Under the blue roof

kale with mushrooms and walnuts

2010-11-08T05:00:00.001-06:00

The Hermit asked me this morning if we still had some kale in the garden. I didn't use a lot of kale this summer so I still had about half a row of White Russian kale. He wanted some for breakfast, sauteed with mushrooms and walnuts. I added bacon, onion, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and a little red wine, and the results were delicious. I also cooked fried homegrown potatoes, which I wrote about on this blog a year ago. Simple, satisfying, and largely homegrown. Here's the approximate recipe:

Fry 3-4 strips bacon. Pour off some of the grease, and add about 2 tablespoons butter to the pan (you could substitute olive oil). Chop one small to medium onion and saute in pan until slightly golden brown. Add mushrooms and one large clove of garlic, minced. Saute over low heat; you don't want the garlic to brown. Add about 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the pan, and pour in about 1/4 cup red wine (it doesn't matter what kind; lately I like cooking with Pinot Noir but today I used Zinfandel because that's what I had). Add kale and cook until wilted. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

I'm back!

2010-11-07T10:26:00.000-06:00

I went away from the lights of Fourteenth Street
and into my personal haze
But now that I'm back at the lights of Fourteenth Street
Tomorrow will be brighter than the good old days!

-"Hello, Dolly"

This week I have undergone a revelation of sorts. It started the morning after election night, when my US House of Representatives candidate, who had had a comfortable lead when I went to bed with 13% of precincts reporting, was upset by his challenger, whose doctrine is unmistakably Tea Party and religious right. That, with the news that our gubernatorial race is on hold while a recount is conducted, even though "my" candidate is ahead by over eight thousand votes, sent me into a haze of depression and anxiety about the future of our nation and the general ignorance of people. I aired my frustrations on Facebook, and received some comments that lifted me up and may have changed my life. I re-posted them on Sand Creek Almanac.

The gist of the comments was that the government will never make the changes necessary to move our nation where it needs to be. Those changes will have to be made at the local level. In order to overcome diminishing oil supplies, climate change, and a food system that is contributing to diseases of humans and the environment, people need to look at their own lives. Is our lifestyle sustainable economically, environmentally, and socially? Although the economic crisis seems to be over, what can we do to prepare for more instability in the future?

It will take nothing short of a revolution. And I believe that peaceful revolution can take place, one household at a time. And my renewed purpose in life is to make sure my own household is doing what it can to live a joyful life while preparing for a sustainable future. Living simply, acting deliberately, striving towards a practice of domestic permaculture (where have I heard that before?) And I will share that story here on this blog.

One of my excuses for not blogging has been, of course, time. But I've had another revelation over the last six weeks. My daughter and I are in a school/community theater production of "Hello, Dolly". I never thought I'd have the time to rehearse for 3-4 hours, five evenings a week. But I've managed to do it, and I'm having fun meeting some arts-oriented people in the community. So what am I going to do with all that time after November 21st, our last show? I have made a commitment to myself: I am not going to go back into my evening "personal haze". If I have the time and energy to do theater in the evening, I have the time and energy to play music. And write. And learn! It would be a shame to waste that time on trivial things. Life is too precious to waste even a moment, especially when that moment can be the essential one of discovery.

I'm not making any promises as to posting frequency. But my goal is to make this blog into a vital part of the discussion on sustainability. Whether it reaches only a few people, or hundreds, my hope is that my experiences and experiments can encourage people to take the path of living more simply, acting more deliberately. I'll begin tomorrow by sharing a recipe I came up with this morning that incorporates homegrown food, including some November-harvested kale.

no more anonymous comments

2010-02-16T09:09:00.001-06:00

Because I'm tired of rejecting anonymous comments that basically say nothing and sometimes backlink to questionable sites. All comments will be moderated.

My two-part cold remedy

2009-12-21T20:15:00.003-06:00

Part One: raw garlic. In whatever form and however much you can tolerate, and if your cold is as bad as mine you have probably lost all sense of taste, so that takes care of many issues right there. I had some in a salad this afternoon, and I felt almost instant sinus relief. I had some in my pot roast tonight and I am as decongested as if I had taken one of those commercial cold medicines.

