I spend a lot of time at my desk lately – between teaching, tutoring, and writing my own dissertation my desk is my anchor. Therefore, I spend a lot of time looking out my window at the goings-on in the world. I don’t see much of the world, per se, but I can see the road, and a couple of our mature apple trees, a bit of the neighbors, that we like, and a bit of those we don’t know, and a bit of the store when it is Fall or Winter and the trees are bare. In this stretch I can sometimes see my child running around outside, Josh tending to the trees, the dog digging up voles, and mostly my passel of chicken-ladies roaming from safety area to safety area.
This last part is definitely one of my favorite distractions – mostly they move in their flock of 15, but a couple of them don’t mind the solo or roaming buddy life and I’ll see them sneak into the bushes by the road (where there’s a ditch and a giant hedge of rose, alder, wild cherry, and in the summer goldenrod, asters, and jewelweed – someday I dream of a sumac stand there). When a big logging truck (or the jerk with the super souped up engine in his primer truck) goes by they burst out of the bushes, if there are a few – scattering everywhere away from the road. Sometimes they all huddle beneath the witch hazel outside my window or the dwarf apple tree farther out (some in the branches, so funny). I love watching the ladies traverse the entire cultivated ‘yard’ (maybe about 2.5 acres) – sometimes we find them in the woods that separate us from the neighbor or the wooded area between the ‘yard’ and what we call the orchard (it’s not a neatly lined up affair, more of a dotting of trees wherever we want them). Since the leaves have fallen, they have had to find new hiding spaces.
Meanwhile, we’ve been steaming up the house with lovely tart batches of Cranberry Jam (flavored with our maple syrup and orange zest), and Apple Butter. We need to take a break for the next two weeks for bread baking but I’ve been hatching up some delicious pasta plans to try and make up the difference (I’m thinking more Ricotta Gnudi, of course, but also Pumpkin Tagliatelle, Beet Gnocchi, Spinach Fettuccini with some quick sauces like our Rock Bottom Pesto, Roasted Garlic and Herb, and Roasted Summer Tomato, Artichoke & Preserved Lemon). We’ve lots of eggs right now so the pasta will be rich and silky (which will leave me with a lot of whites – I’m thinking Berry Swirled Meringues?). So many ideas, so little time.
Until then, may your window watching be relaxing.
Rock Bottom Homestead 