Rose Cottage

  Several years ago,  my   feed   over on Instagram delivered a wonderful post featuring a continuing saga of the artist's adventures ...  In her post,  Hannah  wrote about a taking much anticipated camping trip, which turned into a sodden disaster! She wrote that they hung their 'cloutie flags' upon setting up their campsite in Cornwall.  Clootie flags on my porch I guessed she meant small cloth prayer flags or banners, and  found this  article when I looked it up: The Scots word ‘clootie’ means ‘cloth’ - the term can also be found in use in the Scottish dessert, the ‘ clootie dumpling ’. (A Scotts pudding , with dried fruit - currents, raisins and the like) which is boiled in a cloth (the clootie).   Clootie flags  are scraps of cloth, hung from trees surrounding a sacred well or spring. These sources of fresh water have been considered places of healing for millennia, and the flags hold prayers for healing.  Tra...

 This week for Earth day, our Climate Action Group hosted several events:  Saturday a fair worth talks on reducing use of plastics and recipes/ tips.  On Monday, we joined the worldwide prayers for the earth, and showed the new film Common Ground, which highlights the importance of returning to sustainable agricultural practices. Rojo Chiquito beans in filtered water  This morning, I'm soaking Rojo Chiquito beans  (du ya • gi ga ge i) - I usually soak beans 4+ hours, then rinse, drain and pre-sprout by repeating the rinse / drain sequence several times over 8-24 hours.  I'll simmer frozen veggie trimmings for stock, and add a splash of vinegar, kombu (seaweed) a bay leaf,yomohi and herbs as I cook the beans.  For making Stock, plus my Rice n Lentils recipes, check out this post . These small red beans will take a bit longer than the lentils, likely 60-90 minutes total. I Picked up the beans on my Tuesday trip to Wellspent Market (in Mac Mkt on A...

 Rose cottage garden is growing beautifully, and (with good watering!) revelling in the heat.  Day Lilies I've been enjoying our book group conversations on the the daily reflections offered in local author Randy Woodley's book, Becoming Rooted . Each of the 100 brief chapters includes a story and inquiry or suggestion for implementation.  Today, whilst talking of chapter 40, Turning Tornados, I was reminded of an experience related by flower essence maker and practioner Molly Sheehan.  ( Green Hope Farm Essences  ).  During her visit to Ireland in 2005, she had a chat with the  elementals * shortly before she left, asking why they had been so supportive of her work. They replied , "We steady this planet. We steady our emerald island. Most often, we steady against the imprecations of humans, but we find in this project, humans working to steady the planet with us.   We thank you one and all for working with the Flower Essences and working to both ...