tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41867507746955365372024-03-05T03:01:42.086-08:0014 Mile Farm & Studio14 Mile Farm & Studio : love of life off the grid in AlaskaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger283125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-60278529705878048382015-11-23T14:46:00.001-08:002015-11-23T14:46:00.082-08:00New WebsiteI can't believe I never posted this VERY IMPORTANT update! <div><br></div><div>14 Mile Farm has a new online home. Come visit us at www.14milefarm.com</div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3nWUyt5oyq79XZ907abAnbBx9czviHjedheCzKezRoh5FFSyok6fgKt6P2cvUKJHH5214Kcl1_1ZGJSG0liAALQP2zxJ3ASju9dX6A0M0jSYCbHi5xaAVTpuMS37nGUFp8kEEg5ctiQBt/s640/blogger-image-1815570046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3nWUyt5oyq79XZ907abAnbBx9czviHjedheCzKezRoh5FFSyok6fgKt6P2cvUKJHH5214Kcl1_1ZGJSG0liAALQP2zxJ3ASju9dX6A0M0jSYCbHi5xaAVTpuMS37nGUFp8kEEg5ctiQBt/s640/blogger-image-1815570046.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-62829840473466056092015-07-05T15:37:00.000-07:002015-07-05T15:37:50.248-07:00My Withywindle<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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Some of you know that we had an evacuation scare recently. There were two wildfires burning within 10 miles of our house, and one news source reported an evacuation notice for the subdivision just up the hill from us. I packed a single duffel bag with things that I would regret for decades having lost : my grandma-made quilts, my handwoven scarf, my shaman's bundle, my Navajo rugs, and all the love letters my man has ever written me, our drums. I also packed file folders of Very Important Papers and planned on another duffel with clothing for a week and my growing stash of cloth diapers. This baby is on its way whether or not the house burns down!</div>
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It was an interesting experience, packing evacuation bags. Fascinating what I did choose and what I did not choose to pack. <br />
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Contemplating losing this house, this place; losing the few years of less-than-dedicated work on improvements to it made me cherish this home in a whole new way. We live a half hour to 40 minute drive out of town and both work jobs that take us into town most days. It is a commitment of time. But in the end it is worth it. I love this place. I have dreams and plans and hopes and half finished projects for this place.<br />
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The photos above are from a number of weeks ago (Many of them. Too many. I'd like to get out on the river again) when we went canoeing on the Chatanika. The river intersects with the road two miles towards town from my front porch and every time I drive across it, I feel the shift. Heading into town, heading home. When I drive home, crossing the Chatanika is the real homecoming. It is when I cross into "my place." It is a cheerful river: usually shallow, winding and twisting, home to birds and dragonflies. Getting out on it in the canoe, challenging ourselves against the swift current upstream, then lazily floating downstream in the sunlight, was blissful. Truly. I want to go back. I want to raise my children on that river. <br />
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It is my Withywindle.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-58300374092411071782015-07-01T21:48:00.001-07:002015-07-01T21:48:39.428-07:00First harvest<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkpH9EWXE3yU6v5AOUg6XW0GLQ2Y_8l8Csze3Pkkhi0ZWBpWqBavErZjQXe_y3yPNi4AzuvY-nVQYOZJF_9qz0dvhUrCXuBnfw5hxUtFSysHEuigEb0pFftrVj3Cv0bfli1tT_yt-ITBUz/s640/blogger-image--1368554980.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkpH9EWXE3yU6v5AOUg6XW0GLQ2Y_8l8Csze3Pkkhi0ZWBpWqBavErZjQXe_y3yPNi4AzuvY-nVQYOZJF_9qz0dvhUrCXuBnfw5hxUtFSysHEuigEb0pFftrVj3Cv0bfli1tT_yt-ITBUz/s640/blogger-image--1368554980.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">First basket of goodies brought in from the garden! Parsley and calendula. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I'll be making tabbouleh tomorrow. It is one of my favorite summertime foods : fresh herbs, flavorful from the sun (parsley is called for in any recipe you'll find. I sometimes like to mix it up with whatever is growing/comes in the CSA share: mints, thyme, oregano, etc), chewy bulgur, the pungency of onions (scallions work too!), a ripe tomato if you have it, all tied together with generous amounts of a good olive oil and bright lemon juice. It keeps well for days in the fridge and is a simple, easy, quick meal fix. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The calendula will be dried and stores for making salve. I've got a baby coming whose bottom needs to be protected from any possible incidence of diaper rash with the family diaper rash salve recipe that hasn't been made probably since my younger sister was potty trained. She's now a PhD student so, you know, it's been a while! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The lettuce doubled it's size overnight it seems and could bear with a trimming for a salad bowlful tomorrow. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-1805648264944598322015-06-30T10:38:00.001-07:002015-06-30T16:57:12.563-07:00A loan of perspective<div>
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It’s a cloudy, rainy, chilly June morning*. I'm wearing a wool sweater dress. The past few weeks have been in the 80's – shorts and tanktops and popsicles. And I'm so grateful. Because the past week we have been enveloped in smoke from the wildfires raging in our state. Low visibility, high-risk for elders and children. We half seriously talked about flying my pregnant self to visit family until the smoke clears. And today it rains! May all the fires be quenched.<br />
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I spent the morning at the table ... ok, so it was the early afternoon. I mean, if we're going to be honest, I slept through most of the morning. I spent the early afternoon at the table with a cup of coffee (half caf!) and a book. I've always been a voracious reader. The weekly trip to the library was one of the highlights of my life as a child. In middle school I read through the entire – and I mean entire! – YA section at the library, priding myself on reading a novel a day. I could read more than one on weekends and school vacations. I have piles and piles of "to-read" books in the house. Most of them focused on yoga, spirituality, wellness. And novels. Those too. I'm booming business for the used book store.<br />
