"Loaf-Mass" Goodies I baked along with the bread recipe

LOAF-MASS

So the festival of grains is quickly creeping up and I did not accomplish ALL I had hoped to this weekend but I did manage to bake two kinds of bread. Here is the French Bread Recipe (1 loaf has already been completely consumed by Big Daddy.)

The bread recipe I used I found on "Deals to Meals" a blog with a great assortment of recipes, the recipe is here. I had to make some adjustments as I had a different type of yeast so here is what I did.

1/4 c. warm water 

1 package active dry yeast (or 2 1/2 tbsp.)

3 Tbsp. sugar

Follow directions on yeast packet (will be frothy and will double in size)

Then add

2 1/4 c. warm water

2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp. Salt (adjust to your taste)
1/3 c. oil (I used vegetable oil)

Then mix in:

6-7 c. flour , one cup at a time until dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it will hold it's shape. I ended up only needing 6 cups- you may need 7 to 7 1/2 cups depending on your elevation and humidity. Worry more about the consistency of the dough and less about the actual amount of flour. 

*You will also need some cornmeal for later.

Place the bowl in a cold oven with pan of boiling water (the steam builds up and keeps the dough moist. I went ahead and also covered it loosely with a large plastic Ziploc bag. Wait for it to rise (double it's size.)

After it rises the first time take it out of the oven and then punch it down, literally. (This creates more air in the bread and made it "fluffy.") Do this 2-5 times for nice fluffy bread. (Big Daddy couldn't help himself and punched more than I was aware of, needless to say, we have really fluffy bread. :)

After the final rise in the bowl (the dough will be near the top of the bowl more than likely) separate it into loaves or rounds as you desire. Place on a greased pan with some cornmeal on the bottom to make it crunchier. Make some slices to allow for expansion.  Allow the loaves to rise again - they need to double in size again. This is a good time to preheat the oven to 375 degrees while the loaves are rising.

(I divided mine into three medium sized loaves about 10" long and 5 inches wide after the last rise.)

These are NOT my hands, they are Big Daddy's. Ha Ha Ha!

Big Daddy made the slices, because mine just weren't up to snuff, I think he enjoyed baking these more than I did.  Now you can brush the tops with an egg wash while they are rising (1 egg plus a little water-about a tsp. beaten in a bowl.) 

Big Daddy posing with the egg wash.

YUMMY

Bake the loaves for about 30 minutes and then take them out of the oven and allow them to cool for about 8-10 minutes. Then get your butter and olive oil dips together because you are going to be UNABLE to stop eating them. :) Happy Lammastide everyone! 

Herb of the Week: Basil

Basil ~ Ocimum Basilicum

DISCLAIMER: Remember, I am not a doctor, psychologist, licensed herbalist, or priestess
ALWAYS CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL! This is article is for information ONLY.




Basil is an anti-inflammatory and an anti-vomitum. Chewing the leaves can treat mouth infections and ulcers in the mouth, as a stress reliever, and can also stave vomiting.  Taking basil juice internally is said to treat kidney stones, prevent bites from insects, treat vomiting and diarrhea in children, treat headaches, and certain species can also be used to treat eye disorders (though I would seriously consult a physician before putting ANYTHING into my eyes.) Because of it's anti-inflammatory properties is a common addition to cough syrups, it can also treat various respiratory ailments including, phlegm, coughing, asthma, bronchitis, and some of the symptoms of influenza.  It also can be used in a gargle as a sore throat reliever, as a poultice for skin disorders (specifically ringworm) and can reduce fevers in both children and adults. Not to mention it tastes wonderful in cooking (thought to aid in lowering cholesterol) because it also a blood cleanser. It is not known to interfere with other remedies- over the counter or natural.

Get this and many other beautiful
 hand-drawn garden markers
here Camp Pine Needle on Etsy. 

As a magical herb is used to purify and exorcise and is prevalent in love magic. Basil can be used to divine the state of a relationship by how quickly a leaf burns on a coal or to ensure/identify infidelity and is also used in love sachets and incenses. See the is article for more information on some of these rituals  Pagan/Wiccan about.com. It can used in rituals to restore harmony between lovers by causing sympathy between two people. It is also used to ensure good fortune in money and as a plant is a common housewarming gift. And it's placement in cash registers or on door sill's of businesses can attract customers as well as deter theft. 


Because of it's nature as a fire plant it can be used in ritual work to summon dragons and other fire beings. It is a "flying herb" and has clairvoyant and psychic properties that include psychic protection and developing psychic skills. It's said to bring peace and purity and that alone makes it a worthy addition to any kitchen considering that is major gathering place in most homes.


