Getting more out of your produce

 

With the failing dollar, I am sure you are all noticing your grocery bills going up steeply. I know I have. So, in an effort to reduce waste and get a little more out of my food budget, I started doing some research and came up with a few simple tips to best use produce:

1. Pay attention to your fridge’s crisper drawers, which often feature clear humidity settings for fruits and vegetables. Be sure to separate and store your produce properly, as certain fruits and vegetables can cause others to spoil faster.
2. It may sound a little gross, but avoid washing your produce right away. The added moisture can encourage rot.
3. Buy Local! This may not be feasible for everyone, whether related to product affordability or location, but when possible locally grown produce is often better quality and generally has reduced transport time, so your food will last longer.
4. Buy “young” food. If you don’t need to use it all right away, buying young produce and letting it mature a little will give you some extra time. Additionally, some younger foods hold more nutrition than their older counterparts, e.g. baby spinach.
5. Don’t over prep. Pre-cut fruits and veggies, when exposed to oxygen for a day, lose 10-25% of their antioxidants, like vitamin c. It may be convenient to cut all your veg at once, but you are cheating yourself of nutrients and speeding up the degradation process.
6. Fruits and vegetables are best eaten in their natural form. If you must cook, in order to get the best bang for your buck, do not over cook. Try methods such as steaming instead of boiling or nuking in the microwave.
7. If you aren’t able to use all your produce fast enough, freeze it. I know it doesn’t always sound like the most appealing solution, but it is definitely better than letting good food go to waste. If done properly and while your produce is still fresh, the produce will also retain most of it’s nutrients.
8. Juicing at home? Juice only what you need. I know it can be tempting to juice extra, but research shows you get the best bang for your buck when you drink it right away.

Those are just some general tips. If you are looking for more specific information, I am rounded up some great links to get you rolling (below). Remember: waste not – want not.

http://www.thekitchn.com/the-kitchns-guide-to-storing-fruits-and-vegetables-tip-roundup-176308

http://www.thekitchn.com/seize-the-season-freezing-fresh-vegetables-171376

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/87/2c/a5/872ca52aa5fdace2ea98854920b094fd.jpg

http://cleangreensimple.com/2011/05/storing-food-and-produce/

Imbolc Ritual Invite

The Grove of Nova Scotia Druids will be conducting an open Imbolc Ritual at the Universalist Unitarian Church (5500 Inglis St, Halifax, NS) Saturday, February 6, 2016 at 6:30pm.
All are wecome!

Please check out the Facebook event here.

Turkeys for all!

Around Yule, it is easy to get pulled into the commercialism that surrounds the holidays and run out to buy everything in sight. Between decorating, having the “right snacks”, and picking “ the perfect gift”, things can quickly get out of hand. What’s more, not having the ability to participate in the holiday festivities (provided this is something you desire to do) can be even harder. No family (or individual) should have to go without if it can be helped.
This year, the Grove of Nova Scotia Druids decided to donate a few turkeys and stuffing to a local food bank. Each of us felt it was an extremely important and valuable experience. Feed Nova Scotia had the means to store turkeys weeks before the holidays, and allowed for drop-offs Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm. We are happy to share that, thanks to the small donations made by our little group, three families got turkey with stuffing this year. We truly hope they enjoyed it!

Brightest Yule Blessings for all — we give thanks for the gift of giving.

"Happy Yule"

 

From our Grove and family to you and yours, may we extend a very “Happy [belated] Yule“, “Merry Christmas“, “Happy Holidays“, and all the rest!

We are all oh so fortunate to find ourselves surrounded by amazing and inspiring people. On this day of celebration, we have feasted, exchanged gifts, laughed, and loved. To each other and to you we say thank you for being. May your days be eternally filled with love and warmth, and possibly an overload of cookies.