Part Two: Vodka and cranberry juice. However much you are accustomed to drinking. The cranberry juice contains a lot of Vitamin C and other stuff you need, and the vodka takes the edge off the whole cold suffering experience. Okay, I am not sounding very politically correct here, as promoting any use of alcohol, aside from the commercials of major beer distributors, is seen as immoral these days. But humans have a long history with the gift of fermentation, and if it can ease suffering, what can be wrong with that? Why do they put alcohol in NyQuil anyway? Obviously, if you have a bad relationship with the spirits, you should think long and hard about this. But if you're okay with your relationship with alcohol (and I tend to think a lot of us are), having an extra vodka cranberry juice will not hurt anything. You're staying home anyway, right?

School lunch

2009-11-23T19:16:00.002-06:00

This year, in order to save money and perhaps exert more autonomy in what the kids eat for lunch, we decided to bring lunches from home. From the standpoint of the kids, this experiment has been a success; they have not complained about anything, and I think they enjoy what is in their lunch versus a precooked school meal.

Of course the perfect school lunch would involve homemade bread for the sandwiches, which would be made from local, sustainably raised sliced meats. Locally produced cheeses would be painstakingly sliced and included. Of course this isn't happening. We buy meat and cheese, and even bread in bulk from a national warehouse food store. We include pre-made granola bars and cheese crackers, even overly packaged juice.

This brings the dilemma of food choices vs. price out in the open. We are a middle class family getting by on 1 1/2 incomes. Of course we would love to be totally self sufficient, but realistically I do not see that happening. It takes a substantial endowment to live the Mother Earth News lifestyle, sad to say. I do not have the answer; just sayin'.

So for now I'm happy saving a few bucks a month packing lunches myself. The most rewarding part is taking an active role in what my kids eat instead of passively paying money for whatever the school has to offer, which in the end probably is not of any greater nutritional value. I do like the feeling I get knowing I am taking a greater role in their lives in lunch matters anyway.

Breakfast potatoes

2009-11-21T20:36:00.003-06:00

I may have inadvertently come across a good way to cook potatoes for breakfast. I usually boil cubed potatoes for a bit, then drain and fry in butter. Good, but I even found a way to improve on that! You see, when I put the potatoes in the pan, which I had previously used to fry bacon, and I had already melted butter in, I forgot to turn the burner on. When I realized my potatoes were not cooking, I turned the burner on high, just to get the heat going (I have an electric glass top stove, just so you know). A few minutes later, I was wondering why everything was browning so quickly. I had forgotten to turn the heat down. But rather than it being a catastrophe, the potatoes turned out wonderfully--crispy golden brown on the outside, melt in your mouth tender on the inside. These were homegrown potatoes, by the way, a yellow variety the name of which I cannot remember! So the lesson learned is, cook them fast!

I'm becoming a fan of Sandorkraut

2009-04-25T09:40:00.000-05:00

Last week I came across a blog post somewhere, I forget exactly, that mentioned a book called The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved by Sandor Ellix Katz aka "Sandorkraut". That title alone was enough to send me to the library website to see if it was in our local library system. It was, along with the above book, Wild Fermentation. I decided to reserve both. I thought I would read The Revolution first, but I was more drawn to Wild Fermentation for some reason. I have almost read it cover to cover now, and it is on my Amazon wish list.

Lately I am into ideas that challenge the "official" nutrition information we receive; information such as eat less fat, saturated fat is bad, cholesterol is bad, etc. Not only do Katz's books reject such information, with good documentation, his writing style is a joy to read. This guy is passionate about life, has a great sense of humor, and does not burden the reader with "common sense" reminders like "after you make this wonderful beer, remember to enjoy in moderation".

Katz's philosophy of food draws on ancient methods and wisdom, not modern food science. It rejects industrial farming and processed fake food. And it is not just about food; it is about a way of life that is less automated and sterilized, more alive. That goes along with the life I am trying to create here under the blue roof.

Do people know how to buy real FOOD anymore?

2009-04-17T21:09:00.002-05:00

The other day at the convenience store end of the grocery store in town I was waiting to pay for gas. There were two parties ahead of me; one cashed in a couple of lottery tickets, but I am glad she didn't insist on scratching the new tickets right then and there.

