Tuesday Affairs

It was a very busy morning for the baker today! Because of the long weekend, he was up early at 4am to make the (generally Monday) morning bagels for the ReVision Energy folks and then instead of sneaking back into bed for a couple more hours of sleep, he had to jump on the regular Tuesday baking and delivering schedule – whew! I bet he’s going to bed early tonite! But the breads are beautiful (and delicious – I cannot resist a freshly baked bagel or slice of yummy bread with butter!) and he is off in the world with the peach delivering his goods.

There is a fat Robin in the garden today, but he’s not eating my Purple or Black Barley or Sunflower or Glass Gem Corn seeds. I’m a bit of a bird-nerd (I would not go so far to say that I am serious about it, but I do get a little giddy when there is some bird drama) and last Tuesday at the Augusta farmer’s market (which is on the Kennebec River, in a meandering little park where D and her friend like to rollerskate on the paths) we got to see a bevy of feathered friends: 4 Great Blue Herons hanging out together, a pair of Common Mergansers, Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Peewees, juvenile Osprey practicing their fishing techniques, and another pair of Bald Eagles. There was some issue with the Peewee, the Orioles, and a noisy Crow but eventually they all chased the latter away. Back home we frequently hear our resident Pileated Woodpecker, Catbirds in the front bush along with a pair of Cardinals, and the Phoebe in their sweet nest on the back of the garage. Early in the Spring (late Winter) I saw a couple of Bluebirds but they don’t stick around for us. Though last week, outside the studio window I got to see an Indigo Bunting in my Witch Hazel! I won’t regale you with my Life List or anything but seeing a Hoopoe in the Agora in Athens, Greece was certainly a highlight!

And speaking of marvelous highlights – a wonderful dear human gave me a sprig of a mint plant last year that he got from his other lovely friend, the artist David Driskell, who received it from another friend that found it on the ground where he was as a soldier when he found out the war (WWII) was over and brought it back with him (there are details there that are certainly lacking, as the story was told to me and another like-minded colleague who also received some mint: we try and reconstruct the story to each other but we know we fail; it is more like the telephone game, a chain letter through time…). I got to see Dr. Driskell speak a couple of times, in intimate small group settings – his stories are so good. Stories about visiting Zora Neale Hurston for lemonade with Langston Hughes, stories about his realization of where and how to function as an African American male artist and how he could help others with his perspective, stories about his craft and subject matter…just a lovely human being.

Well, suffice to say, the mint lingered for a bit before I found it a home and when I planted it, it looked like a sad little stick but seemed to survive. But alas, this Spring, it just looked like a dead stick and I was deflated. No Driskell love letter mint for me, but I kept checking on it. I composted around it, watered my dead stick, weeded the bed, etc. Just for fun I thought I would check on it the other day, just to lament the stick again, and 3 inches away from the offending dry twig was a foot high new mint shoot!! The Driskell Mint lives, in Maine, where so much of his heart lived too. I am so grateful to have this gift (Thank you lovely George and Amy! It grows for you, too!).

So, as the sea of Daisies waft in the humid breeze, and the Dragonflies appear to swoop and scarf the mosquitos (those jerks don’t get capitalized), and the Honeysuckle calls to me to make Country Wine, I get to hear and see the birds enjoy this verdant Spring, and watch the tiny marvelous plants with all their stories (and my stories, and stories of stories) grow. Let your stories grow!

A Muse for Monday

Then, too I had trouble with the cookbooks. As I studied the recipes, I discovered the fateful word MEANWHILE. I was supposed to separate eggs, then beat them, MEANWHILE stirring something constantly. I was to melt butter, blend in flour and gradually add milk. MEANWHILE dicing or peeling something, and not forgetting to test the cake in the oven with a clean broomstraw. MEANWHILE I was theoretically tossing the salad.

The most important lesson I learned was not to get in a panic when I saw MEANWHILE staring at me.

~ What Cooks at Stillmeadow, by Gladys Taber (1958),(found in Leonard Louis Levinson’s 1965 Complete Book of Pickles and Relishes)

Homestead Tuesday: thank goodness for fermentation…

The other day we had several things going on in the Rock Bottom/Stone Broke Bakery kitchen: bubbling yeasted Blackberry and Cranberry Soda in the carboy, foraged greens gurgling in the Kimchi crock, Dandelion wine fermenting in other crock, Daisy Pesto being made on the island, and the Sourdough Starter being fed so she could grow and grow in time for baking day! It was a plethora of food doings.

