daffodil

i loved the weekend.  there was sunshine, and there was snow.  a cool mix of amazing beauty and growth mingled with cold fears.  one minute we were eyes closed, faces to the sun.  the next burrowing down into the safety of warm winter blankets.

mini cinderella

this is one of two pumpkins the deer didn't eat.  it is the most fascinating color and tiny size.  we termed yesterday our fall harvest.  we picked everything we could find in the garden (including two more artichokes).  it rained all day.  we turned on the heat.  and ate soup.  i was saying to sweet pea that our garden was so much work.  and between the garden and our farm share, most weekends have been spent trying to preserve the bounty.  i asked him if he thought it was worth it.  and emphatically he said we should do it all over again next year.  big, huge, smile.

ode

everyone.  grab your coffee and join me for a poetry reading.  remember, i started my college experience in portland, or.  there's nothing better than sitting in a coffee shop after powell's to watch the rain and think of nature.  or poetry about nature.  ok..that lasted for 6 months.  and then we were on to other things.  but for old time's sake, shall we?

OCTOBER

Robert Frost

O HUSHED October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

To-morrow’s wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call; 

To-morrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow,

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled, 

Beguile us in the way you know;

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away;

Retard the sun with gentle mist; 

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost

For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

i stole this from my csa farm newsletter.  but it just felt fitting.  the temperature is dropping.  for grape's sake!  and just as an aside...when i went to lewis and clark college our floor was co-ed.  including the bathrooms and showers.  my dorm neighbor used to put up gary snyder poetry in the bathroom stall for us to read.  next to the sign that said, "flush only when necessary.  we are in a drought."  and next to the sign that said, "save the spotted owl."  just to put everything in context.  xoxo 

the fruits of my labor

canning part 1

my dad used to make choke cherry jelly with the bountiful crop from our yard.  just ask anyone.  there wasn't a person i talked to this weekend that didn't have a story about dad's jelly.  and silly me.  i was "to good" to try it out when he was around.  guess i wasn't a real jelly person...or was too busy being "the princess."  at any rate, my friend said, "face it.  he's up there laughing at you making choke cherry jelly."  and i wondered how she knew him so well.  without ever having met him.

the boys did the picking.  this was just the start.  later they got their "ladders" out so they could reach the good ripe berries.  do i not live in the most amazing place on this side of the continental divide?  where else could my littles go out in their cowboy boots and gym shorts to pick edible berries in their own yard?  that view just knocks my socks off every. single. day.

here is a little note on canning.  if you have parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or friends that can.  please, please, please just listen to their stories and listen to what they have to say.  there is something amazingly pure about harvesting something you've grown and preserving its goodness throughout the year.  let's not reinvent the wheel, here people.  i will be the first to get out my new ball blue book, but i wish to heaven that i just would have listened to those folks.  in fact it dawned on me that my father and i never had a conversation about pectin.  and yesterday i tried to envision him in my very kitchen adding pectin to the ripe chokecherries by himself while stirring ferociously to avoid scorching.  and i wondered about the lemon juice.  to add or not to add.  and someone reminded me yesterday that every good canning recipe starts with a base and is perfected over years and years of practice.

this is the canning project i'm truly looking forward to.  all of these ingredients were taken out of my backyard garden (except the garlic).  i made a test batch of pickles this weekend.  a neighbor suggested we use his huge propane fueled turkey frier for the brine.  awesome idea!  get ready, brit, mrs. smith, and all you other canning mamas.  it's almost pickle season!!!

cultivation

i was just thinking about my yard.  messy and weedy, brown grass green grass, unexpected blooms.  thinking about how much i enjoy waking up early so i can water and tend to one little patch of earth in those quiet moments before the rest of the world wakes up.  hoping that the neglected hollyhocks won't mind.  monitoring the tomatoes.  letting the blueberry bush go to the birds.  loving the bright sweet pea blooms that insinuate themselves into any open patch of sunlight.  cultivating and sacrificing.  keeping and giving.  and in my heart, i know it's not so different with people.  working on one patch at a time we do our best.  sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  finding growth in unexpected places and withering vines in others.  the hollyhocks standing by faithfully.  tomatoes requiring attention.  the sweet peas and their unexpected burst of color.  disappointing blueberry bush that will not grow.  letting it go, there is an unexpected kind of satisfaction.  relief.  and room for growth in new directions.  such a delicate balance in how we manage everything.

this week in the garden

just a little love from a morning walk around the yard.  i am hoping that my veggies make it through the birds, raccoons and rabbits.  i have 3 canning projects in mind for the late summer:  salsa, pickles, and anything tomato.  i am also anticipating an abnormally large shipment of beets from the csa in the next few weeks.  i have no pickled beet recipes.  that is why, my friends, i am hoping to win this giveaway (but don't you go getting any ideas and try to enter yourself...unless you are planning to give it up to selfish ol' me!).  i'm in need of some canning ideas.  and...chickens (back to the giveaway).  so, peanut gallery...got any good canning recipes for me?  got any family secret recipes you want to share for pickled beets?  thoughts on chickens?  i would so appreciate your input.  seriously.  xoxo

sweet pea

this week in the garden

the boys love picking things from the garden.  i make them pick the weeds first, then the vegetables.  they unearthed radishes, lettuce, spinach and green onions.  next week is our first csa shipment.

robin in the rain (snow mix)

this robin is busy making babies.  she's gotten to the point where if i talk to her first, she won't fly away when i come in the gate.  i love seeing her little tail poking up from the nest.  i can't wait to meet the little ones.

the birds and the bees

i secretly (or not so secretly) want to be a bee keeper. 

but i am confident that this tree is doing the job quite well without my help.

until next week....

i left for work thinking....i wish that tree would bloom.  and it did.  now that's snappy service.  xoxo

what's up?

i've always found it fascinating when moving to a new house to learn the lay of the land.  to see what the prior homeowners planted.  to uncover the mystery of why someone (in this case my dad) would plant a bush in a certain location.  we have so many surprises in our new/ old yard.  the boys like to "circle the perimeter" and hunt grape hyacinth.  oddly we have about a million daffodil, tulip and iris leaves sprouting, but not a flower among them.  i found the makings of a peony, and some lilies.  and in the vegetable gardens we were surprised with horseradish, onions, and mint.  we (my brother) planted lettuce, spinach, chard, potatoes, peas, raspberries, blueberries, radishes and carrots.  in the house we have  pumpkin, watermelon, canteloupe, tomato and cucumber seeds started.  i'm hoping for a bumper crop of canning vegetables in the fall.  put in your pickle requests now....