Madron 2020

Last Tuesday (22nd September) it was Madron (more commonly known as Mabon) aka the Autumn Equinox. As I mentioned in the Baking for Madron post, my main celebration was baking. I made gingerbread cookie bars with cream cheese icing and I also baked some bread the day before. 

The gingerbread cookie bars are from Handle the Heat. Here's the recipe: https://www.handletheheat.com/gingerbread-cookie-bars-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

It was quite nice but a bit of a crumbly texture. Maybe because it's more biscuit/cookie like than a cake. Here's are a couple of pictures: 

After I'd cut a piece.

 

I used treacle instead of molasses because it's more widely available in the UK, and is similar. I also added some golden syrup because I've found in the past that cakes with black treacle in are a bit heavy for me. 

On Monday (the day before Madron) I baked some maple oatmeal bread. I find it easier to do it on a separate day to my other baking, because baking bread can be a bit complicated! The recipe is from Don't Waste the Crumbs:  https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/yummy-recipe-maple-oatmeal-bread/

I last made bread for Lammas, but it didn't rise! This time it did though. Here's a pic:

 

I liked it but perhaps it could have done with more salt. It has maple syrup and oatmeal/porridge in. I had some just after I made it, and more on Madron with cheese, pickle and a chicken salad for my lunch. I had some Bunderberg ginger beer to drink. I just came across it recently; it's Australian so maybe they've only just started doing it in the UK.

I also watched Tess Whitehurst's A Message for Mabon 2020 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiGJvSng-2Q (Post was gone but I've linked to the video itself)

I'd planned to go up to my local nature reserve at sunset to take some pictures (something I like to do for sabbats) but the weather wasn't very good. I did go the next evening and there wasn't much of a sunset but some clear skies. It was really cold up there! Here's a photo: 

Mill Hill, Shoreham-by-sea.

I'm glad I went there though. I hadn't been able to go much in recent months, but did go on Lammas. 

So now we're officially in autumn. I've really been feeling a shift in the past few days, it's gone colder and more autumnal. Also, the days are noticeably shorter. But hopefully we'll still have nice weather for a while yet. 

I hope you had a good Madron/Mabon! (Or Oestara/Ostara if you celebrated that!). :) I feel like the year seemed to be dragging during the spring and summer, especially because it's been a difficult one for basically everyone. But on the other hand, it feels weird that we're now in the last quarter of it. The next sabbat will be Samhain (also Hallowe'en) and that marks the start of the darker season, and moving towards winter. While winter isn't my fave season I do like autumn and Samhain is my favourite sabbat apart from Lammas, so I'm looking forward to it. I'll do a post with ideas for celebrating/inspiration next month.

Happy Autumn! (Or Happy Spring!). :)

 

If you'd like some autumn inspiration check out these posts: 

Celebrating Madron + Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/celebrating-madron-autumn.html

Autumn Photos + Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/10/autumn-photos-inspiration.html

Summer Photos + Preparing for Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/09/summer-photos-preparing-for-autumn.html

 

P.S. If it's spring where you are, you might like these posts:

Celebrating Oestara + Spring: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/03/celebrating-oestara-spring.html

Preparing for Spring + Spring Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/03/preparing-for-spring-spring-inspiration.html

Oestara + Spring Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/03/oestara-spring-inspiration.html