Instagram story viewer> @organiclilac> Posts

Holistic Hay <3

@organiclilac

7.2K

followers

4484

following

🍓✨🍯🌷🍄🌱🧘🏼‍♀️🥥🌾🥩☀️🌊
⇩ shop my non-toxic swaps :-)

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

I went whale watching off the coast of Boston and got SO lucky with the humpbacks. 🐋🌊

I got to see surface blows, fluking, deep dives, pectoral fin displays, and even looked a baby humpback right in the eye when it surfaced beside the boat. 🥹😍!!! I also got to smell whale breath, which I could’ve happily gone my whole life without experiencing. 😭🤮💩

The tour took me out to Stellwagen Bank (one of the main feeding areas for humpback whales in New England).

On the way out, I saw a minke whale swimming alongside the boat that looked just like a dolphin. 🐬 I saw around 22 humpbacks total throughout the day, with 8 of them coming up right alongside the boat!

Humpbacks have some pretty incredible ways of finding food. One is called bubble net feeding, where they release streams of bubbles around a school of fish, creating a bubble ‘net’ that traps the fish together and makes them much easier to catch. 🫧

Their tails were just as interesting to learn about. The underside of each humpback’s fluke has its own unique pattern (like our fingerprints). Researchers keep photo catalogs of them so they can recognize the same whales when they return year after year, and some have been tracked for decades!

Even their breath can tell researchers a lot about them. Scientists can collect droplets from a whale’s blow and test them for things like hormones, DNA, bacteria, and other signs of health. Super cool, but also truly disgusting to smell in person. 🙊🦠

Have you ever been close enough to a whale to smell it’s breath?! 😂

#OrganicLilac #HumpbackWhales #WhaleWatching #StellwagenBank #OceanWildlife taken in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary by @organiclilac

542

84

a day ago

Sometimes we give ourselves way too much time to think about something that we won’t fully understand until we actually experience it for ourselves.

You can wonder whether you’ll enjoy morning walks, whether a different bedtime would help you feel better, whether cooking more often is realistic, or whether a new routine will fit into your schedule, but there comes a point when thinking can’t give you any more information…

The only way to know what works for you is to actually try it 👩🏼‍🎨

Once you actually try something, you start picking up on the details that are impossible to predict ahead of time.

Maybe you learn that mornings aren’t your thing, but walking after dinner feels great. Maybe thirty extra minutes of sleep makes enough of a difference that you want to keep it up. Maybe the routine you planned is completely unrealistic, but one part of it works really well.

Even when something doesn’t go the way you expected, you come away knowing more than you did before.

We tend to treat starting like we need to have everything figured out first, when sometimes starting is exactly how we figure it out. 💡🌱

What’s something you finally tried and ended up wishing you’d started sooner?

#OrganicLilac #BehaviorChange #HealthyHabits #IntentionalLiving #HealthAndWellness by @organiclilac

268

55

3 days ago

Exploring around Branson, Missouri. 🌳

This is Lake Taneycomo right along Branson Landing. It’s part of the White River and is especially known for trout fishing because of how cold the water stays. 🎣 I walked around for a while and grabbed a bite to eat before exploring some more.

The fog sitting just above the water is called steam fog. It forms when cold air moves over warmer water, causing water vapor from the surface to condense into tiny droplets. Such a cool thing to see!

Have you ever been to Branson? 📍

#OrganicLilac #BransonMissouri #LakeTaneycomo #MissouriOzarks #ExploreMissouri by @organiclilac

518

16

5 days ago

A packed schedule can look productive on paper, but your attention doesn’t always move as quickly as your calendar does. 🗓️👀

Leaving some room between plans gives you time to slow down, step outside, grab something to eat, enjoy a few quiet minutes, or simply have a little time that isn’t already spoken for!

Being more intentional about what you schedule back to back can leave more room to enjoy your day instead of constantly watching the clock. ⏰

What’s your favorite way to spend a little free time between plans? 🧘🏼‍♀️

#OrganicLilac #AttentionResidue #IntentionalLiving #MentalWellness #HealthyHabits by @organiclilac

246

54

11 days ago

Unlike most plants, this one waits for rain to release its seeds! 🌧️

Hardy ice plants keep their pods sealed until raindrops hit them, because in the dry grasslands of southern Africa where they come from, rain is the best sign a seed will survive. After a few seeds are released, the pods close back up as they dry and save the rest for the next storm. (You can spot a few dried pods next to the bloom in my second photo.)

Those skinny pink “petals” are actually stamens (the part of a flower that normally makes pollen). On ice plants, dozens of them evolved into long, flat, hot pink strips to grab the attention of bees. 🐝🌸 The flowers open up in the sun and stay folded shut at night and on cloudy days.

