Cultivate Simple 9: Random Musings
In this weeks show we discuss some random thoughts and musings that we have been having lately and some of the things we feel have made us successful in cultivating a simple life.
Mt Rose Herbs Tea
Traditional Medicinals Teas
Heirloom apples and other Edible Plants
Books of the Week
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:17 — 71.6MB)
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Quote of the Day: Robyn Griggs Lawrence
Preparing food is an ideal way to hone your creative flair and bring sense of beauty into your home. You have to do it every day, anyway – and if you stop to recognize the simple majesty of the objects you bring home in grocery bags, making dinner will be a lot more fun.
Next time you unload the groceries, particularly the produce, do so mindfully. Notice the fine white hairs protecting the carrot’s flesh, the squeaky wax binding the cheese wedge, the chunky shapes or fine straight bands of different pastas. How can you make the most of crisp spring greens, plump August tomatoes, golden fall pumpkins? You can toss them, mash them, and spice them up for consumption, of course, and you can also use them to add seasonal grace to the dining room table.
Robyn Griggs Lawrence (The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty)
There’s nothing I love more than heading to the farmers market each week to see what each vendor will have. Fresh sheep’s milk yogurt, honey, cheese, carrots, kale, cabbage, apples and a few other goodies made it into my bags on Friday. To me, it’s all about relishing the fact that time moves forward, seasons change, the sun rises and sets, and food changes as this happens.
Meals shouldn’t be just about eating, they should be about appreciating the distinct flavors of the seasons. The more food I grow in my garden and the more wild foods I learn to gather, the more I appreciate each thing at the height of it’s flavor. The longer I eat seasonally the less I want to eat things that aren’t fresh and at the peak of ripeness. Asparagus picked a few minutes before eating is so much better than some I’ve pulled from the freezer in late November. Not only is the flavor not as good, but it seems wrong to eat it when the skies are gray and the earth is settling in for it’s long winter’s nap. This time of year apples fit the bill better than asparagus.
This doesn’t mean we have to learn to cook new things each season, often we can learn to make one dish and adapt it for different flavors. Crepes are one of those versatile dishes that everyone should learn to make. They’re quick and easy to make and you can stuff them with anything sweet or savory. In June you’ll find them on our plate stuffed with strawberries, in late winter, with kale, eggs, bacon and cheese. You can even use different types of grains to make them even more flavorful!
Yesterday morning we enjoyed homemade crepes of freshly ground wheat flour, eggs from our chickens, milk from a local farm and local butter. Instead of adding water to the recipe I used apple cider since it was in season and my crepes were going to be stuffed with cooked apples. For the filling, I combined apples, more cider, butter, molasses, cinnamon, ginger and allspice. Each crepe was smeared with some sheep’s milk yogurt then stuffed with the apple filling, and chopped crispy walnuts. A little drizzle of maple syrup and a sprinkling of cinnamon topped it off perfectly. The perfect brunch on a saturday in December!
What would you choose as your favorite crepe filling combo?
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Relaxation and Research
Mr Chiots and I have a lot of big plans for great new things for the blog, including some kind of internet TV show of sorts. We do videography as part of our business, you might remember some of those Ethel Videos I made, like the one on how to make the perfect pie crust. Here it is:
Our new show will be all about gardening, cooking, local food, and other things we find interesting. We’ve been doing research on these types of showing, gathering ideas for filming and topics.
We also have been watching all the River Cottage Series of videos (links to the seasons below). If you love gardening, cooking and local eating, you’ll love this series from the UK. Most of them are available on Amazon for a great price. There’s nothing I love more than seeing other people encouraging others to grow their own and eat local. There are many seasons, lots of great commercial free entertainment for only a few dollars! It certainly has been nice to spend a little time sitting and relaxing, even if it is research for a future job.
What kinds of topics would you be interested in seeing in a Chiot’s Run TV show?
Escape to River Cottage
Return to River Cottage
River Cottage Forever
Tales from River Cottage
Beyond River Cottage
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Friday Favorite: Making Do
There’s nothing I love more than finding a new use for an old item. When we were in Ohio last week, I harvested the remaining sage from my giant sage bush. I wanted to hang it above the wood stove so the warm dry heat would dry it quickly.
Just as I was about to head up the garage to find my hammer and a few nails to put in the beam above the stove, I noticed the old deer racks hanging there. These were left for us by the previous owners, admittedly they need a good dusting, which I hope to do this weekend.
They worked quite nicely to hang my herbs from. Instead of hanging lower from the beam, they’re now hanging up out of the way above the stove. In this climate they’ll dry quickly and be ready for seasoning delicious winter soups and stews! Lucky for me the lodge look is in, next thing you know they’ll be selling antler herb drying racks at Pottery Barn!
Have you found any great new uses for old items recently?
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Moving a Hedge
If you were reading the blog last year, you might remember that I finally realized a garden dream when I added a 60 ft boxwood hedge to my garden. I must admit, I was a bit sad to leave my hedge behind, but figured I’d simply start anew next spring.
Much to my delight, the new owners of our home in Ohio aren’t gardeners and told us to take whichever plants we wanted. So the hedge came with me. It’s a bit late to be moving these beauties, but I figured I had nothing to lose but a few hours of time.
I dug each shrub carefully with a large root ball and planted them in the big upper edible garden. They’ll be mulched heavily with some leaves and I’ll pile lots of pine boughs around them for added protection this winter. Each of these shrubs would have cost me about $70 to replace so I figured it was worth a an hour or two of my time to try to save them.
If these beauties survive the winter, they’ll most likely become a hedge around the small potager behind the house. It will be nice to have a few of my favorite plants from Ohio here in Maine!
What’s your favorite hedge plant?
