Duendesday: Life in the Fast Lane

{life with a curious and crazy 13 yr old}

The stretch has begun; Duende likes the arts school and wants to try it out so we will do our best to get her ready. Because she’s been free-schooled, we haven’t focused on the parameters generally prescribed in the time frame generally followed. Her paper math skills aren’t like other 8th graders, her writing isn’t as practiced, her social studies have not been linear. We have some time to catch up, but it will be a healthy dose of work for her. The pre-algebra workbook leers at her.

We’re not worried, she is certainly capable, and since it is her choice this is a great time to start practicing an independence with consequences (if she doesn’t do the work, it is her disappointment). But she is excited to try something new and it will offer many opportunities this area struggles to give kids her age. The classes are small and geared towards thinking creatively so that works for us. I’m not jazzed about the health requirements as it will take a monumental effort (mostly on hold, in frustration, with the systems of power) to get her early health records since we have given up allopathics as primary care many years ago. I am sure we will struggle with standardized testing (and refuse to prioritize it in any way) as it is a public charter when it comes up, too, but these are things we can manage in our own way.

Lately, she has been on a making roll. Her days off find her beading a ‘faberge’ egg, fashioning a cardboard corset (while watching a historical dress series, no pictures of it yet), weaving willow baskets, and making wytchy energy brooms for the doorways. She also made herself a new apron with embroidered pockets and trim. She’s read 3 books, done household chores, danced her pants off, cleaned her room (a feat in itself), bought a new doll and refurbished its clothes, and helped out at the shop. We’ve been setting aside more art and game nights with snacky dinners like quesadillas with J’s yummy flatbreads, or french bread pizzas with J’s baguettes, or wings and oven fries, or even just popcorn with our new favorite maple pepper spice from Spicy Staples. We’ve been playing Clue, Azul, and Trivial Pursuit with some new adjustments — we’ve added some newer Genus elements like pieces from modern TP, using Junior cards, and wild card expansion of rock/pop or film. I think she is hoping for some Princess Bride co-operative gaming, Apples to Apples, and Taco vs. Burrito tonight. Art nights have been focusing on watercolors lately, we’re going to start making our own nature watercolor paints and brushes soon to go with her homemade inks.

Today she is off to drill some holes in trees for sugaring, clean up the sugar shack and chop some wood. We may have missed our window for a full sugaring this year but we’ll still tap for some healthy sap and if we’re lucky at least a small boil. We like to at least have enough maple for our own needs for the year, or at least some celebratory syrup. I might trek out to gather some pine needles and willow bark for healthy teas, and assess the garden planning. If Duende still has enough steam left in her, maybe she will come help me with the seedlings today and tomorrow.

She doesn’t slow down much.

Happenings on a Tuesday

New events on the horizon at the shop — astrology full moon forecasting, poetry workshops, open-no-mic poetry nights, and more in store. We’re planning another Lit Walk, nature talks, ‘zine building, garden planning…good things in store. Because there is so much going here now!! They say the sturgeon will be back, The Great Race at the end of June, and to start it off, the solar eclipse — we’re not in ‘the path of totality’ but there will still much excitement and new folks in Maine.

For us, the Ides of March is coming which is a special day we celebrate (like a love anniversary) and the Vernal Equinox, Maple Syrup boiling (and Maple Weekend, end of March, we’re hoping to have an open get together, keep your eyes peeled in the newsletter), and in April the lovely child and I will go down to NYC for my graduation (she is over the moon, train ride, fancy hotel, maybe a show, dinner at the Lafayette Grand Cafe, a walk on the High Line). I wish I had more time to see good friends down there — I had originally planned to take a couple of extra days and go down to the shore (NJ) but that dream has been canceled like so many already this year. We make many plans so that at least one or two stick (don’t mess with the family camping this year!! I’ll walk if I have to…right to that island).

We’ve been getting ourselves together, deep-cleaning lost forgotten corners of the house, playing board games, getting our nails done, listening to kooky little records, making lovely stews (Majorcan Stew, a big favorite of ours, this time with chickpeas and our Semolina Baguette), and experiencing weather shifts (snow one day, freezing temps, then like today — 52 degrees!) and the lovely Snow Moon, last moon of Winter. Time to shake off hibernation by the Worm Moon and get to the stuff that matters; taking care of folks. We’re in the last stages of planning so we can get to work making connections and lending a hand — it’s true that Gaza is under attack and people’s safety is paramount, but there are people here, too, homeless or without access to healthy food and clean water, women, children, and elderly in abusive homes, the stupidity of gun violence — right here in Maine! We’re all about the multiple-level and multi-faceted approach, to helping as many people as possible while creating safety. We’re also supportive of making informed and intentional decisions about the complex systemic capitalism that works against much of the good work being done. For us, we focus on the ripple effect of taking care of what we can directly (instead of in a system or through a system). Others make headway through their own avenues. This is to say that anyone caring for others — truly taking the time to care and find solutions, make changes, and educate themselves, is building community in new ways.