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But of late, I've re-discovered the library. In college, the library was a tool. A beloved tool. But a tool rather than a place of sanctuary and timeless enjoyment. A place to research concepts, find sources for papers. And for the last few years I haven't used the library – University or local – very much at all. Until recently. <br />
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Recently I've moved away from gorging my brain on a continuous input of other people's perspective on yoga and towards gorging my brain on other people's perspectives on raising children. Neither are practices that should rely on outside perspective. And I rather think that I don't (or won't)... in either case. But outside perspective can do a lot to form opinion, to educate and to inspire. I've always been one to read widely on any topic that I approach. And so I've been reading umpteen books on pregnancy and birthing and mother-wellness – these from my mother's home library (she being a midwife who will be opening a private practice) – and alternating them with books on raising resourceful kids, on unschooling, on homeschooling, on how children learn, on mindful parenting. I read in one genre until it seems that all the authors are repeating themselves, and then I switch genres until the same thing happens again, and I switch back. Occasionally I mix it up with a novel.<br />
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I guess its my way of nesting... just as, if not more, important for my mental and emotional movement towards motherhood than the physical preparation work around the house or the entrepreneurial restructuring of my livelihood. <br />
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And so I'm grateful for the library. I've no doubt that over the years a handful of parenting and home schooling perspective will find their way permanently onto my shelves. But for the time being, I am grateful. So grateful to the public library. For a being a haven in the middle of a long day in town, and for providing the precious free gift of a loan of perspective.<br />
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*written last Friday Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-36204448119519200742015-06-25T07:00:00.000-07:002015-06-25T07:00:03.052-07:00In the garden: June 25Joining in with <a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" target="_blank">SouleMama</a> for a tour of what is growing and thriving and green:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You will notice that I just discovered an app that lets me <br />write on photos!</td></tr>
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The garden this year is still small, but its growing food (and flowers)! It is a nice change, this year, to actually be home this year - instead of away at Yoga School - through the heart of the summer. Wildfire smoke notwithstanding.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fireweed, calendula, and baby sunflowers</td></tr>
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You can't see it in this photo, but there's parsley here, just about ready for a trimming that will be the first harvest from the garden!<br />
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<br />This is what I'm probably most excited about! I planted a couple dozen strawberry plants last year, and was <i>so good</i> about pinching off all the flowers, so that the plant's energy could go into root growth. And it worked! 16 of them came back this year, and a couple are sending out runners. Many had an abundance of delicate white flowers, and are now showing promise of a handful of fruit!<br />
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My dear friends over at <a href="http://www.annalgh.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Maple&Me</a> gave me starts of a Siberian tomato from local heirloom seed folks at <a href="http://www.newsminer.com/features/sundays/alaska_grown/pingo-farm-owner-focuses-on-study-of-northern-seeds/article_cae8d766-c86a-5134-9f45-308b31e495a8.html" target="_blank">Pingo Farms</a>. <br />I planted these two out in the garden, and the rest in pots on the upstairs (sunny! warm(er)!) porch:<br />
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We shall see, but so far, the garden planted tomatoes seem happier and more robust and vigorous. Which totally disproves my hypothesis that they would be happier in containers on the porch. Isn't science fun?? The real test, of course will be in another year or three when we get the greenhouse built!<br />
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<br />P.S. All photos were taken at 10 pm last night. Three cheers for the Solstice sunlight that penetrates through the thickest smoke!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-14691934918245501942015-06-24T13:38:00.002-07:002015-06-24T15:15:54.504-07:00Introducing the fence...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br>With wildfires raging all over Alaska, and one (now said to be contained) scarily close to us, I'm appreciating in a really acute way the things that we do have. Like this fence. <br><div><br></div><div>
Meet the fence.<br>
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The fence that finally kept one intrepid escape artist...<br>
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...inside of its bounds with her species-compatible compatriots. You will also notice the bear skull she found and buried in the strawberry bed one time when she got out. We found out last night that in her escapades (pre-fence re-construction) recently, she made off with two of the neighbor's roosters. How she managed to come home without blood or a single feather, the picture of canine innocence, we are not quite sure.<br>
<br>The Darlin'Man went over last night to talk to the neighbors about the fire (I've yet to meet them!); and later went back over with reparation payment for the roosters. Just as soon as the oven is working again, I'm baking them a pie.<br>
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"Good fences make good neighbors." There's so much truth in that.<br>
<br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-3060560413056569222015-06-06T00:55:00.000-07:002015-06-06T01:04:29.295-07:00Gifting Handmade<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguzpqeoSmkjnlTTI56zFov4GPt2NcvVZTvLXY9zRfrCyXwsBeqOA5edBGGq-IyRYRx4hfIllj6OW7dg3DquJm5cwLgWMA6Wt2hyphenhyphenvMDEZQ9mLydXClJ2JDMSfVpn3mLEm1a8vsStJzIaIVe/s640/blogger-image--263452744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguzpqeoSmkjnlTTI56zFov4GPt2NcvVZTvLXY9zRfrCyXwsBeqOA5edBGGq-IyRYRx4hfIllj6OW7dg3DquJm5cwLgWMA6Wt2hyphenhyphenvMDEZQ9mLydXClJ2JDMSfVpn3mLEm1a8vsStJzIaIVe/s640/blogger-image--263452744.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">It always warms my heart with such such joy when I'm actually able to align my good intentions, my brilliant ideas, my always seemingly scarce time, and the activity of my hands to create a gift for a loved one. It always impresses the heck out of me when I conceive of, start and FINISH said gift by the date for which it is intended. Witness the 5 year old unfinished tapestry project for my sister, the 11 year old unfinished quilt for my highschool bestie (this one I'm giving up on, I'm repurposing what has been sewn, putting the leftover fabric back in the stash and beginning a new project, again quilts, this time for her twin babies). Someday this particular sort of accomplishment will cease to be a small miracle in my life and be rather an enjoyable customary occurrence. I promise. Eventually.</span></div>
