September equinox is a time of balance when “day and night are equal”
After that, across the world, a lot of holidays are celebrated that have similar themes.
Higan is a week of Buddhist services observed in Japan on the equinoxes.
Christian Michaelmas (also known as the Feast of Michael and All Angels) usually close to the equinox and Rosh haShanah.
In China the Moon Festival is celebrated around (but not precisely) the time of the September equinox.
Judiasm observes the “high holy days” for 10 days just after the autumnal equinox. It starts with the first day of the Jewish calendar month, the new moon, to start the new year, Rosh ha Shanah. The shofar, the ram’s horn, is blown to open up the doors of the mind and the heart. The last day is Yom Kipur, day of atonement.
Mushrooms are absolutely everywhere right now. It's amazing. Something wonderful born of so much rain and greyness, death and decay.
Safe ones, easy to identify, in the woods right now (but don't take my word for it)!
Plate by Bernadette Curran. Put in a hot pan to release the water, and
then olive oil and garlic added, cooked for about 10 minutes. ready for
a little sauce and noodles. Super delicious and good for you.
Water has been a prevalent force these days.This summer, both its long absence and its over abundant presence have been noticeable in taste and looks of fruits and veggies. Tomatoes were divine and abundant, and then over saturated. As Claire wrote in her blog, the rains have pushed the tomatoes to bursting. Then, came the peaches and melons - the sweetness from the drought followed by the juiciness from all the rain.
plate by Ron Meyers
Then the rains came down in the name of Irene. The bands of clouds, the giant spiral she was, the wind, the power, the flooding, the dampness….The water….The subsequent crisp, blue-skied perfect days and the happy, giant mushrooms growing all around us in the woods in central PA. When I discovered huge patches of giant mushrooms, as many as 15 different varieties, the experience of not being able to pick and eat any due to our ignorance of the forest gave me a strange emotion I can’t name.
this is just a few of the species, upon close examination, many are spiraling
tiny hot peppers from Happy Cat Organics
Grilled mushroom and watermelon Ceviche- from Latin Grill, strange sounding combo, but wonderful!
Soak thinly sliced fish (recipe calls for sashimi grade striped bass, we used tilapia but maybe orange roughy or halibut might have been better) in orange juice and lime juice for at least 10 minutes
Grill about 10 wild domesticated mushrooms (i used oyster, shitake, portabello) in olive oil till soft, chop, and add to a salsa of:
Chopped Poblano and other hot peppers
Chopped Cilantro
Julienned red onion
salt and pepper
some lime juice
Add fish and watermelon balls just before serving.
At Camphill Village Kimberton Hills there is a fountain called a Flow-Form. People are drawn to it. It is a special fountain designed to mimic the natural movement of water that is difficult to see in most conditions. I’ve been reading “Sensitive Chaos” by Theodore Shwenk. Put very simply, through extensive observation and research, Shwenk realized that the natural state of water wants to be in a sphere, and when forced upon by gravity, wind, movement and matter, it moves in both spirals and in rhythmical waves, influenced by air, temperature and matter (water, air, fire and earth). This explains why we have meandering rivers, why a hose writhes like a snake when you turn it on, why intersecting waves on a lake make such perfect patterns, why rivers carve rocks into flowing forms, why spirals are visible in plants and more primitive species, and why bones and muscle, and even the heart chambers, spiral. Spirals may not be visibly evident in form, but evidence of them is ubiquitous. It conjures the image of DaVinci’s man as a golden rectangle, the ancient Yin Yan symbol, and more…
As I write this, the news announced that a man wanting to drain his property opened a manhole and was sucked down the drain by a whirlpool vortex. !
Water has changed and is changing our planet. 71% of the earth is covered by water. Human beings are 70% water… (Beer is about 90% water)...I am going to keep thinking about the words Sensitive...Chaos.........
you can see it yourself with cinnamon and water!
An aeolian harp (æolian harp or wind harp) is "played" by the wind. It is named for Aeolus, the greek god of wind. The harp is driven by the vortex street effect where the motion of the wind across a string causes the vortex stream effect, and this alternating vortex causes the string to vibrate!
