Crafty Kitchen Witch

It's inarguable that modern life affords us with many wonderful Conveniences the ancients never had, like electricity, telephones, and heating. With the planet Uranus, the computer genius, now in Aquarius, there's a lot More to come. Unfortunately, although these advances in communication and Technology have pulled us closer together intellectually, they've drawn us farther Away from our spiritual selves, and we've lost a great deal of the connection The ancients had with our mother, the Earth. One of the most important traditions we've lost is the concept of the Eight seasons. Yes, eight. Ancient peoples realized that the earth was Alive, and therefore in a constant state of change. They knew that those Changes occurred far more often then four times a year, and that, in fact, The Earth made a transition that was quite noticeable about eight times a year, Or every forty-five days. It makes sense, too, if you think about it. Take summer, for example. The Sun ...

Enjoy Your Morning Feast with Lammas Buns (using healthy ingredients.) Makes 8 servings Delicious treat to celebrate Lammas, especially lovely with butter or butter and jam. Can also be toasted like a tea cake. scrummy. Recipe Ingredients for Lammas Buns: 1 egg  4 fl oz. milk, skimmed  1 tablespoon oil, sunflower  2 oz. sugar  1 tablespoon mixed spice  1/2 teaspoon salt  8 oz. whole-wheat flour, strong  2 teaspoon yeast  2 oz. sultanas  3/4 oz. whole-wheat flour, plain  1/4 oz. margarine  1/2 tablespoon water Recipe Directions for Lammas Buns: place all the ingredients (except the sultanas, butter 1 oz. flour 1/2 oz. butter and water) into your bread machine and set on the dough cycle add the fruit when the machine signals, once dough has formed place dough on a floured work surface and knead into a ball, tear off 8 even pieces and roll into a ball and place on a non stick baking tray, place a clean towel over ...

Blackberry Cobbler Delicious Blackberries, you can substitute other berries for this if you can't find blackberries or don't like them 4 cups fresh Blackberries 3/4 cups Sugar 3 Tablespoons Flour 1 1/2 cups Water 1 Tablespoons fresh Lemon Juice 2 Tablespoons melted Butter Pastry: 1 3/4 cups All-purpose Flour 2 Tablespoons Sugar 2 teaspoons Baking Powder 1 teaspoon Salt 1/4 cup Shortening 6 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping cream 6 Tablespoons Buttermilk Preheat oven to 350 degrees Place fresh berries in a lightly greased 2-quart baking dish. Combine sugar and flour; add water and lemon juice, mixing well. Pour this mixture over berries; bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes while preparing the pastry. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. Pastry: Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; stir in whipping cream and buttermilk. Knead dough 4 or 5 times; roll to about 1/4" thickness on a lightly...

Apricot Wine 1 pound Dried Apricots 4 quarts Warm Water 6 1/2 cups Sugar 2 1/4 cups Brown Sugar 1 1/2 cups Raisins 1 Tablespoon Ginger, minced 2 each Lemons, thinly sliced 2 each Oranges, thinly sliced 1/2 cup Yeast Wash the apricots in several batches of water and then dry them and cut in halves. Place in a large crock and pour on the warm water, reserving 1/2 cup of it in which to dissolve the yeast cake. Stir in the sugars, fruit, raisins and ginger. Then add the dissolved yeast and mix well. Cover with top of the crock and let stand for thirty days, stirring the mixture every other day. After thirty days strain the mixture and bottle.

Lammas Raisin Bread Source: Unknown Makes 4 loaves. 2 cup rolled oats 5 cup water 1/3 cup honey 1 Tb salt 2 TB cinnamon(I like a lot) 2/3 cup wheat germ 2 package (2 Tbs) dry yeast 6 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup raisins 2 cup white flour Cook the oats in 4 cups boiling water until they are just soft (5-10 min). Stir in honey, salt, and wheat germ. Allow to cool to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water and stir into oats with 3 cup of the flour. Beat this sponge with a wooden spoon for a few minutes. Cover bowl with tea towel. Let rise in warm, draft-free place for about one hour or until doubled volume. Stir down sponge. Stir in raisins & remaining 3 cup flour. Sprinkle 1 cup white flour over a flat wooden or marble surface and turn the dough out onto it. Sprinkle the second cup of white flour on top of the dough and carefully begin kneading.  Knead for about 10 min or until smooth and elastic. Form into ball.  Put in large, buttered bowl. Tu...

