Rich

I am a planner, a dreamer, a believer in the good, the happy and the glass is half full type of gal.  I'm sure most of that comes from growing up in a loving supportive home, but i think that other bit comes from being myself and loving the person i am.  

Sometimes my plans and dreams are not my reality just yet, and it frustrates me.  I come here, to this space, to hash it all out.  This space is my reflection on the good and the not so good.  Although i am worried of the future, i also know to be patient and that these things can't be rushed.  

But my reality right now?  It's awesome.  Its so awesome.  Lets not rush, to get to the next appointment, to run home and do the dishes, to quickly blog and take a photo.  I need to remind myself to savor this time in our journey.  To sleep in late and have spur of the moment road trips.  To take away a bit of that schedule i love, and replace it with life.   

This weekend was the good.  It was the pure, the rich life i love so, so much.

Saturday was the perfect fall day.

The air was crisp.  The chopped wood filled the air with that fresh cut sent.  Oh how i love that smell.  

That smell of autumn.

Just a light breeze to dry my fresh laundry

A quick pass (or two) over the garden to make sure its nice and tilled.

To finally falling back into the groove of cooking and baking.  A fresh pound of bacon split between corn chowder and bacon, green pepper and onion quiche.

A loaf of Banana bread.......

to use up the three rotting banana's that were rounding up far too many fruit flies in the kitchen.

Pumpkin pie with homemade crust.  (The other half was used for the quiche!)

An afternoon rest just before the rain came.

Yes, these were picked a few weeks ago, but we finally got an area ready in the basement for carrots, potatoes and apples!

We made applesauce a few weekends back, it turned out amazing!  The first batch i only flavored with cinnamon.  The second, with cinnamon and syrup!

I also made some peanut butter cookies to pack in lunches this week.

The early morning haze over the fields surrounding our home.  It's quite cozy in the mornings, drinking coffee with my love, watching the fog lift and the sun rise.

This morning we woke early, had a bowl of cereal together with coffee.  Then headed over to the farm to put up some more syrup.  An hour after we were home, we had another customer, good timing!

This weekend was my favorite.  A whole lot of living with my husband.  An exuberant amount of laughter, which he knows i need right now.  A whole lot of love and conversation about the future and our life.  A pint of Ben & Jerry's mint chocolate cookie and a slice of pumpkin pie.  A lot of picture taking and editing.   Some baby sewing and a ton of baking.

Not a lot of driving and going, nor a lot of cleaning mind you..ahem...

But we did have a whole weekend full of life,

right here,

at home.

Reflections on Eating

"If Spring is rebirth, summer life, Winter brings peace, then Autumn is Reflection."

The past couple of years, i have become more cautious, more aware of what i eat.  I have been trying to buy whole foods.  Foods in which i know what all of the ingredients are on the label.  This is a hard, daunting task at times.  I find it most difficult when i browse the grocery store.  When i come across that box of Lucky Charms, and remember my love for their overly sugary sweetness.  The next thing i know, they find themselves in my cart, being checked out, following me home and into my bowl of farm fresh milk.

And that, is frustrating.

My body gets in this mode of the need for sugar, like a drug.  But when i have the courage to cut it out, and leave it be, i recondition myself into noticing just hints of sweetness, that i find so wonderful.

I grew up in Vermont where natural food co-ops are easy to find, nearly every town had them when i left.  Big ones full of promise and pure rich ingredients.  Sure, we have co-ops here, but they are so outrageously priced and low on variety i find it hard to believe we would be able to afford it, let alone get everything we need out of it.   

So this is why i feel the need to have a garden.  To grow our own meat.  To eat whatever we can locally.  Our family income structure is quite different from most.  My husband works seasonally, then finds himself a maple farmer in the winter and spring.  Last year, we stocked up a bit before winter layoff time came.  We purchased a beef package from a local farm that brought us through April.  I tucked away a few bags of fresh summer berries and grated Zucchini.  We bought Chicken and Turkey for the months ahead, and that was it.  

This year, i am determined.  We have 200 plus pounds of pork in the freezer.  I already purchased Organic chickens.  We ended up needing another freezer, as our first chest freezer is more than half full with garden goodness.  We will get the same beef package from the farm.  I stocked up on organic chicken broth for all of the soups and roasts over the winter.  Rice, Mac & Cheese, Tomato paste, pasta, Its all stocked up.  I feel so good to have all of this ready.  My hope is that our supply of goods will last us three months.  (Twelve for the pork).  I still need to get flour, sugar, and some other baking needs, but we are pretty ready.

As living beings, we know what our body needs, to thrive and be well.  We know that having donuts for breakfast instead of yogurt and granola is going to lead to poor decisions throughout the day.  Yet, we still do it.  We still tell ourselves that "i'm worth it, i deserve a treat."  

