Florida: St. Petersburg Renaissance Faire returns next month with jousting, mead, and medieval fun

From stpeterising.com

Dust off your corsets, cloaks, and questionable British accents. The St. Petersburg Renaissance Faire is back.

The festivities return to England Brothers Park in Pinellas Park, running every weekend from April 4th through April 26th, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

Opening ceremonies begin just before the gates open, setting the stage for a full day inside the immersive “Shire of Heyford,” a 10-acre village inspired by Elizabethan England.

The event brings together more than 100 costumed performances across nine stages, along with over 50 artisans and three pubs.

The result is a lively mix of theatre, music, and hands-on experiences designed to transport visitors to the year 1592, when Queen Elizabeth I is said to be visiting the countryside for a seasonal celebration.

Throughout the grounds, guests can expect a steady rotation of entertainment ranging from Shakespearean performances and Renaissance dance to sword fighting demonstrations, fire acts, acrobatics, and improv comedy. Street performers and roaming characters fill in the gaps between scheduled shows.

The St. Petersburg Renaissance Faire returns every weekend from April 4th through April 26th, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day | St. Petersburg Renaissance Faire

One of the biggest draws each year is the medieval tournament, where armoured knights on horseback compete in full-contact jousting matches. The high-energy spectacle blends historical re-enactment with theatrical storytelling, drawing large crowds throughout the day.

Beyond the performances, the faire offers a massive marketplace featuring handcrafted goods and specialty items.

Vendors sell everything from leatherwork and medieval clothing to jewellery, candles, crystals, and niche curiosities like taxidermy and cosplay accessories.

Live demonstrations, including blacksmithing and woodworking, give visitors a closer look at traditional crafts.

Food is another major highlight of the faire. Classic festival staples like turkey legs, kettle corn, and burgers are joined by more period-inspired offerings such as Scotch eggs, kebabs, and handcrafted mead.

Multiple pubs throughout the grounds serve beer and wine, though guests should note that food and beverage purchases are cash-only.

Street performers and roaming characters fill in the gaps between scheduled shows | St. Petersburg Renaissance Faire

The event is designed to appeal to all ages, with family-friendly programming that includes face painting, games, and interactive experiences.

A pirate encampment, sword-fighting challenges, and themed activity areas provide additional entertainment for kids and adults alike.

Opening weekend, April 4th and 5th, will feature an Easter-themed celebration, including an egg hunt for children.

During that weekend, kids under 15 can enter for free with a ticket.

Additional themed weekends throughout the run include pirate-focused “Swashbuckler Weekend,” a Roman-inspired “Bacchanal Weekend,” and a whimsical “Gnomecore Weekend” to close out the season.

Tickets typically range from $25 to $30 for adults and $18 for children ages 5 to 15, with free admission for children under 5.

Attendance is capped each day and guests are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance online.

Visit the St. Petersburg Renaissance Faire’s website for more information and tickets.

https://stpeterising.com/home/st-petersburg-renaissance-faire-returns-next-month-with-jousting-mead-and-medieval-fun

Pembrokeshire man creates a buzz around new honey spirit

From uk.news.yahoo.com

A proud Pembrokeshire man has created a new alcoholic drinks business after feeling intense ‘hiraeth’ during lockdown.

Former Fishguard man, James Rowlands, now works as a teacher in a special educational needs school in Cardiff.

During the coronavirus pandemic he found himself locked down in Chepstow and experiencing an intense longing for his native Pembrokeshire.

James, who is also a trained microbiologist, has always been interested in honey, brewing and distilling.

“I had a real sense of hiraeth [during lockdown],” said James. “I wanted to find a way to connect with nature again while being homebound in Chepstow.”

James began experimenting with honey, brewing and then distilling it, trying several variations of the process until he produced his first batch of honey spirit.

Having developed a love for the craft, he decided to turn it into a business, becoming a licensed producer and launching Hive Drinks Co in February 2021.

The company focuses on creating innovative drinks and spirits made almost entirely from honey, designed to be drunk on their own, with mixers or as part of a cocktail.

“Hive Drinks Co takes inspiration from the ancient practice of making mead, a honey wine,” said James.

“I wanted to create something that was authentic and paid homage to this simple and sustainable means of provenance, but I wanted to do it in a new and innovative way by creating a spirit.”

James applied for a start-up loan to enable him to upscale the business and pay for raw materials, production facilities and transportation of goods.

He has received £9,000 of funding from the British Business Bank is now collaborating with Dai Wakeley, the Master Distiller at the renowned Hensol Castle Distillery and Sam Cooper, Director of Afon Mel Mead and Honey Farm.

The result is a flagship Hive honey spirit that went on the market late last year.

