Recipe Thursday: Party Menu

I have to say I love party menus. I love planning for parties, cooking for parties, and enjoying parties. Yes, it gets crazy and I get crazy in the midst of it sometimes (so many things going on!) but I still love it overall. This year’s Harvest Party 2022 is going to be lovely. The weather has cooled – which makes a perfect entrance into Fall – because really, even though we’re a week early, this party is also our Equinox celebration. And this year, it is also a fundraiser for the new space! We’re so excited to embark on a new chapter of Rock Bottom Homestead and Stone Broke Bread & Books. So many ways to connect and grow. We love our growers, farmers, and friends.

We’re on party prep – J & C building a grape arbor, making Carrot Jam (which I love with warm brie or as a filling/topping on Carrot cake, or just on toast, like a normal human), foraging, cleaning, trimming, finessing as best we can.

I had a moment where I wanted only pies at this party, but then backtracked when I couldn’t figure out how to get a salad comfortably in a pie (ha!). But there will still be many pies. Raised Meat Pie (filled with delicious slow-cooked various meats from Morton Brook Ranch and Olde Haven Farm), Spanish Tortilla, Planters Cottage Pie (which I think may be the accepted term for a veggie Shepherd’s pie), Ground Cherry and Blueberry Pie (we grew so many ground cherry seedlings from Dig Deep Farm), Rumpkin Pie (yes, a little rum and pumpkin!), a Vermont Hample Pie (Apple pie with cheddar and ham, one of J’s favorites, from our apples) – I might have to recipe those up in the future here-, and then yummies like Maple Baked Beans (with hocks and our maple syrup), Rock Bottom Veggie Lentils, Chicken Pot Pie (from our lovely last batch of meatbirds), Olde Haven Green Chili Corn Pudding, Farro Salad with Roasted Veg, J’s simple but sexy Bread Salad, a Big Salad (with Pumpkin Vine Feta, olives, and chickpeas and fresh salad greens from Andrews Farm), Homemade Ricotta and Weedy Foraged Pesto with our naturally leavened #75 Bread. If I get a little more ambitious, maybe I’ll throw in some Maine Grains Oatmeal Cookies for some hearty run around food for the kids, Goldenrod Cornbread (yes, with fresh goldenrod), and a Peach Crisp (from our peaches). Rounded out with sprouted Popcorn and local Watermelons, friends might brings some Mac n Cheese and I hear rumors of Tourtiere Pie.

As for drinks – I made some bubbly Dandelion Wine early in the season, as well as a batch of Red Clover Cottage Wine. We’re hoping for some aged Cider tastings from the Rock Bottom basement. Some fruity Fermented Sodas (Blackberry and Cranberry are quite delicious, and we picked so many Blackberries…ha!), Duende’s famous Lemonade (and perhaps some herby spiked lemonade, as well, for the adults). I can’t wait!

I like to have something for everyone – many food preferences and concerns are addressed (veg, gluten and grain free, onion free, etc) and all of our goods are responsibly sourced if not organically grown and processed. Now, I must get on it – party in 2 days! Let the food preparations begin!

Happenings for a Tuesday

As we get ready to invite lovely folks to the homestead, we wander and tweak the wild spaces. We’re not wanting to tame all these spaces but maybe tidy them up a bit. We had a wonderfully generous philosopher come to the house a couple of years ago who was smitten with the cultivated versus the wild spaces: intriguing shadows, bursts of nature’s expressions, soft soothing spots…and that’s why we invite you. To show us what we miss sometimes in our desires to ‘get things ready’, and ‘get things done’. We get distracted by the work and forget the edgy beauty – the edges, where songbirds like to peek out and nibble at berries, and where wildflowers reach for the sunshine.

I have patches I love – the blackberry patch which winds around what we call ‘the seep’, a birch-wooded area where a natural spring eeks out and is sort of a magickal little forest, open enough to see tall blueberries, and forest mushrooms. I love the new Jewelweed patch that fills the undercanopy of the willow tree in the drive. I love the ferny path where we seeded ramps last year (for a harvest next year!). Tiny vignettes of change and beauty. I know where there is a small patch of phlox that likes to appear behind the garage, where the juniper lies low and bushy, where the watercress makes it’s Spring debut.

