Crafty Tales and Culinary Fails

I started my November off with some friends making Altars. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, but it wasn't until College that I began digging deeper into the Holiday's meaning. Mostly what I determined was that Halloween is yet another American excuse to spend money and eat food, that is twisted from some other culture's more spiritual gathering. Ever since reading about All Saint's Day and Day of the Dead, in which the dead are honored and remembered, I have wanted to be a part of a tradition that does that respectfully, but have not had the opportunity until now.
On Saturday a group of 7 or so gathered in my friends living room and shared pictures and stories of the loved ones that passed, adding their images to a beautiful altar.

Sunday morning we gathered again to celebrate Dia De Los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) with a small festival and parade in Albuquerque's South Valley. It might seem morbid to paint our faces like skulls, but it's all to honor those who have moved on from this world.

At this time of year when darkness seems to overcome the light, it makes sense to give thought to the darker parts of ourselves, and acknowledge the grieving we feel for those who have passed.

After the celebrations ended, I came back to my house to find another kind of death...tons of garden veggies on the edge of rotting away. As a result, I've been cooking up a storm and remembering how terrible I am at "wingin' it" when it comes to food.
 
I had this vision of a Broccoli-millet salad, similar to a broccoli pasta with an oily dressing, just like mama used to make. I over cooked the Millet though, and turned out with a millet mush. I did successfully blanche the Broccoli! But the result was less than satisfactory.

 

Amil had made a ton of carrot-tomato sauce with leftovers from trips and our Summer garden. Since we had a disproportionate amount left compared to the black bean pasta we had, I decided to try a casserole.

 

The result wasn't too bad....

Especially with some cashew cheese, Braggs liquid aminos and homemade crackers.

In effort to redeem my culinary confidence, I tried my hand at some protein bars I've made a couple times before. Of course, not wanting to get bored with an old recipe, and inspired by Cliff's Max Protein bars that I just can't get enough of, I had to overcomplicate it. I should have gone with my gut instinct to pour the chocolate first, then the crispies, then the protein mixture...
 
 

A delicious mix of dates, almond milk, protein powder, oat flour, coconut and fresh cracked pecans (it took me half an hour to crack 1/4 cup of them...but hey- they were free!)

 
 So, after spreading out the initial bars, and adding some crispy brown rice cereal, I tried to pour over some carob-coconut oil "chocolate," but I didn't make nearly enough and it was too thin, so the result was a disappointing drizzle of oily carob flavor. I tried to salvage it with some sunflower seed butter, but I over roasted the seeds, and didn't have nearly enough to cover it.

 The take away here is that I should have gone with my gut, to pour the chocolate first...but also that it's okay to make mistakes and deliver disgusting looking treats.

Cause as long as they taste good, or passable, then it was worth it. This certainly isn't a BAR that you could take on the go with you (note the fork), but it tasted darn good, and I know exactly what's in it.

 

NO-vember

 

Welcome to a new month! Can't believe that 2014 is 5/6 over! But I'm ready for two really exciting things that are happening in the month of November.

Paganically, November is the first month of the winter quarter (in the natural year).  The first day of the month is Samhain (pronounced sow-ain), and All Saints day.  Until Yuletide, this is a time of increasing darkness, of awakening and letting go, when the seed falls to earth from its mother plant.
Interestingly, November was the ninth month on the Roman calendar, but the Anglo-Saxon name for November was Blatmonath, the month of sacrifice- the time for killing livestock that could not be kept through the winter month. In the Frankish tradition, it was Herbistmanoth, or “harvest month” also referring to the third harvest of animals.
From 13 November, the rune Nyd rules. This is the rune of necessity, urging us to accomplish the tasks we need to fulfill before the coming wintertime renders them impossible. Although I haven’t delved much into the philosophy of Runes, I identify with the need to get starts on projects before the fading light and cold weather requires caffeine to carry out any sort of activity. It’s with all this in mind, along with a break in usual business that has encouraged me to take on a couple of projects this month that promise to keep me quite busy.

 

Firstly, I’m hoping to put the NO in November, by eating NO sugar this month. I managed to do this for 12 days during a cleanse in August, but since I came off the cleanse away from my home, I had limited access to foods and slipped back into eating added (cane)sugar. This time I hope to push myself to go a whole month without added cane sugar on anything. I’ll allow myself agave and maple syrup this time (hoping to cut that out too next year) so I can satisfy my sweet tooth, but I’ll mostly be trying to eat fruits and natural sugars. I’ve cut out high fructose and regular corn syrup for the last few years, so this is my next big push…we’ll see how I do in a month trial.

