Salt and sugar
October 11, 2011 § 1 Comment
The perfect crust still eludes me. I’ve succeeded perhaps once or twice. This time? I grabbed the 1/2 tablespoon measure instead of the 1/2 teaspoon measure (in my defense, the only marking left on the spoon is “1/2”) and subsequently ended up dumping in too much salt. A peach galette with a salty, rather than sweet, crust. It doesn’t taste too badly if you break off some of the more crusty bits. And the smell of hot peaches is still perfect and lingering in the air.
On a better note, I have been the lucky recipient of good and unexpected gifts lately. Kind words have been spoken to and over me, in places here and there. A coworker handed me a peach ripe from the Palisades. A boss gave me a box of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. And my roommate decorated our whole apartment with a variety of charming, adorable pumpkins. These acts of generosity, gentleness, and appreciation end up making me approach the world differently. I feel cared for. It’s natural that a full, warmed spirit will go on to offer warmth and kindness more easily to others. Or at least try.
A quiet, joyful self is something I have learned to treasure, and to aim to maintain for as long as I can. Tonight my roommate and I will have fried green tomatoes, sweet corn, and cherry pie for dinner. There is a bouquet of flowers from the market still looking pretty on the table. The aspens outside are going gold and the breeze is almost always cool these days. These are the things that are beautiful in my world, at the moment. What’s good in yours?
Wind in their manes
October 7, 2011 § Leave a comment
The wind blew and blew and blew today. Yesterday afternoon it began, and kicked dust into my eyes as I headed into the Therapeutic Riding Center for my volunteer time. As we waited for our riders and the horse leaders tacked up the horses, out in the half-sheltered grooming area, we kept having to squint and turn our faces. The indoor arena where we had the lesson was quieter, but still came the sound of the wind against the walls.
At the boarding stable that night I looked west to see the sky all blue-gray, and a cloudy white mist suggested snow falling in the mountains. The horses trotted anxiously and tossed their heads. Hurry up! The storm is coming! They wanted their food and their paddocks with their sheds for shelter. We wanted that, too, but it takes time! Hungry horses riled up by wild winds make for an interesting night, but I am lucky in my coworkers. We manage to be careful and focused yet able to laugh at the same time.
So the wind whipped my ponytail and blew through the manes of those lovely horses as they hurried through gates, and at the end of the day I was glad to come home to soup and crackers and my friendly roommate and of course my darling dog.
Woke up this morning to cold air and a pink sunrise. Hurry up, Tassie. The poor dog hears me say it every morning, first thing, while I stand outside in slippers or bare feet waiting for her to do her little business, because I’m always staying in bed until I absolutely must get up or be terribly late. And she usually kind of hurries, because she wants her food (which she gets next), but this morning I had to chase her as she decided to wander far from her usual spot into a cluster of pines. Tass! Come on. And I was late, but not by very much, at least, and I had time to grab a sweatshirt.
Oh, it was a shocking kind of cold this morning – our bodies have been so adjusted to heat thanks to this summer, and even earlier this week I was growling to myself about when the heat would please leave. In the early hours of this day I wore gloves, a winter hat, pulled up my hood, wriggled my numb toes in their boots to try to get blood flowing. All of us sniffed all morning as we brought in the harvest – fortunately, no frost last night! Just the wind blowing from the West, down over Long’s Peak to the farm.
The sun came and the shadows moved out of the way, and by mid-morning I was down to a cozy hoodie. A chorus of blackbirds had settled into two or three trees on the outskirts of the farm, and noisy, they were! Perhaps fussing just as the humans have been – all warning one another about the likelihood of rain and the possibility of snow tonight. I doubt snow will come, especially this soon. It sits on the mountains and teases me most of the winter. But you never know!
We shall see how the market goes tomorrow, with the forecast of “Light drizzle for most of the morning. Cold.” These are most definitely days for dressing in layers, and bringing along just-in-case items. I will wear merino and a scarf, grab a puffy vest and my raincoat, and throw an extra pair of wool socks into my market bag. Bring on the weather, October!
