Special Duendesday issue on a Friday

{life with a curious and crazy officially 13 yr old}

My adorable little pea is now a teenager – when did that happen? She is a glorious young person with certainly a mind of her own. She’s kind, she’s ridiculously fashionable and funny, she’s smart and creative. Of course, she is woefully undisciplined (in the sense of having goals and dedication to less immediate tasks) and she is uninterested in expanding her world at the moment (she’s only barely a teen)…but these things will come when she is ready. She is such a free spirit, we have no intentions of dampening her light. We offer the tools (and instructions on how to use them best) and wait for her arrival.

With that said, she’s working on a few projekts – reflooring her doll house with popsicle sticks (she’s giving them nice wood plank flooring!, likely her real wish for her room), she’s learning how to use pastels (thank you, Grammy!), she’s writing an adventure novel, she’s learning new dances (very swing!). She’s waiting for the sun to come out to practice her all-terrain/mountain skateboard, and fix up her vintage bike.

For her birthday events so far, we got rained out for Old Orchard Beach but instead found an arcade with similar attributes (no rides but plenty of games and baskets of half decent food) — she’s never really been to these sorts of places and felt like an alien, but that was charming in and of itself. She wasn’t into any of the shooting or fighting games and only moderately liked the driving games but enjoyed Skee-ball, Basketball, throwing rings and balls at things, the claw games — she’s a doer (but not the ax throwing)! Then we came home and she splashed around the hose sprayer mat while Josh mowed and I gardened, then she painted our toenails. It was a lovely day.

She’s working the store for the next couple of days and then we are taking a much needed break just to be together. I think again, our plans are rained out/postponed, but we have a lot of house/yard work to do and there’s a new mini golf in the area we need to check out. We’ll get some folks together for some food and cupcakes and all will be well.

Happy Birthday, my lovely mischievous imp!

Monday’s Musing

Swallowtails

BY ALLAN PETERSON

The Emperor thought of his heart as a water wheel
flooding the rice fields of all creation
and bloodied the water for a better harvest.
His warriors hoped for a life with wings.
His swallowtails wrote him the same lines
—the secret of life is a resurrected worm—
He told them eventually time would run backwards
in their hands, now empty where a crossbow went.

A theory works if it answers the exceptions.
The writing in the air of swallowtails,
from here to where the time changes at Mexico Beach,
is like writing all the armies of the afterlife
waiting underground in China.

We are attuned to shadows. They strafe the shore.
An osprey spins above the trees.
But when a large one stops suddenly above the house,
all the laws have been broken.
A theory that a moment is a warehouse where armies are stacked
to the ceiling, then one falls, is the last exception.
The osprey’s underside is streaked like a zebra swallowtail.
It misses the fish that dove out of the reach of shadows
as the lovers jumped into theirs from the Bay Bridge to Fort Walton.
If any should meet hovering over a milkweed or reflection,
they might say didn’t I know you in another life,
the kind of thing said often in Fort Walton or the Orient
and didn’t plum blossoms freeze in the Emperor’s courtyard.

Tuesday Happenings: Crazy Bzzzy!

All of a sudden, all the things are happening. This Summer Solstice is bringing with it a real start to a season!

This Friday, June 23rd, we are lucky lucky lucky to have a lovely poetry reading with poets: Audrey Gidman (her first, thoughtfully bound collection from Slate Roof Press, Northfield, MA is gorgeous), meg willing, and Maine Poet Laureate Julia Bouwsma. The poetry readings have been going well, nice gatherings with snacks and stimulating language images. The Open ‘no mic’ was a success (look for more of those every 2nd Friday of the month).

And then July 6th, 6-8pm the Good Life Center (Harborside, ME) is presenting Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, a documentary about the attempted assassination, recovery, and activism of Arizona congresswoman. I think it will be inspiring and illuminating.

July 7th, 6-7pm local author Kirsten Reed will visit us for a reading from her new scary story set in Maine, Ghost Town. Looks to be a good time!

And somewhere in the middle, we’ll go to a wedding, have a big kid birthday at Old Orchard Beach, and go camping! So many things. Right now, I am just hoping the rain slows a bit on our day off so we can get the last of the peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes in. I’d love to seed the Asian greens bed (Purple Pak Choi, Tatsoi, Mizuna), and get the flower seedlings in the ground as well. Hopefully, this marvelous child will mow the fields of grass and clover we call a yard. We are also getting ready to move our old piano out to the firepit and plant it with hops – I think it will play more lovely out in the world!

Meanwhile, the bakery is cranking out some lovely breads — the humidity is a finicky partner, most of the time it helps all the good stuff come true. The rise is beautiful, the crust gets crispy, excellent fermentation results. But every now and again it catches you off guard and overproofs a batch. Living food is a gift and an art. We’ll have some new jams up soon, too. And we’re so excited to partner up with a great shortbread cookie and granola company here in Maine: Sweet Monkey Business, from Belfast, ME. Their goods are so delicious! So many good things happening and coming up! Stay tuned.