                                                    James Rowlands from Fishguard (Image: British Business Bank)

The British Business Bank Start Up Loans programme provides government backed loans of up to £25,000 per individual, up to a maximum of £100,000 per business, facilitated through delivery partners in Wales like Business in Focus.

In addition to finance, successful applicants receive free mentoring, access to resources and advice.

“The mentoring I received as part of the start up loan programme gave me the support and confidence that I needed to take that first step in growing Hive Drinks,” said James.

“The process of applying was simultaneously straightforward but also rigorous and it meant I was accounting for everything from projected sales, to branding, to minimum order quantities, because I’d had the opportunity to talk it all through with my mentor”, James said.

In the short term, James hopes to increase production of the honey blossom spirit beyond the current small-batch scale, as well as to expand the drinks range.

Looking further ahead, James’ experience as a teacher of boys with social, emotional and behavioural challenges means he has aspirations to turn Hive Drinks into a social enterprise.

“The aim eventually is to start my own apiary, meadery and distillery, which would mean as well as sourcing the honey, I could produce the spirit on my own premises as well,” he said.

“This is where it would be great to employ people who have experienced challenges, or who are from disadvantaged backgrounds, so they can build up work experience that they might not otherwise be able to achieve.”

Jessica Phillips-Harris, senior manager for Wales at the British Business Bank said: “We’re thrilled to have supported Hive Drinks in its journey to producing its first batch of honey spirit. The start up loans programme is all about providing access to finance for everyone and some of our biggest successes have come from businesses borne out of passion projects, like this one.

“Combine that with James’ aims for a sustainable and socially beneficial business sand we see a real recipe for success. We wish James all the best with his endeavours at Hive Drinks.” 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/pembrokeshire-man-creates-buzz-around-080000359.html

Middletown's new Bergen House meadery focuses on supporting community

From middletownpress.com

MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT, USA — “We exist to enrich our community. We happen to make great mead” is the motto of the Bergen House, a new meadery located in the old Trolley Barn at the foot of Main Street.

Talon Bergen opened the business last September.

“That, to me, is the most important thing,” he said. “We’re not just here to make money, but really to be a part of Middletown — to serve the surrounding community.”

For Bergen, that meant a number of things — from their prices to how they treat people. He pays his one bartender, Tod Davis, a living wage, and tells customers that tipping is not necessary. All gratuities, so far, at $10,000, are donated to local charities.

Bergen said they have donated to the St. Vincent dePaul Amazing Grace food pantry and soup kitchen in Middletown, as well as the Trevor Project, a non-profit organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth.

Other organizations have reached out to him. “The one that startled us the most was Prudence Crandall, over in New Britain,” Bergen said, noting the non-profit focuses on domestic violence.

“They reached out to us, and pointed to the fact that they have greater demand than they have had in the last 47 years. That kind of shocked us,” he said.

It is important to the owner that his business continues to donate to important causes, rather than having the idea be “just a flash in the pan.”

Talon Bergen, centre, owner of the Bergen House, a meadery and taproom in Middletown’s old trolley barn on King’s Avenue, said he wants his business to enrich the community. At left is his wife Emilie, and far right, bartender Tod Davis.  Contributed photo / Winter Caplanson

Bergen started brewing beer in 2011, right after he joined the U.S. Army. He immediately fell in love with the science of fermentation. “I really just kept on learning and growing and making more and more things. I started making ciders and wine and stuff.”

When his friend gave him a bottle of mead, a wine-like alcohol made from honey, Bergen said he was surprised. “I expected it to be sweet, having read about it, but not tried it before. I was just surprised with the complexity. The offering he gave me was really dry, and I really enjoyed it.”

After leaving the Army, Bergen said his intention was to start a brewery. When he left New England to serve his country, there were very few such places.

That was not the case when Bergen returned in June 2017, pointing to how the popularity and number of microbreweries exploded during the mid-to late 2010s.

Then, inspiration struck. “I was at a Yard Goats game, and I gave my wife a cider, and she looked at me and said ‘I’d rather have one of your meads,’” Bergen said, recalling a game from 2018. “I realized that she’s not the only person who doesn’t enjoy beer and wants an alternative besides the same cider over and over again.”

Bergen said he and his wife, Emilie, are starting slow, making two or three batches of mead a week as they fine tune their recipe to make it less alcoholic and more refreshing.

In the past 25 years, Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin has played a devastating role in the country’s epidemic of opioid addiction and overdoses, according to lawsuits and victims’ families.

The couple, residents of South Glastonbury, looked at possible locations in the area. “When we found the trailer barn in Middletown, it was like, ‘This makes sense,’” he said.