Waiting for frost
October 6, 2011 § Leave a comment
We check the weather every day. When the frost comes, everything changes, and quickly. What will survive – and for how long? What won’t?
Growers and producers set up farmers’ markets and CSA shares around specific dates, carefully defined growing seasons. But the frost makes the real call as to how long the farm will continue to be in production.
Do we humans control nature? Sometimes, and sometimes too much. But the weather reminds us that in the grand scheme of things, we have to fit within the earth’s habits and patterns. We can make the most of them, and adapt to them. We can use such things as hoop houses and greenhouses and row covers and mulches for the fields, sheds and heat lamps and straw and water holes and fans for the livestock, to support better and longer growth and survival. But we can’t force nature’s hand. We have to follow it, and pay attention to it. Sometimes we hate it. We learn to respect it.
My grad school friend Mae Rose Petrehn talks all the time about grazing practices, and holistic management in particular. (She’s currently grazing several hundred sheep on a ranch in Nebraska.) Here’s a link to an article in The Atlantic about cattlemen who are looking at new (old) ways of having ruminants on the land, grazing in a way that emulates how nature would have it done in the wild, in order to restore landscapes in addition to producing food.
Lisa M. Hamilton writes: “The basic premise of holistic management is to use livestock like wild animals. But whereas bison on the Great Plains moved through the landscape by instinct, now ranchers must supply that direction. Rather than simply turning cattle into a pasture, these ranchers conduct them like a herd, concentrating bodies to graze one area hard, then leaving it until the plants have regenerated. The effect can be tremendous, with benefits including increased organic matter in the soil, rejuvenation of microorganisms, and restoration of water cycles.”
Read the article! The Brown Revolution: Increasing Agricultural Productivity Naturally.
There is a kind of tension that can exist when one’s livelihood and/or survival depends on nature. But we are kidding ourselves if we think that only applies to some people. It applies to all of us, as nature’s resources feed, clothe, and shelter us – even if we have so distanced ourselves from the process of production that we forget this reality. So we would be wise to explore the tension, to avoid the downfall of domination, and to move as much as we can towards harmony.
Garden vegetable soup, greens on toast, and getting things done
October 4, 2011 § Leave a comment
This has been a Tuesday for doing things. Running down the checklist with some kind of strange enthusiasm. Bathroom cleaned. Laundry in the machines. Dishwasher running. Phone calls made. Library card obtained – and first book checked out! (I will finish it.) Mail sent and retrieved. Dog fed and walked, lying contentedly under the table on the patio.
Can’t you tell she loves having her picture taken? Really?
Then I felt so satisfied with myself and my use of time that I waltzed out to the swimming pool because, yes, on this 5th of October it is still hot enough. I sat there with my big floppy hat and a magazine all by myself in that quiet, clean little pool area and felt oddly like some rich girl in her private, swanky back yard.
After a while of appreciating the warmth of the sun and the cool of the breeze and my newly painted toenails (another item checked off the list), I slipped in the water for a swim in that empty turquoise pool. A few lazy laps, the whole expanse just for me.
Aaah, Tuesdays. I have the whole morning and afternoon free, and it’s so nice to catch up on the important and routine things, and then have a pleasurable rest moment in between all the work of all the other days. Especially now that I’ve crammed Thursdays full, too. The cramming is good, and necessary. But so is the down time.
All refreshed back at the apartment I realized I’d forgotten to eat lunch. 4:00 p.m. and I’d need to leave to feed horses in 45 minutes! Fortunately, the soup I’d made a few days before sat in the fridge. I heated it up, made some toast, threw on some toppings, and sat down at the table.
I read my book, and ate my lunch, and went off to work. Even more satisfied.
