The allotment and with Imbolc around the corner

Well just when I thought it was getting warmer the cold is back. Which is a bit frustrating as we have been preparing for the new season up at the allotment and now the ground has gone from soaking to frozen.

We celebrate Imbolc a little differently than some might. We tend to use it as a way to start new with the shoots of the bulbs we put in around Samhain time now showing. We have planned out what we want to do with the allotment and now is the time to start clearing greenhouses in readiness for the seeds to be sown.

It’s a lot of hard work and as I am still learning sometimes it can be frustrating. The ground has some sort of strange long grass which instead of a root mat structure seems to have bulbs and is a devil to get out. This all needs to be cleared before I can dig over and as I’m not that fit plus trying to get it done around work means that it is a lot slower going than I hoped it would be. But we are getting there. The diagram below shows what we are hoping to grow in the season and we are about half way across the potato patch (about 2½ metres). Little has a spade and fork just the right size and mixed in with playing with the toys comes and digs over for me. Though more often than not get sidetracked by the fascination of watching fat worms dig back into the earth!

Last year for Imbolc we made a Priapic wand and at Samhain burnt it as part of the turning from old to new by creating light for the forthcoming nights. So we have spent today making a new one. Which after a lot of thought and care Littleun took up with us to help the bulbs and we will be taking it with us to the green house in a few weeks when we start the seedlings. Littleun has already waved it several times over the potatoes out to chit and has made a chant of his own as he does this:

“Grow and grow and grow so I may grow and grow and grow. Thank you very much”

Which I was pleasantly surprised at, it would seem he does listen when I explain to him about Cernunnos. It’s a much simpler chant than the one I use but it sums it up, and the way he adds the thank you is very funny, in this little voice as if to say oops must not forget that bit!

Anyway that’s enough rambling for today, my bread is yet to be kneaded for the second round and there’s a toyroom to inspect!

Seeds galore

What do you do when its 2 hours to go before you take Littleun out to meet his friends and he is bored? Plant seeds of course. We planted three lots of seeds, a cress caterpillar, mixed salad beans and indoor tomatoes. Littleun really enjoyed making his caterpillar out of empty egg boxes, though the cotton wool was a bit annoying when wet as he kept trying to decorate the ceiling with it, a trick I thought he wouldn’t learn until the science classes at senior school! If you would like to try the cress caterpillar you will need:

Empty egg box
Cotton wool
Cress seeds
Googly eyes
Green pipe cleaner
Glue

Cut egg box into sections, glue each part together in a wiggly line. Glue the eyes on and make two slits for the pipe cleaner. Dampen the cotton wool and put a bit in each section, sprinkle the seeds on top. Keep damp over the time and put near sunshine. Easy and fun.

The tomato set we got from our supermarket, they have started a pocket money range to encourage children into gardening. Well that was the thought but Littleun wanted so many sets that I ended up paying and the pocket money was spent elsewhere!

The lilies that we planted at Imbolc are doing well too. Three have come through out of the five though two are stronger.

Imbolc, Another turn, Another change

So the wheel turns once again and we welcome in Imbolc, Spring. The change here is straight away noticeable. Yesterday it was cold and crisp, beautiful ice and frost covering every corner stretching the pretty patterns over all it could touch. Today the temperature is up and the rain is down! But that's what we want. Let nature appear. We went for a walk yesterday to see how many new flowers we could find and surprisingly it wasn't many. Normally at this time of year the snowdrops are starting to peak in the flowerbed under the window and the deep purple crocus' are raring to go from under our bay trees.

So what does this new time bring to us. Well in my case an extra effort in things. To be happier when something is irritating but beyond my ability to change it, to declutter as I put my items back into the front room, to increase my exercise to shift these pounds (have slackened with the diet) and the start of preparations for our veg and fruit growing.

Seeds are in for some crops, ground will be broken this weekend for the new life to take hold and the planner updated so I can make most use of the area. We planted some bulbs as part of our Imbolc ritual. Lovely indoor Iris' that Littleun could do. Hopefully they will grow but they will apparently take 14ish weeks in the dark to do so.

