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SNEEK PEAK.
It’s been a long road to arrive at this point.
But here we are ready to launch the new look of @themulticulturedclub and our first offering: a range of kimchis which reflect our cultural diversity.
With great help from funders such as #liveherelovehere allowing us to explore food waste to #awardsforall from the @nationallotterygoodcauses and @unltduk we have explored what it looks like to become a social enterprise to support those with direct experience of the asylum system here in Northern Ireland.
It’s been full of highs and lows.
Hard work and difficult times.
You will find us @vaultartistsni Christmas market on Dec 3rd & 4th sharing kimchi the likes of which you may not have ever tried before.
Come say hello.
Support local.
Every jar you buy will have direct impact on our volunteers. Every jar you enjoy has direct impact on your well-being.
#winwin they call it
💗
SAVE THE DATE
How are we settling into the autumn?
The season of great change,
of rot and decay.
Having just traversed through Samhain we are reminded of death and our ancestors and on this eve particularly I remember my mother and her dance with death.
For her, it was the best case scenario of a life concluding surrounded by those she loved and who loved her.
For me deep it was a profound, entangled, beautiful, encounter welcoming death into my life which I had been prepping for.
I had just returned from Plum Village, France where I had been immersed in mindful teachings and lucky the teachings of The Maranasati meditation had landed in my consciousness.
This meditation is really quite simple: you pretend you’re dead. That your body is a corpse, rotting and returning to the Earth thorough all its composting stages.
If that sounds strange, disgusting actually, but it shouldn’t. It happens to all of us—whether we embrace death or cringe from it.
While we see nature decaying all round us, so shall we, a fate we can never escape.
I can still clearly remember a particularly deep murky relaxation where I envisaged lying beside my mothers’ decaying corpse. It sounds horrendous but it was deeply liberating.
We should not fear death. Yes, it is the end of conscious life, which admittedly is hard and difficult and filled with grief, but understanding that it is a natural part of life is where the joy lies.
And in the great Buddhist way of non-attachment you can indeed enjoy life more fully with this awareness .
I am not sad.
I remember her with great joy and today I celebrate.
(I have no idea who the art work is by, but thank you to the unknown artist, it says everything to me about this meditation)
From EAST to WEST you can find vinegar made from all sorts.
Diversity makes the world spin for me and vinegar is a taste that adds a bit of magic to a dish. That’s without even going into the health benefits.
In our Cultured club HQ we have been fermenting the abundance of fruit, which to my joy, is gifted every autumn.
This time we have plums, blackberries, ok I picked them myself, apples, raspberries and damsons.
We will delve into this corner of fermentation to equip you with some beginning skills to start your own exploration. The dance between yeast and bacteria begins.
We have only been fermenting since the dawn of civilisation but yet everytime it feels new and exciting.
We will be joined by @mariamooneyhealth who will do a little systemic Kinesiology just to see if this is what you really need right now!!
This workshop is full, but the following Sunday session on winter tonics will certainly harness the benefits of vinegar and offer a quick (very quick) recap.
This is part of the magic of fermentation. Not only does it transform one thing to another, but it weaves in and out of many uses.
Until we find a new abode for our Cultured HQ, these are the last live demo/practical classes I will be offering not only for 2022 but maybe for some time!
The future is a mystery. That’s what makes living so exciting.
Grandma’s tonic.
Winter tonic.
Tiredness tonic
Cough tonic
Sleep tonic
What is a tonic?
Well for me, it’s a form a medicine, using natural ingredients to make you feel better.
It sounds good, right!
This is ancient wisdom for the modern time, sharing recipes and remedies to illuminate humble ingredients to their potential power.
Join our Sunday session to learn more and make your own tonic. We will be focussing on winter wellness, as some of these tonics take time, but you can make the tonic that speaks most to you.
Our Sunday sessions focus on preserving traditions, prioritising provenance and engaging our thoughts with the natural world.
We have explored honey ferments, seasonal vinegars and look forward to sharing more with you as we look at wild sodas, misos, sourdough and various ferments to make you feel oh so alive & vibrant.
Check out our bio link for the full listings.
Be thou not fooled by instagram, I was gifted 5kg of these gorgeous tomatoes.
They did not come into being by my own hard work or green fingers.
Therefore it seemed a perfect solution to preserve this act of generosity to see me over into autumn with the gentle sizzle & sunshine of tomatoes salsa.
(You can read between the lines here that I have not yet let go and eased into autumn, getting there, but LOVED summers abandon)
It also seemed quite appropriate that the only vessel I have available to ferment in currently is this beautiful stoneware ceramic crock, also gifted to me by @quickcrop
The contents are a beauty to behold, and the smell I wish I could wear as perfume!
The container is a beauty to have in my kitchen.
Altogether, an act of beauty has co-evolved. Kindness is preserved and I cannot wait to tuck into these in a few days time. It’s a quick ferment and the crocks are from @quickcrop should you wish to bestow some kindness on either yourself or a friend!
I would thoroughly recommend filling one with any numbers of harvest goods
🥬🫑🌶🍅🫒🧄🧅🥕
#fermentation
#guthealth
#harvest
#crockpot
I was a tad sad and possibly a little concerned that rescheduling my seasonal vinegars workshop would leave me with just the apples on the trees to demo with.
But to my delight today I was gifted raspberries, damsons, apricots and blueberries, so we will have an abundance of fruit vinegars to play with this weekend.
Also to add to the delight, we will be joined by the beauty that is @mariamooneyhealth who will offer a little kinesiology check in to see just how much vinegar agrees with you.
We are both big fans of using apple cider vinegar medicinally, it has an impressive range of qualities from regulating blood sugars to helping with our digestive issues.
We are intentionally offering these taster session specifically focussing on different aspects of fermentation AND different superfoods you may be familiar with. We are highlighting provenance, authentic production and also offering you the knowledge to do it all yourself, for your health.
Come explore more at our Sunday sessions …. Seasonal vinegars, this Sunday 2-4pm
@vaultartistsni
Do you need an immunity boost?
Do you want to make your own seasonal medicine to have on reserve for cold & flu season?
I know I was grateful to have a stash of various elixirs last week to swiftly get me through.
Last minute call out for tomorrows workshop in fermenting with honey.
We got all kinds of remedies and herbal potions to share to keep you healthy as the seasons change.
Check out the link in the bio.
I cannot help but make as much of this immune support elixir as is within my reach.
The berries where I live are nearly all gone.
Todays brew includes some ginger, some star anise, some cloves and extra berries of Rowan & haw. Cook it up and then strain it. Straining through a sieve is sufficient but this time I wanted to extract every last drop of the dark magical juice.
Autumn i am ready for you.
For all the cold, I shall embrace with warmth. For all the shadow I shall bring it light.
Hope you have made some nature medicine too.
🍁
For as long as things are there for the picking, I will keep sharing the little moments of joy.
Maybe that’s what this page will morph into : The joy club.
In any case, I digress from the magic of the elder tree and its dark, juicy berries just dripping of the tree. Dropping… literally.
Of course these came home with me and now they are a deep dark mix of berries, ginger, clove, star anise, honey and a splash of brandy, only for the longer shelf life.
I couldn’t help but see how the red stalks, resembled veins & capillaries. As though this tonic is a crucial to us as the blood in our veins.
These berries won’t hang around for long.
Pick some soon or forever hold thy peace.
✌🏻 💗