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And I did it! I succeeded. A few days before her birthday, no less! My dear friend Faye is mommy to two super sweet pups, and after the <a href="http://14milefarm.blogspot.com/2015/02/stitching-for-yuletide.html" target="_blank">Yule stitching for my mom</a> I wanted to try my hand at working off of a photograph rather than a woodblock print, so I figured this would be a perfect project! Happy Birthday dearest!</div>
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It was super fun. The only trick is in deciding what level of detail and which lines of contour to choose to trace from the photo. I'm pretty in love still with my diy light table of tracing on the window. Come winter though, I'll have to plan around the few hours of daylight midday to trace a project! The stitching itself is tied with the gifting for the prize of Jasmine's-favorite-part-of-the-process. </div>
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Oh, I've got so many ideas for more! If you're as totally in love with this idea as I am, I encourage you to grab some fabric, thread, embroidery hoop, tracing pencil and photo and get started! If you're not the crafty type but you are as in love with this idea as I am; contact me in the comments, I'd love to do custom work (and promise a firm and reasonable delivery date!) for you.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-86379954164155628942015-06-06T00:12:00.001-07:002015-06-06T00:21:41.760-07:00Rage Rant<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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This. This is what is sick in our society. This makes its way through a major publishing house, and is put on the shelves at your local bookstore. And we wonder why rape culture continues to perpetuate itself.<br />
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Yeah, yeah, I get it. Its supposed to be cute. Its supposed to be clever. "What new parent hasn't wished that their tiny bundle of a baby came with an instruction manual along with the enormity of responsibility?" asks the marketing assistant. Its a sentiment repeated on mommy blogs and social media. It in itself is a symptom of a culture that has devalued intrinsic wisdom and the intuition we all have access to and has chosen instead to rely on the outside authority of 'experts' in nearly every field including, perhaps unsurprisingly, child rearing. Baby knows what baby needs, and so does Mom if she listens, so does Dad if he listens. But that's a whole 'nother conversation.<br />
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What got my goat, what made me gasp in outrage when I saw it on the shelf, what got me to whip out my cameraphone and snap a photo to post in rage to social media is the title and all the (unexamined - I will charitably assume this of the author who seems to be a well educated woman) assumptions that underpin the title.<br />
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You don't own your baby. You don't own your child. They are autonomous humans entrusted to your care.<br />
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But more than that?<br />
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A GIRL'S BODY IS NOT CHATTEL. A woman's body is her own. It does not magically become her own at the stroke of midnight when she turns 18. It is her own as a teen, as a girl, as a baby. It is hers. It does not belong to the scary man in the alley, it does not belong to her soccer coach or her pastor or her teacher. It does not belong to the guy she went out for drinks with. (Pardon, the guy with whom she went out for drinks.) It does not belong to her boyfriend. It does not belong to her husband. It does not belong to People magazine or the paparazzi. It does not belong to her mom. It does not belong to her dad. It belongs to her.<br />
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"Baby Girls : an owner's manual." That is not clever. That is not cute. That is sick. It is sad. <br />
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My inner snark had hoped to get even more righteously indignant over the fact there was no boy baby book with a parallel title. But there is. By the same author. I don't know if that ameliorates the issue or makes it worse. <br />
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If we intend to teach our children that no means no, that yes means yes, that they don't have to accept abuse, that they have no right to abuse or force themselves on another person; if we intend to heal a culture - a world - that has become inured to interpersonal violence and sexual harassment and assault... it has to start with the children. We have to raise children who believe, who know, that they belong to themselves. That their mind is their own, their feelings are their own, and that their body is their own. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-66623439711800071712015-05-24T16:52:00.001-07:002015-05-24T22:14:42.438-07:00A winter's worth of woodSo, the Darlin'Man cut down a whole passel of trees before the sap ran this spring, clearing out a piece of what I dearly hope will become a sheep field before too entirely long. Today, he and his <a href="http://www.vipukirves.fi/" target="_blank">Finnish axe</a> made a bet that they could chop in a day what we'd otherwise use a wood splitter to make our way through... <br>
