E- Eggs for Ostara

I colored eggs with lots of different natural dyes last year, some worked well, some did not.

This year I gave up on spinach, carrot and turmeric and made eggs colored with the things that worked best last year.

Black tea.

Black walnut hulls.

Onion Skins.

And my favorite:

Red cabbage!

This makes a beautiful dark purple blue that becomes bluer as it sits overnight. The high ph of the eggshell turns it a gorgeous shade of blue. Here is how I did it:

Chop up half a red cabbage from the grocery. put it in enough water to cover. boil one hour, adding water to keep it covered. 

Magic floating egg cartons!

Strain the pale purple chopped cabbage from the dark water. I served my cooked cabbage for dinner with vinegar and sugar and black pepper. 

The water looks really dark but it takes a long time to color the eggs.

Cool the liquid and add raw white eggs and 1/2 tsp salt. Boil the eggs the same way you make hard boiled eggs. remove the pot from the heat, add 1 tbsp vinegar and leave in the water overnight. If you plan to eat the eggs, do this overnight int he fridge.

When you remove the eggs from the vinegar water they will be purplish but  in the air they will become bluer.

Eggs in cabbage vinegar water.
I love the reflection .

Voila! Gorgeous eggs.  The lighter blue ones were cooked in the same water the next day. I bet I could have made another batch in that water, but I needed the pot.

Really big beets. No dice.

Beets were disappointing. They stained me, the counter, spoon and cutting board red but the eggs came out beige! I tried twice, because I am stubborn. I recolored those eggs with more onion skins.

Dilute onion skin water- maybe yellow?

The four red and gold ones at the top of the egg box and all of the ones in the box to the right were colored with the skins from one bag of yellow onions. Boiled in the colored water and then soaked overnight, they are almost red, especially if you begin with brown eggs!

The pale greenish ones are calendula flower petals- unimpresive to me. I overdyed two of those in cabbage water- they are army green.

Another way to decorate eggs is the PA Deutsche traditional scratched design. It is an art that began in Europe and came here in the 18th Century, but has nearly died out now.

You can see one I began working on in the bowl of really dark colored eggs I made just for scratching. Black tea or walnut hulls for browns, cabbage for the navy blue-black ones, the red are onion skin.

Scratched eggs will be for another post, but that is why I made the very dark colored eggs.

It's snowing right now, but I am going camping tomorrow and bringing these to the 18th C farm we are staying on. I will scratch them with traditional 18th C patterns representing power and blessings of the returning Spring. There are a few extant examples and a few reports of the work, but several  19th C newspaper photographs and reports of family eggs handed down 3 generations. The ones thought to bestow power or blessings were traditionally not kept but broken and buried when the work was done. 

C- Calendula Comfrey oil

Wikipedia

The best thing about herbal folk medicine is how well it works when you really need something for healing skin.  Comfrey speeds skin cell regeneration, reduces inflammation and speeds the healing of bruises and sprains.  No matter how much I pull up in my yard there's more spreading slowly around the edges.  Each spring it comes up with it's wonderful blue flower stalks, softening my heart again and keeping me from pulling most of it up.  It's the impulsive kid in my garden with the charming smile that makes me forget how frustrating it was.

Nutritionist-World.com

Its crinkly fuzzy leaves yield their goodness to oil with just a little encouragement, and mixed into a salve or lotion it works wonders for my own and my friends' minor skin health needs (as always with any illness- take the pledge: If my condition worsens or anything new develops, I will consult a doctor or hospital AND inform them of the herbal preparation I have been using).

I have used jewel weed and comfrey before to make salves especially for swollen rashes, stings and eczema.  I also try to keep a jar or two of comfrey and calendula oil on hand.  Calendula is another astonishing herbal ally: in addition to reducing gastric  inflammation as a tea it yields it's excellent healing properties to skin in a poultice, wash or oil-based skin soothers.

Solid healing salve scented with clove and citrus for the fellas.

Left to Right: goldenseal tincture, comfrey calendua oil, clary sage/geranium/lavender oil, anointing oil.

To make an oil infused with comfrey and calendula- pick the comfrey leaves early and rinse them of dirt in cool water.  Pat them dry and lay them out to wilt on a sheet or screen.  This will remove lots of the water from them and help keep water out of your oil later, where it can breed mold.

Fill a jar half with dried calendula petals and half with very wilted comfrey leaves.  Add almond or olive oil with a few tablespoons full of jojoba for preserving.





