lilith's dreams

independence days

10:56, Thursday, May 1, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

as some of you know, i'm a fan of sharon astyk's blog "casaubon's book"
she discusses topics of interest to me--peak oil, global climate change, sustainability, preserving and storing food, and a number of other related topics.   in all of these, i find her to be level headed and generally not alarmist.   she recently encouraged her readers to take part in an 'independence days' project (read about it here) where the idea is to think in terms of taking small steps toward our own self sufficiency. each week we'll post any activities in which we engage in planting, harvesting, preserving, storing, and prepping, in terms of food.    so here's my first installment (for the last week of april).

Planted: repotted tomato seedlings into larger pots. I thought I would start some lettuces, but i need to raid more yogurt cups and pop bottles (to cut down into pots) from the recycle bin at work. ;-)         I noticed that my potted mint plant is showing some new growth. I was afraid that leaving the pot on the porch over the winter had killed it.

Harvested: a few chives from the pot on the window sill. I need to get more in the habit of thinking about things that can be wild harvested this time of year.

Preserved: nothing. :-(         I had intended to make a batch of grape jelly from some of last season's grape juice, but it will have to wait a few days.

Stored: hmmmm.   formally, nothing. I did buy dry garbanzo beans that i intend to can. I love the convenience of canned beans, because I've never had good luck with soaking and cooking and not having crunchy beans, lol.    I've had to admit, however, that at least until we move, i've got more room to store things dried or frozen and canned. :-(    unless i clean out under the bed to make more room for jars, lol.

Prepped: bought 2 packages of regular canning lids, and one package of widemouth. I've been doing this once a week or so, whenever i stop at the store on my way home. had someone come in and look at our oven.   the circuit board went out about six months ago, and my preliminary research suggested it was going to cost between 200-300 to fix.   since the stovetop still worked, and we have a microwave and toaster oven, we decided to just do without for a while. he will return tomorrow or monday with the part and it will, indeed, cost almost $200 for the part and $80 for the service call. sigh.    but I will be able to bake bread again.

I don't feel like I get much accomplished in regard to these things. I'm hoping that keeping track this way will help me to remember that every little thing makes a difference.

02:31, Sunday, November 19, 2006 .. 2 comments .. Link

it's hard to believe that thanksgiving is less than a week away. i need to buy cranberries. i'm planning to can some cranberry relish so i'll have it throughout the winter.

i'd hoped to get more canning done this year, but only managed to do applesauce. i asked around regarding local grapes, but no one in my limited circle of friends and aquaintances had any ideas. so much for grape juice this year. :-( i've read that they don't grow well in containers or i'd give that a try, lol.

we had the girls the last two weekends, which was fun. a'hnia brought us a little pumpkin that she painted at school. today i scrubbed the paint off (it was that tempera stuff they use in elementary schools, so it washed right off), cut it in half and roasted it.   then i mashed the pulp and it's now in the freezer. there's about enough for a pie. i've no idea what variety it was, but it was very small and looked like a 'pie type'.

i also managed to get some grated zuchinni into the freezer.   riley and i made savory zuchinni muffins and applesauce/cinnamon muffins last week.   the applesauce ones were divine, but the savory zuchinni were a bit dry.    i froze some of each so that we wouldn't eat them all at once, lol.    richard and i have been adopting some ideas from the 'once a month cooking' philosophy. seems to be saving a bit of money, and it's nice having more stuff in the big freezer. we tend to waste a lot of freezer space.

container gardening

06:24, Saturday, June 17, 2006 .. 3 comments .. Link

i wonder if i could grow zuchinni in a gallon sized pot........

my tomato

05:55, Saturday, June 17, 2006 .. 0 comments .. Link

as i mentioned, my tomato plant was a third-hand gift, and i didn't have any idea what variety it was. i was more than ready to assume that it was probably one of the easily available hybrids such as big boy or celebrity, but i'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. while i might dream of huge, heirloom (or at least open pollinated, so i can save my own seeds) i'd have been thankful for ANY homegrown tomato, even hybrid or cherry. lol.

richard came home from work last night, though, and announced that the mystery plant is an ox heart. woo hoo!!!!!! several years ago ox heart was suggested to me as an heirloom substitution for a hybrid which had the qualities i'd wanted, but i haven't had an opportunity to grow tomatoes in the time since. so not only was i gifted with a precious plant, turns out it's a variety i'd have chosen myself.

now, if i can just keep it happy enough to survive in a 5-gallon bucket on what pretends to be our patio........

