Month: January 2012

7 Reasons Why You Should Grow Your Own Food

7 Reasons Why You Should Grow Your Own Food

  • Judi Gerber

 

Not that being part of a trend is ever a good reason to start or learn something new, but if it helps you move forward by being part of the “in” crowd, then you really need to plant your own edible garden this year.

That’s right, having your own vegetable garden is now trendy. In fact according to the 2009 Edibles Gardening Trends Research Report conducted by the Garden Writer’s Association (GWA) Foundation, over 41 million U.S. households, or 38 percent planted a vegetable garden in 2009. And, more than 19.5 million households (18 percent) grew an herb garden and 16.5 million households (15 percent) grew fruits during the same period.

The study found that there was a growth in edible gardening from both experienced gardeners and from an influx of new gardeners: 92 percent of respondents had previous experience and 7 percent (7.7 million households) were new edible gardeners.

And one-third of the experienced gardeners grew more edibles in 2009 than in the previous year. The GWA indicates that given the strong response for plans to grow more edibles into 2010, the vegetable gardening trend will continue and there will likely be a new high level of edible gardening activity this year.

Another survey done by the American Gardening Association showed a 19 percent increase in new hobby country farms and urban edible gardens in 2009 over 2008.

So, aside from its popularity, do you need some other reasons to grown your own food?

  • The GWA’s survey found that the main reason given for increasing or maintaining edible gardening last year was to supplement household food supply — to help them save money on food. That alone is a very powerful reason.
  • There is nothing more local than food grown in your own backyard, your windowsills, or on patio containers.
  • Growing your own fruits and vegetables means that you know exactly what does and does not go into your food and exactly where it comes from.
  • You will get healthier in a number of ways. Not only will you end up eating more fruits and vegetables, but you will be getting added exercise. Did you know that you can burn as many calories in 45 minutes of gardening as you can in 30 minutes of aerobics? And, working in the garden reduces stress.
  • You will get a bigger variety of your favorite fruits and vegetables because you can choose from hundreds of different varieties and you can grow the things you like the best.
  • You can teach your children or grandchildren where their food actually comes from and that it doesn’t come from the supermarket but from the soil, the earth that we all depend on.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace

 

Amazing grace, how sweet the Earth
that bore a witch like me!
I once was burned, now I survive,
was hung and now I sing.
T’was grace that drew down the moon
and grace that raised the seas.
The magic in the people’s will
will set our Mother free.
We face the East and breathe the winds
that move across this earth.
From gentle breeze to hurricane
our breath will bring forth the change.
Turn towards the South and feel the fire
that burns in you and me.
The spirit’s flame will rise again
and burn eternally.
We greet the West, our souls awash
in tides of primal birth.
Our tears and blood, our pain and love
will cleanse and heal the earth.
Reach into the North and know your roots
down deep ancestral caves.
We find the wisdom of the Crone,
Of circles we are made.
Amazing earth, enduring life,
from death into rebirth.
T’is earth I am and earth I love
and earth I’ll always be.
Amazing grace, how sweet the Earth
that bore witches like we.
We once were burned, now we survive,
were hung and now we sing.
Goddess bless, so mote it be,
Our magic spirals on.
Merry meet and merry part
and merry meet again
 
Courtesy of Dana… From GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives

New Moon Report for Jan 27th – Mercury in Aquarius

New Moon Report

by Jeff Jawer

 

Mercury in Aquarius

Friday, January 27, 10:12 am PST, 1:12 pm EST

Intelligence matters with clever Mercury in cerebral Aquarius. We can break out of our usual patterns of perception to understand the world from different angles. Cooler heads allow us to step out of the shadows of emotion and discover new concepts. However, friendly conversations may stimulate minds but could be less successful at touching hearts.

Calendar of the Moon for Friday, Jan. 27th

Calendar of the Moon

Rowan Tree Moon

Color: Orange-red
Element: Fire
Altar: Upon a cloth of orange-red set a row of red candles, Brigid’s cross, and a bell.
Offerings: Votive candles. Quicken a newborn idea into birth.
Daily Meal: Hot drinks with every meal. Keep food warm.

Luis/Gamelion Invocation

Call: Now is the quickening of the year.
Response: Now is the time of the first movement.
Call: Now the child stirs in the womb.
Response: Now the seed stirs in the earth.
Call: Now the plains flood and our fire is threatened.
Response: Now the cold water drowns our spark.
Call: Now is the time of the hard struggle.
Response: Now is the month of desperation.
Call: Now is the time of desperation to live.
Response: Now is the time of desperation to be born.
Call: We turn in our sleep as the earth turns.
Response: We dream with the sleeping earth.
Call: Each of our dreams is a lit candle in the dark.
Response: Each of our dreams is a single point of hope.
Call: They shine faint and alone in the night of struggle.
Response: They are alone as we are alone.
Call: Yet we are not alone in our dreams.
Response: We are not alone!
Call: We will keep our fires burning.
Response: We will burn against the night!
Call: We will warm our dreams with the force of life.
Response: We will not die alone in the cold!
Call: We will ward off all evil.
Response: Only good shall pass our gates.
Call: We will care for each other.
Response: We will never cease to care!
Call: We will survive the winter.
Response: We will survive!
(Repeat last two lines twice more.)

