Colonial Days

Ever since I was little I was always fascinated with Colonial Times. It’s likely the New England Girl coming out in me. Everything about it just relaxes me instantly. One of the biggest things that always gets me is the unique smells from this time period.  I’ve found a couple of Colonial type restaurants in New England but they are hard to come by. One of my favorites is the Ye Olde Oyster House in Boston. While expensive, if you ever get the opportunity to visit it, it’s incredible.

So today our town was doing an open house in one of the historical homes. They open it about once a year. The last time I was there was when I was in the fourth grade so I was really excited to go back in today. It was raining outside and honestly I felt at home the minute I got there.

The hearth above is from the Kitchen in the home. What I found striking is how much of my practice parallels what I work with today in Wicca. The apples strung on the mantle and the herbs hanging on the walls. I would adore having a kitchen like this. I would just like running water and a bathroom to go with it! lol

The tour was amazing and the volunteers there did an amazing job teaching my little ones and me about how life was for this family in the house that we were touring. It’s incredible really how much of the house they were able to keep in it’s original form as it was built in around 1735. If you get the opportunity to tour the homes in your town and find out more about your local history I always encourage it. For those of you who have researched Colonial history and toured Colonial homes do you find any parallels in your practice? I’m curious if it’s just because I’m a New England witch that I identify so closely with a lot of the Colonial practices.

So one of the things that I got to sample was this amazing spice bread that they made. I’m normally not a big fan of cloves but I believe they flipped my opinion today. I adored them in this spice breads and I’m going to throw some in a homemade tea after dinner. We loved this bread so much that Earl currently is making it in our kitchen. The house smells amazing!  For a healthier option you can substitute the 1/2 cup of butter for 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. We substitute veggie oil a lot in our cooking over here.  I hope you enjoy it!

Colonial Clove Cake

Stir together:
– 2 cups flour
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1 teaspoon cinnamon
– 1 teaspoon ground cloves
– 1/4 teaspoon allspice
– grated nutmeg

Mix together
– 1 cup brown sugar
– 2 tablespoons molasses
– 1/2 cup softened butter (or 1/4 cup veggie oil)
– 1 egg and 1 egg yolk

Add: 1 cup buttermilk
(instead of using one cup buttermilk and baking soda you can use one cup buttermilk and one teaspoon of baking powder)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Butter (or veggie oil spray) and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan

Mix the flour mixture into brown sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Have a magickal day!

Much Love and Many Blessings,

Jasmeine Moonsong