Duendesday: pre-teen and 8th grade!

{life with a curious and crazy almost 13 yr old}

And so the time has come to say goodbye to ‘child’hood and enter ‘teen’hood for this gal. I’m sad but excited, she’s sad but excited, Josh is scared but excited (ha!). She’s so tall and friendly people expect her to be older but she still has this great sense of sweet youth and wonder. She loves to dance, sing, draw, swim, bake, and make crazy.

Right now, she is mowing the lawn on the rider mower (I think she likes driving all around, even if it does mean it’s technically ‘work’) and tonight she has her school assessment (8th grade! Yes, She passed!!!). I think she is ready, perhaps not as ready as we would like her to be, but she learns in ways we are not used to – different from us in our studious and academic ways. We are readers (practically from birth, maybe as some escape – but it is a love of reading), we are thinkers, we are expressers – she is a doer. She’s not a concentrator of big thoughts, she’s a mover and a shaker. Life’s a party, and we are in the way!

We’ve got some birthday plans coming up – likely a sushi dinner, a game night with folks, a day at the OOB boardwalk, and a camping trip. She’s already requested Djej Emshmel (Moroccan Chicken with Olives and Preserved Lemons) for camping – could you imagine as a kid requesting something so exotic for a family camping trip? Not that we ever went family camping as kids or made specific requests of our parents, it’s a different world. Her plans tonight after her (favorable) assessment is some mending on a hand-me-down cardigan and one of J’s aprons.

We wouldn’t have her any other way.

Spring Tuesday ‘Round Here

Scene One: The Eastern Phoebe family on the back of the garage is growing nicely – a little pile of chicks stacked up waiting for their flycatching parent to bring them bits. Simultaneously the Dragonflies have hatched and they work hard like aerial acrobats saving us from being devoured by mosquitos (ok, I just like to think they are working for us – it seems like a public service) – they are Josh’s favorite to watch swooping above us. And then the bats come out and do large circuits of the lower yard.

Scene Two: I’m watching the baker make bagels. It’s not something I see very often because he normally does it at 5am, but with the holiday our schedule is pushed a bit. I watched him make the dough, rest the dough, and shape the dough the night before – little lifesavers ferment in the freezer on trays overnight. The next morning he pulls them off and chucks them into boiling water and fishes them out with a big spoon strainer. While they are still wet he shakes their preferred toppings on, lets them rest a moment, flips them (it’s his secret so the toppings adhere better), and then puts them on a piece of parchment paper over a semolina dusted peel. He then shakes the whole thing into the oven and reaches deep onto the hot baking stones to arrange them to his liking. They bake, then rest on a rack, and then call to me – I love a fresh bagel. Another J came by and we discussed the merits of crunch versus chew…deep topics of bagelness.

Scene Three: Walking along the path above the river, we watch a pair of Great Blue Herons flirt. They don’t like me watching so they move behind tall weeds. An Osprey hovers above the Kennebec and we hope to see him catch a fish but he doesn’t find anyone to eat right now. We talk to the marvelous mushroom people, the friendly meat guy, our CSA guru, the cheese goddess – it’s a lovely market with a lot to offer.

Scene Four: The Peach and Me (wo)man the store while J does the Portland delivery. She bakes my favorite Rhubarb Tea Cake, we play a bit of boggle, and interact with lovely members and various customers. After our excitment the other day with a visit from the very friendly Gardiner Fire Department (no fire, just a sensitive gas alarm), we’re looking forward to a quiet week before we have a plethora of Summer events at the store. New goods (hint – starts with c and is good enough for me!), new books, and poetry readings! Fun things to look forward to.

A Muse for a Monday

CHANGE IS POSSIBLE ~ Rob Brezsny

Ancient Hawaiians had a sport they called lele kawa, in which they dived off cliffs into the ocean. Pu’u Keka’a, a tall volcanic cinder cone in West Maui, was a perfect place from which to jump, but everyone avoided it.

Legend held it was a taboo place: “the leaping place of the soul,” where the souls of the recently dead left the earth and ascended into the spirit world.

But that all changed one day in the eighteenth century when a great warrior, King Kahekili II, climbed to the top of Pu’u Keka’a and plunged into the sea, shattering the taboo and mutating the myth. Since then, hundreds of other divers have tried it.

Is there a comparable shift in the way things have always been done in your sphere? Either in your personal life or in the collective life you share with others? And are you ready to shatter a taboo and mutate a myth?

Recipe Thursday: Spring Lamb & Olive Stew

It’s been a swing of a Spring so far – starting in classic fashion of snow but then a week later 70 degrees F! Many weeks of sunny and warm days, with some typical April and May rainy days in there, fooled us into thinking we were well on our way to Summer when last minute we get a crazy frost! Fortunately the apple trees were strong and it seems they did not lose their blossoms (that could have been catastrophic for many, and certainly plan changing for us as we are dreaming of a Harvest Party for cider this year). But the chill put us in the mood for a surprise Spring stew.

