Monday 28 February 2011

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Today I was in the mood to do some baking, but most of the recipes that I had I couldn't make because of the lack of ingredients, so I thought I would leave it.
I saw a new post by towards-sustainability and saw on the "you might also like" list a recipe for Chocolate shortbread cookies. I also knew that I had all these ingredients, so off I went to do some baking :)


Ingredients

250g butter, softened
½ cup icing sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup cornflour
¼ cup cocoa powder

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160'C/ 320'F.

2. Place the butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl and beat them until the mixture is creamy.

3. Sift together the cocoa powder, flour and cornflour. Then stir it into the butter mixture to form a dough.

4. Turn the dough onto a floured bench top and knead it lightly until it is smooth.

5. Roll spoonfuls of the mixture into little balls and place them on a greased baking tray, then flatten them slightly with a fork.

6. Bake them for 20-25 minutes or until they are firm. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool down on the tray. Makes around 30 cookies, or 40 small ones.

For me, it was slightly difficult to get the mixture into a dough, so my partner did some research and found that you could wrap the mixture up in cling film and squish it together, so that is what we did and then we made them into little balls.

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Forest Grove Botanica

I have been following the witch of forest grove for a while now and I noticed she had her own online shop called forest grove botanica (or to see her actual website click here). I was always very tempted to buy from her shop but I was a little bit nervous due to shipping as in the past I have bought things and never turned up when it comes to buying items from other countries, but since I have had two successful deliveries and the fact that she had a sale on I thought it was time to buy some items from her.
She makes her own items, so when I saw the amount that she had on I was very tempted to buy most of the items, but in the end I bought 3 items.

(L-R) Divination incense, divination oil, ancestor incense


The total amount came to $25.60 (£16) that included the shipping as well, and I only paid shipping for one item which was the divination oil and the shipping for that was $9.50 (£6) as sometimes with etsy when you buy a product of the same kind you can get the shipping for free or for a certain price, so that is always a plus.
I had ordered this on the 11th February and it is now the 22nd February, so it has taken a good week and a half to get here, which is actually really good considering where it was being sent to (From Canada to the UK).




The artwork on her shop and on her labels are done by her I believe and I am in love with it, it shows the dedication that she puts into each product which is such a good thing when it comes to buying items for me, to know that they haven't just rushed through everything but taking the time, care and effort to do this and the little things.
Overall I am pretty pleased with the price, the delivery and the communication between her and myself. I will be sure to buy from her again.

Tuesday 15 February 2011

The Green Eyed Owl


I had heard that TipToeChick was opening her online shop, TheGreenEyedOwl, so I thought I would go and check the shop out. At the moment she is selling tinctures, capsules and dried herbs but has mentioned that she is hoping to expand that in the future.
I mainly wanted the dried herbs, as I noticed it was going to be cheaper buying from her rather than buying from the UK which would have came over £20, while from her shop the total was coming to $25 (£15). The only worry I had was the shipping, so I emailed her letting know what I was wanting to buy and which country I lived in and she replied soon after with the quote of $13.95 (about £8), so I rushed off back to her shop and placed my order.
That was on the 1st February and it is now the 15th February and I have just received my parcel from her, so it has taken a good two weeks to get here. Which in my opinion is not that bad considering I live in the UK and she lives in America.
Overall I am so pleased with what I ordered and how the delivery was and the communication with her was. I will be ordering from her again when I start to run low on these herbs.


What I ordered: yarrow, nettle, elderflower, mugwort, motherwort, rosemary, dandelion leaf, dandelion root, Irish moss, st johns wort, comfrey leaf, calendula, benzoin gum (powdered), echinacea, marshmallow

Thursday 10 February 2011

Today was such a magical day

OK not that much happened, in fact I spent most of the day indoors doing some research on a few craft projects I have in mind.
But late in the afternoon I decided to go for a walk, the sun was pulling me out towards it and as soon as I stepped outside the air felt even more fresh than usual, spring is arriving.
After half an hour of being outside looking at every single tree and the rest of nature, I came indoors and grabbed my camera and went outside for more nature time.

I haven't made contact with nature since winter came last year, so catching up with what has been going on and changed was greatly needed. I noticed certain things that weren't there last year and were there today, I found a little stream (although it could be just the water from the farmlands) that I hadn't noticed at all since I have lived here.
Now I have stopped worrying and stressing over what practises I need to do (well, I haven't stopped all together but I don't stress about it half as much), I am starting to see so much magic all around my little countryside.

Tuesday 1 February 2011

My path

Every time I come to talk about what my spiritual path is whether it be in a blog or through video I just seem to clam up and not be able to talk about it. Its not that I don't know what my path is, its just for a very long time I have struggled with finding the practises that make my path.
Whenever I read a book, website or through video that has some information on hedge witchery, I used to feel as if I was doing it wrong because I wasn't doing their way. But I am starting to realise that that is who they are and I need to focus more on what I can do that is around me.
I felt like there was this huge gap inside of me which couldn't seem to be filled up, I was trying so hard to find what practises I could do in my path which ended me with having huge headaches as I was always coming to a dead end. Then I started to think about what do I believe in, what is inspiring me the most and drawing me towards it.

I feel more strongly towards the Celtic Gods and Goddesses and I do feel that I am inspired and are more drawn to that culture. Although it can be difficult at times when doing research of the Celts spirituality (pre-Christianity) as there is very little information about them. This is probably where I started to struggle again and begin to get that huge headache from endless searching but no where closer to what I was looking for.

The witch of the forest grove   and walking the hedge had mentioned something to do with looking into the folktales of the certain culture to see about how you could bring that into your practises, as sometimes within poetry and stories lies the practises and such of that culture. So I am at the moment searching through Celtic folktales to see what I can find and even seperating them by going through the Scottish, Irish, Welsh etc. Also I have decided it is about time I take a more closer look at the history of the Celts, to honour them and learn more of there lifestyle.
I would love to learn some of there language to be a bit more closer to them, but I am having trouble to choose so that will be another challenge for me to come to.
I also found that the Celts did like to honour their ancestors and travels of them. And ever since I was little my family would always talk about when they were little and how their grandparents would go on and how they went on when they were little and still today we do that, and it made me realise that I am honouring them and it is a practise that I do. I have photos of them lying about, talk to them as much as I can (although I should talk to them more often).
I also enjoy walking around my local area, seeing everything around me and what is changing, giving thanks to nature for what she is giving to us and sometimes I try to stand still and hear their songs and stories that they tell, or even messages that they are trying to give to me. As they are my teachers and they give me my lessons to learn.
I never realised it until now (when I was researching up on kitchen witchery) that what I make, i.e - bath bombs, lip balms, bath milk, shower gel etc. Is part of kitchen witchery along with your usual baking and such. So that is a practise that I do pretty much all the time.

All these little things I have been doing make up my path and I never understood that. All the time I was trying to fill a gap and do so much searching that it ended up hurting me when all this time it was right there infront of me.
I know now that this is a test that the Gods, my ancestors, the land was giving me to see if I could pull and work through such a task like this.


It may not sound like a typical hegdewitch or for some they feel annoyed that I call myself a hedgewitch because it isnt the way that they go. I dont care, but I do at the same time, this is my path and I am finding my ground to where I can plant my roots and grow and set my surroundings. Maybe in time I will add more practises but at this moment this is basically what I do and know well how to do.

There is something I would love to be able to do and that is cross the hedge, for me that is an important part of hedgewitchery, and even though I cant do it just yet I know in time I will, just right now I am building myself a stable ground. :)