“We eat out over here. We drive through Middletown on a daily basis. This is definitely part of our community, whereas Manchester and West Hartford isn’t in the same way. I toured a lot of buildings, but when I walked in that building, I knew where everything was supposed to be,” Bergen said.

The brick building with its large open space is utilitarian and the perfect space, the owner said. Customers will find a bookshelf filled with titles they can take, read and keep or bring back.

Bergen is really encouraged by the reviews customers leave — especially ones where they say they will return. “And they do come back and they bring friends,” he said. “That’s been really cool. It bolsters faith in what we’re doing and makes me realize we are on to something.”

Bergen has eight taps behind the bar, and he always makes sure there is at least one mead made from just honey, water and yeast. It helps people understand the basic concept and taste of mead, he explained.

“It’s not beer. It’s not wine. It’s honey wine,” he said. “Then, we have a lot more robust flavours, too.”

That includes a strawberry mint and mango chipotle. Those meads encourage more returning customers more than a basic variety, Bergen said. His most popular flavour is wildflower honey fermented with farmhouse ale yeast from Norway.

“Honey is such a dynamic ingredient,” he said. “The difference between and orange blossom honey and a sage blossom honey is vast, and they produce vastly different products.”

Currently open Friday through Sunday, Bergen said the meadery and taproom will also start opening on Thursdays in August.

The meadery is located at 725 Main St., Unit 27, in Middletown. For information, call 860-358-9326, or visit bergenhousect.com or Bergen House LLC on Facebook.

https://www.middletownpress.com/middletown/article/Middletown-s-new-Bergen-House-meadery-focuses-16288317.php

'An excuse for the feast': Witches celebrate the summer solstice with cakes, mead — and salsa

From washingtonpost.com

To Lidia Pradas, the summer solstice “always recharges my energy and makes me want to start new projects,” she shared on her popular Instagram account, Wiccan Tips.

Usually, Pradas celebrates by watching bonfires burn and people jump the fires where she lives in Zaragoza, Spain, she told Religion News Service in an email.

This year, with those gatherings cancelled by the continuing pandemic, the Wiccan witch said she’ll probably enjoy the sunrise from her rooftop with some tea and cherry cake. Dandelion tea is her favourite — she picks the flowers and dries them herself, brews them with lavender and dried peach and sweetens the drink with honey.

She’s shared recipes for cherry sun cake and for lavender and orange iced tea on Instagram in collaboration with another popular account, Wiccan Cuisine.

“I always feel that this day has a buzzing energy attached to it,” Pradas said.

The sabbats — the eight major holidays celebrated by Wiccans, witches and other pagans — are tied to the seasons, and their celebrations, like any holiday, often spotlight seasonal foods.

The summer solstice, celebrated this year on Sunday (June 20) in the Northern Hemisphere, is no different.

“It’s one of my favourite holidays because it’s like pure celebration,” said Deborah Blake, an eclectic witch and leader of the Blue Moon Circle in upstate New York.

Also known as Litha or Midsummer, the summer solstice is the longest day and shortest night of the year. It’s a celebration “of the sun, of fire, and of the bounty of the land,” Blake explained in her book, “ Midsummer: Rituals, Recipes and Lore for Litha.”

It’s a day when some pagans believe the veil between this world and the faerie world is thinnest — think Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” she said.

It’s also a good celebration to share with friends who aren’t “witchy,” she noted. The first day of summer was and is celebrated by people all over the world as a time to take a break during the easy days between planting and harvest.

“After we’ve survived this last year, we definitely all deserve some sort of a feast,” Blake said.

Many pagans celebrate the summer solstice alone or in groups by being outside and building bonfires, according to the author.

Sometimes — like last year, when her circle was too fried by the pandemic to focus on ritual and simply thrilled to be together safely — “we actually have a ritual where we don’t celebrate anything more formal than joy,” she said.

The fact that many in the United States have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and that the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has loosened guidance for gatherings and mask-wearing are likely to add an “extra layer of meaning” to this year’s celebrations, she said.

But, Blake said, “We basically say the ritual is just an excuse for the feast. The spiritual stuff is great, but who brought dessert?”

For any sabbat, featured foods should use ingredients in season wherever people are celebrating, she said. At the summer solstice, that might be tomatoes, strawberries or peaches.

She likes to make a colourful salsa or a salad with sunflower seeds and fresh herbs, which are traditionally collected at the summer solstice — anything bright and full of energy, just like the day.

Many people also drink mead, or honey wine, as part of their celebration because bees, associated with sweetness and abundance, are a symbol of the sabbat.

And if there’s a bonfire, there’d better be s’mores, she said, laughing.

Even if you take the pagan Wheel of the Year out of the equation, “food is just the most natural thing in the world, so of course it’s incorporated in virtually every celebration we have,” said Gwion Raven, a kitchen witch and author of “ The Magick of Food: Rituals, Offerings & Why We Eat Together.”

