sea of three

i am overcome with poison ivy; constellations of individual blisters behind both knees (they could be nasty squiter bites), a spattering of on my right shoulder and, well, my left forearm is grotesque. for two straight days last week i could be found in the woods behind the house pruning trees and clearing brush along the trail. i thought i was careful, i know what it looks like but on one pass down the slope i found myself in a sea of three leaves. at least now the kids can walk freely without the tickle of knee high saplings or prick of thorny vines.

i'm going to blame my anguish on chris stewart. had his novel not infected me with a deeper desire to commune with nature and take care of business i probably wouldn't be wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt right now to cover a hideous skin condition. but alas, driving over lemons is an incredible read. with humble optimism and generous detail stewart takes his reader over every bump along the experience of finding, buying and rebuilding a farm while at the same time being a foreign newcomer to the alpujarra region of southern spain. i've been through the spanish sierra nevada mountains before so i felt i was right there with him bridge building, tending the flock and drinking costa, the local wine.

in 1968 at the age of 17, stewart quit his gig as drummer for the band genesis and took up sheep shearing and travel writing. a short time after his split anthony phillips, the founding member, followed suit due to stage fright. i hate to compare but if i were going to quit a band that would go onto become one of the highest-selling artists of all time, i'd plead natuarlist.

this morning i went back down the trail in search of jewelweed, an herbal remedy for poison ivy rash. i found a handful, boiled it and soaked my forearm and shoulder with a rag for a good bit of time. it's very possible that the rash is too far gone for any type of treatment at this point but the foraging at least took my mind off the stinging irritation. reading it away also helps. i'm on the final chapter of michael pollan's omnivore's dilemma. already he has witnessed the extremes of the agriculture industry firsthand - our modern food chain: factory farming, conventional farming, organic farming, rotational farming. and now he is about to do some foraging of his own - for wild mushrooms in sonoma. his final endeavor is to experience the primordial food chain as hunter/gatherer. the fungi should go well with the wild pig.

i'll finish omnivore's dilemma today but seeing how impressionable I can be and where my enthusiasm can get me i think i'll wait until i reach the sierra nevadas in california and do like pollan: find a suitable companion before taking off on my own primordial adventure.

clutching time

there are countless memorable moments to speak of during my visit with my mother last week. to name a few: lake and river swimming, boating, a saturday night fish fry, dinners on the patio, and late night movies in the cabin. but none top the quiet hours we spent, just the two of us, relaxing on the lawn. this was my first summer visit to the virginia mountain home my mother and step-father moved into just a few years ago. and with my journey west just four weeks away it's hard to say when i'll be back east, even harder to say where i'll be out west.

with books and beverages in hand, we converged on the lawn at midday while the kids contented themselves inside watching jake and josh and hannah montana. rarely did we get any reading done but the poignant choice of literature was inspiring enough to spark conversations about beautiful places and future and past lives. on my first night on the mountain i picked driving over lemons off the shelf; a travel experience novel by chris stewart published in 1999. while on the chaise lounge to my right my mother held the acclaimed under the tuscan sun, by frances mayes. both are personal accounts of building a home in a foreign land. with mom's house behind us and a view of the next ridge through the trees, italy and spain were not far away at all.

'this is the life' not only escaped my mother's lips but was written on her face. she had arrived and the accumulation of her life experience seemed to pass peacefully through her in a breath. while our personal realities are stretched to polar extremes our appreciation of those moments were shared. 'i'm taking only two bags to california,' i stated. she went on to tell me of the adventures she and my father had in the 60's moving from place to place. these are stories i can listen to and romantacize about for hours: six months in dublin, a studio apartment in washington dc, an a-frame house in idaho where my mother gardened and my father worked as an eco-friendly lumberjack. she insists they were not hippies or beatnicks (hard to believe when their cat was named after a character in a gogol novel).

sharing her stories of the past and my optimism for the future were more than i could ask for from her. dropping one life and career in search of something new is nothing unique, but the stories are. in those few hours we shared looking over the ridge, we clutched time and praised the unknown.

cucumelon

ah, peace and quiet. last night the kids went off to visit with their father so katie and i have the place to oursleves for a couple days, make that 36 hours. it's incredible how much one can learn about life while caring for 3 children day-in and day-out. after just two months they've definitely chopped me down to size and takin' the city girl right out of me. then again, so has this place.

