Tag Archives: spring

Mar20

New beginnings at the Spring Equinox

Posted on by
Standard

It all began at the full moon before the Winter Solstice last year, a few words of a conversation that gave me an idea. At that moment, The Riverbank Witch was born. My gorgeous, talented, magical friend Rhea Ruth Aitken, designed my logo for me from a doodle I showed her.

The Riverbank Witch already existed as the story teller on the riverbank, reading magical short stories and book extracts on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw3ee9CuNdek9ZC1Im8I_iA?view_as=subscriber but at the end of last year, I saw the potential of combining magic and stories in a more practical sense. I created a chakra bracelet of semi-precious stones and lava beads to go with the Lizzie Martin series of books. I loved threading the beads, creating the magic on the thread.

Then the Australian bush fires got out of hand. Called upon to help, I knitted joey pouches and sewed cotton liners, collecting donations from others and taking them to a distribution point in Wales, ready to be shipped to Australia. Out of this random act came a renewed passion for knitting.

I learned to crochet last August, but hadn’t knitted for a while. At the next new moon, I asked the Goddess for advice, and she suggested The Witches Cwtch, a shop where witches could sell their magical crafts. We could knit, sew, crochet, write, sculpt, draw, paint, recycle and upcycle. I was concerned about taking on the project myself, but having spoken to my daughter and sister-in-law, between us we were confident we could make a shop work.

Together, we began working on the premise for the shop …

“The Witches Cwtch is where dreams become reality.

We’re modern witches who care about our world and the creatures that live on it.

At The Witches Cwtch we believe in sharing the love, giving back, passing forward and supporting the local community, as well as our world wide family.”

But there are many things to consider when opening a shop, not least creating the magical products to go in one. We were keen and determined, but the world has changed since we began. Storms here in Wales took down my internet connection for almost three weeks. Last week, all the book and craft fairs I had planned for this Spring and Summer to promote The Riverbank Witch and The Witches Cwtch were cancelled. In this climate of uncertainty, we decided to postpone the shop.

This Spring Exquinox morning, I woke to a bright sunny day. Sheep and lambs baaed in the fields and the birds were singing. On my riverbank it’s difficult to believe there’s a terrible virus raging through the population of this country and the world, taking the lives of the elderly and infirm, and spreading fear and dread in its path.

So I asked the Goddess how I could help, and she told me to share my magic. Today, I’m opening The Riverbank Witch facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/The-Riverbank-Witch-107997124171331

My sister-in-law is The Hilltop Witch https://www.facebook.com/HilltopWitch

Liking the pages would be wonderful, and the first product I will list will be the chakra bracelets. The semi-precious stones are cleansed on my riverbank, beneath the full moon, and will help balance both mind and body, grounding the wearer to the earth. I’m working on listing them right now!

Is it the right time to launch something new? Probably not, but I am The Riverbank Witch and I want to share my healing magic with the world.

Ostara Blessings to you all xx

 

Feb16

Plant Based Recipe of the Week – Week 4 – Aditi’s lentil daal and BONUS Vegetable Pakora!

Posted on by
Standard

I hope you enjoyed your December festivities, have dodged the January germs and are ready for more new, fresh food ideas now Imbolc, the first day of Spring is here. Today’s recipe, Aditi’s lentil daal is one I use often, is easy to double up and freezes well.

When my youngest daughter was approaching her seventeenth birthday, I contacted Aditi. She advertised Indian cookery lessons in her home and we arranged a vegetarian morning with her as a birthday present. I learned to make this daal that day and have been cooking it ever since, more than seven years. Aditi and I have remained friends. She’s a beautiful lady inside and out and is always happy to share her natural beauty tips too. You can find her on Facebook here

https://www.facebook.com/groups/HealthyNaturalLiving/

 

Aditi’s Yellow Daal Tadka

Serves 4

1 cup yellow daal – split peas (I often use red lentils to save time)

3 cups of water to cook daal

 

4 tablespoons ghee (I use 3 tablespoons of oil)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

¾ tspoon turmeric

Salt to taste

1 tspoon cumin seeds

Whole red or green chilli

Fresh coriander leaves, chopped

 

Boil the daal in a pan/pressure cooker with 3 cups of water and open the lid carefully. Stir well to check consistency. (I simmer red lentils in a saucepan for about 10 minutes while making the seasoning. If using yellow split peas, soak overnight, discard the water, rinse, bring to boil and simmer for about 35-40 minutes. Stir often. NB: the first time I made this recipe I didn’t own anything to measure ‘a cup’ so I always used the same mug and it was always perfect. I’ve measured it since and it’s just under half a pint)

Heat the ghee/oil. Add cumin seeds and split chilli and let splutter in oil to bring out the flavour. When they change colour, add chopped onion and garlic and sauté until golden. Add turmeric and salt to taste.

Add this seasoning to the daal or the daal to the seasoning and simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Transfer to serving dish and garnish.

 

Daal is great on its own with bread or popadoms but we often have it with a dish packed with vegetables and something to dip in it like…

Vegetable Pakora

This is a Hari Ghotra recipe which you can find here

https://www.harighotra.co.uk/indian-recipes/courses/starters/vegetable-pakora

My tweeks are in brackets…

100g gram flour, sieved

1 medium onion (I used large)

3 medium potatoes

1 tspn of salt

2 tspn of garam masala

1 tspn of turmeric

2 chillies, finely chopped

1 tbspn ginger, grated, optional

Handful of coriander, chopped

2 tspn of dried fenugreek leaves (I didn’t have these so used 2 tspn Panch Puran that I discovered in a World supermarket in Swansea: cumin, fennel, nigella, black mustard and fenugreek seeds, delicious!)

1 tspn of cumin seeds (I still added this)

½ tspn of red chilli powder

Water

Oil for deep frying

 

Heat up the oil in a karahi or wok to a medium heat. (We use a large, ancient, thick bottomed aluminium  saucepan)

Slice the onion lengthways very thinly and place in a bowl.

Peel and grate (or very finely chop) the potatoes into the same bowl. (The first time, I grated and had to add extra flour. Second time, I did half and half and it was perfect) You can also use aubergines and cauliflower – chop into very small pieces.

Sprinkle all the dry spices and freshly chopped coriander, chillies and ginger into the bowl and then sieve in the gram flour – mix together using your hands.

Add a small amount of water a little at a time to create a thick batter that coats all the vegetables. Squeeze the mixture through your fingers to ensure all the spices mix through. Do not leave the batter and vegetable mixture for too long before cooking.

Test your oil is hot enough by dropping a little batter into the oil. If it browns and rises immediately then it is ready. Very carefully drop in spoonfuls of the mixture into the oil and fry until golden brown.

Using a slotted spoon move the pakora around, be careful not to overcrowd the karahi.

Once golden brown and crisp remove from the oil and set on some kitchen paper.

 

I hope you enjoy making these recipes and will visit again for more.

You can also join me on my YouTube channel, Phoenix and the Dragon, reading short stories and extracts from my novels, from my Welsh riverbank  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw3ee9CuNdek9ZC1Im8I_iA?view_as=subscriber

I’ll leave you with one of my new kittens discovering snowdrops for the first time…Bright Spring Blessings