Signing Off

Fresh pears in late fall from the kitchen orchard

Arugula from the garden

Roasting vegetables -- one of my favorite preparations

I won't address this last blog posting to Steve and Winnie since my thoughts of them and internal dialogue with them will never really end.  When I started writing the blog last year, I said to myself, "Do this for one year or 52 times -- whichever comes first."  Well, here is the 52nd posting.  

When I started with the posts, I was looking for a way to express the many thoughts AND questions I had about the satisfactions of eating fresh organic food, trying to live simply, cooking at home, growing a garden, etc.  These reflections increasingly contributed to a growing lifestyle model that brought a richness of experience, a sense of self reliance and an opportunity for learning.  And perhaps most importantly as it has turned out over the year -- a way of living that strives to keep things simple and real when I can hardly understand the subprime mortgage crisis and why our greatest national satisfaction turned into shopping and buying things that most likely we cannot afford.  Anyway, it all seemed related and connected to me, and I had the desire to understand what brought the greatest satisfaction.

I don't really have new thoughts to add.  Not even sure who has read this beyond a few friends.  I never could figure out the "Comments" logistics, but would be happy to hear from anyone with a comment at dmricheson@mac.com.  

As far as food and health goes, no one puts it better or more simply than Michael Pollan on the cover of In Defense of Food.

Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.

If you think of the garden as a metaphor for life, no one puts it better than Alan Chadwick.

The garden makes the gardener.  (Not the other way around)

If you think of an overall philosophy about a deeply satisfying life, it is hard to beat William Coperthwaite in A Handmade Life.  He passes on this wonderful advice:

To require little is better capital than to earn much.  The need to earn much enslaves us,     while the ability to do with little makes us free.

Well, that about sums it up from the point of view of one person -- looking to discover.

Take care.  Donna

How Puny Is That?

The last remnants of the kale this winter

Tomato-based kale, garbanzo, carrot stew

Gigande bean comfort dish

sauteed onions and fennel

cooked Gigande beans

tomato paste or pasta sauce

add kale and cook a few minutes

olive oil drizzle, salt and pepper

Hi Winnie and Steve,

I thought you would get a kick out of the photo today.  Yes, I do have seeds beginning to germinate right now, and I have much more thoughtful plans laid out for the garden this year compared to last year.  But, I wanted you to also see the reality of how I get through winter and not run to the store all the time.  I told you that I almost always think about "what greens" I am going to toss into the meal.  My spindly little kale patch might actually see me through the winter season as I now have some new kale, spinach and chard germinating.  I cut off these poor things every day, and right now they look like little Dr. Seuss trees.  Yet they sure add a wonderful element to a soup or stew or sautee.

Your fellow Mainer (if that is a word?), Bill Coperthwaite, continues to inspire me with his thoughts about lifestyle and meaning and self-reliance and education.  I turn to his book, A Handmade Life, so many times.  I think especially now with the problems we are facing as a nation and globally, I like the challenge and excitement about learning new ways to design a model of life.  In fact, Coperthwaite makes an interesting comment about design.  He says, "Nothing is too small or insignificant to be well designed...And good design need not stop with tools, dishes, and houses -- it can also include our selection of food, of friends, and of those who teach our children.  We need to consider good design in relation to family, community, and school."  I think this a provocative part of what is happening right now in our nation with the economy and governance -- a chance to re-examine how we might design a realistic model to live by.

We'll enjoy chewing on that thought won't we.  Wish I could talk to you in person.  Love, Donna

The Winter Months

The beautiful color of canned vegetables

Golden turnips

Asian greens

Hi Winnie and Steve,

Winter is always a bit challenging for a gardener and cook because you are down to a much smaller selection of vegetables during this season, and this is doubly true if you are relying on your own garden produce.  I did head to a lovely farmer's market with a friend last weekend, and I thought how beautiful some of vegetables looked.  One stall even had lovely colors due to taking the vegetables of summer and canning them -- I know how much work that takes!

Also thinking about the more limited choices of winter leads me to sharing a very small part of a letter a friend wrote about the importance of eating local and seasonal and organic.  We are so used to having "unlimited" choice without thinking much about how those choices impact our environment and world.

 

This letter is a bit longer than what I usually write,  but I really wanted to include a part of my friend R.'s comments from her farm in France.  She is a passionate activist for the importance of eating locally and organically and sustainably.  This is just a small part of her letter.

"I thought about all the people, many I know, who would never do what I am doing.  They would not want to be bothered with getting up early on Saturday morning ....nor would they want to stand in line in the freezing cold weather...when they could go into a warm store and buy anything they desire.  Not to mention the vegetables I get are not the washed and polished sort you find in the supermarkets, but are all covered with soil and need a good washing thus adding more time to the preparation.  But as I stood there, now looking at Gerard, the man who grows these gorgeous vegetables which I load each week into my granny trolly, his warm and gentle smile when he sees that I have come again, the small talk we have come to make as good and trusted friends, his hard worked hands that tenderly handle the growing, the harvesting, the selling, the understanding we have about how important and wonderful this food is, I know that in that moment I have want for nothing to be different."

Yes, I appreciate the limited vegetables in my garden right now, and those that show up in winter at the farmer's market and what they represent as R. says.

Thinking of you.  Donna