This is so easy to grow inside. Put it in a moderately sunny window and water it regularly in a well drained pot. To keep your basil from becoming bitter make sure to trim the blooms off before they flower- if it flowers before you catch it go ahead and trim anyhow and the leaves will sweeten back up in a day or so. To make it an abundant leaf producer harvest it all the time by plucking the leaf off the plant right at the stem.  For every leaf you pluck, a two more stems will pop out of that spot. Chances are that the plant will die in the winter as it is very sensitive to cold weather and you'll have to buy/grow a new one anyway so you may as well keep it as delicious as possible as long as possible. There are also several types of basil. Lemon basil (makes the BEST summer pesto in my estimation), African Blue Basil (it is actually a purple color and is also known as Holy Basil) and Thai Basil used in cooking which has longer thinner leaves and is very fragrant.




Sources:
http://www.basilgardening.com/types-of-basil/
http://www.offthegridnews.com/2011/04/21/medicinal-uses-and-health-benefits-of-basil/
http://hinduism.about.com/od/ayurveda/a/tulsibenefits.htm
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/bookofshadows/ig/Magical-Herbs/Basil.htm

http://www.wiccantogether.com/group/cronesandelders/forum/topics/magical-properties-of-herbs
http://windspirit57.tripod.com/id4.html

Preparing for Lammas (aka) Lughnasa

Lammas or Lughnasa is right around the corner (August 1st in the Northern Hemisphere and February 1st in the Southern Hemisphere) and I'm getting my party ready.  Sometimes it is difficult to invite my friend's over to my house to celebrate Wiccan/Pagan holidays because they think it sounds crazy and then the question my judgment. However, inviting my friends over to celebrate the first harvest and the last rays of summer is apparently totally normal, especially if I tell them they get to take home homemade canned goods from my garden, yummy homemade breads, and we'll all be getting drunk outside by the fire.  I find that most non-pagans respect the celebration of holidays that earth-related as long as they don't see anything that could be misconstrued as heretic. As much as I want my beliefs to be honored I make it point to respect the beliefs of others as well.

Celebrating the first harvest of the season, all the vegetables will be yielding and getting ready for the fall when harvest time is in full swing.  This year I have figs, tomatoes, cucumbers and mulberries growing in my garden and I'm ready to can them all.  Well, maybe not the mulberries as they are white ones and look disgusting as a jam, but perhaps I can mix them with some raspberries or something.  I'm going to make fig jam and pickles and perhaps, IF I can stop eating all of them right off the vine, then some tomato sauce as well.

 Traditionally, Lammas celebrates the first harvest of grain- it literally means Loaf-mass, it was the day when the bread for the winter was first being baked. So tables full of breads and pies and other baked goods is most traditional.  I'm making fresh french bread from scratch to eat (and freeze) as well as some pie crusts for the upcoming season to satiate my need for tradition. Considering I could just walk to the local bakery and buy bread, for a $1.00 to $4.00 a loaf, I feel that baking it myself is honoring the realization that for hundreds of years this harvest was so crucial that it could literally mean the death of the entire family if there wasn't enough to eat. It's also a mark of the Renaissance Fair season, this was more like a festival of craftsmen a long time ago. A time for warriors to show their strength, farmers to prepare their crops, craftsmen to sell their wares, and the unmarried to embark on "hand-fasting" or "trial-marriages" until the end of the festival to see if they liked each other enough to stay for the whole year. Ha! Sounds like what me and Big Daddy are doing!

To make the french bread I will be following a recipe I found on Pinterest (yes, Pinterest and I are best friends), for the jam I will follow the directions on the package of fruit pectin, and the pie crusts and pickles are recipes that have been in my family for 3 generations.  My friend's all seem to love my pickles and pies and I think that it's because both recipes are imbued with the love of many generations of women preparing them for their families, funny how you  really can taste love. 


I think this year I will honor both Demeter (whose daughter is about to descend into Hades to be with her husband) with the food and John Barleycorn (read his story here) with BEER! Now, I'm just waiting for my friends to show up and bring the beer so we can celebrate THAT grain as well! I do love a good Hefeweizen.


Some holidays that are similar to Lammas: Shavout (Israel), Onam (India), and Lughnasa (Lughnasadh)(Ireland.)

Traditional presents: a pair of gloves (winter is coming as well as more harvesting and this was the perfect time for them)

Traditional Rituals: baking of bread, honoring the spirit of grain (whomever that may be to you- I like John Barleycorn), also the creating of a new corn doll and the burning of last year's corn doll in effigy (I don't do this because I live in NYC- the mice will devour the corn doll no matter WHEN she was made or WHO she represents and they serve no purpose in the "field" (aka my 20'x10' backyard)  because pigeons here fear nothing), also the "last sheaf" has many traditions with it, but considering that I don't actually grow and grains I don't practice any of those traditions.