12:07, Friday, June 16, 2006 .. 1 comments .. Link

i've been missing my grandmother lately.

she'll have been gone three years next month, but i'm inspired by her every day.
my grandparents lived a pretty self sufficient lifestyle. grandpa worked in the automotive industry, but they raised chickens, had a huge garden and various apple, cherry and plum trees.. i learned to put food by with my grandmother and the other women in our family. she was magical with plants. she could be in the grocery store and pick up an african violet leaf off the floor...the one that had fallen from a plant in the 'floral department' and had been run over by about a dozen grocery carts. she'd put it in her coat pocket, and when she remembered it, several days later, stick it in a pot of soil and cover it with plastic wrap. in six months it would be a huge, flower covered plant. now, while i'm not THAT good, i like to think she left her green thumb to me when she passed on.

my sister and her family live in my grandparent's house. i'm glad that someone in the family was able to buy it so that it didn't get sold to strangers. but i dreamed, recently, that they were selling it. and i woke up crying. and needing to get my hands into the dirt. needing tomato plants. tomato plants remind me of my grandma. (as do johnny jump ups, snapdragons and four o'clocks). that night richard came home from work with a tomato plant. a customer had given a six pack of them to one of the waitresses, and she only wanted three. so she'd given the other three to the head chef. he'd only wanted two, so he gave the last one to richard, thinking that i might like to have it. it's now living in a 5 gallon bucket next to our porch. i've no idea what variety it is, but i'll be thrilled if it just produces some tomatoes. lol
it's beautiful. it's a connection to the earth, to the seasons, and to my grandma.

ten on tuesday

06:49, Tuesday, May 30, 2006 .. 1 comments .. Link

1) To relax- do you prefer a bath with candles or a walk by yourself? i'm definitely a bath person. preferably deep water in a tub that reclines comfortably. :-) although i do walk a lot, since i don't drive. but i'd have to say that for relaxation and self pampering, it would have to be a bath.

2) On a windy day- blow bubbles or fly a kite? bubbles. i was never very good with kites.

3) Frank Sinatra or Harry Connick Jr.? of the two? harry connick jr. neither are really my style, though

4) You are going out to dinner- Italian, Chinese, or Mexican food? my initial reaction is italian. but any of the three would work just fine. ;-)

5) What has been the most stressful job you have ever had? i've had some stressful jobs in my life, but i'd have to go with being a deli clerk at a local grocery store. it was too busy with never enough help, lots of customers were just plain crabby, and the owner was one of the least respectful people i've ever met. and he wonders why his employee turnover is so high....

6) During the Civil War- would you have sided with the Yankees (North) or the Confederates (South)? i'm going to go with the north. it's that whole slavery thing.

7) Do a few laps at 200 mph on a racetrack or fly in a super fast military jet? neither? lol but if i have to chose one, i'll go with the racetrack.

8) If you go to the shore- do you stay where there are people or do you go off on your own to swim? i'm not really one to swim, but i do like beaches. quiet and deserted, preferably

9) Watermelon or Honeydew melons? definitely watermelon. especially if it's homegrown.

10) Italian water ice or ice cream? italian ice or sorbet. preferably citrus flavors or mango. :-) i do like gourmet ice creams though--ben and jerry's, etc.

bread and such

09:39, Sunday, May 28, 2006 .. 1 comments .. Link

i had just written a long post in ms word, intending to copy and paste it here, but apparently i can't past anything into the text box here. :sigh: perhaps i'm missing something or maybe it's a mozilla thing.   anyways, i guess i'll start over, lol.

i've been baking bread, on and off, for about the last 30 years. i'd stopped a while ago, for various reasons, but recently had a desire to do it again.   i just never seem to be able to find store-bought bread that i like very well.   i started to experiment with different recipies, and found one that i like. it's easy, reliable and tastes good. but the texture is a little 'crumby', if that makes sense.