Cap with a sterile cap and let steep in sunlight for two weeks in warm weather, or place loosely capped in a pan of hot water just below simmering for 2 hours.  Strain through fine muslin set in a funnel; label with the date and use in 6 months to a year.  Add to salves 1-2 tablespoons per 4 ounces of other oils and wax ingredients.

Imbolc Par-Tay Plans!

Brunch for Imbolc is the plan for 4 of my friends and I on Midwinter morning this year.  I have some white linen cloths in the moonlight to give each person a Bride's mantle tomorrow to take home and the sideboard is all set up with a 3 tiered altar and seasonal items.  We have a narcissus bulb just sprouting roots, green and yellow candles and a glass winter mandala sun made by my friend. The bowl of yellow candles and holly sprigs is waiting for ice cubes, I would put snow in it if we had some. It is our traditional reminder that the snow will melt and the Spring will thaw and grow green again.

Sprouting bulb and bowl of salt int he background.

Also on the side are the wine glasses and pitcher for the OJ and Prosecco mimosas, the plates and cutlery and napkins.  I am not always this well prepared for a party but I kinda like this.

Also slated for the tiers of the altar are seed packets to bless and some offerings from the guests. There are some little onyx bowls for the offerings, mine is filled with calendula petals.

I nested two BIG bowls and sandwiched more holly sprigs between them.  I weighted the inner bowl with some heavy glasswear I have and sat it on three ice cubes and some criss-crossed holly sticks in the bottom.
When its frozen I will warm it up a bit and unmold it and place a nice big candle inside.  I plan to have it on the front porch to greet the guests as they arrive.  I'm sure I will bring it in later and watch it melt just like the bowl of ice and holly.  I wonder if it will take all day.

Water and holly sandwiched between two bowls.
Outside freezing into a candle holder for the porch.

I plan to lay a small fire in the woodstove and keep a kettle on for pouring tea water.  I have lots of tea blends already in glass jars on a shelf in the kitchen.  A burl bowl made from our fallen ash tree holds oranges and sits on the brunch table with some lovely flowers Bearded Bob brought me this week.  He does that a lot.

Our menu includes cucumber salad and a 3 cheese quiche.  It's been so long since I made a pie crust...

I thought about it all day, and in the end it came together and was a snap!  I spent far too much time thinking about it.  The three handy cheeses were smoked Gouda  cheddar and parmasean, so along with onion and spinach it will be a hearty kind of quiche.

I addded calendula flower petals to the custard and cheese mixture and sprinkled more on top of the crust before it went into the oven.

Quiche takes only 35 minutes at 375F.  I know it will be a hit.

I put a two little snakes made of crust along the fluted rim of the quiche crust!

Brigid, Hecate and I are all fond of snakes.

My assistant chef Zambonie lost interest when she realized that I wasn't going to be dropping any cheese for her to supervise.

I just moved this rocking chair to the kitchen two days ago and  she has already figured out how to sit on the cushion- she never paid this rocker any attention while it was in the living room.  I thought it was too rocky for her to feel safe.

Location, location location!


See more Imbolc revelry at The Bewitching Home blog-party-winter-redux-edition.

Mirrored snowflake in place of the real thing.

Mid summer herb gathering

Spring is the time for wild cherry
bark, good for throats.

First, the Blackthorn and Hawthorn bloom, and I know its time to get into gear.  Time to begin collecting paper bags, stocking up on oil and visiting my carpenter friends for fine sawdust.  Herb collection season is long but I get a thrill every year and I want to share it with you.

I collect herbs in the sense that I go out and gather or wildcraft them from safe, unsprayed places in my Eastern Pennsylvania area.  Since I travel to camp in the 18th Century style a few times a month I try to keep my eyes peeled for alight differences in plants on the roadsides. sometimes rocky or sweeter soil makes a big difference in what I can find and bring home. I also collect herbs in the other sense of collecting: if I can trade or buy some classic herbs from an area I try to get 4oz. I use all of the herbs for folklore, spiritual and medicinal purposes.

"I need a storage system for these herbs that is beautiful, functional and easy to reference"

I find that after years of practicing, I've got quite a collection of materials for making beauty and healing products as well as healing and food teas, tonics and simples.  In addition to a good collection season this summer is dedicated to finding some kind of organisation  method that is beautiful, functional and easy to reference.

You can follow along with my attempts at developing a system for all of it. So far, I can tell that a few of the things I've begun will not be the best way to keep going.  'Easy to reference' seems to be the biggest hurdle!