Mabon

Fall and Winter are a natural time of year to move from the Outer World to the Inner World. As the Earth shifts and we spend more time in darkness, we have time to spend in reflection. We shift to artificial light, an imitation of the Sun's light; but artificial light can go where the sun can't shine. Time to look at what lies beneath, when the World lies in Shadow and that which is hidden is revealed.

 What will we find in the basement of our Being? Do you dare to look? We fear looking at the hungry ghosts and howling monsters; but if we hide they come to find us, draining the light from our lives. If we dare to shine the light upon them, we often see that the shadows make them seem larger than they are. When illuminated, it is only a spider or a mouse; we either sweep them away or learn how to coexist with them or whatever action is most appropriate.

 Like the leaves of Fall that spend the Winter in decay; being transformed to nourish the seeds of the new Spring when the Sun returns; we, too, can complete this alchemy within to transform our demons, ghouls and bad habits into fertile ground for growth in the garden of our Souls.

 In Nature, the catalyzing ingredients for this alchemy are the fungi and bacteria that work to digest and break down organic matter. In our Beings, the catalyzing ingredient is our Will to shine the light of Consciousness on our own dark and stuck energies to absorb/accept, break down and integrate them into our Lives. This work can be done at any time of the year, but I find it more potent to work with the natural energies and seasons of the Earth.

What do you do with watermelon Rinds?

Recently I got one of those personal size watermelons, organic, of course, and had plans to make watermelon rind pickles with the non-red part of the fruit. Much to my diasappointment, the rinds were quite thin, so the pickles were out of the question. There WAS a thin rind to the watermelon, however, so I decided to make SOMETHING out of it. After much searching online, I saw some other recipes besides pickles, one of which was relish. I decided to try it, but make it a lacto fermented relish and changed some of the ingredients. It came out fabulous!

This is how I made it: I peeled the green exterior off of the rinds and chopped them into 1 " or so squares.

 Next I pureed the rinds in a food processor, till they were a little chunky, but pretty mushy.

Next, I pureed the rest of the ingredients, except for the whey, in the food processor. The recipe is below. I mixed the watermelon, other ingredients and the whey together into a large glass jar and let ferment for 3 days, after which it is stored in the fridge. My bf couldn't believe this tasty relish was made with watermelon rinds!

My boyfriend likes peanut butter; I like the glass jars. I make him buy the big ones. I don't like plastic containers with their BPA and dioxins if you freeze or heat them, I do not like them one little bit.

Recipe:

3 1/2 cups water melon rind, peeled and chopped into @ 1" pieces

1/2 red pepper

1 medium onion

1/4 raisins

2 tbsp. sea salt

1 clove garlic

1 tsp. mustard seed

1 tsp. turmeric

1 small hot pepper (optional)

4 tbsp. whey

Rose Coconut Chicken

This chicken recipe was inspired by a hot chocolate I had in Asheville, NC. It actually doesn't taste like it at all, but that's where I got the idea for the ingredients. Don't be put off by the idea of roses in your chicken! The rose and coconut gives the chicken a sweet flavor without much of a rose taste, although I love the taste of roses, personally. For best results, use a free-range, organic chicken that is fresh, so that you can marinate it for a couple days in the sauce. When you're ready to cook the chicken, save the marinade sauce to make rice with, substituting it for the water. Delish.

Rose Coconut Chicken

1 cup chopped rose petals
1 whole free-range, organic chicken cut into parts
1 cup hot water
3 cardamom pods, crushed
1 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed
dash salt
1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup fresh whey or yoghurt
1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Soak the rose petals in the hot water for a few minutes to steep. Pour into baking dish or other container to marinate. Add chicken. I use either a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle to grind the spices, then add to dish. Add salt and coconut milk and whey or yoghurt. Mix all ingredients together well; I poke the chicken in several places with a knife, so that the marinade seeps in. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for a couple days. When you're ready to cook it, drain off the marinade, saving it to use to cook rice. Sprinkle chopped pistachios on top and cook chicken in 350* oven for about an hour, check that chicken has cooked through, or for more tender chicken, if you have the time, cook at 275* for 2 to 3 hours or until done.