a while ago richard, who's a chef, spent several years working as the bread baker at an italian restaurant. he made all of their italian bread, bread sticks, and foccacia (in addition to coffee sauce, creme anglaise and creme brulee), and his bread had such a nice texture...crusty and chewy.   it turns out that italian bread is made with a sponge starter, called a biga, which is sort of like a sourdough starter except that it doesn't ferment as long and doesn't have any of the lactobacilli that sourdough starters attract out of the air....   but anyways, it's the starter that makes the texture different from my plain homemade bread.    his recipes from his bread baking days are way too big (i just don't really want to use 90 lbs of flour per batch, lol), and i didn't feel inclined to do the math and experimentation involved in reducing the recipe down to the amount of bread we use per week.    so i googled.   i found a recipe that looks like it'll be just what i need.    i'd planned to make it today, but we're not out of bread quite yet. so it'll likely be in the next few days.   i'll post the results here. :-)

on a related note, i'm thinking i need to find out where i can go berry picking locally. and i need to find someone to go with me, since i don't drive (and that sort of thing really doesn't appeal to richard.).   i want to make jam, which i hadn't done in years. we just don't eat much of it, and storage space is at a premium in this little apartment (somewhere around 350 sq ft).   but i'm thinking that any canning i do could maybe be stored under the bed, lol
what got me thinking about jam was the trip we took to seattle in april.   there was a restaurant in port townsend wa where we ate breakfast a couple of times that had the most amazing red raspberry jam.   freezer jam, i'm thinking.    and then there was the jar of homemade blackberry jam that my sil gave me.   bread has become an excuse to eat blackberry jam, lol.    so i'm on a mission to find local berries this summer.     we DO have lots of freezer space. so maybe i'll make freezer jam.   and perhaps freeze extra berries for pie.

rain

10:19, Thursday, May 25, 2006 .. 1 comments .. Link

    we've had a very wet spring. the creek has been running pretty high for the last couple of weeks, and the ground is wet. tonight we're having huge storms (with large hail possible) and rain for much of the weekend. i'm concerned that we'll have flooding once hurricaine season hits.

two years ago we had a wet summer, and when the residual rain from several hurricaines came through (one was ivan, but i forget the other) we had severe flooding.   our little apartment is on high enough ground that we were fine, but we have friends and coworkers who lost everything in their basements, and some local families lost everything they owned.

the climate is changing. from the information i'm seeing, we're coming into a pretty severe hurricaine cycle. how many years will it last?   and regardless of whether it's caused by global warming or is a 'natural cycle', it's going to effect a lot of people's lives.   the hurricaine experts are predicting that new york and parts of new england will be hit by hurricaines this season. how weird is that?

i am thankful that the part of town where we live (as well as both of our workplaces, and the routes we walk to get to work) sit high enough that if we DO get flooding, it won't likely effect us directly. it could. but if it does, it'll be a wakeup call for anyone in the area who thinks that global warming and climate change are just a bunch of hype.

10:50, Tuesday, May 23, 2006 .. 2 comments .. Link

slowing down.........

when i was in college in the late 70's and early 80's i felt a connection to the 'back to the land' movement that was still in full swing. well, maybe not FULL swing. but it was still pretty evident. i had a feeling that there would come a time, likely in my lifetime, when we would need to have people in our midst (and our communities) who knew how to do 'old' stuff. growing and preserving food, spinning yarn and knitting/weaving fabric, making soap. etc. since i was attracted to those sorts of activities, i learned as many of them as i could. over the years i also studied massage therapy, studied medicinal herbs, and a number of other related topics. but in more recent years i've found myself in situations where i've been unable to garden. unable to grow herbs. i've had difficulty finding community in the area where i live. and recently i ache for simplicity in my life. i ache for connections. i ache to return to the path that i only ever skirted around the edges of.

my intent is to use this blog to help me sort out my thoughts. prioritize. plan. dream. and maybe grow a little.

lilith's dreams

independence days

container gardening

my tomato

ten on tuesday

bread and such

rain

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