growing curious

still, sendak

We're in the middle of a big household re-arrangement as we prepare for my mother-in-law to move in. 

I decided it was time to bring out some precious things again.  E is 7 and knows not to chew on book spines.  I guess I also want a little more of *me* in our living space because everyone else has run amok downstairs.  And how better to "mark territory"  (and, truly, I hope my efforts are not as base as that) than to create a rumpus right inside the front door?

Here are three photos from the Maurice Sendak Celebration in our entry-way:

The lidded vase is a piece that my brother made and decorated with Mt St Helens ash.  Diane Cain may note the significance of the ruler in front of E's happy face print.  (And I wrote about the significance of the ruler here.)

The prints here are from Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. I love Sendak 's art from every stage of his career, but I feel special fondness for his earlier art.  The illustrations in Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present are so lush.  He allows the background to be a character, too.

Above the Mr. Rabbit prints is another print, which helps us -- the Smith Family -- proudly proclaim that the wild rumpus is in full motion here:

 

blossom

These are blossoms from the Serviceberry tree in front of our house.  This tree is special to me because of its open habit -- very welcoming and right near our front door.  It's prettiest right now in April when it blooms, and it's pretty again in June and July when it fruits -- the rust that gets on the fruit most years (in this climate) just adds more color to it all.  She is a happy tree, finding her way.

the girls in my office...

I have seven co-workers in my office.  I know you think I work alone, but I get help.  Or, ummm...  I share space with some others.  Sometimes they help, and sometimes they're just out for fun.

There are the angstgrrls... Sometimes they gossip and share stories about going dancing on the weekends.  I always feel left out of these conversations about weekend fun, but I admire their sass and how they thrive on being "different."  The knitted-in-knots, felted girl is a lot like me.  She has some bulges and old wounds that have been felted over by wear.  She has great hair (which I don't have, but I admire hers).  We have lots of great conversations, and then she just tosses her hair around like Willow Smith or something, and her life is all better again.

 

Then there is Raggedy Ann, who has been through so much and always smiles.  She isn't very smart, but she is kind.  I like her.  She had some trauma once in the attic, but she survived.    Next to Ann are the two lovely, pouty, naughty girls an old friend made me hire. 

 

As you can see, one of these girls is trying to jump down off the basket...

 

Who knows where she's going.  Maybe off to eat the frozen blueberries or to push Scrabble letters into the couch cushions downstairs.

Who do you work with?

rothko, pickles, new york

The Portland Art Museum will host an exhibit of Mark Rothko's work from February 28th - May 27th.  I'm very excited to take E. to this show.  We love to go to the Museum, and she has a fondness for big color and abstract art.

Thinking about this show reminds me about the Pickle Field Trip I took to NYC in fall of 2010.  I hadn't been back to NYC since I left there in 1993, so the trip was a very "emotionally loaded" business trip. 

The business goals of the trip:  to research different East Coast pickling techniques,  to glean ideas for scaling up my production, to visit new and long-established companies, to learn how those companies marketed their products.  Although the trip was patched together at the last minute when I found a great airline fare, I was able to accomplish all of those business goals and then some.  It was a very productive research trip.

My personal goals for the trip:  to walk around, visit my old neighborhood, to see a dear friend, to feel New York City again, and to visit some museums.  I was thirsty for art.  I needed it like minerals or vitamins. I felt parched and drained of hope and couldn't live another day without drinking up some art.  The Portland Art Museum is wonderful, but I needed to be somewhere absolutely saturated in art.

Even though I expected to be moved at MoMA, I didn't expect that I would burst into tears as soon as I walked off the elevator at the top floor.  I was overwhelmed.  Paintings and sculptures that I knew so well from books were right there.  My knees went weak, and I plopped down on a bench and just bawled.  To be so thirsty and then to be quenched in just the right way...  it was just one of the greatest experiences of my whole life.  And I'm so glad I was there by myself so that I could just feel it all in my own way.

