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.
“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]
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.
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.
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!
It’s hard to think of Summer as meat loaf time but in this house both J & D could eat meat loaf anytime. Just the name throws me, we should come up with another name…around here, it’s likely to be an actual name like Freddy or Winston or something. And, if you know J at all it wouldn’t surprise you that he is a Winston expert. If there is a diner or small family restaurant in America (especially named after someone, he loves restaurants that are Aunt-somebody-or-other’s, or Bill’s, or Angelique’s, etc), he will either get the meat loaf or the corned beef hash. It’s not that he’s not adventurous, but he has a need to try everyone’s version – and he likes most.
I’ve always been on the fence about meat in loaves. As a kid, they were pretty uninspiring (the whole ketchup and bacon on the top does not interest me, though I could see how chopped bacon mixed into the loaf could be sexy) and I could take or leave them but I’ve tried to live up to the expectations of my expert meat loaf testers. The kid does not like big chunks of vegetables (which is unfortunate, since my additions are likely to be hidden veggies) in hers, especially onions and she prefers her shaped into a face or some other kooky shape (hearts, snakes, etc). It helps her name each one as their own personality when they are faces – ha!
Ultimately, it is an easy food to alter to anyone’s taste (except maybe vegetarians, which I’m sure Seitan is a functional substitute but one that I am not fluent in) as you can add a liquid binder that suits your fancy (sour cream or yogurt, BBQ sauce, just egg) and any veggies you prefer (though I still stick to onions and mixed bell peppers, I don’t know why you couldn’t sub or add carrots, winter squash, peas, broccoli or cauliflower, greens, etc, though I might stay away from ‘wetter’ veg such as summer squash, eggplant, or tomatoes). I find a mix of meats adds to the flavor but there is no rule on this; I generally prefer a fattier meat mixed with a leaner meat both to cut down on extra fat but also to give enough that it builds flavor. I have made great loafs with venison and pork, beef and turkey, etc. A great use for stale or extra bread or crackers, this week I have a glut of the marvelous Seedy Sourdough Round from Stone Broke Bread so that will be my fiber/mineral filling addition. We also have a lovely bunch of Lemon Cucumbers and a slew of various Cherry and Prairie Fire Tomatoes which make a lovely quick and healthy Gazpacho, and because my people can’t not eat Winston without potatoes, some new potatoes smashed and treated with a little Summer Pesto. The weather has cooled enough, I could consider this for a nice Sunday meal. Enjoy!
Winston, the marvelous meat loaf Serves 4
2-2.5 lb of ground meat, preferably at least 2 different kinds. Today we will have local ground grass-fed beef and organic pork
2 Large eggs
1-2 cups of bread or cracker meal (to make ‘meal’, toast bread lightly if needed, then whiz up in processor until desired fineness – oats also work great if Gluten-free is desired)
1 cup combined chopped or minced veggies (I will mince 1/4 cup onion so the child won’t balk, and 3/4 diced multi colored bell peppers)
1/2 cup liquid binder, today I will use sour cream because it’s what I have on hand
Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 heaping Tbsp Finely chopped herbs or dry herbs (savory herbs like oregano, marjoram, savory, sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley would all be delicious)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking dish (I’m likely to use a 9×9) with a sheet of parchment paper in the bottom or a spray of coconut/olive/avocado oil to reduce sticking.
In a large mixing bowl, combine meats – mixing together thoroughly. Add 1 egg to start, the liquid binder, and the vegetables – mix thoroughly. Add herbs and a tsp of Sea Salt & Pepper each. Then add the bread meal and mix until just combined (do not overmix once you put in the bread meal, this will make the loaf tough). If the mix still looks too dry and is hard to combine, add another egg and again, mix until just combined. The whole thing should come together as one big lump; if still too dry, add a bit more liquid binder, if too wet, add a bit more bread meal (start with Tbsp of either and work up Tbsp by Tbsp).
