a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • In Onion There is Strength

    OnionStarts

    When you’re a child, it’s a given that adults are crazy, have a feeble grasp of reality, and are prone to pronouncing illogical edicts at the drop of a hat. Even so, I wasn’t prepared to learn out how batshit crazy the founding fathers were when I was reading a chapter in American History back in grade school. It was the first time I saw the word “union” in print, and read it logically, the way it was spelled: un-i-on, or the same as “onion”, another word I hadn’t seen in print yet.

    George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and I believe Paul Revere, were all going on and on about how “in onion there is strength.” The USA was founded by onion worshippers? I wasn’t impressed. In my mind, they were as crazy as the Israelites complaining after fleeing Egypt, that at least in Egypt they could eat onions and leeks, as if that was anything to complain about. Not having to eat onions and leeks, well, isn’t that something to be happy about?

    Fast forward five decades, and here I am planting spades of onions. What could be possibly more delicious than onions and leeks, slow roasted until they are sugary sweet? What soup or dish doesn’t improve with onion? My husband has been known to suggest, not complain mind you, that just possibly, from time to time, I may use too many onions when I cook. It just goes to show that people change. In onion there is strength.

  • 75% Is the Answer

    FreshBreadA

    I’ve been experimenting with the optimal flour to water ratio in the loaves of whole wheat bread I make, trying a little more, a little less, over the last few months. 80% water to whole wheat flour is a bit too much. 70% is not enough. 75% seems to be the optimal ratio.

    The other important thing is to let it ferment sufficiently. After mixing the flour and water and a pinch of yeast, let the yeast and other bacteria feed on it for a day, gently folding the dough occasionally. After twenty fours, add some salt, knead it in gently, and let the microbes gorge on the dough for another day, gently folding it occasionally.

    On the third day, with the dough fluffy from all the farting the microbes have done the last two days, bake it. The crust is crunchy, the inside fluffy with a nice chew, and the microbes have performed a miracle, converting the flour into heaven you can taste.

    FreshBreadB

  • And the Oscar Goes To …

    SalmonBerryA

    And the Oscar goes to … is it SalmonBerry in “Vermillion and Yellow”, Pepper in “Pepper Lays an Egg”, the Pear Buds in “Like Peas in a Pod”, the Daffodils in “Dancing Lemons”, the Plum Blossoms in “Fifty Shades of Pink”, or the Lilac Buds in “Together for Now”? Envelope please!

    PepperLaysAnEgg
    PearBudCluster
    MiniDaffodils
    PlumBlossoms
    LilacBuds

  • Ten Days

    ArugulaSprouts

    Ten days and the arugula seeds have sprouted and are sticking their first leaves above the soft earth. What do leaves feel when they first poke out of the earth, breathe the air, and feel the sun’s rays? Is it as momentous as a baby’s first breathe, a chick’s first peep?

    In about ten days the cherry buds will open and fill the air with their powder fresh fragrance. The quiet tree will buzz with thousands of bees. That’s momentous.

    CherryBuds

    The United Nations Environment Programme reported on February 26 that 40% of invertebrate pollinators such as bees and butterflies were in danger of going instinct. It’s so sad what we humans are doing to this amazing world. We are so incredibly lucky to have an earth so full of life. Every species, no matter how small or insignificant they seem to us, is precious, an important thread in the fabric of life so complex we can’t begin to fathom. We keep plucking these threads of life and throwing them aside, unaware that at some point, the web of life we depend on will be too fragile to keep us alive.

  • In the Hunting Stream

    InTheStream

    Special is being courted, but she’s far more interested in seeing what juicy morsels she can dig up in the stream than she is by the young rooster’s performance. Chickens enjoy hunting in streams. It’s not something you read about in books about chickens is it? “Be sure and provide chickens with a hunting stream.” Have you ever read that? Actually, you rarely read that chickens are adept hunters. I’m glad they are small birds. We’d be on their menu if they were giants.

    FreshlyCutWood

    Bit by bit, we’re preparing for next winter. There is a slow, steady beauty to cutting wood and stacking it. You spend all spring and summer cutting and stacking it, only to slowly tear down the stacks through fall and winter.

    NorthwesternSalamander

    We had a surprise this afternoon when we accidentally uncovered a wintering northwestern salamander. Before covering it up again, I took a picture. With the pond and woods, there seem to be plenty of these salamanders around. It’s always a joy to see one.