Wow. March and April flew by at lightning speed. I’ll do my best to recap here.

Oschdresege

Even though we had a late winter/early spring snowstorm, die Oschdre still made their presence known in Manheem. Underneath the melting snows came the daffodils and purple deadnettle. The temperatures started to warm enough to get outside and clean up all the trash that had collected in the front of my house over the winter months. (Oh, the joys of urban living.)

Distelfink Sippschaft’s Oschdresege at Gnomestead was one of our biggest gatherings yet. We had to move everyone outside. Thankfully, the weather was warm enough for that to happen and we had enough trash bags to cover the outdoor cushions that were still drying from the rain of the previous day. 

Ziegdaag

A lot happened in the short span of time between Oschdresege (March 21) and Ziegdaag (April 1, observed April 4). We learned that Rob needed surgery for a brain tumor, which was something that wasn’t on anyone’s 2026 bingo card. Since Rob traditionally hosts Ziegdaag, we had to make a last minute switch to Gnomestead.

It all worked out pretty well. Me and Rue stayed over the night before to help Mike & Stacey get everything ready. Since Oschdresege was just a few weeks prior, the house was still set for “ritual mode” so it wasn’t too much effort to get everything ready before people started to arrive.

This gathering was particularly impactful for me. I had some downtime in between prepping the space and when people started to arrive, so I had a smoke in the “smoking corner” in the yard at Gnomstead and had a chat with Larry. In the material world, this is a glass table holding a small solar lamp and glass ashtray surrounded by a few metal chairs underneath the shade of a large holly tree. It’s also a portal to the realm of Spirit. Larry was incredibly instrumental in getting me interested in attending Distelfink Sippschaft gatherings and even though I didn’t get a lot of time and opportunity to spend time with him while he was in this realm, I still find myself seeking his guidance from the other side.

After my chat with Larry, I decided that I would offer to distribute the runes during sege for the first time. Was I nervous? A bit, yeah. It’s a big role to fill. Distributing the runes is an impactful part of any sege, and is often one of the main things that people reflect on afterwards, so there is a lot of responsibility that comes with distributing the runes, but I felt ready for it.

All I can say is that I definitely felt that I was “in the zone” during the distribution and the feedback I received only confirmed that I was channeling the runic energies accurately. This is a huge accomplishment for me and has only added more fuel to my fire in continuing my study of the runes.

Garden

Once all of the snow melted away, I got down to business (to defeat the Huns) in the yard getting the garden ready. I added two new garden beds this year and have a much more organized and planned approach to my gardening than I did last year. 

When we bought the place in Spring of 2024, I wasn’t able to get a garden going because of the timing. The yard was also just a bunch of plastic pallets screwed together as a makeshift deck/patio surrounded by rocks on top of super compacted dirt. It needed an entire overhaul to turn it into the urban nature oasis I wanted it to be. The first year we focused on getting rid of the pallets and rocks, building a small shed, and loosening the soil underneath. Last year, I had a “chaos garden” in which I tossed some seeds out to see what would happen and had some success.

This year, I have 6 beds and 6 large pots with a variety of smaller pots for herbs. I’m using the Old Farmers Almanac and their website as my main source of information and guidelines in addition to herbalism notes I’m borrowing from my braucherei mentor, Stacey. 

I could keep going for a long time about my garden, but I’d rather dedicate an entire post or series of posts to it and I’m already trying to cram a lot into this post.

Wilkum, Holle!

We celebrated Holle’s return to Manheem at Oak Haven Farm’s Wonnezeit celebration. I finally learned how to get better with strumming on the mountain dulcimer so I was able to put together a few chords and create a tune to go along with Kathy and Stacey’s drumming while folks danced the maypole.

I finally got my Wilkum, Holle! flag set up out front of my house. I spent way too much time deep diving “in ground flag poles” and doing price comparisons. I finally settled on using a tree branch that I brought home from from the park near the train station a few weeks ago for a flag pole. I intended to use it to make a staff but I noticed a big crack in it, hence why it was repurposed as a flag pole. I like the “rustic” look and I also like not spending money on a flagpole so it was a win-win for me.

I feel like Holle approves.

Til next post!

Mach’s immer besser!