My oven is broken and I was dying for a pumpkin spiced something. I have a big counter top turkey roaster so I figured.. ha! I also wanted to make it so my daughter could eat it so I created a gluten and dairy free cake using certified gluten free rolled oats:
Dry:
4 cups of freshly pulverized oats into flour (measure after you take it out of the blender)
2 cups unrefined organic cane sugar
1 tsp each of cinnamon and freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp each of whole allspice smashed in a mortar and pestle, and salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Wet:
2 cups of pumpkin puree (from the freezer from last year's jack o' lantern)
1 pint of home canned applesauce (trying to use up last year's)
1/2 cup of oil
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla

Mix all together really well then let sit for a few minutes to hydrate the oat flour.
I put this into an angel food pan because it fit well on the rack inside my turkey roaster but wow, did it take a long time to bake, at least an hour and a half or longer. I was testing it every 10 minutes for the last 40 minutes or so at 350 degrees. Next time, I will bake it in a 9 x 13 instead, which also fits in the turkey roaster. It makes a very soft, moist, crumbly cake. We have been devouring it this afternoon. It would be amazing with cream cheese icing... but dairy... so it is unadorned.

#gardenharvest #homecanning #TurnTheWheel #Lughnasadh

I wake up every morning with anxiety and exhaustion. The combination is nearly debilitating some mornings. I think about the natural world struggling to survive air pollution, plastic pollution, soil depletion, pollutant runoff into our waterways and oceans, the whirl of climate collapse as we see it happening around the world. I see the monetization of every action, every thought, every need, the politicization of every organizational structure, every dream, every cause. I see the exploitation of those that struggle to survive, pushing labour onto others, the force of power structures to rule our lives as burn-out overtakes us. I see and acknowledge others with a much heavier load of racism, bigotry and marginalization than I have dealing with all of this in addition. And I see many that are giving up, on the brink of ending their existence, or mentally and emotionally checking out. The exhaustion is across the board, putting one foot in front of the other is too high a mountain to climb.

If I... we... all of us give up and give in to this upside down world, who will be there for the littles? My 3 year old grandson that looks up at the world with hope, trust and innocence expects me to be there for him. And I am, and I will be. My animals trust that I will love and feed them and I will. This small plot of land I live on Turns the Wheel with me or without me. It will face whatever the future throws at it and it will adapt, grow when it can, rest when it must, and always strive for abundance. It's the least I can do to match the effort of the land while being a part of it, the planet and the universe.

Some day all the systems of greed will destroy themselves, and many of us with it. But we don't have to go resignedly or without a fight. We can Turn our own Wheel, be the Gods and Goddesses that we were born to be. We can use every resource, every source of knowledge, every act of will, and every force of love to continue on through the exhaustion and despair. This life, this land, this Earth is magic and we are a part of it, now and forever. Sometimes I forget, and then I remember.

#TurnTheWheel #ClimateDisaster #Fascism #Politics #Gaia

Blessings of Imbolc.

It's too early for real spring in my area (false spring is full on right now!) But even if the buds that are coming out now get frozen again, that too will pass and real spring will come. Right now, the fall-planted garlic is stirring and making roots. The soil creatures are moving, the Earth is shifting and reacting to the coming season. Take care out there, watch for mud and rock slides. Plan the garden for those of you that can, and remember... "planting a garden" can mean many different things.

#Imbolc #spring #TurnTheWheel #Cailleach

"Our ancestors kept them stored in chests if they had them at all. Locked up with iron keys, doled out like salt and silver and the other precious substances that made the world move and the dark days brighter."

Lovely blog on spices, Yule and little things to do.

https://wildhunt.org/2023/12/spiced-tea-and-mead-for-the-winter-solstice.html

#Solstice #Yule #TurnTheWheel #Scotland #TheWildHunt

I went out to the garden and root cellar to collect ingredients for colcannon, when what to my wandering eye should appear but a 2013 bottle of homemade elderberry wine. ! Apparently the ancestors will get a wee tipple tonight as well.
My version of colcannon includes whatever brassica I happen to have in the garden, this year it's collards. I will also add onions, cream, butter and bacon. My ancestors probably did not have all the extra ingredients but they would have been glad for them.

#Samhain #TurnTheWheel #Ancestors #halloween

Blessings of the Hunter's Moon at this time of the Final Harvest. It's a time to quiet down, have gratitude for all you have been able to do this year. In parts of the world, this Blood Moon will also be seen. As Luna dons her crimson robes tonight, it's time to contemplate the chaotic changes coming, and to understand that balance will be restored by dropping ego-driven struggles and finding peace in the darkness and silence. We enter the dark, cold and still season with time to slow our thoughts and actions and meditate on what we have to do in the coming year.

#Witchcraft #HuntersMoon #FullMoon #MoonMagic #TurnTheWheel

Rowan berries are hella bitter but I love the lore of this. Maybe sometime I might try this.

#WitchLore #WitchyStuff #Samhain #TurnTheWheel #TheLastHarvest

https://gathervictoria.com/2023/10/26/samhain-treats-rowan-berry-honey-caramels/

I think a lot of people confuse rutabagas for turnips. The key is to grow your own purple top turnips and let them way over-grown so they are big and woody, way beyond the edible point. Then they are hard enough to hold their shape but also much softer and a bit more flexible than rutabagas.

My ancestors didn't have pumpkins to carve, but they probably had a lot of these things in the garden by the end of October.
He will probably be shrivelled and even creepier by Samhain.

#Halloween #Samhain #BonfireNight #TurnipJack #JackoLantern #TurnTheWheel

The Tower is falling fairly fast now. We are all traumatized by the news, social media, the images coming out of places torn apart by war, fires, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes. Some of those places are very close to us, some far away.
But it truly is a waste of time to either fret endlessly and do nothing, or pretend all is fine and carry on making foolish plans that continue to consume resources and contribute to this collapsing world.
I plan on hunkering down for at least the foreseeable future. Keep track of my community, check in with friends often and put into place all the systems that I can to keep my family safe from all the probable dangers in my area. I will continue to fortify this space we call home, make it as safe and supportive as possible. Raise the littles with strength, common sense and knowledge. Learn and keep learning new skills, crafts, and techniques.
And most of all- keep hope alive. Offer libations. Dust the altar. Turn the Wheel.

#TowerTime #Prepping #GetPrepared #TurnTheWheel #Homesteading #ClimateCrisis #ExtremeWeather #War #Samhain #Ancestors

I love this. Gather Victoria is such an inspiration. Blessings of the Autumn Equinox.

#TurnTheWheel #AutumnEquinox #Fall #Autumn #WitchyStuff

https://gathervictoria.com/2020/09/22/drinking-in-the-autumn-equinox-magical-tea-wreaths/