Feel free to learn more about Lammas and Lughnasa here, there is a free daily class on all the sabbats, I find this site very useful and Patti Wiggington is very knowlegable- but like everything on the internet remember that it's shared info not info from an encyclopedia.

Sources:
http://www.schooloftheseasons.com/lammas.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lammas
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/lammas/a/AllAboutLammas.htm
http://projectbritain.com/year/august.htm

Common Ailments Healed at Home: Sunburn

Please note: If you experience fever, vomiting, heart palpitations, eye pain, dehydration with poor urine output, extreme blistering, or skin that cold, clammy and  visibly pale GO TO THE DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY! There is a vast difference between a little too much exposure to the sun resulting in a minor sunburn and sun poisoning that needs medical attention.  Also note that though temporary sunburn damage is permanent to our skin and prevention is preferable to treatment. Also note that I am not a doctor, licensed herbologist, psychologist or priestess, I simply love home remedies and the use of plants to heal the body. 

Photo Taken from my Brooklyn rooftop July 4, 2011 before the fireworks

Here is the treatment that my family uses to treat sunburns with some other advice I've come across from other friends:

Step 1: Brine Yourself
Take a luke warm bath with white vinegar* in it. Yes, it stinks. Yes, you smell like a pickle. Yes, it will help more than any other step in this treatment. **Vinegar alleviates the itching, burning, and pain associated with a minor sunburn. Initially, I've found that it stings a little and itches when it first hits your skin BUT a little fresh water rinsed over it and that sensation immediately dissipates. The other option is to douse yourself with vinegar in the shower and then rinse it with warm water. You want to use warm water because cold water can actually put you into shock- bad idea- and hot water just encourages inflammation, believe me lukewarm water will feel nice and cool on your sunburn.
* Allergic to white vinegar? Try Apple Cider Vinegar instead. 
**Literally can't stand vinegar? Try this combo instead: Same bath but add 2-3 Tablespoons of baking soda OR oatmeal and soak for about 15 minutes (too much longer is no good so watch the time!). Air dry so that the baking powder/oatmeal that is on your skin stays there. Then make a potato pack. Recipe to follow. Though honestly, man up, vinegar is way better and gets rid of the PAIN. Seriously, it's only for a few minutes and you won't regret it. 



Step 2: After you gently pat dry your newly pickled self:
(You can use a gentle vegetable soap after the vinegar so you don't stink.) Rub on the good old tried and true aloe vera. The gel is fine and the plant is fine. If you have a very bad sunburn I actually buy the blue aloe vera gel with lidocaine. Big Daddy is pale and his burns are extremely painful so I am nice and provide gel with a topical pain killer in it.



Step 3: Moisturize or be damned to lizard skin.



Once that Aloe dries, use an after sun skin lotion. I use Alba's, it smells like coffee mmmmm, pictured here to the left. These lotions tend to have more skin soothing botanicals and non-irritating non-inflammatory components. Apply this often (this will help prevent peeling.)  You can purchase Alba Hawaiian After-Sun Lotion Kona Coffee here Drugstore.com.





Step 4: If you didn't notice your skin was burning, chances are you also didn't notice that you were dehydrating as well.
Drink 1-2 glasses of water. Continue to hydrate until your urine is very pale/clear. If you aren't a water drinker try some gatorade or pedialyte (I like mine in apple juice- I also use this for hangovers.)  If you take OTC pain killers, now is a good time.



Step 5: Relax  

Chimi relaxing while having her tummy rubbed. She did not have a sunburn.

Step 6: Bring on the taters!

You can also make a potato pack. Pulvarize 2-4 potatoes (depending on the size of you and your sunburn you may need more or less). Almost liquify them, add water as needed because you want this to be cool and wet. Dab this pack all over your sunburn (you will probably need assistance- you will almost definitely need assistance) once the potatoes dry rinse them off in a cool shower. This is really good for your face since vinegar can hurt the eyes. MOISTURIZE after your shower.


Step 7: So, you've discovered that you've managed to burn your eyelids.
DO NOT PUT VINEGAR ON YOUR EYELIDS, if it gets in your eyes it hurts. You can use the potato pack, you can use cucumbers (these are great!), and you can use cold compresses soaked in cucumber, oatmeal or baking soda water. (Strain the oatmeal/cucumbers out of the water before soaking the compress- it's less messy.) Use as desired.