When I was picking up my Sankanac CSA share this week, the tomatoes
ranging from green, yellow, orange, red and a purply red, made me think
of a tomato rainbow. Then when I went on to pick up my first North Star
CSA fruit share, and berries at the Anselma Market, I realized we probably
really would have a complete rainbow. And Black and White to boot! Here is what we came up with:
notice Ruben's Yin Yang
The swiss chard, pears and apples all had had greens and purply-reds which didn't seem to fit into the rainbow, but then I found that there is a phenomenon called supernumerary, or stacker, rainbows, that have a faint repeating pastel band of greens and purples underneath!
After we built our rainbow, Ruben asked why the government gives money to grow bad stuff (I think he was referring to the giant single monocropping that requires intense pesticides and GMOs) , if we know that it's bad for the environment and that processed foods made from these things are bad for our health. I said the original intention was to help feed a lot of people, including the whole world, which is something that makes this country great. But now that farmers and scientists and consumers know more, it would be better if old policies could get updated and farmers could be encouraged to grow a lot more different things.
Ruben concluded: "It's not that good food is expensive, it's that junk food is cheap!"
Speaking of food diversity, check out this image that seed-saver, Tim Mountz, shared.
Farmer Claire on her Inverbrook Farm blog reminds us that on August 1 we passed through Lammas, the midpoint between the summer solstice and autumn equinox. It is also traditionally the celebration of first fruit, and coincides with North Star's first weekly share. She says: When the weather is hot, and cooking seems less appealing, nothing could be better than simple pairings of cheese and fruit—cheddar and tomatoes, feta and watermelon, yogurt and peaches, brebis and melon—all possibilities with the Hillacres Pride Cheese Share and the Highland Farm sheep products available at the farm.
The abundance and grace of the work of small-scale farmers stand in stark contrast to what is happening in much of the world. May an abundant harvest of rainbows be upon us all.....
Three is found all throughout expressions, stories and fairy tales from cultures around the world.
Understanding complexity derived through the simplicity of three can be a
life-long pursuit. The three basic ingredients found in a food recipe, a
beer recipe or a glaze recipe can become all consuming. Three is a
magic number, of course.
I. Glazes are made up of three basic minerals from the earth:
1. Silica - the glass, or quartz – will melt at 3000-4000 F. Agate, amethyst, opal, jasper are types of silica.
2. Feldspar - the melter, or flux – allows the silica to melt at a lower temp.
3. Alumina - the sticker - combines well with silica make the glass tough and bonds the glaze to the clay because it is a main ingredient in clay. Rubies and sapphires are crystalline forms of alumina.
Other optional ingredients in smaller amounts include metal oxides such as copper, iron or cobalt to add color or change the quality of matte, translucency, or opalescence, In a "reduction firing" oxygen is taken out of the kiln, or the amount of oxygen in the kiln is “reduced,” and metal oxides give up their oxygen and change color.
Different types of the three ingredients, added in different proportions, and in different combinations, and fired on different clay bodies, at different temperatures with different fuels, for different lengths of time produce different results! Not to mention the varying influence of the kiln gods on any given day....
Shimmer - Cone 4-8 (fired with baking soda sprayed in at cone 6 2232 degrees F)
Silica – 12.9
Custer Feldspar- 44.6 (a flux containing mostly potassium)
Whiting – 21.8 (Calcium flux)
China Clay - 14.85 (Supplies alumina and silica)
Lithium oxide - 5.9 (another flux)
II. Beer is just
1. Hops
2. Yeast
3. Sugar (from malted barley)
And yet….like glazes, the complexity astounds.
AMatt's bubbling yeast waiting to be added to the cooled wort
(boiled hops and malt).
Matt writes: All the different beers are generally the result of the combination of the above ingredients: what type of hops and when they are added, what type of malt, (and the fermentability of the extracted sugars), and what type of yeast. Added to these basics are additional sources of variability, such as the particular characteristics of the hops from season to season, the fermentation temperature, and the length of aging. Three basic ingredients, endless combinations.
