let the images tell you their story
Friday in Pictures: Seed to Seedling
Recipe Thursday: Patatas a lo Pobre
We succumbed to the romanticism of Spain, for sure, even before we got to spend a month there 10 years ago (a very telling 10 years as we suspected halfway through our trip that we were pregnant – ‘my baby loves this Spanish wine!’, ‘my baby loves morcilla!’) – we read Chris Stewart’s Driving Over Lemons, too. A travelogue about one of the early Genesis members heading off to Andalusia to raise sheep (and buying – maybe sight unseen? something we would likely do – a ramshackle farm with no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and no road directly to the house) whose cantankerous neighbor makes this meal for him.
Don’t make this a dish of perfection – the charm is in the raw simplicity. Hack the vegetables into chunks (but not so much you chop off a finger – ‘carefully’ hack), whole unpeeled garlic cloves – think camp style cooking (in fact, we have made it camping).
This dish is best served with a big cold cooked ham you can just saw chunks off of, a bowl of olives, some crusty bread, and lovely bottle of Spanish wine – if you really want to push this simple decadence over the edge, get a chunk of Tetilla cheese, too. This is sometimes one of our favorite anniversary meals (as it is pretty pricey to get a nitrate-free ham, we only do it once a year, and it’s worth it) – no dishes, just forks and wine glasses, a cast-iron pan, serving platter. Put on some Flamenco music, hang out by the fire (whether inside or outside – doesn’t matter)!
Patatas a lo Pobre
Serves 4 with Ham, 2 without
1/3 cup Spanish Olive Oil
4 medium Potatoes (about 1.5 pounds), peeled/unpeeled – up to you, cut into 2″ish chunks
1 large Onion, cut into chunks
head of Garlic, separated into cloves, unpeeled
2 or 3 Red and Green peppers, cut into large thick strips or chunks
Sea Salt, Freshly Ground Pepper
Heat a deep (preferably cast iron/what the old ladies call ‘spider’) frying-pan over medium-high heat until the oil is hot. Turn the heat down to medium and add the onion chunks.
Add the garlic cloves. Add the potatoes. Add peppers. Stir gently, add generous pinch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
Let the vegetables cook until the potatoes are tender, about 45 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve in Pan. Alongside other goodies and relax.
Practice your Spanish.
D for Duendesday!
{a day to check in with a 9 yr old’s doings}
She’s on the lookout for a new bike (the one she has is a bit small, they are so sized for age instead of size, is that a thing or am I just imagining), I think she wants to be a BMX star (damn that Shaun the Sheep) as she loves to set herself up on specific rises to the get the most speed or oomph, and the bumpier the better, she likes to slam on the brakes and let the back of the bike slide in the dirt to an abrupt but dramatic stop. As a parent, I do hope this activity comes with a love of safety wear, too.
She’s also an avid climber. Right now mostly on trees and rope – she fashions herself bungee cord climbers, ties her knots (she’s always been a pro at tying things, when she was really little I gave her a whole skein of bright orange yarn and left her be for a bit, when I returned the entire room was a giant orange spider’s web, she had weaved and tied to every surface she could latch onto). But the rule about climbing is – don’t get up into something you can’t get yourself down from, which mostly works.
It’s also teasingly Mud Season, though we might have another snow waiting in the clouds above for unsuspecting and overly hopeful gardeners, the mud is here so there is she. I frequently worry when she gets ‘too fabulous’ that somehow I have a fashionista or dainty princess (you’d think the above two paragraphs would quell this, but sometimes it’s hard to tell which way they’ll go). She will dress up in the fanciest dress possible – tons of tulle, layers, satin if possible and then go play in the mud. I win. Yay!!! Ha! Though there was no dress this week outside (she is getting more possessive of them, ever since the ‘silly putty debacle’) she did make some lovely mud people. I think they are all Mud-Mama’s (me) and that one guy who couldn’t behave himself and had to go to jail.
Happy Mud Season!