Meanwhile we talked of reinvigorating the (shhhhh) Secret Pickle Club, new bread shapes and flavors, garden plans (my vast wasteland of sticks and strings right now – though I did manage to put in the Glass Gem Corn, Sunflowers and a Milkweed patch, Purple Barley, and Midnight Black Beans – while the lovely peas are still growing on their webwork of trellis. Josh has been working so hard to expand the garden and take care of mass gobs of sod and put up new fencing), and plan for a visitation from lovely friends (where we, of course, cooked some meat over the fire – ha! as they were gracious enough to bring beer, cheese, and a scrumptious Blueberry Pie and cookies!).

By next week we are hoping to have much of the rest of the garden in (flowers, seeding, vegetables, and fruit) and perhaps end No Mow May with a good grasscut around here (it’s getting hard to walk in some lush spots!). Then we can start to work on the new herb garden in the little area we call La Petite Jardin, hopefully soon to be a new expanded relaxation and outdoor kitchen space (with an outdoor bread oven!). Fermenting Summer dreams.

Recipe Thursday: Bread Book – Foraged Pizza

We have lived semi-rurally for a few years now and one of the first things we realized was that we could not get pizza delivery. Not only that, but there are very few choices in the area if we could. Pizza is not just pizza to me. Having a sizeable chunk of my teenage/young adult years in Southern PA/New Jersey shore has made me partial to certain foods (pizza, bagels, bread in particular – not to mention typical dishes such as -a real- Italian sub, Stromboli, the dreamy heart attack Pork Roll/Egg/Cheese, Black & White Cookies, and Portuguese or Italian hard rolls, Funnel Cake, etc) so I’m a little romantic about certain aspects. And because now that we are more interested in natural and clean foods, we can’t or don’t just eat any old thing.

With that said, we make our own pizza. Not only does Josh make a lovely fully fermented sourdough pizza dough (available again soon for customers! ask and see!) that stretches beautifully but if you cook it on an oven stone, you can get the crispness of the crust that I prefer. Pillowy in the right places, thin in others, bubbles abound. With a good sauce (or none – we love a white pizza), ingredients, cheese – we are all happy. Duende generally prefers hers pretty straight forward: extra cheese, black (and sometimes green) olives, and nitrate free pepperoni (though many times she will skip the pepperoni because she’s already eaten it all as a snack – I’m surprised we can keep olives in the house). We like to go for whatever is in the fridge or forage (we use that word for both food from the lawn, and leftover food – ha!).

Foraging is one of my favorite acts of homesteading. I love to know that my terroir is offering me something seasonal and regional that could work for us. Free food! Yes, that, too. I love to forage many of my teas (and many are grown, as well), medicines, things for savvy drinks and ades, and things to eat. I started with just one or two things I knew were safe and easy to find, and every year I have added a couple more. Even my child can look down along the side of a parking lot and find at least 3 things to eat ‘in the apocalypse’ (because sometimes, just because you can eat it, doesn’t mean you want to). But many many bits are delicious and healthy – so many bitter and oxalic greens to get your body moving in the Spring!

Josh loves when Daisy shoots and leaves are abound. I put them in Kimchi, in Saag, in Pesto – and on Pizza. Fiddleheads or Ramps on pizza is a wonderful thing. Dandelion greens work pretty good but you have to put them under the cheese or they will burn, same with any of the other tender greens of Spring like False Solomon’s Seal shoots or Evening Primrose rosettes, Cleavers, or Wild Leeks. When Summer finally peeks out, Milkweed shoots are great on pie (pizza pie, that is) with Pineapple and Ham, Lilybud shoots, as well. In the height of Summer, things like Zucchini or Yucca blossoms from the gardens with Nettle Pesto on a white pizza is delicious. And the beginnings of Fall bring Mushrooms (we’re good at Lobster and Puffball Mushrooms around here) of all kinds with frilly fronds of Goldenrod or Yarrow. There are always outside options to add to the excitement of Pizza game night (Get your Ticket to Ride or Taco vs. Burrito or Clue on!).

I wouldn’t willy-nilly eat from your yard without making sure what you have is what you can eat but it’s likely you can eat more than you think. Sam Thayer is my favorite foraging expert but there are many regional lists and sites that might suit you better. Check your foraging guides and eat well!

Foraged Pizza
for one 14″ pie

  • 1 20oz Pizza dough (thaw for a few hours, if frozen, to room temperature)
  • 1 14oz jar of Pizza sauce (we rely on Muir Glen, but you can easily make your own) or Pesto, or Alfredo sauce
  • 1 sack of Mozzarella Cheese (again, we rely on Cabot but anyone without starch is good) or for a White Pizza – sliced whole Mozzarella, Goat Cheese, or any sexy cheese you think might sound good
  • Toppings of choice: in the case of Daisy shoots – maybe 10-20 shoots, or a mix of Dandelion leaves and shoots, sliced Black Olives, Day Lily buds or shoots, sliced Cattail root, Ramps or Fiddleheads, Fiorucci Salami or leftover Ham bits, Evening Primrose leaves)
  • 1/4 cup Semolina or Medium fine Cornmeal

    Heat the oven well in advance with the stones (if using, if not use the biggest sheetpan you have) to 425 degrees. You want the oven hot when you put the pizza in. Have a rack ready in the middle of the oven.