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<br>I think he succeeded in his challenge. I'm reminded of the legend of John Henry. Thankfully there's no heart attack for us at the end of the day, just an icepack on his back. <div><br></div><div>I'm so proud of - and oh so thankful for - my Mountain Man... I think I'll keep him. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-68927380044244975282015-03-03T21:13:00.001-08:002015-03-04T00:25:23.326-08:00Quiet BeautyI've discovered the joy of naps recently. I took one today, with kittens (grown up ones) to cuddle and snow falling softly out the window. It was the last full day at home I'll have for the next couple of weeks, and rather than trying to be productive, I spent today simmering soup, watching snow fall, sipping tea, reading, and writing letters. Have I shared yet about how much I love correspondence? Of the on paper in the mail variety? Because I do. It makes me happy and warm inside. 2 of these letters have been sitting half written on my coffee table for weeks, and it's lovely to know they will finally be posted to NYC and the Maine woods tomorrow! <div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0ir5dzVh6TeIylwVTi9kvtPmNOueWYRYY9SN1e0J-p5VDRskZaBS7kSQDgjRL9zINSuhcj459pMXpv4aef0_FgoH5Xb0xSVMwOkIgZuAD0Jga0J6PRSFQnAt73n-AKFB82na0miSjB3R/s640/blogger-image--669896768.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0ir5dzVh6TeIylwVTi9kvtPmNOueWYRYY9SN1e0J-p5VDRskZaBS7kSQDgjRL9zINSuhcj459pMXpv4aef0_FgoH5Xb0xSVMwOkIgZuAD0Jga0J6PRSFQnAt73n-AKFB82na0miSjB3R/s640/blogger-image--669896768.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>And then my darlin' darlin' darlin' man brought me home the loveliest bouquet. It's a nice reminder that despite the snow, spring approaches. And it's just so pretty. I smile Everytime I pass by. </div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3YmFofTOkckWNHnkWuzjklFK2tKQk0i-yupTXjpw8z30jMFtiPLRlpD8Hh7lmcxoBIf7t-LcfIbUdRW8ynMpSRPMP0u8X1kKBO_qeO28kjZLqXjshOdBrxyzOVbb-vUtHz-Ae_usL6d14/s640/blogger-image-306472118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3YmFofTOkckWNHnkWuzjklFK2tKQk0i-yupTXjpw8z30jMFtiPLRlpD8Hh7lmcxoBIf7t-LcfIbUdRW8ynMpSRPMP0u8X1kKBO_qeO28kjZLqXjshOdBrxyzOVbb-vUtHz-Ae_usL6d14/s640/blogger-image-306472118.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-73604103070863330922015-02-27T11:51:00.001-08:002015-02-27T11:51:15.797-08:00(This moment)<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLHdLyXHrI3C2stxj6BXMS6iz2_iwtaMKe2TTtoC1KuxHT1f5Dd66p201zMtNPQbuQ2aLD6EM_K9x_agTAIrLgEjAEPyTz5PLjDU0AoAy9ccJaIJ9mxfi96NXGDhR4fgdWSwctPw4iuIbT/s640/blogger-image--1798236107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLHdLyXHrI3C2stxj6BXMS6iz2_iwtaMKe2TTtoC1KuxHT1f5Dd66p201zMtNPQbuQ2aLD6EM_K9x_agTAIrLgEjAEPyTz5PLjDU0AoAy9ccJaIJ9mxfi96NXGDhR4fgdWSwctPw4iuIbT/s640/blogger-image--1798236107.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Joining in with Soulemama.com this Friday. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p style="text-align: start; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.</span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-2795718543796108232015-02-18T16:05:00.000-08:002015-02-18T16:50:26.664-08:00Stitching for YuletideEvery year I tell myself (and sometimes others) that I'm going to give handmade gifts. Sometimes this is for the beauty and the love and the care and the ethic of handmade. Sometimes it is because the bank account is looking real thin. Both were true this year. The difference was that I actually managed to give one meaningful handmade gift -and it was completed in time for the actual day of gift giving! Happy Yuletide Mom!<br />
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This is a stitched copy of a medieval print from the first published midwifery manual. Its an image I'm familiar with from a childhood raised by a childbirth educator, doula and midwife! </div>
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This is probably my best "I saw it on Pinterest!" project to-date. It wasn't precisely this image that I saw, but another medieval print done in black (and red!) line embroidery in this style. I'm really pleased with how it came out. And the stitching itself was both fun and therapeutically soothing. I was working on it during a time when the dark was getting to me, when I felt frustrated, trapped into spending far too much time in town and not enough at home and overwhelmed with large projects; the stitching was something that I could control. I could watch it grow. It lulled my over-active mind, eased my way slipping into a meditative state. It could be worked in small bits in companionable company with my husband on the couch in the late evening or in the coffeeshop or at the studio between appointments. It was wonderful. I would probably really benefit from and enjoy getting another stitching project started. They're manageable, portable and addictive in the best sort of ways.<br />
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This one, I gave to my mother for Yule. But the internet is full of out-of-copyright medieval prints. I've got my eye on one of two witches summoning a rainstorm! <br />
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First I traced the image onto the cloth (I used special tracing paper and pencils from JoAnn's but I don't believe that is strictly necessary. Also if you have easy access to a computer and printer, you can print onto wax paper and iron-on). And then I stitched every line. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-13386512870777329972015-02-17T12:28:00.000-08:002015-02-17T16:48:37.160-08:00Winter Prayer<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">I ask for the strength I will need to endure until spring</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">and the wisdom I require to learn from the dark </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">and cold the lessons they will teach.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">May I receive them without flinching</span></div>
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Jenna over at <a href="http://www.coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com/">Cold Antler Farm</a> shared this last winter, or possibly the year before. I copied it down and made a note to myself to use it as the basis for a winter time blog post. Its a good prayer for me right now. We are having issues with all of the 'modern' infrastructures of the house: a leaking generator, a broken inverter, failing batteries, and now more plumbing issues on top of the ones that have had us hauling water in blue jugs the last year and more. Its almost enough to make me want to rip out the plumbing (itself probably as arduous a job as fixing it), set up a grey water system, install the compost toilet, sell the hot water heater and water softener and the whole generator set up and invest the sales monies in a wood cookstove and a bajillion Alladin lamps. I want to curl up in a ball of tears and ask why. Instead, I count our blessings. I'm grateful for woodheat and candlelight. I'm grateful that the leaky generator still runs, and that the mountain man has its manual on order. I'm grateful the batteries have not yet given up the ghost. I'm grateful that I get to learn about plumbing. I'm grateful that the prospect of a housejack makes me sigh, but does not scare me. I practice gratitude because that's the only way to hold my determinism. We will have running hot and cold water and a working electrical system before snow flies next fall.