:)

Samhain Ritual 2015

Our Samhain celebration was a wonderful gathering, with a few new faces joining in our Grove’s celebration. we had 10 people in attendance for the ritual, with additional family and friends joining us for the feasting and celebration through the night. After opening the gates and calling to the Morrighan (who was the  patroness of the rite), we had an ancestor meditation to honour those who had come before us.  As is our grove tradition for this festival, we left the ritual space with the gates and invitation to the kindreds open, and proceeded inside for an amazing potluck supper – setting aside a plate at the ancestor altar for our honoured dead. Once all the desserts had been “sacrificed at the altar of our appetites” and the night was winding down, we went back out to our altar space to close the gates and thank the kindreds for their presence and the blessings bestowed.

The feast of Samhain comes from the ancient Celts, meaning “summer’s end.” This day is a holy in-between time, that sits opposite Beltaine in the wheel of the year.  This is a time when we perceive the veil between this world and the next to be at it’s thinnest, and we might glimpse beyond to the otherworld.

Whereas Beltaine is a celebration of new life and vibrant fertility, Samhain is a celebration of our ancestors and those who have passed beyond this world. It celebrates and venerates the year and the lives that have ended, so that the cycle can begin anew.  This is our “Pagan New Year”, for the ancients observed their calendar as beginning in the dark half of the year, much like our lives – which are begun in the darkness of the womb. It also marks a time of feasting and a celebration of the final harvest, so that the tribe could put on that needed layer of fat in preparation of the cold winter months ahead.

The meditation in our ritual was inspired by the Ancestor Prayer written by Rev. Michael Dangler from Three Cranes Grove, ADF,

Family Times: Mead Making

One of the greatest aspects of this Grove is that we are, above all else, a family. We comprise a group of individuals who genuinely value each others’ thoughts, opinions, and feelings. We consult each other on all matters of importance, we share in stories, experiences, hardships, and sweet memories, and (!) we actually enjoy each others’ company outside of formally sanctioned, structure-based events (e.g. rituals).
This past weekend, most of us were able to get together for a morning of mead making. The process of making mead, like that of other alcoholic beverages (e.g. wine, beer), actually requires several steps, thus we were only able to complete the initial phase. (This basically involves measuring out and dissolving pounds and pounds of honey into large, sterilized buckets, and then mixing in a few key powdered ingredients. The full step-by-step instructions can be found at the link at the bottom of this post.)

The event proved to be a lovely kick-off to the Thanksgiving weekend, complete with love, laughter, baby-snuggles, coffee, and honey. (Mostly that last one.) The following are a few snapshots of the morning. Enjoy!

 

 

“Look sexy, Dan! This is going on the blog.”

 

A wonderful time spent among family!  -Karina xo

[Mead-making instructions will soon be posted here! Please check back later!]

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Mabon Ritual Celebration

What a fantastic Mabon celebration this weekend! Ritual and picnic went off without a hitch and, despite the rain, we even had a few guests, including (but not limited to) Erin Picard, our ADF Regional Druid who was down to visit all weekend. Thank you for visiting us! We were very pleased to have you with us for Mabon.

The ritual took place at York Redoubt and highlighted the Harvest, with a strict focus on the rebirth that comes as nature falls. In our moments of reverence for the passing of the trees and the impending winter, we are also reminded of the regeneration that will come with spring and the fun new projects the winter months can yield. All participants were handed acorns as keepsakes or plant-ables to emphasize these values. The Oghams pulled were “Fir” and “Gooseberry”; great omens for a Harvest Festival.

We’ve said a physical “goodbye” to one of our longest standing members, Marc, who is moving away but will be keeping in touch regularly and will come home to us again in what will hopefully be a short two years. He will always be in our thoughts and the Grove will always be his family.

Also of note this fine Nova Scotian murky day was the signing of our Charter. We will be sending off the paperwork to the ADF “Mother Grove” to acquire Full Grove Status, something we have striven to accomplish for many years.

Please enjoy a few pictures of our celebration. It was so nice to have guests come out and express their fondness for the Grove’s organization and comradery.

Making a living as a Druid...

