Heavenly!

So we are back from 2 days of restful relaxation and fun at Breitenbush, a lovely place tucked in the Cascade Mountains....full of my favorite things: beautiful old growth forests to explore, natural hot springs, massage, yoga, a sauna, yummy vegetarian buffet, and no chores whatsoever. We also made friends with this lovely couple from Seattle....it was just one nice thing after another....

It was also my first long hike post-surgery. My foot did pretty good, all things considered. It was not a pain-free experience, but the toe was actually really fine. The outer edge of foot really hurt, and I think it was due to the way I've changed my gait to minimize pain. Something I'm working on with the PT....It was such a beautiful first. Woods, rivers, creeks, crossing over on log bridges, birdsong....I am so thankful to be resuming all the things I love.

Here are some pictures to whet the appetite.

Tomorrow

We are heading to one of my favorite places. In the forest, with natural hot springs...a cabin....to relax and enjoy the end of a lovely summer. To savor our time to just be. Without chores, without phones, electronics....

This time tomorrow I plan to be staring at the stars, soaking in the hot springs...holding hands.

Flores mas lindas

While veg gardening is a big part of the garden, I really started this whole thing because I LOVE flowers. I always have, and the ability to grow vases full is a creative act...blending colors, textures, smells....

Here are some of the late summer blooms - dahlias, roses, sunflowers, heliotrope...

News that isn't

At the gym today I was exposed to what passes for news nowadays. 3 screens running...Fox and a couple of network morning shows. The Fox anchorwomen looked like models, and the main stories were Michael Jackson's homicide and some reality TV show murder. Very glad that we don't get TV signals anymore.

Meanwhile on the way home I listened to Democracy Now radio news, which talked about the high levels pesticides in our drinking water (and how that particular one makes frogs hermaphroditic).

Which is the news you could actually use? Care about? Impact your well-being and that of your loved ones?

Incredible to think that the lack of real useful information on our "news" programs serves to numb us out and misinform us, leaving us unaware of important issues that really impact our health.

Sweet beets

While my beet crop has long been eaten, Debbie shared some of hers with us. I was able to try out an Oprah magazine recipe for Beet Soup, which I got to use our fresh tomatoes and garlic. This recipe was AWESOME. Fast, delicious, rich-tasting, even though there is no meat. The color is totally stunning, which is one of the reasons I adore beets. I got some fresh rolls from the Vietnamese bakery on 82nd Street, garnished with feta cheese, and voila, you have a delicious, simple and healthy meal.

Fede loved it, and we shall see what the kiddo thinks tomorrow.

Soaking

I'm going to let you in on a wonderful neighborhood place which we (finally) discovered as a couple...Common Ground Wellness Center's soak/sauna. I've been going to Common Ground for massage off and on for a while and always wanted to try out the hot tub and sauna, which I saw as it was being constructed. Finally we did it last weekend, and we love it.

It is clothing optional, which I admit, takes a certain amount of comfort in your own skin (and seeing others in theirs). I love the hot tub under the stars feeling in the evening. No one talks (hardly), so it has this very zen quality. Naked people relaxing in hot water. Naked people sweating in sauna. The only thing that needs some improving are the patio plants.

We did it again tonight...it was just a nice way to wind up a week. I come out feeling warm, very very relaxed, and ready for sleep. I'm visualizing this combined with a massage and yoga....for the total relaxation experience. Since People's Yoga is a few blocks away, and Audy is right in the building, this is easy to pull off, if I can block out 3 plus hours. Which I can, and I will.

Herbalist in training

One of my summer garden projects is harvesting the garden bounty for future teas and potions. I've been drying lavender, roses and other herbs in the closet. I've also been "garbling" which means to take those dried herbs and crumble them up for storage. Above is some of the "garbled" harvest - rose petals, calendula and lavender.

With nice repurposed glass jars full of my own herbs, I've also made bath powder and salts that feature ground-up herbs. Both are far more yummy, fresh and organic that anything you could ever buy, and affordable. I sent my mom a jar of homemade powder, and I'm thinking that I could make some baby powder too. The possibilities are endless.

My next experiment is making a vinegar hair rinse with infused apple cider vinegar that is out baking outside in the sun and moonshine. I bought some once online, and it was pricey. I loved how clean it made my hair feel, and the stuff is so very cheap to make. I'm infusing the vinegar with chamomile, rosemary and calendula.

Future bath salts will be ones designed for colds (using rosemary and sage dried and ground up), since that season will be coming sooner than you realize. I made some last year, and Fede really got better quicker after one of my special baths with sage in it.

Once I've garbled all the mints that are drying I will be making some tea blends to store away for the winter.

So many things to make!

Miracles in the garden

A couple of days ago I heard the most remarkable visitor in our garden. A frog. At first I felt disoriented. This is a sound I hear when camping or near a lake. Not in our city garden/yard. I stopped still in my tracks, listening intently...no mistaking the soft croaking of a frog. When I got into the flower bed to look, the croaking stopped. When I backed off, it resumed. We can hear him from our 2nd story bedroom window...a sweet country sound in the city. He resides here now.

I never fail to marvel at the miracles in our garden. A safe haven for all living things. Free of chemicals and full of good things to eat, whether you're a person or a frog or a bee.

Yoga with a wow

I decided to try a Hatha Flow class at People's Yoga, which I decided to revisit in spite of not liking the class I tried out (too crowded and not crazy about the teacher). The reason is that this class is taught by Ana, who is a fantastic teacher in all the ways you want a yoga teacher to be....knowledgeable, wise, tranquil, observant, funny, kind.

