Spring Soup - Herbal Cold Remedy

It's spring time in the Rockies, which means 70 degrees in the city, raging blizzards in the mountains, and wind every afternoon. It also means it's the last round of illnesses floating around to catch the ill prepared victim... (This week it's Me and Mr. Crafty.)

So, I did what any good hedgewitch would - I went to the garden! Firstly, because it needs doing. It's tradition in our family to plant peas and radishes on St. Paddy's Day, but with the climate shifting I'm trying a week early this year. Thus, the beds must be turned! 

Secondly, to get some dandelions for eating. Gardener's reward.

 However, in my digging I discovered that I had missed a few carrots in the final harvest (Including that white one! It might be the biggest I've ever grown!? How?!) Which means that I can create the perfect remedy - soup. There's a reason that folk medicine around the world doses soups out for the common cold, hydration, warmth, salt, and herby goodness. Not to mention that it's tasty.

And so, my March harvest for soup included Dandelion greens and root, carrots (even a little sprig of greens!), leek, chives, and sage. Not pictured are the two non-homegrown ingredients - chicken and ginger root. A nice balance of nutrition, fuel for the body, and herbs to stimulate the immune system. Other good herbs that might be overwintering nicely include thyme, garlic, hyssop, oregano, yarrow, and lemon balm.

Why no noodles? Not needed, for me at least. I do recommend noodles over most other starches, however. Simple starches like potatoes and rice will spike the blood sugar which does not encourage good immune function. On that note, Orange juice is great for staving off sicknesses, but once you're sick try an herbal source of the C, like rosehips or nettles, to avoid the high sugar content of juice.

There you go, fresh foods for natural healing! It should be pointed out that our ancestors did not, as one might expect, struggle for food the most during the cold of winter. It would be the early spring that was toughest, when the stores were depleted but most crops were not yet thriving. Thus, very early wild foods like Dandelion, Arugula, Asparagus, and the like would be important forage in the spring!

It may be no instant cure, but I certainly feel better after a day in the sunshine and a nice bowl of hot soup! What's your favorite spring food?

D&D Character Portraits.

Recently, as practice for doing commissions, I've been doing character portraits for all of the players in our group. Here's the first batch.

 Darla Stonebottom (Perhaps not her given name?) is a roguish dwarf with a sassy disposition. There is not a pocket she has not picked. But, it's mostly curiosity, and she always leaves something behind in exchange... it may of may not be of equal value, though.

 Lyrile of the Woodland realms. Don't let the sickle scare you, she's just gathering herbs! Our kind hearted Druid will lend a helping hand to any and everyone who passes, no matter how small or large the matter. But if you harm her Dire Badger she will destroy you.

Clavius, the apprentice. His master is kind of like Trump, but less evil. He's just a worldly, well educated sorcerer, who has a strange affection for skulls. Nothing evil going on here, carry on...

Urk Durk, a mighty barbarian with Orcish blood. (In him, there's a lot of different bloods on him.) To understand him -

While I was talking to him about his character we go this little gem - 
“So he’s got pale skin, red eyes, long hair…”
“Long hair? Are you sure? I recall something…”
“Oh right! You guys held me down and shaved my head after I got covered in rotten exploded purple worm goo. Since I smelled so bad.”

Which is more or less his character in a nutshell. Orcs.

As I work through all our party I will share more of our PCs. Assuming we all survive long enough to get drawn...

Solstice Blessings!

 A mighty log, adorned with candles to burn through the coldest nights. A green tree, adorned with memories! The settings to feed however many folk might wander through on this cold night.

A fire blazing bright, to ward of the dark while the sun is gone. Perfect for passing cups of mead around! Hail to the reborn Sun!

Happy Holidays to all my readers, no matter how you gather this season. May light and love be in your house.

Samhain Season

Today, the world is shrouded in silence. Snow coats the trees and houses, it is a reminder that this is the season to stay inside, and reflect.

Several sources close to me have pointed out, that the ancient celts did not celebrate Samhain on just one night. Indeed, the first night of Samhain may have had many of the festivities we now associate with Halloween, but Samhain was in fact an entire lunar month. Samhain was a season.

