World breastfeeding week!

OK so it is the end of the week now but I will never stop loving breastfeeding. BreastMILK is one of the greatest things in world and breastFEEDING is too! Nothing like being able to nourish your baby and keep them full and happy all by your little self. :)

I have so many fond memories of both my boys nursing. I am so blessed that I have a mom who showed me the way and was so helpful. I love my mom so much, she is my best friend and always will be. If only everyone was that lucky...

Lughnasadh!

 Lughnasadh is the first of the 3 harvest Sabbats and is typically celebrated on August 1st. It honors the Celtic Son God, Lugh and is a grain celebration. Certain grains such as wheat, corn and barley are ready to be harvested in August and many other grains too. The Old Irish word "Lunasa" means August as well.

There are a lot of similar celebrations around this time too from what I have read. For instance Native Americans celebrate early August as a grain festival in honor of the Corn Grandmother and called it the Festival of Green Corn.

What a lovely day it was. I woke in the morning to go pick some fresh herbs from the garden to make special herbal ice cubes for our grape juice later in the day. We don't normally buy or drink juice but on special occasions we do. :)

When I walked out to the garden with Little L on my back I noticed that the garden was covered in white butterflies! They were flying around playing with each other and sitting on the dirt and plants flapping their wings. I tried to get some good pictures but I guess I lack picture skills with the butterflies... I tried taking a picture from further away to show them all but you couldn't even seem them and taking them up close when they are moving is hard too!

Three little butterflies♥

There are other names for this Sabbat, the most common probably is Lammas, meaning "loaf-mass", it is an Anglo-Saxon word. It is also sometimes known as the Feast of Bread. And feast on bread we did! :)

We made honey wheat bread. And Little L now seems to think it is funny when I am kneading bread. He is on my back in the baby carrier and every time I punch down the bread he laughs! :D I am glad he thinks its fun cause my wrists sure don't think 10 minutes of kneading is!

One perfect little ball of dough turned into two yummy loaves of bread. Using this recipe HERE. And we have been eating it smothered in apple butter ever since.

We made blackberry pie.

Shh I know It is a premade crust but I was running out of time making stuff. I think we all survived. :)


We had THIS as well, it was pretty yummy although I had to leave out the spinach and tomato as I didn't have any...

Topped with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream, it was like bowl of burrito.

We tried to have a picnic on the floor in the living room but Little L decided he wanted to fling beans from all of our bowls so we made our way to the table.

Big L seems to think you can't have any kind of a picnic without hot dogs so I made them each one. Don't worry they are organic, nitrate free and all that good stuff. :) Little L also thought their cups were better for food then for drinks...

Last to mention but certainly not least was the food altar we created outside before we ate. We burned some sandalwood and frankincense in my little cauldron. I really wish it had kept the mosquitoes away, but they were awful and the reason we tried to picnic indoors...

I have to thank Spiritrunner and her post at Hearth-N-Home for this wonderful fun idea for the food altar this year!

That orange thing in the middle is a cucumber from our garden that started changing colors so we picked it and added it to the center.

He was so happy to leave some food for Mother Earth and the animals to eat too :)

I hope those who celebrate Lughnasadh had a wonderful day! And if you don't I hope your day was great too! ♥

Growing

Life is all about growing. Growing up, growing old, growing is a wonderful thing. And growing a garden is awesome too! I know last year I was talking about getting a garden going but it took a little longer then expected. This year I am happy to announce I DID get my garden started.

This is my first year having a good size garden outdoors and it has been so fun and exciting. It is certainly a learning process though, there have been amazing surprises and failures. And I hope to have an even better and BIGGER garden next year.

Looking at pictures from when I started and where my garden is now makes me so happy. It has come so far and even for the plants that didn't make it or the things I didn't do right I am so happy to have had the chance to do it.

My goal is to grow enough to feed my family and then some. To really get into canning and fermenting and help support us from the dirt in our yard.

 The beginning of our food! :D

Very beginning raised beds!

 Bed 1

Acorn squash, pickling cucumbers, zucchini, lavender, thyme, broccoli, cabbage and marigolds.

Bed 1

Growing.

Bed 1

Growing more.

Bed 1 

Latest pic but a week or two old.

Bed 2 

Started out with rosemary, radishes and carrots.

 Bed 2 

Made room for some lettuce.

 

Bed 2

Harvesting our radishes which honestly didn't do that well... but we had fun anyway! :)

Bed 2

Put in some sage, basil and watermelon.

Bed 2

Growing! Tomatoes added and some little critter killed almost all of the basil.. :(

Bed 3

Started out with a lonely but amazing lemon balm plant I found growing wild on the side of our road!

Bed 3

Lots of potted tomatoes and peppers. I don't think any of our peppers are going to make it. 

But look at that lemon balm!

Bed 2 & 3

Lots of tomatoes now! And a strange plant/weed I was hoping is mugwort but I am not sure yet.

Special herb garden

Special herb garden present day..

So we weren't able to work anymore on the herb garden yet. And unless we find some free decent quality fill dirt it is going to have to be finished next year. Can you see it? It is to the right of the logs and COMPLETELY over grown..

Some garden yummies :)

And more :)

Lots of lemon balm this year, yay!

I am hopeful next year I will do even better! I plan on adding a few more beds and finishing the herbal garden as well. I am happy about that for another reason too. Yards except for kids to play in are a waste of space and resources. So we will be able to cut down more on mowing. Good for the earth and my husbands back!

♥