Lammas 2022

Last week it was Lammas (Monday 1st August, although some may celebrate on 31st July on 2nd Aug). As I said in my Happy Lammas! post, my main celebration for this sabbat is baking. This year I made my usual gingerbread (I was inspired to make it for Lammas by the book The Real Witches' Kitchen by Kate West).

For the past few years, I've used this BBC Food recipe (I used to use the recipe on the back of the Tesco light brown soft sugar packet, but they stopped putting it on there!): https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gingerbread_men_99096

I iced them (just made up an icing sugar with icing sugar and water). Here's a pic:

 

 

I also baked some bread. I made Man Bread, which I first made in 2019. I baked it the day before, since I just found it a bit too stressful baking too any things in one day! Here's the recipe: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/90-minute-man-bread/

It's 90 minutes and easier to make than some breads. It was after making it that I was inspired to bake bread more often. Before that I'd made some in 2010 and then not again for 7 years! lol. I baked a loaf for Lammas 2017, using an old Tesco recipe and I was quite pleased with how it came out. The next year I used a bread mix but since I found the man bread recipe easier, I now bake it more often, sometimes for Madron as well.

The bread didn't rise as well as the first time, but still came out quite nice. Here's a picture: 

 

 

I had some after I'd baked it and more the next day as part of a Ploughman's for lunch, along with cheese and pickle, and also tortilla chips and dip (the tortilla chips aren't part of a traditional Ploughman's though! lol). I also had some Thatcher's cider to drink up but ended forgetting about it on the day, so I had some the next day! 

In the evening on Lammas, I went up to my favourite nature reserve on a hill at sunset. I went for a walk and took some pictures. It was more of a gentle sunset but still quite nice. Here are a couple of photos:

 

Mill Hill, Shoreham-by-sea.

When I got back, I lit a candle since Lammas is a fire festival, orange for "sun colours". Here's a picture:

 

The rainbows are bday decorations I left up!

So now it's August and we have one full month of summer left. It seems to be going quickly! We had a heatwave in mid-July and then the weather cooled down, but another is forecast for this week. There is a hospipe ban in some parts of Sussex but not in West Sussex and Brighton and Hove currently (it's mainly in Kent, I think). Hope everyone stays safe and as cool as possible! :) 

The next sabbat will be Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox in September. I'll probably do a post about it nearer the time. And then it will be officially autumn! I can already see a shift with the days getting shorter and the light changing. I feel a bit sad at the thought of autumn coming (although I like it too) but there's still quite a lot of summer to go!

Hope you had a good Lammas and that you enjoy the rest of summer! (Or hope you had a good Imbolg/Imbolc and you enjoy the rest of winter!) :)