I got this from a friend this morning:

"Has Achim's (I know thats the wrong spelling but I can't figure it out) back got better so you can enjoy liasing in summer parks together?"

Liaising in the park with Achim??? It's Rahim - it's not difficult!!

For some reason that really riles me up - she's known me for 10 years, surely she should pay a bit more attention?

I had a lurgy yesterday, so I was watching UKTV Gold (or whatever it is called) and found myself watching The Good Life. What struck me about it was that although it is now probably 30 years old, the themes were the same ones that seem to be gaining prominence today.

Perhaps they weren't worrying about Peak Oil and a coming Food Crisis, and were more concerned with being their own boss, but it made me wonder: just how feasible is it to try to become self-sufficient in Surbiton?

Are the trendy smug thirty-somethings of suburbia with FairTrade coffee in their kitchen and chickens in their gardens really making a difference? Or is it just dabbling with no real impact at all?

The harsh reality of life on a fixed budget when oil is pushing up prices.

http://stonehead.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/rocketing-electricity-price-means-less-blogging/#more-2827

"We received our latest electricity bill today and it contained a nasty surprise....

....I had budgeted for a 15% rise from 1 April (based on Scottish Hydro Electric’s announcement of a 13% rise from that date), but have now learned the effective rise is actually 60%....

...The effects are immediate.....

We’ve previously put Savaplugs on our refrigerator and freezer, put low energy bulbs in most light fittings (and left the remaining ones empty), leave lights off unless needed (I’m sitting in the dark now), retrict TV and computer use, turn everything off at the wall when not in use, wash laundry on either cld or 30C cycles depending on the level of grime, use mainly hand tools instead of power tools as much as possible, do not have a tumble dryer, do not use a dishwasher, and have very, very few gadgets.

We also cook one-pot meals as much as possible, turn the cooker off before food is cooked and allow residual heat to continue the cooking process....

....Now, we’re going to have to make much more uncomfortable cuts in our electricity use to get the bill down to something close to the £57.40 I’d budgeted."

Much more uncomfortable? Because sitting in the dark eating cold food isn't uncomfortable enough already?

The scary part is that it's not happening in Cairo, or Brazil, but here in the British Isles.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :)

This has to be good!

I made some sloejacks at the weekend with the spent sloes from some sloe gin I started making at Christmas and took them into work today for people to taste. I'm now very popular (ha ha) and the proud owner of a new recipe for using gin-soaked sloes (from a colleague with a freezer full of them!). This has Belgian choc, cream and alcohol... what could possibly go wrong? ;)

This recipe makes around 40 truffles

You will need:

25g/1oz unsalted butter
75ml/3fl oz/5tbsp double cream
225g/8oz good quality Belgian chocolate
75g stoned sloes, broken up and softened with a pestle and mortar
2 tbsp sloe gin

To Finish:
100g Very good quality chocolate (I use Green & Blacks 72% cocoa cooks chocolate, this really does make a superior truffle. Its high cocoa content gives you the 'hit' of chocolate without the sharpness of a plain chocolate)
Chopped roasted hazlenuts

1. Line a Swiss roll tin with baking parchment

2. Place butter and cream in a small saucepan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute then remove from the heat.

3. Break the Belgian chocolate into pieces and add to the cream. Stir until melted, then mix in the sloes and sloe gin.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared swiss roll tin and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours until firm.

5. Break off pieces of the mixture and roll into balls. Chill for a further 30 minutes before finishing the truffles.

6. To finish melt the Green and Blacks chocolate. Dip the balls into the chocolate on a fork allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl. Carefully cover the truffle with the hazlenuts by putting it into a small dish or saucer of the nuts and covering it with the hazlenuts by hand.

7. Place the truffles in paper cases and refridgerate to set.


I did half in hazlenuts and half just coated in the chocolate, so they looked pretty in the boxes.

Tip: The truffle mixture needs to be firm but not too hard to roll. If the mixture is too hard, allow it to stand at room temperature for a few minutes. During rolling the mixture will become sticky but will reharden in the refridgerator before coating.

The chocolates can be kept in the fridge for about two weeks.

Warning: If you intend to give these out as gifts, make double quantity as it will be very hard to part with them!

I do hope you try these and enjoy them. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas, Sloeranger

Reproduced from Sloe.biz

 Hellooo!

Just a very quick note to say that the Ostara/Spring Equinox soap is now available at Treadwell's Bookshop in Covent Garden.

"Rise and Shine!" is a blend of Peppermint, Rosemary, Bergamot and Violet Leaf essential oils and is a pretty pale green. All magical correspondences to this time of year, if not with a specific deity in mind...

:)

R xx

I am actually speechless.

I was just walking to the post office, when a woman came out with a small boy in tow. The child had a Push Pop, which he opened and chucked the lid over his shoulder behind him. I heard the clink as it hit the pavement. The woman glanced back and then walked on. She had no intention whatsoever of reprimanding him for such a clearly antisocial thing!