<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">I ask for the strength I will need to endure until spring</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">and the wisdom I require to learn from the dark </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">and cold the lessons they will teach.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">May I receive them without flinching</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-58345637897556583872015-02-06T12:03:00.001-08:002015-02-06T12:04:50.710-08:00Hi again<div><br></div>Hello. I miss writing here. So I'm back. I think. We'll see. It seems sometimes (a lot of the times) (nearly always) that I have better intentions and more projects than I can live up to or finish. And sometimes this space feels like another one of them. But at the same time, this is a useful space for me to catalog and share those intentions I do live up to and those projects I do complete. Not to mention thought tangles about life and beauty which seem to want more than just a journal entry no one else will ever see. Why do thoughts seem more valid when shared? <div>Which I realize really gives this space a lop sided perspective on my life; it elides the rough patches, ignores the sink of dirty dishes or the fact that the summer garden is overgrown and that just outside the perfectly composed frame is the mess of life. But there you have it. We all curate ourselves on the internet, do we not? </div><div>So, here goes. An experiment perhaps? That takes the pressure of a resolution away. A return to this space and an experiment in using it however best suits me. Even if that means entries that are nothing but pictures of pies. Like this one. </div><div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNq_tbA4vI8dNf2MBU7ppnrRZpRAiC7uoeUc4N3fyuP00Uto1x6eJqt4Qo2p7sQWAJF-_iLyuQF2V1D0_CiehAsN2pRuR0tV6kHcCHTUk-hJv2V5wMaYB5V0XjCo3TEMFI27W1tAhMgUGA/s640/blogger-image-884614185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNq_tbA4vI8dNf2MBU7ppnrRZpRAiC7uoeUc4N3fyuP00Uto1x6eJqt4Qo2p7sQWAJF-_iLyuQF2V1D0_CiehAsN2pRuR0tV6kHcCHTUk-hJv2V5wMaYB5V0XjCo3TEMFI27W1tAhMgUGA/s640/blogger-image-884614185.jpg"></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Blueberry rhubarb. My new favorite combo. And with rhubarb hopefully surviving it's first winter in the garden and blueberry lowlands just down the road, one that's sure to return for many years to come. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-61856878967392036222014-09-25T12:47:00.001-07:002014-09-25T12:47:18.117-07:00Cabbages!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdA74ykGpQNkqmbhTJzp3PVY_761O38Y_RIJ-Wncu9YSdMmt4Xa3uUtVHLvvZQ9eZYvepzN_3EhLyrEDeYXtCshlg9U3POh0O9wEpgCww53iXECiBLUiETuKL0TkyZXQ8etYp1Hq5SFCGA/s640/blogger-image-944692307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdA74ykGpQNkqmbhTJzp3PVY_761O38Y_RIJ-Wncu9YSdMmt4Xa3uUtVHLvvZQ9eZYvepzN_3EhLyrEDeYXtCshlg9U3POh0O9wEpgCww53iXECiBLUiETuKL0TkyZXQ8etYp1Hq5SFCGA/s640/blogger-image-944692307.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Three giant harvest baskets full! With frosts coming regularly at night, I took a head lamp and a cleaver to the garden last night to finally harvest my cabbages. I recently finished a course of antibiotics, so the first place some of these beauties are going is into the crock. Lacto-fermented Saurkraut, here I come. The second place they're going is into a giant bowl of a raw cabbage salad (with some hot peppers and oil and almonds). The micro biome isn't only inhabited by critters that are acid tolerant (cultivated in bulk via lacto-fermentation), but by others as well. My dad is a biology prof and we have long discussions on many subjects, the upshot of a recent one being that probably the microbes inhabiting veggies growing in the garden are a) super important and b) distinguish loca-votes from different places and c) probably a large part of the benefit of raw vs cooked veggies (cooked veggies have different benefits). In thinking about this, and about the way that eating local veggies and local (wild!) meats grounds me and connects me to this place I live, I think about the root chakra. About the way muladhara is nurtured by eating root crops -parsnip, potato, carrot, etc - and about how a good grounding practice for travelers is to eat local food. There's a power in place, y'all. And if the beings a place can live increasingly intimately, that's all to the best. So I'll be eating a few days worth of raw cabbage salad to ground me and to nurture my gut. Today I've got tabbouleh made with the last of the frostbit parsley and a homegrown tomato from a friend. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The rest of this giant pile of cabbage, and the other large mound from the CSA (not pictured) will go into the freezer, to ground me and nourish me and mine this winter. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-2059798296887586992014-08-27T18:12:00.000-07:002014-08-27T18:12:46.732-07:00In the garden...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">The pie bed! Strawberries and rhubarb. And daisies.</span></td></tr>
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I'm harvesting freezer bags full of kale for winter time, and giant bowls full of salad greens. We thinned the cabbage with a giant saute, and the rest of them are forming beautiful heads. The squash are flowering, but at this point in the summer, its an even toss up if we'll see squash or hard frosts first. Some year I'll figure out the whole seed starting time table...</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-22610060424429118852014-07-28T10:41:00.001-07:002014-07-28T10:41:53.281-07:00"I" becomes "we" : recognizing our symbiosis with the microbiome in our gut"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 1.467em;">Viewed from this perspective, the foods in the markets appear in a new light, and I began to see how you might begin to shop and cook with the microbiome in mind, the better to feed the fermentation in our guts. The less a food is processed, the more of it that gets safely through the gastrointestinal tract and into the eager clutches of the microbiota. Al dente pasta, for example, feeds the bugs better than soft pasta does; steel-cut oats better than rolled; raw or lightly cooked vegetables offer the bugs more to chomp on than overcooked, etc. This is at once a very old and a very new way of thinking about food: it suggests that all calories are not created equal and that the structure of a food and how it is prepared may matter as much as its nutrient composition.</span><br />
