A New and Now Time

Heck if I know...might have to spend the rest of my life wondering.  To wonder, to ask questions as to the why and the how, scratching my head a bit and then finally go on with the love of living.  Good as answer as any, I suppose.

I know it's been awhile since I've been on here.  Who needs to write a blog anyway?  Similar question to the photo above.  Heck if I know, I just do.  It helps in some ways not to think too much, because I am riddled and rifled with that process.  Writing is like a spitting it out, exercising the brain, squeezing my mind muscle that produces an energy that builds thoughts into words and out...splerrrrt!  Here it is.  Oh my.  It's been too long since I have written, so a spittoon may be in order here.  

Looking back over the last year, much had caught up with me.  Or, had weighed me down, I'm not sure- feels the same either way.  I got too far away from me and my particular spark and tried to light the way for so many others...exhausting.  See, I can't do that. See, that's not what this True Calling is about.  Our true calling is to ourselves, to what lies within us.  And it is here, now and only here, now.  Not there- not back.  Right here, right now is the truest calling I know.  And I'm it.  Rather- I'm in it, up to my eyeballs and seeing what it's like to truly see things as they are.

On the wall, a clock is ticking.  I don't care much to mark time on days like this, I just like to hear that sound.    Behind me the blower of the fan on the woodstove whirs on and on, encouraging the orange flame to glow and heat the place up;  this is sure a peaceful way to start a day.  I've already got a pot of soup going in the crockpot.  Swiss Chard, Italian Sausage, homemade Turkey Broth, garlic from the garden (oh I hope my supply holds out...!)

The beginnings of a good day.  A new and now time.  Every moment.  Thanks for visiting,

Take care-

From Seed, To Field, To Harvest, To Plate

I'll be getting back to the farming way of life in reporting here as so many are seeking new ways to live in a sustainable manner.
The Big Fish and I have created 13 new raised beds, made out of local hemlock.  Last year's cold, wet growing season affected the yields negatively, so we decided if we can't control the weather perhaps we can at least try to somewhat control the growing environment.

My back, neck and shoulders cry out in pain from yesterday's shoveling of manure, and don't it feel good!  My no till method does not appeal to my Big Fish, so these raised beds helped us reach a compromise there...less weeding, no need to till and hopefully greater bounties of garden produce will soon offset the price of lumber used to create the beds.

I am planting all my garlic in raised beds as a local homesteader wowed me with his crop and abundance of the biggest, healthiest cloves I have ever laid eyes on.  Incidentally, he has provided me with 30 plus year old strain from Maine garlic bulbs.  I hope I do him and the garlic proud.  He is a younger grower with his partner, I had stumbled upon their place on one of my many meandering drives.  One day I decided to invade his privacy by stopping by and picking his brain- mainly due to the interesting welded sculpture out front of his raised bed gardens.  A farmer who creates art out of cast aways?  I had to acknowledge my own history of rusty tree hanging Pterodactyls I had made out of auction finds, unable to believe there wasn't still some useful life in old farm tools!  The BF and I pulled right in and were instantly welcomed.

Farmers, gardeners are like that; friendly, open and all about helping another learn something or two about their operations that might lend a hand to your own.  I discovered this kindly cooperation a few years back when attending classes through U of I Farm Beginnings classes.  Through an internship I found many experienced  farmers who were more than happy to share their knowledge and experience if one would help out occasionally with onion planting and other muddy jobs that require physical labor.  I learned along time ago from my Dad,

"if you want to gain something, you must give something in return." 

 Pretty simple logic, tried and true- and a way of life for many years in rural communities.  I'm happy to see that many are returning to sustainability, golden rules and just plain common sense;  you may not be able to see much of that in newspapers, financial institutions, Wall Street, television or what Hollywood puts out- but one can find it in Countryside, a magazine/journal written mostly by people living off the land life.  I subscribe to this magazine as it hits close to home- living, working and sharing experience of one's own way.  Also- talk to your food growers at the farmer's market you attend.  You'll be amazed at the knowledge found there and much of it free for the asking- recipes, growing techniques, seed purity and story.  If you can't ask your grower why, when, where and how, then you've missed an opportunity in learning something truly worth pondering.  From seed, to field, to harvest, to plate- the food we eat has it's origins and your food provider can and should supply that knowledge.  That's as about as honest and common sense as it gets, most difficult these days to find such opinions unless one looks to the earth and to those who coax life from it- giving back more than they take.
Take care-

