Monthly Archives: October 2008

food and open space

open space

Through the middle of our suburban sea of houses runs this creek with its accompanying wetland full of birds and bugs and willows.  We can get on our bikes, and in a matter of minutes (and with a little imagination) feel like we  are in a secret wilderness, ready for us to explore.  It’s a really beautiful place– teaming with cat tails to fluff apart, snakes to catch, butterflies drinking from the sand, spent sunflower blooms waiting for the birds to get every last seed.  I love that developers have had the forsight to include some open-space amid the sprawling subdivisions that Denver has– so that we don’t forget what this place REALLY looks like.  Even more exciting to my mind is the suggestion made in this article that not only should we preserve the value of natural habitats by including open space in housing developments, but we should also be including community farms– places where we can see and experience and connect to where our food really comes from– places that will help transform our culture to one aware of what real food is, and how interconnected everything on earth really is.  I love that idea.  I have been sorely missing our CSA this summer.  I loved picking up our box of freshly picked veggies every week.  Not only did it force me to try, and learn to like, vegetables I never would have even tried to pronounce, let alone eat, but those veggies were grown by a family that we knew and loved.  We could visit the farm, tour the rows and rows of tomatoes, bask in the peaceful songs of the birds, explore the woods, and pet the alpacas that fertilized it all.

 

Though I don’t agree with all of Mr. Pollan’s propsosals I do agree that our conveyor belt system of eating is hurting our nation and culture and needs to be addressed.  We do need an “emergency grain preserve,” not only a national one, but one stored in buckets in every home.

 

I would love to not only be able to ride our bikes on a path through open space to nurture our spirits, but to have a farm at the heart of our place– to nurture our spirits and our bodies.

 

And then, maybe I could have my chickens!

today

I sat out on the deck in the perfect autumn weather and made something.

assembling

the texture

A lot of beach combing happened this summer in California.  A little by me, during the weekend I visited Barry, and quite a lot by Barry.  I came home from my trip with all the nooks and crannies of my suitcase filled with rocks and shells.  We had even found a starfish washed up on the shore.  I thought I could take it back with me and dry it, but boy was that a mistake!  Even in two ziploc bags it spread the most horrific smell to everything near it– and turned to flattened mush.  I put it on the roof at my parents house to dry, but it remained stinky and just not cool at all.  Bummer.

But, I still have treasures to spare.  I braved a trip to Michael’s yesterday with the kids in tow to find some shadow box frames, and I found some in the Martha Stewart crafty stuff– in my shade of green, even.  I grabbed my box of shells and sticks and sand dollars, went outside with my glue and paintbrush, and it felt so good.

finished

I stuck the finished arrangement in a cubby in my new art-room-in-leiu-of-a-dining-room.  I’m making progress in there.

making progress

It’s in plain view of the front door, so if it’s going to be a mess, it’s got to be a cute mess.  I finally got to the box of very gingerly wrapped bird nests, rocks, seedpods, eggs, and shells today.  I wonder what the packers thought…

There was some other random junk in the box too.  I had some help finding a place to put it.

this is what happens

 

I made something today

Have you heard of the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day?

i made something today

Okay, so I know if you’re an Angry Chicken reader you most likely have.  I just have to chime in my two cents that you simply must get your hands on a copy.  I bought one while we were living in a little apartment in Alabama this summer– without a good mixer or bread maker.  With the recipes in this book you need neither a heavy mixer or a bread maker, just a good sized bowl and a wooden spoon or (my preference) a sturdy rubber spatula.  The dough doesn’t even need kneading!  Just mix your ingredients, let it rise for a while, then pop the dough in the fridge.  When you’re ready for some warm, crusty bread, some naan, or even some sinful cinnamon rolls, just break out your bowl of dough and you’re good to go.  We had a long, busy day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science today  and the last thing my tired pregnant body wanted to do was make dinner.  The dough in the fridge came to the rescue!  In less than an hour we had spaghetti and 3 crusty loaves (I hurried and took a picture before they were all gone) filling our home with delicious smells.

I don’t use the recipes for our everyday bread.  I haven’t been able to get the whole wheat varieties to turn out quite to our liking, but for dinner bread or for a sweet morning treat, the white bread recipes are amazing and super easy.

Anyway– it made me feel a teensy bit creative today.