—–
RECIPE: Garden Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
4 cups beef broth + 4 cups water
Chopped veggies of whatever is in season: I used some eggplant, medium-hot and/or sweet peppers, Swiss chard, summer squash, arugula, and carrots. (about 3-4 cups)
Rice (about 1 cup uncooked)
Salt to taste
Directions:
My method is, honestly, to throw everything together and let it simmer until all the vegetables are tender. You can just cook the rice in with the broth and vegetables, but be aware if you use brown rice this will require a longer simmer time (about 45 minutes) and you may want to add extra water. I decided to add the brown rice AFTER I’d simmered the vegetables and broth, so I cooked the rice on its own and then mixed it in with everything else. If you use winter squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and/or beets you’ll want to chop them smaller and/or put them in the broth first, then add the rest of the vegetables about 15-20 minutes later.
RECIPE: Toast with Farmer’s Cheese, Arugula, Swiss chard, and Bell Pepper
And that’s what it is. Toast the bread, spread on the cheese, pile on the arugula and Swiss chard, then slice the pepper and layer it on the top. I used a chocolate bell pepper, which is nice and sweet.
So long, September
September 30, 2011 § 3 Comments
I will send September out in high style this Friday night, with a long bath and Country Living, re-warmed homemade chicken soup with rice, and an early bedtime.
But first, here is the John Keats poem I feel the need to re-read and remind everyone of this time of year. You may want to put on your literary thinking cap since it’s all old language and meter and rhyme, but it’s a gorgeous piece and worth the time. Can’t you just imagine England in the fall? I was there in the gloomy winter/spring, but I can imagine. And I’m remembering so many pastoral paintings, hanging on the walls of European museums, by artists whose names I wrote down on scraps of paper, and shoved in my pockets, and inevitably lost.
—–
To Autumn
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,-
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
The sunflowers are done
September 29, 2011 § Leave a comment
We pulled the stalks out of the ground this week, taking care to save some of the heads for harvesting seed. So here is a last sunny face for you! Till next summer.
Delays & anticipation
September 29, 2011 § Leave a comment
Well. It is the second-to-last day of September and I am a brooding a bit for several reasons:
1. I love September. It’s my favorite month and it’s almost over. A whole year of waiting for it again . . . it feels kind of like finishing a favorite book. Satisfying, except you’re not ready to be done with it yet. (This is of course referring back to the days when I read books.)
2. I set many goals over the last few weeks – and shared them – and have not even come close to reaching them! Such as getting up early to walk the dog, biking to work, and reading through The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver (re-set that goal: if I’m through the book by next February I can be content). Am I lazy? Or am I asking too much of myself? Grr, me.
3. The exciting September News that I hinted at earlier has to be pushed to . . . October, maybe. Stalling on my own part has something to do with this, but there are other factors. Sometimes things have to take on their own life and timeline, and that’s sort of what this is. So – hang in there, me and you.
Still. I can shake myself out of this brood (a little). Because on this second-to-last day of September I also have some very good things to look forward to:
1. We’re having a party at the farm! A potluck-style crawfish bash thanks to my boss and her Southern roots. This Saturday night. (I’d better take a nap between the farmers’ market and the party, come to think of it.) If you’re my friend and you live here and you want to come, let me know – the more the merrier!
2. I am happy to announce that I will be attending and blogging for/about the Carolina Farm Stewardship Associaton’s Sustainable Ag Conference in Durham, NC! It’s taking place November 12-13, but I’ll get there early to check out the area and participate in some pre-conference activities. More details on that later, but if any readers are in the area and/or attending the conference I’d love to know.
3. Change comes with the seasons, when you work on a farm. It scares me but I also need to acknowledge how lucky I am to mix up my schedule and my life; to have new experiences and opportunities for learning; to make new friends and new discoveries. Come November my world is going to shift, and I don’t know how far – it could be very far, or not far at all – but I get to ride out that shift. And write it out. (Thanks for reading!)
4. There will be more time set aside for writing books. I may not be reading about vegetables as I should, but book ideas have been be coming out of my ears lately. So it seems weird to look forward to this, but I am excited about jotting down the thoughts and the plots. I’ve already started, and it’s only going to get better. Winter seems to be more of my writing season, especially poetry and fiction, and I can’t help but feel glad about dark quiet nights by the fireplace, shutting out the buzz and hum of everything else so that the imagination can do its thing.