I recently did some house cleaning and rearranging. A cleared off bookshelf now hosts a small shrine (shrines happen!) with a focus on the dead. Nearby are photos of family, both living and passed, and an old envelope with my full name on it. My paternal grandfather died before I was even a year old, but when I was born, as with the dozen grandchildren before me, he wrote me a check. It was, naturally, never cashed. It's hard for babies to get bank accounts, after all. But it serves as a reminder - He wanted me to be Prosperous. 

Just two years ago my maternal grandfather passed, in about this same season. I recall, in fact, that Thanksgiving plans were made to accommodate him, and he was unable to attend. He too was concerned about the prosperity of the family, making extensive estate plans to ensure that his wealth would benefit his children and grandchildren. Both of my grandfathers were very involved in securing a good future for their families.

My Grandfather was born a very serious looking old man.

And too, did my grandmother work tirelessly. Her concerns were more immediate. She was always baking and cooking, checking to see if people were comfortable. From Her and my mother I learned to bake  - a box still exists with box sides and handwritten cards, recipes used again and again. We have never worked ourselves up in Holiday hype in December (I'm rather a Humbug type myself) but cookie baking is a holiday standard. Recipes with old fashioned ingredients, recipes that call for "a piece of butter the size of an egg."

And so, from them I learned to invest, and I learned to be generous. I learned to plan for the future, and to be frugal. (Grandpa Popo would warn that one should only ever borrow money to buy the family's house or start a business.) And so, as a gift demands a gift, I must be concerned with their prosperity too.

Many folk around the world, Pagans and pagans alike, engage in Ancestor worship. Some are concerned very much with the memory of the dead. Others are concerned with creature comforts. I am often rather equivocal about the afterlife, I am unwilling to commit to any idea with much fervor. If I expect the summerlands of the Vanir, is that optimism? Is that a reflection of the heaven of the Abrahamics? But the cold, dark realms of the Lady Hel, is that a fearful punishment to encourage warriors? But, no matter the shape of the afterlife, if I spend time communing with my ancestors - engaging with them, then there is a realm where they must dwell. And so, as they were concerned with my wellbeing, I am concerned with theirs. I set out for them a piece of fresh baked bread, or fruit, or tea. But on Samhain eve I offered them a fine treat, popcorn and rootbeer floats, much like we had every Sunday at Gramma and Grampa's house.

Because I am now responsible for ensuring for them, all the prosperity that they worked so hard to give to me. And I wish to stand, not in their shadows, but on their shoulders.

Embroidered Offering - Balance

The wheel of the year keeps turning, so that all thing remain in balance! I recently took an Oath in my spiritual path, and promised an offering. My oath was very much based on the theme of balance, so I thought my offering ought to be too!

It was a smallish piece, just one hoop's worth of stitching. I started out by divvying up the linen into quarters. I've learned that pencil lines wear off rather quickly, so I used regular sewing thread to baste in marker lines.

I did trees for the four seasons. (This is a favorite of mine!) complete with an appropriate amount of foliage - from little buds to nothing! 

 Next, faces! I had never done faces in stitchery before, if is a very interesting challenge. I have a masculine and feminine face, and I tried to make one old and one young. (They both look a bit old, hazards of hard shadows.) I'm fairly happy with how they turned out, but most importantly, the camera thought it was a person!

The final touches were some weather. Sunshine for the spring and summer, rain and snow for the fall and winter. All the things in their own time. Everything in balance.

We had a good bonfire for midsummer, and offerings were made. Welcome to the warm times! But, the days are now getting shorter, good news to keep us from getting too hot. Also good news for us travelers - I'm writing this in Iceland, the sun only set for about 3 hours last night, and it never got dark. I'm loving it in many ways, but sleep is also good! Here's to Balance!

Wormwood - Poison, or Healing Herb?

The Green Fairy 

The absinthe craze of the previous centuries has given Wormwood a rather large, and fearsome, reputation. Poets would claim it gave them visions, authorities would claim it poisoned drinkers. Some folks still claim it has properties, both magical and psychoactive. But this silvery leaf, "bitterest of herbs" is more mundane than we realize (I do not mean that as an insult!)