All things considered (J’s favorite reply), we are well enough. It averages out, right? Now that my program is done, we all have a little more time and space to work on other projects (new homestead shaping, gardens and event plans, the little cookbook we’re developing, J’s books, my art practice, D’s new consideration of school — we’re off to an open house tomorrow to see if it’s a good match). I was reading that soil raises serotonin levels the other day which encourages me to start my seedlings this week!!! J & D will tap trees tomorrow and Thursday. We’re getting very low on wood so hopefully J will find some to steal from the sugar shack, hopefully enough to get us through April but it will be close this year.

Stay cozy.

Recipe Thursday: Puff Pastry Dinner Hack — Savory Puff Tart

And so it came to pass that we needed to clean out the basement freezer (we already lost one in the last flood so we need to remove any future loss by cleaning out the basement entirely) and I found a frozen puff pastry I had bought for one of the many events we’ve had to cancel over this past Winter (obviously, still a sore spot, as the cancellations continue — someday we’ll feel like humans with a life again). I had ignored it because I thought it was a big deal and that I needed a lot of time or patience, or something I don’t feel like I’ve had a lot of lately (of course, I could have just read the package, I wasn’t making the puff from scratch — I feel good about the Dufour Pastry group, they even make a plant-based organic version, acts the same). It has been a game-changer.

It thaws rather quickly (less than an hour outside of the fridge, 2-3 hours inside — consistency doesn’t change that much but if you are doing something more delicate, I’d opt to thaw longer in the fridge) and works great to throw on top of a cast iron skillet full of (leftover) cooked chicken/gravy/and veg as a ‘pot pie’ (just follow directions on package for baking, and be careful the pan is then hot!).

The other night we chose to roast some cauliflower to top a thawed and partially pre-baked (as per box direction) puff with a little bacon cooked up with garlic and onions, sliced up leftover roasted potatoes, and feta cheese. Rebake and amazing!! We tried to make little wells and roast eggs in it but that didn’t turn out as good as we had hoped, we’ll have to experiment a little more there but the Roasted Veg Tart with Feta was great. I think anything that tastes lovely carmelized and roasted would go great on this tart (we really piled it up, too — on a regular sheet pan toss veg to roast with olive oil, sea salt, and fresh ground black pepper, roast at 375 degrees stirring occasionally to brown up many bits, remove when roasted to your liking, chop a little more to work best on pastry) like roasted sweet potatoes or squash, broccoli, parsnips or carrots, golden beets, asparagus, eggplant with maybe an addition of toasted pine nuts or Dukka, dried or fresh herbs like sage or rosemary, possibly dried fruits like sliced fig or dried plums, sauteed mushrooms and any kind of allium (I can’t wait for Summer scapes)…the feta baked on top was delicious (I love Pumpkin Vine Family Farm‘s goat feta — it’s divine, and they are wonderful — you can go and visit, they host a Farmer’s Market and many events). Get a puff, try it out, it was an easy peasy ‘kitchen-sink’ kind of meal which I love. And a hit for boardgame night!

Wednesday/ Duendesday Check-in

{life with a curious and crazy 13 yr old}

Time shifts and slips, cycles and renews, constricts and flows freely. Somedays time feels on track — everything in its own time, and all of that. Other days it feels short or whips on by. Our brains on remote control mode, held by a crazed monkey (why, a monkey? mischievous little guys…) or a duende — speeding us up unnecessarily or slowing it wayyy downnn, skipping ahead, rewatching the good parts, blocking the awkward moments.

The last couple of weeks have certainly made us focus on slowing down, but still…with kids, it always feels a little fast. Lately the Duende (with a capital D!) has been working more on her ‘quill writing’ and making ink from charcoal and beet juice, we got a nice snow in there somewhere and she decided to work on a fort, we took care of the very neglected ‘plant wall’ and cleaned up some derelict spaces, watched a flurry of Robins along with some little friends (the Cardinals, House and Goldfinches, Nuthatch, Titmouse, Chicka-dee-dee-dee’s, and Junco’s foraging rosehips, various berries, and seeds), danced and snuggled (she’s in love with the movie The Book of Life right now), and of course, played dead (both in the house, and the snow). Meanwhile — while the bread bakes, her fashionable self takes her to galleries (I love that picture! ha!) and antique places like the Hallowell Antique Mall, Another Man’s Treasure, and The Rusticators Emporium (a lovely day off playing ‘whats the weirdest thing you’ve seen’, results in Friday’s blog), where she buys velvet ribbons for her hair (like a Victorian gal).