Step 8: Oh no! You have to go in public and you don't live in a nudist colony!
Cornstarch will be your best friend to put on a bra or panties. (I personally just wear the top I got burned in/bathing suit top I go burned in so that the "lines" are more likely to line up (also bathing suit tops are more adjustable and less restrictive than conventional bras and for the bottoms I use underpants that are smaller than my bathing suit line- which is really easy to do.) If you have blisters, or open sores from your sunburn don't put anything on it that isn't prescribed to you.



Step 9: DON'T:

Sun Blisters

Use petroleum jelly, toothpaste, oils of any kind, stringent soaps or anti-bacterial soaps (unless directed by a physician) they can dry the skin and block your pores. Not conducive to healing a sunburn. Don't "pop" any blisters- . In fact, short of just dead skin bubbling up, if you get an actual blister- GO TO THE DOCTOR because you've got a serious burn.






Okay my sun bunnies, enjoy the rest of this fleeting summer- and please be sunburn-free!

Picture taken in Sarasota, FL September 2010.

Sources:
Experience

My tale of Planticide

Every plant  I touch... dies. So I have a theory that if I name the plant then maybe, just maybe, I can keep it alive.   I've decided that whenever I get a new plant or have discovered that an existing plant just isn't going to make it- I name  it.  I have no idea whether this is really helping the plant but it puts my mindset into the mode of a caretaker. I feel that if I focus my energy into giving love and focusing on the welfare of another being then I think that I'm more likely to be in tune with what that being needs. Basically, I'm reversing the old farmer's adage of don't name the animals you are planning to slaughter...

**Update on Edward, I've managed to kill him. The photos of Edward from the aloe post were from the early winter... during the late winter I noticed that poor Edward looked cold so I moved him closer to the radiator and unwittingly cooked him alive while I was at work. I decided to not make it as part of my aloe post but I felt mounds of guilt upon looking at poor Edward's picture. He looked so bright and happy. Rest in peace Edward. If you must now, cooked Aloe looks a lot like a brown mushy banana. This makes me seriously question my caretaker skills..

 Now, I'm pondering if my decision to name my plants just makes it that much harder to move on emotionally once I inadvertently kill them. Sigh... as a green witch I really need to get better at not killing indoor plants.  So far, the garden is doing very well but maybe that's because Big Daddy tends to it and I don't really touch any of the plants.

Defining Magic for Big Daddy

First of all I'd like to apologize for my lack of attention to this blog. I have several others as well as a new live-in boyfriend and my actual job has changed so I have decided to try to get back in the game a little here.

Recently I had a discussion with my boyfriend, we'll call him Big Daddy, regarding magic. Having only recently moved in to my apartment he had a very difficult time sleeping. Big Daddy was plagued with interruptions and bad dreams. I'd read a few years ago in a Feng Shui coffee table book (oddly enough 2 different people purchased this book for me... guess I was meant to have it) that said that no mirrors should face the bed. In Feng Shui they believe that your soul leaves your body at night, since it doesn't require sleep, and moves throughout the spirit realm and returns to your body before you awake.  Whenever your soul is frightened it jumps back into your body- hence the jolt and gasping for air that we sometimes experience, and your soul "seeing itself" in a mirror can cause this. I mentioned it to him and told it couldn't hurt to try covering the mirror to see if he slept better. He agreed and I cavalierly covered the mirror on the wall across from our bed, and magically- he finally slept through the night.

This induced an interesting discussion between big daddy and myself. What is magic? He is a self-proclaimed atheist... though I have suspicions of agnosticism... and he was curious about what exactly my beliefs were regarding magic. This tickled me because I realized he thought that maybe I believed that I was Hermione Granger.  I smiled and reflected on the previous evenings "magic". I believe in magic therefore it exists. I put my energy into helping him sleep better and I covered the mirror citing a belief that he clearly put faith in- and it worked. Did it work because it's magic or did it work because he believed it would? The answer is that it doesn't matter. The fact is that it worked. Faith and magic and very similar and both are based in belief. When concocting any remedies or potions or spells... belief is the key. Belief, intention, focus, energy, and faith. These are the real ingredients in magic. This doesn't mean that aloe doesn't heal a sunburn, that it's all in your head, because the physical is as important as the psychological. Aloe physical properties are very real- it heals sunburns regardless of your belief but say, growing it in a window facing west brings calm to your home... that's belief.

This is how I explained my beliefs to Big Daddy. This was easiest format to explain to someone who doesn't also believe the same things. He smiled and told me that he thought that was interesting, that he hadn't realized that my beliefs would sound so logical and that he was pleased that I was totally sane. Ha ha ha! Wait until Samhain....

What are some of your experiences explaining your beliefs to loved ones? Did you find acceptance?