I discovered, some time ago, that the fragrant, soft-leaved plant growing next to my shrine is a member of the Artemisia family, most likely A. absinthium - wormwood. It makes a robust tea that causes the lips to tingle. But, isn't it dangerous? In the 19th c. there was great concern about the dangerous wormwood, supposedly laced with toxic wormwood in great quantities and causing madness in those who consumed it. 

However, it is far more likely that unscrupulous makers were attempting to get that prized "fairy green" color, and using toxic additives for color, including mercury compounds. And of course, Absinthe is a strong drink, perhaps in attempting to obtain an exciting high from the Thujone, people were simply becoming drunk!

A "dangerous" plant, looking rather innocent.

Modern testing to determine the usefulness of wormwood as a drug have shown that the Thujone content can vary wildly, growing conditions and strains can impact the concentrations in a variety of ways. But even the strongest plants had very small amounts, hardly enough to "get high". Similarly, the alcohols made from Wormwood (Which include Pernod, vermouth, and chartreuse) very in thujone concentrations, but are never very strong. (Let's be clear, they are strong in booz-ocity!)

But, as an herb it has many uses besides summoning hallucinations! It's soothing on the stomach, improves circulation, brings on the menses, and as the name suggest, it helps to expel parasites.  In fact, some people suggest its use around the house to repel insects! It can, however, if taken in vast quantities damage the kidneys. Then again, so can black tea.

Dried bundles for smudging.

Magically, it is connected with the graveyard. It is often used around Samhain for rites and cleansing, and to summon the spirits of the dead. I suppose that's a bit like having visions, but not quite how the romantic poets described it...

Lemon Balm - Lemony and Balmy!

There is one plant that has not minded any of the weather one bit  - Melissa Officinalis. Lemon Balm (Its Latin name refers to its attraction to bees.) is a voracious grower, after only a few seasons in my garden it has staked its claim on a sizable corner. And this year all of last year's bee touched seeds seem to have found homes in the soil. I'm evicting most of them to gift to friends.

 Lemon Balm is good medicine. It's mildly antiseptic, soothing to the stomach and liver, and the scent calms and focuses. It's often used for problems of tenseness and tight muscles and it encourages sleep. Essential oils of Lemon Balm are useful, but the smell is strong enough off the leaf to simply use the fresh stuff! Rubbing a leaf on one's skin discourages insects.

But wait, there's more! It's a tasty plant! The tastes as though one has already added lemon, with a slight zesty bite to it. I also enjoy making syrups (see my how-to post) to use for lemonades and cocktail. A friend has asked that I make large quantities for her wedding, so it must be ok?

In a few weeks the bees will be buzzing around, and I'll be kicking back with a Lemon Balm mojito. Cheers!

Blessed Beltane!

This weekend us in the northern hemisphere are celebrating the warming spring, the returning green, and fertile times ahead! My garden is starting to get moving, with most of it planted.

This little guy, my white sage, is blooming for the first time, just in time to feed the bees! Blessings!

Springtime Mead Making

 Springtime in the Rockies - New growth, fresh starts, clearing out the old! The bees are buzzing around dandelions and wee shoots are rising up everywhere. I followed my personal tradition, spring clean of the body. Aided, of course, by the yeasty beasties!

I mostly used the skin of the ginger, and diced and dried the rest for cooking.

Burdock root, Ginger, Lemon, and naturally every part of the dandelion plant! Sounds like a great cleanse, right? Well, after drinking a cup or two of this tea (with plenty of honey!), I dump the rest of my mighty pot into the bucket of solidified honey.

I used up most of last year's harvest of dandelion parts to make room for a new crop!

After this dissolved a good bit of honey I put it in the fermenting bucket and boiled a bit more water. That honey was good and solid! After all my liquids have cooled a bit I pitch some yeast and cover the bucket. In one year I'll have a batch of yummy Spring mead! In the meantime, last year's bottles are being cracked open and shared around in their fizzy sweet goodness. Ah, tradition!

A Very Personal Offering - Hair Art

WARNING - This post features the traditional art of making things with human hair, you might be totally grossed out by this. I don't really care. I like it.