We’ll be ready for Fall mushroom walks soon (waiting on this rain!), and the changing of the leaves (our Silver Maple always turns first), the saving of seeds and planting of garlic. I used to always think that early Summer was my favorite but as many in New England are wooed – Autumn truly shows a side that invites. Invitation extended.

Monday’s Muse

Pronoia excerpts…~ Rob Brezsny

If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll confess that there are few glories more sublime and more freely available than taking a walk in nature. Simply to imagine it can fill you with sacred joy. Close your eyes and visualize yourself sauntering along a wide dirt path in a meadow bordered by the woods. Feel the resilient strength of your leg muscles. Relish the freedom of swinging your arms in rhythm with your stride. The sun’s rays are so sweet you can almost taste them. The ever-shifting qualities of light and temperature resemble caresses. What’s that rustling in the bushes? Maybe a lizard or gopher informing you that you’re not alone.

At a certain point, the breeze becomes stronger. Branches of nearby trees begin to wave, unleashing a tremulous whoosh. Instinctively, your heartbeat quickens. Your flesh prickles with a reflexive alertness. But of course there’s no danger. What you’re experiencing is spontaneous excitement at the rising energy; a heightened awareness of the teeming aliveness that surrounds you.

Gaze slightly upward. Welcome in the far horizon and the sweep of the ancient sky. Give names to the clouds. Shout out praises to the birds, saluting them for being so skilled at soaring through the air. If you can see a pale slice of moon, thank it for its artistry in managing the tides.
Up ahead on the trail is a tree that wants your affection. Be empathetic. Try to remember all that it remembers, and sing a song to it as you pass. The dust and dirt deserve your kind attention, as well. Pick up a rock that catches your eye, announce to the world that it is a magic talisman, and marvel at its unique shape and heft as you roll it around in your hand.

One more gift to bestow: Under your breath, just loud enough to be heard, tell the Earth that you can hear the sound of its turning, and it’s making you giddy. Say, too, how much you love the fact that in all eternity, this moment will never be repeated. Though you may drink in the delicious atmosphere with a trillion trillion more breaths, this special dispensation of air molecules will never fill your lungs again.

To your surprise, the Earth replies to you in your native tongue, rising above the thrum of its whirling with a more familiar tone. It quotes the poem by Charles Baudelaire, as translated by Louis Simpson. “Ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking … ask what time it is, and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: ‘It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish.'”

Duendesday: Faerie Dreams

{life with a curious and crazy 12 yr old}

End of Summer brings Samhain/Halloween dreams to the forefront – though November 1st of last year she was already designing her costume for this year, now is the time of deep decisions: Faerie Princess or Blue Faerie (not ‘The’ Blue Fairy, mind you, I’ve already been told). The practicing of henna patterns leads to facepainting which leads to dress up in a big way.

Other than her marvelous costume plans, she’s been mowing the lawn on the rider mower (she loves it, if she has her music on her, she dances along, if not, she sings at the top of her lungs), foraging for mushrooms, seeds, and flowers and snuggling the dog (they’re married, you know).

Every chance she gets, she begs for ice cream and sometimes we comply, we just love eating ice cream by the river. Lately her favorite is anything mint (though they were out of Mint Cookie the other day so they substituted Mint Moose Tracks and she lost her little mind with glee – and big chunks of chocolate…we are requesting smaller scoops from now on! Ha!). To go along with Summer pies, and the cookies she spontaneously bakes!

Tomorrow is a new day for her, as homeschool will officially start – we will still freeschool to a point, but with some added requirements and focus this year. It’s time to step up our game and get some work done. We’re starting a family short story reading group, implementing some math and geography lessons, and setting up a schedule (yes, because we’ve never had one but with the big changes going on in our life – it is time for one). Mostly, we are going to start a Nearing-Dewey pedagogical process I am developing: based on a trimester year, we orient through parent/teacher topics, then independent/student topics, then toward a community outreach project. Within that the weekly days will follow a set pattern of Topic, Questions, Definitions, Research, to Practice and within that a daily schedule of rote, research, and discussion/practice. I think it will take some time for us all to get on this train as it is a bit different from how we approach things up to now but we’re all (mostly) excited.

Onto new and exciting adventures!