Our feast went well, though I've got a scorch mark from the crepe Suzette's (bit too much flambe) and the non alcoholic mead passed into deep red wine. Littleun is starting to recognise the reasons behind things and has added his own items to the celebrations.

The altar is a small affair in comparison to other times, partly because of our current space restrictions but also to allow it to grow. We didn't pick any flowers as I'm not keen on doing things like that, so we made our flowers to go on the crown instead.

Hope you all have had a good Imbolc.

Our Imbolc Fun days

I’ve had fun these last few days where I have been able to pay complete attention for once to Littleun. We’ve done so much. Gone to the park to feed the birds, turned out the squirrels were hungry too, made our Imbolc crown for Littleun to wear and the one for our altar, made Imbolc snowflake biscuits so we could test that they worked (my excuse anyhow) and Littleun came up with an idea that was all his own work. Whilst moving the biscuits I asked him why he was breaking them in half, his reply and I kid you not was “to let winter go mummy” the thought apparently was that if he broke the biscuits then winter would be free for spring to come. Think he might be taking in what I tell him more than I give him credit for! We’ve even got a little ahead of ourselves and made his Beltane mask, just couldn’t resist trying out the ideas on The Cauldrons site.

I’ve now started on preparing the food for our Imbolc feast. We are having simple but homely fare, Roast leg of Mutton with winter vegetables, Crepe suzette with homemade ice cream, cheese and Littleuns biscuits for later plus non-alcoholic mead.

Non-alcoholic Mead

4 cups spring water

1 cup honey
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced

Bring the water, honey, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon to a boil in a non-metallic pan. Stir until honey is dissolved; heaviness should disappear from bottom of the pan. Use wooden spoon to skim off skin that forms at top of brew. Add lemon and orange slices, squeezing as they are placed in the pan. Cool completely; strain. Store in bottle in refrigerator.

Imbolc Food; Sheep’s cheese and Milk Bread

Imbolc is a time of year where the milk supplies were very important. The word Imbolc comes in part from the phrase "ewe's milk," so dairy products became a big part of February celebrations. This time of year was hard for our ancestors, crop stores were very low with no fresh ones to replenish them. They had livestock pregnant and the lambing season would begin soon. As the ewes came into milk they knew they would have food again.
Making as much of our food is very important for me, not just for the Sabbats but all year round if possible so to combine the two and to have some recipes that the Littleun can easily join in we have made some sheep’s cheese and milk bread. You can use other milks such as goats.


Sheep’s Cheese; Makes 2 x 500g cheeses

Ingredients

1.7l fresh sheep's milk
10 drops vegetarian rennet (or follow the packet instructions)

1. Put the milk in a saucepan and heat gently until it reaches 37°C (blood temperature). If you don't have a cook's thermometer, dip your finger into the milk. When you can't feel the liquid - i.e., it is neither hotter nor colder than your hand - you'll know it's at blood temperature.
2. Take the pan off the heat and add the vegetarian rennet. Give it a quick stir then leave the curds and whey to separate (about 15 minutes). Use a sharp knife to cut the curd into small chunks (about 2.5cm) in the pan.
3. Line two sieves (or one very large one) with two layers of fine, untreated muslin. Place each sieve over a bowl. Spoon the cut curds and whey into the muslin. Gather up the corners of the muslin and tie them with string, then suspend the bundles over bowls overnight to allow the whey to drain away, leaving you with lovely, creamy soft cheese.