Beauregards Farm-Market Newsletter July 2008

Oooooooh boys....it's hot!!!! From a song, in the seventies...you remember the 70's??? Oh, never mind...but it is hot! The lettuce is slowly wilting right in the field, requiring a plunge into some freshly drawn well water to bring it back to life- and the radishes are far too hot for most tastes. (Pithy too...) Tomatoes are swelling, their weight cracking some of the stems not made ready to support them yet. And the darn peppers...what is going on with the peppers???? Could it be that the wetness and coolness of June stunted their growth and they're still pouting? Yep, I think that may be the problem. I'll just have to spoil them a bit with extra heat loving mulch and clay field tiles around their middles so they'll warm up to me.
Even though it is mid-summer, and moist and humid and about the only thing we have to look forward too in this sweltering heat is the Illinois State Fair ('cause we all take it in stride, the "fair" weather is nothing but extreme)...we still like to grill, do we not? And it is something we do together, right??? Women are multi-taskers, by golly-- we can grill and cook and shuck the corn all at the same time....but, speaking for myself- usually something suffers in the meal and it's usually the grill cooked dish. Because, I do believe- grilling is for the single minded, the highly aware, the-stay-on-task-or-you'll-burn-it-kind of guy or gal. So- you grill conscious folks....here are a couple of recipes that you just might fall in love with...or maybe redeem yourself after that last episode of steaks burning and volunteer firefighters showing up.....
Take care!

Tarragon Shrimp
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1- 2 cloves fresh garlic(be bold, use 3-4...)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
pinch of salt and white pepper(black is fine...)
1 pound cooked shrimp, (41-50 per pound)
2 tablespoon French tarragon, chopped
In a large mixing bowl, combine olive oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and mix well. Add the shrimp and tarragon, mix well. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour. Place shrimp over a bed of mixed greens. Serves 4.
I start a bed of coals, wait till they're about medium in heat, put the shrimp on(using a mesh basket or small grated pan) just heat through with singe marks and oh my goodness...heaven on a bed of greens.

Thee Most Tantalizing Taste For The Grill...(You'll see)
Chicken, Pork or Lamb works well here...
1 Cup Honey (Local honey is the best and good for your immune system...)
1/2 Cup Mustard(any kind, reallly...use Plochmans or that fancy stuff someone gave you for Christmas....)***Add more to taste...
1 Stick of Butter
Garlic cloves(use about as much as you would if vampires were hovering....say- several cloves anyway)
and here is the secret ingredient....
1 Tablespoon good Curry(I know, I know- you're hubby won't eat it...try this, he will.)***Add more to taste...

Place your meat in a pan with sides so that morsels are laid side by side, mix up the above recipe, pour over meat. Let sit for 1 hour to overnight. Place on medium coals, basting meat with drippings from pan. Even teenagers like this and will say so...it's just something different and so delectable...truly.(If it rains...shove the whole thing in the oven for 1 hour at 375, or until juices run clear.)


Every so often, I will add a newsletter...'cause I only have time enough to think long and hard a little...the wheels are always turning about something. Thank you all for being so kind, so considerate, so eerily interested in truly the mundane...Ha.

Be well...and market-ply. Hmmmm....maybe I should sleep more....

till yet

Good morning. It is well to observe another new day of Spring. Has it sprung, truly? Nope, I don't think so...not yet. It is merely teasing us with it's warm southerly winds and it's sunshine and buds almost bursting on the trees. I'm not convinced yet, nope. I think we're still in for some wintry mix, my seeds lay dormant in the ground, they're not convinced either. When I find that first mushroom, that little gray morsel of mystery, soon ( I hope!) then I'll let my winter guard down.

The garlic is fooled though, as it reaches it's tiny little green stemmed arms up to the sky, it needs some more straw covering- it will have to grow right through that blanket even further, stretching, extending it's life force through to the sunshine. And...I cannot till yet, cannot get the clover in soon enough for me- hopefully the wind yesterday and the sunshine today will dry out some more- the earth that is still held in a mud ball in my hands as I picked it up yesterday afternoon, applying enough pressure, hoping the soil would not stay contained in that little ball, but alas! It did...no crumbling, no falling away from the form which told me that tilling was still out of the question.

After work today, I will scoot on over to Lincoln to pick up my new seeder- the beets are still in the seed packet, the radishes haven't been planted enough and the onions...still about 100 to go, yep- enough to keep me busy, sustained. And all of this takes time, much time- and patience and acknowledgement that it is not my way but the way that I have to contend with, humble to. In the dark of this morning, this early morning...I can be patient, be still, be ever hopeful- but the sunrise will shed light, more light on great anticipation on my part and my way will be forced upon the land again- oh, I never learn anything so much in the light as I do in the dark. Except maybe how good sunshine feels, even in chaos and windy conditions, it is so good to feel the sun on skin. Yep.
Take care,(& break out the sunscreen!)