with all the humity out there the chillins and myself stay busy indoors all day; harassing each other, watching the avatar, eating, working on art projects, and learning a few things here and there. luckily, the garden is on auto-pilot for the most part. elysia will be going into kindergarden so we're making efforts to learn the alphabet, how to write her name, and putting her shoes on the right feet. she's got these cute little dora the explorer sandals with velco buckles, so i tell her, "butterfly, pinky toe! the butterfly on the buckle meets to the pinky toe." she's getting it now and shows me every time.

as for mckenzie, we're keeping her up to snuff on words she learned in kindergarden. and kenny is practicing cursive and reading to us out loud. it's not easy - it's summer time. i'm lucky if they can concentrate for 30 minutes. it's fascinating nonetheless. hand-eye coordination, mental visualization, patience - these are aquired skills! i can remember learning cursive. today it seems antiquated; a holdover from a time when handwriting was common practice. have you written a cursive F, Q or Z recently?

anyhow, this quiet time also gives me a moment to reflect on the developments in the garden. so far we've been enjoying a bounty of zucchini, yellow squash, green eggplant, basil, mint, thyme, cucumbers, and watercress. the tomatoes are green and booming, the itchiban eggplant is making its way, and the cantelope has got about a week to go, maybe less. i regret having not better treated the soil before planting, but there really wasn't the time and i figured what the hay, see what happens.

the effects aren't quite clear yet, but i'm seeing signs. the swiss chard looks robust, however, the color is dull as with the kale. could be they're not fully mature yet, but still they don't look quite right. another effect from the soil could be the appearance and taste of the cucumbers. they aren't turning fully green and the portion nearest the stem is bitter. could be soil or it could be cross-pollination with the watermelon. after i planted the cucs 2 rogue watermelon plants from last year popped up in the same bed. later i learned they should not be planted near to each other because the bees will go from one plant to the next and mess up the flavor. oh well, we might have some cucumber flavored watermelon.

tomorrow morning the kids come home and we head to grammie's house for a quick visit. i'm going to bring what i can from the garden, then katie and i will make grilled veggies and lamb croquettes for dinner. i plan to also bake the remainder of the dough i prepared the other day (my first bread!) and some zucchini bread. with all the growing, cooking and baking i've been doing (homemade granola included) mckenzie keeps saying that we need to open a market and make lots of money. there is the perfect corner out on rt. 1 not too far from here. who knows, if the tomatoes and cantelope are a success we just might do it!

in memory

griffin mckenzie

2000 - 2008

griffin died last thursday from cardiac arrest while undergoing anesthesia. i brought him to the vet wednesday evening for an infection on his paw. because he wouldn't behave in the doctor's care, he had to be held overnight and sedated the next morning for a very simple cleaning. because the cause of death is so rare, they believe he must have had an underlying heart condition.

bogie barnes

2003 - 2008

bogie never came home wednesday night last week, which is very unlike him. we found him under the camper thursday morning. he had been shot. annie was also shot, but survived and is doing well.

garden view

watermelon

dang horse ate my corn!

sunflowers

cantelope

green eggplant

cucumber on a trellis

broccoli

we went, we ate

after a seven hour drive in holiday traffic katie and i made our way across the manhattan bridge into brooklyn at 10pm thursday night. there were reports of major delays on i-95 so we stuck to alternate routes from virginia, past baltimore. some parts of the drive were lovely - farm land and small towns - until we hit the strip-mall armpit of southern maryland, la plata and waldorf. at least traffic was moving.

what can i say, we hit the ground eating. our first stop was chez oskar; a small french bistro and long time establishment of fort greene, brooklyn. it was late enough that we had no problem getting a table outside. katie had a burger, i had a crab cake and we both had a stella artois to wash it down. that was just beginning.

friday morning we stuck to our plan: my homemade muffins for breakfast. after a stroll through the old neighborhood we headed to red hook for petanque. red hook isn't your typical tourist destination, it's gritty and industrial, but it's got some gems and pit stop is one of them. the restaurant itself is tiny, seats maybe 25, but the garden is where it's at: sheltered outdoor seating and 4 petanque courts. i've been there a couple times before but i never tried the food, just the hoegaarden. this time i tried the hanger steak sandwich (they were out of merguez). it came on a brioche roll with an incredible remoulade sauce. the whole thing just melts in your mouth, if you order it rare like i did. katie and i then proceeded to kick some butt in petanque.