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It is a striking idea that one of the keys to good health may turn out to involve managing our internal fermentation. Having recently learned to manage several external fermentations — of bread and kimchi and beer — I know a little about the vagaries of that process. You depend on the microbes, and you do your best to align their interests with yours, mainly by feeding them the kinds of things they like to eat — good “substrate.” But absolute control of the process is too much to hope for. It’s a lot more like gardening than governing.</div>
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The successful gardener has always known you don’t need to master the science of the soil, which is yet another hotbed of microbial fermentation, in order to nourish and nurture it. You just need to know what it likes to eat — basically, organic matter — and how, in a general way, to align your interests with the interests of the microbes and the plants. The gardener also discovers that, when pathogens or pests appear, chemical interventions “work,” that is, solve the immediate problem, but at a cost to the long-term health of the soil and the whole garden. The drive for absolute control leads to unanticipated forms of disorder.</div>
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This, it seems to me, is pretty much where we stand today with respect to our microbiomes — our teeming, quasi-wilderness. We don’t know a lot, but we probably know enough to begin taking better care of it. We have a pretty good idea of what it likes to eat, and what strong chemicals do to it. We know all we need to know, in other words, to begin, with modesty, to tend the unruly garden within." - Michael Pollan</div>
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Read the whole article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/magazine/say-hello-to-the-100-trillion-bacteria-that-make-up-your-microbiome.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-7604465086229167752014-05-09T16:45:00.000-07:002014-05-09T16:45:00.815-07:00Seeds!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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I started seeds WAY late this year. For various reasons, I wasn't sure that I'd have the time to dig in new garden beds this spring, and then... well. Then I knew I would. But by then, the optimal seed starting time had passed. And I might have procrastinated another week.... waited until I was REALLY itching to garden. And so on Tuesday, I started seeds!</div>
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Cabbage seeds. Parsley seeds. Calendula seeds. Summer squash seeds. Zuccini seeds.</div>
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Less a planned composition than the happenstance of left overs combined with gifts from a friend.</div>
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I've others I will direct-seed in the ground... into those beds I still need to make.... Parsnips, peas, green beans (because why not? I have a bazillion of them!)</div>
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And another friend has promised many many eggplant starts from her own over abundance, and tomatoes to join the basil on the upstairs porch.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-27118261443227649432014-05-08T16:40:00.002-07:002014-05-08T16:48:03.504-07:00Making Dirt : Compost<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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I'm starting at the ground, literally, with this homesteading endeavor. Making dirt. Compost is the lifeblood of a garden. That and manure, which I will be picking up a load of today, and one year soon I'll have the livestock to produce it ourselves. </div>
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I remember, growing up in a Civil War era farmhouse in Maine with a giant garden out back, we had an equally giant compost pile out back, and in the later years we were there (the ones I remember most clearly) I don't believe we ever bought soil amendments. And now, when I'm looking at a quarter inch of soil over a hillside of glacial silt and clay... I long for that giant fertile pile of rich dark loam. But this is how it starts: one step at a time, one pail of scraps, one armful of leaves. Directing the decomposition...</div>
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The current compost heap... I hope to be able to harvest a good deal of dirt out of it before the end of the summer. My way of making dirt is a bit of an improvisation. I pay very little (if any) attention to the proper balance of green and brown composting material. Instead, I empty the pail of collected kitchen scraps, occasionally throw on some dried leaves or a bucket of sawdust, add congealed chicken's blood when I have it after a slaughter (cross my fingers no wild predators stalk the compost for chicken's blood) ... and call it good. It all eventually decomposes.</div>
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But since I was making a new pile, I figured I might as well be a little conscientious about it:</div>
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I laid down cardboard and newspaper to help block the grass and fireweed and rosebushes from simply growing through it. I plan, very soon, to make a container for it, log cabin-style, of stacked fallen trees, so the pile can more easily grow up than out. </div>
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And I bedded it down with a wheelbarrow of leaves from the forest driveway, before I ever tossed the first pail of kitchen scraps. One day it will be dirt :)</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-75068757506064956142014-04-21T17:43:00.001-07:002014-04-21T17:43:08.781-07:00The Epistolarians<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV8qXAygjc381XK-gHpotS7yFNXOBUgmkCJ6KDuCN0vWuMqe8yLpkNsp57cfYyolJOtOgGtdYTeerx1loU0IlcRH59wPWSgCSvAJQpbMyFBa9t1RNjAno4bxNDda_joE0l7V_Xmr-gRNbn/s640/blogger-image-967997822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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A dear friend and I are writing an improvisational epistolary romance novel* and blogging it at www.epistolarians.wordpress.com. Take a look and tell me what you think!</div>
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Here, you see my muse and writing companion. </div>
