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My Transformation: A Guest blog from my Apprentice

On the eve of the anniversary of her apprenticeship, I asked my now journeywoman to write up something about her experience so far. Hopefully I can get her to contribute more to the blog in future. Hint, hint...


"Looking back on myself one year ago I am surprised to see a girl that is totally unfamiliar to me now. She resembles me slightly and has my shape, but her presence is that of a shadow. Today is the one year anniversary of my meeting with Trey, commencing my path and taking the first step away from that shadow of me. The difference between my former self and my current self is daunting to me at times and I have to pinch myself every once in a while! Taking on this traditional apprenticeship had provided me with much more than I had anticipated for: it has taught me unexpected skills and transformed me into an empowered woman. I had not only been able to change the direction of my life, but have unburied lost parts of me, and have defined, organized and prioritized myself and my future. Before never feeling that it was proper to call myself a woman, now I have that power and surety: I have arrived.

The old me, like most of my peers, was lost within the world trying to find my spot, not really sure where to put our efforts and energy. Usually my job choices ended up between other zombies on cooking lines following patterns designed by a superior. For many reasons I had decided that life in the kitchen was not for me, and walked away short some of my thumb, and bearing many scars. I had attempted to purse my happiness by working at a stable, and being around the horses was enough to satisfy for the time being. This did come at a cost, as most mindless tasks do, for I was running on a schedule not of my own and treating horses in a way I did not agree with. Never mind having to cross the large city of Edmonton in a mad rush every morning. Followed with the mad rush home to continue the endless jobs of cooking, cleaning and some quality mother-son time and that was never enough. Missing my little one was the worst. Oh, and I had an evening job too. This was my life and I was content with the choices I made but still it was just not good enough; I had craved for something more. I was really starting to feel trapped, more like I didn’t belong and was considering a move out of country. Then I saw the ad. A woman was looking for an apprentice in traditional healing which had my attention quickly. In the past when I was shown opportunities like these I rarely follow up on them, mostly because I was unmotivated, but I was propelled to respond as if by some guided force, and got to meet with Trey.

Since I was already in search for something greater it was really easy to adapt to all the new things I was being shown. One might say: I was easily programmable. Eventually I had quit the job at the stable and my night job and devoted my time to this work. Because I had the devotion and determination my transformation had happened much quicker than it could have. I went from being an unsure adolescent, to a competent businesswoman, aware of her own abilities, always looking to improve and radiating with confidence! Well I’ll be honest; I’m still working on my confidence but it has much improved. Not only did I re-write my persona but working with a traditional healer entails all sorts of great health benefits! I am in fantastic health now both physically and mentally. I have been able to sort through the mess that is inside my head. More importantly I’ve learnt to identify some of the things causing those messes, and stopped putting crap inside of my body and mind. Since I’ve done this my brain has been much more efficient, and my senses have all been heightened.

This improvement on myself as a whole, and the skills I have learnt made me realize that I have more worth than I have previously given myself credit for. And this lesson is the most important one that Trey has taught me. I haven’t even mentioned the history lessons, religious studies and people skills I’ve learnt!

One thing that didn’t change as drastically was my aspirations. I have always wanted the same thing and still do, but the scene has changed slightly. Now I envision myself not only fulfilling my desires but I see the purpose of my actions to have so much more meaning now. I’m making a difference in the world. Me. My voice is being heard and I can make things happen. I’ve realized the importance of protecting our Earth and how loud our voices can be. It isn’t a surprise that I have developed an appreciation for all that is handmade! It’s hard bloody work to make gloves, soaps, candy and chocolate contrary to popular belief, and this impression that such our goods should come cheap upsets me greatly now. Now I feel empowered and can put my empathy in the proper places to use it effectively.

My skills have increased a great deal and the priorities of which skills I want to learn first have shifted around a lot. I always have had the interest to acquire certain abilities, such as sewing, baking, wood working and leather working, but now they are much higher on my list of things to do. This is because I know that these skills will take me much closer to my visions and goals than any of my previous ambitions.

I have also taken steps to achieve all that I want much quicker than what I would have done without this change in my life. I have just bought a house, launched my career in the Green Party and started my own business; I should mention that I’m twenty two years old. And I was able to make this happen. A feat that I had never believed I could do, especially when Trey had first mentioned it. When she had mentioned it the second and third time I still refused to believe it. Even now I still am having difficulties believing it - shock perhaps?

My life has been completely and irrevocably changed in the past year, and I’ve never felt better! The possibilities are endless and I can spend many lifetimes learning all that I want to, I’m still discovering how to be selective. My old self could never have dreamt of a future like the one I’m building, and I most definitely would not have thought to stand up before. It is now much more difficult to sit down and not say or do anything than it was. I am equipped with the tools to make my living doing what I want to do: to live in abundance like I have never imagined and to make a difference in the world. I have endless gratitude towards the woman who had guided me this far, for I could not have done this within a year without Trey, and I can only hope to be as good to my apprentices as she has been to me."