Happenings
Rock Bottom Breaking News:
- Bread Shares are now a thing – right now there are only 20 and notices have been sent out to people already signed up for weekly shares. But what are they? They are a month to month CSB (y’know, for bread!) which streamlines the payment and delivery process. It also opens up a whole new program for us – in being able to get you awesome homestead goodies. Because besides the heavy Winter wheat options now (bread, pizza dough, crackers, flatbreads and soon pasta) – coming up there will be Maple Syrup, and seedlings, and Kimchi, microgreens and foraged packs, then veggies and fruits, jams and pickles, household goods like crocheted scrubbies, dishcloths and Frenchpress cozies, cheese and charcuterie, herbal teas and medicines, so many plans and ideas coming your way. So, thank you to all who participate in the shares program – it really helps get us on our way more efficiently!
- And the sap is flowing nicely. With all this wonky weather, we may see a longer run than anticipated but it’s a finicky relationship (man, earth, atmosphere) so we shall see how it goes. But we are boiling. The new evaporator system has been cranking – if you want to come and participate (i.e. stand around the fire and likely drink beer or empty buckets/fill evaporator, chop wood?) we are here and boiling all weekend.
- Thursday we have a date to go up to Fedco and get more seeds and supplies. I need some nightshades and more herbs – there’s a new herb garden planned (more tea and medicines)! I love going up there – I know, it’s not the ‘cutest’ or the most ‘romantic’ but that’s what I like about it. It’s straightforward, lowbrow, easy to engage with and ask questions and get what you need – besides the ride is somewhat romantic. I love a country drive – see how gardens are coming along, see what is peeking out from behind Winter.
- And speaking of – next week is Spring!! Whew! Though on our North slope it won’t really feel like it unless this thaw continues like it is – even with another snow, we might be magickally able to get the peas and potatoes in early this year (rather than late, as every other year – mostly due to my school travels of which I am technically done with). Because we are ‘seasonal freaks’ we will struggle next week to find white eggs to decorate [we took a break from chickens this Winter but will resume again this Summer – they need a new coop and location] and celebrate with a lovely Moroccan lamb tagine, flowers on the window, and a festive attitude!
Monday Thoughts
“The ceremonies that persist—birthdays, weddings, funerals— focus only on ourselves, marking rites of personal transition. We know how to carry out this rite for each other and we do it well. But imagine standing by the river, flooded with those same feelings as the Salmon march into the auditorium of their estuary. Rise in their honor, thank them for all the ways they have enriched our lives, sing to honor their hard work and accomplishments against all odds, tell them they are our hope for the future, encourage them to go off into the world to grow, and pray that they will come home. Then the feasting begins. Can we extend our bonds of celebration and support from our own species to the others who need us?
Many indigenous traditions still recognize the place of ceremony and often focus their celebrations on other species and events in the cycle of the seasons. In a colonist society the ceremonies that endure are not about land; they’re about family and culture, values that are transportable from the old country. Ceremonies for the land no doubt existed there, but it seems they did not survive emigration in any substantial way. I think there is wisdom in regenerating them here, as a means to form bonds with this land.”
― Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Friday in Pictures: All Hail the Sled Trail!
let the images tell you their story
Recipe Thursday: Best Ever Brownies
I kid you not. A magickal space between fudge and cake exists and it is in these brownies…when you are feeling sad or needy or have a deep chocolatey sweet tooth urging you to find the happy place, or even if you are in a lovely appreciative-of-all-the-worlds-gifts kind of mood – this will exalt you to a higher plane.
One of these, with a glass of deep red wine cures most ills. Hoard these from your children, relatives, and neighbors.
Best Brownies Ever
10 Tbsp butter (1 1/4 sticks) (plus a little for preparing the pan)
1 + 2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 + 2 Tbsp cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Lg cold eggs
1/2 cup flour (can substitute GF flour here, but use a premix, not just rice or tapioca, etc)
2/3 cup nuts (optional, hazelnut or pecan work esp well)
Position a rack in the lower 3rd of the oven. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter an 8″ square baking pan.
Melt butter in saucepan. When melted, take off heat and stir in sugar until sugar is dissolved. Use spatula and transfer to mixing bowl. Stir in cocoa and salt.
With a wooden spoon (yes, do it, just like I say) stir in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well-blended add the flour and cinnamon and stir until just barely blended (so you cannot see it any longer), then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon (yes, count, I swear it’s the secret – don’t mess with the secret).