 

 

And I think about this because I was particularly drawn to the Rothko pieces at MoMA that day -- just letting that color wash over me.  I liked getting close to the blocks of color and seeing the textures and looking carefully at where the colors touched each other.  I liked standing back from the paintings and letting my eyes go out of focus a bit, like I do in the forest when I'm hiking and want to see all those different greens at once.

I knew that Rothko had grown up in Portland so I wasn't surprised that I was drawn to his paintings that day at MoMA.  That kind of saturated color and the "line" he used to create shapes comes from someone who knows rain, gray skies, and moss that shimmers softly on top of harder shapes.

And thinking about the Pickle Field Trip makes me happy.  That was a good trip.  I was able to see clearly what I still so love about NYC and to understand in a more compassionate way why I had to leave there. I accomplished so much in that week -- both professionally and personally.  

It is okay not to fit in.  It is okay to be outside.  If you're in a pickle, just start making them.

 

winter weed salad

I love going out into the garden in winter to search for little bits of deliciousness.  Here is what will be in our salad tonight:

At 12:00 and 1:00 -- a stalk of overwintered celery.

At 2 and 3 -- bittercress/popweed, pleasing texture and tastes like a sweet arugula.

At 4 and 5 -- wild mustards, arugula, radish leaves.

At 6 --  overwintered frizee and sweet, cucumbery chickweed.

At 7 -- two slender leek scapes.

At 9 and 10 -- curly lettuce.

At 11 -- lemony sorrel.

In the center:  red chicory.

I'm going to leave some of these whole, and I will chop the stronger-flavored things into fine ribbons.  I'll dress them with lemon, olive oil, garlic, pepper, and salt (from most to least).  We'll have it with a garbanzo bean stew and some whole wheat pita bread.

Really, I can't get over how much food there is out in the garden right now.  I harvested celery I need for the stew and 4 pounds of broccoli raab.  I notice the motherwort and borage coming back again, and the garlic is coming up nicely.   I am so grateful.

 

 

permission to play?

I got my hair cut on Wednesday at a Great Clips on the other side of town.  That's a story to tell maybe later.  But all of a sudden you can see my face, my eyes, and my ears.  You know?

I have made most of the earrings I wear.  In a previous life, I made jewelry and had some of it in a gallery.  That was before I moved to NYC.  So long ago.  Another life ago.  I always look at earrings in stores, but I can't afford to buy what I like for myself.  I have a preference for a certain kind of earthy, dangly earring that swings a bit.

I haven't made new earrings in years, even though I have started wearing different colors and certainly now have hair that is a different color.  Every time I get dressed for the outside world, I say, "You need to make new earrings, Crazy Lady."  I've been saying that a couple of times a week for years -- since before baby E (now 7) yanked my earrings out when we played. 

So today I sat down and made some earrings!  Do you know how hard it was for me to give myself permission to let the chores slide and not make another to-do list for Curious Farm business stuff?

I spread out my work on the dining room table near all the windows so that I could use the natural light.  (Again...  to give myself permission to make a mess on the big table...  things have gotten that bad lately.)    I tried to remember how to work the pliers.  I got to feel and admire Molten Mama's gorgeous lampwork beads again and made a pair of earrings with two of them.  (These earrings are in the center of the photo.  My treat after my first farmers market season was to buy a few of Lisa's beads, and I will make a necklace from the rest.)    I needed a pair of purple-ish earrings so I made them.  I needed another green-ish pair so I made those, too.  Empowering!  The beads and findings cost money, but the result is better than what I can afford right now. 

And I have new ideas for the special necklace I will make from Lisa J Cooley's Molten Mama beads.

How rare and fine to have an afternoon like this!

 

the garden still gives...

It's the middle of January, after many light frosts, and snow threatens this weekend.  And here is what I plucked from the garden this morning:

Pounds of broccoli and mustard raab, their tender sweet leaves, and lacinato kale.  Some of these plants we've been eating from for more than a year because they were planted in Fall of 2010.  Some of these delicious flower buds came from volunteer mustard plants.

I feel so grateful for this bounty.  I'll sautee some of it with carrots D harvested last week.

pantry challenge begins

This morning I woke up just dreading the thought of coming up with something for dinner.  "We just have little bits of this and that right now...  How am I going to put them together?" 