Chant:
Protect the flame that warms your dreams
And dreams shall never die.

Calendar of the Sun for Friday, Jan. 27th

Calendar of the Sun
27 Wolfmonath

Day of the Dioscuri

Color: Blue
Element: Air
Altar: Upon a cloth of blue place two blue candles, two red candles, two figures of horses, to small mirrors, and four knives, one before each candle. Place there also four cups, one containing white wine, one containing red wine, one containing grape juice, and one containing bitter tea.
Offering: Meditate on your inner divisions.
Daily Meal: Poultry.

Invocation to the Dioscuri

Hear ye the story of the Dioscuri, the sacred twins:
Leda, Queen of Sparta, opened herself to her lawful husband,
Tyndareus of Sparta, and also to great Zeus, king of the Gods.
She bore two sets of twins, and of each pair
One was mortal, and the other a divine child.
Castor, son of Zeus, loved his brother,
Pollux son of Tyndareus, with a love that could not separate them,
And Pollux returned that love. Each protected the other’s life,
As it should be between the mortal and immortal part
Of any being. Yet Pollux was stricken, slain, brought down,
As will come about for anything mortal, and went to Hades.
Therefore did Castor grieve, and offered up half his right to Olympus,
So that both spend half their time in the darkness, and half in heaven.
Yet hear the tale of the other twins: Helen the beautiful
Scorned her plain mortal sister Clytemnestra,
Saw her married at twelve, widowed at thirteen,
Raped on the bed beside her murdered babe,
Locked in a tower by her second husband
To prove as brood mare, whilst Helen, fairer of face
Than any mortal woman, went from prince to prince,
Fought over like a proud jewel. Yet the abused sister
Overthrew her oppressors, chose her own mate, turned a kingdom
Back to the ways of old before her death, whilst Helen
Was slain by raging mortal woman, like the sister she had scorned.
And so it is: The Divine and mortal parts must love each other,
More than life itself, and learn to work together,
And be prepared to sacrifice, or both shall be ever lost.

(The four cups are poured out as libation, first the white wine and the grape juice for Castor and Pollux, then the red wine and bitter tea for Helen and Clytemnestra.)

Cosmic Calendar For Friday, Jan. 27th

It was the great Al Jolson – of vaudeville, stage and early screen fame – who used to say: You ain’t seen nothing yet. That is a very good summation for the cosmic challenge going on during the next 48 hours as a deluge of aspects – many of which are on the discordant side of the astro-tracks – arrives in our neck of the universe. Here’s the short list of what is on tap today. The Moon remains void in Pisces until the lunar orb enters fiery, independent and forceful Aries at 10:29AM PST. Mercury squares time-keeper Saturn (1:22AM PST) and makes a supportive, 60-degree alliance with emotionally-empowering Juno (2:51AM PST). Mercury then enters the universal air sign of Aquarius at 10:13AM PST where it will stay until February 13. Meanwhile, Venus is parallel to nurturing Ceres (11:15AM PST), the Moon in Aries unites with revolutionary Uranus (1:40PM PST) and productivity-enhancer Ceres (3:41PM PST) while the Moon moves on to a parallel with recently reversed Mars (7:42PM PST) followed by a potentially fireworks-generating Venus-Mars contra-parallel (8:42PM PST), and the celestial seasonings conclude with a splendid, inspiring Venus-Vesta union in Pisces (9:07PM PST) that can be good for love and money matters. The discord today is coming from challenging aspects such as Mercury square Saturn, the Moon uniting with Uranus and forming a parallel to Mars. Venus-Mars in contra-parallel formation may be another hard-to-handle alignment. Emotions are somewhat frayed and you may need to earn your stripes when it comes to being crystal clear in financial discussions (due to Mercury at odds with Saturn). On the favorable front are pretty much the rest of the aspects and that can manifest as success and achievements across the board.

The Wicca Book of Days for Jan. 27th – Lady Of Heaven

Fantasy Images, Pictures, Comments
January 27th

Lady of Heaven

January 27 is sacred to Ishtar, the Babylonian Goddess of feminine sexuality, fertility and ferocity, who as equated with the Sumerian Inanna, and whose lover was Dumuzi. So beautiful was Ishtar that she was addressed as “Shining One” and equated with the planet Venus (one of her symbols was the eight-pointed star); so wanton was she that she was termed “Great Harlot”; and so blood-thirsty was she that she was called “Queen of Attack,” depicted astride a lion. Wiccans invoke Ishtar when a libido needs livening up; when her powers over fertility are desired; or when there re enemies to be vanquished.

“Divine Cupcakes”

Commune with Ishtar today in the same way that her devotees did in Mesopotamian times, namely by baking cakes in her honor. After you have taken a batch of cupcakes, perhaps, out of the oven and left them to cool, you could decorate them by frosting them with Ishtar’s symbols: eight-pointed stars and crescent moons.