The other party was a young couple with a toddler and a baby. They bought a bag of food, including milk, on WIC vouchers, and then, to lengthen the transaction, bought some other stuff with a debit card. I do not know and will not presume whether it was a food stamp thing. Anyway, they bought some frozen appetizer type things, and some plastic bottled vitamin water stuff.

I feel sorry for them. I don't think they know how to prepare real, nutritious food, or even how to get the best value for their obviously limited budget. I think they are a product of the convenience food generation, whose mothers were "liberated" from cooking real, nutritious meals and never looked back.

Monday's meal plan

2009-04-05T19:22:00.002-05:00

Hotdogs. (With homemade buns!) Nachos. Crackerjacks. Coca-cola. And a 23 ounce Summit beer.

It's the Twins season opener. PARTY!

got eggs?

2009-03-29T19:42:00.002-05:00

Apparently we've been a bit lax in the egg collecting department. Starflower and I collected these from the chicken house today. These are just the cleanest ones. What a colorful bunch, and not a white one anywhere!

Starflower says she'll take on egg collecting duties. For an allowance, of course.

Quiche anyone?

She's come undone!

2009-03-14T10:37:00.002-05:00

I have been stepping up my efforts to get my family to make good food choices lately. So much, in fact, that The Hermit has started calling me "Sarge". Perhaps I have some control issues?

It's difficult, however, when I'm not the only one grocery shopping. When I shop, I usually make a list and stick to it. Sometimes I even get a bit neurotic about items on a list, and stand there in the aisle reading labels and thinking "do I go with the organic brand from California or is it okay to save a buck?" And yes, sometimes in a moment of weakness, I'll buy a bag of Doritos.

The Hermit is a bit more impulsive at the grocery store. I try to let most of it go in the name of marital harmony, but I have been scrutinizing receipts and letting my opinion be heard on certain items, like the perfect looking strawberries from California. NOT good. After all, it's my grocery money too, and I hate to see it wasted on less-than-desirable food.

This morning I had a meltdown over pancake mix. Blueberry pancake mix. I should know better than to read labels after a few too many cups of coffee. I nearly hit the ceiling when I saw "imitation blueberry bits". You don't even want to know what is in them. Nothing edible, that's for sure. I decided then and there that we would not be having imitation blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Luckily we had a bag of real blueberries in the freezer, which I added to some pancake mix that had passed my inspection at the grocery store.

I don't want to know how much money was spent on that box of imitation blueberry pancake mix, but I won't waste it. The box will go to the local food shelf, for some family who does not have the luxury of making food choices.

It makes me sick thinking that the only food some people can afford is not real food.

A change of name, and revival

2009-01-05T20:15:00.002-06:00

How embarrassing. Six months since my last post here! But I have been busy...

Since I now live under a blue roof, I decided I should change the name of this blog to reflect the most distinguishing characteristic of my new domicile. We are settling in, things are getting in place, and this year I think will be a big one for advancing towards the life I want to live.

I approach all of this with thankfulness. In these tough economic times, many people are hurting. The Hermit and I may bitch about bills, and paying up all the improvements we made last year, but in reality we are doing quite well. For now. You never know what lies ahead, and I want to be prepared by adjusting my lifestyle, and that is what this blog will focus on. But I also want to include ways to keep on living the good life in tough times; simple abundance, good cheer.

May I post at least once a month in 2009! :)

Black bean soup

2008-05-11T07:22:00.002-05:00

This is one of the few recipes that I've had so long, I can't remember where I got it. I wrote it in longhand on a quarter piece of paper that I reused from my office; the date of the original printout, visible on the back, was 06/03/94, so it was some time after that, but I was most likely still in my twenties. The recipe has been made many times; the paper has countless spills and stains on it.

With my interest in simple, whole foods stronger than ever, as well as my interest in recipes with ingredients I can grow myself, black bean soup deserves a much more frequent rotation in my cooking repertoire. It takes some time, but it is very adaptable to cooking in the slow cooker, or even on top of a wood stove, while I do other things.

