Seasonal Kitchen enjoy!! I have to get cracking on August's recipes, this is where the recipe creating really takes off...woohoo!
also including an bonus, I whipped some of this up last night to
toss in with pasta for the wee one and fresh greens for me. yum. Garlic scapes are the curly, flowering tops to garlic, nice punch of garlic flavor and can be used in place of onions for something different.
Garlic Scape Pesto
1 c. garlic scapes, roughly chopped 1/2 c. olive oil (more as needed) 1/2 c. nuts-walnuts, almonds or pine nuts 1/2 c. parmesan (asiago is strong but would work well as a half and half blend with parmesan)
Whizz all the above ingredients in a food processor until paste-like in
consistency. Add additional olive oil to make it a smooth paste. For
best flavor, store in a sealed container and refrigerate for 2 hours or
overnight.
So many find the wisewoman/man or witch of long ago to be inspirational, fully skilled in herbal medicine and the language of the flora and fauna, living simply yet fully. Many in the Neo-Pagan movement find this "image" unrealistic and an unattainable fantasy. Why? I think a path such as this is fully attainable if the person truly wants it. It is certainly a different time now, we are far more educated in certain ways and yet so woefully undereducated in others. It's that lack of balance that keeps us in a world of chaos. We
need to slow our lives down a bit, shut off the televisions, radios,
computers, ipods, video games, all those electrical pacifiers that keep
us from really listening to the natural hum of life around us. Now I
am not suggesting that we all move to rural America and live in
powerless cabins complete with an outhouse, though many may find the
long sought after inner peace if they did! Shut off all the
extraneous noisemakers. Sit and listen to the wind, your heartbeat,
and if you are so fortunate the birds singing and squirrels or
chipmunks chattering. Breathe deeply and just be.
Take the time
to learn a new, yet old, skill or craft. We can live in the present
yet learn from the past and bring something positive to the future. I
have been very blessed to have finally begun to realize my dream. I
live in a rural area where I (usually!) here nothing but the sounds of
Nature. I find my body is adapting to the earth cycles, moon phases
and seasons and my diet adapts as well. Seasonal eating is probably
the best gift we can give out bodies. Eating what is local and in season. whole, natural, unprocessed foods that truly nourish our bodies.
Cooking
and baking are a favorite past time of mine, I find it empowering and
relaxing as the kitchen is my favorite room in the house. It's a
part of the main room, all open concept so it is very family oriented.
Beyond this large room is my gardens, another favorite past time, this
area is still a work in progress but it is my goal to create a half acre kitchen garden or potager where I can grow the majority of my family's food. Now
I know we have many who complain of having black thumbs, to this I say
find the local farmer's markets and give them your business. It is as
fresh as you can get and you support local businesses and farms.
These
farmer's markets, or your gardens offer the best of seasonal eating.
Many gardeners can work around cold winter weather with greenhouses or
coldframes, growing vegetables that will produce despite the freezing
temperatures. Seasonal eating is, if you pay close attention to your
body's signals, something that comes naturally. Our bodies follow the
cycles of the seasons as do the wild animals outside our homes.
Summer
we eat fresh, sun energized fruits and vegetables with abandon along
with the eggs, milk, maybe some chicken that are all plentiful. Autumn
brings us more abundance but we begin to see the days growing shorter
and we turn to somewhat heavier fare, starchier vegetables, nuts,
grains, late fruits, meats. Winter we find warming, nourishing
comfort foods. Rich soups, casseroles, sweets made of preserved or
stewed dried fruits, meats, starchy root vegetables. It is our bodies'
natural inclination to ensure it's survival through the harshness of
winter by eating these filling, calorie-rich foods. Spring, here a
fresh start and new beginnings, our bodies are ready to cleanse and
purify so we begin to eat fresh baby greens of the season once again
which accompany other cold loving veggies, egg production returns
again. Light omelets laced with young spring onions or chives, maybe some baby spinach, kale with a salad of fresh greens.
It may be one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and your body, to eat by the seasons and to eat locally. I'm
pro-garden, it's a skill I find will becoming increasingly essential to
know and everyone should learn the most basic garden skills. In these uncertain times it would nice to know that you could grow your own food.
Spring kitchens are airy, fresh places where we feel stimulated, energized, alive with possibilities. The first step in making our kitchens places of inspiration is old fashioned spring-cleaning. Even those of us who loathe housecleaning as a tiresome, thankless, repetitious, and endlessly boring chore can learn to enjoy the process of marking our territory with magick.
