Steamed Corn with Parsley

Tags

autumn cooking, corn, recipes

~ autumn cooking: steamed corn with parsley, cooked over the fire ~

the best way that we have found to prepare corn over the open fire is to shuck the cobs (remember to save the husks and silk for the corn dolly) and prepare them in heavy-duty tinfoil (not regular).  Add in some margarine, salt and pepper to flavour, three springs of fresh parsley, and water to cover about one to two centimetres at the bottom of the foil.  Then wrap the tin foil securely around the corn to place over the fire on the grill

corn in tin foil with salt, pepper, margarine, parsley and water

corn wrapped in tin foil over the firepit

after about thirty minutes, depending on the heat of the fire, remove the cobs with heat-resistant gloves and carefully open the tinfoil to check the corn.  If they are still uncooked, set back over the fire until cooked.  Do not let the water boil away from the inside, otherwise the corn will burn (as one happened to do while we were cooking them, so be sure to check the water periodically)

this method will evenly cook the cobs without burning them or without leaving any uncooked, as were the issues we had when soaking unshucked cobs in water for an hour and then placing them near the coals, either wrapped or unwrapped in foil.  This resulted in burnt and uncooked corn, with the shucks burning away even with little heat from the fire.  We’ve also attempted to cook shucked corn in tinfoil alone (without water) over the open fire, turning periodically, but this didn’t work as well either.  Adding water and margarine to heavy-duty tinfoil-wrapped corn is the best way that we have found to cook corn outside over the open firepit.  There is no need to rotate the corn as it cooks either, as long as there is water inside

corn prepared with parsley sprigs

for more recipes cooked over the open firepit, see ‘cooking over the open fire‘ by just for our health

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Corn Husk Dolly

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corn husk dolly

~ the corn husk dolly as a symbol of the harvest ~

the spirit of the goddess, of the harvest, is embodied within the cornstalks
and to honour the goddess and harvest, a corn husk dolly can be made
during any of the autumn sabbats, Lughnasadh or the Autumnal Equinox

a corn husk dolly made at Lughnasadh

the following recipe is for steamed corn with parsley, cooked over the firepit
the corn husks can then be saved and dried to make a corn husk dolly,
which will be shown in an upcoming post as an Autumnal Equinox craft

directions:

– shuck the corn husks carefully from the ears of corn
– set them aside to dry for a few days (the husks will shrink as they dry)
– some suggest flattening them to dry them, but I leave them to dry as-is
– two shucked corn ears will make about one dolly, depending on the skirt
– the silk of the corn can be saved to make hair for the dolly

the easiest way to shuck the corn is to make a knife cut the end of the cob and then peel away the husks and the corn silk, setting them aside dry for a few days

end of the corn cut to remove the husks

corn husks and shucked cob with silk remaining

the following blog post will be a recipe for firepit-steamed corn with parsley, and in the next few days, the instructions for a corn husk dolly will be posted as well

Wood Frog

Tags

photography, wood frog

~ as a tadpole, this wood frog swam in a pond with minnows and snails,
but now in the autumn, as the seasonal water dries up, he camouflages
himself among the fallen leaves ~

a wood frog among the leaves in autumn

Le Mysterieux Carnival

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le mysterieux carnival

~ hyacinth noir will be participating in Le Mysterieux Carnival ~

the autumn blog party will take place on 6 October 2012, among glittering faery lights and flickering grins of the jack-o-lantern, and each participant in the festivities will be creating a ‘virtual’ carnival booth

hyacinth noir will be accepting submissions for a macabre, whimsical carnival, pre-premier issue of the literary e-zine, to be posted 6 October as part of the carnival booth

a writing contest will be held for the submissions published, and the winner shall receive a small prize; a random giveaway will also be held (prizes to be announced)

so gather the witches and skeletons, the jack-o-lanterns and black cats, and join us beneath the ferris wheel and at our carnival booth

please visit Le Mysterieux Carnival for more information on the event and visit the ‘submissions‘ page for information on submitting to the pre-premier issue

Winter Wheat in August

Tags

harvest, photography, wheat

~ winter wheat seeded in the late August and early September, after
last year’s harvest, grows golden along the prairie roads in August ~

a field of winter wheat in August

Autumn Season ~ Autumn Harvest

Tags

autumn, lughnasadh

~ autumn harvest ~

following the height of the sun at the summer solstice
the summer days have begun to darken earlier in the evenings
the air grows cooler and the soil flakes with drought and heat
gardens and fields are bountiful with vegetables and crops
and preserves are prepared for the cold winter months ahead

traditionally, the last of the harvests were given back to the earth
the cornstalks plowed into the soil or fashioned into a corn husk dolly
to be burned in honour upon the fire or kept safe until Imbolc
and then replanted into the soil with the new season’s seeds

~ over the next few weeks, we’ll be celebrating the autumn season
with corn husk dollies, harvest and berry recipes, and more ~

Samhain 2012 Submissions

Tags

samhain, submissions, submit

~ we are currently accepting submissions for our Samhain 2012 issue ~

Samhain, the Celtic Feast of the Dead and the celebration of harvest’s end, is celebrated on 31 October or 1 November, depending on the tradition

we are currently looking for prose, poetry, non-fiction and/or artwork that contains theme(s) of the season and sabbat — death and reincarnation, harvest’s end, honouring the ancestors — awe us with black cats and besoms, with divination and magickal energies in the air, with the thinning of the veil between the worlds, the wild hunt and the dark goddess

we love literary and experimental prose, engaging characters and plots, stories that electrify the air of the season, and above all, celebrate queer paganism in any form

short stories (less than 3000 words), flash fiction (less than 1000 words), poetry (any length), non-fiction (less than 2000 words) and/or artwork submissions can be sent via e-mail to hyacinthnoir@live.co.uk, with: ‘Submission Samhain: [type of submission]’ as the subject heading

all submissions must include a cover letter, with the piece pasted into the body of the e-mail; artwork must be attached

we accept both previously unpublished works and reprints, but if you are submitting a reprint, please let us know which publication your piece first appeared, along with a link to the piece, if applicable

we accept multiple and simultaneous submissions; though please let us know, and let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere

we are currently unable to pay our contributors

published submissions will be lightly edited to conform to the format of the site

submissions will close for the Samhain issue on 15 October 2012

Merry Meet

~ greetings and salutations ~

welcome to hyacinth noir, a celebration of queer paganism, a blog dedicated to the celebration of the sabbats and queer pagan-themed literature

~ queer/pagan blog ~

here one can find sabbat- and season-specific recipes, scrapbooking and crafts ideas for ritual celebration, regional prairie and shrubland photography, and information from a variety of eclectic pagan paths

~ queer literature ~

we are looking for literary prose and poetry that encompasses themes of the sabbats with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and/or queer elements

our first literary issue will be released 31 October 2012 ~ Samhain

please see ‘submissions’ for more information