Black bean soup

16 oz (2 cups) black beans, soaked (overnight, or boiled 1 minute then soaked 1 hour)
6 cups chicken broth (I use store bought organic broth, although I don't like all the packaging)

Bring to a boil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven; simmer 1 1/2- 2 hours until beans are tender. I did this part in the slow cooker yesterday, 5 hours on high, and the beans weren't quite as tender as I would have liked. I like them when they are almost falling apart.

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 diced jalapeno, optional

Saute these while the beans are cooking. After a few minutes, add 2-3 garlic cloves, smashed and minced, and saute a few minutes more. Add to the beans and broth. Then add:

1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 medium potato, shredded
Splash of red wine
Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer one hour. Serve with fresh bread or garlic toast.

Hearty vegetable stew

2008-01-05T19:29:00.000-06:00

I admit, I've seen Rachel Ray a couple of times since we got satellite TV, and I'm not a huge fan of her. Too perky, too like a teenager trying to talk adults into something. But this morning, in the wonderful hour when we adults were awake and the kids were still asleep, we watched her show, and she made a 30 minute vegetable stew that looked too delectable to resist. We had to try it. Tonight.

Now we are carnivores here, well resigned to the idea that a dinner without meat just isn't satisfying. But at the same time, I have been looking for ways to use more vegetables, and less meat, and make some wonderful whole foods, from scratch meals in the process. I bought "Laurel's Kitchen", but I was kind of disappointed in that the book was written in the fat and egg phobic 70's and early 80's. Good fats are essential. What we don't need is more hydrogenated vegetable oil. Our ancestors didn't extract oil from grains and beans, did they?

Anyway, I digress. Tonight's vegetable stew went like this: First I chopped an onion and a half (made easy since I still have so many onions from my garden!), heated up some olive oil, and tossed it in. Next I whacked four cloves of garlic (New, fun technique I have learned from several Food Network chefs; place the unpeeled garlic clove under a broad knife, then whack it with your hand. The hard peeling slips off, leaving the tender insides somewhat broken up and falling apart, no mincing required) and tossed them in the pot. I threw in a little salt and pepper and a fresh bay leaf, let them cook for a while, then put in two small zucchinis, chopped, one eggplant, cut into small pieces, and two red potatoes, cut into bite size pieces. Salt and pepper again, then cover and let it cook for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Then I added about a cup of chicken broth, and a large can of crushed tomatoes. Rachel recommended fire roasted tomatoes, but since my grocery store did not carry them, I added a few drops of liquid smoke to add flavor. That, and a small splash of Merlot. I cooked the whole thing for another fifteen minutes, and served with toasted cheese bread.

The verdict: What meat? We did not miss meat at all, it was delicious, and quick and easy, and fit into the "whole foods" resolution I have unofficially made for myself for the new year.

Satisfaction is...

2007-10-03T21:19:00.000-05:00

...a meal of grilled, locally raised steak, grilled vegetables, and bruschetta. Made with sourdough French bread drenched in olive oil, brushed with freshly pressed garlic, then baked, with Italian shredded cheese blend added in the last couple of minutes. Served plain (kids), or with a mixture of fresh tomatoes, onions, oregano, basil, more garlic, a splash of vinegar, and olive oil. The Hermit thought it was the best meal in the world.

Bruschetta!

2007-09-18T20:48:00.000-05:00

I tried a wonderful way to use fresh tomatoes, garlic, and herbs the other day.

The tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs were marinated in vinegar and olive oil longer than anticipated. Actually, we were going to do this on a Saturday night, but went for convenience food and waited until Sunday night. Such is life.

The wonderful marinated mixture was spread over French bread and topped with Provolone cheese, then baked for about ten minutes to melt the cheese.

Delicious, although I don't like eating that much bread at one sitting. But, as in all things, use in moderation...:-)

Broccoli salad

2007-07-29T20:39:00.000-05:00

I've been faced with the dilemma of four perfect broccoli heads all maturing at the same time. I would love for them to be spaced out more, perhaps one a week, but that's how it goes. We must enjoy broccoli now.