Turn out into baking dish and shape to your liking. The shape should be an even thickness so that it cooks appropriately (I can tell you, faces are hard because as the meat cooks, the features dissolve as it contracts – ha!).
Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until the center is 155 degrees. When temperature reaches this, pull from oven and let rest 10-15 minutes. Slice to serve.
Rock Bottom Summer Gazpacho Serves 4
4-5 (fist-sized) Cucumbers (we have round lemon cukes), cut in half or quarters and seeded (the chickens love the seeds), zucchini or summer squash works great, too
2 cups chopped heirloom Tomatoes (if cherry, I cut in half – choosing to seed tomatoes is up to you, if you do you could also set some aside in a jar to ferment and save seeds for next year)
1/4 cup chopped or torn fresh Basil (of any preferred flavor, we have Lemon Basil this year which is great)
Olive Oil
White Wine Vinegar or a White Balsamic
Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper, to taste
In a food processor or blender with a good blade, add seeded cucumbers or summer squash, halved or chopped tomatoes, and basil with a good glug of olive oil and vinegar and process until desired consistency (we like ours not chunky but not super smooth), add more olive oil or vinegar to change flavor/consistency. Add Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste. Refrigerate for at least 30 min. Serve in easy to swig-soup glasses or small bowls.
New Potatoes Smashed with Pesto
2 lbs golf-ball sized New Potatoes (a mix of red and yellow and/or blue is nice but any work nicely), boiled for 20 min in a pot of water 1″ above potatoes with 1 tsp sea salt until just tender, drained and cooled to handle
Olive Oil
Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/2 cup Pesto of choice (right now I have a homemade classic Pesto of Basil/Parmesan/toasted Pine Nuts/Lemon Juice/S&P whizzed up and ready)
While potatoes are cooling a bit, prepare a sheet pan with a bit of olive oil or parchment paper and then a glug of olive oil. Place potatoes on sheet pan and smash with fork or potato smasher until about 1/2″ thick. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle Sea & Salt & Black Pepper over them evenly (if not using Pesto afterwards, add a shake of garlic and/or onion powder to potatoes for extra goodness).
If you are going to cook these with Winston, the meat loaf, add the sheet pan to another rack in the oven at about 50 minutes into cooking (or 10-15 min before meat loaf is done cooking. When meat loaf comes to temperature and is removed, turn up the oven temperature to 425 degrees and finish baking potatoes until desired crispiness (if not cooking with meat loaf, preheat oven to 350 degrees, cook for 10-15 min, and then change oven temp to 425 to finish) or about 10-15 minutes more.
It is at this point, when the potatoes are done cooking, you could sprinkle on some parmesan cheese and let melt or toss with the Pesto and Serve. I could just eat these and be the happiest camper ever.
We are somehow too humid and yet in drought. Things are rotting on the vine and inviting a plethora of hungry bugs to come and consume them. Last week the tomatoes looked incredible – they were lush, I had thinned their branches and cleaned any yellowing leaves…this week they are covered in finger sized hornworms, splitting, and the leaves are brown spotted. Last week, the squash/pumpkins looked amazing – great green leaves with tons of blooms and ripening fruit: this week it looks like I will have to pull them all, if they don’t have powdery mildew they are covered in grey squash bugs, or have gouges chewed out of the fruit. Last week we had bean plants aplenty, this week, they are not getting enough water and the beans, if at all, are misshapen and curled. The ground cherry look afflicted with something, and the flower beds are buried in crab grass and lambsquarters. The apples that did fruit are badly pollinated and now the many of the trees have tent caterpillar nests. But it still feels that we have a better garden than previous years (definitely better than last year). The dry beans are still growing beautifully. Despite the hornworms, we are getting tons of tomatoes, fennel, cucumbers – the napa looks to be heading nicely (again, despite the grasshoppers), I see growing carrots and a few eggplant blooms. Most of this damage is from lack of rain – all the liquid just hovers above the ground, molding all of the young plants but not making it into the soil.