I try to keep up to date with blogs and posts regarding Druidry… it’s mostly our grove does this or here’s a pretty motivational poster… but, as I scrolled though one of the many Druidry groups, I came across the following question: “ Can I make a living as a Druid?”. My first impression was that this is a stupid thing to ask… but I should hear them out.
The post started with a question and was followed up by people’s suggestions for possible career paths: farmer, butcher, crafts person, park ranger, writer or teacher. Some even suggested cultivating a life as a self-sustaining “off the grid” individual. These all seemed like reasonable suggestions, but at the same time I know people who are employed in like careers who are NOT Druids. So where’s the line? Perhaps these career paths will help keep you closer to nature and Druidic Values, but I am not convinced they really addressed the question.

In our Grove, we have a variety of career paths. There is a photographer, a couple of guys in the navy, a chartered accountant, a nurse, an academic, and I am a human resource professional. We each seem to be doing alright…and because we all actively work in these careers, which provide both skills and monetary gains, we are able to provide a certain level of support to each other and our families.

Druidry, like any other religion does have jobs that need doing and choices for employment that are more akin to the overall value system, but, to me, Druidry is more a way of life and not necessarily how you make you financially sustain yourself. It can be hard to do this ethically, but a job does not have to define who you are at your core. You can perform in almost any job and still lead a simple life and remain close to nature. It all has to do with lifestyle choices, values and how you live at home. True, there are some career choices that just flat out do not fall in line with Druid Values, but even so there can be balance.

In modern society, people practically must have money to survive. Contributing and taking from the economy is what drives it’s momentum and allows for progression, such as medical advances and a wider spread of ecologically friendly ways and means. From my perspective —and trust me I am not the only one who views things in this light— by participating as an active member of modern society while following a Druidic Path, I feel as though I am aiding in multiple communities, not just my own. Additionally, as far as I am aware, Druids have never had a policy of living lives of poverty, unlike certain other religions. That said, in Druidry there isn’t really a need to suffer for your faith. Moreover, as a productive and proactive person, you would be better able to contribute to Druidry and its continuation by better educating yourself, procreating future little Druids, and having the means to share this with others who are interested in a Druid way of life.

In the end, I guess the answer is, “YES you can make a living as a Druid!”... in the same way you can make a living while being part of any other community. Do what you do, do [hopefully] what you love and are good at, and the rest will follow.

Mabon

Mabon, the Fall Equinox or Alban Elfed, takes place around September 21-22 when, once again, the night and day are of equal lengths. It is time to rest, to pay respect to the impending darkness and give thanks for the sunlight and all it has provided. Be sure to harvest and store your crop, in preparation for the oncoming winter.

As Druids, we pay special attention to the Green Man by offering libations to the trees in honour of his sacrifice. He dies once more with the final harvest and his seeds will be planted again to ensure the continuation of life and the turning of the wheel.

As this is the second Harvest Festival, people will often gather for feasts and enjoy the fruits of their labours. It is customary to take out your finery and enjoy a lavish meal. Finish your business and projects; this is a time for rest and reflection.

Decorate your home with fall colours —reds, oranges, browns, golds— and enjoy some traditional activities, like herb-drying and wine-making. This is a fantastic time of year for canning your preserves and saving your seeds for winter and the coming new year.

New Supply Store in Halifax!!

Haligonians and HRM residents there is a new Pagan supply shop!!!

After Little Mysteries closed last August we were all at a bit of a loss for supplies in the local HRM area and turned to the internet. Well, now there is no need! The Neighborhood Witch store will be opening September 9th, 2015 for all our crafty needs. You can read more about Pamela McInnis’ new venture in the following links.

Good luck Pamela and to everyone else, shop local where possible :)

http://image.issuu.com/150826071136-5bec9181b5854e6f8de9f87fe5c1498b/jpg/page_1.jpg

http://www.thecoast.ca/Shoptalk/archives/2015/04/27/get-swept-away-by-broom-closet-tarot

https://www.facebook.com/putmeon?hc_location=timelines