When one thinks of Hair art, usually the Victorian Era comes to mind. While they raised the act of creating with human hair to a high art, and obsessively traded in momentos of human body parts (teeth, for example), the Victorians did not invent the art. A number of old folk traditions use hair in the making of charms, spells, sigils and the like. Both for protective and harmful magics.

 I collected hair for several months, straight from the brush. Note that it has not been cleaned, as hair is actually stronger and easier to work with when it has a bit of natural oil. I spun it up with a drop spindle, and plied each lump from a center pull ball. It spun fairly smooth and fine, with the occasional little lump or tangle.

 I then made a bias woven strap. This is a simple technique that needs no set-up nor loom, one could start it without even the pins with a little dexterity. After laying out the threads, I started on the left and wove across the other threads at a diagonal. The next thread follows the first, but alternating over and under. Thus, each thread starts with an "over and ends with an under, then wraps around to hang downwards for the next pass. Each thread moves to the left with each row, and eventually gets to be the active thread and return to the right!

It didn't take all that long to weave a few feet of this ribbon (Sewing scissors for scale.) Some of my bundles of hair yarn were longer than others, so I trimmed off the long bits to use for future projects. (It is, also, not as if I will stop growing my raw materials.) I used it to wrap a lovely bundle of flowers destined to be a very special offering. A little piece of me, carefully prepared, going back to the earth!

Happy Spring everyone!

Woodland Skirt.

 Every now and again a fabric comes along that just screams at you from the shelf "WEAR ME!" It's hard to believe that this cute little dainty girl holding a soft fluffy bunny would scream like that, but she did. I have witnesses. So I bought a yard and brought her home... and stuck it on the shelf.

Then, as luck would have it, about a year later some other fabrics from the collection went on sale, so I snatched up the remnants and got down to business! This barefoot nature loving girl needed a skirt covered with barefoot nature loving girls!

Of course, one of the challenges of working with such a fabric, is the inhumanity of cutting of feet and heads. So I drafted a pattern to make the best use of each row of girls, and no body-chopping. I ended up with three long strips to be the hem of the skirt. The other two fabrics were then divided into tiers, six panels around, each layer larger at the bottom than at the top. Pockets were made (skirts can have pockets! It's magical, I know.)

 So, a very swishy, swingy skirt was sewn. Perfect for running barefoot in the woods! And how did I get it so swishy? How did I protect the wee feet of these girls?

A bias tape maker, and a trip to the hardware store. Four yards of fine ball chain is sewn into the bias wrapped hem, now it doesn't ride up when I walk or fly up in the wind. Hardward store notions are the best...

Summer Solstice Mitts

 This year my journey of learning herbal wisdom, and my love of fiber crafts are set to collide! I've decided to really dig into the art of plant dying, hopefully getting some wonderful colors in the meantime.

One of my inspirations was this layout of plant colors from Ireland, bought on my trip last fall. From left to right - Mature gorse, young gorse, heather, sorrel root, tormentil root. All with alum and soda.

Of course I wanted to keep this gorgeous rainbow effect, so I created a chart of Scandinavian style diamonds that slowly shifts colors. I must say, after working with sock and lace yarn for many months, worsted on size 8s knits up SO FAST!

So here we have, a gentle range of yellows and greys, just like the solstice sun poking out of clouds. It was fast, simple, and just interesting enough to keep you going. I'll be making a matching hat with the rest of the yarn, tho maybe not for much summer use. And if you think I won't use these in the summer, you've obviously never been to Colorado!

Here's the pattern I created, it could have extra rows of single color inserted to stretch it out a bit. What are you knitting for the summer? Blessed Solstice everyone!

Making a Brigid's Cross

 Imbolc (also known as Imbolg, Candlemas, St. Brigit's Day etc.) is a traditional time to celebrate the winter's passing and look forward to spring. Stories say that Imbolc was when livestock began to give milk again, heralding the birthing season. This milk helped families that were running low on food to survive the winter. The name Candlemas may mark this as the time of year when the sun rose early enough that one no longer needed candles to do early and late chores.