Generally at this time of the year I am also trying to forage much tea-making supplies. However, that is also problematic with the powdery mildew as it effects the red clover, self-heal, the black eyed susans, the echinacea, the bee balm and the lack of water decimates the apples, the elderberry, the mallows, and the mullein. I managed to forage a small batch of Wild Bergamot, Boneset, Self-Heal, and Cleavers before the mildew really set in but I missed the echinacea, mullein, and St. John’s wort window. If I aggressively cut back the bee balm and mow the red clover and self-heal, I might be able to get another growth before Fall. I manage to get just enough Calendula out of the garden to save for salves and things. I’m still hoping to gather enough plantain and jewelweed to make into an anti-itch cream as the black and deer fly never really disappeared this year (as they generally do) so they grace us with their presence with the mosquito and the ridiculous number of spiders in and out of the house.
The nettle died in the pots before we could find a corner to stash them in, the dog destroyed the milkweed/butterfly flowers bed, and the lemon balm decided to never come up. I didn’t nearly get enough raspberry leaf this year for tea (I prefer to get new leaves, before fruiting if possible for the best medicinal energy) and the bed for the chamomile was not weeded long enough for the chamomile to come up. The herb garden never materialized. But again, it could be worse. I suppose.
This humidity also affects the bread – it gets overproofed easily and confused when we try and manipulate its consistency through time and temperature. It bakes different, too – not always behaving in the manner one expected. But they are still lovely breads – they are little living foods so they have differences and moods. Just like us. And the weather, apparently.
Here’s to the art of failure – it’s certainly a process.
Is it bad I’ve been avoiding the gardens? In my defense, allergies are kicking my butt, my child is teething and losing her last tooth, and the weather has been either oppressive or torrential. I am not complaining about the rain (here – poor Kentucky is another story, my heart goes out to my Appalachians) but it is making weeding difficult. It rains a ton and then sun = an impenetrable wall of bolted lambsquarters and crabgrass. Though, deep in the thicket are a slew of pumpkins, beans, lemon cukes, Prairie Fire and various cherry tomatoes, hot peppers, fennel and flowers. The eggplant plants look amazing but have had little blooms (which means little to no fruits!), the corn is well, maybe some of it is knee-high now, and the Asian greens are either bolting or super flush. Tomatillos and ground cherry are growing nicely, as are the dry bean beds (marfax, cowpea, black bean, and True Red Cranberry vines which I love to grow).
But these weeds!! I designed these nice little companion beds that I can no longer even see! (How does one convince their child to weed without bribery or force?) Oh, Mr. Coleman – my cultivation has been neglected, my heed to your words is suffering. I just need a couple of back-breaking mornings to get a hold on it. We talk a lot about how to mitigate this struggle but most of it involves opportunities we don’t have right now – we could wood chip the paths and mulch the beds better (we aren’t the kind of folk to integrate plastic into our gardens though a hoophouse is a possible consideration…but again, I struggle with the plastic of it) and, of course, once I finish my dissertation I will have more time for the gardens again. But, alas, this year will continue to be a struggle.
Though, hopefully by the time of the Harvest Party – all will be done (enough) and look marvelous for a week or so (ha!). It’s all about the fantasy aesthetic. Until then, tiny increments. Meanwhile, we are looking at a commercial space tomorrow (fingers crossed) so that we can be a little more solid in a couple directions. Let’s see how it all plays out.
This past weekend for our holiday (Happy Mid-Summer!), we went to the Colby College Art Museum Community Day (to check out the Andrew Wyeth drawings, the amazing new photography collection, and some old favorites – though the new Alex Katz exhibit doesn’t open until 8/16) and the Maine Grain Alliance Bread Fair (where J just spent the previous days at the corresponding Kneading Conference where he learned good stuffs). It was a lovely day had by all! We have no more public events scheduled so we will work toward our own – the Harvest Party, Family Camping, and a couple of beach days!
