Preparing for Lammas

On August 1st, we will celebrate Lammas :).

Traditionally, if you live with the seasons, Lammas marks the "bringing in the of the first wheat harvest". It is also the time to think about preparing for the winter.

I obviously do not grow wheat, but today my son brought in a pretty big bounty from our little backyard garden.

Things are beginning to ripen. The tomatoes that I planted in a box and a bucket are doing much better than the tomatoes I planted in the earth in a bed. I believe it is because the earthen ones got the shivers when we had a cold spell. I get a tomato sporadically, but not the bountiful harvest I had planned on. Soon, I will be bursting with "Gypsy" tomatoes! We are beginning to get new cucumbers every day. I planted Armenian, Long, Regular, and Lemon cucs. The Lemon cucs are nowhere to be found, but the others are coming along nicely. Lots of tomatillos growing, that will make some fabulous green salsa.

I have RHUBARB!!! Even the huckleberries are coming along nicely, getting purple. Next year, I will plant more.

What is not working: Strawberries and chili peppers planted in Topsy Turvys. Sage..:(...

In a few days we will make Lammas bread to eat with our harvested veggies and celebrate our Lammas Feast. The recipe I have is old, long, and typewritten in a book. I found on online for you to enjoy :). I will post mine when I have a bit of time to copy it in....

http://www.grouprecipes.com/97433/lammas-bread-and-spell.html

Two of my favorite books for rituals and recipes to do with kids are:
CircleRound
Wheel of the Year, Living the Magical Life

Peaches - Blemished Bliss :)

I am a fan of blemished fruit :). All summer long I delve in less than "perfect" fruit, ripe fruit, or fruit that is threatening to smother their owner :).

We will eat it, jam it, puree it.....mmmm...

Today, my wonderful friend brought me a box of peaches that were a little "blemished". Oh my Goddess, super duper sweet.

We cut away the nicks, and ate a ton.

Then we made some Paula Deen Peach Cobbler, see results above :).

Warning. You must love butter, sugar, and yummy calories. Don't forget the home-made whipped cream.

Paula's Peach Cobbler Recipe

Enjoy :)!!

P.S. Notice how the whipped cream could be a cat with lemon balm ears?? LOL!!

Enjoying our first batch of brew!

Yesterday was the day!

We got to "tap" our first batch of ginger soda! After waiting 2 weeks for it to bubble and brew, we were anxious to taste our homemade concoction. Especially my son, who babied and fed his Ginger Bug vehemently for 7 days; hard commitment for THIS 8 year old boy!

I was a little apprehensive, as our ale looked quite flat sitting on the shelf. Don't let that quiet look fool you!

I unscrewed the top just a tad....WHOOOOOOOOSHHHHH!

Olala!

There was some serious carbonation happening in that bottle! It took about 10 minutes of slow release until we could finally get our lips on our brew.

YUMMY! Need I say more?

We have been experimenting with our water kefir brews also. My favorite sofar: plain with some lemon. My kid's favorite sofar: Vanilla Cream (just add some vanilla :)...), and lemon with cinnamon chips (like that one too!).

Happy brewing!

Rhubarb & Nutmeg Jam

mmmmmmm,,,,,

From the many jams we made last year after I finally got all my "gear" and figured out how to check a "gel"....I have to say the Rhubarb Nutmeg is the family favorite.

My daughter says it tasess like cola...My son thinks it is candy.

Thanks to my wonderful friend Marie, and her patch of fabulous green rhubarb, I have made a new batch tonight, just as our last glass is dwindling to nothingness.



Here is the recipe I found online last year:

8 cups rhubarb, or 4.5 cups cooked
6.5 cups of sugar (wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)
1 package of pectin
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon butter

I follow this recipe, except I use "no sugar pectin" and about 1 cup of honey. I grate the nutmeg fresh, and put it in at the end. Warning: we love nutmeg, so the strong aroma is great for us...make sure you don't use more than you can chew.



Enjoy!