Tutorial: {Making Peg Doll Angels}

{Soulfood Friday}

Beautiful Winter Light.

 


Below are some beautiful traditional Carols that we have been listening to over the last couple of weeks while baking florentines, eating mince pies with cups of tea and putting up decorations.









Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.

 I will be taking a break from Soulfood Friday Posts until the second Friday of the New Year. Look forward to seeing you then :)


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Hedgerow Medicine

Come November the Rosehips are ripe and ready for picking.

I like to dry a batch to keep over Winter. To dry them I place them on a baking tray in the lowest possible oven setting for about 6 hours, checking regularly to avoid burning.
^

To make a vitamin C rich Rosehip syrup I add the Rosehips to a pan of water. Measurements are rough but anything similar to the ratio above should work.

I leave the Hips to simmer on a low heat with a couple of Star Anise until they soften and their skins begin to plump up and burst. 

I crush the Hips against the side of the pan with a fork and once the mixture reduces by about a quarter I sieve it into another pan where I add honey by the tablespoon until the mixture becomes sweet but not cloyingly so.

I further reduce the syrupy mixture by simmering until it glistens and thickens. Then once it has cooled a little, not too much as it will be hard to pour by then, I freeze it in an ice tray. One ice cube adds a perfect dash of sweetness and extra vitamin C to a mug of Berry, Ginger or Cinnamon Herbal Tea.

I make an Elderberry Syrup in a similar way adding Juniper Berries, Clementine halves, a Lemon Half and about two inches of fresh Ginger along with the Star Anise when simmering. I don't add more than a couple of tablespoons of water to the pan with the berries as the warmth from the stove soon unlocks their glossy, deep magenta juices creating it's own liquid.

I also Simmer the Elderberry mixture for a little longer so all the flavors can seep fully into the aromatic syrup, (at least two hours on low heat.)

Once the Elderberry syrup has cooled a little I freeze it into an ice cube tray. One cube of Elderberry Syrup is delicious stirred into fresh, natural yogurt or added to a Juice or Smoothie.
*

I made this wonderfully soothing honey mixture while trying to recover from a bout of Tonsillitis earlier this Autumn.  I chopped some Garlic and fresh Ginger into some honey and sprinkled in some fresh Thyme although Sage, Lemon Balm or Rosemary would probably work as well. Do however, remember to avoid Rosemary if pregnant or breast feeding. The honey absorbed the properties of the steeped herbs and had a real tang to it. I took a teaspoonful 4 times a day.

Soulfood Friday.

One of my favourite things about the season is getting all our best loved Christmas/Winter stories down from the shelves.

Stories that will weave themselves in word and image into the memories of these cold, grey, cosy evenings.

What are your favourite things about the season of Advent/Christmas/Winter?

Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments


 
   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

{Soulfood Friday}

For Soulfood Friday this week I'm sharing a picture of some cranberry oat cookies that Boo made all herself using her own recipe which I would share except, of course she forgot to write it down and well, it's full of secret ingredients anyway don't you know :)

   
Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.

 
   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Kin

Apparently scientists can trace the DNA of every 7 billion people on this planet back to two common ancestors who lived around 135,000 years ago.

Maybe this is why we all share the same basic needs, desires, dreams, hopes and fears.We all bleed red, weep salt tears and laugh at silly jokes.

It's just that strange ideas about borders, flags, nationalities, tribes, anthems and countries get in the way from time to time.

Half of my family has to pay enormous fees to send their documents halfway across the world in order to apply for a visa to visit us never knowing whether they will be denied the freedom to travel or not. Are they criminals? No they were just born in Albania.

Surely us, ordinary folk of the world who have no say in whether bombs get dropped or how the money gets divided or where the borderlines are drawn can see through the manipulation of those who seek to divide us?

Maybe we can stand on tip toes, stretch our necks and see over those walls.
Maybe we don't have to call off the rescue boats.
Maybe we are just kin who have not met before.

Cartoon Kate: Below an excerpt from{The Calais Cartoon} To see more click here.

{Soulfood Friday}

 It has been a busy and blustery week so today I have some quiet and gentle finds for you from around the inter-webs that have fed my soul over the last few days.

"waldeinsamkeit [vald-ahy-n-zam-kahyt]" 

(noun) A feeling of solitude, being alone in the woods and a connectedness to nature.

 Waldeinsamkeit consists of two words: “Wald” meaning forest, and “Einsamkeit” meaning loneliness or solitude. 

It is the feeling of being alone in the woods, but it also hints at a connectedness to nature.

  

A beautiful semblance of words I stumbled upon today over at the magical blog Myth and Moor:

Veritas sequitur ...

In the small beauty of the forest
The wild deer bedding down—
That they are there!