 ~Lammas~ Lughnasadh Rituals Founded by Lugh, in honor of the passing of his mother Taillte, the holiday Lughnasadh came to be the first of the summer harvest festivals. The first fruits of summer and fresh grains are ready for picking at this time of year and the summer days are still quite long and warm. However, this marks the beginning of the waning of the year, with fall arriving shortly with Mabon. One figure found at a variety of harvest festivals was the corn dolly. Alternately spelled as “corn dollie,” this icon is a figure woven from either braided straw or sheaves harvested from the corn fields. A related icon called a “kern baby” is a figure made from the cob of the corn. These figures were dressed or adorned to resembled women, and viewed as an embodiment of the spirit of the harvest or a representation of the Goddess. It was considered necessary to safeguard this fertile spark over the winter to ensure continued and bountiful harvests. In some cultures, all the ...

Corn Dollies Lammas by Anna Franklin & Paul Mason It was once believed that the spirit of the corn had to be preserved from one harvest to the next to ensure the success of the crops. The cutting of the final sheaf was particularly dangerous, because it contained the life spirit of the corn, which had retreated and retreated into the final stook (bound sheaf of grain). Sometimes the harvesters would approach it reverently with the call, “the neck,” or sometimes the “the mare,” and cut in a single stroke with the cry, “I have the neck.” This was then carefully woven into a corn dolly, or kern-baby, which would preserve the corn spirit safely until the next year. It would be kept in a place of honor until the spring, when at Imbolc ears of corn would be taken from the doll and plowed into the fields to bring them life. The earliest recorded instances of corn dollies date from the eighteenth dynasty of the ancient Egyptians (1570-1320 B.C.E.) and represented Osiris. The...

Now is the Time if the First Harvest, When the bounties of Nature give of themselves So that we may survive O God of the ripening fields, Lord of the Grain, Grant me the understanding of Sacrifice As you prepare to deliver yourself Under the sickle of the Goddess   And journey to the lands of Eternal Summer O Goddess of the Dark Moon, Teach me the secrets of rebirth as the Sun loses its strength and the nights grow cold…   (Crumble grains of wheat and let them fall on your altar or table. Take a bite of the ritual fruit and continue…)   I partake of the First Harvest, Mixing its energies with mine That I may continue my quest For the starry wisdom of Perfection O Lady of the Moon and Lord of the Sun, before Whom the Stars halt their courses, I offer my thanks For the continuing Fertility of the Earth. May the nodding grain loose its seeds To be buried in the Mother’s bre...

Corn Bread Ear Sticks Recipe by StormWing Purchase an iron mold shaped like little ears of corn in flea markets or kitchen supply shops, or look in grandma's kitchen wherever she keeps her bakeware - there just might be one there already! Grease lightly and preheat in a 425 degree oven. You will need: 3/4 cup Flour 3/4 cup Yellow Corn Meal 1/4 cup Sugar 3/4 teaspoon Salt 2 teaspoons Baking Powder 2 Eggs 1 cup Milk (or Buttermilk if you prefer) 1/4 cup Shortening Sift dry ingredients together. Add milk, eggs, shortening, and beat until smooth. Pour into preheated and greased molds and bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. =============================================== FRESH CUCUMBER RELISH 7 cups thinly sliced cucumbers (peeled or unpeeled, your choice) 1 and 1/2 cups water 1 and 1/2 cups sugar 1 and 1/2 cups white vinegar 1/2 tsp onion salt 1 or more large onions, thinly sliced and separated (I love to use sweet onions such as Vidalia) 3/4 tsp ...

Celebrating Lammas The year is 1100. The date is August 1. The monks in the abbey at Gloucester are celebrating the holy-day of St. Peter in Chains. One of the monks wakes from a strange dream in which God promises to strike down the wicked King who has abused the Holy Church. His superior, Abbot Serlo, on hearing of the dreams sends a warning to the King, William the Red, who has oppressed all of England with taxes and disgusted many with his licentiousness and blasphemy. Red, as he is called, receives the message the following day while preparing to indulge in one of his favorite sports, hunting, in the New Forest. Although there are no longer any people dwelling in the New Forest — they were all cleared out by Red's father, William the Conqueror — there are rumors that it's a hotbed of pagan activity. And August 2 is an important pagan holy-day. The Saxons call it Lammas, the Loaf-Mass. William the Red laughs at the warning from the monks and goes out hunting. A short ti...