To Raven, a spicy berry salsa — which he serves alongside boar tacos to celebrate Bacchus, the Roman god of agriculture and wine — screams summer solstice. It combines the cool refreshment of seasonal fruit like blueberries and raspberries with the heat of a jalapeño.

“Throw it on tacos or whatever else you want to eat with it, and know that in that very dish you’re holding the height of summer and the recognition of the dark winter that is to come,” he said.

For pagans, celebrating with a meal is as spiritual as it is natural.

Some, like Raven, practice kitchen witchery, the daily spiritual practice of making magick in the kitchen, a place where the four elements — fire, water, earth and air — come together. An Instapot becomes a cauldron and a wooden spoon, a wand, he said.

“You’re cooking something that will have an impact on the way somebody moves through the world — super magickal,” he said.

For many pagans, spirituality is tied to nature, and eating local seasonal foods connects them to the earth and with a specific time and place, according to the author.

Many rituals also end with a meal, he said, partly because it’s grounding after the hungry-making work of magick. But there’s also magick in community, in gathering together with others and socializing.

Plus, Raven said, “The real key to all ritual, to all food celebrations, is that we’re saying this moment at this time of year is sacred and holy, because it connects us to something — the height of summer, our power, the fullness of life, all those wonderful things that we connect with summer — and these foods remind me of that.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/an-excuse-for-the-feast-witches-celebrate-the-summer-solstice-with-cakes-mead--and-salsa/2021/06/18/8409c8f2-d07b-11eb-a224-bd59bd22197c_story.html

A Quick Guide to Serving Honey Wine at a Reunion

From scubby.com

Are you hosting a fun reunion party? From buying the right snacks to choosing the alcohol, there is a lot to do! Of course, there is one wine that can suit everyone’s palate, the honey wine mead.

Mead is an exquisite yet simple blend of honey, water, and yeast fermented to perfection. You can find it in dry, wet, and various flavours. Of course, for the regular sud-enjoyers, mead might be a new concept. So how about taking your time to learn how to serve and introduce this golden elixir to your guests? Here’s how you can do it.

Create Some Intrigue

You might have some friends second-guessing the drink and ask for other options. Try to educate them on this splendid sip. Mead has a rich cultural heritage and has been a vintage choice among many.

While its blend sounds simple, its taste is out of this world, warming the hearts of all. Many are used to champagne and whiskeys are house parties. Therefore, by bringing this new drink to the crew, you can cut the formalities and have everyone’s curious eyes on what is in their glass.

Before Serving, Check the Drink’s Temperature

Is your reunion during the day or before the clock struck 12? Mead or honey wine is drinkable both as a chilled and a warm drink. It is perfect in all temperatures if you know how to store it well.

During the summers, guests prefer a chilled glass of wine as they beat the heat. And if it is a cold night, you might have some friends asking for something warm to shield yourself from the chill. Mead suits both occasions. For evening sessions, stock some fruity flavors as they taste best when chilled.

If you want to serve cold mead, try to store it between 12 degrees to 16 degrees Celsius for that nice, chilled sip. For a warm brew to soothe the throat, try to bring it between 50 degrees to 55 degrees Celsius.

Keep in mind that you should not warm the drink over 60 degrees Celsius. It then foams up and loses its flavours. If you are warming up for a large crowd, try with small amounts. Doing so helps retain a lot of flavours.

Serve it right

After popping a bottle, serve it fresh. For parties with alcohol, there are many steps before the gathering starts. You have set up the glasses, ensure you have sufficient coolers and the right environment to set the mood for the boozing.

For starters, make sure your glasses are colourless to enhance the rich golden tone of this mead. Up next, try to find tulip-shaped glassware so people can hold it better as they enjoy every sip. You can bring out whiskey glasses for those requesting some warm honey wine.

For chilled honey wine, serve about 125ml per person. If you are pouring out some warm wine, maybe a 50ml shot would be enough for starters.

Pair it Up With Some Food

You can go for an elegant charcuterie board as your centrepiece. Deck it up with spicy and sharp cheese. You can also place in some peppered salami, fresh crackers, fruits, and nuts. Pickles and jellies also enhance the experience of enjoying sips of the honey wine.

You can also prepare some sliders, sauteed veggies, kebabs, and other delicious finger foods to serve the guests.

Closing Thoughts 

All in all, enjoy the reunion, have fun with your friends, and try out this beautiful drink. You can even try out some sample kits from famous honey wine from an award-winning winery like Hidden Legend Winery to know the taste first hand and only leave room for a “sweet surprise” for your guests.

https://scubby.com/a-quick-guide-to-serving-honey-wine-at-a-reunion/