The Summer – Weeding and Watering

On By Cynthia ThinnesIn Diary, Gardening, Seasons, Summer

Gardening is a lot of fun in the Spring. Everything is new, and we are making plans for the coming season. Seedlings are quite adorable, I think. All is lovely, happy, and hopeful. Then the problems start. Weeds grow, animals come and eat the plants, bugs come and eat the plants, the plants get diseases, there is too much rain, there is too little rain, and the list goes on and on.

This year, I got a late start on the garden. This was in part because of the weather and in part because I was incredibly busy. I continued to be busy through the Summer, and this year was unusually hot. I have been having trouble getting up early enough in the morning to avoid the heat, so my gardening has been limited to the evening when I can get to it.

Needless to say, I have not had much of a garden this year. The weeds are doing very well, though.

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Weeds are an interesting dilemma, aren’t they? There are some plants that are considered weeds that are really quite useful, such as dandelions and violets. Usually, weeds are just plants that naturally grow in the area. Some weeds are quite lovely. There are some people who like and appreciate weeds for these reasons.

All that being said, if you want to have a garden, you really do need to decide the plants you want and the plants that you do not. It is a sad, cruel fact of life that there are limited resources. Most of the work of the summer is watering and caring for the plants you want and weeding out the plants that you do not.

In the Filianic Tradition, the Summer Solstice celebration is Rosa Mundi, or the Rose of the World. This is a fire festival, and in particular a festival for outside bonfires. One tradition of this holiday is to write down a trait or a fault that you wish to free yourself of and throw it into the fire. In a sense, this seems to me to be a weeding of one’s own heart.

The first year that I tried gardening, I weeded a little bit here and a little bit there, but I never seemed to accomplish anything. Last year, I realized that it was better to take a section at a time, no matter how small, and weed that area as completely as possible. With that in mind, I took on Maria-sama’s garden this evening, once it had cooled down a bit.

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It is not perfect, but a whole lot better, I think. It actually did not take that long, and I have a nice sense of accomplishment.

Maybe that will inspire me to do another section tomorrow.

Maho Girls Precure, Teddy Bears, and the Constellation Ursa Major

On By Cynthia ThinnesIn Anime, Astrology, Constellations, Maho Girls, Precure

日本語版

In Maho Girls Precure, the Precures’ partner is a Teddy Bear named Mofurun. Mofurun is a wonderful and adorable partner, but what is the relationship between Teddy Bears and magic? Generally, cats are the partners of magic users, aren’t they?

Actually, I think that bears are magical creatures. Throughout history, bears have been worshiped as gods.  Even Neanderthals may have worshiped bears as gods. To this day, Ainu in Japan and Sami in Northern Scandinavia still worship bears as gods.

Also, Ursa Major, or the Great Bear, is thought to be the oldest of the world’s constellations. Different cultures have different constellations, but Ursa Major is the same throughout the world.

Teddy Bear’s have been made since 1902, but they remain extremely popular to this day. Perhaps they have become magical household objects. Maybe they are guardian spirits for children. I do not really know, but I think it is quite interesting.

This is a Teddy Bear that I knitted. Her name is Ursa.

See also:

Comet Neowise and the Great Bear

Garden Update

On By Cynthia ThinnesIn Diary, Gardening, Seasons, Spring

日本語版　Svensk version

This year, the spring was cold and so I got a late start with the garden. The garden will probably be small, but some things are growing. Most importantly, Ulla’s rose is doing well.

The little rose is also doing well.

The little apple tree we moved last year is growing big and strong.

There are baby apples on the big apple tree.

Potatoes and cucumbers are also growing.

We seem to have a new friend. His name is Romeo.

Fairy Tea – Tasty Springtime Allergy Relief

On By Cynthia ThinnesIn Diary, Gardening, Herbal Remedies, Recipes4 Comments

I have an extremely cold and wet temperament, and every year around this time, early to mid May through late June, early July, I suffer from severe springtime allergies.  The only over-the-counter medicine that ever really worked for me was Claritin. Actually, Benadryl also works, but it puts me right to sleep, so I can only take it at night. Last year, I discovered an interesting use for the wild violets that grow like weeds in the yard….well, I guess technically they are weeds.

Violets

It seems that violets can be used an expectorant and is often useful for congestion due to allergies. According to Culpepper’s Complete Herbal, they are cold and moist and of the nature of Venus. According Hildegard of Bingen’s Physica, as translated by Priscilla Throop, they are between hot and cold, or more specifically, “Although, [they are] cold, [they grow] from the [mild, gentle] air which after winter is beginning to warm up.”

I tried them last year along with Claritin, and they seemed to help. Last year, I did not learn of it until the violets were almost through flowering, so I mostly used the leaves. There are several poisonous lookalikes to violets, so to be safe, it is probably best to only harvest violets when they are in flower. I had seen the violets flowering, and I had been weeding them all along, so I was fairly confident I was using the right plant. I was also using the violets from my own garden, so I knew they had not been sprayed with insecticide or herbicide.

I used the violet leaves in an infusion, but I did not care for the flavor, I have to admit. It did not have a bad flavor, but to me, the violet leaf infusion tasted a little grassy by itself. So, I started to experiment with other plants and flowers, and every day it would be a little different, based on what was available when I was doing my gardening. When I told a friend about this, she said that it sounded like my ingredients came from fairies, and I agreed, so I began to call it my fairy tea.

20180509_111934Between my fairy tea and Claritin, I had little to no breakthrough allergy symptoms last year. So, this year, as my annual spring allergies have begun, I am trying it again. I have not started taking Claritin yet, so we will see how it goes over the next couple of weeks. Even if it does not completely control my allergies, it is nice cooling substitute for my second cup of coffee in the morning as the weather is getting warmer.

This year, I have developed a recipe of a sort. Raspberry leaves have a nice flavor, a bit like black tea, but without the caffeine. The flavor of the raspberry leaves blends very nicely with the violet leaves, moderating the grassy flavor. They are best when they are bright green with a reddish tinge, before the plants begin to bloom.  Early spring was quite cold here this year, so everything is blooming a little later, including the violets, and there are violet flowers available now, which have a lovely sweet flavor to them. Violet flowers also freeze nicely. A trick I have learned is to freeze them first separately on a flat surface before putting them together in a container. That makes it easy to take just a few from the container.

Peppermint

I also add a little peppermint for flavor. I planted some peppermint last year, and this year it is coming back and growing like a weed. Luckily I like the flavor of peppermint, so I hope I can keep up with it. Violets also have a bit of a laxative effect, and peppermint seems to moderate that.

Rose Ulla Background

Lastly, I add a few rose petals. Rose has a nice flavor, and according to St. Hildegard, increases the effectiveness of all plants used for medicinal purposes. From a metaphysical perspective, this makes a lot of sense, as roses are the archetypal flower, or the Queen of Flowers. The roses in my garden have not bloomed yet, but I still have some dried rose petals left over from last year.

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Last year, I had planted a few chamomile plants, and chamomile is also a nice addition if you have it. I find that a little chamomile smooths and blends the flavors. I thought that chamomile was a perennial, but so far, I do not see any signs of it coming back this year. I have a little dried chamomile from last year, but it is almost gone.

So, we will see how my little experiment goes this year. I really do hope to avoid Claritin and Benedryl if I can. They always make me feel a little funny.