June was a hectic month. The deadline for retrieving bits of life from previous domicile was set for the first of July, and no part of that process has been without complication.
However, complications aside, the work and play of tea did continue. June saw more tea naming posts, as well as a proper reintroduction of an older tea. May’s standard Tea of the Month Club choice was explained, there were ink test posts, and I have almost finished getting all the teas that were on the initial list into the shop.
Outside of the standard work, there are a couple of things I should mention.
First off – I am still figuring out all of what the Patreon is going to be, but I have settled on one specific perk. When I do the complete photo arrays for a tea, Patrons will get first shot at purchasing the photo batches, and the price will be at a steeper discount than when they first drop into the Sale Bin.
Second, I have been greatly enjoying the reviews that have been shared – on the website, in my email, in twitter DMs, and in Discord. It has been joyous and so very encouraging. 10-480 (which was the standard tea of the month chosen for June) has had especially glorious feedback, which makes me very happy I followed that mild fixation to culmination. Rambling aside, I really appreciate the time taken to let me know what you think of the teas. The past year has been a hard one, on many levels, and the responses to the return of the tea have helped immensely with getting through the last bits of it.
As far as the tea naming posts go, 7-335 became “There and Back Again,” 7-372 became “Rise Up” and has the distinction of being the first tea named primarily via emoji poll in Discord, and 2-137 and 8-383 are still in process.
‘Take a Breath’ was the older tea that got a proper reintroduction, and I think I am starting to find a good protocol for approaching the needed rewrites of the older posts. This is heartening, given how many there are to do.
The tea chosen for May’s standard Tea of the Month Club was ‘’Lost in the Mists,” and I am hoping that the momentum from writing this newsletter will carry over into writing up June’s tea, which, with luck, will help me settle on what July’s selection will be. Some of the conversations in the Discord have me leaning towards a cacao nib tea – but no decisions have been made as yet.
The ink test posts were for Diamine’s Night Sky (this is the second ink test post with this ink, this particular test was done with a stub nib), and Diamine’s Smoke in the Water. Night Sky is the ink I use for the structural framework of my calendar journal, and Smoke in the Water has lived in the (first) official tea pen since the first time I inked it.
I haven’t flung the metaphorical doors to the Discord server open wide yet, but if there are people you think should become a part of that community, you can feel free to invite them.
Attached to that, I was complimented on something recently that brought happiness and hope.
I was told that it was appreciated that the rebuilding of Desert Sage Natural has been focused on the community that grew up around it and the safety of that community, rather than just on the money-making side of things.
One of my primary goals has been to try to do just that. And I hope it continues to be true.
Here’s to the journey. See you next month.
*salutes with mug of LV-426*
Brought to you by: Eureka: Smoky Monkey, Fathoms Below, 10-480 (decaffeinated), St. John’s Verity, LV-426 – and the Number 5.
