggest ‘hole’ when Bethany leaves for university in eight days.