believe it or not we had room in our bellies for a friendly back yard bbq: savory pasteries, blue cheese, walnut and cranberry salad, thyme burgers and all-american hot dogs.

on saturday we headed to manhattan for some chinatown/ little italy/ soho action. my first idea was to grab a couple vietnamese sandwishes to-go, but the weather wasn't conducive to eating in the park so we went for vietnamese, dine-in. pho bang on mott street is where to go. i ordered vermicelli noodles with grilled shrimp and katie got the classic pho ga, chicken noodle soup. the first time i went to bang was well before i had moved to nyc, and i've been going ever since. it's cheap and unpretentious; just what you need after a long walk through the glut and glamour of soho.

later we happened upon a delicious plum tart at once upon a tart, and for dinner, coal oven pizza at arturo's. typically i'd take visitors to the famous lombardi's but in my opinion arturo's coal oven pies are outstanding and the ambiance is more enjoyable. the front room is dark but has bright charming windows that face houston street. and in the back of the room, live jazz to top it off. lombardi's is just too crowded even after the recent expansion.

with just two full days to explore new york, i'd say we did pretty well for ourselves, i mean our stomaches. i was totally prepared to head uptown - stroll around central park and through times square - but it didn't happen. in the end it was a stroll through my culinary paradise. new york taught me how to eat and the meaning of good food. i think katie got the full lesson.

muffin to-go, please

this afternoon katie and i are heading north to nyc. there is still a bunch of stuff at the old apartment i need to cart down to virginia, so what better time to go than 4th of july weekend?! the timing couldn't be better for katie; this is her first trip to nyc and the last opportunity for me to go before i head west this fall. which means she will get the full tour from a guide wholeheartedly soaking in the memories, oh so bittersweet. the heat of central park? SURE; the hoards of times square? NO PROBLEM! just as long as we retire to fort greene, brooklyn each night, i'm happy as a clam.

for the trip up i'm preparing egg salad with watercress on pumpernickel. this sandwich brings me back to my gallery days. when i became associate director at the art gallery, john connelly presents i travelled to london for the frieze art fair. i can not tell you how many egg salad watercress sandwiches i consumed. i made one yesterday with a touch of salt, pepper, paparika, dijon and mayo; it exceeded my expectations. my mother told me watercress prefers shady spots, but i'm happy to say my plants are growing quite well in full sun. my only concern is that they become too bitter, so i'm keeping them well watered.

in order to cut down on expenses in nyc, i made zucchini bread muffins. eating-in in the a.m. is a good way to a healthy conscience come dinner time. and there is some serious eating to be done. i found a simple recipe online and made it my own:

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar (it called for 2)

2 cups grated zucchini

2 teaspoons almond extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons (guesstimate) fresh grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 shots grand marnier (zing!)

bake at 325 degrees for 70 minutes in two 8x4 inch loaf pans. we had only one loaf pan so i poured the rest in a muffin pan and kept an eye on them. the muffins cooked for about half an hour. the original recipe calls for vanilla extract, but in search of vanilla i found almond and thought - oh yeah! then i thought almond and grand marnier - yes please! last night katie and i tested out the muffins and we are happy to report that breakfast, is served. now all that concerns us is, where to blow a wad first: local/seasonal french (http://www.icirestaurant.com/) in brooklyn or blow-your-mind brick-oven pizza (http://www.firstpizza.com/) in manhattan.

tomorrow there is a good chance that we'll be playing petanque (think french bocce, smaller
balls) at pit stop in red hook, brooklyn, so lunch will probably consist of stella artois, pommes frites and sausage. on saturday we'll stop in for vietnamese subs after a tour of chinatown. then, of course, there are the polish delis and italian markets where we'll find provisions to carry home with us. oh the possibilites are endless, but i've got a handle on the options.

there is so much eating to fantasize about, but right now i am thinking about the drive: i-95 to the new jersey turnpike. the trip is historic for me, i've driven it a million and one times between dc and nyc. now i look forward to sharing it with my sister.

dogtown

out here in the woods, the dogs rule the land. we've got three: annie, bogie and birdie. annie is bogie's daughter and birdie is bogie's sister; the siblings are border collies and annie, a mutt. they live outside and keep watch over the property. on any given day we find countless ticks on them dead and alive, large and small, and the girls have no fear pulling them off. they are docile and sweet, however, filthy and unruly.


