Blessed Beltane

blessed be in love & light

Another Raise Bed For The Kitchen Garden.

 

and more additions to the kitchen garden…

when I received a whatsapp message from Rob on a friday afternoon that ended along the lines of… “im going to be a little late,love – i will fetch Josh and we’re heading off to Bits n Pieces farm… ” I knew deep down and right to the tipy top of my Witch’s pointy hat that when he arrived home, at the Cottage, I would be the happiest Witch alive. It really doesn’t take much to make me happy – really… I am happiest when there is surplus amounts of poop from Bits n Pieces farm all about my garden.

And arrive with poop he did. More than ever before. The back of his pick-up + a trailer load to be exact. H A P P I N E S S

From posts before you may have noticed our move of our Kitchen Garden from behind the Lapa to now aside the Cottage were we can keep a closer eye on our wildlings – away from the pesky fingers of the Vervet troupe that terrorise our lands. It has been wonderful and we have already harvested so much more than we ever thought we would in this slow but magickal process. I now get to add more wildlings to our new raised bed for more magick and abundant harvests to come. With surplus more poop for another bed to fit perfectly alongside the new one, in the next few weeks to come. We haven’t yet, erected any form of boundary except for the extra mesh fencing we are currently using. We will have to once the last bed is in place as our dear Zeus tends to think these raise beds are a place we have all made just for his afternoon naps. We do have a good amount of deconstructed pallets that may just be perfect for this project.

The men folk found an abandoned container pot alongside the babbling brook and carefully emptied and moved it up to the Kitchen Garden. This will be for growing potatoes. In container gardening news – our tomatoes have flowered and have the most precious green tomatoes growin… And the Heartsease… well I have added them to my salad lunches all week with a few to the flower-press (a little sideline project I haven’t done since I was a young girl). I will let you know how they all come along.

How are all your kitchen gardens faring?

His Seventeenth.

and then we celebrated another special day. his 17th...

His is always the last celebration of the birthday year for us. When he was so small he always would say that we loved him last because he had to wait until everyone else got to have their special day first. I always said it because we saving the best until last. (and that I may want him to stay my little boy for just a little while longer.)

Dearest Joshua, may the next 17 spins around our Sun here earth side be just as wonderful crazy and incredibly marvelous just as you are my dearest boy. Thank you, thank you for choosing me!

Her First.

It has already been 2 weeks since her big day. One whole 12 Lunar cycles around our Sun. I am at a loss for words but know that this needs to be done before I just dont.

How has one year already passed us by?

We are all still uncomprehendingly awestruck by your light and even more so by the years of knowledge that sparkles behind your beautiful young tender eyes. I still wonder why we were chosen by you to love and nurture and watch grow. There is so much we are all learning from you when it should be you learning from us.

Thank you sweetest soul - may your seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years ahead be wonderful, delicious and all the other words of exhilaration I have muddled in my head but just cant put into the right words. May it all be just as perfect for you as you are for all of us.

Happy 1st Birthday Our Lovely Girl Child.

A Little Of This.

 

a little of this, a little of that and clearing the camera to make room for the new moments.

I find both the week before the full moon and the one thereafter I feel a little feverish. I know it all sounds like a cliché but the truth is that it really does happen. The week before there are a swirl of high emotions that peak and then simmer just after in a bewilderment and daze. And, I am learning that our sweet young girl human feels these exact emotions too.

I posted something every day last week about our time away. What a wonderful time. And this week we have all tried to re-accustom ourselves to home normality again. But in saying that - it wasn't a normal week. The younger two boys are on their last school holiday, before the end of the school year, so it has been a rather lazy week. Very late mornings and evenings and absolutely nothing but them just being boys in between. Garren, Danika and I are also recovering from a 'bout of "that climate changing flu bug" on return from our time away. I just could not "self-help" us this time, we had to make our way to the doctor and let him assist in the recovery with non-natural medicine for all three of us. I do believe that it has its place when needed. I just do not make a habit of it. And it is the first for the year so I feel proud to have lasted this long. The good news is that we are all on the mend again.