Milk Bread Makes 1 large loaf, Takes 50 minutes, plus proving

Ingredients

750g strong plain white flour, plus extra for dusting
2 tsp salt
75g butter, cut into small pieces, plus extra for greasing
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
300ml milk

1. Put the flour into a large bowl and add the salt. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until it's like breadcrumbs. Tip in the yeast and sugar.
2. Pour the milk into a large measuring jug and stir in 150ml water. Microwave on high for 2 minutes until warm. (Or warm in a pan over a medium heat.) Add to the flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Use your hands to mix the dough until it forms a soft dough that leaves the sides of the bowl clean.
3. Sprinkle a work surface with flour, then tip the dough onto it. Stretch and work the dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Roll the dough into an oblong shape.
4. Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas 7. Grease a 900g loaf tin and add the dough. Cover with greased cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 25 minutes, until the dough is almost at the top. Discard the cling film, dust with some extra flour and bake for 30 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Cool in the tin for at least 20 minutes.

A great way of warming up and doing things together, not so good on the waistline though...

Imbolc Crafts: Metal flakes

Brighid is the Goddess of many things, including blacksmithing. Now this is an impractical, downright dodgy thing to try if you’ve got Littleuns so I was thinking how can I combine metal and kids safely. I came up with using tinfoil. I was going to get him to roll some into shapes and make things but whilst I was getting it all ready he sat there with a pencil and started to draw on the foil. So our plans changed a bit. Instead we’ve made metal snowflakes.

It’s quite simple really, you will need:
Tin/aluminium foil
Pencil or similar
Some scissors
Ribbon
Soft area to work

Cut out circles of the foil in different sizes.
Drawn on one side patterns to look like snowflakes, this will leave an embossed area once you turn it over. Pinch the points where you want to give“sharpness” to the look.
Pearce a hole in a point and thread the ribbon. Then hang in the window, off the ceiling, the banisters, in fact if you are like Littleun, anywhere!

Another type of “Metal” snowflake we have done is with glitter and glue guns. A bit tricky for the Littleun to use the gun so I did that part but the rest was messy fun so he did that!

You will need:
Glue gun
Plastic cutting board/ flexible if you have one
Silver glitter
Ribbon

On your board use the gun to “draw” out a snowflake shape. You need to be quick so it doesn’t cool down too fast. As soon as you have, get the Littleuns to cover the shape with the glitter. Attach the ribbon with a bit more glue. Leave until hard and set then peel off board (that's why a flexible one is slightly easier) and hang in windows etc.

Imbolc Crafts: Brighid’s Cross

The first of the Imbolc crafts that we are trying (other than the Ice candle) is a cross. Littleun is a bit young so I thought he might find this fiddly but in fact the calm repetitive method seemed to appeal to him and after a few attempts was soon well away. We did a crazy amount of these so will be giving some to friends who hopefully will like them! Again I have used about.com for the following information, so many thanks to them.

The cross has long been a symbol of Brighid, the Irish goddess who presides over hearth and home. In some legends, the girl who became St. Bridget wove the first of these crosses as she explained Christianity to her father, a Pictish chieftain. In other stories, the cross is not a cross at all, but a wheel of fire, which explains why it's a bit off-centre in appearance. In parts of Ireland, Brighid is known as a goddess of the crossroads, and this symbol represents the place where two worlds meet, and the year is at a crossroads between light and dark.

A Brighid's Cross can be purchased in many Irish craft shops or at festivals, but it's actually pretty easy to make your own. You can incorporate the creation of your Brighid's Cross into your Imbolc rituals, use it as a meditative exercise, or just put one together with your kids as a fun craft activity.

To make your Brighid's Cross, you'll need straw, reeds, or construction paper -- if you're using plant material like straw or reeds, you'll want to soak it overnight so it's pliable when you go to make your Cross. Your end result will be about the length of one piece of your material -- in other words, a bundle of 12" reeds will yield a Brighid's Cross just slightly longer than 12".
** Note: for a super-easy, kid-friendly edition of this project, use pipe cleaners.

To begin, you'll form a base for your Cross by bending two pieces of straw in their middles to create a pair of loops -- in fact, you'll do this with each piece as you make your Cross. Link the two pieces together at their centres, as shown in Figure 1.

Next, turn these two pieces so they lie flat, and at a right angle to one another, as shown in Figure 2. This basic two-piece unit is the base for the rest of the Cross, and it's the only time you'll have two pieces hooked together in the middles like this.