I found a good way to do that last night, one that is quick and easy, and so delicious we've had it two nights in a row. It's a cold salad made with broccoli slightly steamed, mixed with about three fried slices of bacon, sunflower seeds, chopped onions and a dressing made with mayonnaise, honey, and vinegar. It's that simple.

But I have a tendency to modify on the simple. I added a pinch of curry to the dressing, and some red cabbage, garlic scapes, quinoa, and poppy seeds to the original mix. Didn't harm anyone. My stepdaughter really liked it!

So how does one spill beer on the ceiling, anyway?

2007-07-20T21:50:00.000-05:00

Floridacracker's recent post about painting the textured ceiling had me thinking about the inconveniences of what seemed like a good idea in the '90s. You know, that textured popcorn like bumpy ceiling stuff. It's difficult to paint, and melts away if you try to clean something off it. Like beer stains.

It all started when we were newlyweds, a year or two, and decided to get into making beer. We were living in this split level, semi rural development house that was very cookie-cutter like. And, it was too close to the freeway. Way too close. But it was on a pond with a wonderful view, and there were loons nesting outside my dining room window...So.

Anyway, we had recently discovered beer beyond Busch, and discovered that we could even make it at home! We invested in a "starter" beer kit, and followed the instructions to brew our first attempt, a stout. I proudly poured it into the primary fermenter, basically a six gallon bucket with an airlock on top. The day I first brewed, The Hermit had to head out for a business meeting, so I spent the first night as an anxious first time brew mistress alone.

At approximately 5 AM, I heard a loud BANG from the kitchen. I dragged myself out of bed to investigate. In the kitchen I found the fermenter, sans lid, and the lid several feet from the fermenter. Somehow the airlock had plugged up, pressure had built, and...BAM. There was a prominent dark brown stain on the kitchen ceiling, and dark beer splattered all over the kitchen.

The beer turned out okay. Very good, in fact, for a first time effort! The ceiling, well, I tried spraying bleach on it, with some success, but there was always a little spot there.

Kale and eggs--my new favorite quickie meal

2007-07-01T12:21:00.001-05:00

I came up with this recipe yesterday when I realized, at 2 PM, I had not eaten anything substantial all day. It was a "grazing" day, where we didn't make an official breakfast or lunch, and I just wasn't hungry despite having gone for a three mile walk and mowed half the lawn in the morning. But I knew I should eat something, and there was an abundance of eggs in the refrigerator, and the kale is doing wonderfully in the garden, and I really need to eat more veggies. So I had an idea...

I melted about a tablespoon of butter in a medium skillet. If you're concerned about saturated fat, I suppose you could substitute olive oil, but butter has all those good Omega 3's, and it just tastes better! Then I threw in about five large kale leaves, cut into smaller pieces, and a couple garlic scapes, cut up. You could substitute a clove of garlic for the scapes; I just happen to have plenty of them on hand right now.

I sauteed the kale and scapes for a couple minutes, then pushed them to the edge of the skillet and cracked two eggs in the center. I let the whites set for a short time before I broke the yolks. Then I stirred everything around for a minute or less, so the yolks were still a little bit liquid. I turned off the burner, threw on a pre-grated blend of Italian cheeses, some green salsa, fresh ground pepper, and sea salt. I ate it right out of the skillet; no extra dishes that way, and no wasted paper plates!

This meal actually took less time and effort than microwaving some prepackaged lunch entree, and it tasted great! No artificial anything in it either.

Garden greens

2007-06-08T20:54:00.001-05:00

I am enjoying an abundance of spinach, lettuce, and kale right now. I pick a fresh salad for lunch every day, but I realize there are still more greens than we can keep up with here. The Farmers Market doesn't start for another month, so we'll be on a green diet here.

Kale and spinach, before, freshly picked.

Kale and spinach after. It really shrinks, but it's good with sesame seeds, pine nuts, and fresh ground pepper.

Bread making, again, and other stuff I'm trying to do

2007-05-25T20:59:00.000-05:00

I gave the bread machine a long hiatus, because I was somehow not finding enough time to even throw together the ingredients and let the machine do the work. But lately I've been thinking just ow hard it is to find good bread, something that has mostly organic ingredients and doesn't come in a plastic wrapper. Ugh, I've come to hate the ubiquitous plastic wrapping that our modern food must have. If I could eliminate the plastic wrapper, and all the energy it takes to ship a loaf of bread to my grocery store...I think it would make a difference.

