| The
Food Altar
at Embers 
The
Food Altar will be continually stocked from Friday dusk until Sunday morning
by the Starvin' Artist Cafe and the offerings of each individual, so that everyone
may partake and have enough food to fuel themselves throughout the festival.
...Each
person should bring one gift capable of feeding several, for the Food
Altar. Dont worry about what to bring, bring what pleases you! The
offerings for the Food Altar can be easy-to-transport items such as breads, snacks,
fruits and vegetables. If you have a special dish that you usually bring to food
altars, please do bring it and share it with the Tribe!
...The
Starvin Artist will fill in the gaps and make sure that nothing is lacking.
And because Embers is outdoors and through the evenings, plenty of warm, sustaining
dishes will be prepared. Please contact us if you have special requirements.
...Although
all food is provided for, we do recommend that you bring your favorite
"comfort foods" for yourself and to share.
...The
construction of the Food Altar pavilions and creation of the kitchen space
is a Thursday through Friday project. Please arrive early and help us create the
vessel.
...If you will be helping in Creating
the Vessel, potluck meals will be served from the Starvin Artist Cafe
during our preparations for Embers, Thursday and until Friday dusk. Please do
bring a dish to share, the Starvin Artist will fill in the gaps.
...The
Coffee Dragon will be incorporated into the Food Altar, offering bottomless
cups of the other essential fuels of Four Quarters --coffee, tea and hot chocolate.
...Although
staff will "head-up" the Food Altar, your help and contribution
to the energetic dynamic are critical to the creation of this Sacred Space!
...Please bring your own plate, bowl, cup and utensils.
There will be provision for wash up within the Stone Circle, ...but no provision
for disposable trash! Four Quarters is Green!
Stone
Soup - Saturday
The
Wisdom Of Sharing
There
are many variations on the story of stone soup, but they all involve a traveler
coming into a town beset by famine. The inhabitants try to discourage the traveler
from staying, fearing he wants them to give him food. They tell him in no uncertain
terms that there's no food anywhere to be found. The traveler explains that he
doesn't need any food and that, in fact, he was planning to make a soup to share
with all of them. The villagers watch suspiciously as he builds a fire and fills
a cauldron with water. With great ceremony, he pulls a stone from a bag, dropping
the stone into the pot of water. He sniffs the brew extravagantly and exclaims
how delicious stone soup is. As the villagers begin to show interest, he mentions
how good the soup would be with just a little cabbage in it. A villager brings
out a cabbage to share. This episode repeats itself until the soup has cabbage,
carrots, onions, and beets-indeed, a substantial soup that feeds everyone in the
village. This story addresses
the human tendency to hoard in times of deprivation. When resources are scarce,
we pull back and put all of our energy into self-preservation. We isolate ourselves
and shut out others. As the story of stone soup reveals, in doing so, we often
deprive ourselves and everyone else of a feast.
This
metaphor plays out beyond the realm of food. We hoard ideas, love, and energy,
thinking we will be richer if we keep to them to ourselves, when in truth we make
the world, and ourselves, poorer whenever we greedily stockpile our reserves.
The traveler was able to see that the villagers were holding back, and he had
the genius to draw them out and inspire them to give, thus creating a spread that
none of them could have created alone. Are
you like one of the villagers, holding back? If you come forward and share your
gifts, you will inspire others to do the same. The reward is a banquet that can
nourish many. A banquet not just of food, but of Spirit.
Stone
Soup at Embers
The Story of Stone Soup
is a metaphor that discribes the magical work of Embers. A place where we know
that the feast will not be provided for us, but can only be created if we all
openly give a piece of ourselves to the "Spiritual Stone Soup."
At
Embers Stone Soup is more than a metaphor, it is our main meal as well. Our Stone
Soup will be prepared and cooked through out Satuday on the coals of our Fire
Circle, within the sonic and energitic envelope of that Sacred Space.
You
are invited to add to the Stone Soup during Saturday daylight, to stir it and
watch it, as well as roast potatoes and corn on the cob. Sing it, dance it, play
to it and trance it! The Stone Soup will receive the Fire Circle energies and
transmute them into material form as it cooks and transforms, and then this ceremonial
food will be shared among all present at dusk, to warm and sustain us through
Saturday nights Offering to The Fire and Our Future.
A
Suggested Ingredients are:
...Stew beef or
other cuts of cow in bite sized pieces. 4QF will provide meat, but others can
add if they wish. Chicken broth and beef broth are welcome.
...Root
vegetables: potato, carrot, yam, turnip, parsnip, etc. Bulb vegetables: onion
and garlic.
...Herbs: oregano, thyme, sage, parsley,
rosemary, or other common European herbs. Fresh is better.
...Tomato
and tomato products: fresh tomato, sauce, paste, crushed, etc.
Some beans
will work, but not to get too heavy with them: kidneys, pintos, blackeyed peas.
Live in staff will be offering from the harvest of the Four Quarters Garden.
Barley will work.
...Please stay away from pre-fabricated
soups and let's make this a "from scratch" dish. This should give us
a nice minestrone-like stew without the pasta.
Starvin'
Artist Menu Plans for the Food Altar:
Dips:
White Bean Dip
Hummus
Spinach Dip
Baba Ganoush
Pita Bread
for Dips Warm dishes:
Tofu marinated in home-made
Barbecue Sauce
Chili con Carne
Black Bean Chili (veggie)
Stone Soup
basics (like meat, potato, onion, garlic...in case we need them)
Roasted Corn
on the Cob
Roasted Potatoes and Yams with sides of butter, sour cream, cheddar
cheese, real bacon bits, vegan salad dressings, Spiced Yogurt Sauce. Salads:
Corn and Black Bean Relish
Tabouleh
Pasta Salad with Garbanzo, Tomato,
and Cheese Breakfast:
Home Fries
Oatmeal with sides
of brown sugar, walnuts, pecans, butter, milk, and soy milk
Berry Compote
Gaian Granola
Vanilla Yogurt
Scrambled Eggs
Bacon
Tofu Scramble
and
maybe even pancakes!
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