Gaian Tarot Artist's Journal

The Bounty of Summer

The morning's stash from the Farmers Market — who could resist?  An island friend was selling his produce and said he'd be stir-frying up new potatoes, sugar snap peas and garlic tops for dinner — we moaned and bought his peas and garlic to go with the potatoes and salmon we have at home.  Radishes for Craig's tacos and Rainier cherries from the other side of the mountains at $10 a pound — ouch.  But oh, so sweet. With every bite we remember we're supporting an organic farm family who've had a rough spring.

And this has nothing to do with summer or good food but I just want to thank Arwen for such a lovely review of this blog.  It's really something, sometimes, to "see ourselves as others see us" (a nod to Robbie Burns).  Thank you Arwen!

More Lavender

My friend Waverly Fitzgerald writes a great e-newsletter for her website, School of the Seasons. I thought it quite interesting that she describes lavender as an herb of Lammas, because it is always blooming in Seattle right around August 1 (although, as she says, everything in Seattle seems to have bloomed three weeks early this year). I love this place-based way of celebrating the seasonal holy-days. Lammas, as we know, is the festival of the First Fruits of the Harvest and the celebration of the Transformation Mysteries of Grain into Bread and Beer. Now, thanks to Waverly, lavender will always have a place in my Lammas celebrations too.

She has some intriguing recipes for Lavender Methlegyn (an herbal remedy) and Lavender Ice Cream in her latest "Living in Season" Newsletter. So as I'm harvesting the lavender from my garden this week, I'll set some aside for the Lammas altar, and even more to test out these recipes. Thanks, Wave!