Tradition dictates that one makes a new Brigid's cross each Imbolc, and burns the previous year's. (It's also time to burn other Yuletide greenery, goodbye tree!) Brigid's blessings are beseeched, and the cross offers her protection thru the year. Here you see last year's cross hanging above the doorway, it's made from iris leaves as that is what I found in the garden last winter. Next to it is a reed cross I made on my pilgrimage to Ireland last fall. Lesson one - You will never regret adding more rounds!

This year my garden is covered in a wonderful blanket of snow, so I was forced to seek out some more traditional supplies. Wheat and dried (and dyed) reeds were found in the floral section of a big box craft store. They were rather expensive, and I will try to remember next fall to squirrel away some sheaves! I did soak the materials overnight to soften them up, the reeds never really got flexible, but the wheat was very pliable.

I also spun up some Irish wool to use for tying. Really, any twine, string etc. will do.

 Start by learning a square four-armed cross. This style reminds me of a sun-wheel!
1. lay out a stalk upright, slide another stalk underneath.
2. fold it over to the right.
3. rotate the entire thing clockwise, lay out another stalk, sliding it below the first. Fold it in half to the right.
4. Rotate the entire thing clockwise, slide a stalk under the upright, closer to your body than the center, fold it in half to the right.

 Repeat until you have a large core. remember to keep rotating the same direction, always adding on the side nearest you, always fold to the right. After a few rounds the center will be easy to see, and you will notice problems easily. Tie each arm up, be sure to wrap a few times around and pull tight! As the cross dries it will shrink. You can now easily tidy up and tighten the cross.

To make a three-armed cross, follow the directions above, but when you get to adding the fourth stalk, bend the first stalk (upright in the first photo) around to the side to make three evenly spaced arms. It's a little trickier to start, but after a round or two it gets to be just as easy as a four-armed.

Now ask for Brigid's blessings, light a candle for her, and hand them up around your house! I hope you all are staying warm in these lovely winter storms!

Embroidered Tree Skirt

Last year I was inspired to create an heirloom piece for our Yule tree. This is, in fact, a big step for me. I have long despised the holiday season, mostly because it starts in September. I am the 'bah humbug' shouting obscenities at holiday decorations that go up before Thanksgiving, and shoving headphones in my ears as soon as the bad Christmas music is heard in stores.

But, like the grinch, I am softening back to the season. I have always loved snow. I have always loved fire. Now that Yuletide means a gathering of friends with good food around a fire on a long cold night... it's not so bad. So, for the first time, we cut a real tree in the mountains and decorated it with my odd collection of ornaments. Such a tree is worthy of a good skirt!

I decided on several traditional winter symbols - Holly, Ivy, Pine, and Mistletoe. All are noted for staying green through the winter, and thus are considered signs of rebirth, fertility, and heralds of spring.

I chose a different color for each plant, and a simple arrangement of three leaves for each. the backdrop is a linen blend trimmed in red bias tape. I had a heck of a time getting it round!

The happy kidney bean likes it!

My Own Little Piece of the Woods

Ever since getting a wood-burning tool every piece of unadorned lumber has become a potential canvas. Everything in the garden can be labeled, utilitarian can become decorative, and sticks in the yard have a chance at becoming something more!

I had gathered an ash branch from the tree in my front yard, and a pine branch while I was out cutting limbs to be my Yule Log. My boy's folks have some power tools, so I cut these branches into neat little disk on my last trip to their house. A very simple way to get nice rounds, I personally like the bark on them as well.

I burned the outline of a pine on all the pine disk, and a tall ash on the ash disks. I know, super creative of me. Now I have items to use for crafts, jewelry, or to burn as offerings. I've already begun seeking deadfall from other types of trees...

Piecing a Banner

My sewing machine has been quiet lately, school and other duties are getting in the way of my crafting! Fortunately I try to take on duties that include crafting, so the other day I spent some hours creating a banner for the local ADF Grove

 I tried to take inspiration from our logo for the fonts, and the runic font lends itself nicely to sewing, but the more Celtic style letters were quite the challenge.

 Notice all the white lines? I added lots of guide lines to make sure there would be straight and even letter placement. I also pinned all the letters in a word at once so nothing was sewn down and moved later.

Here it is! I'll be adding a branch and horn soon, and perhaps an ADF logo, but I'll be painting that logo on, too complicated even for this seamstress! Are you keeping busy?