Saturday, November 21, 2009
Up-date on Evergreen Cob Project
Friday, November 20, 2009
Winter Garden Shots-November
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Baking Bread on a Rainy Day
As a child my Mom made bread for our family. I remember helping her knead and shape. What Fun! She let us kids each make our own loaf. We got to do the kneading of our own bread and shaping too... So exciting to watch it grow, punching it down and growing again! These little loaves where baked in custard cups. That evening, we would have our own loaf for dinner, hot with butter melting. Oh so proud to be eating something we had made ourselves!
When I went to college, I think that what I missed most was hot, homemade bread. The dining hall just couldn't even come close! After my first year, I moved off campus into a house with a kitchen and began the process of learning to make bread on my own. Mom always made it look easy.. but it took years to really get it right.. over the years housemates and friends have enjoyed my endeavors...
Between working and raising a kid, I got out of the habit of making bread. Too busy... but craving that homemade taste, I found bakery breads that came close.. our local healthy grocer bakes a Whole Wheat Walnut Bread that I LOVE! But the price is now well over $5/loaf. Well worth it but money is tight and I can make alot of bread with $5 worth of Organic Flours!
I made my first loaf 3 weeks ago and have make a loaf each week since. I pulled out an old recipe and have been working with it.. refining it to make a good loaf for sandwiches for Rebecca's lunch box.
Once you get a routine going.. it really is not time consuming to make your own bread. NO machine necessary. Last night I got the dough started just before I put dinner on the table. It did the first rise while we ate dinner. After the kitchen was cleaned up from dinner, I did the next step-shaping the loaf. Set the timer for 15 minutes, put my feet up and relaxed. When the timer went off, I started the pre-heat for the oven and put my feet up again. When the oven signaled that it was at temperature, I put the loaf in and set the timer again... Relaxed some more, listened to the rain... and waited until the timer went off. Took the bread out and could not wait until it cooled... so I cut off a slab and spread it with butter... Yum, the best yet!
Last night's flour mix included wheat, flax meal, corn meal and millet flours with pecans.
Here is the recipe:
Give it a try... be amazed by your own homemade bread! Enjoy.One Single Loaf
Mix the following in a bowl.
2 cups hot water
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
Sprinkle over the top of above mixture
1 package of yeast
Wait a few minutes to let the yeast proof. When the yeast is bubbly, add the following half a cup at a time and mix well.
4 cups flour (mix of wheat, white and others)
1/3-2/3 cup of nuts (walnuts or pecans)
Mix in each half cup until most of the flour is in. It will become harder to mix with a spoon, time to knead in the last flour. Turn it out on a lightly floured board, or knead in your bowl until the dough is smooth and elastic and even a bit sticky. Do not work it until it is dry or you will have a very dense and crumbly loaf.
Work the dough into a ball, put back in the bowl and oil the ball. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until double (about 35 minutes). Punch down and knead again adding as little flour as possible. Place dough in greased loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise again for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, start to pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. When the oven is ready, remove the plastic wrap from your pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on a cooling rack.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Garlic and Onions in the Ground
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show. ~Andrew Wyeth
I love knowing that throughout the winter the onions and the garlic are gathering strength underground. I love to see the green tops pushing out through the snow, bright green on a field of white.
I planted a few weeks ago now. Last year I tried a number of varieties of garlic and picked the most successful variety to plant this year. My choice was Music, a hard-neck variety. I have planted 5 pounds of it. This year's crop was beautiful, large and tasty cloves!
I have also planted another variety.. a later maturing California White, a soft-neck variety. This one is an experiment. I planted one pound.
Onion sets went in about the same time, yellow and red varieties, about 5 pounds worth.
My family uses lots of garlic and onions. Growing our own is easy and saves dollars at the grocery store! Freedom and Yum!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
GF Ravioli Trials
I am Italian and David spent a year studying in Italy when he was in college... we LOVE Italian food in our house. Buying pasta can be tricky when one is gluten-free! We have found one that we all like, Bionaturae.. it is potato, soy and rice and comes pretty close to regular pasta... but they only make the most common shapes: spaghetti, elbows, fusilli, and penne... so if you want anything else, you are on your own!