How to Brew your Medicinal Tea: A Quick Refresher!

I include these instructions with every herb purchase from my shop.  It's the quick version to get the most benefit out of herbs for those who are just starting out.

Suggested dosage: Begin with one teaspoon of herb per cup of water, then adjust for taste and effect desired. As some herbs do not fall to the bottom, we recommend using a tea baller or cheesecloth.

To get the most out of your medicinal tea, use fresh and cold, spring or distilled water.

To change the flavor, herbs may be blended with other herbal teas, such as peppermint, fennel, lemon balm, etc. without loss of potency. Any unprocessed sweetener can also be used in your tea, such as honey, maple sugar, stevia, etc. For maximum benefit, we do not recommend white or brown sugar.

Herbs, Leaves, and Flowers (Infusion or Tisane)

Measure out herb into cup or pot. Heat water in kettle. Pour into teapot or cup as soon as it begins to boil. Place saucer or lid over tea for 5 to 10 minutes for proper infusion. Drink immediately.

Hard Barks, Roots, and Berries (Decoction)

We recommend dedicating a small saucepan as your herb pot. It must be non-metallic, as metal will react with your brewing herb. A glass or enamel pan is best. Bring water to a boil, then drop in your herb. Turn down heat. Let simmer for 10-20 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the herb. Drink immediately. For the quicker version, add herbs to pot, bring to boil, then immediately turn off burner and let cool.  Works best if you are brewing a bigger batch and are going to finish the rest of the concoction over a day or two and can therefore afford to let it sit.

To make enough for several days:

Use the same amount of water as for a single serving but double or triple the amount of herb and brew as usual. Place in glass or ceramic container, never metal or plastic, and refrigerate. It will keep for about 3 days. To use, do not reheat but add several teaspoons as desired to juice, herbal teas, and other natural beverages.
 
One can be very creative with herbs, and many forms of ingestion exist. I know many who eat both fresh and dried herbs for the medicinal benefits, sometimes as food, infused in oils, make into candies and treats, brewed into alcohol, or just straight out of a bag! Sometimes it's easier to incorporate herbs in your lifestyle by making only a very few changes. For example, putting the fresh, dried, or ground herbs in your espresso maker or your French press coffee machine gets a significant amount of the herbs' water-soluble components in your ordinary daily brew! (I currently have Horsetail and Ginseng in my special blend. If you come to my house for coffee, ask for regular grind.) It doesn't work so well in the drip kinds, of course.

Herbs have been our primary form of medicine for thousands of years, and humans have gotten very creative with them. They can be so easy to use, and can provide such great benefits! It requires so very little effort; you simply have no excuse not to discover how easily herb use can integrate into your lifestyle!

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Etsy Finds: Eco Friendly All Around

Homebrewed Mead: Traditional Yule



After adding everything together, and before the cloth on top!

My apprentice and I just made mead, and it wasn't nearly that much of a trial as some authors seemed to imply.  I personally think it's easier than canning, which frankly makes me nervous. You almost can't screw up making mead, and it's one of the most sacred and magical tasks we do here in the Medieval Still Room that connects us to our ancestors.  My husband pronounced it as the best concoction to come out of the brewing room yet!

Mead is possibly one of the first alcoholic beverages and has achieved legendary status among many pagans and historical re-enactors as the traditional guest drink of Northern Europe - the beverage of Beowulf, the Viking Norse and the Halls of Valhalla. Druids and Odinists alike embrace it as a extant example of traditional lifestyle and tech, as well as a communion with the culture of the ancestors. Yule, the Norse sacred holiday of Solstice, is not the same without this divine gift of the Gods. Since our modern pagan and Christian traditions were largely lifted wholesale from Yule, in our household, especially as pagans of North European descent, our down home Holly Days cannot be complete without a fine flowing of mead.

Mead is mostly honey based, of course. The yeast can't as easily digest the honey as it can some other sources of sugar, like dextrose or sucrose, so in modern times, either another type of sugar or a chemical nutriment is added to help feed the yeast. We wanted to be a bit more purist, so we added a fruit to our mead, making it technically a melomel rather than a pure mead. The apple tree produced more than enough apples this year, so our fruit component was an easy choice. To help access the nutrients, a bit of acid is recommended, usually lemon, so we included that as well.

Like country wines, many recipes suggest bread yeast for mead.  However, since the alcohol component for mead is higher due to the sugars, we chose the recommended champagne yeast. "Beer or bread yeast may essentially be paralyzed when the alcohol concentration reaches 6% to 8% alcohol. Wine yeast can normally tolerate at least 12% to 14% alcohol, and the hardier varieties (with a little help) will get to 18% or so." 1 We do use bread yeast in our country wines and vinegars, which is selected to act quicker but can leave a slightly bread tasty flavour, mostly because it's darn cheap and readily available. However, bread yeast would simply not be able to continue brewing in the mead environment. We also use filtered or reverse osmosis water in all our brewing, mostly to keep out the chlorine. Not only is it detectable to my palette, chlorine is included to inhibit bacteria growth, not exactly what we are going for here...

