bee creative

something we can do

For January, February, and March the local farmer's market is once a month.

Today was the day!

The weather has been so mild up until this week that there were still things like radishes and lettuce (hoop/green house grown though). I'll use some of the radicchio for a salad with oranges.

In the garden I still have celery growing in my little hoop house. I used some of it on top of my lunch today.

Yes, I almost burnt the cashews.

The recipe I followed (more closely than usual) was one for "Sticky cauliflower with cashews," from The Secret of Cooking by Bee Wilson.  I've been wanting to try it for quite awhile and will definitely make it again.

I mention going to the farmer's market frequently, that I try to choose local as much as possible.  It's important to me for many reasons, but mostly because it is a way I can participate in my local economy. To be clear, this isn't about valuing local over global, but about valuing both.  And this brings me back to my current reading...

I am only about half way through Rebecca Solnit's book A Paradise Built in Hell, but would say that a major take away is about the importance of building community and of knowing your neighbors. Ideally before a disaster hits, but definitely afterwards. 

(For those who have read Parable of the Sower, consider how Lauren keeps building communities.) 

This bit from Solnit's book has me thinking:

The religious language of awakening suggests we are ordinarily sleepers, unaware of each other and of our true circumstances and selves.  Disaster shocks us out of slumber, but only skillful effort keeps us awake." 

Staying awake...staying curious, noticing, being present, participating when we can.

Those things seem like something we can do, something that I think many of us are already doing. 

That gives me hope.

staying cozy

It was the perfect day to finish up the baby blanket and make split pea soup... 

solstice ink

This batch definitely has some color. 

A soft brown.

The house smells like the woods.

Golden soup for a gray day.

Carrots + golden beets + onion + a sprinkle of thyme and a drizzle of lemon oil.

And a grilled cheese sandwich made with the sharpest of cheddar.

up early

First present finished.

Who knew zippers could smile?

I am making candy orange peel.

The house smells good.

local food, comfort food (value)

Red pepper soup (broth, red peppers, pickled onions, herbs, salt and a few potatoes).

I've discovered that adding a few boiled potatoes improves many pureed soups. 

Also that pickled onions are a great add in.

Making more is on the to-do list.

some things

Soup: Carrot, rice, and a lemon flavored olive oil.  It needed a little bit of something else but it was fine.

Strawberries:

Last of the season?  They are sweet and good.

Stitching:  Working again on the sweater that I labeled percentages because it's made of a variety of mostly local yarns. 

That and when I think about choosing local and about sustainability, I believe it isn't about perfection but about doing the best I can.  So far the materials for this sweater are from Washington state and California, close to where I was born. Some of the yarn I've dyed with indigo (the plant).  

Sunshine:  We've had a few amazing days but the rain is coming.

R...

Rose hips...so much potential. 

I could make a syrup or a jam.

Or ink.  It wouldn't turn out red. When I've made it in the past it's a soft pink. 

They could also be strung for a decoration. 

Resilient.  Being out in the garden and making things helps.

I've been soaking black beans today. 

It was so tempting to keep the liquid for dye but I didn't.

Release.

I am working on letting go.  This just wasn't something I could find time for today. 

There is also letting go of things.  I am working on that too. 

Recipes...I think we all know that I am not good at them.  Baked apple, yogurt, and granola (oats, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, honey, molasses, sugar, salt, and butter).

Return...thinking about that.  Things that return. 

 

making is good medicine

More "m" words and thoughts...

Making, to bring something into being.

Today I worked on "Good Enough."

Thinking again about the reading I've recently been doing in Your Brain on Art, about how the arts (in a very general broad sense) are considered good for your health. 

One of the reasons I started Good Enough COVID 19 was to give myself a focus during a very stressful time. 

It became a lot more than that.

A kind of mending.

I need a few more blocks to finish up. 

Medicinal plants.

This is the first year I've had echinacea come back in the garden. I think it's because I put it in a raised bed with good drainage.  It's right next to the mint which is also thriving. 

Gardening is a kind of making too, but one done in partnership.

It's a new Moon today, a growing moon, the Harvest Moon.

Today I picked apples, pears, a zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, peaches, tomatillos and the first of the grapes. 

Also a handful of herbs.

Food is medicine too, especially herbs. 

And...

the indigo vat is working again so I experimented a bit with moon making. 

Walnut first, then marigold, and then a dip in the indigo vat.

  It's a kind of magic to me, the way that plants can make color and how indigo goes from green to blue.   

I am wondering what it will look like dry...

 

 

 

lazy day

I was going to go to the farmer's market but realized that I had enough to eat and enough projects so I've spent the day puttering. 

Today's lunch:

Zucchini corn fritters. 

I've fallen in love with zucchini fritters this summer.  This recipe is pretty similar to what I am doing. 

The substitutions I've made are about 2 tablespoons flour and a cup of bread crumbs for the 1/2 cup of flour. 

Sometimes I add cheese and sometimes I don't.  Today I made a blue cheese dressing to go on top.

I don't add the baking soda and I always forget to wring out the zucchini after I grate it. Sometimes I add the herbs and sometimes I use a salt/herb mix.  

After lunch, I made a lake pigment with some of my indigo. (Caitlin ffrench's directions). 

This looks like it will be a very pale batch of pigment.  I am going to set up another batch to make more indigo pigment tomorrow and also start a lake pigment with marigold flowers. 

I was hoping to work on some log cabin squares this afternoon  but I ended up taking a nap...maybe tomorrow. 

 

 

 

h (again) and i

Inspired by Jude and today's comments on her blog ...

Harvest salad:  bread, lettuce, blue cheese, pear, prune, olive oil and apple cider vinegar. 

And...

Imagining all the things I want to do with the indigo this weekend.

And well...I just had to include this:

 

Inconceivable...