    Make your pie! Stretch out the dough with your hands in a circle, carefully but assertively pushing and widening the circle until it is the size you prefer (and the size your stones can bake). Lay out on lightly floured surface with a scattering of Semolina or Cornmeal or onto the same for a sheetpan (yes, with a little flour and cornmeal). Add Sauce or Pesto (if using, if not, a light drizzle of Olive Oil and Sea Salt is marvelous), a bit of Cheese, scatter your Veg, add another layer of Cheese, then more Veg or Meat bits and a final layer of Cheese (doesn’t have to be so Cheese heavy, just make sure that tender bits are protected by a little Cheese so they don’t burn).

    If using oven stones, scatter a little Semolina/Cornmeal onto them right before transferring Pizza to oven. Using peel, in one swift move slide under the pie. Transferring to oven, again – using one swift shake, get the pie onto the stones (yes, this has ended badly but with practice, it can be done efficiently and easily). If using sheetpan, put it in the oven. Bake for 10-20 minutes depending on how heavy your toppings are – keep an eye on how brown you like your top crust, the lower crust should be crisp and the cheese baked. Remove from oven to a cutting surface.

    Let sit for at least 5 minutes, then slice (the rest helps everything solidify again for easy cutting and eating). Serve and Enjoy!

On a Tuesday

What gets our juices flowing this Tuesday? Literally, juices. After putting up a stunning smelling and looking foraged Kimchi (with Daisy sprouts and buds, Dandelion leaves, heart shaped Violet Leaves, Red Clover Leaf, a little young Yellow Dock leaf, the serrated spears of Evening Primrose leaves, some ‘refound’ – or rather lost and forgotten patch- of baby Garlic and Radish leaf, and some local foraged Fiddleheads), we decided to do a batch of Dandelion wine since those sunny blossoms finally appeared (and I might do another batch, too, this week…). And then – after perusing the techniques of Pascal Baudar and Sandor Katz, we decided we wanted to try some Berry Soda so we put up a batch of Blackberry to try (so far, so good!). I think we will try some Ginger Beer and real Beer’s too.

The Violets are starting to match their leaf growth so a batch of Violet Syrup might be a consideration this week. By the end of that little endeavor, the Lilacs will likely be ready to syrup or wine-up, and then maybe the Honeysuckle. At that point, tea foraging becomes a primary focus for me – lots of Red Clover buds will be popping up to try (and maybe also make a little wine from, I tried it a few years ago and liked it very much…Goldenrod, not so much), Raspberry Leaf, Bee Balm, and as the Summer progresses my Chamomile patch will be buzzing. I love to get the drying racks up and start filling them with Calendula blossoms, Mullein leaves, Cleavers, Yarrow, and maybe this year some Wintergreen Berry, too. Amazingly I do not have a crazy patch of Mint. I have tried to start one here and there but then I generally put it somewhere I am not set on and then pile stuff on top of it, forgetting until I really want some. Though Bee Balm is in the Mint family, it doesn’t have the same cleanness to it that you want out of a Mint (but it does have a lovely well-rounded body that I enjoy). I do drink a lot of tea and hope to have enough to sell again this year.

Right now we are just excited that many of the baby Apple trees we have planted over the last couple of years are blooming. It’s an off year for the big trees but the little ones are looking pretty good despite the incessant drought and bug plague they have been struggling through. The baby plants are also looking good and can’t wait to get into the new garden – still a few finishing touches (and a fence) but we’re almost there; the coldframes are bursting! But we did finally get a first Asparagus harvest after many years since starting from seed (and the fear that the deer dug it up last year, though none of the Purple came up, perhaps they will return) – YAY!

May you have unexpected surprises!