birdie stays in the dogpen. she yelps like a pup and howls like a hound. her fur is fluffy and her body, round like a barrel. bogie is her penmate but his slim, athletic frame and relentless determination enables him to dig his way out of the otherwise impenetrable perimeter. annie, on the other hand, is free to roam. so while bogie and annie are galavanting around the farm, birdie paces back and forth, yelping and howling with a tune of excitement and envy.

often times, father and daughter laze about on the lawn, but much of their day is spent darting and prowling through the woods. when bogie picks up a scent his pure-bred instinct sets him off like a rocket through the brush, clearing 8 feet in one leaping stride. annie takes off bounding after him and without looking back they enter a world no human could survive.


one afternoon annie pranced up the driveway with a limp and bloodied carcass in her mouth: a headless rabbit. there is no question that bogie made the kill but his humble demeanor gave his companion the honor of carrying the prize home. mouths panting, they laid down in the shade next to the carcass, nosing at it every now and again. we determined they had had their fun so junior went out back and dug a grave. within an hour the rabbit was dug back up and devoured. poor birdie stood behind the chicken wire and watched.

most often bonnie and clyde come strolling home thoroughly soaked and muddied with looks of contentment and shear exhaustion. their marauding is costly. annie has a dislocated hind leg from chasing after a 4 wheeler. so whenever she's pushed it too far she limps around until she's good to go again. a couple weeks ago i noticed bogie virtually unable to walk. katie took a look at him and thought she felt a bone out of place. great another one, she thought. after an x-ray the vet deteremined it was, in fact, a foreign object. so they opened him up and removed a stick about 5 inches long. it had broken clean off behind his shoulder. no doubt one of those leaping strides landed him in doggy surgery.

for about a week bogie was on lock down, tied to a tree. during that time he put on a couple much needed pounds but, even still, he is no match for some of the mangey beasts around these parts. some nights the atmosphere is heavy with barking and howling, like a long distance conference call from across spotsylvania county. and when the sun is up there are no leash laws.

the other evening annie and bogie got into a brawl with a german shepherd looking thing. katie and i ran outside and made some noise only to see two more dogs heading in their direction. the fight broke up. bogie stood at the fence opening and faced off with a pit bull while annie jogged back and forth. the shepherd and the third dog ran off when we threw sticks but the pit wouldn't back down. he could have torn bogie apart but we figured he was friendly when he started wagging his tail. when the pit fianlly sauntered off bogie and annie followed at a distance to make sure the dogs went back to where ever they came from.

more than likely the pack followed the scent of a dead raccoon to the woods behind our house. around 5 am one morning early last week katie woke to the sound of incessant barking. she got up figuring the racket was over the horses having broken out of the pasture (which is often the case) but found a raccoon hobbling down the pebble walkway along the house. miraculously, i did not hear the commosion from the camper. katie called from work that day and asked that i look for the raccoon to make sure it had made it out alive. during my daily ride gloree and i found the poor creature, dead: another kill. within a day or two turkey vultures had set up camp and dragged the carcass out of sight.

the life of a country dog is like none other. yesterday i watched as bogie walked over to the dogpen and nose at the latch; either tired or hungry, he wanted in. to my surprise he is still in there, resting up for his next escape and great adventure through the woods and river, covering acres upon acres of red virginia clay.

from the garden

back in new york a dear friend of mine introduced to me the art of frying zucchini blossoms. previously, i had the pleasure of eating them in italy, but never expected i'd make them myself. it's not hard really but one would think tossing a delicate little flower into a searing hot pot of oil is murderous. all it takes is egg, flour, salt, crushed red pepper and oil for frying.

my ingredients last night:

3 blossoms

1 baby zucchini

2 eggs

small hand full of corn meal

sea salt

black pepper

crushed red pepper

canola oil

first i steamed the baby zucchini in a diluted chicken broth. steaming before frying ensures that your fried veggies will be juicy, fully cooked and won't need to spend much time in the hot oil. now i'll admit my batter was pretty eggy (i could have used just one egg) but pouring in the left over mix makes for a tasty bonus. one might even say leave the egg and flour separate, but mixing the ingredients all together makes for a fine spongy crust.