Our week starts with a Typical Tuesday

Tuesdays are generally our busiest days. Josh gets up bright and early to proof bread, warm the ovens, bake the bread, and then label and bag all the orders. Then he piles it all into our tiny car with our growing child and delivers to all the good people (the St. Nick of bread? ha!). Somedays we also come up with marketing initiatives, pick berries and/or flowers for order, and design our week.

While they are off an about, I try my best to get a few household things taken care of, any calls that are easier to make when my people aren’t here, maybe yoga, the blog, and then get to work on the dissertation. Also, on their delivery journey, they generally pick up groceries or bakery supplies, visit a couple of Portland-based folks, get coffee and try and talk up the Bread Share Program. When they return, we head to the local Farmer’s Market to stock up on the local goods we need. Josh looks very forward to his days off on Wednesday and Thursday (though in preparation for the Harvest Party, those will be busy in a different way!). We try and have family game/pizza night on Wednesdays and do some lowkey homesteading work (foraging, woods walks, small projects). Other evenings we stroll through the orchard and check on the “state of things” – apples, herbs, sunsets.

As we roll through our usual week, Josh is back to work on Fridays for Saturday wholesale accounts and then again Sunday for a Monday account (this gives him a few hours “off” in between these occasions where sometimes we can sneak in some friend dinners or outings). Where I utilize my Thursday/Friday/and a bit of Saturday to work in the garden or on the house in the mornings, and try and get to the writing in the afternoons so that Sunday I can meet with either directors, colleagues, or students to discuss and plan writing strategies. Up until Thursday, our child has floated like a magickal faierie through whatever activity strikes her, though she is a great help in general (now mowing the lawn!).

But now- there is an extra hustle and bustle for all of us! With the advent of the bakery/bookshop space, a possible end to the dissertation, and a more scheduled approach to homeschool for D (7th grade and all, comes with new needs!), we all have to pack a little more in to our days. We are all finalizing our schedules and ready to rumble. In the cracks and crevices of all this, Josh has been creating some new bakes (like the subtly sassy Cardamom Honey Rye or the new soft and wheaty #75, along with a possible Blackberry Rye) and working with some different techniques (higher hydration but with longer proofing, adding more nutritious elements, altering shapes and cuts). I can’t wait until he has more space to experiment and hone his happiness.

Another Monday’s Muse

“My home is the Earth. It is so subtle, so pervasive, so deeply embedded in the scientific story I had painstakingly learned through my formal education; and beyond that, I am surprised by its permanence in my psyche. Of course, I had always known I was from the Earth. But my childhood upbringing had kept me feeling separate from landscapes, divided against people, and philosophically levitated into an intellectual sphere that was detached from what is”. ~ Joe Brewer, The Design Pathway for Regenerating Earth [my italics and tense change]

Tuesday Happenings

It was so good to see some art and get out a bit the other night for the Gardiner, ME Annual Artwalk. We stopped in to see our lovely friend Jason at Niche, Inc. and play at the Unplugged Arcade (super fun), drooled over some lovely pottery, then sauntered down to Costell & Costell Gallery where we perused the provacative new ‘Naughty Mickey’ work by El and the sensual landscape and vignette work of Paloma (and were offered a smashing pairing of Run Amok Mead – soon to open in Gardiner, and Stone Broke Bread – with a new trial run of a Cardamom Honey Rye), and a pop in to the new coffeeshop in town, Spoke Coffee, which looks like a great space to think and be. We wandered the lovely little library garden with all of its Rose of Sharon and Hibiscus in bloom, eyed the fun LGBTQ table out front and the resplendent butterfly art on the fence. Tooling around town seeing people out to visit art was nice – there are many more galleries in this little town popping up than I imagined!

As the weather finally breaks a bit (it’s the humidity and yet lack of rain which pains us, along with some new heat waves – I’m sure wherever you are, you might be experiencing these) we can assess what is possible for the Harvest Party gathering we hope will be a success. Purples and yellows are back together with the return of the Red Clover and Self-Heal and the new openings of Violet Gladiolus next to the sprays of Goldenrod and Black Eyed Susans (remember way back in the Spring when we were treated to the Dandelions and Creeping Charlie?! Stunning combinations). The Jewelcorn has ears and the hummingbirds are still reaping the benefits of the Bee Balm (and those new glads!). The Zinnia are still coming in all their little glories – bright bursts of pinks, oranges, white, red, a stunning coral type, and a sunburst multi-stem variation that is just lovely. The Blackberries are filling in like nobody’s business – we’ve made cakes and jams and fermented sodas of them, and shared many but there are still many to be had. The dry beans are climbing and blooming and the newly planted Snow Peas are inching up the trellis.

