Prepping for Winter

Sounds a bit silly, saying we're preparing the yard for winter what with this still being just a smidge of our back garden:

Don't mind the crazy colors, it's just me and my old point and shoot for a bit. My DSLR continues to be too expensive to fix.

But it's true. This month, my only days off from work will be Sundays and Thanksgiving and since I get home at dark-o-clock each night, I plan to spend those days off outside. We began yesterday by pulling all the weeds that had crept up and nestled along the foundation of the house and trimming back the hedges closest to the walls to make some space. We checked for any mouse holes (found one!), cracks in the mortar, soft spots, etc.

While I was deep into the plants and shrubs, I kept an eye out for ripe rose hips. I found, literally a hand full. The majority of them are either still in bloom or green, despite us having a few frosts. This is the first time I've ever harvested them fresh and I could use some advice on drying them and using them for tea. *wink wink*

Then we wanted to take care of our trees. We went around to all of the trees, checking their roots for any damage and pulling any suckers that had landed and begun to sprout from their bases. We pruned any extraneous growth and dead branches to help our trees focus their energy on strong healthy branches. There are several trees in our yard that are a hot mess, and I feel terribly for them. Our largest bradford pear has big beautiful branches that end in harsh square stumps and oddly shaped offshoots where the previous owners cut branches up. I can only assume the tree had gotten too wide and rather than take the branch at the base, they chopped it off in the middle. Luckily, it's a forgiving tree and didn't drop any large branches on my head while I attempted to prune back the dead stuff.

I wish I could say the same for our huge birch tree. It seemed to take great pride in letting large branches that were trapped in its canopy fall on us. Normally, it's a pleasant tree it just didn't seem to take to well to sharp objects.

The fruit trees gifted me with some sturdy branches for me to turn into things, the apple gave two and the pear gave one. Our pear trees are also a bit mangled from poor attention, having grown two or three large vertical leaders, which fused with each other and several horizontal branches in such a manner that I'd actually be terrified to try to remove any of them. I can just hope that with someone keeping up with their pruning from here on out, that they will grow healthier and reward me with juicy pears.

We called it a day after that, as our backs were hurting and it was getting dark fast. I went to bed and woke up sore, but it's the sort of sore I'm happy to bear; the sort that comes from a good day's work. We've got a few more things to do around the yard before winter comes and I plan to enjoy every single bit of it. Tending my patch of earth, getting down in the dirt and taking care of its inhabitants is not only something that ties into my spiritual beliefs, but brings me great joy. To bond with our trees, to leave offerings by their roots for the spirits, fae and local squirrels, to cultivate our own patch of green space to produce food; these things are simple magic to me.

Speaking of simple magic, after work on Saturday the dude took me to a salvage lot where a man and his family take all manner of lovely old things from homes that are going to be destroyed and keeps them on his farm to sell to folks who can use and love them. Joe was there a few weeks ago and wanted to go back to get some old 2"x10" boards to use for our bar counter tops. He also just wanted me to see it, because I love old stuff. He got his boards but I won the old stuff lottery. Not only did he gift me with all the old iron nails from the boards (who but a witch gets excited about these things?) but I found two old antique six pane windows with no glass that I plan to hang on the walls, for $4 each! I'm not sure if I will put photos into either one, but I know for sure one of them is going to get draped in ivy and touched by moss and mushrooms and hung in our bedroom. As if that wasn't enough, I also found these:

Two small iron keyhole covers. I'll be using one on my grimoire in the future and the other? I'm not sure yet. But I just had to have them.

How was your weekend, lovelies?

P.S. New things are coming to the shop this week! So, feel free to stop in periodically and take a peek. :)

Porchside Gardening

Last Spring I was living in an apartment in New Jersey, where it remained fairly chilly until it should have been Summer. At no point last year did it get hot enough in North Jersey to send me scurrying into the closet to pull out shorts. I also did not have a porch of any sort, so any planting I wanted to do had to be done in the kitchen windowsill.

I made attempts at starting from seed, but the chilly weather thwarted my every attempt. When I bought starter plants, they barely grew. I can't say last year was a total bust for me plant wise, but it wasn't a blazing success either.

This year I find myself in a much warmer place and I have a porch, so I spent the weekend shopping for herbs. Yes, I didn't bother with the seeds this year as we get very little direct sunlight anyplace in the house. We have a South facing, first floor apartment, so our porch doesn't get much direct sunlight either. The very edges of the porch and the railings do though. So, while I was at the local organic farm and nursery, I picked up some window baskets made of iron and coconut skin to plant in. Here is the result of my shopping and hand dirtying:

On the one ledge we have baby Lavender and baby Sage, who get the box all to themselves since they can grow quite large.

On the other ledge, in an even longer box, we have baby Eucalyptus, Thyme, Genovese Basil, Chives, Parsley and a wee Marigold for some color.

I also wanted a hanging plant to offset the windowboxes, so I brought home a strawberry plant to pot:

If you closely at the left side, you can see there's already a baby strawberry growing. How exciting!