Last night The Hermit was saying how he missed good homemade bread. So this morning, after the kids got on the bus at the ungodly hour of 6:30 AM, but they wanted to, and they woke up on their own, I put the stuff for a caraway rye in the bread machine. It didn't take too long, and it would be even quicker if I made up a dry mix, put it in jars, and just had to add the eggs and oil and water.

The loaf is almost gone as of this evening. All of the kids had PBJ sandwiches with it, and The Hermit and I got a taste with butter.

In other things, the next homemade item I want to try is salad dressings. I have all but sworn off Kraft and other major commercial brands, due to the amount of soy oil and corn syrup, and I'm thinking: I could probably make something better than the bottled variety, with extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, and fresh organic spices. I could store dressing in pint jars in the refrigerator, without buying and having to rinse and recycle new bottles.

It's one step at a time, this life I want to live.

stinging nettles for dinner

2007-05-03T18:40:00.000-05:00

Does that very title give you goosebumps, like it does me? I admit, I was very skeptical about cooking and eating the things. After all, I've had enough run ins with them to know they can be very irritating in their raw form. They cause a blistering rash that lasts an hour or so.

But actually they are very good steamed or sauteed; once they are limp the chemical that causes the rash has been deactivated. They can be dried and steeped in a tea or infusion as well. Nettles are very rich in nutrients, even better than spinach or just about any other green.

These are the raw leaves. I wore gloves as I picked small plants and cut the leaves off. I don't know why some of them are purple on the underside; this disappeared with cooking.

I steamed them in a small amount of water, then added butter for flavor. I knew the amount of nettles I picked would not make for much of a meal, but The Hermit had a work function to attend tonight and I had no intention of inflicting this on the kids...yet. This was my substitute for spaghetti noodles. I'm trying to go gluten free, or almost so, for a while to see if I may be sensitive to it.

The nettles have an incredible rich green flavor, better than spinach or Swiss chard. But I think you'd have to have them picked young, and very fresh, to get the kind of flavor I experienced tonight. I guess I'm lucky to have them growing wild, in unexpected places like one of my garden beds. Maybe there's a market for them at the Farmers Market!

more owww

2007-04-18T21:37:00.000-05:00

A day or two after the serrated knife incident, I burned my index finger on the same hand so subtly I didn't even know it for a while. Okay, I might have known that I was using a pot holder mitt that had a thin spot in it, and that pot holder mitt ended up in the trash, but I was surprised to wake up with a huge blister on that finger, two days later. Of course the blister broke off, then the raw sore rubbed against something, and well you know. Never use a worn oven mitt.

The thumb, miraculously, is almost healed.

Owww...

2007-04-12T20:58:00.000-05:00

So, the lesson to be learned is this: Serrated knives and somewhat dry,tough bread are not a good combination.

I was trying to cut a loaf of good, organic, but day old bread, with a serrated knife.

Need I say more, except I didn't cut the entire tip of my right thumb off (I'm left handed), it just hurts.

Basil revelation

2007-04-02T22:00:00.000-05:00

I had a revelation of sorts as I was cooking tonight. I just happened to need some dried basil, since I have no fresh this time of year, and I opened up a plastic jar of store bought basil. For some strange reason, I sniffed it. Nothing there, really. A vague sweet aroma, but that basil was clearly past its prime.

There were, however, several whole basil plants that had been stashed in the corner, dried, since the first frost in September. I sampled a leaf, and found it full-bodied, spicy, fragrant, unlike the store-bought basil. I proceeded to strip the leaves from most of the basil I had left, storing it in the jar I had recently emptied of store bought basil. There just is no comparison.