By the end of winter, the world looks a bit scruffy and neglected. Dead leaves and fallen branches litter the ground, along with remnants of snow pocked with grime. Just as a gardener needs to clear away the winter debris to make room for spring growth and flowering, so it can be a good thing to clear away debris from our kitchens. Make space in your life for fresh, good things to grow. Take some time in early spring to decide on your kitchen essentials: What is truly necessary for you? What could you do without? Give away anything that doesn't serve you. When your kitchen is clean and uncluttered, your spirit can breathe.
Once your kitchen is as clean as you feel like making it, you may want to celebrate the stirring of new life with a few essential springtime decorations. Flowering bulbs and bare tree branches can both be placed in water and allowed to bloom. Teardrops of glass hung in the window catch the light like melting icicles. Dark, earthy, winter colours give way to the lighter, more airy ones of spring--a pastel rag rug for the floor or a woven mat for the table may refresh your spirit. Look for shades of mouth-watering yellow-green, violet, rose, pale blue, silvery dove-gray, and a tender yellow the colour of the emerging sun. These are the colours that will help you to envision, to plan, to be inspired.
Spring is associated with air, and with thoughts, ideas, and words. You could invoke the power of words in your kitchen by writing a few important ones here and there. Use large letters if you want them to be seen (in a border around the ceiling, perhaps), or hide tiny ones in secret places. Get yourself some magnetic poetry for the fridge. What are the words that you need in your life? Is there a special quote that you could frame or incorporate into your kitchen?
By the Spring Equinox, the birds are returning and the world is filled with wings, nests, and the heart-lifting sound of their singing. One traditional and pleasant way to commemorate the birds' return is to include a nest or two in your kitchen. You could buy one (Spanish moss, twig, or wicker nests look very realistic), or you could find a real one (as long as it isn't being lived in anymore), or create your own.
Fill your nests with eggs. Traditionally, eggs have held a place of special veneration as objects of power and magick. Egg-decorating is an ancient way to honour this season. And you may want to tuck in a feather or two, as well--these are especially meaningful if you've found them yourself.
There are egg-shaped soaps available now that would be fun in a nestlike soap dish on the sink (look for nice all-natural herbal egg-soaps in specialty stores or gift catalogues). Or, to make your own, try grating leftover bits of soap into a bowl, mix with a little water, and shape small palmfuls into eggs by hand. If you throw in a few leftover coffee grounds, your soap will have a wild-bird-egg's speckled look and will also be a good deodorizer for oniony hands. Whenever you wash with a bar of egg-soap, let the symbol remind you of the incredible power to create that lies in your hands--and in your heart, your spirit, your mind.
The first tender vegetables of the spring garden make a welcome appearance now. The tiny carrots, cheery radishes, asparagus spears, and the earliest new peas to sprout up in gardens may be found on everything from teapots to vases to dinnerware to teatowels, which let you invite their hopeful message inside as well. Or you could paint or stencil that veggie of your choice somewhere special: inside a cupboard door to cheer you whenever you open it, for instance.
By late spring, the world is strewn with flowers. Make a place on your table for a vase spilling over with blooms, or find an O'Keeffe print to brighten your wall. The sensual beauty of flowers has age-old associations with love, sex, and pleasure, and late spring is certainly the time for those. To invite the power of loving sensuality into your kitchen, choose fabrics and accents in shades of rose to remind you of your own sacred petals. Consider making a rose-patterned pillow for your power place; then, every time you sit there, you will be embowered by these rich symbols of the Goddess.
Growing herbs, paying attention to Moon Cycles, invoking the power of stones and minerals was once an everyday occurance. At one time these were Arts all Humans knew. We know the Myths, and Legends of a time when Animals spoke, and an herbal potion created at just the right moment could ensnare the most handsome Prince. We remember them as Fairy Tales, and allow ourselves to believe as children but forget the hope as our bodies age. We forget with time the honored traditions of making a wish as we blow on a dandelion puff, and hunting for faerie rings in the Foxglove. There are those though who never forgot these things. Shutting themselves away from society they can reflect on fond memories. They tap into that innocent, wonderful hope they nurtured as children and never let go. With it they chart the moon phases, speak with the Elementals, and make themselves at one with Nature. They have been called Witch, Wise Woman, Healer, Shaman, Medicine Man, they have known as many names as the Goddess herself. Yet they always reflect her true Spirit. That of Light, Charity, and Hope. For those wanting to follow that path today there are many resources available. Book stores, Libraries, and the Internet are full of a wealth of knowledge to those who seek it. Look for things on growing your own herbs, and check Magickal Almanacs for Moon cycles and growth seasons. "The Herb Companion" is a wonderful guide for any Herb lover! It gives helpful tips, articles, and recipes. Look for Astrological occurences Meteors, Eclipses, and Heavenly Alignments.
Make yourelf listen to your inner child, creative side, and nurture your Higher Self.