I couldn't help myself. I said "Are you really going to let him get away with that?" (blank stare from the woman). "Are you really going to let him throw that on the ground and leave it there?" (mildly aggressive stare from the woman). "I'm horrified!". I kept walking because if I had stopped I think I would have taken the child by the scruff of the neck and made him pick his litter up. He was 4 - old enough to be aware of his actions but young enough to need to be told how to behave.

It's outrageous.

We're being told that we have to leave a better world for our kids, but how about leaving better kids for our world?

Can anyone translate this song for me please? (Or knows another song referred to as "Tu Bella")?


Tu bella ca lu tieni lu pettu tunnu
non sacciu si su’menne o so cutugne.

Statev citte, statev ’n sulenzie
vogghiu ca vui sintite lu mia cantare.

Bell’è lu mare e bella la marina
bella è la figghia di lu marinaru.

Bella d’intragli bella e bella tu sei
E tinli belli tu la palma cuerti.

Tu rondine ci rundini lu mare
ferma quannu ti dicu dui parole.

I am banned from using Facebook at work and don't have any Internet access through any other means at the mo so I can't check this out for myself...

I have a question: If someone tags you in a note, what does that mean?

Does it show up in your feed? Are you just being invited to read something someone else has posted? Are they likely to be posting about you?

What has happened to the summer?

We're only 2 weeks away from the peak of the year and you'd think it was March out there. It was 7C on the May Bank Holiday. Seven degrees. We know because HWK was outside freezing our arses off to bring soap to the Great Unwashed (who were too stoned to even notice, but we're not bitter!).

We'd like to say a belated thank you to everyone who came to our party at treadwellsa couple of weeks ago. We had a great time, and we loved all the feedback. Julia - if you are out there in LJ-land, thank you for saying that HWK soap has changed your life! We love to hear that kind of stuff.

Anyway, the reason for this rambling post is to let you all know that our next Sabbat soap is available online and in Treadwell's bookshop. This one is yellow (naturally), topped with orange sunwheels and infused with calendula and organic sunflower. The scent is a zingy blend of Frankincense, lemongrass, ginger and may chang, so at least you can be Zen about the lack of sunshine we're seeing this year!

Happy Solstice everyone,

The Rebeccas
http://www.hedgewitcheskitchen.co.uk 

*stuffs HWK hat firmly on head*

Ahem.

Just to let you all know that we will be having a stall at the Kingston Green Fair on Monday.

We will be in the healing area - do come along and say hello!


Rebecca

I think I've just done something extremely stupid. I blame my hormones. Damn those hormones!!

There has been a development on my previous wibble situation. Since sending the guy from the races to Beirut, never to be heard from again, well.... I sort of have heard from him.

My wallet was stolen from my bag on Friday (curses and damnation) with the cheque from him in it. So, I had to call him to get him to cancel the cheque and send me another. But he didn't, he gave me his personal email address instead, and now I've been emailing and chatting with him on and off for the last couple of days. Until today, when we spoke on the phone and he invited me and friends (Note the "and friends" please!) to something called "Glastonbudget" (which sounds suspiciously like some sort of audit of a Hippy government) and I sort of accidentally invited him to add me as a friend on Facebook.

Ermmm.... it's all for the good of the company. Honest! He's an events organiser who likes soap!

But now what do I do??

Should I just take the money and run?

Oh dear!

I need a wibble outlet.

WIBBLEWIBBLEWIBBLEWIBBLEWIBBLEWIBBLEWIBBLEWIBBLEWIBBLEWIBBLEWIBBLE

That's better. Sort of. 

I'm in a bit of a tizzy. You see, the event that Bex and I are supposed to be selling our wares at on Monday has been cancelled, so I'm very disappointed, so I called up the guy I've been dealing with (OK flirting with) to talk about it and he says that he's disappointed cos he was looking forward to meeting me, and can he still come to my place to return my cheque to me personally, and to keep a bag of soap warm for him.

Of course I said yes, turned to jelly, and told him that we're based in Twickenham. Which we're not. So now I have to sit at my day job desk and pretend to be normal and not flustered and try not to wibble too much.

And Bex is not here to wibble at either!

Wibble?

And thus went the Easter weekend at Brazier's Park.

It was fantastic. I managed to remove the slight blue tinge from my skin that was the result of too many days cooped up in an office, and replace it with freckles and lumpy midge bites. Who said being out in nature isn't glam?

So... HWK taught people to make soap this weekend! We made Castile, using a recipe from the 12th Century. In fact it is the first known recipe for Castile soap. Kinda cool. I'm hoping that they'll invite us back to help them to leach their own lye. The extremely resourceful beekeeper and his wife seemed very keen to try it.

I'll bet Albert the lonely lamb is less keen that we try making soap with sheep fat tho *evil grin*



Oh and we got to scour the hedgerows gathering herbs. Beware all you frequenters of Treadwells, I am looking for some volunteers to try my Cleavers Tea! *mwah ha haaa*

Rebecca W
(on behalf of The Rebeccas)
http://www.hedgewitcheskitchen.co.uk

Hi All!