The class was an eye-opening, because I've never had an aerobic workout in a yoga class (I don't count Bikram yoga)...until now. I was sweating and working, plus stretching and breathing. I loved it. My foot didn't hurt, which was a bit of surprise, considering how much bending and balancing I was doing.

I'll be going back.

What I'm reading

I took a break from my audio-books for a musical interlude of amazing Rahman music. I need to write a whole post/ode to this remarkable musician (you might know him if you watched Slumdog, he did the soundtrack).

Now I'm listening to one of my favorite author's read her latest novel "The Mercy." Toni Morrison wanted to explore the time in our nation's history before slavery became equated with race, with Africans. There was such a time when our country was a mishmash of indentured servants of all colors. There was a slide to the enslavement of African people that began in the plantations of Virginia....it wasn't how this country started. Importing people to work as a birth sentence.

Here is a comment she made in an interview that I heartily agree with:

Yet none of this is to say that Morrison thinks race has run its course as an American topic (even if Obama wins). “Crude and crass as most of it is and, really, uninformed as almost all of it is, the discourse about race is important,” she says. “But the real conversation should take place among white people. They should talk to each other about that. Not with me. I can’t be the doctor and the patient.”

What I'm watching

A wonderful film about bikes, class, and being in love....set in China. Big thumbs up.

Southern collards

Butterbeans to blackberries: Recipes from the Southern Garden just came in from the library, and I'm delving into the mysteries of greens. I've got so much that I'm eager to find new recipes and tricks. Southern cooks would seem to be a logical resource.

I just tried greens with dumplings, which turned out pretty good for my first ever attempt at dumplings. Let's see what Federico thinks.

Greens get more bitter as they mature (gosh, is that what is happening to me? Smile). If my collards make it through the frost I'll keep that in mind. Using the crock pot solves that challenge nicely.

The garden at this moment

Above is a nice shot of those delicate Van Gogh sunflowers. Very pretty, but too dainty a stalk. Happy heliotrope is below. I love the yellow and purple combo.

Above is a different variety of sunflowers that self-seeded from last year's planting. These guys got crazy tall, have monster stalks, lots of flowers. Love flowers that are easy.

A Cinderalla pumpkin peeking out from foliage.

First tomato ready for picking. Thinking of caprese salad to use up basil

Close-up of that Van Gogh. Very photogenic flower.

Garden update

There is a lot of stuff going on out there.

Tomatoes are ripening (I've got a couple I need to harvest), as are some chiles. It is very clear to me that our climate is not suited to "hot" crops like chiles. Someone at work suggested that chiles in pots are more fruitful. I'm going to try that next year. Zucchini and eggplant are starting to take off as well. If only I knew we had 2-3 months more of hot temps, then we'd be rolling in these crops. Ah well. As it is, I have the most massive and happy collard plants. We eat them on a weekly basis, plus chard is integrated into rice, stirfry, eggs....you name it.

The dahlias are lush, but not too many flowers. Why is that? Sunflowers make up for the dahlias by being CRAZY tall (10 feet I think) and full of flowers. The Van Gogh variety is lovely, but definitely has its limitations. About 1/2 of the starts didn't make it...the stalks collapsed. Too delicate for my taste. I won't be buying these seeds again. Cosmos are blooming and lovely. The zinnia seeds were a total non-germination failure. I'm rather twerked at the seed company, because I don't think it is my soil or planting that was the problem. The whole packet was a bust. Bummer.

I hacked back the herbs..thyme, oregano and marjoram. They are happily growing back and plan to harvest for drying.

Power of community

Just watched this fascinating documentary about the remarkable ways that Cuba managed to survive the collapase of the Soviet Union and an intensified US embargo....the overnight loss of oil in their national economy.

It definitely makes you hopeful about the power of humans to solve really tough problems with ingenuity, resolve, and community. As an urban gardener I was awestruck with how Cubans figured out how to do massive small-scale urban organic farming for their food security...I want to get on a plane to learn from these folks how they do what they do. As a librarian I was struck with their long-term and fierce committment to education as a path of service. How they are able to quickly mobilize community knowledge through training of trainers, i.e. helping tap the older farmers to teach younger ones how to use oxen. As a USer, I'm always struck by the bare facts that our very way of life is not sustainable in the long-term.

Check it out!

http://www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/index.php

Bottom of the sea

"We want enjoyment, we want to avoid pain and discomfort. But it is impossible that things will always work out, impossible to avoid pain and discomfort. So to be happy, with a happiness that doesn’t blow away with every wind, we need to be able to make use of what happens to us — all of it — whether we find ourselves at the top of a mountain or at the bottom of the sea."

http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/for-the-time-being/?em

What I'm watching

Providence

So I've decided that God just plops people in your path to teach, guide, push and comfort you, depending on what the moment calls for....

Today was one of those days where She was plopping all kinds of folks in my way.

Thank you.

Basil

One of the challenges and fun parts of a veg garden is creatively figuring out ways to use the abundant harvest. I've learned how to make a delicious cabbage salad, and now I'm learning new and easy ways to use up the basil and other herbs in the garden.

Trust English celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to provide some inspiration for an easy summer pasta dish, which I modified to our tastes (add chile flakes and chicken sausage) and diets (brown rice pasta).

It's all about healthy, fast, and delicious. This meets those criteria.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/simple-summer-spaghetti

Since I didn't have cherry tomatoes on hand I roasted a few Roma tomatoes and chopped them up. We do have a beautiful cherry tomato plant that is full of fruit, so in a few weeks I will be able to serve this up a bit more "correctly." I only have the traditional Basil in the garden, because that is what Debbie grows and gives away....I have 2 marjoram plants, plus 6 basils...so I'm swimming in herbs (local readers can come by for basil).

The verdict from Fede is a big thumbs up.