To distract myself from the missing sweets that I’m sure I won’t really miss, I’m going to participate in National Novel writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. I was introduced to NaNoWriMo in college, and dabbled for a few weeks in a novel of my own. After 2 or so weeks I only had about 1/10 of the expected 10,000 words, so I gave up. I tried another version of the same idea, for writing screen plays, and wrote a 50 page screen play. But the next year the organization that hosted the April-screen writing event closed down. Now I’m going to attempt to focus on a 10 page screen play for a New Mexico Women writers organization contest, but still use the NaNoWriMo forums and resources. Woo!

I'm also hoping to enter a collage into a contest for illustrators. I have no idea if it's what they're looking for or interested in, but I think it will do me some good to practice creating art for a contest, and to submit and all that. I'll be sure to post the final project.

Another event that's sure to keep me busy this month is a workshop I'm leading called Putting the Experience in Experiential Education. I have to write an article for it, too, so I'm probably post that up here soon.

I look forward to falling leaves and temperatures, chilly nights with warm beverages while typing or cutting/pasting away in our little Casita. This month also promises a little travel. I've booked a train to California to work for a week back in the San Bernardino Mountains. We might go up to Utah for Thanksgiving. And I hope to do a considerable amount of exploring around here. I look forward to some inward reflection time and some intentional events. I also have some fun ideas for blog posts, so stay tuned!

Climbing Mental Mountains

When is the last time you were challenged by something? I don’t mean a challenge the way that climbing a mountain or completing is a crossword is a challenge, but having your beliefs challenged. This month my beliefs and values, as well as the habits I’ve made of expressing those, were completely challenged. I learned a lot that I tried to express in blog several times, but it never came out right.

I gained a lot of perspective this month, as a result of these challenges. So often in my life I have been the one promoting eco-consciousness, environmental literacy and sustainable practices, that I had forgotten what it feels like to be confronted with those big, heavy ideas, when in a place of self-sustainability. I have become more conscious lately of how slow, though powerful education and knowledge are. I remember when I was growing up and we ran out of milk. As a cereal addict, I would obviously throw a tantrum if there wasn’t any milk to accompany my favored breakfast, usually resulting in someone taking me to the store. Often before my parents would concede the calmness of their morning and get the keys to drive me to the gas station, my mom would try to bargain with me. “But we have almond milk, and soy milk,” she would entice, showing me the cartons of shelf-stable milk, kept in the same cabinet as the cat food. “Yuck!” I would exclaim, trying not to imagine bean or nut juice being poured over my beloved Crackling Oat Bran. Although it took about a decade, the complete opposite is now true. After pouring some homemade granola at a friends house, I perused the fridge, looking right past the two cartons of cow-milk before deducing that there was "nothing" to pour on my granola. The thought of drinking milk from an animal is as stomach-turning to me now as bean juice was a decade ago, but it has taken almost half my life for that transformation to take place.
Nutrition is simply not something that is taught in schools, not successfully, anyway (in my opinion). After talking to several teachers about changes being made and programs offered to students, it seems that being taught how to eat is just not a priority. I was 20 before I started scrutinizing the food I put into my body. When I slip back to eating a Kit Kat or craving a donut, I have to remind myself that it took 20 years for me to learn and connect with these non-nutritious things and become familiar with them, and it's going to take me a long time to wean off of them and appreciate real wholesome foods that I didn't grow up acquainted with, like Kale.

Food is essentially trigger for my challenges this month. As a close friend started on Arnold Ehret's "the mucusless diet," which consisted of two meals a day of stewed veggies or stewed fruits, lots of fasting and frequent enemas to detox, I became increasingly torn with my own diet decisions. As he preached about the decadence of our American diets, informed by decades worth of research, I started feeling guilty for eating my Cliff Protein bar, a locally made burrito, or even a homemade salad. I felt like people probably do when I berate  them for driving a 4 door dodge ram 3500 as a commuter car. Its hard to give up vices for ethics. Especially when our vices are an engrained part of our everyday lives.

For weeks I struggled to defend my beliefs and actions. I realized that although their may be social, economical and health benefits to fasting more and eating less (but more nutrient-full), that adopting such a diet, and therefore a lifestyle would pull me out of social situations and circles where I could potentially benefit in other ways. I thought back to the days that I abhorred almond milk, when now I make my own, and considered how slow but permanent that change was. I started thinking about to the numerous changes that I have slowly made in the last 6 years. I haven't purchased a plastic water bottle since 2007. I have adopted a policy to not buy anything new unless absolutely necessary. I consolidate my travel plans and extrapolate my errands to reduce carbon emissions. I have made an abundance of changes to my everyday actions for causes other than my own interest, but they have taken time.