And, one can never get too much basil. I am upping my seedling production tenfold!

no deposit, no return

2007-03-21T21:10:00.000-05:00

I hate packaging. Most of it is unrecyclable and it makes up the bulk of our garbage, which I would like to reduce to next to nil. When eating off something other than Chinets from Sam's Club becomes a viable alternative. :)

Glass, fortunately, is recyclable, although re-using it is the preferred alternative. To that end, brewing beer at home, storing it in re-usable glass bottles, and using the bottles for another batch of beer, seems to be a good option for reducing our impact on the planet. A little over a week ago I bottled our Baltic Porter, in bottles that had previously stored Three Hearted Ale and some Belgian Witbier. Using 23 ounce bottles reduces the number of bottles that must be washed, and who stops at just one 12 ounce beer anyway. :)

Unfortunately, our beer consumption still greatly exceeds our brewing capacity, so there is a net loss of screw top bottles to recycling, but any hobby that teaches a useful art is a step in the right direction.

venison jerky

2007-03-04T12:50:00.000-06:00

My kids love jerky. I don't know how they developed a taste for it, since until yesterday, I had never made homemade jerky. I suppose it was some of the expensive, store-bought variety that got them addicted. It is a pretty healthy snack, and we had some venison steaks in the freezer, so this unexpected, long weekend I thought I'd try making some.

Two words: Easy. Delicious. The only thing is, it takes a bit of patience while it's drying in the oven.

The hardest part may be slicing the meat thin enough, which fortunately I didn't have to do because the venison steaks were pretty thin already. A good sharp fillet knife would work for slicing thicker cuts, and if the meat is partially frozen it's easier to cut thin.

The strips are coated with a small amount of liquid smoke and seasoning. I used, as I do for so many other dishes, Louisiana brand Cajun seasoning. Then when the excess moisture has evaporated a bit, the meat strips are placed in a covered bowl overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day, lay the strips on the oven racks, turn the oven on to about 150, just warm enough to dry the meat, and wait about 6 hours, checking every once in a while. When it's dry enough it should still bend a little, but not feel plump or "juicy" anywhere. The seasoned flavor really comes out when most of the moisture is gone.

We need to get more deer next year.

By the way, the recipe book that appears in this and the preceding post is a wealth of tips and recipes for wild game: Wild in the Kitchen, by Bob Schranck. It's probably out of print, so I'm trying not to spill too much on our copy.

pickled northern pike

2007-03-04T11:49:00.000-06:00

The Hermit and I enjoy pickled fish on crackers as a winter appetizer. Pickled herring is readily available at the grocery store, but we much prefer pickled northern pike which can cost $4-$5 for a tiny jar containing maybe ten tiny chunks of fish. Luckily, northern pike are abundant here in Minnesota and the process of pickling them isn't exactly rocket science. And I think home-pickled northerns taste much better.

I suppose a catchy name for this recipe would be "pickled pickerel", but around here we don't call members of the Esocid family "pickerel". They are northern pike, or just simply "northern". Before the days of heavy fishing pressure and big motors and fish finders, there would be a 20 pound lunker or two lurking in every lake. Nowadays it is more common to find abundant numbers of northerns that are mostly 3 pounds or less. A lot of people don't like to mess with these "hammer handles", even though you can get good fillets off them, because they have "Y" bones that are like the little plastic filaments that hold the tags to your new shirt. These bones can be removed by cutting the fillets a certain way, but if you pickle the fish the bones dissolve completely.

I work with a guy who has recently rediscovered the tradition of fish spearing. He really doesn't like eating fish, however, so recently he gave me fillets from two northerns he had speared. I didn't want to bother with cutting out the "Y" bones, so instead I pickled them. I had recently "practiced" on some store-bought northern fillets, with excellent results.

With any wild-caught fish, there is the possibility of tapeworm cysts in the flesh, so it's a good idea to freeze the fillets for 48 hours, which will kill any cysts. Then, the first step is to cut the fish into bite size chunks. Put the fish into containers and cover with a brine of 2 cups white vinegar, 1/2 cup pickling salt, and about 1/2 cup pickling spice. Recipes will vary on how long to keep the fish in the brine, but usually it works out to be 5-6 days when I do it. Shake the fish every so often to make sure the brine gets everywhere.

After the brine is drained, soak the fish in fresh water for about half an hour or more. While the fish are soaking, prepare a mixture of 4 cups white vinegar, 2 cups sugar, 3 T. pickling spice and 2 tsp. mustard seed. Bring to a boil and let cool. Caution: if you let it boil for a few minutes in an area that is not well ventilated, you won't be able to breathe in the kitchen. Ask me how I know.