Dinners have been mostly easy meals during the work week (which for many of you is likely the weekend) and a little more flair on days off. What does easy look like for us? We have a couple of staples – Nachos Grande and Pizza always make the rounds, pasta or a stir fry other nights, sometimes we’ll whip up a Shakshuka or just bake wings and oven fries.

This past week though we asked D to pull out a couple of lamb steaks and we figured we’d slice up some potatoes and cook down some greens (I like food directionals – up, down, over…ha!). I can’t stress enough how important clean meat is and knowing where your meat comes from is great – this lamb was graciously bartered for bread from the lovely folks at Morton Brook Ranch in Pittston. But when we got home she had pulled lamb shanks – what to do, what to do, I thought ‘there’s no way shanks will cook anytime soon’. So, I consulted my meat expert, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his big River Cottage Meat Book (so handy! as is the Veg/More Veg, the Family Cookbook, and River Cottage Every Day). His recipe Citrus-Braised Lamb Shanks set me on the right path, though I didn’t make this, I now had the fundamentals to work with, thanks Hugh! It wasn’t fast but it was easy and we had a little time (takes 2.5 hours to cook, but really only 15 minutes to prepare).

We had leftovers and bulked it back up by removing any leftover shanks and picking the meat off and into the pot, and just throwing in a bunch of chopped Rainbow Swiss Chard and a few more olives, can add a little more broth if needed.

Spring Lamb & Olive Stew
Serves 4, very comfortably

4 Lamb shanks, salt and peppered lightly
4-6 small to med Carrots, cut into 2″ chunks
4-6 med to large Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut into 2″ chunks
2 small to med Onion, quartered (or 2 med leeks, chopped large)
1 med to large celery stalk, cut into 2″ chunks
a few sprigs of Thyme
a couple of Bay Leaves
2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 28oz (Large) can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes (or a couple of whole fresh or from the freezer, or canned whole, or a plethora of cherry, etc – whatever you have that equals about 2 cups of tomatoes)
1-2 Tbsp Tomato Paste (whoever invented tomato paste in a squeeze tube is my hero)
2 cups of Beef Broth (or 1 cup of Broth, 1 cup of Wine – red or white, your choice)
1 Quart (about 2 cups) of Fresh Mushrooms (we had a mix of chestnut and oyster), cut into 2″ chunks, if necessary (if using button or cremini, just halve or quarter if large)
5-6oz mixed Greek Olives (pitted or unpitted, up to you, ours are generally unpitted – we just remove the pits as we eat)
Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste
2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
Handful of Fresh Parsley, chopped coarsely
Crusty Sourdough Bread (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a heavy-bottom oven safe pan (with a lid), heat the Olive Oil on the stovetop on Medium-Medium High. Brown Shanks on all sides, when turning for the last time, throw in Carrots and Onions and let brown with Lamb for a few minutes. Add Celery, Garlic, Herbs, Potatoes, and cook another minute or two stirring everyone together.

Add Tomatoes and Tomato Paste, Broth and/or Wine, and bring to a Simmer.

Stir in Mushrooms and Olives, put the lid on and put in the oven.

Turn down the oven to 250 degrees F, and cook for 2.5 hours or until meat is tender on the bone.

Taste for Seasoning and add chopped Parsley for garnish (and overlooked nutrition-Parsley is a wonderfood!). Serve with crusty bread!

Tuesday Happenings: Living the Life

Some mornings the landscapers at the neighbors get us up early (and I thought our lovely neighbors liked us! ha!), and there are many spiders in the bathroom, and I find a tick attached to both me and the dog (not the same tick, at the same time, mind you), and the breads don’t come out as nice as expected. This all happens. However, there are also times when D makes me lovely chocolate-chip cupcakes (these ones for Mother’s Day, and her best yet!), when all the trees and flowers are in bloom and full of perfume, birds are singing, and the breads are beautiful. This all happens, too.

I definitely prefer the latter to the former. I prefer to forage around my yard in ignorant bliss, covered in tick spray, with an elderflower or bergamot cocktail. Josh helped me finally plant my gladiolus bulbs but we’ve done nothing to the gardens yet. My beans want in desperately (I think I’ve missed my pea window). I ‘potted up’ some dahlias yesterday and the seed trays of peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes (oh lovely nightshades) are doing well. I’ve a couple of trays of companion plants and flowers, too – marigolds, nasturtium, celosia (for the bees), zinnia, bachelor buttons, drumstick flowers, pansies, calendula, etc. I would still like to get some more herbs and flowers in but we shall see.

Meanwhile, back at the shop – folks are finding us, despite still not having ‘real signage’ (oh, the start-up hump is hard to get over), and joining the membership which is excellent. It is a whole new way to think about local economy, as honestly – more ecological as it is all about our relations to one another and the kind of world we want to live in. It’s a learning curve for many (and for us!) but people are responding kindly and enthusiastically – we might have to have a waitlist soon! Community commitment is encouraging.

We’re looking forward to a Late Art Nite this Friday – fresh bready treats, conversations about art and books, a town open for art wanderings, should be lovely and we hope to see you!