"It's too late to be a pessimist," Glenn Close's voice repeated at the end of the powerful documentary Home, but one thing that has been nagging at me is the juxtaposition between the permanence and speed of things like species extinction versus the permanence and slow speed of knowledge. I have dedicated my career to teaching people to think of our world as a system, and to analyze their involvement in the system, but so much of what I do, mostly because of limited time I have with students, is introduce them to the possibilities of the world around them. I can't in one week, or one day or one hour as is sometimes the case, present to them everything I have learned and understood to inform my decisions toward a more sustainable life. In the midst of our world being torn apart, I can simply encourage them to come on a hike and hope that the experiences we share will inspire a life of learning, that will maybe, over a decade, translate into some Earth-saving actions.

It's scary to think about that juxtaposition, but it IS too late to be a pessimist. All I can do is hope that if I reach enough people, act as a role model and myself continue to strive to make more sustainable changes, that this we can sustain life on this world, and live in harmony.

So that's my Halloween thought for the day. It may be scary but if you want a GOOD fright- you should watch a REAL horror flick like The Corporation or Home. Jason's got nothing on Monsanto.

Local Foods part Duex

 

 

This evening before my book club meeting, I thought I'd stroll through the park and pick up some apples to share. Afterall, this had been my habit for the last few weeks, and I always acquire at least four times the amount of apples that would actually be eaten, allowing me to bring a lot home. On my walk this afternoon, I was a little bummed to see my apple abundance waning, the dropped apples pretty picked over, and the pecans all carried away by the cohort of crows that stopped by this morning.

 

 

 

Alas, the season of plenty, of free food falling off the trees, is coming to an end. And though I have still been reaching for fresh apples, tomatoes and frozen grapes, the fruit flies gathering around my crate of tomatoes are a reminder that I've better get to work if I'm going to have any of this around in a month or two.

The easiest answer has been to make apple chips. In the winter time I use my oven as others would use a wood stove or a furnace. We only used the a/c four times this summer, and we hope to minimize the use of the heater this winter. One of my plans is to use the oven often to heat the house, while making delicious things. A couple mornings this week, I woke up and sliced some apples and tomatoes. I set the oven to 200 degrees, oiled the apple pan with coconut oil and the tomato pan with olive oil, arranged them on sheets so that as many could fit as possible, and popped them in. Oh, Amil made a delicious spice mixture for the apples that consisted of cloves and cinnamon and maybe some salt.
About an hour into the drying, I flip them so they don't get stuck. I think it took another hour or two before I would just turn the oven off and leave them to dry out for a few hours. The result is apple chips that are crunchy and flavorful, and tomato chips that are also crunchy and taste a little of apples. :)
I also utilized my oven time and space by throwing in some granola: 2 cups oats, 2 tablespoons agave nectar, 1 cup coconut, 2 tablespoons carob powder and by happy accident: 2 tablespoons of savory blend flax/hemp seed mix. The garlic and parsley in the mix gave the granola a distinctive and interesting flavor that really makes it. As Tina Fey would say, there are no mistakes, only beautiful happy accidents.

I also made simple pickles with a bunch of cucumbers we had. I cut them into spears and slices and shoved them into any jar I could find with a mixture of garlic, fennel, pepper, and red pepper flakes (I didn't have dill). I covered them with a mixture of 1.5 tablespoons salt for 1 quart of water, let them sit in my pantry for 3 days, and now am storing them in my fridge for 6 weeks. This form of pickling (true pickling, not using vinegar) is called lactofermentation, and results in some beneficial probiotics. The downside is that you can get mold on your pickles once you open them unless you keep them covered. I'm excited to see how mine turn out.

Later this week I'm going to attempt to make ketchup. I'll keep you posted.

Coming Back HOME

Hello World! I would like to first explain the brief hiatus I've taken from this blog. It is certainly not for lack of content for my world has sort of been turned...on it's side at least...in the last few weeks. I simply haven't written because I have far too much to write about. Trust me, I'm still overanalyzing everything. :)
So, to remedy that, here's a simple post that arches over many of the little topics that have been on my mind.