(Seriously...  if I'm stressed out about dinner in the morning, it's an ominous sign for the day.  Usually it means that I'm feeling like an ignored household appliance instead of a person with feelings and dreams of my own.)

And then I remembered about the Pantry Challenge and my mission to use up the bits of this and that. 

So, with renewed purpose, I looked in the freezer and found two containers of vegetable soup, and then I found a small bit of egg noodles in the pantry.  Good...  sort of like escarole soup...  but wait...  we have some escarole and radicchio out in the garden...  could add that, too!  Those greens turn sweet in soup, but they're hard for me to use in other ways because D and E balk at their bittersweet flavors.

Today might not be so bad afterall.

 

offensive cookie cutter

This cookie cutter offended my mother-in-law.

L. didn't like it and told my daughter E. that it was not a good cookie cutter because it wasn't balanced.

Actually, this is my very favorite cookie cutter among dozens because it doesn't pretend to be balanced.  It makes cookies you want to eat because the shape of the tree looks so happy.

I got this cookie cutter from my mother, who saved it from my paternal grandmother or maternal grandmother.  It may be even older than that.

I love my mother-in-law and have grown to be patient with her fetish for everything balanced, predictable, and Catholic (in the narrow sense).

Once, she was frustrated because I chose a Crape Myrtle tree that was not perfectly balanced, especially when I placed it askew purposely.  She's very concerned about the Eucalyptus tree that bends.  She often worries about E's mismatched socks even though, by now, she has given up her commentary about them.

But L. is a great egg.  Look at here here, entirely involved with E and patient in spades.  I love L. even though she hates my favorite cookie cutter.

the pantry challenge 2012

Hello, my name is Cathy, and my pantry is out of control.  Here is how it looks today:

I'm looking forward to January, February and March when I challenge myself to shop for groceries as infrequently possible and to be creative in using up the supplies in my pantry and freezer.  I won't buy rice, for instance.  When I run out of rice, I'll use the rye berries instead.  I won't buy oat flakes but will take the time to soak the steel-cut oats the night before so that they cook quickly in the morning.  When I walk by the mountain of broccoli at the grocery store, I will think of ways to use the frozen kale from the freezer instead.

The goals are to:

• Eat more simple, whole foods.
• Challenge myself to cook with pantry staples (and make them taste good).
• Clear out the pantry and not waste food (allowing myself to finish the older beans before I buy fresher ones).
• Save money!!!
• Drastically reduce trips to the store and increase inner peace.
• Remind myself again about what is enough.
• Feel refreshed and energized by the simplified diet and the simplified pantry.
• Discover what feels essential to our health and well-being (see below about lemons and ginger)  and learn to budget more efficiently to bring those necessary items into our home during winter.

This challenge is an idea I learned about on the forums at CottageSmallholder.com, a favorite blog.  This will be my third winter challenging myself in this way, and I caught myself already playing along today.  I wondered if I should stock up on brown rice because I saw a sale, and then I remembered that soon I will be working to empty my pantry and freezer, and it makes no sense to stock up beforehand.

Anyone want to join me?  I have started a group on Facebook in case you'd like to join to share strategies, recipes, and frugal brilliance.  

My strategy this year:

E drinks a lot of milk, but I may go to the grocery to pick up two gallons of milk at one time instead of going to the grocery twice.  D and E eat meat, but we'll be using more of the meat that we've saved in the freezer instead. I will buy organic lemons and fresh ginger for their bright tastes and healing properties because -- during the last two years of this challenge -- I realized how essential these two ingredients are to my family's health, and they don't grow easily here in Oregon.  We may eat a lot of pesto made from whatever greens -- wild, volunteer, or winter-hardy -- we can find in the garden.  We'll buy apples, but I may just buy a case of a good-storing variety and keep it in the chilly garage.

I'm including my spice cabinet in the challenge this year because it's time for most everything in there to be renewed.  All those beans and grains will appreciate some new spice combinations, too.