Stir in the nuts, if using.
Spread evenly in pan. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, 20-25 min.
Cut right away but let cool in the pan, on a rack. Enjoy!
Duendesday!
{a day to check in with a 9 yr old’s doings}
It can’t all be wine and roses – or in the case of a 9 yr old, all milk and cookies…
What does a day look like when she wakes up on the wrong side (of our) bed? The sass is strong with this one. It demands things like tv and brownies, pickles and videogames and dramatizes everything she can think of that might have set her off (a lot of ‘you never’ seems to come out now). And when you don’t provide – it gets very belligerent and obstinate. And contemplates life without you – ha!
I think this cycles with growing pains and weather changes – and responses to our moods, as well. I find March, in general, pretty tough for everyone. It’s when you become ‘done’ with Winter – the land is so grey, the snow (if any, though sometimes in March there is too much) loses its shine, there’s a bit of cabin fever (though everyone is outside a lot in Winter, too, we don’t go far), and there’s likely been a little too much screen time.
One starts to itch for the Spring renewal – we’ll start seeds today to get that ‘feeling’ started, in just 2 weeks we’ll decorate eggs and the worms will wake in the earth, by Earth Day the snow will mostly melt and the air will start to warm…we wonder now if we can stand much more of Winter without selling our child to the gypsies (let’s ignore the fact right now that we are likely the gypsies we speak of) but we’ve come this far – I think we’ll make it.
Happenings
A lot of what we do is routine – especially with the Bread deliveries, right now. Setting up for bread is a daily process with sourdough, then there is cracker day, pizza dough day, and then the day before baking where all the bread loaves are shaped (all of that is a lot of arm and shoulder power!) and put into their baskets for cold fermentation for about 15-17 hours. And then baking and delivery day.
Other days are spent right now checking/emptying taps and refinements to the sugar shack (including building the chimney/evaporator), bringing in wood, pruning fruit trees, and the generalities of running a homestead (paperwork, home improvement, meals and dishes and laundry!), and homeschooling (which involves integrating the child into all of these tasks). Smaller but no less important tasks include making yogurt weekly, making pasta/flatbreads/bread for meals, sharpening knives, treating the island wood top, making new rugs and dishcloths, and cleaning.
The home improvements come and go, right now the laundry room needs the electricity and plumbing to be moved and fixed, and then a floor and walls put up – and then we can add shelves and appliances. The wide-pine-flooring for the kitchen and the dining/front room still needs to be tea-stained and put in (but only after the kitchen subfloor is leveled). And the windows and doorframes in the kitchen need to be mud and taped and then everything repainted. And then we can consider buying more floor for the other downstairs rooms.
It is also time for seedlings to go in. One set of shelves have been put up and are ready to go. I will get those little magickal seeds into some yummy soil, set the lights and heating pad and grow, grow, grow!! I’ll do a batch of microgreens right now, herbs, and some strong brassica that can go into the cold frames early (cold frames that still have to be built).
All this happens around my PhD dissertation and teaching and tutoring. And new plans for the homestead and deliveries – we’re always trying to come up with new and exciting ideas. And soon it will be boiling time! Oh, sweet maple goodness. And then more seedlings, and then chickens, and the garden…I’m dreaming too far ahead now. Let’s get through the end of Winter first.
May your routine be invigorating to your soul!
Check-in with us, we might be boiling this weekend! This is what last year’s syrup boiling set-up looked like:
Monday’s Muse
)when what hugs stopping earth than silent is
)when what hugs stopping earth than silent is
more silent than more than much more is or
total sun oceaning than any this
tear jumping from each most least eye of star
more silent than more than much more is or
total sun oceaning than any this
tear jumping from each most least eye of star
and without was if minus and shall be
immeasurable happenless unnow
shuts more than open could that every tree
or than all life more death begins to grow
end’s ending then these dolls of joy and grief
these recent memories of future dream
these perhaps who have lost their shadows if
which did not do the losing spectres mime
until out of merely not nothing comes
only one snowflake(and we speak our names
~ e.e. cummings
