If you listen carefully you can hear the birds announcing the arrival of Spring. As the snow here in Connecticut slowly recedes ,you smell the freshly exposed earth in the air around you. Ostara is here, and with it the promise of growth and new beginnings. With that in mind, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk to you about a few things related to the Kitchen, Kitchen Witches, and the Cancer Ministry.

I guess I should start with an introduction. My name is Ryan. Many of you have met me at the Temple’s Sabbats in New Hampshire or at Templefest. Over the last few months, I have had the pleasure of taking lead on running the kitchen for our New Hampshire Sabbats, with the assistance of some amazing people we have affectionately labeled “The Kitchen Witches.” It is my hope to continue to write this article monthly. With it I am eager to share recipes, pot-luck ideas, tips and tricks for creating food, and the visions of the NH Kitchen Witches and Cancer Ministry for the Sabbat pot-lucks.

One of our visions is to reduce the impact we have on our environment. At the end of each Sabbat, we come together and share a meal. Before people get their food, it has become a tradition to say a blessing. Each time I begin I make it a point to thank all those that have sacrificed to sustain us: the Spirits of Leaf and Root, Hoof, Scale, and Feather. As Witches, this beautiful world we play in is alive and breathing. We have the pleasure of speaking with the Plants and Animals around us. We understand that we are all interconnected. For this reason, it is important to honor their gifts.

So how else can we work to honor that sacrifice and the impact we have on the Earth we live with? Some simple steps we have taken are to Recycle and Compost. What we are hoping to do next is work on one of the other three R’s in Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Reuse! We are hoping with your help to reduce the amount of plastic cutlery, plates, and cups we are using.

The easiest solution would be to purchase flatware and dinnerware that we could wash after each Sabbat and reuse, but right now we can’t due to limited space in the kitchen. One of the simplest things you can do is bring your own cup and cutlery. I appreciate that many of us come from far away and it adds one more thing to remember, but we feel it would make a tremendous difference. If you look at the number of people we are blessed to share the Sabbats with and then think about at least one fork per person, plus the times we need a knife and/or spoon, plus the times we accidently toss our fork and have to get another on for the exquisite line up of deserts our community has graced us with . . . you see the problem. Something as small as bringing your own silverware and cup (which most of us carry around all day anyway) can make a measurable change on the amount of waste we are producing at each Sabbat. As the season shifts around us and we ride the wave of Ostara’s renewal, this is the perfect time for us to make a commitment.

To take it a step further, you could even set aside a set of dinnerware used for this sole purpose, just as you have sacred vessels used at the Sabbats. Think of them as extensions of the offering bowls or ritual tools used in your magickal practice, weaving another thread between the mundane and magickal.

So what do you say? Are you in?

With that I will close and give my thanks. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Thank you for considering the idea of bringing your own cup, plate, and cutlery and thank all of you beautiful people who join us for Sabbats and share your presence and food with us. I wish everyone could be there.

Ryan is an ordained Minister and Seminary Graduate of the Temple of Witchcraft. Ryan is passionate about Kitchen Witchery, the creatures of the Green World, working with Plant Spirits, and making magick in daily life. Crafting herbal infusions, candles, and sacred tools, Ryan is co-creator of Drops of Three. You may visit his website at www.dropsofthree.storenvy.com.