Food

Eggshells - One of the main pancake ingredients is eggs, which means you will be left with a lot of shells. These can be put into your food caddy; however, eggshells do have many uses:

Eggshells decompose in the compost pile and add valuable calcium and other minerals to the soil in the process.

Crushed eggshells can be scattered around your plants and flowers to help deter plant-eating slugs and snails without have to use eco-unfriendly pesticides.

Crushed eggshells can be kept in your kitchen sink strainer at all times. They trap additional solids and they gradually break up and help to naturally clean your pipes on their way down the drain.

Lemon Skins - A much loved topping for pancakes is sugar and lemon juice. If this is your pancake accompaniment of choice, please avoid putting too many lemon skins into your home compost bin, as overfilling it with citrus fruits can make the compost overly acidic. The worms and plants won’t thank you for it. Lemon peel can also be disposed of in your food caddy.

Overripe Bananas - People are getting more adventurous when it comes to pancake toppings. If you have some brown, spotty bananas in your fruit bowl you could whip up some fluffy pancakes with banana. Slice the bananas into thin rounds for toppings and / or mash some into the batter. Delicious! Banana skins can also be disposed of in your food caddy.

Leftover Batter - Did you know that leftover savoury pancake batter, is more or less the same recipe for Yorkshire puddings, so why not make Yorkshire puddings to go with a roast, or a toad-in-the-hole to use up some sausages the next day?

Freezing Leftovers - It’s so easy to make a large number of pancakes, which means that you may end up with leftovers. The great thing about pancakes is that you can freeze them and have them another day.Pancakes should be frozen separately by putting them one by one onto a baking sheet and placing them into the freezer. That way they will not stick to each other when you are ready to eat them.

Spirit Plate

There are many variations of foods, drinks and other offerings according to the tradition of those creating a Spirit Plate. However, most indigenous peoples seem to recognise that it is good to offer local spirits nourishment in the form of shared food. We are sharing the nourishment of life.

Some may prepare a plate (which may just be a leaf) each time they eat, others make an offering when they are 'in ceremony'. Whatever you feel is appropriate will be perfect. You may wish to include ancestors in with the intentions, to give thanks for their lives.

This offering is always placed on the ground and usually in a notable place, such as beside the trunk of a tree. When you have placed the plate (or leaf) on the ground speak or silently pray you thanks, again whatever works best for you or the circumstances... all messages will be heard. And remember to retrieve the plate unless it is bio-degradable.

"Then I had a friendly chat with my departed family members and friends and put out a spirit plate of food containing, locally produced honey for sweetness in life, salt for spice in life, an apple from our tree to represent harvest and hidden mysticism ( slice an apple across its equator and hidden pentagrams and seeds are revealed) water for vibrancy and bread for energy." 2021 - Ancestors - Global Spiritual Wheel

Halloween

Colcannon. from the earliest times it has been the custom in this district to make colcannon for Halloween. The first plate of this is kept for the fairies lest they should while changing from their Summer residence to their Winter home. No salt should be put on their portion. Colcannon is made on this night also to commemorate the end of the digging of the potatoes.

Cabbage. It is an old custom for the young people to kick cabbage around the district on this night. It is also hung on door knobs and door-steps. The reason for this custom is unknown. Halloween Customs - Galway