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Solstice Ritual
Jun. 22nd, 2003 11:13 amWe had been planning to make mead for some time - We brought some damiana and honey to WtT6 to charge it up for the next batch of mead (the batch we had this year had turned out wonderfully).
We didn't know exactly when we were going to brew the next batch - only that we were going to do that at some point. Then a couple of days ago we made plans to get together with a friend with whom we'd been in contact for a while, and it occurred to us that it was Solstice, and we were having a friend over, and, well, it was time.
Although we had last years carboy, it needed cleaning and we had no bottle brush - and there were other supplies we were lacking as well. The next day we spent just about all day rounding up supplies - First we went to Maryland Homebrew to buy bottle brushes, additional honey, yeast, and ... a new carboy. We didn't exactly need a new one, but then we saw it. A 16-gallon carboy of roundness - a giant glass onion... Which is now in the middle of the kitchen floor, full of mead.
On our way back, we took a few detours, including a wonderful antiquarian bookstore, Basset Books, near Columbia, Maryland, where I picked up a book called "Forest Ownership for Pleasure and Profit". Be afraid - this book is going to teach me how to buy a tract of land and plant just the right kind of trees on it so that the state will pay me to own it as a reforestration project... We stopped at home to unload the carfull of supplies, and then out again to Benjarong Thai restaurant to eat, followed by a stop at Ten Ren, our neighborhood's best purveyor of Bubble Tea (which I affectionately call eyeball tea). Finally, we went to The Walnut Tree metaphysical bookstore to get more damiana - the 16-gallon was going to require extra. It was just twilight when we got home and started brewing.
I should probably note that the day of gathering supplies was inadvertently preceded by three days of intensive house cleaning, magical house realignment and energetic clearing, ward resetting, incense, votives, and smudging, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rialian's hearthfire magic. This happened in the three days before embarking on the Quest for Mead Supplies, but it was not done in preparation for mead (at least not that we knew about) - it had just felt right. Looking back, it was no doubt related...
So by the time we got home at dusk, the house was pretty much zinging and ready.
Then began a long night of brewing, which wasn't really finished until dawn. We had to brew in two installments because the carboy is so large - in between batches we had to let it cool off. While we were waiting, we took the opportunity to sample some of last years' wares, and exchanged stories of the events of the past several years, sang songs, played MP3 collections, and generally acted silly. It was a very fun time.
Long after our friend had departed for home, and I had retreated to dreamland,rialian stayed with the brewing until it was completed at Dawn...
We didn't know exactly when we were going to brew the next batch - only that we were going to do that at some point. Then a couple of days ago we made plans to get together with a friend with whom we'd been in contact for a while, and it occurred to us that it was Solstice, and we were having a friend over, and, well, it was time.
Although we had last years carboy, it needed cleaning and we had no bottle brush - and there were other supplies we were lacking as well. The next day we spent just about all day rounding up supplies - First we went to Maryland Homebrew to buy bottle brushes, additional honey, yeast, and ... a new carboy. We didn't exactly need a new one, but then we saw it. A 16-gallon carboy of roundness - a giant glass onion... Which is now in the middle of the kitchen floor, full of mead.
On our way back, we took a few detours, including a wonderful antiquarian bookstore, Basset Books, near Columbia, Maryland, where I picked up a book called "Forest Ownership for Pleasure and Profit". Be afraid - this book is going to teach me how to buy a tract of land and plant just the right kind of trees on it so that the state will pay me to own it as a reforestration project... We stopped at home to unload the carfull of supplies, and then out again to Benjarong Thai restaurant to eat, followed by a stop at Ten Ren, our neighborhood's best purveyor of Bubble Tea (which I affectionately call eyeball tea). Finally, we went to The Walnut Tree metaphysical bookstore to get more damiana - the 16-gallon was going to require extra. It was just twilight when we got home and started brewing.
I should probably note that the day of gathering supplies was inadvertently preceded by three days of intensive house cleaning, magical house realignment and energetic clearing, ward resetting, incense, votives, and smudging, and
rialian's hearthfire magic. This happened in the three days before embarking on the Quest for Mead Supplies, but it was not done in preparation for mead (at least not that we knew about) - it had just felt right. Looking back, it was no doubt related... So by the time we got home at dusk, the house was pretty much zinging and ready.
Then began a long night of brewing, which wasn't really finished until dawn. We had to brew in two installments because the carboy is so large - in between batches we had to let it cool off. While we were waiting, we took the opportunity to sample some of last years' wares, and exchanged stories of the events of the past several years, sang songs, played MP3 collections, and generally acted silly. It was a very fun time.
Long after our friend had departed for home, and I had retreated to dreamland,
rialian stayed with the brewing until it was completed at Dawn...