The Amber Well: Apricot, Peach & the Flow of Creativity
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
A Note on Eating Orange
This week we're flowing into the Sacral Chakra with warm orange foods. Apricots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and peaches bring the colour of creativity, pleasure, and emotional flow to every plate. Here's our menu:
Download This Week's Resources
Download this week's Recipe Card (PDF) and Shopping List (PDF) to take with you to the kitchen or the shops.
Breakfast: Apricot, Orange & Ginger Overnight Oats
A jar of rolled oats soaked overnight with ground ginger, chia seeds, and almond milk, then studded with chopped fresh apricots. The ginger adds a gentle warmth that wakes up the palate, while the apricots bring their golden sweetness and a soft, jammy texture by morning. A drizzle of nut butter or a few goji berries on top makes it feel like a proper breakfast. Recipe via thehealthfulideas.com.
Lunch: Roasted Butternut Squash & Chickpea Salad
Cubed butternut squash roasted with allspice and olive oil until the edges caramelise, then tossed with warm chickpeas and wedges of red onion. A creamy tahini dressing with lemon and garlic ties everything together. The squash goes golden and soft, the chickpeas get slightly crisp in the oven, and the whole thing eats like a salad that actually fills you up. Recipe via smittenkitchen.com.
Dinner: Sweet Potato & Red Lentil Curry
Sweet potatoes and red split lentils simmered in coconut milk with tomatoes, turmeric, cumin, and curry powder until everything breaks down into a thick, golden stew. The sweet potatoes go soft and creamy, the lentils dissolve into the sauce, and a handful of fresh coriander lifts the whole bowl. It's the kind of curry that tastes better the next day and makes the kitchen smell incredible. Recipe via sweetpotatosoul.com.
Treat: Spiced Peach & Apricot Crumble
Fresh peaches and apricots tossed with brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and a squeeze of lemon, then topped with a buttery oat crumble and baked until the fruit bubbles up around the edges. The peaches go jammy and soft, the apricots hold their shape just enough, and the topping turns golden and crisp. Serve warm with a spoonful of cream or yogurt. Recipe via bakingforfriends.com.
Folk Wheel: Drinks and Health
Where to Meditate
The Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana) is the centre of creativity, pleasure, and emotional flow. Its element is Water, its colour is orange, and its seed mantra is VAM. When this chakra is open, we feel alive to our senses, our emotions move freely, and our creative energy flows without blockage. Lorna's Sunday morning chakra workshops are a beautiful starting point for each week's meditation practice. Find her on Instagram at @lorna.mckey. This week's Ogham tree is the Hazel (Coll), the Celtic tree of wisdom and poetic inspiration. In Irish mythology, nine hazel trees grew around the sacred Well of Wisdom, and the nuts that fell into the pool were eaten by the Salmon of Knowledge. Where to find Hazel trees in Edinburgh: Hailes Quarry Park, Sighthill/Gorgie - three middle-aged hazel trees growing together East Craigs Primary School, Drum Brae/Gyle - a mature hazel near the school grounds Carrickknowe Primary School, Corstorphine/Murrayfield - three hazels in the school grounds Drum Brae Drive - two semi-mature hazels lining the street Try meditating near one of these trees, or simply sit with a bowl of warm orange food and breathe into the space just below your navel. Let the colour orange fill that space. Chant VAM softly if it feels right.
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The Hazel (Coll)
In the Celtic Ogham calendar, the Hazel month runs from August 5 to September 1. The Gaelic name is Coll, and its Ogham symbol is three diagonal strokes. The Celts equated hazelnuts with concentrated wisdom and poetic inspiration. In Irish mythology, nine hazel trees grew around the sacred Well of Wisdom (Tobar Segais), and when their nuts fell into the pool, they were eaten by the Salmon of Knowledge. Whoever tasted those nuts, or that salmon, gained all the wisdom of the world. The phrase 'in a nutshell' comes from this tradition, the idea that a hazelnut contains everything worth knowing, compressed into a small, perfect form. Hazel is the tree of divination, of dowsing rods and water-finding, of poets and seers. To sit with a hazel tree is to sit with concentrated, quiet wisdom. This week, as the nuts begin to ripen on the branches, take a moment to reflect on what wisdom is taking shape in your own life.
A Picnic Table in Orange
Pack a picnic this week and let orange do the talking. Think apricot and peach slices stacked on a board, a tub of sweet potato and lentil curry kept warm in a flask, a jar of overnight oats with a spoon ready to go. A bottle of peach and apricot iced tea, a handful of calendula petals scattered over everything for colour, and a crumble wrapped in foil for pudding. Find a spot outdoors, lay it all out, and eat with your hands. No ceremony needed, just good orange food and whatever weather August decides to give you.
What the Land is Offering Right Now
Late August in Scotland is a time of abundance. Blackberries are ripening on the brambles along every hedgerow. Hazelnuts are beginning to fatten on the trees, their green husks just starting to brown. Wild plums and damsons are heavy on branches in the orchards. Meadowsweet is still flowering along the waterways, its frothy cream blossoms carrying that almond-vanilla scent. Elderberries are darkening, nearly ready for syrup. Rosehips are swelling on the dog roses. The land is offering its last great burst of sweetness before autumn turns everything to roots and storage.
This Week's Brew: Peach & Apricot Iced Tea
Brew a pot of black tea and let it cool. Add fresh peach slices, halved apricots, and a strip of orange peel. Sweeten with honey or agave to taste, then chill for at least an hour. Pour over ice and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint. The stone fruit infuses the tea with a soft, summery sweetness that pairs beautifully with the orange theme of this week.
Medicinal Herbs in Bloom
Calendula (Calendula officinalis), also known as pot marigold, is in full bloom this month, its bright orange petals a perfect mirror for the Sacral Chakra. Traditionally used for skin healing, wound care, and lymphatic support, calendula's warm, sunny disposition has long been associated with bringing emotional warmth and receptivity. The petals are edible and can be scattered over salads, steeped into tea, or infused into oil for a soothing balm.
To work with calendula this week, try steeping a handful of fresh petals in hot water for a gentle tea, or add the bright orange flowers to your picnic table as a visual reminder of the creative energy you're inviting in. Calendula carries the quality of gentle, persistent warmth, the kind that thaws what's stuck and lets things flow again.
Cook in Colour - Series 2
Cook in Colour is a 7-week series exploring the chakras through colour-coded nutrition, paired with the Celtic Ogham tree calendar. Each week features four seasonal recipes, a foraging guide, medicinal herbs in bloom, and a Celtic tree meditation, all selected by Sharon for thenofussgourmet.com. Next week: Solar Plexus Chakra - Yellow foods.
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