Then, layer the fish in jars with slices of white onion, and cover with the sauce. I pour a little white wine in each jar if I have any, and add some whole peppercorns. Refrigerate for a week or so, and enjoy. The home economist food police say pickled fish should be consumed within one month, but I see no reason why it would not keep longer in the refrigerator. Freshness dates on commercial pickled fish are up to a year.

The permaculture of domesticity

2006-09-22T10:38:00.000-05:00

Sharon at Casaubon's Book recently had a wonderful post with some thoughts on managing domestic tasks more efficiently. I generally dislike reading "household hints" type articles because they tend to offer solutions that are too specific, or irrelevant, delivered in a perky, know-it-all tone. However, Sharon, who almost has a Ph.D, takes the art of homemaking to a new intellectual level, and does so with eloquence and humor.

Permaculture can be defined as a design system for creating sustainable habitats by following nature's patterns; it stresses minimizing inputs and integrating elements to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The idea was originally developed in relation to agricultural systems, but I can definitely see the applicability to running a household. Check out Sharon's philosophical framework for domestic permaculture.

I hope there's a Part 3 on the way!

living simply, acting deliberately

2006-09-18T16:45:00.000-05:00

So what's a full-time modern career woman fisheries biologist like myself doing writing about being a homemaker?

I have given a lot of thought lately to my lifestyle. I am straddling the line between two worlds: the work-to-live lifestyle, which some would call Babylon, and my dream Utopia of a self-sufficient homestead, driven by spirit. While I don't think I will completely ever make the leap from the former to the latter, I've gone further towards the latter than I ever imagined.

Lately, however, walking the line has seemed a bit overwhelming. I have come to the realization that the double-income, suburban family is an impossible pursuit; divorce rates and alienated children attest to this. Heck, my husband is fortunate enough to work from home and spend a lot of time tending things here, in exchange for a few evening and weekend obligations, but still, how does one come home from work at 5:30, prepare a satisfying meal, wash the dishes, tend to the childrens' needs, and the needs of the marriage? Impossible, I tell you.

While I cannot yet shed the yoke of the full time job (health benefits are pretty hard to beat), I am striving for ways to make this life work much in the way I want it to. Specifically, I want to:

1. Maintain a peaceful household. That is, one in which I (or others) don't break down into fits of raised voices and violence.

2. Maintain an inviting household. I want my children to come home to fresh cookies and the smell of bread baking, and a stew cooking on the wood stove. I want the home to be comfortable, uncluttered, and homey.

3. Be as self-sufficient as possible. Yeah, I'm even thinking spinning and knitting wool socks. In my spare time, of course. When I'm done playing my homemade music for the night and drinking my home brewed beer. I want it all, dammit!

4. Live a joyful life. I'm fairly good at seeing the joy in day-to-day life, and I'm hoping to make myself more contagious.

5. Follow the Spirit-led path. I have some obstacles regarding Christianity that I can't seem to get over, but nevertheless I want to know that my actions are guided from above, from some God that is still speaking to us.

I really desire to be a homemaker. That commitment has not come quickly or easily; I have failed at one poorly-timed experiment in giving up the working life. Oh, right, make that two experiments. But now more than ever I feel that when I pull out of the driveway and make my 30 mile commute to work, I am missing out on the more important part of life.

So this blog will be my musings on trying to live more deliberately, to move to a more homemaking lifestyle, to pack as much living as I can into the hours I have. I do have another blog, but it seems to have taken on a life of its own and I want this one to be more focused on homemaking, and spiritual, issues, things that don't always blend seamlessly into my current blog.

My accomplishments for the day: I took the day off work, because The Hermit was on a business trip and I just could not deal with getting everyone to daycare and school and babysitting two puppies at work and doing chores after work. I met the older two kids at the end of the driveway after school because it was raining and somewhat cold, and I didn't want them to have to walk the distance to the house. I cooked spaghetti for dinner, with mostly home or locally grown ingredients. I gave my son a guitar lesson and helped my daughter with her piano practice. And, I took some time for myself and played some good music. :)