The Sacred Actions Wheel of the Year Journal and Earth-Based Spiritual Journaling — The Druids Garden

I’m really excited to announce the release of my new book: The Sacred Actions Journal: A Wheel of the Year Journal for Sustainable and Spiritual Practices.  The Sacred Actions Journal is a follow-up to my 2021 book Sacred Actions: Living the Wheel and includes additional information on sacred actions, new insights on spiritual journaling, new…

The Sacred Actions Wheel of the Year Journal and Earth-Based Spiritual Journaling — The Druids Garden

The Caileach’s Red Ale Cake: An Imbolc Tale of the Darkness & the Light — Gather Victoria

I’ve been celebrating Imbolc for over a decade and each year I discover more layers to its mythology and food lore. Last year over at Gather Victoria Patreon, I created a Cailleach Ale Cake (the oldest spirit in the world) in honor of the dark counterpart of Brigid,  the Gaelic Cailleach, one of the oldest…

The Caileach’s Red Ale Cake: An Imbolc Tale of the Darkness & the Light — Gather Victoria

Good, Great, Gulp-able Ginger

The Herb Society of America's avatarThe Herb Society of America Blog

by Pat Crocker

A tan and beige stoneware jar of ginger beerThe fresh or dried rhizome of ginger (Zingiber officinale) has been used “as a condiment and aromatic stimulant from ancient times”. And from as early as the 15th century, ginger was exported from Zanzibar—a possible origin of the Latin, Zingiber—for use by healers, monks, and herbalists in tisanes, syrups, tinctures, and other carminative simples.

In England, from around the middle of the 18th century, ginger was fermented with sugar, water, and a starter culture to make an alcoholic beverage that quenched thirst and quelled stomachs at the same time. That drink was called ginger beer and it has survived—with and without alcohol—right up to the present time.  

Almost a century later (1890 to be precise), an enterprising Canadian chemist, John McLaughlin, began bottling his own soda water. Never one to coast, McLaughlin’s experiments with natural flavorings and recipes led him to his greatest accomplishment…

View original post 871 more words

Narcissism

A Winter Tip To Help You Find Morel Mushrooms

Nature is full of signs.

Tracks, pellets, and clouds reveal information to the astute observer who pays attention.  Nothing is meaningless when awareness is practiced.  Every track, tree, and titmouse means something.

So it goes with mushrooms.  Every mushroom relays information to the person who pays attention.

As an example, consider velvet foot (Flammulina velutipes) — a cold-loving mushroom that provides food and medicine.  This mushroom reveals something that field guides and educators rarely mention:

Velvet foot can easily help us find morel mushrooms.

How so?  In this brand new video, I explain the connection.

I’d also like to mention that today is the last day to receive $100 off your purchase of Foraging Wild Mushrooms.  This online course is designed to help you safely and successfully harvest wild mushrooms from the forest, from the field, and from your own backyard — even during the winter season!

You can register here.

Thank you for your continued support.

— Adam Haritan

The Watchers

Celebrating the Winter Solstice with Sacred Foods and Feasting — The Druids Garden

The Winter Solstice has long been a time of feasting and fires, especially with regional and special foods, a tradition that has global significance in many cultures.  I’ve always enjoyed this time as a chance to dig into some really interesting sacred cooking and bring back the light by enjoying foods that were preserved in…

Celebrating the Winter Solstice with Sacred Foods and Feasting — The Druids Garden

6 Tips To Help You Find More Edible Mushrooms This Winter

Winter might not seem like an ideal time to find wild edible mushrooms, but let me assure you:  edible mushrooms can be found during the coldest months of the year.

Many fungi are psychrophilic (“cold” + “loving”).  They require cold temperatures to grow.  Examples of habitats that support psychrophilic fungi include permafrost, glacial ice, and off-shore polar waters.

Fortunately, local forests also support cold-loving mushrooms, so while it might be fun to look for fungi on icebergs this winter season, we can simply hunt our local woods instead.

To help you find more edible mushrooms this winter season, I created a video in which I share 6 tips that will greatly improve your harvest.  (The 6th tip in particular sounds counterintuitive but is quite effective when you implement it.)

You can watch the video here.

I’d also like to mention that the video is one of over 80 exclusive videos featured in Foraging Wild Mushrooms — a four-season online course designed to help you successfully forage wild mushrooms.

The online course is currently open for enrollment and on sale ($100 off) until Monday, December 19.  To get a sneak peek into the kinds of content found within the course, check out the video.

*Please note that this video is publicly available until Monday, December 19.  It will only be available to registered students afterwards.

Thanks for reading and watching, and thanks for your continued support.

—Adam Haritan

Available Now!

One of my favorite independent authors.

Natalie J Case's avatarNatalie J. Case

The first three books of the Blood Witch Saga are all available now, before Christmas! Do you have a reader on your list? Know someone who loves strong women, and urban fantasy, and wants to go on an adventure?

These are the books you’re looking for!

Follow Thána Alizon as she discovers that she is not the orphaned, mediocre middle-management corporate lackey she has believed herself to be and sets off on an adventure to find the family she never knew she had, traipsing through portals into other worlds, encountering mythical beings, dangerous cults, an ideological war, and a medieval plague.

Each portal takes her further from who she was and brings her closer to who she was meant to be.

Get yours now by clicking on the image above or this link.

Happy Holidays, Readers!!

View original post

Season of Feasting: St. Barbara Christmas Cake — Gather Victoria

Happy St. Barbara’s Day!  It never ceases to amaze that if you scratch the surface of any holiday dish you’ll find a goddess history thousands of years old. Take this German Lemon Loaf Cake baked by my Oma for as long as I can remember. Its intensely lemony glaze soaks into the cake making it…

Season of Feasting: St. Barbara Christmas Cake — Gather Victoria