Lughnasadh: the first harvest

There is something truly magical about early August. I've always felt drawn to a deep rest and enjoyment of the summer as August approaches. My husband and I frequently talk about how the months do feel different energetically, and we both agree that August feels better than July... LOL.

It might be the tenderness of Cancer season or the fun of Leo season that brings this awareness, either way though, I find that August has a lot more to offer. This is completely in alignment with the energy of nature at this time.

The festival of Lughnasadh (pronounced loo-na-sa), also commonly known as Lammas, brings us the energy of abundance! It is the first major harvest that the farmers see where pretty much everything they've planted is providing for them. You can see this so strongly when you go to the farmer's market and each stand is just SO full - brimming with life and colour!

When we observe what this holiday reflects for us inside ourselves, we begin to notice what is already deeply abundant in our life. We are always living and breathing abundance, we just seem to forget the nature of who we are.

To help you enjoy the full bounty of this holiday, I have some tips and fun things you can integrate with yourself or your friends and family.

Gratitude

Lughnasadh is a great time to begin a regular gratitude practice, if you don't already have one. I really like to integrate gratitude into my daily rituals in the morning and the evening. As soon as I wake up "thank you", and then as soon as I'm about to go to sleep, I say my prayers of gratitude to God for everything this day has brought me.

There is truly no better way to acknowledge the abundance already deeply present in your life than a gratitude practice. You can speak it out lour, write it down in your journal or close your eyes and say it silently in your mind as a prayer. I like to consider things that I wouldn't normally think to be grateful for like difficult conversations that help bring peace, or that someone has left my life if it was meant to be, or that I've become aware of a fear I have so I can address it. Honour that the Divine alway provides for you exactly what you need, no matter how you perceive it.

You can also play with it! Ask your friends what they are grateful for today, as your partner, your children, your family and so on. See how many cool things you can come up with! Hearing what other people are grateful for always brings joy to my heart.

Berry picking

Probably my most favourite thing to do in the summer is blueberry picking. I simply adore the little blue rounds with star-shaped tops that bring so much sweetness into my life! I love picking them and freezing them for use all winter.

I also enjoy going fruit picking with my friends and their kids. Children naturally love helping and picking fruit and I always love to see the smears of berry juice on their face and fingers as they gather whichever ones that speak to them.

I highly recommend if you go blueberry picking that you consider making blueberry pancakes. Maple and blueberries just seem to go together effortlessly in my opinion! That might be a Canadian-ism though! lol

For all my local friends who might be reading this, my favourite farm to pick at is Blueberry Acres in Welland.

Bake Bread

My husband always refers to this as the festival of "Beer and Bread". He really doesn't drink much at all (maybe one beer a month or so) but he loves a nice craft beer! This festival was often celebrated with a lot of bread as the grains would have been harvested in great abundance for people to begin making as much bread as they'd like again! The previous crops from the year before would have been just enough to get them through until this time. How wonderful a freshly baked bread would have been with fresh grain! I can imagine the joy and enjoyment of it!

I personally have recently gotten into baking sourdough! I love this process and the generational quality to making bread this way. I read a lot of blog for guidance but my personal two favourite bloggers who share their knowledge of sourdough are Emilie from The Clever Carrot and Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone.

It only takes 7 days to have a starter that is viable, and then you can literally have it for life (if you desire!). I recommend you give it a try. Sourdough is much gentler on the tummy, and this generational practice really connect us to our roots as human beings before we isolated yeast into little packets!

You can also just go out and buy some bread, get some craft beer, roast some corn on the cob and call it a glorious Lughnasadh celebration!

Wishing you a beautiful, bountiful and glorious first harvest, maybe you remember your own abundant nature... with abundance!

Much love,
Em