And if you’re wondering where the name ice plant comes from, it’s from the tiny bubbles on the leaves that sparkle like frost. ❄️ Those bubbles are full of water, so the plant doesn’t burn easily. Because of that, some people plant it around their homes to help slow wildfires down!

Have you ever grown a hardy ice plant? 🌱

#hardyiceplant #succulentsofinstagram #pollinatorgarden #botany #organicgardening by @organiclilac

787

100

12 days ago

The questions we ask ourselves can shape the way we experience difficult moments. 🧠

Instead of spending all our energy trying to understand why something is happening, sometimes it’s more useful to look for what the experience is revealing, teaching, or asking us to change.

What has life been teaching you lately? 📝

#OrganicLilac #SelfReflection #PersonalGrowth #MindsetShift #IntentionalLiving by @organiclilac

299

71

12 days ago

Pay attention to what gets your care because it tends to grow. 🌱

Your health, relationships, knowledge, skills, and surroundings are shaped by the choices you make every day. Be intentional about what you nurture. 💜

What deserves more of your attention lately?

#OrganicLilac #IntentionalLiving #HealthyHabits #PersonalGrowth #MindBodyWellness by @organiclilac

471

106

12 days ago

What happened to you can shape the way you think, react, and protect yourself long after the moment has passed. 🌀

Your brain learns from experience, especially experiences tied to strong emotions, which is why certain situations can bring back old reactions even when your life looks completely different now.

The good news is that those patterns can change.

Thanks to neuroplasticity, your brain continues adapting throughout life, allowing new experiences, repeated behaviors, healthier relationships, boundaries, and even the way you respond to your own thoughts to gradually build new patterns. 🧠

What’s something you respond to differently now than you did a few years ago?

#OrganicLilac #Neuroplasticity #PersonalGrowth #MindBodyConnection #MentalWellness by @organiclilac

352

71

18 days ago

My first red jalapeño! 🌶️❤️

Jalapeños start out green and turn red when they’re left on the plant long enough to fully ripen! Super cool. As they mature, the green chlorophyll breaks down while red pigments (carotenoids) build up. That extra ripening time also changes the flavor, so red jalapeños tend to be sweeter and fruitier than green ones while still keeping their heat. 🔥

Fun fact: red jalapeños are also the ones traditionally smoked and dried to make chipotle peppers!

Do you prefer jalapeños green or fully ripened red? 🌶️

#OrganicLilac #Jalapeño #HomeGrown #EdibleGarden #GardenToTable by @organiclilac

605

33

19 days ago

A few things I’m trying to be more intentional about this month: drinking more water, getting to bed a little earlier, spending more time outside, moving every day, eating well, keeping my space organized, and making more time for the people and things that genuinely make me feel good. 💜

What’s one thing you want to be more intentional about this month?

#OrganicLilac #IntentionalLiving #HealthyHabits #SeptemberWellness #MindBodyWellness by @organiclilac

916

136

23 days ago

I loveee prickly pears, so of course I had to stop and admire this one. 🌸🌵

Did you know they are edible?! Prickly pear (also known as Barbary fig) produces colorful edible fruit, and even the young pads can be eaten once the spines and tiny glochids are properly removed. The pads (called nopales) are around 85% water, which is pretty impressive for a plant that thrives in such hot, dry conditions. Their flowers are also an important source of pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinators! 🐝

While I was looking a little closer, I spotted a silver garden spider tucked right between the pads. 🕷️😍 These beautiful orb weavers are generally harmless to people and incredibly helpful to have around, catching flies, moths, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, and plenty of other insects that wander into their webs. Natural pest control at its cutest. <3

Just another reminder to stop and look a little closer. There is usually more happening around us than we notice at first glance, and sometimes the coolest finds are the ones you almost walk right past. 🌵🕷️

What’s the coolest creature you’ve ever found hiding in a plant?!

#PricklyPear #SilverGardenSpider #GardenWildlife #BackyardNature #OrganicLilac by @organiclilac

1k

172

a month ago

That chemical smell at a pool comes from chloramines, which form when chlorine reacts with the sweat, sunscreen, and body oils people bring into the water with them. 🏊🏻‍♀️

A pool that smells strong is usually one that needs more fresh chlorine, not less. (Pretty wild).

A rinse before you get in does two things at once. Your hair soaks up less pool water because it is already saturated, and you carry less into the pool for the chlorine to react with.

Rinse again as soon as you get out. Plain water gets most of it, and following with a moisturizer while your skin is still damp helps, since that is when it absorbs best.

Chloramines build up indoors because there is nowhere for them to go, and sunlight breaks chlorine down faster outdoors, which is why indoor pools tend to be harder on skin and lungs.

When’s the last time you swam in a pool? 👙

#skinbarrier #cleanbeauty #nontoxicliving #skinhealth by @organiclilac

218

3

a month ago