Simcoe (hops) IPA
III. Cucumbers, Cabbage, and Carrots - three veggies that don't require cooking in the heat of mid July. Basic ingredients that help them along seem to come in threes. So simple, yet so complex!
1.Half-sour sun-fermented cucumbers:
3C Water, 2 TB Vinegar, 1 TBSalt
Heat it to dissolve the salt, add to sliced cucumbers, dill with roots and sliced garlic. Shake. Sit in sun for two days….
2. Boubie's Cucumber Salad
Salt the thinly sliced cucumbers and let them stand for at least a half an hour, then drain water. Add:
1/4C lemon juice, 1/4C white vinegar, 1tsp-2tsp sugar. Onions, dill.
Mug by Pam Lau, Claire's first cherry tomatos with basil, olive oil and cheese, cucumber salad
3. Tangy Coleslaw:
1 C Vinegar, 1C Olive Oil, 2/3 C Sugar
Some mustard powder, celery seed with cabbages, carrots, onion…
When people live out loud, trying to find their calling, they give permission for others to do the same. There are so many amazing people trying to make a living while making their corner of the world a better place. In Brasil, there is the single word expression, "Força!" It doesn't translate well but it sort of means Courage or "May the strong force that we all have be with you right now!" Here's a few folks that give me força:
Trey on a rooftop in Philly - no gear!
Trey and Deirdre Flemming are two young farmers with a new baby and a new farm who are rockin' Philadelphia through farmers markets, teaching classes, and growing. Check out this recent coverage on Urban Apiaries enterprise where the hives on city rooftops are hyper-productive!
Mountzy and the Marvelous Murrays
Punk-guerilla-farmer Tim Mountz and not punk Amy Bloom who were just published in Martha Stewart's Whole Living and this comprehensive article in Growing Magazine. Katherine Broadbent and her magical herb garden at Inverbrook Farm, a place that is a source of a lot of força.
And there's Philly's brilliant young "rock star" Nic Esposito, whose new book "Seeds of Discent."
And Chris Henwood Costa of Turning Roots Farm, just took eight kids touring, hiking and canoeing from the headwaters of the Brandywine in Honey Brook to mouth in Wilmington in a lesson on leadership, the watershed and themselves.
Speaking of Headwaters, Victory's recently nationally rolled out their flowery hoppy Headwaters, and proceeds will help benefit groups that protect their headwaters, or sources of streams and rivers.
"It's a bird, it's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's just you"
because of the unspoken reference to Superman!
Super men and super women - that's what these folks are! And it seems to be happening when the solstice comes upon us, when energies spiral into their peak. Keep the fires burning.
Superwoman Hilla Haut runs the Camphill Cafe where I work at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills. She makes butter from Seven Stars cream and uses it's by product, instead of milk in recipes. My Russian grandmother said this part of the milk was used as medicine for typhus, if memory serves...I had no idea you could just beat it until you get the stuff to splash out. It's like magic when it splashes! I also learned that the residents with disabilities make it every Wed for the Sweetwater Bakery cookies!
Kale Quiche, by Hilla Haut (I didn't measure anything, with confidence from Hilla's approach and used all the greens I had, kale, swiss chard, spinach and beet greens. I blanched after boiling in water for about 4 minutes, and this keeps the greens "green" and makes it very quick to fry if the onions are already fried).
(for 15 people to fit a lasagna pan)
Crust:
2 C white flour
1 ¾ C whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp salt
21 TBS butter
(Hilla makes the butter using Seven Stars Farm’s cream in a food processor. The blue milk is what she uses for the milk in the quiche filling, see below. I used a pint of heavy whipping cream)
Press the dough flat in the pan.
Filling:
One bunch kale (or any greens) – rinse well, chop. Stir fry with olive oil and lemon juice. Let cool before adding the egg mixture. (I boiled and blanched first before adding to fried onions)
Whisk together:
10 eggs
5 C milk or cream
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
and add 3 C grated mozzarella cheese on top.