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*That means a make-it-up-as-we-go novel about finding true love, that is conducted entirely through letters.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-4753169144902459062014-04-21T17:40:00.001-07:002014-04-21T17:40:13.086-07:00Quilt Square<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iEX1xQEqpNaTKv1IHnPE275rodOypBtHaoVQav-w1pCwjDp1L3Unm9lIfyGijRi-RmP1SjBzhR1TZgAaYa74mQY4NTjBbltwHVkIEZBI-MQgTyPtR-27jDIzVGOuIfrQuOyN17cg6qUV/s1600/samiquilt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iEX1xQEqpNaTKv1IHnPE275rodOypBtHaoVQav-w1pCwjDp1L3Unm9lIfyGijRi-RmP1SjBzhR1TZgAaYa74mQY4NTjBbltwHVkIEZBI-MQgTyPtR-27jDIzVGOuIfrQuOyN17cg6qUV/s1600/samiquilt.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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A friend of mine is pregnant, and her mother asked we all make a 12x12 quilt square. She will put them all together into a baby blanket, and next month at the Blessingway, we'll bless it as well as mom and baby. Last weekend I had some ladies over and threw open my stash of fabric, and we all made or started quilt squares. I just dropped mine off with her today. As you can see, its a lotus, with a music heart hovering overhead. I'm pretty pleased with it, though I need to practice a bit more on applique. The zigzagging made little gathers in the fabric...</div>
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In other news, it is officially summer time, despite the snow still on the ground.</div>
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In many places the snow is melted and we see the lovely ugliness of winter's accumulation of dirt and gravel. The pussywillows are budding. And last night, at 10:16 pm, I took this photo out the kitchen window:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPmgAlFOWjr4hxAV952adTWSX1NAf6rrPe6TaweG3xSJ87ah-TWaI4Jhj_zY0J0O01u2nkDJdCCSeq1lIbpfrtTXi3pVLZtQQnvxTlYRBTp-vEdhdseg4JVaRNqVOpNE5x6vzUz6sarsY/s1600/nightwindow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPmgAlFOWjr4hxAV952adTWSX1NAf6rrPe6TaweG3xSJ87ah-TWaI4Jhj_zY0J0O01u2nkDJdCCSeq1lIbpfrtTXi3pVLZtQQnvxTlYRBTp-vEdhdseg4JVaRNqVOpNE5x6vzUz6sarsY/s1600/nightwindow.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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That much light at 10 pm means summertime to me!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-46163051606646572722014-03-28T18:31:00.001-07:002014-03-28T18:32:23.838-07:00Danelion root Chai and Chia OatmealHello! Long time no blog! My love and life and passion and word energy have been all wrapped up in launching my Reiki Healing pratice, teaching yoga, dreaming workshops, and studying healing.... you can check it out on my <a href="http://jjohnsonkennedy.blogspot.com/">other blog</a>. But as the snow melts and the sun warms, my mind is wandering back to the homestead as more than a place to lay my head, to food as more than something to fill my belly after a long long day. AND. I have a brand new niece that has me buying yarn and knitting needles on my lunch break and oogling patterns for <a href="http://thriftyknitter.com/?p=223">wee vests</a> and <a href="http://www.littleturtleknits.com/store/swingthing.pdf">sweaters</a> and <a href="http://www.pickles.no/plain-tunic">tunics</a> and things. oh me oh my, let the needles fly!<br />
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Raif and I did an Ayurvedic kitchari fast recently, which isn't really a fast in the traditional sense of not-eating, since you are still eating hearty fare all day long. It brought to the forefront for me just how frequently I go to food for comfort, when I'm bored or uninspired at work, when I'm actually thirsty, or tired. It was a challenging mindfulness exercise to be sure! <br />
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Kitchari is, at its most basic, a mix of mung beans (easily digestible) and basmati rice (whose nutritional index is different than that of regular rice, I found out. Also, did you know that short grain and long grain rice's nutrition are different from each other? Oh the things you learn when you research other things!), boiled into a mash with <a href="http://www.joyfulbelly.com/Ayurveda/ingredient/Hing-Asafoetida/38">hing </a>(aka <a href="http://easyayurveda.com/2013/02/12/asafoetida-health-benefits-medicinal-uses-side-effects-ayurveda/">asafetida</a>) - an ayurvedic herb known as "effective in a thousand ways" and <a href="http://www.ayurvedacollege.com/articles/students/turmeric">turmeric</a>, the "golden goddess" - an AMAZING tonic herb. I also used <a href="http://www.ayurvedacollege.com/articles/students/Ginger">ginger </a>and <a href="http://www.ayurvedacollege.com/articles/students/CorianderTheWealthy">coriander</a>. Then we broke the fast with probiotic kefir and buttermilk sweetened with maple syrup.<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Lora, serif;"><span style="line-height: 25px;">Coming out of the fast, I made us each a quart of Chai tea with dandelion root. Dandelion root supports detox and has an overall tonifying effect on the liver. The chai was really good. I'll have to experiment a bit more before I can say this authoritatively, but I think that the presence of the slightly bitter root added a depth to the chai that I've felt to be lacking in the last few batches I made. It may also have been the dried orange peel. At any rate it was really really good. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Lora, serif;"><span style="line-height: 25px;">-Take a sauce pot of water on high heat. Add a stick of cinnamon, some cardamom seeds (generously), some whole coriander (stingily), black peppercorns, whole cloves, dandelion root (broken into peices), dried orange peel. Let boil for 10-15 minutes? Or so. Take off the heat, and add a tablespoon of black tea. Mix it together and let it begin to cool. 5 minutes. Strain into mason jars and mix with honey. Enjoy throughout the day.</span></span><br />
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For the next few breakfasts, I had soaked oatmeal made with chia seeds. I dismissed chia seeds as #hypefood for a very long time. But I've jumped on the bandwagon. They're great. There's research into the antioxidants they give, but they won me over when I had a chia seed smoothie before a long night of teaching and healing sessions and it kept me going from after work at 5 pm until 10 pm when I had dinner.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-27439522093805517172014-01-03T18:02:00.003-08:002014-01-03T18:02:23.850-08:00Food Traditions<br />
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The holy-days of midwinter festivals revolve around food. Always. We gather for the meal, gather round the table, basking in the warmth of fire, friends, family, and love-made-edible. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoayHK0Ym7d5Tiel3vv8lAvFwRIN-lBgFiQtbPb9YYRRcmTm3USILuehE786iLDQ6RoVV8hYAfjSw8bSMilBuzIJsVE8eWx-EvTsPMPf4xGlnNBKud2laVOQFYKmMbIaYq1tzE2Y9adP-b/s640/blogger-image--1576200431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoayHK0Ym7d5Tiel3vv8lAvFwRIN-lBgFiQtbPb9YYRRcmTm3USILuehE786iLDQ6RoVV8hYAfjSw8bSMilBuzIJsVE8eWx-EvTsPMPf4xGlnNBKud2laVOQFYKmMbIaYq1tzE2Y9adP-b/s640/blogger-image--1576200431.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gnocchi and Salad</td></tr>