We've just been told that there are a few places remaining for our soapmaking workshop at Brazier's Park over the Easter weekend.

Due to popular demand, Brazier's is offering special day rates for people who just want to attend for one day of their 4-day weekend.

For around £30 you can join us for a half-day session where we will demonstrate how to make traditional cold process soap, giving a talk with props, and then letting you get your hands dirty making Cunningham's Balls.

*innocent look*

The other half-day session will be a guided tour among the hedgerows to gather herbs and to learn more about the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside that surrounds the Great Hall at Brazier's.

The day starts around 9.30am, lunch is included, and there is the option to stay and join us for the evening meal with the chance to try spinning on a wheel by the fire.

Transport is easy by train from London to Goring and Streatley station.

You know you want to!

Drop us a line to book at info@hedgewitcheskitchen.co.uk or visit our workshops page for more details.


The Rebeccas
http://www.hedgewitcheskitchen.co.uk

Well it seems that time flies when you're out on your broomstick...errr....no that isn't right is it?

Whatever the saying is, we've been busier than ever in the soap mines at HWK. We've been out and about in the world. We've visited very dear friends in Bristol, and even lived on a commune - if only for a weekend. We even learnt to spin wool on a spinning wheel in a 15th Century wood-panelled hall in front of a roaring fire. Ahhhh....

But enough of the round robin - we've got interesting news to impart. As the Ostara issue of our newsletter states (click here to sign up - it's never too late to join you know) we've been busy arranging fun things to do. Fancy learning how to make traditional lye-based soap? Come and join us at Brazier's Park this Easter and we'll show you how.

We're also planning to attend some rather groovy event this year to sell our wares. We'll be at Gaia3 and Resonance, and we have another one up our sleeve that we'll tell you about in due course. Check out our shiny new events page for more details.

And - I've saved the best til last - our Ostara soap is now on the shelves. It's a gorgeous (I can say that cos I didn't make it - Bex did) Robin's egg blue and white. It looks kinda like a peaceful spring sky and it smells divine. Grab some while you can at Treadwell's - it's gonna sell like hot (cross) cakes!

Right - I think I'd better go and lie down....

Rebecca (on behalf of The Rebeccas)
http://www.hedgewitcheskitchen.co.uk

As always we have been working hard in the soap mines and we have an announcement to make - from Imbolc we will be sending regular newsletters out to our customers keeping you updated with our news and other bits and pieces of interest. We hope to include a list of the craft fairs (and the Craft fairs ;oP) that we will be stallholders at in 2007.

Click on this link and insert your email address in the box on the left of the page to sign up for our newsletter.

We also thought it would be nice to let you know that we have a new soap out in Treadwell's in honour of the sabbat. Get 'em while you can.... I'm on my way over there to put them out on display now!

Rebecca W
http://www.hedgewitcheskitchen.co.uk

I'm curious.

Who out there in LJ land uses an almanac? Any favourites?

A couple of years ago I had a lovely one from Elfin (http://www.elfindiaries.co.uk/) which was great, although I found that I would always become so engrossed in the planetary information and other tidbits on the page that I would never remember to actually use the thing as a diary. I found it hard to keep in my head "11am meeting with boss, 3pm venus squares moon, pluto turns retrograde, 7pm buy carrots and walk dog". My brain just couldn't cope.

Now I'm eyeing up a herbal almanac from *whispers* Llewellyn and wondering if it will be any good, or simply too fluffy for words?
(http://www.amazon.com/2007-Herbal-Almanac-Llewellyn/dp/0738703281)

The cover *is* kinda pretty... but I can't see inside, and won't all the transit information be geared towards the States anyway?

So... who uses an almanac? Do you just rely on the web these days? Might a wall planner style calendar from Elfin work? I had a lunar calendar on my wall a couple of years ago and it *was* beautiful, but...

*sigh*

I never used to have this much trouble writing a *Christ*-mas list ;oP


Rebecca W
(without her HWK hat on)

We are very pleased with ourselves in the soap vaults of the Hegdewitches' Kitchen. We have been working very hard behind the scenes lately updating our online catalogue in time for Yule.

From today you can buy all of the gorgeous cold-processed soap that you see on sale at Treadwell's, from our website! We have also added some new goodies, including natural sea sponges and soap tins to put your soapies in.

Also, check out our seasonal soap page for a selection of soaps made specifically for Yule. Surprise your coven with a selection of seasonal sabbat soaps! ;o)


The Rebeccas
http://www.hedgewitcheskitchen.co.uk

And so it came to pass that Rebecca had to leave that place which she called home and venture forth to find another place. Where she might make soap, and practice hedgewitchery, and not be late for work due to excessive commuting.

Do you know of such a place?

I work in Kingston, and I don't drive, so I need to find somewhere with reasonable rent, decent storage space, that is also served by public transport to Kingston and central London. Oh, and if it has a garden, then that would be fantastic.... but that last part's probably wishful thinking.

If you'd like to know more about me, I'd be happy to talk via email or meet you one evening at Treadwell's Bookshop.