Bake at 325 degrees "until it's not wiggley anymore and golden on the top" - about 45 minutes to a hour.
Chon-ji is a tae kwon do form that Ruben learned a couple of years ago. The literal Korean translation is 'the heaven the earth.' He uttered Chon-ji once when we were in the mountains in Western Virginia where the clouds were touching the earth all around us. It is a word that signifies the beginning, and is an idea from the I-Ching that life processes are based on changing changelessness....Perhaps sort of like how a head of lettuce or a cherry is exactly the same thing each year and yet so completely different.
Maple syrup and balsamic vinegar dressing (from Farmer John's Cookbook, the Real Dirt on Vegetables
1 C extra virgin olive oil
3 TB maple syrup (grade B has a stronger maply taste)
2 TB balsamic vinegar
2 TB finely sliced basil (I prefer to leave it out of dressing)
1 TB lemon juice (fresh squeezed is recommended)
1 ts dry mustard (i use wet dijon)
1 clove garlic minced
salt
pepper
The book says it stores up to two weeks in the fridge, but my guess is if you leave out the basil it will store longer and there's no need to put it in the fridge where the olive oil will congeal.
We're going to have a "heaven on earth" salad today with local cherries, blueberries and hull peas...I'm not going to take a picture of it, some things are better without words or images.
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, or more, to taste
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground dried rosemary
1 large pinch of salt
Ground pepper, to taste
In a shallow microwaveable bowl, toss the nuts with the Worcestershire sauce until well distributed. Sprinkle on the rosemary and salt and toss well. (You can also toast these in the oven. See Step 3, below.)
Add freshly ground pepper to taste, and toss again. I use white peppercorns because they have a nice fresh taste.
Microwave for thirty seconds on high. Remove the bowl immediately, as the pine nuts will continue to cook. Stir them around in the bowl and repeat. (If toasting in the oven, put them in at 400 degrees Farenheit for 45 seconds at a time, removing them promptly and stirring quickly each time, as they will continue to cook on the baking sheet after being removed from the oven.)
Continue until the pine nuts are generally toasty brown. Don't worry about toasting every last one of them.
Watch them carefully, lest they burn. Pine nuts go quickly from a lovely brown to inedible, so please don't allow yourself to be distracted.
Add more salt and pepper to taste.
I recommend making these in the microwave because you can better take advantage of the sweet and spicy solids left by the Worcestershire sauce as it dries out during the cooking process. In a bowl, you can more effectively recover that flavorful residue, to use in coating the pine nuts.
Shallow flat bowl by Pam Owens of Jugtown. I've had this bowl for about 15 years and use it all the time, especially good for mashing.
The Rabe Side:
Broccoli Rabe, as much as you want to serve
A few short glugs of good olive oil, to taste
Freshly squeezed lemon juice, or vinegar (white balsamic, champagne or white wine) for sprinkling
The best finishing salt you have
Ground pepper to taste
Blanch the broccoli rabe for about two minutes in salted boiling water. Immediately drain and plunge in cold water; run more cold water over it to keep that cold water bath cold. Drain the rabe again and set aside.A minute or two before you're ready to serve, put the drained rabe in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir gently to release the water clinging to the rabe. You want that to create just a bit of steam in which to warm the rabe. Add the pine nuts and take off heat. Immediately before serving (and I mean immediately), sprinkle the lemon juice (a tiny bit is better) over the rabe and pine nuts. If you do this in advance, it will turn the rabe a yellowish brown color, so wait until you are actually going to serve this to add the lemon juice.Toss gently, test for salt, and correct if necessary. Grind some fresh pepper on, if you like it.
some pac choi and onions from this week were added too
Judiasm observes the “high holy days” for 10 days just after the autumnal equinox. It starts with the first day of the Jewish calendar month, the new moon, to start the new year, Rosh ha Shanah. The shofar, the ram’s horn, is blown to open up the doors of the mind and the heart. The last day is Yom Kipur, day of atonement.
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