Grandmother Spider's SpiritWeb

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Howdy folks! I have been Wiccan for the last 8 years and regretfully confess I haven't practiced the belief for approx. 3 of them. Now I come to the table in need of assistence and (gulp) help. My fiance' has a brother who for as long as he can remember has been "haunted" by visions and dreams influenced by a being that (from my understanding) calls itself "Archaos" (Ark-a-o-is).

This year I have been working with the cold water method of leaching acorns. I had used this method before, but since I moved and no longer had a mountain stream right outside, I had gotten into the habit of using the hot water method- working with that a few years, experimenting and learning from that method. But this year I am going full circle, and I am focused on the cold water method again, but modifying it for the kitchen.

The fiddleheads are coming up! I have been watching for them for weeks, looking among last year's fern fronds for these spring delicacies on every walk I take. And finally they are here! Thrusting up through the damp spring soil.

I have been eatting alot of dandelions the last few months. They taste like spring. :) Now the dandelions are really going wild with the increasingly warm days. The dandelions in the shady places are still good for greens, but in the sunnier spots they are starting to flower, signaling the end of the harvest time for the greens. But then when I find the ones that are starting to flower, I just switch my focus. I pop off those flower buds that are still tight and close to the rosette of leaves and they are delicious thrown into casseroles etc. Extending the Dandelion Days a little longer.

Here's a link to an article that I thought may be of interest. This is a diary, kept for a week by a woman who is an organic farmer. She has a non-profit organization that teaches women to become farmers by bringing them to her land and letting them work and learn by getting their hands dirty. She has formed a company that sells food made on the farm, she has a magazine, and she is writing a book on the subject. All this from a woman who lives out-of-doors during the summer months! Lets see Martha Stewart do that!

The past two weeks I have been gathering apples and pears from abandoned homesites, and foraging for chokecherries and elderberries from wild trees. I also have apples from the ancient trees on my own land. I have to keep a bucket or two in my vehicle at all times. I never know when I am going to stumble across a chance to do some wild crafting.

Ever since we saw LOTR #1 I've been bugging poor Grandpa Spider about building an underground house. This guy is putting into practice ideas I've had on my own, namely, using concrete pipe to prefab a hobbit hole. You have to admit, it's a beauty idea.

The blueberries are ripe. They are huge and so delicious. I have been over there picking them the past two mornings. They make me think of my friend Margaret who crossed over two years ago. By this time of year she could no longer get out of bed. I would pick a basket of blueberries, then on the way home I would stop by and visit her. She would take a blueberry in her mouth and savor it. Really savor it.

Not specifically pagan, but one of the most inspiring self-sufficiency sites around.