High Day Explanation: Lammas/Lughnasadh

Lammas, Freyfaxi, Hlafmaest, or Lughnasadh (named in honor of the Celtic God Lugh), marks the first of two harvest festivals and is celebrated at the beginning of August.

I grew up in Green Bay, WI, a city surrounded on all sides by miles and miles of corn fields and dairy farms (so much of it has since been sold off to developers) so I had a very rudimentary understanding of what the growing season entailed.  Driving west out to Seymour Lake many times over the course of the summer, I could gauge whether or not the corn was growing on schedule (knee high by the fourth of July).  Late summer heralded the beginning of the Brown County Fair and the grocery stores were flooded with sweet corn and farm stands began popping up everywhere.    

Now, as a baby homesteader on thirteen acres of land with ever expanding vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens, I understand the harvest in a much more personal and physical way than I ever did as a kid.  I’ve been enjoying the fruits of my labor since late June, but now the gardens are exploding.  I’m out in the gardens almost every day and my canning equipment has been dusted off and won’t be put away until December when I finish making my homemade sauerkraut.   Preparations for winter are underway and besides stocking my pantry with canned goods to last us for the next year, my husband and I are busy cutting, splitting, and stacking wood (which takes us at least two months to finish) that will feed our wood stove and keep our house warm throughout the many cold months ahead.