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<br />Gnocchi for Solstice this year. I remember having salmon for solstice in Maine, but since we have salmon all the time now, and the sister is vegetarian.... we decided to experiment. We're still learning gnocchi technique :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12u0wKLKJ3X0Ii1Uwud3loIjJFiOp_lKUZ1RXOplBGsTJiAuipRqOqfLihcw6ORcsTBXE8iA2NccesqED1qE2jj5AqiboZvdikC54hZY6IDqHXGoEy65p3DZh8Y-MPNDgJI9DyDzuurci/s640/blogger-image--1718967182.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12u0wKLKJ3X0Ii1Uwud3loIjJFiOp_lKUZ1RXOplBGsTJiAuipRqOqfLihcw6ORcsTBXE8iA2NccesqED1qE2jj5AqiboZvdikC54hZY6IDqHXGoEy65p3DZh8Y-MPNDgJI9DyDzuurci/s640/blogger-image--1718967182.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Solstice Dinner</td></tr>
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This gallette was beautiful and delicious. The grad student made it her first day back in the arctic, cause there's nothing more like a "welcome home" than spending time in the kitchen. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saged sweet potato and chevre gallette</td></tr>
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We started what I hope are new traditions this year... I don't quite feel they can be called traditions until they are done at least twice? Homemade Thai food on christmas eve: courtesy of my <a href="http://greeningthedistance.blogspot.com/">sister</a>, who simmered lemongrass and galangal lime leaves and fresh ginger in the coconut milk she then went on to use to make the curry!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGad3v-bqeMbfNh5jvKDaB7IQaldQ3szPoxYYUmB2XVYO-6hK_2qlZwkzwzuL7EEX7CYoP69L-e6B6lkOeNtwoN3Q7qW5dMSllJKQulfQzsLw5xbKHWvPY2U0THkmOc3NzMvuQWVlymeK/s640/blogger-image-1232543338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGad3v-bqeMbfNh5jvKDaB7IQaldQ3szPoxYYUmB2XVYO-6hK_2qlZwkzwzuL7EEX7CYoP69L-e6B6lkOeNtwoN3Q7qW5dMSllJKQulfQzsLw5xbKHWvPY2U0THkmOc3NzMvuQWVlymeK/s400/blogger-image-1232543338.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hoppin' John : Food for good luck</td></tr>
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And as always and ever since I was a very little girl. I ate Hoppin' John on New Years' Day for good luck and abundance. This year I swapped out the collards from some kale from the freezer from this summer's CSA... Kale is the arctic Collard, right? </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-23917680463348063252013-12-26T17:44:00.000-08:002013-12-27T13:32:57.633-08:00Buche de Noel<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buche de Noel and Krumkakes</td></tr>
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Oh SmittenKitchen, I am smitten with thee. I used your c<a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/04/heavenly-chocolate-cake-roll/">hocolate roll cake recipe</a> for this year's Buche de Noel. It was divine. Served with a dear friend's Krumkakes, it was the perfect end to an epic christmas meal of roasted duck. I do believe that a Buche de Noel on Christmas Day just may become a new tradition on the Homestead.<br />
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**"Noel" is written in lingonberries I harvested :-)<br />
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(if you use the recipe, PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT SHE SAYS ABOUT USING WAX PAPER WHEN YOU UNROLL THE CAKE. it will make a world of difference, and save many expletives.)</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186750774695536537.post-68241653579401206512013-12-16T13:26:00.000-08:002013-12-16T13:26:59.501-08:00Minced Moose Heart : Homestead Eating<a href="http://www.annalgh.wordpress.com/">Maple</a> went moose hunting in Minto Flats last week... which means, of course that a moose heart appeared in my refrigerator the other day. (I castigated him soundly for leaving the liver to feed the ravens and wolves. Next time! Ha! I'm such a gracious and grateful friend who not only gets wild meat that I did not have to hunt, but who also goes on to complain about the bits she did not get! Oh my. My astrologer though, says I should be eating moose/game liver two or three times a year. Let me know if you happen to come into any.) THANK YOU MAPLE!!!! <br />
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Heart. I've <a href="http://bunchberryfarm.blogspot.com/2013/01/homestead-eating-heart_16.html">written about heart before</a>. Heart is delicious. I did not take the time to brine it this year, admittedly more due to negligence and forgetfulness than to plan. But it still makes a great stew! The heart its self was probably as big as my head. Not quite. But nearly. Cutting into it, I was as always, full of awe over organ and muscle and tissue. Ventricle, chamber, heartstrings. <br />
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The husky enjoyed her wolf-food of heart trimmings, as did the not-so-little kitten: they were pretty cute begging in the kitchen together. The lady cat preferred to nap thank-you-very-much.<br />
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The human heart is a third or more neuro-cells (vs. muscle cells), and holds its own intelligence. The heart is also an endocrine gland in itself, generating the hormones to regulate the system, not just responding to those released by the thymus. Amazing. In the same way that eating fish head soup is good for hypo-thyroidism, and eating brains is good for growing infants and children, eating of this intelligence and beauty and pure awe I imagine is likewise good for heart and mind and hormones. Not to mention that its chock full of nutrition.<br />
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Anyhow, last nights dinner (and tomorrow's too, no doubt) was a stew of minced minto moose heart, with Snowbasin chicken stock and zuccini, cauliflower and peas from the summer's CSA. This is what eating is meant to be. I used half the heart in this meal, and froze the rest for another crockpot later this winter.<br />
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For those interested in the brass tacks:<br />
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Saute onion and lots of garlic in a VERY GENEROUS pool of olive oil.<br />
Add chopped carrots, bay, paprika, basil, marjoram, savory, oregano, parsley and saute a few minutes.<br />
Add flour, like you're making a roux.<br />
Then stir in homemade bone broth/chicken stock.<br />
Pour in some balsamic vinagre and add a rind of parmesean cheese.<br />
Add some water to preferred volume.<br />
Put in frozen zuccini, frozen cauliflower and chopped heart.<br />
Simmer for 40 + minutes.<br />
Add peas.<br />
Top with grated parmesean and add salt/pepper to taste.<br />
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Enjoy in front of the fire.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0