I have been experimenting for a while with pasta.. without too much success. The ravioli came out pretty good... a bit dense and not at all like a gluten dough, but tasty nevertheless.
The filling was made of fresh pesto from the garden, walnuts and Manchego Cheese (sheep milk cheese from Spain.. David is also allergic to cow dairy).
The tops were added after a thin film of water was painted around the edge to help make to two pieces of dough stick to each other when pressed gently together.
After the ravioli was cooked in boiling water briefly... we topped them with fresh from the garden tomato sauce with fresh herbs straight out of the garden (oregano, basil, garlic). A simple sauce to compliment the flavors of the filling which was very rich.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Brasstown Gardens
We had some time after the daytime festival and before the evening dance to kill... so before our picnic dinner on the porch at the Keith House Dance Hall, we checked out the Kitchen Garden at the Folk School. This garden provides food for the kitchen classes and dining hall at the school.
It was fun to see all the winter veggies in their long rows as well as the remnants of the summer crops...
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Next Installment on the Cob Bench Project
More pictures to come. What a great way this has been for me to learn about cob building and help out and my daughter's school. I look forward to the day when I am ready to build something out of cob in my own backyard!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Cob Bench takes shape
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Ritual Mud Face Painting
There is something magical about about working with the primordial materials of clay, sand and water.. The magic certainly was not lost on these kids as they took their turn to work together to MAKE a special place at their school to share with the whole community. I find myself wondering what impact will this project have on their choices.. what ripples this experience will stir in their lives further down the road...
And then I find myself with the lyrics of a song spinning in my head and heart.. while we are not working with clay as potters (a role I have had in my life...with my BFA in Ceramic Arts) we are working with this magical stuff, this creative force...
The words of the "Potters Wheel" always bring on a huge response from my heart. I was first introduced to this powerful song at a concert by my friend Freyda Epstein. She sang this song on one of her albums... she is gone now.. but her voice, singing this song haunts me still.. it is how I remember her!
Potter's WheelThe children we are growing in our Evergreen Community are amazing beings, they give me hope for our future!Words and Music by Bill Danoff
The world is fast becoming younger;
The news is all they've ever known.
They've seen the wars, the hurt, the hunger.
How will they choose when they are grown?
What do you tell forever's children
When it's their turn to hurt and heal?
Whatever spins a grim tornado
Can also turn a potters wheel.
Take a little clay, Put it on a wheel
Get a little hint how God must feel.
Give a little turn, Listen to a spin,
Make it into the shape you want it in.
Tell with your life the bloody story,
Teach to their dreams, not burning steel.
It's not in bombs where lies the glory,
But in what's shattered on the field.
The potters wheel takes love and caring,
Skill and patience fast and slow.
The works it makes are easily broken,
Once they survive the potters throw.
Take a little clay, put it on a wheel;
Get a little hint how God must feel.
Give a little turn, listen to it spin;
Make it into the shape you want it in.
Some day some children will be digging
In some long forgotten ground.
And they'll find our civilization
Or what's left of it to be found.
They'll find the weapons of destruction.
But buried deeper in the hole,
They'll find a message and a promise,
In the sand, the potters bowl.
Take a little clay, put it on a wheel,
Get a little hint how God must feel.
Give a little turn, listen to a spin,
Make it into the shape you want it in.
Earth and fire and wind conspire,
With human hands, and love, and fire.Take a little clay, put it on a wheel,
Get a little hint how God must feel.
Give a little turn, listen to a spin,
Make it into the shape you want it in.
Evergreen Cob - Day 2
Sand and clay were dumped on each tarp and the kids got to work. I had the pleasure of working with a group of girls that included Rebecca... they were SO funny.. all squeamish and giggly and shrieky! But after getting their feet used to the new sensations.. they joined hands and made up a mud dance.. circling left and right while jumping up and down.. I wish I had had my camera handy to capture that moment! We also worked with the two 5th Grade classes that day.
The older kids got to get in the tub of clay and mix it up with water and feet..
No hesitation here! Lots of squeals though!