Make yourself comfortable in your Kitchen! Hang windchimes in your Garden.
Place a Crystal near your cooking stove. Always play music and light candles when you cook!
Sing to your Spaghetti sauce and whisper to your sweet cakes. Keep yourself in good harmony while being creative and baking or cooking to charge your food! Think positive thoughts while you stir and simmer. Whole rituals can be done right in the Kitchen!
Start your day with a Ritual bath to cleanse yourself of all negativity!
Sit in your Kitchen work space for ten minutes or so and mediate on Mother Nature, A Goddess of the hearth, or say your daily devotional prayer to whatever Deity you chose.
Light a candle and ask the Universe to bless your home and family!
Now get Creative in the Kitchen!
Use Basil for Prosperity, Rosemary for Protection, and Lavender for love!
In winter, from Samhain to Bride, the time which the Celtic peoples called 'the period of the little sun', it becomes easier to see why fire was such an important element to our ancestors. There were few daylight hours during the season of cold, frosty weather to work outdoors and little inclination to do so with storms battering the land! Instead the family spent their time round the fire which was the source of their light, heat and warming food. It was also the gathering point for the bard and seannachaidh who, with the fire of inspiration, would tell of the high deeds of the people.
In the earliest buildings of our ancestors we find that the fire was always placed in the center of the home. The homes themselves were, on the main, circular in form as the excavations of crannogs and round houses have shown. Even the larger raths or forts which contained several homes or round houses within had a circular rampart built around them. The Gaelic Celtic peoples saw the circle as representing the cycle of life, and the hearth of fire, like the heart of a person, was considered the center of life and therefore belonged in the center of the home.
The sacred fire is also strongly associated with Brighid or Bride. Her name translates as 'fiery arrow' and as the Goddess of poetry it is she who is the 'flame of inspiration' I mentioned earlier. As Goddess of healing, She is called upon to give aid during the fire rite of Beannachadh na Cuairte, or the Blessing of the Circle, in which the person to be healed is passed through a hoop of fire. Another term given to her is 'the flame in the heart of all women'. In later times there was the perpetual fire of Kildare which was tended by nine maidens and kept alight in honor of St. Bride. In the Welsh tradition there is also the tale where the fire which heats the cauldron of the head of Annwfn is kindled by the breath of nine maidens. These associations between femininity, the cauldron of nourishment and the sacred fire can also be seen in the daily life of the people.
The home and the hearth always belonged to the woman of the house and as such it was her responsibility to ensure that they were well maintained and a house of any standing had to have at least one bronze cauldron which was used as the main cooking pot. Within this we can see reflected the image of the bountiful Earth Mother who is nourisher and provider to her children.
At one time the women also had either a separate apartment or house situated in the sunniest area of the homestead known as a Grianan or sun house. In this we are reminded that the Celtic peoples had feminine as well as masculine deities of the sun. To them, there were 'realms of the sun' and 'realms of the moon' in which both the masculine and feminine principles reside.
Returning once more to the fire of the hearth, because it held such importance on all levels to our ancestors there were many customs which had to be observed to ensure the continued blessing of the flame. For example, it was considered extremely unlucky if the hearth fire went out at any time, with the exception of the two festival periods of Samhain and Beltane when the hearth fires were extinguished and re-kindled from the central festival fire. Each night the fire was covered over or 'smoored' so that it would smolder overnight without going out. As it was being smoored a blessing was given over it. This blessing varied from area to area but one which proved to be very popular was recorded by Carmichael in his book 'Carmina Gadelica'. The English translation runs as follows:
The Sacred Three To Save To Shield To Surround The Hearth The House The Household This Eve This Night Oh, this Night And Every Night Each Single Night
A similar blessing was given when the fire was opened up each morning. The old Scots saying: "Lang may your lum reek wi' ither folks coal" comes from the custom of giving some fuel for the fire when visiting someone else's house. In some areas this custom is still recognized by people when they go 'first footing' at New Year. Although it was considered lucky to give and receive fuel for the fire it was extremely unlucky to give kindling or light from your own fire to someone whose fire had gone out. In giving away your kindling or flame you were also giving away your blessing leaving yourself unprotected.
Finally, coming back to Bride and her association with fire. During her festival particular attention was paid to the hearth fire. Throughout the day it was kept specially fuelled to welcome her arrival and great care was taken over the smooring of the fire on that night when a rowan rod was placed in the heart of the fire. The following morning, before it was opened up, the fire was checked for the signs of a blessing from Her. If a mark was found there was an extremely fortunate time ahead for the family.
Copyright: 1992 Helen McSkimming; First published in Dalriada magazine http://www.dalriada.co.uk/