so how long did i fry? only until the batter was golden brown, they are delicate flowers after all. when the zucchini went into the steamer i place the blossoms in the batter and let them soak, then set them aside. so in fact, the zucchini chunks were fried first, the blossoms second. and boy were they a mouthful - literally! i had forgotten how delicious they are, and to my surprise i got them just right.

at the same time, i sauteed cauliflower with mint, basil, garlic, olive oil, butter and a generous pour of white wine. near the end i tossed in 1/2 a vine ripened tomato (not from the garden, but the toms are growing!). i used only the smallest bit of salt (one thing i'm trying to cut down on) and crushed red pepper to taste. together with the zucchini fry we put the cauliflower over a bed of romaine lettuce and squeezed on some lemon.

while the meal was not entirely from the garden, katie and i got a taste of what dinner will look like later this summer, and no doubt it looks good...

virginia is for lovers

with obama ahead 15% in the Newsweek opinion poll some people are getting fearful of his inevitable win this november. i have not lived in a republican state in nearly 10 years and having lived in nyc for 5 i haven't even been close to witnessing the right-wing fanaticism i've encountered in the past month: road rage and vandalism. but then again i hadn't driven a car with left-wing bumper stickers or had an obama sign in my driveway; i lived in a 6 story apartment building.

the case of road rage happened during the drive my sister and i took down to richmond shortly after i moved to her house. i was driving and had just pulled into the slow lane when a big diesel pick-up forcibly squeezed in between our car and the car ahead of us. the erratic move confused us both. the truck then slammed on its brakes only to then gun the engine blowing black exhaust right into our grill. jaws dropped, we quickly realized what had just happened. there was a bumper sticker on the truck that read something to the effect of "giving heartburn to the left." so it goes without saying that the truck driver was acting out against our bumper stickers: "obama '08", "IRAQ like Viet Nam only without the humidity" and "Tolerance." not to mention katie's car is an eco-friendly prius. the encounter was startling.

then the other day as katie was driving down the gravel road she noticed the neighbors had an obama sign at the end of their driveway. how nice to think, fellow supporters just up the road. but as she drove past and looked in her rearview mirror she noticed handwriting on the reverse side of the sign. "oh no, that is my sign," she thought. on the way back down the road after she returned from wherever she went, katie stopped and took her sign back. and this is what it read:

when she showed it to me i immediately thought, "huh, terrorists really aren't liars at all." then i noticed the uncommon spelling of muslum; unless the redneck vandal was trying to be clever as with the spelling of peace instead of piece. there was also the quirky looking use of lower-case i's... kenny jr then pointed out that lying was spelled wrong. the next day our sister kaeli came to visit and she pointed out that for some reason they thought americans should be possessive and sheeps shouldn't be. this is blatant evidence that people who would commit such slander have the tendancy to be frightfully uneducated.

i regret to say it but both experiences are enough to make me want to get the hell away from such ignorance and aggression, but then i wouldn't be here. i admire my sister's bravery; she openly advertises her politics in one of the most conservative states. while i had my fair share of scary encounters back in nyc, fascism was not a part of my reality. maybe living outside the liberal bubble for a while will help me keep a broader reality in perspective. how is it that such hatred can dwell in such a beautiful place? virginia is for lovers for godsake!

a hand full

ain't they cute!!!

la palace

so here's where it lies. on my first night i set up camp in the pasture. then i found a nice sandy pad outside the barn but i became concerned about all the sun exposure to the tent so packed it in for awhile. now i think i've found juuuuust the right spot: behind the house in the company of a ubiquitous country trampoline.

here we have the luxurious interior, outfitted with a fabulous coleman sleeping bag that opens up all the way for unrestricted range of motion.

and lastly, the moon-roof. no tent is complete without one. notice how it moves across the tent walls with stylish modern grace. from below i've enjoyed countless nights gazing at the stars, listening to the crickets, cicadas, hounds, horses, donkeys and 4-wheelers.

it's been a month

a lot has happened and been accomplished in the past month. most noteably, i have gotten to know my two nieces, mckenzie and elysia, and my nephew kenny better. they are amazing, crazy, brilliant and totally clueless all at the same time. elysia, who is four, can do a front flip on the trampoline!!!! she shocked us with that one a couple of weeks ago. kenny won the end of the year spelling bee for his second grade class, and mckenzie has a lovely shower singing voice.