Last night Amil and I and two friends watched the movie Home. This familiar movie, released in 2009, covers the highlights of human culture from the forming of the world, to the birth of agriculture to our current adjustments to the environment. This is a non-profit movie created with the intent to be free, with the hopes that it would reach as many people as possible in this crucial time. In this 1.5 hour movie, almost every subject from my freshman Environmental Science class was mentioned, as well as facts from the books Dirt and El Nino that I've recently finished. Although it was sort of preaching to the choir for me, I don't think I will every reach the point where this information doesn't shake me, move me and inspire me to do even more. At the very least, seeing these stark examples of farmers in Africa contrasted with tractors running in America gives perspective on the immense diversity of this beautiful blue ball, while showing the similarities we all deal with.
I think this movie should be required viewing for every person in this country, and many other developing country. You can't deny the facts presented in this but to live without knowledge of them is purely denying our human truth. That's like ordering the extra large chocolate-dipped Mr. Softee and thinking there are no calories simply because they're not printed on the little piece of paper that's wrapped around the cone.
Here's what I took away from watching the movie last night.  
     
      Actions I'm taking as an American Consumer that I'm proud of:

1. Eating locally (from our work garden, from friend's gardens, from our backyard, or from the co-op)
2. Eating write-off produce and products that would otherwise be thrown away, planning careful use of the food we have so we throw away minimal food.
3. Buying used! With the exception of a mattress pump I bought with a gift card in a desperate situation, I can honestly not remember the last time I bought a product new. Since moving to a new place in February, I've purchased all of our needs from local thrift stores, or received them from friends- everything from ice cube trays to Guitars.
4. I combine all my errands into one trip to minimize driving time. We own one car and are challenging ourselves to only use one tank of gas a month. We ride our bike/roller blade as much as possible, and sometimes pass on events that are happening too far away.
5. I make my own toothpaste, shampoo, and deodorant at a super low cost.

Actions I'm planning to work on more in the future (starting today!) because the planet doesn't have time for me to procrastinate.

1. Reducing my habit of gluttony. My life has always revolved around food, and I'm trying to learn how to eat what I need, and not just eat for fun. My best friend is researching and practicing sun-eating, and eating a mucus-free diet (he'll have a blog about it soon!), and is overwhelming me with facts about how little we actually need to eat. Overeating is a trained habit, but an unnecessary one.
2. Continue striving to live simply and sustainably: enjoy the simple moments like sunrise/sunset and live without Kindles and phoneApps and similar distractions.
3. Get more involved in my community: be a big sister and a mentor.

Let me know if you've seen the movie (and everyone should!) and what it inspires within you. Continue making changes to support our planet and be sure to take time each day to think about how the planet is supporting you.

Success is Sweat

"We did it," said CJ around 10:30pm, as we arranged some things in the office before retiring for a well earned night's sleep. We had just returned from a debrief of a 6 day 5 night trip with 18 students from Poland. The itinerary included a trip to the Grand Canyon, our Base Camp, Chaco Canyon and the property of a company-friend where we often stay in exchange for some labor.
"We're crazy," I uttered, thinking back on the emotionally, physically and mentally draining week that was intertwined with incredible rewards that would only make sense to the 4 of us working the trip.
"Yea-" she started to say, catching herself. "No, people who go to the same place every day are crazy."
"yeah!" I added, "People who wake up and sit in traffic for hours every morning and afternoon to stare at their cubicle walls are crazy!" We laughed.
The next night I found myself chatting with another worker about the tradeoffs of a job like this.
"What did we do to get a job that makes us happy?" he quizzed? "We sweat. A lot" I responded.
"It takes a lot of sweat, though." He paused, reflecting in his head. "a LOT of sweat." His implication was that it almost isn't worth it. At this point of the year, coming off a busy spring, an insanely busy summer, and a sporadically busy fall, it's not unusual for people in this line of work to start envisioning themselves in an autumn wonderland-- a time when they can rock climb without belaying 11 years-olds, hike without being so distracted by asking 20 children to put on sunscreen that you forget it yourself, and otherwise enjoy the great outdoors with love in actual silence, not the shuffling and scraping sounds that come after begging the group for a few silent moments.
I have found myself looking forward to the fall for several weeks now, only to remind myself to wait and appreciate those sun-soaked days. I have a growing list of projects I'm looking forward to do when I'm not working, but I know that after a week and a half of home-bound projects and crafting, I'll be itching to explore outdoors, and wishing I had a company vehicle and a group of wide-eyed 12 year olds to teach to. Maybe a month and a half for that.
This last week was a wonderful way to cap off an exciting year in Outdoor Education. For one, I think I learned at least as much as I taught, but probably more. I learned about my personal needs, and different styles of teaching for people of different cultures. I saw my first wild Tarantula and held my first bat!. I learned a few words in Polish, as well as Polish eating and working habits.
At one moment I sat with my head in my hands, wondering how on earth I could teach them to respect our equipment, because nothing I had done had convinced them yet. On the verge of tears I pondered other jobs, and wondered how many people reading this have cried in their last month or two at work. But then I wondered how many people get to see complete transformations at their jobs. I saw a girl who has never washed a dish in  her life, completely do her dishes without any nagging. I saw a teacher give in to our traditions, and a peer acknowledge their occasional hard-headedness. Perhaps it's the exhaustion of hauling 30 lb water jugs around, waking up early to cook and staying up late to plan, or the beauty and openness of the wilderness around us, but these breakthroughs offer an overwhelming reward. Hearing a Polish child ask for a songbook so they can sing cowboy songs when three days ago they were begging to hear their American playlist in the vans is just one of those moments when you know that it IS worth it. I'd sweat buckets for those moments. and I do. :)

