The Road Home

Sunday in the kitchen

Actually, Saturday afternoon as well … all those fresh vegetables from the market!

This is the first weekend in a month that I haven’t worked, studied work issues or watched videos related to learning about the new tools for work. I happen to enjoy my work very much, but I also enjoy some time away from it to refresh and regroup.

This weekend mostly happened in the kitchen.

Pickled Peppers! … pickled jalapeno peppers. I enjoy them as a garnish on many things. The vinegar-sugar brine brings out their sweet-hot flavor.

A new venture: sauerkraut. I made it once before in just a water and salt solution but was not enamored of the flavor. I always have a jar of sauerkraut in the refrigerator and like the jalapenos, add a little of it to many things.

This new homemade batch is a recipe from Donna Schwenk’s Cultured Food Life . The recipe calls for some apple and jicama and also the addition of a culture starter to add to the good bacteria during the fermenting process.

Bread of course! And I processed a very small batch (13 ounces) of plums into a tiny jar of plum jam. I have become a huge fan of small batch preserves. I know that many people do large batches because they have a lot of fresh fruit that must be preserved, but I like making a jar or two as needed with whatever is in season.

And speaking of a lot to be preserved – I have all of those vegetables from the market! So another bit of the weekend was spent doing a bit of planning – what needed to be used first and what to do about any extra.

I typically plan meals very loosely around what I have and the freezer is my friend!

A recent acquisition to help with the freezing kind of preserving is a vacuum sealer. I had been dithering about which one and which features when Mel, of Mel’s Kitchen Cafe featured this one which is a very basic model. Since it works for her and her family of 7, I decided it would no doubt work for just me. It is very easy to use – it seals as well as vacuum-seals. Any of the vegetables that look like they MUST be used that I am unable to use will get pureed, vacuum-sealed and frozen for later use.

Two varieties of beans, two whole chickens … neither very photogenic – were cooked and divided up for meals and the freezer. A pumpkin and a batch of rice are also ready for this week’s eating.

It is to be a cool and rainy week and there is plenty on hand for a variety of soups and stews.

And I am ending the weekend as relaxed as Bear and Auggie look.

More Fall

There is a bit of gold in the woods…

… the few aspen have turned and a lot of leaves are down. The larch are just starting to lighten on their own way to gold.

Weather has been beautiful: pleasant temperatures, soft breezes, mostly sunny days with that magic light of the Fall sun angle.

I missed most of the Farmer’s Market season this year, but this morning Bear and I headed to town and brought back an abundance of Fall produce:

Onions, a garlic bulb nearly as large as the onion, flowers, tomatoes, carrots, leeks, beets, greens, apples and a beautiful bunch of a variety of sunflowers.

Good stuff!

Later … the road home.

And from the same spot but looking a little more to the north.

More Fall.

Magic woods

I love my woods.

It is not really “my” woods. The woods is within the boundaries considered “my” property, but the woods belong to nature, to God … I am somewhat a caretaker but mostly they have taken care of me, of Karl, of Bob and now of Bear and Auggie.

During Karl’s last months, he and I were out 2-4 times a night. We walked and sometimes Karl just wanted to lie down and I bundled up and lay down near until he was ready to go in.

I have since marveled how comforting those times were, even in the midst of knowing that his time was probably short (my greatest concern) and that the nocturnal hunting creatures were out and about (I really did not think of this at all during those times). The woods and especially the woods at night – that winter and early spring – they were peace to me. I believe to Karl also. It is hard to explain how I embraced those moments of quiet … outside … in the night… in the woods.

This last weekend, two woodsmen: Fred Buck and his nephew Sean, worked in the woods. They took down 6 1/2 standing dead trees, split the wood, cleaned up and also cleared other downfall.

I’ve got firewood!

They felt horrible that they could not stack the whole bit.

The problem was that the motorhome would not start so I could not get it out of the way.

The second day, Fred brought some gadgets and we got her started and moved out of the way so 1 load of splits did get stacked. I made the decision for them to mostly work on getting up downfall as I can’t do that alone. Moving and stacking firewood – I can do that and it is good exercise and I enjoy doing it!

Fred and Sean will be back for a day in October when open burning is allowed. They will burn the slash pile and babysit the first day’s burn … it will burn/smolder for 10-14 days likely based on my previous experience with a large slash pile. But that first day, when the large pile of slash burns hot … I do NOT like to be on my own and will be grateful for experienced woodsmen to supervise. We will do this on a day when surroundings are plenty wet, but still.

Meanwhile, Auggie has a new venue for exploring!

So beautiful!

The area down the “hill” had been a tangle of downed trees.

Now it is clear.

I – they … leave plenty of “stuff”: stumps, and sticks and other kinds of downed debris – for critter homes as well as to decay and feed the woods. It is a balance of removing fuel that could cause the loss of the woods to fire and leaving enough to keep a good balance of life.

I have been fortunate to have the advice of several long time Montana woodsmen.

It was hard to be inside, hearing the saws and the BOOM of trees coming down and the truck…

It was exhausting :) !!!

Before Fred and Sean left, I said to them: “Ok, I know you will probably think me a crazy lady, but… do you think this woods is extra special … like magical in a way?”

And they said: “Yes.”

I don’t remember their exact words after that except that they did not think I was crazy and expressed that it was a joy to work here.

Magic woods.