Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Rites Of Spring

As in: spring-related things happening in Asheville, not as in the DC Hardcore band of the same name.

Mother's Day!

As the internet tells it, Mother's Day (this weekend, y'all, don't forget!) finds it's origins in the ancient Greek rites of Rhea (also associated with Cybele) mother of the gods, and daughter of the Sky and the Earth. A holiday in England dating back to the 1600's, Mothering Day, was a continuation of the feast, and often included the tradition of people bringing the Mothering Cake to their mothers. (I'm not sure that we will make Mothering Cake at the Cake Shop this weekend, as the idea of adding handmade marzipan to our new repertoire makes me a little flustered, but we would love to make you something special from the current menu to bring to your mom).
In the United States, Mother's Day as we know it was created by Julia Ward Howe just after the Civil War, as a call for an international congress of women for peace. Which is kind of weird considering that Julia Ward Howe also wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic just before the Civil War. But, you know, people change.

From her proclaimation:
Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

So Mother's Day is a holiday of peace. Love your mama on this special day, whether it be by a visit, a cake, or some flowers and plants, a-like so:

The Cake Shop's sweet and lovely next-door neighbors, the ladies of Farm Girl Flower Shop, are hosting a Mother's Day Plant Sale this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10-5. Your mom (or baby-mama) would probably really appreciate some fresh, local flowers and fresh, local cake on her special day. And then: a footrub. Just sayin.

Also upcoming, is the 8th! Annual! Bountiful Cities! Birdhouse Auction!

Located at Christopher's Garden (just around the corner from the Cake Shop, behind the Rocket Club and across the street from Harvest Records), the Birdhouse Auction is BCP's primary fundraiser for the year, which pays our mortgage on the Pearson Drive Community Garden in Montford, and funds programs, (like the Strong Roots Youth Program) that happen in other gardens around town (like the Dr. George Washington Carver Edible Park at the Stephens-Lee Community Center). Food will be provided by Slow Food Asheville, birdhouses by the illustrious artists of Asheville, and Jen Lauzon of LaZoom Tours will emcee the auction. Beer and wine tickets provided with an auction paddle- what's fun is to get into a bidding war with your friends. Come on by, y'all, its going to be lovely! Oh, and if it rains, the auction will be inside the Rocket Club. And one more thing- even though we said that the deadline was May First, we will still gratefully accept your lovely handcrafted birdhouses, bathouses, and birdbaths up until the day of the event.

I totally love May. I love weddings, like this cake buffet this past weekend at Claxton Farm (hopefully the boys of Blend got some better shots than me):

(although I do like this last one of the hardcore rustic banana pudding cake. Unapologetically homestyle. Yum.)

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