5. And finally: baby brother is getting married. I love/hate weddings but the love part of them is what I aim to focus on. The event planner in me wants to know all the details. The budding photographer in me can hardly wait to capture all the gorgeous moments that will be had. At first the news came as a surprise but now the idea is getting more and more fun. I am hoping for the utmost of happiness for them.
So then. There are delays and disappointments and the passing of time, and there are joys and excitements in the passing of the time.
It’s life, eh?
And here is a delicious Etsy blog post I wanted to share, to sweeten this slightly moody post of my own: How to Make Chocolates. Check out the deal you can get on the cookbook! Yum. We are moving into the season of decadence.
Flight
September 27, 2011 § Leave a comment
The other night the sky turned so luminously pink it caught my attention from where I had busied myself indoors. I was chatting on the phone with my mother or sister when the sky beckoned me out onto the patio. I walked out onto the cement, maneuvered around the bicycles, the table, and the tomato plants, and looking out over the trees and garages and parking lot and lampposts I saw them: three skydivers, their parachutes pulled, floating down through the sunset.
We see skydivers out here all the time – Longmont seems to be a city of the sky, with numerous small planes, air shows, hot air balloons, and a skydiving outfit – so it wasn’t unusual to see the figures falling. Usually I don’t envy them, as I am happy enough keeping my money and staying on the ground, but this night I did, a little. They weren’t looking at the sky-canvas, as I was – they were in it. They had become a part of that sunset. I imagine they could practically feel its colors.
Yesterday, while we were picking beans, a great flock of small black birds went racing right over us. Their noise caught our attention and we looked up to see their silhouettes against the blue-and-white. There had to be hundreds of them, all flying at the same speed, one body with one purpose. “It’s like a pattern,” I said, and wished I could sew a dress out of the fabric.
At the barn that night, I watched the birds gather on the fences of the runs where the horses eat. They wait for the horses to finish their feed, and once we pull the horses and buckets out of the runs, the birds hop in for the spilled grain. Mostly they are sparrows, but one of the birds was different, bigger than the rest, a kind of brindled brown and black. I don’t know what he was, and I still haven’t found out, but I kept looking back at him, wanting to see if he got the leftovers along with the others, wondering where he lived and how he had come here.
And all these things came together to make me start thinking about wings. That old human desire for flight. An airplane doesn’t quite suffice – it’s so inside, so loud, so mechanical. I’d rather grow wings out of my own back, nice white feathery ones, tinged pink or gold, that I could tuck away and unfold as needed. I’m not an angel of the heavenly variety nor the (rather opposite) Victoria’s Secret variety, but I do envy their gorgeous feathers! I wonder what kinds of things might we see, if we could add that other dimension of space to our daily, usual movement? How would our perspectives change? What beauty might we know?
Adventure isn’t something I can very well afford right now, but I can daydream about hang-gliding, parasailing, boat sailing, ballooning, and galloping bareback across a meadow. Lightness, height, speed . . . we pursue these things for a reason. I want to do it. I want to find out why.
Variations on a BLT
September 27, 2011 § 2 Comments
Yes, still more tomatoes. And still greens. The lettuce and arugula look lovely, and we keep holding onto them long as we can before the weather gets too cold.
I am waiting today on things that make me both anxious and hopeful. Some explanations may come in early to mid-October, but for now I am keeping quiet and making sure to try and choose decaf coffee. Saying more prayers than usual. Reminding myself, You have much to give. Go confidently.
And it’s funny, but eating helps. I don’t mean the desperate emotional eating (yes, of course, I’ve been there), but rather good eating that offers something else to focus on. Something to make, successfully, artistically, with enjoyment.
One of the nice things about bacon is that I can open a package and have decent single-person servings of meat over the next few days, in an assortment of ways. (It’s lazy, but I sometimes feel annoyed when I make a big ol’ roast and of course can’t eat it all, and have to take the time to cut it up and store it and then feel pressured to eat it when really, roast once a week is good enough for me. At least there is the freezer.)