We have had rain. I wont go further than that in fear of jinxing the flow of these slow and intermittent drops that are quenching our parched earth. Our Pansies are all flowering and are a delight in salads. I do hope they keep on giving for next week's birthday celebration. I have plans for them to be part of the decor. I found pretty purple flower embellishments for Bonnie Bear. She is almost done now, I just need to sew up her shoes and add the finishing touches then she will be ready to be boxed up waiting for the big day. I realised that I did not get on to add Woolen Wips for the week. In days gone by I would have been distraught and utterly thrown off kilter. But, strangely I am not and absolutely fine with this. I cant believe that I am saying it either. (insert chuckle here). I'm learning to take things as they come and just realise that I cant control everything and that includes a blog update!

 

We have Jethro to visit for the weekend which will lessen the demand of attention from all the men/boy folk for me here at the cottage. Garren and I have the full series of Harry Potter to get through together and I will be prowling ravelry for a Cowl and Summer Vest patterns (do you have any suggestions or a pattern for me?). I have never knit up a cowl and all the cowl pictures in my newsfeed are making me yearn for one. The Summer vest is for Danika, the beautiful one she has was gifted by my dearest friend Jeanette has now has finally seen the last of its wear. It will now be placed in here memories box for her to treasure in later years.


Have a blessed weekend!

Hibiscus Woes.

Rob moved my Hibiscus.

And the day it was moved we had one whopper of a storm. Although we saw the nicer side of said storm, it did take it's toll on my fragile wilding. Please keep my Hibiscus in your thoughts as we try our utmost to keep it living. My heart would just break into a million pieces if by chance it did not make it. Just the thought of no bright red petals gracing the branches of this wildlings is so overwhelmingly sad.

I am collecting Rose Hips as the Seasons change. This is the first year we have had a harvest. They're wonderful when brewed but one needs at least 6-8 hips for one cup of fresh Rose Hip tea. I will just keep collecting and keep them to dry out as I go along, these cups will be few and far between and probably only had on special occasions. We are planning to add a few more Rose bushes once the set up of our Kitchen Garden is complete. Just the thought of homemade Rose Water and extra Rose Hips for tea is exhilarating to say the very least. Standard sized, well established Rose bushes are a fortune.. I will have to work towards saving a little every month. Our green kitchen garden bed has been so giving too. We have harvested non stop with the extra going to our girls in the coop. Rob added two small Chilli tress to our new bed too. I love a thinly sliced up Chilli in my salsa and or salad. While pregnant with Danika I added them to everything!

We have been watching the movement of our Sun's rays and with just one small branch adjustment we have add a whole lot more sunlight to our kitchen garden. Those little seeds are going to sprout for all the world to see.

Shelly Beach

There were just so many moments captured and recorded that I am still not entirely certain that I have shared all that I wanted to.

The winds howled off the waves that crashed onto to the rocks almost every single one of those days we were blessed to have been there. There was a bright day where the Sun did shine ever so brilliantly off the aquamarine surf and dark days where one could not make out where the horizon met both land and sky. And moments when in all the darkness a mystical ray of bright sparkles would shine down on just one spot in all the vastness of the untamed ocean.

We heard the cries of whales passing by in the witching hours of the night. Lying in awe as its high rich tones sang us to sleep. The magick of dolphins jumping through the turbulent waves captured and brought our wildest sea dreams to life.

Awakening each day to the sound of waves breaking at shore.

The peaceful lullaby in the evenings to the sound of waves crashing on the rocks.

Rob and Garren spent a whole lot more time on the shoreline than Danika and I. Fishing seemed far better for them here and so did the exploration of tidal pools at low tide too. The Kite made it's maiden voyage into the air along this stretch of beach. (the first since being gifted at Christmas).

This was Danika's first adventure further than the local supermarket. She was in awe and at the same time strongly adamant at how it all should be. The ocean too loud - the sand that stung as gusts whipped along and covered imprinted footprints from steps before. This was not her time. I felt this all with her. It was more a time for just her and I to be.

 

https://youtu.be/KBkZw7TL68s

Welcome October.

 

Welcome the month of October, the month of Beltane, the month of all things Halloween.

May it be blessed with just enough of what we all really need.

The Brightest of Blessings,

Angela