Monday’s Muse

“Lilacs on a bush are better than orchids. And dandelions and devil grass are better! Why? Because they bend you over and turn you away from all the people in the town for a little while and sweat you and get you down where you remember you got a nose again. And when you’re all to yourself that way, you’re really proud of yourself for a little while; you get to thinking things through, alone. Gardening is the handiest excuse for being a philosopher. Nobody guesses, nobody accuses, nobody knows, but there you are, Plato in the peonies, Socrates force-growing his own hemlock. A man toting a sack of blood manure across his lawn is kin to Atlas letting the world spin easy on his shoulder.” ~ Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

Duendesday: Pulling her weight…

{life with a curious and crazy 11 yr old}

Our lovely Godzilla has been changing at a shooting star rate these days – she is taller, smarter, stronger, sassier, and coming to grips with change. Up until now we have been following a loosey goosey Waldorf-style education (I think the only Waldorf aspect is the timing, we work on 7 year cycles for introductions of certain concepts and how to negotiate them, but we also motivate her relationship with nature and her own sense of spirituality) but as we get closer to the end of her 2nd cycle, we want to make sure she is getting the things she needs in case she wants to make educational changes (i.e. go to school or pursue classes). So there is a bit of homework that has been happening (and she dislikes it as much as any other kid does unfortunately) – reading comprehension quizzes, math worksheets, geography games. Most of her education we try and find life applications for and let her be as imaginative as we can but there are a few things that just need ‘the work’ to get through (or at least, that’s how we’ve approached).

I love middle schoolers – I did my practicum with an afterschool group in Taos, NM which fostered 1/2 academics, 1/2 creative exploration and thought I’d found my calling. It’s such a charming (and yes, hard to manage – for everyone) age – they are still children but are seeing and adopting some ‘grown up’ inklings. It was essentially my job to make sure they stayed safe in this trying time (all my students were under probation of some sort). I would have continued to do the work but when we returned to the East Coast, my outward appearance no longer made me a contender in a highly competetive field (all in all, we should have just stayed out there – we dream about it constantly).

But Josh and I love to pick out Duende’s reading books, guide her in inquiry, help her find new tools for learning. She’s not the most receptive of students as she very much likes things ‘her way’/without instruction though she might understand some of the risk involved if she doesn’t step up her game (school for sure). As she gets up to ‘academic speed’, she is always looking for ways to sidestep the process but eventually it gets done. Her review is in another month and I think she will be ready.

Until then, she also pursues outside activity: her garden is shaping up and she helped remove all of the strawberry plants from the big garden for new beds (and she did great – thank you Edwardian Farm! they are all looking good in their temporary boxes), roller skating with Dorothy at the Tuesday Farmers Market, pulling the wagon around (despite Josh jumping in!) to move things for us, going for first season Ice Cream (and running into Dorothy!), moving the chickens by hand from the coop to the tractor all the time, riding her bike on our crazy hill, and making many a mudcake. Happy warm Spring!

Tuesday 2 Do’s

And just like that – it’s high Spring. Everything wants to be out in the coldframes yesterday, foraging needs to happen immanently, and yet…yet…technically still under the omen of Last Frost. Tender babies will have to wait a bit longer though my crazy Pumpkin patch has already been testing the waters of these last few nights and they are surviving. The garlics are sprouting strong and the peas are coming up nicely (despite the hack job I did on the pea trellis – channeling my inner Ananse). Josh planted the last of the Antonovka trees (we’re trying a braided tree with a few of these) making our little orchard pretty significant.

The Dandelions look like they might actually wake up in our yard (I was worried, just a couple of years we had a yellow fluffy carpet and they are much sparser this year…of course, a year I am ready to make some more Dandelion wine!), the Daffodils finally are shining (and fragrant!), and the Forsythia are still making their way towards the sun. Mr. Phoebe and his stunning nest have finally found a mate (I almost put out an advert for him – I didn’t want that fine work to go to waste!). The Plums are blooming as the Violets beneath poke their little heads out. The Azalea is making the Bumbles happy and the Bee Balm is spreading wondrously.

We had a lovely Beltane dinner with a couple of friends who like Lamb over the fire with Roasted Roots below and slapdash Blueberry/Ground Cherry Pie. Mother’s Day followed with Moroccan Djej Emshmel and a Vanilla Bundt Cake with Duende’s amazing Chocolate drip glaze (she’s becoming quite the baker). The bakery has been trying on new flavors of Red Chili Pepper Crackers (he calls them Firecrackers!), a soft slicing Whole Wheat bread, along with this week’s special of Roasted Garlic Sourdough (mmmm). We’re off to the Farmers Market today to find something delicious to go with it.

Josh has pulled down the old garden fencing, remarked the new expanded beds and begun a little light tilling (new ground and all). We moved the Hops, Rhubarb, Strawberries, a few extra garden friends to pots while we get the garden ready. We plan to finish much of that this week so that the week after next we can plant like crazy. I’m envisioning rows of flowery bursts interspersed with Cabbages and Kales, clever beds of Nightshades (Peppers, Eggplants, Tomatoes) with companion plants like Nasturtium, Marigolds, and Calendula to ward off foes and bring in friends. I can’t wait (and yet, I have to because we still have a bunch to do before we get there)! Plant well!