Oh, how time flies when we’re having fun. ❤

Monday’s Muse

Moon in Aries sextile Pluto in Aquarius

This week’s increased speed with which we receive, approach, and go about our lives must be tempered by the grounding influence of Moon, Jupiter, and Uranus’s presence in stable and resourceful Taurus if we are to make the kind of progress we want to. The week starts out bold, desirous, and hopeful, and the excitement can be infectious, but we always have to remember the story of the hare and the tortoise. Blue skies are on the horizon and the Sun is coming out, but we have healthy boundaries, due diligence, and an enormous accumulation of information and knowledge to strategically implement if we are to bask gloriously and tranquilly in those golden rays.

We sure can be energized to tackle our tasks today, as long as there is some form of positive growth and enhancement that goes along with it. We sometimes do do do without thinking about how such doing is not necessarily getting us anywhere. Our motivation today is more focused on getting somewhere we have ideally been wanting to go. And this is not necessarily a physical location or destination, this is about our dreams, goals, and futuristic ideas.

What we may lose in this charged pursuit is the support of anyone who tends to follow rules and do things “by the book.” This is a rebellious aspect that warrants some classy misbehavior. Of course I am not endorsing harmful acts in any way, instead I am simply saying that we should not be afraid to step out of the norms of societal conditioning, because rarely does that get us someplace we have never been. In the words of Lew Welch, “Step out onto the Planet. Draw a circle 100 feet round. Inside the circle are 300 things nobody understands and, maybe, nobody’s ever seen. How many can you find?”

from Geoff Gronlund (& Mexicali Blues)

Duendesday: Master-maker

{life with a curious and crazy 13 yr old}

Duende’s new motto is “Grilled Cheese for Life” which might contradict with her obsession over pickles (and eating pickles with cheese, or yogurt, or really anything) but this kid lives in the mastery of contradictions. It’s generally a beautiful place full of art, dancing, crazy fashion, and laughter. Sometimes it is a messy place of dirty socks, doll clothes, marble runs, and art supplies. It waffles from pop anthems (Black Pink, Sia, & a lot of J. Lo lately) to Edwardian Farm (of the BBC historic farm series/documentaries).

Last week she learned to knit (thank you Fish!), and this week she is practicing her cursive with a quill and ink (she likes to make her own ink, too). She is also crocheting a fox, made cupcakes, is planning her summer art series in her Crow’s Nest, and whipped up a Boxelele that almost really plays (I think she’s moving on to a cigar box uke this week, she has the plans). The snow is already ice and there is more snow on the way, so I am still holding out for a sledding party!

Tuesday Happenings: Bring on the snow

Alas, alack, it seems our Imbolc dinner party is going to be canceled this year. We’ve had a roughly annual gathering for almost 10 years now so I am so sad that we can’t just figure out how to work it with our new shop/baking schedule. It seems at some level this season, all of our celebrations are canceled by something or another. It is tough trying to have a life and a business. I am trying not to let it get us down but I can tell we are all worn pretty thin and have little to look forward to right now.

But there is snow coming and hopefully it will be the pretty kind to blanket us and keep us cozy and wintery. It is supposed to cool way down by the end of the week which I hope sticks around a bit (not that I care for the cold, but I care for all the things it allows — like hibernation for such things like maple trees, lilacs, and other assorted lovely things, I could use some hibernation…) so we can have a rebirth in the Spring.

I desire a little mending time, further garden planning (I’ve got Kavasch’s Medicine Wheel Garden book at the ready for coffee breaks), and arty reimaginings of this hibernation/rebirth scenario. I desire slow-cooked stews and warm buttered bread, tea with honey, soaking baths, and reading by the woodstove fire. I’m in article writing mode, working on developing a couple of little lectures for our pamphlet publishing (Rubble Books) — Punk & American Transcendentalism, Elemental Jaunts, perhaps a return to old themes (I was reminded today how I almost went to skool as an English major focusing on post war Japanese and German literature, and then worked on an art book on American eugenics), and Bread Philosophy.

I think the baker is dreaming of afternoons of bookbinding, tiny book making, poetry and coffee, maybe a little Scotch. His needs are pretty simple; he likes to chop wood, read books, listen to records. He’ll be getting ready to clean up the sugar shack soon so he can tap and boil sap to syrup in March. The kid will be happy to have some snow to dance and sled in (I don’t think we were able to have a sledding party/race last year — maybe we’ll be lucky this year!).

Until then, Doris (the starter) bubbles away and builds the beautiful breads. We will keep buying the small press books that make us think, put together gift baskets, and hope the woodpile holds out.

Here’s to staying cozy…