There are many across the country right now feeling like they are living through a new ice age. The Winter weather is raging and keeping people off the roads and in their homes. Imagine if the only convenience you had was your hearth fire and, if lucky, enough dry wood to keep the fire going through the Winter. As those going through these hard times can imagine a little glimpse of hope to the passing of this weather was worth a celebration if only in the confines of a tiny cold home. This is the celebration of Imbolc.
It is not only an acknowledgment of the returning of the heat from the sun into Spring, but also the return of a proper food source with mating and agriculture. Even in modern Gaeilge I mbolg translates to “in the belly.” It has been hypothesized that another term for the celebration, Oimelc, translates to “ewes milk” and in Thomas Kinsella’s translation of the Táin Bó Cúalnge (The Tain) he references “Imbolc, when the ewes are milked at spring’s beginning.” These references all lead us to believe that when sheep begin lambing it is the marker for the returning of the light which starts in the Spring (cows would not have been calving quite this soon in the winter on a normal reproductive cycle). Because of this I chose to focus on sheep dairy products for my feast.
Unfortunately, here in the US and particularly in Arizona it is almost impossible to get your hands on any sheep dairy products outside of cheese. With this being a problem I had to move on to the alternative which is goat dairy products. Now this was much less of an issue as goat’s milk, while not sold in every grocery store, was readily available in most specialty food stores. While it is good that there is a somewhat ready supply, the cost is not great. Goat’s dairy products tend to cost double to triple the price of cow milk products. If this is not something you can budget I’m sure the Gods won’t hold it against you.
Now I know you’re thinking this is supposed to be the Practical Pagan and I’m telling you how goat products are not at all practical unless you own a goat, in which I say to you, “Have at it.” If you are a fan of goat products on a regular basis, you have the grazing space, and you are inept at goat raising than more power to you (and if you live in Arizona, send me a message). This article is not going to be how to get goat or sheep products for cheap, but it did lead me to find some good buys in the specialty stores I went searching through.
I’m not sure what local specialty stores everyone has, but around here we have Sprouts Farmers Market. They are actually a large chain in the area that offers a great selection of different fruits and vegetables as well as gluten free options, lots of organic choices and specialty cheeses and meats. I had never really paid attention to what they had outside of the vegetation and a few of the boxed goods, but when I needed specialty flour I noticed they had these huge buckets up front. Depending on the isle you go down they have an array of things you can buy by the pound. Down the first isle is a large assortment of candy which is always appealing and obviously placed right as you walk through the door so the kids will be lulled in by the promise of bulk gummy worms, but what I was interested in was in the next isle. That is the isle that had all of the different types of flour, my Irish oatmeal, and even sea salt. Yes, all you practicing pagans, you can get bulk sea salt for a steal! Sea salt ran 49 cents a pound. All of the various flours were all under $1 a pound.
Now for some that truly buy bulk that may be a normal price for you and this article doesn’t really apply to you (though bulk candy should really apply to everyone). This is for all those pagans out there who, like myself, cook for special occasions and have no need to buy large quantities of baking products that won’t get used but a few times a year. Going to the grocery store, those huge packages of flour look good in theory and are generally a decent price, but it just sits there forever in the pantry lonely on one of those shelves that hardly ever gets attention. For all you pagans that really only need a little at a time, the price of buying by the pound can’t be beat. Come on! 49 cents for sea salt (which hubby and I are now switching exclusively to since it is so cheap) and oak flour, wheat flour, and pastry flour for 89 cents a pound. It almost evens out the five dollars I just spent on a small block of goat’s butter; almost but not quite.
So I am telling all you out there that aren’t the normally domestic type to go find your local specialty stores. You never know what new things you will find and you just might find that certain things can be a lot cheaper than your local grocery store. Besides, who can seriously pass up bulk candy?