Yet, when i stop to think about that line, i don't actually think of junk food full of artificial everything.  I think of a Chai Soy Latte, of Waldorf salads with a fresh peach sliced on the side.  I imagine a homemade chicken pot pie, with crust made from scratch, filled with goodness from our garden.  Of taking the time to make homemade bread for the week ahead

  

What i deserve is a half glass of Morning Blend in the early hours.  I deserve dark rich chocolate without preservatives   My body deserves well balanced meals, that leave me satisfied and full.  My mind craves intense recipes that follow the season we are in.  

More water, more fruit, more whole grains.  People everywhere are going back to the land.  We are realizing what effects artificial chemicals have on our body.  We are rejoicing in home grown food.  We are having the conversation.  Encouraging each other to take that step back.  To learn what it is we are eating.  To feel gratitude for the meal.  

My husband and i are doing that for each other.  He is passionate about homegrown / local meats and dairy.  I am working on realizing what is in all of the boxed food we buy.  I am making the recipes from years past.  We are learning this way of living together and we are moving forward.

Of course we don't do this religiously, but I think the real goal here is to just be aware.  Be inquisitive.   Ask questions and dig in.  Our bodies deserve these questions.  These restraints.  We know what it is we need in order to thrive and grow.  We just need to listen.

Just as my dog knows that the fresh manure piles atop our gardens are nutritious for him.  As many times as we call him out of the muck, he follows his senses right back in.  Gross, but true.

We need to take a step back from our busy professional lives.  We need to take the time to reflect on our choices for this one beautiful life. 

My goal is to listen, 

To take my time eating 

and 

Truly enjoy my meal.

Maple Banana Muffins

A few Sunday's ago, while i began gathering my ingredients to put together my mother's banana muffins, i decided to forgo the usual route.

You see, we are maple farmers, my husband & I.  We make syrup in late winter, early spring.  This task of splitting wood to fuel our boiler, of tapping, collecting, boiling & bottling is so very much a part of our family.  Maple syrup is surely a treat, but it is also a natural resource for us.  A pure sugar that we have at the ready, at all times.  After the spring rush of our regular & wholesale buyers, we almost always make sure we have enough to get us through the year.  

Yet i still find myself buying white sugar.  And every single time i ask myself why am i doing it?  

In my mind, i have wanted to make the switch for awhile now.  Over the past few years i have begun compiling recipes that use honey & syrup.  I have thinned the 'usual' cookbooks and switched them out for new & refreshing recipes.  To my great relief, some of my really well worn cookbooks from the early 19th century, already use syrup & honey, once again making me love them that much more.  

I can see us using maple syrup and honey more than white sugar.  However, i am by no means a purest, so i do realize that there will be the need, now & again, for some old fashioned chocolate chip cookies :)  

My goal is to feed our family a balanced diet.  One of mostly local & homegrown foods.

On that wonderfully warm Sunday morning, i started the switch.  

Maple Banana Muffins

1 stick of butter

1 cup of maple syrup (i usually use grade A, dark amber or B for baking to enhance the maple flavor)

2 fresh eggs

3 mashed bananas

scant over 2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking power

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream butter and syrup.  Add eggs & bananas.  Sift all dry ingredients into wet mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Enjoy.

Warmth & Beauty

When i first met my husband, i knew that there was much to discover about him. 

After talking over dinner, i knew we were headed on the same path, in the same direction.

One of our many common loves, and one that i have learned about myself,

is our love for antiques

our love for the history of life a hundred years ago.

It was soon after we met, that i knew this man would be the one i spend my life with.

Before we knew what kind of home we would live in,

before we knew where we would live,

we knew our home would have a wood fired cook stove.

That was for certain.

On one beautiful winter's day this past January, we woke before sunrise, and headed up to Maine to see what we could find.

Passing through Portland, watching the sunrise over the water's edge, we headed north toward Bangor.

We browsed for hours.  There was so much to see, so much history to take in.  So much beauty to behold.  After much deliberation, we loaded up a 1907 Sunny Glenwood. 

Two nights later, (and two fires later), we baked chocolate chip cookies in it. 

There is a bit of a learning curve, when cooking in these old beauts.  For instance, how to make a fire and keep it at a consistent 350 degrees.  Or the fact that when baking within it, you need to remember to rotate your cookie sheet every so many minutes, as the oven is warmer near the fire, of course.

Yes, this stove is more work.  The time it takes to start the fire, to get it hot enough, to keep it going.....but for me its the art of preparing dishes & cooking that i love so much, so for me, i would hardly classify this as work.  This is pure pleasure.

 I'm not sure if it is the labor that goes into meals coming from the cast iron doors, or the time & patience it takes to learn how to cook with it.  Or maybe its the simple warmth of the wood heat that it produces, but friends, every meal we have prepared and cooked on this stove have been so much more delicious.  Its true. 

Here are some pictures of our stove, our day trip, and other stoves we scoped out before making our final purchase:

I often wonder about the woman who first cooked on this antique stove.  The woman who canned her harvest over the hot fire heat in the midst of summer.  The woman who was surely so grateful to have this modern stove in her home.  

I like to think that i am just as lucky.....