A former Iowa State classmate, Marissa Landrigan, is celebrating bacon this week at her blog, We*Meat*Again, which is a funny coincidence since I’ve been on a bacon streak this past week myself. Have a look at what she’s up to! And here are a few new ways you might enjoy a classic sandwich:
1. My new favorite tomato is called the Cherokee Purple. When I first bit into it I couldn’t help thinking how remarkable it would be on a BLT – it seems like it wants to be paired with meat in general, and bacon in particular. Instead of lettuce, though, I paired the bacon and tomato with Swiss chard and arugula. So I guess that makes it a BASCT. Slather mayonnaise on some whole wheat bread and there you have it.
2. Remember the sourdough I got at the market last weekend? Time to cut in. I always feel like sourdough wants to be toasted . . . but I don’t have a toaster (I know, I know!) . . . so I popped the bread in the oven for a few minutes while the bacon sizzled on the stove. Put lots of mayo on one slice, and some soft Colorado farmer’s cheese (check out Rocking W) on the other slice, and in between, thick slices of a yellow Persimmon tomato, more Swiss chard, and of course the meat. This one may have been my favorite. The farmer’s cheese in there was divine!
3. This morning I awoke hungry and with a headache, so I went for a hearty BLT breakfast of the gluten-free variety. I took the basic ingredients (Romaine lettuce, bacon, and a red Zapotec tomato) and piled them together over a corn tortilla, then topped it off with some basil leaves and blooms (our basil is going to seed – and you can eat the flowers if you like). It was good, but I have to admit something seemed to be missing. Next time I think I’d add feta to give it more of a salty bite. Maybe even salsa. Or an egg. And break up the bacon so it’s easier to eat with a fork. Improvements can only be made if you’re willing to try things, right?
With my plate full, I popped open my computer to watch a good show, paged through a magazine, and ate up. It helped to have this moment in this time. You give a gift to yourself when you eat nourishing, delicious food. Really, the world is giving a gift to you, and you’re accepting it, appreciating it, and equipping yourself to give back.
Huevos rancheros, this way and that
September 25, 2011 § 2 Comments
This is the season of tomatoes and peppers. It’s not in mid-summer on the 4th of July like so many of us want to think (and the same goes for watermelon). In Colorado, late summer and early fall is their time. At the farm we are checking the loaded tomato plants almost every day, and harvesting all colors and sizes of heirloom varieties. I come home with the split ones, or the ones too ripe to sell.
My last roommate lived for several years in Texas, so she gets credit for introducing me to huevos rancheros. After she ditched me to return to The Lone Star State, though, I kind of forgot about making them. Scrounging hungrily through the kitchen several weeks ago, I rediscovered a huge stack of yellow corn tortilla shells. I also had some ends of cheese in the fridge. And eggs. A few peppers on the counter. And oh so many tomatoes! Dinner practically made itself.
So one of my new favorite things is to see what kinds of variations I can make with a base of a lightly fried corn tortilla and a sunny-side-up or over-easy egg or two. You don’t have to follow a recipe; you just look at what you have and mix and match. What do you like? What do you think will taste good to you, on this particular day?
Sometimes I stick with tradition and smother everything in salsa. Often, instead, I saute whatever vegetables I have on hand and spill them overtop, or tuck them off to one side. (Grilled veggies could also be awesome here, if you are lucky enough to have a grill!) Sometimes I add refried beans, extra cheese, sour cream, or fresh slices of tomato and pepper. Almost always I layer something between the tortilla and the egg – arugula, Swiss chard, or a few leaves of basil – along with some grated cheese. (Cheddar is good. Gruyere is better.) Arugula is a definite yes, when I can get it, with its bite so bitter-tangy through the egg and cheese.
If you’re trying to make sure you eat enough greens, you can just put them underneath everything else. Line your plate with romaine, buttercrunch, or rainbow chard. You might even use kale or collards or beet greens if you steam them for awhile first. When you’ve layered and arranged everything as you please, then dig in! And the pretty presentation should turn into a delicious mess. The warm egg yoke and the crispy tortilla and all the other flavors running together make it easy to eat your nutrients. And that, I find, is always a good thing.
Kinds of Honey 