HUMONGOUS Pumpkin Haul

Today we came home from Amie’s cello lesson to this: We could not believe the size of that giant pumpkin! There were also bags of more pumpkins, goopy pumpkin guts, and a couple of gourds. The latter I would have to cut up somehow,  they’re so hard, or maybe I’ll try drying them for bird …

Dandelion Tincture – Part 2

Today I pressed the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) tincture that I started on 14 October (roots and leaves). It has been sitting in my herbal medicine closet (dark, cool and accessible) for over three weeks (14 days is the minimum). I shook it twice daily. It has become a saying in our household: “Mama’s shaking her …

Amie’s Latest Drawings

Amie’s drawings are always changing – see the Drawing As It Develops series to follow her drawings from the beginning. She is nowadays mostly interested in human figures, especially herself, and is experimenting with movement and joints, etc. And there is also always text, in invented spelling. Amie picking up a leaf.This is a month …

Peas Anyway, and Daily Bread No.12, Rain Barrels, Pumpkins

The Fall peas never had a chance to blossom – my fault, I planted them too late. But during a garden tour a friend pointed out I could still eat the shoots. Lovely just like that and in soup and salad. Also baked Daily Bread No.12. It sang when I took it out of the …

Imagining the Other – Reflections in Transition

A week or so after my “I need to do something!” moment I stumbled across Wendell Berry’s essay “American Imagination and the Civil Way”. It pretty much answered my question, “But What?” The answer was Transition, of course, or more generally speaking, going out there and talking to people. This one’s philosophical. I hope you …

Why Transition: Taking the Pressure Off

A friend came by today to pick up straw bales for his garden  (I also gave him the quince atchar he supplied the quinces for, and my infamous apple peel jelly). He asked me why I am trying Transition again. I couldn’t quite answer clearly. I’m not clear in my head about the many causes …

Daily Bread No. 11

This bread is so good. We had it with homemade pesto (last harvest of homegrown basil) and the last Brandywine tomatoes. Tomorrow if I am feeling better I’ll pull all the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants from the hoop house, chop them up, and mix them with the orphan punkins, of which we received three more …

Daily Bread No. 10 and Last Harvests

So I’m not going to be able to bake a bread every day, but it’s cool. Taking advantage of the hot oven, I also baked a punkin pie, using this wonderful recipe (but with canned pumpkin puree). I can’t show you pictures because it’s mostly gone already. I may become a (modest) baker after all. …