New Moon – Serviceberry Moon Begins

Well, the serviceberries were ready to be harvested as of yesterday, if not slightly earlier. Say hello to two weeks of fresh, delicious berries, folks! 😀
Conveniently, I have a chest freezer (set up, though not quite plugged in yet) to store this bounty as it comes in. My hope is to be able to freeze… 4-10 litres (I’m giving myself a lot of leeway here, depending on how much I manage to birng home and what the weather’s like, etc) of these berries for use in desserts and breakfasts through-out the rest of the year, while also making plenty of use of them while they’re fresh and available. While I will probably make some jam over the summer, I’m wanting to steer clear of it in favour of frozen fruits, (less sugary) water-bath-canned preserves like fruit butters and – potentially – dried fruit slices (if I get my act and finances together and can snag myself a dehydrator for said purpose).
 
We’re kicking off Serviceberry Moon by making fancy Gourmet Pizza for this week’s Fabulous Friday Dinner, using serviceberry chutney (almost a year old, so It’s Time) in lieu of tomato sauce, and topping it with mushrooms, chunks of roast chicken, steamed grape leaves, Vietnamese garlic, possibly dollops of labneh (again), and the requisite (cheap) mozzarella cheese. I just use normal bread dough for the crust, so it’s in the works right now (time to make a new batch of bread, so…)
 
I’ve been to and returned from Ithaca NY, where my aunties live, and I came back with this:
 

Marquetry Cabinet (though it’s not actually inlaid wood – it’s a paint job).

 
My great-grandmother bought it in Toronto in the 1920s, so it’s been in my family for a good 90+ years. I’m the fourth generation to have it. 😀 (I think I might have my great-grandmother’s picture on the wall, so I kind of wonder if she recognized it when it came in).
I’ve turned it into my fibre and other C/crafty things cabinet, and I LOVE that it’s out in the open. Being able to look across the room form where I do most of my writing (and similar) and see a really great peice of wooden furniture… that’s nothing new. But being able to close a set of doors on said item and see nothing but the beautiful furniture (rather than it’s slightly over-stuffed contents) makes a major difference to my feelings of well-being in my own home.
 
I’m hoping to get out and pick some berries this afternoon – enough to make a shortcake with, at least – and then spend the evening working on a piece of magically-infused jewelry for an awesome long-time customer while my lovely wife works on a personal leather project. It’s feeling like a really good day. 🙂
 
Looking ahead for the next two weeks (and, to a waning extent, the two weeks or so there-after), this is a tender and loving moon, but one where you may be called upon to Process Stuff that’s happening (or happened long ago) on an emotional level. I’m not gonna lie: That could suck in a “draining and exhausting” kind of way, and you might want to hold off until this moon has grown a little bit (say around the first quarter?) to have any Big Discussions – mostly due to some retrograde-derived communcation problems that will be hanging around for a bit (woops).
With all that in mind, make sure that you do some good Self Care right around now – go swimming, take a refreshing bath, walk in the sunshine. Drink lots of water, get enough sleep (hard to do with the daylight hours as plentiful as they are, I realize), and make yourself (or treat yourself to) some really excellent food – stuff that is good for you, but that also wakes up your taste-buds and makes feeding your body a pleasure rather than a chore. Listen to your feelings, definitely, but also make an effort to really BE in your body.
 
Beyond that, Serviceberry Moon is a really great time to nurture, nourish, and generally feed-and-water your creative pursuits in the kitchen, the garden, the studio, or wherever inspiration (and perspiration) tend to arrive. 🙂 You may find yourself dancing with your own shadow – both emotionally and artistically – again (practice makes perfect, right? ;-)) and maybe you’ll get past the opening steps this time. (Here’s hoping that I do!)
 
In a lot of ways, Serviceberry Moon encourages us to Go With the Flow:
 

Ace of Water – A Place to Start Moving From

 
But it’s not all passive-receptivity: If you would be the changing water, you gotta make those changes, and sometimes those require both deep diving and strong swimming to get through. wish me luck with that, and I’ll send the same thing out to you.
 
Enjoy the rising, new moon and all the good (um…) Personal Growth Opportunities that come with it. 😉
 
 
TTFN,
Meliad the Birch Maiden. 🙂