Meeting the FoodCyclist

October 21st, 2010

While Mr Chiots and were driving around the back roads of Main we happened upon this sign:

Now if any of you have read any of Eliot Coleman’s books, you know that this is his farm. We stopped in to see what kinds of beautiful vegetables were available and what his farm stand carts look like.

The stand was filled with his famous carrots, and all other sorts of beautiful farm fresh organic vegetables. If we hadn’t been traveling I would have purchased some beets and some cabbage and probably some leeks.

Since we had little room in our cooler, I only had room for a big bag of carrots and some arugula. The carrots were roasted with a fresh chicken from a local farm when we got home. The arugula was enjoyed on sandwiches while we were on the road. This particular sandwich was made of: cheese, arugula, a tomato brought from home, local cheese, and guacamole on homemade bread.

While we were there we met Chad who’s working at Four Season Farm and we also met John the Food Cyclist who happens to be planning to bike around the world visiting organic farms. We chatted with him for a while about his trip and all the interesting things him and his wife are doing. Head on over to his blog to read about his trip.

It’s always great to meet like-minded folks and chat with them. It’s encouraging to know that there are so many out there that have many of the same convictions we do about organic gardening and local eating. John and Chad were just a few of the many interesting like-minded folks we chatted with on vacation.

Have you ever met any interesting folks while on vacation?

Eliot Coleman’s

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Fresh Greens from the Garden

October 20th, 2010

I’ve been harvesting some of my fall planted veggies, mainly spinach and arugula. These two greens are my favorites, with arugula being my favorite of the two. If I had to choose only one green to eat the rest of my life it would be arugula.

There’s just something about it’s wonderful peppery complex flavor that I love. It works beautifully in salads, as a substitute for basil in pesto and it makes a marvelous BLT. No boring iceberg lettuce here at Chiot’s Run!

I like to grow heirloom arugula and collect seed from it each year to keep it going in the garden. Mine is the white blooming variety, I’ve grown the yellow blooming variety as well but I didn’t like it as much as this kind.

What’s your favorite garden green?

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Hothouse Flower Review and Giveaway

October 19th, 2010

A couple months ago I was contacted by Trish from TLC Book Tours to see if I would review Hothouse Flower: and the Nine Plants of Desire. I’m not much a modern novel reader, but figured since was a novel featuring plants, I would give it a shot.

I received my copy many weeks ago when I was super busy getting ready for vacation. I finally cracked it open last Wednesday when we arrived home. I have to admit when I read the back cover I was a bit nervous:

Lila Nova is a thirty-two-year-old advertising copywriter who lives alone in a plain white box of an apartment. Recovering from a heartbreaking divorce, Lila has a simple mantra: no pets, no plants, no people, no problems. But when Lila meets David Exley, a ruggedly handsome plant seller, her lonely life blossoms into something far more colorful. From the cold, harsh streets of Manhattan to the verdant jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula, Hothouse Flower is the story of a woman who must travel beyond the boundaries of sense and comfort to find what she truly wants.

I was happy that it wasn’t the romance novel I had feared, at least not much of one. There were a few romantic sections, but it definitely isn’t the main point of the book, thank goodness! It was a quick read, I finished it within 24 hours of starting. It only took me a couple sittings to get through the entire book, which I always enjoy. I hate books that are tedious to read and difficult to make yourself sit down to finish them. This book held my attention enough to make me want to sit down and read through it.

This book is a fluffy quick read, not an in depth book that includes lots of detail and history. You’ll find gaps in the story, perhaps questions about the mythology, storyline, the main character’s decisions and so many other things. But this book isn’t meant to be a John Steinbeck novel, it’s meant to be a quick summer read so you have to take that into consideration. If you go into it expecting something deep and meaningful you’ll be disappointed. I reminded me a lot of a Barbara Kingsolver novel, only shorter, less descriptive and a little less environmentally preachy. If you like her novels you’ll most likely enjoy this one.

The plant references were particularly interesting and I found myself wanting to look up all the plants mentioned in the book. Margot definitely has a wonderful imagination since she came up with an entire mythology about the nine plants of desire and the lore that surrounds them. The 9 Plants of Desire give the person who has all 9 of them power, insight and understanding. While reading through the book I found myself wanting to read more in depth about all of these 9 plants: gloxinia, mexican cycade, cacao, moonflower, sinsemilla, lily of the valley, mandrake, chicory and datura. There were also many other plants talked about in the book: bird of paradise, fire fern, orchids, a special nameless extinct plant, Chinese windmill palm, croton, Mexican fan palm, floribunda rose, and others.

I won’t go into much detail about the book, I don’t want to give anything away (I always hate that). Now that I’m finished with this book I’ll be giving away my copy of this book as well as a copy from the publisher. All you have to do is comment below and you’ll be entered into a drawing for the book.

Any great quick read novel recommendations? Do you know of any great books that feature botanical themes?

**WINNERS**
Kaytee from Gardening to Preserve
Peggy

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The Good Life Center

October 18th, 2010

After reading Maine Farm: A Year of Country Life I really wanted to visit the Nearing Farm. I have yet to read Scott Nearing’s book The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing’s Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living, it’s been on my “to read” list for quite a while. I have read a lot about them and have been longing to see their walled garden and their little greenhouse. Since we were headed up to Maine we decided to visit The Good Life Center, which was the Nearing Home.

I checked their website and they were going to be closing at the end of September, but I figured we could stop by and look around anyways. There wasn’t anyone there to show us around and the gardens were harvested and pretty empty, but it was still wonderful to see. I’d always read about their stone house, the stone walls around their garden and the solar greenhouse that they built. It was so wonderful to see these things in person, the gardens especially. I won’t bore you with too many words, the home and garden speak for themselves.

One of the wonderful things about the Nearing home is that they built all the buildings themselves from stone. The house is stone, part of the greenhouse is stone, the workshop is stone, the wall around the garden is stone, and even the outhouse is made of stone, it truly is remarkable.

I loved seeing the little things like the compost piles, wooden shoes and the little cat statues throughout the garden – which were a nod to Stanley & Lynn who purchased Forrest Farm from the Nearings and loved cats.

The Nearings really are an inspiration for many of us simple life lovers. I really appreciate people like them, I may not agree with all their ideals or beliefs, and I will most likely never live off the grid without electric, but I really appreciate people than can and do live this kind of lifestyle!