Alas, we sent our lovely small flock of laying hens off to a new home with other chickie friends and a better chance at foraging. We weren’t able to offer them the freedom they prefer (and I like them to have as natural and lovely a life as they can!) and with the dissertation and my health, we thought best that they find a new home. Fortunately the most faierie queen of farming showed up to whisk them away to her loving home (thank you so much – such good positive energy seems hard to find these days!). I am, of course, sad and I feel like I’m missing something in the world without my ladies but it is for the best. We all need time to focus, heal, and redefine how we want to resume around here.

I’m sending you the quiet and cool breezes that are coming in through my studio window right now to find your own time and center.

Musings for a Monday

What drives our ruralish passions around here at Rock Bottom?

  • Fermentation – let’s face it, some foraged goods and garden goods have a natural sweetness, and some need to be coaxed from their deep earthy goodness. That’s where fermentation comes in – natural yeasts (and sometimes a little added, if necessary), mixed flavors, time = healthy microbes to our bodies. Which leads us to:
  • Bread, of course. With the growth of the Stone Broke Bread Bakery, much of our attention is geared toward offering good nutritious food to our neighbors especially as food prices rise – but ours do not. We strive to keep New England grain agriculture alive and well while making sure to feed the people. Sourdough bread for the people!!!
  • Cultivation – many of you may know that I write about ecology in a different way; trying to allow myself to understand the ways of the worlds as not ‘just’ human ways. That we are cultivated as much as we try and cultivate the land/environment/plant, animal, and mineral friends. We try and practice what we think about – what does this land want to do and how can we help it, especially amidst a great climate change happening.
  • Community is so important to us. Right now we frequently feel that our community is dispersed – small pockets of folks feeling/thinking in similar ways. We try to make happen convergences where these small pockets can meet and communicate. Learn and share. Create and be created.
  • Art – as a one of these kind of convergences is a key element for us. We’re all (not just us here at Rock Bottom, but you, too, I bet!) creators of some kind. Here, we are writers, illustrators, photographers, collage artists, yarn artists, musicians, and performers. These expressive avenues are innovative solutions and conversations of various languages. And not just in the making – we are great appreciators of art and music and writing – any opportunity to have perspectives and perceptions shifted!
  • Foraging is likely my favorite relaxing activity. Though J & D like to wildcraft as well – we go on many a mushroom hike, pick berries, and D is a budding medicinal herbalist (though she prefers listing off ‘apocalypse food’ for fun), I like to concentrate on a few forgotten healing herbs for teas, tinctures, and salves. I add one new focus a year if not every season. I go to online seminars, am involved in a informational plant community, and read to practice many a skill.

What gets you going?

Homestead Tuesday Happenings

We shall be sending out the Harvest Party invites this week – you may now write on your calendar in ink for September 17th. We are intimidated this year but very excited to have this activity back in our lives – because then you will be back in our lives! And that is what all of this is about for us; building community, sharing bounty, giving thanks. There will be live music, lots of lovely food, outdoor games, foraging walks, and garden tours. Bring apples and or jugs for cider, bring yarn or art supplies for field crafting, bring buckets for late berries or foraged goods, bring children and happy dogs, guitars/ukes/tamborines/flugelhorns are welcome.

It helps us, too, see where we can improve and where we can let go. We have so many dreams and it seems so little time and our inclinations are changing. But at the same time we have some renewed vigor for this homestead – stone features, small ponds, tended woodlots. I’ve always wanted to qualify as a Wildlife Sanctuary so we are working towards that. We’ve always wanted to give more foraging walks/medicinal care information and offer space for art (both on the property, and as inspiration) – in the form of workshops and small talks. Being a part of the Good Life Center’s speaking series last year really inspires us to build a stronger community here. I feel like we have to coax our fellow community members out of hiding.

And we are also looking at a possible commercial space as a bookstore and a place for J to bake even more lovely breads. The bookstore would feature only Small Press books, especially those that help build our community and give another space for workshops/talks/subversive cross stitch – whatever! Wish us luck in that endeavor, spaces are limited and we want a good space to entice you!

Onto party preparations – Happy August!