Their eyes

Effortless, the soft lips
Nuzzle and the alien small teeth
Tear at the grass

The roots of it
Dangle from their mouths
Scattering earth in the strange woods.
They who are there.

Their paths
Nibbled thru the fields, the leaves that shade them
Hang in the distances
Of sun

The small nouns
Crying faith
In this in which the wild deer
Startle, and stare out.

"Psalm" by George Oppen

  
The spellbinding photography of Folkloric blog.


And finally a starkly simple and beautiful rendition of a favourite song of mine.

  Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Soulfood Friday

While all the garden lies like tumbleweed and knotted nest, and hedgerow berries sour to prickle and thorn and the lanes mulch with wet rotting leaf, quiet, unnoticed corners somehow blossom still...

 

 Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

While groping for a light in the darkness.

I gaze at my little ones asleep and safe in their warm beds. They are so innocent, tender and new to this earth. This achingly beautiful, fragile home we humans share.
Before I close my eyes for sleep I whisper a prayer for all those who have died as a result of war and violence over the last year.

Paris
Lebanon
Nigeria
Palestine
Afghanistan
Syria
Iraq

 "Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee to we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary."
 Salve Regina 



I hear voices of fear and confusion from all sides. My Facebook feed is lit up with the political.
Those who support military action and those who don't. Those who welcome refugees and those who don't.

 There is a part  of me that looks at the suffering of homeless families and veterans, the failing healthcare systems, the crumbling public services and the rampant poverty at home and wonders how we can possibly open our arms to ever more desperate humans.
Yet I want to be a part of a humanity that thinks globally not nationally. I want my children to be a part of a world that calls every child its own, no matter what their skin tone, creed, belief system, language or country of birth. I want love to cast out fear. I want love to win.
 After all the problem is less one of adequate resources than the distribution of them.

I think of the old man carrying his only surviving grandchild across a hostile border, or a boy helping a pregnant woman off a petrol sodden boat and think of the children who fall asleep to the sound of bombs and guns, their parents not knowing if they will wake to see another day.

There is a part of me that just wants the evil that causes such pain to evaporate from the earth whatever the means. I want the answer to be simple and the delivery swift. Yet there is another part of me that understands the complexity. That knows how violence can only reap violence. There is a part of me that knows that whenever a civilization or sovereign nation depends upon the death of even one little child in an act of war or oppression it undermines it's own civility and integrity.

Due to corporate, military and economic intervention by elite groups over many years, many countries across the world have been destabilized, in terms of their agricultural systems, their environment, their culture, traditions and infrastructure. Coups have been initiated puppet leaders installed and then non corrupt autonomy has expected to follow.

The kind of unfathomable horror that  is isis has been perpetuated throughout history in different forms. From nazi concentration camps, to the slave ships of Africa and the ethnic cleansing of Native Tribes around the world. From the barbarianism of genghis khan to the gladiator spectacles of ancient rome. All these things were generated and initiated by elites but carried out by ordinary people, just following orders.
 
I pray for the oppressed no matter what their religion, race or color.
I don't know what the answers are and it seems like there is so little we can do but if ordinary people stand together and refuse to hate or be suspicious of one another then the pattern might slowly begin to change and peace might be possible again.

Cogglesford Mill tradtional crafts open day

A few weeks ago we visited one of the oldest flour mills in the country during one of their open days. Although the mill went out of business in 1882 it still works and volunteers open the mill once a month to grind a small amount of flour for sale. We bought a bag of wholemeal for bread making. The Mill hosted a number of country craft stalls and activities and the children got to make their own corn dollies.

It was fascinating to watch a traditional spoon maker at work.
Besides making and selling beautifully carved wooden spoons he runs traditional craft and forestry courses for young adults aged between 16 and 18 years old.  I think this kind of vocational training is wonderful and wish their were more opportunities for kids to learn traditional crafts before the knowledge of them disappears altogether.
Beside the spoon display I noticed some leaflets for Woodland Burials. I've always said that I want to be buried beneath a tree wrapped in a natural cloth that will biodegrade easily.  I find the idea of a tree marking my time here on this earth to be something beautiful, hopeful and living.  A peaceful spot for family to visit whenever they wish. Far better than a tomb stone and much less expensive.

The girls enjoyed trying their hands at hand milling the grain using a quern. We were all  surprised how heavy and tiring the work was. This work is where the saying "hand to the grindstone" comes from. It really is a grind. The people of long ago must have had incredibly well developed arm muscles.

There are beautiful views over the Mill of the river below.

It was interesting to learn how mills changed over time.

The woman who helped the children with their corn dollies was very patient. We spent ages admiring her incredible work.

I love the millers hat!

After our visit the children played by the river before having a lovely lunch at the cafe.

Sharing with a Spirit of Simplicity