I love Mondays and the fresh starts that they bring each week.   This morning, while I organize my notes and pictures from a weekend visit to the New York Gift Fair (in preparation for sharing later today) I hope you enjoy Studio’g's newest contributor’s first post.  Jen Sundeen is one my dearest friends and partners in crime.  We are going to spend this year exploring all manner of earth based celebrations, recreating them where we can, attending them, documenting them and bringing you along for the fun.  The hope is that trough this exploration we will, ourselves, have more than a few great stories and adventures to share, and that we will inspire you to also use ancient and cultural rituals and seasonal celebrations to enrich your own lives and help you to have a greater connection to the natural world around you.  This isn’t a religious experiment, and while there are lots of beliefs tied into this, our goal is to learn about history and many cultures, to highlight land based ceremonies and wisdom and generally keep the focus on those things whose origins are based in agriculture and seasonality.  If we missed something that you think we should share, let us know in an email (we are always up for discovering something new!).  We are calling it Kiss the Earth and the first post is about Wassailing.

It was a cold moonless January night, the snow barely blanketing the frozen earth.  We solemnly stole our way out to the ancient apple tree, standing alone amidst a circle of candles.  The dried gourd from last year’s harvest held hot mulled cider, its steamy breath warming the air.  The bread was dipped in the cider and gently hung on the branches.   And then, without warning, a great howl filled the air.  The wild ruckus had begun…

OK, in truth, it was a new apple tree, two years young, and in truth, the ruckus was just a few of us moms and kids, laughing and dancing, but it was Wassail after all, and anything goes on this fabulous mid-Winter’s eve.

A ritual that began a long time ago in the days of old Great Britain, Wassail is a fertility festival that is meant to awaken the trees from their slumber and ensure a fruitful year ahead.  Blending it’s pagan roots with later Christian celebrations, it is part of the Yule festival and celebrated on Twelfth Night, January 5th, or in some places as late as January 17.  It is a time of revelry, of merry-making, marking the true end of the holiday season.

The word ‘wassail’ is a toast meaning ‘a drink to your health’ or ‘in good health,’ the Saxon equivalent of ‘cheers’ or ‘salut.’  It later came to be known as the warm spiced drink such as mulled cider or spiced wine used to toast the health of apple trees for the upcoming year.  Both traditionally – and even today – in villages across the globe, Wassail enthusiasts gather around an old apple tree in January.  A wassail bowl is filled with warm cider or wine.  Evil spirits are warded off with shouts and howls, gunshots or the banging on kettles.  The spirits of robins and other small birds are fed by dipping bread into the warm cider and placing them in the crooks of branches.   Cider is poured onto the roots of the apple tree in honor of the upcoming year’s harvest.  Mummers’ plays, a crowned king and queen, singing, music, dancing, costumes, and great bonfires are all part of the revelry.

While our first attempt at the Wassail celebration was rather…interpretive, to say the least, it sure was fun to empty the gourds and mull the cider and dance around the tree and howl in the wind.  No doubt the thousands of apple trees in our village awoke that night, and we’re pretty sure the bountiful harvest that’s undoubtedly coming will be on account of our debauchery.  We’ll be sure to report back at harvest-time this September. – Jen

Jen is preparing an ‘In the garden With….’ post so that you can all get to know her a little bit better, but until then, make sure to visit the writers page as I have just updated it to include her bio! -Rochelle

images by Rochelle Greayer, and from real cider and ceremonial magic.

As I am planning my spring seed purchases and plotting where they will be planted, I am also considering an advancement in my kitchen library.  This new Phaidon Book (I always have a soft spot for the Design-y nature of Phaidon books) is really grabbing my eye.  Vegetables from an Italian Garden: Season-by-Season Recipes, has me quite curious; Do any of you have a copy and perhaps have an opinion to render?

here is the description of the book…..

“…400 delicious recipes showcasing over 40 different kinds of vegetles newly collected by the editors behind the classic Italian cooking bible, The Silver Spoon. Authentic and easy-to-use, the book will reveal how Italians use vegetles year-round to prepare simple yet crowd-pleasing dishes.

The book is organized by season in four color-coded sections (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter) to help you conveniently browse for recipes by time of year….”

sounds so great, right?

I am so excited for these ladies, and given their obvious high level of general chutzpah I think that we have probably been best friends in a past life (and perhaps need to become BFFs in this one).   Their story is simple, they moved their design business to a new building in Greenpoint Brooklyn (NY) and found out that their landlord was going to lease the empty lot next door to become a parking pad.   So they stepped in and with a kickstarter campaign raised over $23,000 to take over the lease and create an urban community garden. Rock on!

Note: for some reason video embedding is being a bit funky today — so I am going to have to send you here to check out their awesome video about the project.

You can follow their progress (as I will be doing) on their tumblr blog and on their facebook page and on their business site - domestic construction.

Their plans involve a place to grow food – complete with geodesic greenhouse for winter production, a bunny hut, and what they are calling a lounging hill (because Greenpark apparently doesn’t have enough hills — and quite frankly we all know every garden needs a lounging spot and place to take it all in).

Dive into the gallery to see more of their progress.   I am so happy that there are people like Maureen and Trish in the world!

Happy Winter!  My mind is a jumble this morning as I am listening to a remarkable video (which I will share in a few minutes) and thinking about the New Year ( I always feel that today – the day after the winter solstice –  is much more of a new beginning than January 1st).  What’s on your mind?  Last minute holiday preparations?  The lengthening days and what life will bring in the lightening days?  Something else entirely?

image from Wolfie and the Sneak at Poppytalk.

I love Willie Nelson — always have, always will….even considered being him for halloween this year, before going in another direction… (foreshadowing next year – perhaps?)

Anyway, I recently saw Real Steel (pretty good) and one of the most memorable things from the show was this preview commercial.

My top 5 list of things I love about this:

1) Willie Nelson + Coldplay = Awesome – New fav. on ipod  - [repeat].

2) The “Scientist” lyrics = perfect frame for Factory Farming debate.

3) Terrific short –totally engaging right from the first moment, no idea where it is going, then it hits you at minue 1:30 – perfect.

4) Those pigs are the cutest little animated things ever.

5) Really, this is a Chipotle video? The same that was controlled by McD’s? The same that serves up my favorite barbacoa?  Is this really true?

This farmers market manager, local eating, garden loving chic is all over that.

Still lacking internet access– so I’m quickly sharing something that I have been meaning to for soo soo long. These images were from Elle Decor a few months back but I am still lusting after this garden and way of life.
1) Is this not the most amazing firepit? I love the idea of using glass for the backrest leaving a clear view of the ocean beyond. I wonder if you get used to leaning on what visually seems like nothing?

2) A breakfast bar set up to the outside. Genius, and utterly perfect in southern California. If I didn’t live in a place where weather regularly causes us to loose power and internet access for days, I would have this sort of set up.

images via elle decor