Next, bend a third piece of straw in half, and loop it over one of your two base pieces, as indicated in Figure 3. Both legs of the loop in the new piece will pass over both legs of the base piece. Pull this third piece tight to hold it in place.

Take a fourth piece, and bend it in half as you've done with the others. Loop this one over the legs of the piece you added in Step 3. You should now have four pieces, each pointing in a different direction, as shown in Figure 4.

Finally, you'll continue looping pieces over one another (see Figure 5) as you did in the last step, until your cross reaches the size you want. Each piece loops over the previous one. When you're all done, use a piece of string, ribbon, or even another bit of straw to secure the four ends. Trim off excess pieces.

EDIT: I've just posted this and then gone on to read other folks blogs, Pagan Dad has also posted about the crosses today, that'll teach me to read others before blogging mine, lol!

Celtic Gods and Goddesses; Brighid

If like me you are still learning and therefore may be a little confused about the relations between the Gods and Goddesses, you may find the "timeless myths" link for the Gods and Goddesses trees useful.

With Imbolc around the corner I’ve centred my current studies on Brighid, There is an abundance of information on this Goddesses and it’s difficult to pick a point at which to start! She is the daughter of Dagda and sister to others, including Midhir, who I’ve briefly mentioned previously. She is thought to have two others sisters, also called Brighid and as such is a triple Goddess and finally mother to Ruadán. She is the goddess of all things perceived to be of relatively high dimensions such as high-rising flames, highlands, hill-forts and upland areas; and of activities and states conceived as psychologically lofty and elevated, such as wisdom, excellence, perfection, high intelligence, poetic eloquence, craftsmanship (especially blacksmithing), healing ability, druidic knowledge and skill in warfare. Over the next few posts I hope to be able to share Imbolc related crafts which you can do with your Littleuns and place, if you’d like to, on your Altar.

Imbolc Crafts: Ice Candles

Imbolc is fast advancing and with this everlasting snow we seem to be getting, I for one can’t wait. I normally love winter, its clean cold crispness which eventually moves away to reveal new life with buds of snowdrops peaking through the ground is a lovely sight. But to be fair, I have had enough this year. I’m a wimp I know and I’ve been done in by it all. The walking constantly last week saw me end up with a horrible cough and cold, fast on the heels of the one I’d just got rid of, and a wrenched knee. Now swollen and stiff making life a little tricky in a house which is 3 levels! So I have been searching for fun things to do in the warm with Littleun. I came across this candle idea and we have given it a try, not as warm in the preparations as you’d have thought but a good afternoon anyway. Just be warned it can get a little messy.

Ice candles are a lot of fun and easy to make during the winter months. Since February is traditionally a snow-filled time, at least in the northern hemisphere, why not make some ice candles to celebrate Imbolc, which is a day of candles and light?
You'll need the following:
· Ice
· Paraffin wax
· Colour and scent (optional)
· A taper candle
· A cardboard container, like a milk carton
· A double boiler, or two pans

Melt the paraffin wax in the double boiler. Make sure that the wax is never placed directly over the heat, or you could end up with a fire. While the wax is melting, you can prepare your candle mould. If you want to add colour or scent to your candle, this is the time to add it to the melted wax.

Place the taper candle into the centre of the cardboard carton. Fill the carton with ice, packing them loosely in around the taper candle. Use small chunks of ice - if they're too large, your candle will be nothing but big holes.

Once the wax has melted completely, pour it into the container carefully, making sure that it goes around the ice evenly. As the hot wax pours in, it will melt the ice, leaving small holes in the candle. Allow the candle to cool, and then poke a hole in the bottom of the cardboard carton so the melted water can drain out (it's a good idea to do this over a sink). Let the candle sit overnight so the wax can harden completely, and in the morning, peel back the entire cardboard container. You'll have a complete ice candle, which you can use in ritual or for decoration.

Patti Wigington, About.com Guide