I have one more trip of blood, sweat and tears, and all the passion I can muster before I get to collapse into my firm bed and blog away the autumn. I'm looking forward to these last 3 days of the year, spending the nights in my paradise, and sharing whatever teachable moments I can to anyone who will listen.

What are you Wining About? Taking Local Food to a New Level

This morning I thought I would be nice and chop up some salad for Amil’s lunch, since he’s doing me a favor and picking up some things downtown. I chopped up some co-op cabbage (that’s on its last leg, but somehow still delicious despite buying it almost three weeks ago) and some farmers market tomatoes (that Amil had bought as green tomatoes, but they reddened up in our basket). Once I had a nice pile of chopped veggies, I reached for our usual salad bowl. It wasn’t there. I looked all around before I remembered where I saw it--outside with 50 or so peach pits in it, the result of Amil’s latest alcohol-making endeavor. 

Although there are still pieces of peach stuck to our floor, the three large buckets of fermenting peach goodness seems promising. At the very least, I’m impressed by his motivation to take a 35lb box of squishy peaches from the co-op (which he marked with a sign claiming, “I’m makin’ Hooch!”) and turn it into something, even if it ends up as a mere experiment. I too, had dreams of making stuffed grape leaves, or even jam, but they haven’t come into fruition. It’s partly because I haven’t had a chunk of time I deem appropriate for collecting, smashing, canning, etc., but it’s also because I haven’t invested in the tools necessary. I did buy some awesome looking low-sugar pectin! But no jars, no pot big enough to get the jars, and not one of those things to get the jars out of the hot water. I think I’m making it out to be more than it should be, all the while I’m resolving that next year, I WILL do something with our grapes, apples, etc. At the very least, I want to make apple cider vinegar out of all the fallen apples in the orchard. Hopefully as autumn blows in, we’ll have a large batch of pecans to figure out what to do with. But I know I don’t need special  tools for that. Some salt, spices, and a nut cracker!

The real point of this blog was to highlight the funky-smelling, burping, massive glass containers that are sitting in the middle of our kitchen/living room. (photo coming soon). This was Amil’s first project with the grapes growing in our backyard (other than over cereal, or in Chickpea salad, or laying them along the adobe to dry out into raisins). Amil has been hanging out with some new friends from the Wine Making club of Albuquerque, who have offered to bring their supplies over and donate some materials to make wine. Another friend he made makes strawberry brandy and the like, so Amil’s been calling him about what to do with 35 lbs of peaches.
I was out of town when Bill came over with his grape crushing machine, as they harvested, smashed, stirred, poured and combined yeast with the grapes, but the evidence is all around our house. There’s smushed grapes on almost everything, and a big pile of grape innards past our fence, but the best thing is these two bubbling jugs of what will someday be wine. After just a week of bubbling, Amil made a careful pour of the chalky-tan substance, and gave it a whiff.

“Smells like wine!” *slow sip* “tastes like it, too!” I sniffed along for good measure. Indeed, it smelled like red wine, despite its color and texture. We’re on the right path.
Our grapes have been sweetening up for about a month, and in that time we’ve had dozens of people take impressive amounts home with them for their own wine adventures. I’m encouraged by their promises of bringing us a bottle, knowing that if ours doesn’t taste great, we’ll have at least a few others on hand. 

More updates on the local food front coming soon. In the meantime, I'm off to Philmont to deliver a workshop, then out to the Grand Canyon with a group of students from Poland. Never a dull moment.