and then there is my sister katie. i commend her for raising three beautiful children and building her childhood dream - a horse farm. we just gotta make sure she stays on the horse. a couple of weeks ago she took a pretty nasty spill. luckily nothing was broken. i watched the whole thing and man did it bring back memories. when you fall off a horse time seems to slow down, and you just watch, watch, watch the ground get closer until BANG. now that we're older it just hurts more. by now, she has healed up nicely and will be back in the saddle this weekend. let's just pray the weather is permitting.

for the past couple weeks we've had very severe conditions - either terrifying thunderstorms (a lightening bolt struck a tree next to the house, peeled the bark clean off) and tornado warnings or cloudless, humid, 100 degree days. i've been practicing my yogasanas on the river deck and i sweat just as much out there as i did in a hot yoga class. but the humidity is what i relate summer with and can't imagine it any other way.

while i don't wish for any more thunderstorms (i'm talking very scary, blinding, deafening) i do pray for rain... for the garden. everything is growing and looking healthy, but i'm not holding my breath. there is no knowing until the plants bear fruit. and if the yield is high we are in for it!

14 beds:

a gillion radishes

2 broccoli

2 cauliflower

4 peppers

3 cantalope

2 cucumber

2 eggplant (ichiban & green)

1 zucchini

3 straightneck squash

3 watermelon (might get rid of one for space)

9 tomatoes

2 thyme

1 parsley

1 dill

1 spearamint

3 basil

4 green beans

lots of corn

yet to plant:

8 swiss chard

2 spinach

and finally, i'm going to plant some beet seeds

now that things are growin' the bugs are a-comin'. i'm picking squash bugs off my zucchini plant everyday! so far they haven't done any damage, but they stink and they're mating. in addition, little black fleas (i think that's what they are) are eating up the eggplant leaves. i put a cheese cloth over them the other day and yesterday i didn't see any bugs. so far store bought and home remedy (garlic, cayenne, hot water) bug sprays aren't working very well. luckily i see ladybugs in the garden everyday.

my next concern is whether or not the zucchini (above right) is being pollinated. so far two male flowers have bloomed but it looks like they are not opening all the way for the bees to get inside. this, however, is all speculation because the male and female flowers have not bloomed at the same time yet. last year my friend had trouble with pollination because she had no bees. so she had to handle pollinate with a q-tip swabbing the male and then the female flowers every morning. i've got the bees...

while i am extremely proud of the work that's been done in the garden, i'll show you some work that proves i'm a real artiste...

sk8r

the do was all his idea. he says he wants a mullet next, but i just won't do it and his mom won't allow it. now were he a city boy, i'd consider it, but here in the sticks it's just plain redneck.

hurry up and wait

these pictures are outdated but i'd like you all to see the progress before i upload the most recent pix. i had some moments during construction where i could not see the end in sight. every time i looked over my shoulder all i could see were more rocks. i had to say to myself, "one bed at a time." now the hard part is over and i am getting hungry for tomatoes and eggplant...

here you'll notice i've started defining the garden beds, and some manure has been spread. laying down the beds is a good time to contemplate what will be planted.

the garden is on a hillside so i had box out the beds to prevent erosion. i plan to add more soil to raise the beds. building the beds up this way, i am also looking ahead to next summer so that they are ready for katie to work.

this is the bastard cornrow view, and what the garden looked like when i arrived. after getting all the rocks out of the main garden i kept ignoring this end. but once the corn has established some good roots i plan to work the soil and get the rocks out. that's my nephew kenny jr, he helped me lay mulch along the walkways. because the dirt in the walkways is so compacted the mulch is also helping to prevent erosion. not to mention it looks so nice.

that's me laughing at the bastard cornrows. look at the difference!

omnivore's dilemma

alright people, you all know what a big food snob i am, but after a long day of working/playing in the sun i've been caught putting some unlikely morsels in my mouth. at dinner time the kids get fed first and sometimes i just can't help myself - a fishstick here a bite of kraft mac n' cheese there. one night i took a corndog from my niece's hand and took a bite to prove to her she could finish eating it. more like a hidden urge to satisfy a naughty taste for kiddy food!

horsin' around

must share

last night i made a really kick ass dinner: savoy cabbage wrapped talapia over a mix of brown & wild rice

ingredients for 2:

