So you may by now have guessed, I romped through April, skipped through the first week of May 'just a little tired round the edges', staggered over the finishing line that was a (surprisingly successful) Welshpool car boot sale and patted myself on the back for remembering to take a single rest day on the May bank hol. I then managed half a day of attempted normality before the extent of my exhaustion became increasingly unavoidable and I ended up practically bed bound for the rest of the week.
Well, that's a bit of a work in progress... But happily he also counsels that 'since you cannot become a Buddha merely by understanding Dharma' you should 'practice earnestly'. And I'm certainly getting plenty of practice, even realising that understanding is a bit slow in the development some times! I shall be attempting a somewhat more measured May (although we're already half way through!) and June, enjoying the next dates in the season for many of the events we attended in recent weeks. At the top of this page you can find the locations of our upcoming stalls and dates when the honesty box will be open. Do check those before making a special trip, sometimes we have to make changes... To avoid double booking and exhaustion! Thanks for reading... Until next time! Xx 
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For me, meditation is always an experiment. Never the same, not always predictable. It's about building awareness of what is actually happening in my experience, in a world that most of the rest of my time encourages me to be distracted from it. I hope you feel able to find around 25 minutes to join me on an experimental journey into balance and equanimity! If you find the practice supportive or beneficial, please consider supporting Earth Heart Holistic by making a donation at Buy me a Coffee. Thank you! Xx
We were very excited to offer our latest adventure in sound to the Forever Cacao Club community at the March Cacao Club last Friday! Titled The Birth of Tara, it weaves together the chants of Avalokiteshvara and Green Tara with Raga Bhimpalasi in Alap. Cacao Club is the monthly event held by Forever Cacao, a small, artisan chocolate company who have a direct and highly responsible trade relationship with the Ashaninka community in Peru who in turn harvest, ferment and dry the wild grown, organic cacao that is then shipped to a small Welsh village (not very far from us at all), for alchemising into pure, ceremonial grade cacao and award winning chocolate bars. Annabeth discovered Cacao Club at the end of 2019 and says "it was the first time I'd found a regular place to go sober dancing since I stopped drinking every weekend after losing one of my best mates to alcoholism. The (highly unpretentious) ritual evening begins with a meditative cup of freshly prepared cacao before launching into a few hours of dancing courtesy of the accomplished resident DJ Pablo (who also just so happens to make the cacao), and is rounded up beautifully by a variety of practitioners offering healing sound baths to integrate the evening. Finding Cacao Club was an unrestrained delight and it's become a highlight of my month ever since." So, it was an honour and a privilege for us to bring our latest journey to the event and we hope to do it again some time! For now, you can immerse yourself in the gentle melodic waves of our final practice before the night here (and listen out for Lacey the cat purring her approval at the end)!
Time has been doing that strange thing where it feels long and short all at the same time! In some ways it feels like a really long time ago that we were in full Christmas Market flow... And in other ways I can't quite believe the snowdrops are over, the daffs are bouncing merrily at the roadside and I've been making plans for baking in the first week of April! Our roadside honesty box will be the first place you can find hot cross buns and vegan versions of those little shredded wheat nest cakes... The first weekend of the month. Vegan mini egg variant or candied almonds is the question remaining. "Sounds like you need to run some tests" says Nik!
To be honest, when Nik first presented me with celeriac, I had no idea what to do with the strange, alien root. I'd never really encountered it before. I might even have avoided it once or twice, but I've warmed up to it now and this soup has been a part of that process. So, if you're as baffled as I was by the poor old knobbly celeriac, this recipe might just be for you! To make this soup as a filling and generous meal for two (depending on your appetite) or a side for more (depending upon what you're serving it with) you'll need a small squash and a couple of small celeriac, a baby leek, a cup of red lentils, a lemon, some olive oil and plenty of fresh ground black pepper and sea salt. That's it. Making the Soup...
To do this, I halve and deseed the squash and chop the peeled celeriac into fairly small, bite size chunks. The halves of squash act as handy bowls to submerge the chopped leek in the oil and help prevent it burning whilst the flesh absorbs all the flavour. Additionally, once the flesh is scooped out, the skins are delicious either sliced and re-roasted to make a sort of plant jerky or stuffed and served with rice and salad. Why throw that delicacy away!? Anyway, I digress... However you're preparing the veg, drizzle it in a little olive oil and season it with salt and pepper before popping it in a good, hot oven. While the veg is roasting, you can be boiling and skimming the lentils, and knocking up a batch of wholesome rolls to go with the soup (sorry, I'm showing off now). It'll take 30 to 40 minutes to roast the squash and celeriac at full temperature, depending on your oven. When the veg is tender, scoop the squash flesh and leek pieces out (do let them cool a bit first!) and stir them into the lentils with the celeriac chunks and a little more salt and pepper. Let them simmer on low for half an hour or so whilst you prepare the kale by slicing it and gently coating it in more olive oil and a good grind of sea salt. These like to be spread thinly on a baking tray and roasted at about 180°c for 15 to 20 minutes. If you've got a fan oven, it'll go much quicker, I used to crouch by my fan oven, sprung and ready to dive at the critical moment between 'crisp' and 'cremated'! It's good if you can time this for the serving of the soup but if you make them in advance, they might need a little re-crisp (exercising the same caution) just before service.
Serve with a big smile and warm, fresh crusty bread. Oh, and a spoon. You'll probably need one of those. Having said that, slurping it straight from the bowl would be pretty indulgent and I'd highly approve. Go for it!
They're finally here! This week I took delivery of the first fifty copies of my new poetry collection, A Year of Death and Life in the Tanat Valley. How exciting!
I always try and make sure January is a time of gentle, quiet rest and introspection but in taking that time to hibernate a little, I also find rich opportunity to invest time in creative projects and it's often at this time of year that I find time to collate a year's worth of poems, edit, whittle, select, illustrate and finally self publish.
And if that wasn't exciting enough, this isthe first post to our new blog on the brand new, earthheart.co.uk, the other little January project I've been nibbling away at! You'll still be able to find all 2024's posts; recipes, musings, updates and (old) news at glittermouse.co.uk for the time being, but watch this space for all the new news and updates for Earth Heart through 2025 and beyond! Xx
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