With that in mind, it was really such a simple process. We melted the unpasteurized honey, fresh and cheap from our local Farmer's Market, and some of the water in a pot. While it cooled, we washed and prepared the apples by cutting them up into fairly big pieces and cutting off all the nasty bits that might ruin the brewing process. We didn't bother to peel them, and I think we even used windfall! We popped those into a big glass gallon jar, like one of those restaurant pickle jars, and once the honey water was reasonably cool, we poured it in with a bit of lemon, the yeast, and enough water to fill it nearly to the top, and did a gentle but thorough stirring. Don't forget to leave enough space at the top to ensure that the brew doesn't gurgle over the edge in it's enthusiasm! We then covered our mixture with a clean rag tightened with an elastic band, which we took off once per day in order to stir the brew.

After the bubbling was noticeably halted, we got out our big funnel, stuffed it with a bit of cheesecloth to filter, and poured the brew into a cider jug. The gravity method, as in letting the apples sit for a bit in the funnel, got out nearly all of the apple bits and other detritus. I suppose we could have used those now alcohol soaked apples for something, like some decadent dessert, but they just went into the compost. Bunging up our remaining liquid with an airlock, we just left the poor neglected thing on the shelf until it cleared up, the yeast fell mostly to the bottom, and the bubbling went down to only two per minute. And it still took about a month!

For bottling, though it's not as traditional, we decided that we wanted sparkling mead, so when we siphoned and re-filtered, we just used old pop bottles that we still had the caps for. I didn't want to dilute our brew, so we plopped in carbonation drops into each bottle rather than use more sugared water to carbonate. We did taste some of the bit on the bottom of the jar, of course, and it was truly sublime. The darn things should be magnificent by Yule, and they are the perfect beverage to bring out for something very special. Even better than our handmade cider! Although it might compare to the applejack I'm making from that...

It really is a snap. Each part of the process only takes about an hour, and you can make as small or as large a batch as you have the equipment and patience for. We didn't even bother to boil the water or honey! Though we did sanitize every bit of equipment before we used it... Helps keep down the chance of souring...

For those of you who want to try this sacred and ancient beverage at home, here's the recipe we used.

3 lbs honey
3 cups water

Heated until it melted in a stainless steel pot. (Though glass or enamel are always more recommended, to reduce the chance of reactions with your brew, especially if you use herbs or spices in your blend!)

6 - 10 apples
lemon juice or concentrate
champagne yeast
enough filtered water to fill jar


Wash, cut, and groom apples, though peeling is not necessary. Fill a layer or two on the bottom of your glass gallon container with apples. Pour in cooled water/honey mixture. Add 2 Tbsp. of lemon concentrate (we used certified organic), one package of champagne yeast, and fill up the remainder of your container almost to the top with water. Leave some amount at the top for bubbling, or it will overflow. Cover with a clean, not too thick cloth, and tighten with a rubber band.

Stir every day. After about a week or two, the bubbling will appear to be gone. Filter into another glass container that you can stopper with an airlock. Let sit for another month, checking the bubbling occasionally. When it's down to about one bubble a minute, bottle it by siphoning the brew out of it's container until just before it hits the crud on the bottom. If you choose not to sparkle it, it will have no grouts on the bottom of the bottles, and you can drink as is, without concerning yourself with the type of jars you need. Masons will do, though not terribly classy...

If you wish your mead to be sparkling, like we did, it's only slightly more complicated. Adding more honey water or sugar water stimulates the yeast back into action, and creates more bubbling. As it does so, just like homebrewed beer, it will generate more grouts on the bottom of the bottle, so be careful when pouring it out. Only use bottles designed to handle the pressure, like beer or pop bottles, and make sure you do your calculations right, or your bottles may explode! Carbonation drops take out the guesswork of making up a sugar water addition, but they are highly processed sugary drops. I didn't want a water dilution, so we opted for those.

Because honey is harder for the yeast to digest than sugar, it does take far longer for mead to brew than beer or wine.  We suspect that without nutrient or fruit added, ancient mead makers may have just put it in a barrel or pot and forgotten about it for a year or so.  We just opened one of the bottles from the batch we started in September, and it only just began to get bubbly!  But it was sooo amazingly good... So be patient with your mead, and to keep yourself from cracking it open, try a new recipe in your gallon jar almost as soon as you bottle up the last one.  This time we have apples and fresh ginger!  It already smell like ambrosia...

Even after it's done, remember:  the longer you leave your mead to sit in the secondary fermentor with the air lock, or in the bottles, the better it will taste!  So by all means drink as much as you can for the holidays, but save a bottle or two for Imbolc or Midsummer.  As one of the mead makers for your gatherings, you will always be one of the popular guests! 

I find it even easier to brew mead than beer.  Even for those who haven't tried making home brewed beer or wine yet, mead is truly inspiring beverage that has loosened the tongues of Gods, and giving the bardic gift to mortals for centuries.  Lift up your glasses!  Got Yul!