While my window boxes and hanging strawberry are a far cry from the herb, vegetable and lily garden I'd one day like to have, I love planting things. Getting my hands filthy and inhaling the rich scent of the Earth always has a way of unconsciously pulling all the negativity or stresses I may be suffering out of me. It grounds me and helps me feel more of a connection with nature and the world around me.

I'm also one of those people, you know the ones. You'll find me outside every so often whispering to the plants, urging them to grow. I promise I'm not crazy. ;)

***

I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your comments to my previous post. Compliments are always a wonderful thing! However, I think I may not have worded my question to you all thoroughly enough. What I meant to ask was, what is your favorite magical item... of your own! While I loved hearing which of my things you liked best, what I really wanted, was to learn about your personal tools. ;) Feel free to answer here, or post your own entry about it on your own blogs. If you do, let me know so I can take a peek!

Herb Infused Dough Ornaments

Did you ever make salt dough ornaments as a kid? These are basically the same thing, with a little bit of an extra kick!

Recipe:

4 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of salt
1 cup of water

Herbs to pull what you want to fill your home with during the holiday season right to you.

This recipe will make approximately 30 ornaments. You can halve or double as needed.

Step 1:

Mix the flour and salt in a big bowl. Once they are thoroughly mixed slowly begin to add the water, mix as you add. Some people like to use a big wooden spoon, I use my hands and mix and knead the dough as if I were making bread. You want your dough to have a smooth texture... too crumbly or too sticky just won't work! If your dough is a bit on the crumbly side, go ahead and add a wee bit more water.

Step 2:

Once your dough is mixed it's time to pull put your herbs. I picked lavender for love and harmony, sage for patience and wisdom and cinnamon for prosperity. You can use more or less, I just decided to use three.

Separate your dough into equal portions that reflect the number of herbs you want to use. In this case, I have three herbs, so I split my dough into three balls.

Step 3:

Poke a hole into the center of your dough and fill it with the herb you are using in that batch. In this case I'm using the lavender. Fold the herb in and knead vigorously to spread it throughout the dough.

Step 4:

Once you've infused the dough with the herb, roll your ball of dough out to about 1/2" thickness on a sheet of waxed paper.

Step 5:

Grab your cookie cutters and get cutting! I chose to make my lavender dough into stars, but you can use any shapes you want. If you like your things to have a rougher feel, you can cut your shapes out free hand with a small pairing knife, just make sure you don't gouge your table! :)

Step 6:

Once you've cut your ornaments out, it's time to bake them. As you place each ornament onto an ungreased cookie sheet, poke a big hole near the top with a toothpick. Make sure it's slightly larger than you want it to be in the end as the ornaments tend to expand a wee bit while cooking.

Place the ornaments in the oven and bake for approximately 20 - 30 minutes at 350F. The ornaments will be hard to the touch once done. You can also stick a sewing pin in them to test doneness, if it comes out clean, they're done!

Step 7:
After they've cooled use a ribbon or thread to hang them. You can also paint them with acrylic paints, add glitter to them, or jazz them up however you'd like. Have fun with them and enjoy your herbal ornaments!

Herbal Charms - Protection and Sleep

Recently there's been some negativity floating around in our lives. Worst of all, not only has it snuck into our home and required a good smudging, but it's been making me fidgety and giving me some truly restless nights.

The other night I whipped up some small sachets and filled them with herbs and stones and left them to charge on my altar after making my intentions for each strong and clear.

The first one I made was an amulet to stop some of the negativity from following us through the front door of our home.

First, I made the drawstring pouch out of black fabric. Black is fantastic for absorbing negativity as well as for banishment. I then added herbs and few stones that suited the charm's intended purpose.

• Clove - For protection and banishing


• Bay - For strength and protection


• Rosemary - For healing, protection and to increase happiness


• Calendula Flower - For keeping negativity out


• Juniper Berries - To Drive off negativity/ill intentions


• Tiger's Eye - Protection from negativity, helping us to ground and let things go at the door.


• Quartz Crystal Point - To strengthen the spell

The second charm I made was for a restful night's sleep. I made the pouch from brown and blue batik fabric. Brown is great for calming and grounding and blue is excellent for peace. Again, I added herbs and a few stones that suited the purpose of the charm.

• Lavender - For protection, love


• Chamomile - For aid in falling asleep, soothing dreams


• Rosemary - For protection, healing and love


• Rose - To protect the emotions


• Cloves - For Protection and to banish bad dreams


• Amethyst - To capture nightmares and negativity.


• Head of Sunflower - This was the head of the seed I planted on Ostara, the blooms beneath it were starting to appear and the leaves were about to come loose. I included it to continue my Ostara wish as well as increase happiness while dreaming.

After completion I put the charms on my altar to charge for three nights. I then hung the charm of protection above the front doorway and the charm of restful sleep above our bed. When it is time to recharge them I will take them down and refresh the herbs, cleanse and recharge the stones and start the process over.