4 cabbage leaves
2 talapia fillets
6 sprigs of fresh thyme (leaves removed and stems discarded)
2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 of a lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup rice

begin by removing the stiff stem of each leaf (this makes the leaf open up and become more flexible) then steam the leaves until tender. cut the two fillets in half length wise so that there is 1/2 a fillet for each leaf. starting from the cut end of each leaf, lay the fillet horizontally so that when rolled the cut end is hidden. before rolling, add 1/2 table spoon of butter, a generous pinch of thyme and then salt and pepper to taste. to wrap it up, start from the cut end of the leaf, roll and then close it off with two toothpicks. be sure the fish, butter, thyme etc. are rolled together so that the fish absorbs the flavors.

to your saute pan, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom and set the stove on medium. once the oil is hot, add the 4 wraps, squeeze in the lemon juice (near the end i added the lemon rinds for more flavor), lower the temp and cover the pan. after about 5-7 minutes flip the wraps and cook for another 5-7 minutes.

for each serving, place two wraps over a bed of rice and pour on the juice.

bon appetit!

on the farm

i got soil on my mind

i've been staring at dirt for the past two weeks now; shovelling it, combing through it, tamping it, planting in it, boxing it out, importing it. after the rain past and the dirt settled earlier this week, the garden revealed a landscape of rocks. and what i've come to realize (with the help of a soil test and empirical observation) is that what i'm working with is some seriously nutrient deficient dirt, can't really call it soil.

the area the garden sits is atop a recently formed hill, below which the land was leveled to build the barn. so my thought is that in fact, the topsoil has been bulldozed over further revealing a cross-section of the earth below. wierd thing is, there is tons of limestone which is supposed to keep the ph level down. maybe the amount of quartz (does not hold nutrients) in the sand out-figures the limestone. so i've added limestone and manure, but i really think i need to import soil still. any thoughts?

last night katie and i were talking about getting some topsoil and she said i should first look at the soil around the tree stumps they burned awhile back. she said one day she noticed the horses pawing at it and rolling around in it. of course, slash and burn, the charcoal is super good for soil, i thought. after briefly reading up on charcoal as a soil supplement, i learned that in the ancient amazon basin indiginous farmers would charcoalize waste, grind it to a powder and mix it into their soil. thus the mystery of the best potting soil in the world was solved. the now highly fertile area the indians had once inhabited is full of charcoal. and the area surrounding? infertile. the only difference between the the soils, down to the molecular level - charcoal. am i crazy to think that is awesome?

i walked around the stumps today. they are down below the barn in the flood zone near the matta river. there is tons of charcoal bits all over and the soil is actually undisturbed and lush. i think this is where i'm getting my topsoil, to which i'll add ground charcoal. man i wish i'd done this a month ago! despite the setback, everything is sprouting nicely and i've got several beds to make still. we're thinking of devoting half the garden to corn for the horses. time to start some more corn i guess!

week one

rain has been falling for the past 4 days and this morning i woke to see one of the paddocks flooded. yesterday alone we got 3 inches. needless to say, we didn't do any riding this weekend. and katie and i, well our mouths are watering to start training faith, her 3 year old paint mare. she is just beautiful, with perfect confirmation and a friendly disposition.

the garden is shaping up pretty well. kenny had tilled a nice 1/4 acre plot earlier this spring so now we just need to figure out what goes where and when. so far they've planted some starters: green beans, tomatoes, summer squash, jalapenos, cauliflower, broccoli, and there is lettuce which is ready for harvesting. yesterday we started mint, basil, dill, two varieties of radish, two varities of lettuce, and swiss chard. i want to sun-dry some tomatoes so i have to plant romas, and i also have a beautiful heirloom variety for fresh moz.

the other day i picked some lettuce and made a mixed green pesto [romaine & red leaf, parsley, raw pumkin seeds, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper - food processor]. simply spread it on a baguette or mix it into some tunafish - just add some lemon, extra salt and olive oil. it's versatile and so good. today i'm going to toss it with chopped tomato into some whole wheat capellini.

katie, kenny and i have discussed the possiblity and we've decided i will be staying through the summer to help with the farm and the kids. instead of sending them off to the Y for day camp, they'll be staying home with me. but before the school year ends the barnes family is going to the beach for a week, which means i get the farm to myself. they'll be taking the camper so if weather permits i'll be staying in my tent. i vacationed on the farm last summer while they were away and i gotta tell ya that trip has to have something to do with the wanderlust that drove me out of nyc.

i believe my stay here will be a nice detour through the south before heading to who knows where.