Using mushrooms for dyeing and pigments

Last weekend I went to a fabulous workshop on dyeing with mushrooms, hosted by the Puget Sound Mycological Society. We used wool yarn to make swatches of dyes obtained from various local mushrooms and with different types of mordants to get a taste for the creative possiblities mushrooms offer. My favorite was a bright pink made from rotten Lobster mushrooms and using washing soda as a mordant, although the bright yellow from wolf lichen was a close second. Lichens will actually dye without use of a mordant. Apparently, so much lichen was being collected in Ireland for dyeing wool that they have to restrict its use. Lichens have been used historically for dyeing textiles, but the use of mushrooms is quite modern. Modern mushroom dyes were by and large introduced by Miriam C. Rice, an artist who began developing the use of mushroom dyes in the early 70's. She went on to teach workshops and write very instructive books on the subject.

She worked in a close business relationship with illustrator Dorothy Beebee who has carried on her work. She also developed pigment for paint sticks and papers made from mushrooms.

Dyeing is a passion in any place that people keep sheep for making their fleece into yarn, and into clothing, bags and all sorts of other useful and decorative items. I was surprised to learn that there are still still many enthusiasts of the handmade. There are huge international conferences for textiles made from or dyed with fungi.

I saw so many creative uses for the dyed fibers at the workshop yesterday that I can't wait to experiment at home! It is recommended to heat the dye baths outside as some mushrooms are toxic and manipulating them for use can release the spores, so it's better to be in a well ventilated area. Also, they said they can be quite stinky and not well tolerated by the less creative members of the household.

lobster mushrooms

My first home made mustard!

I've been wanting to make my own mustard from scratch for awhile now and I finally tried it. I'm glad I waited because I've only learned about lacto-fermentation just recently. I decided to make the more rustic, grainy style mustard; so I used two kinds of mustard seed: white mustard and black.

I let them soak for 3 days in a jar with whey from kefir, a bit of water and some raw sliced onion. (1 cup mustard seeds, 1/4 cup whey, and enough water to cover the seeds) The longer you soak it the spicier it gets, so after 3 days, it has quite a bite! You can add all sorts of flavorings to the mustard, I picked the onion because it sounded intriguing; it gave the mustard a slight musty taste that gave it depth..... I like it!

 Once soaked for the appropriate time, throw it into a food processor. Add a little turmeric to get that yellow color, and also turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties. Maybe a bit of sea salt, and a bit of cider vinegar if you feel it needs more liquid.

 And Voila! Home made mustard! Yum!

more recipes at Hunger and Thirst's blog

Some of my stinging nettle recipes can be found this month at Hunger and Thirst 's blog. A dynamic duo of bloggers sets a challenge using a wild foraged ingredient each month and at the end of the month, the Wild Roundup is published with all the recipes everyone has sent in. There were @ 30 recipes this month! It's a great way to learn about wild edibles and their uses.



2nd try at Salt of the Earth

Hi......... I had this post all done, and before I could hit publish, the internet ate it.......... so....... we'll give this another try.

Recently, the boyfriend and I and an old friend from FL, met up in Portland and went to the Colombia River Gorge scenic area to see more waterfalls than you can imagine in a couple mile area.

 Fantastical, dreamworld forests and waterfalls. The bf and I stayed overnight at the Bridal Veil Lodge, which was an old-time lodge with really cute, clean and comfortable cottage rooms, that had skylights, so you could see the stars at night.... well, if it hadn't been cloudy. I highly recommend the place, the owners are very knowledgeable about the area, friendly, and best of all, I could actually eat the breakfast for once, because they cater to food allergies! Just let them know your requirements the night before, and you'll get a yummy gourmet breakfast you can eat!

The second part of this trip for me was going to the amazing salt store in Portland, The Meadow; where you can buy the salt of the Earth, literally. They have fine salts from all over the world. Real salt. Did you know that typical table salt from the supermarket is a highly processed food? First, it is baked at high temperatures to crystallize it, which kills all the minerals and iodine. Then they add an industrial grade iodine back into it, but that turns it purple so they bleach it. Then they add dextrose to make it taste right again. None of that is on the label, because it's considered part of the processing rather than an ingredient. This is good to know if you have blood sugar problems. The body doesn't recognize this altered salt product, so you can actually be low in blood sodium, while messing up your blood sugar. I just want real salt, please, with the minerals and iodine naturally still in it. Anyway, back to the store, they are VERY friendly and will spend vast amounts of time explaining the salts; what different salts from different parts of the world are best at flavoring, and the difference between fleur de sel, and sel gris..... they have testers of each salt so you can try them out. The store also carries specialty chocolates and gourmet bitters. The bf was most patient while I took an hour to figure which salts I wanted......... it was like being in a candy store.