Six Days Later

Potato vines continue to grow. I've planted Chieftan, Green Mountain, and All Blue potatoes.

For an amazing list of heirloom potatoes, check out this site from Curzio's Kenosha Potato Project:

http://www.curzio.com/N/PotatoCatalog.htm#Anchor128

Curzio reports that he planted 70 bags of various potato seedlings. Sounds like a record number!

Potato Bag Gardening

On May 8, I planted potato seedlings at the bottom of 4 bags, 5 seedlings of one variety into each one. I covered the seedlings with a few inches of compost and topsoil. As the vines grew, I kept adding compost and topsoil to keep them covered. 

The bags are now full and the vines are beginning to grow up over them.  A few of the vines are beginning to flower. Here's hoping for a good crop!

ISM

Inspired by Slow Money

Geo and I attended the national Slow Money Conference. Shelburne Farms in VT was a perfect setting.

The participants were an eclectic mix of organic farmers, entrepeneurs into sustainability, and socially responsible investors (and us).

The Slow Money movement is somewhat of an economic revolution to promote an alternative way to invest - not to expect a return of quick profits - but to build partnerships and alliances for a healthy environment, vibrant local communities, and strong economies.

Investing in local organic food systems is a way to start. It may be as simple as buying at local farmers markets or buying into a CSA. It may be as serious as investing a sum of money into a local food-related enterprise that needs capital to grow.

I came away from the conference examining my own value system. As one leader summed it up, "What more can I do today to live and act on what I believe?" Do I "put my money" where my values are?

So Geo and I are committing to learn more about local companies and products that help heal the environment. Tomorrow we take a trip to Hardwick, VT to meet with the owner of VT Natural Coatings, a growing company that actually makes wood stain using whey, a by-product of cheesemaking.

It was an inspiring conference. Learn more at slowmoneyalliance.org.

Bunny Battles

The wild rabbits are feasting on the lilies in my garden. They chomp off the leaves and the tops. I planted brown and white “chocolate” lilies, but the only way I’ll ever see them is by the picture on the package. So the lilies are being replaced by cosmos ~ the bunnies pretty much ignore them.

My wish for sunflowers in the garden is also being sabotaged by the same critters.  They leave behind just enough of the bare stems to prove that they’re winning the battle. My response is to keep planting more seeds, and to sprinkle some bunny-be-gone garlic and dried blood (ugh) granules. The smell is supposed to repel them. We’ll see…

As for Swiss chard, the bunnies seem to be nibbling some of it, but not much. Guess it’s not their first choice for their menu selection.

This year I did not plant any spinach. From last year I know it starts off better than the wimpy-looking Swiss chard, but bolts way too soon. When the Swiss chard takes off, it keeps growing strong until late fall. In fact, it’s the very last of my veggies that I harvest. I pretty much use spinach and Swiss chard interchangeably anyway.

When the peas are finished ~ yes, they are blossoming now ~ I will put in carrots. They'll be planted behind the wire fence that Jenn helped me put in last year. It's buried forever about 6 - 8 inches deep! Let the bunnies watch those carrots grow. Hopefully they'll not be munching any of them.

Apple Spice Muffins

It's a rainy Friday, and a good time to bake muffins. Here's my recipe for Apple Spice Muffins:

Mix 2 eggs with 8 oz. Vanilla Greek-style yogurt and a 21 oz. can of apple pie filling.
Add 18 oz. spice cake mix. Combine well, but do not overmix.
Grease muffin tins well and fill with batter. Make sure there is at least one apple slice in each section.
Sprinkle tops with cinnamon.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. 
This recipe makes about 20 muffins.

Reviewed by Geo. "Mmmmmm, these are good!"      

Olive Cheese Balls

A great appetizer!

Here's a recipe I resurrected from an old, yellowed, falling-apart Betty Crocker cookbook:
Olive Cheese Balls.

On paper towels, drain and dry about 40 pimiento-stuffed green olives. Mix 2 cups (8 oz.) shredded cheese with 1 and 1/4 cups flour.

Add 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine and knead thoroughly 

Take about a teaspoon of dough and wrap it around each olive, rolling it into a ball. (That's the fun part.) Place on ungreased cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. Cover and chill for at least one hour. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes.

The finished product! I'm serving them as an appetizer with our Easter ham dinner. Next time I'll add a dash of cayenne pepper. 

             Martini, anyone?

Update: I just re-discovered this recipe which I had forgotten. This is a unique appetizer that I'd like to make again!

Oh, and if you found me here, please check out my newest posts at: Resolutions. Thanks!

Enjoy the olive cheese balls! 

Lucy

     I've had a request to post a pic of our fur kid Lucy.
     Here she is in all her cuteness!

Ed Asner as FDR

 

Last night Geo and I saw Ed Asner in a one-person play about Franklin D. Roosevelt. We were in the front row. I felt like I was sitting in an easy chair eavesdropping on history.

There was a smooth interplay with “FDR” reminiscing about his days in the White House, and then enacting scenes as they were occurring in the Oval Office.

I needed to overcome a few distractions. Even with makeup, Ed Asner did not exactly look like FDR. And hobbling on two canes did not live up to my understanding of FDR being too paralyzed to support himself. Also, I was enthralled with seeing Ed Asner the actor up on stage right in front of me. It’s not often I see Hollywood stars in person.

For a few brief moments, however, I really felt like I was back in Roosevelt’s time and watching current events, not aware of the outcome. The outrage and sense of urgency at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor were especially powerful.

The last scene was poignant, and I will not reveal it here.

Now every time I think of FDR, I guess I will be picturing Ed Asner. He was that good.

Out with the Old, in with the New

"Bye-bye" to the tattered old blue sofa. We loved you so.

Today we have a new addition to the living room. Our deep red microfiber sofa arrived to replace the old one.

I was reminiscing about good times and family memories attached to the one we had purchased in ’87. Geo says, “yeah, and the kids used to jump on it.”

“What?!! When they were little, they weren’t even allowed to SIT on it! When were they jumping on the couch?”

I suddenly felt the fresh pangs of a Mom whose kids were disobedient. Okay, that was many years ago, and the “kids”are now well into their twenties.

A and J, if you did jump on the couch when I wasn’t around, I’ll forgive you for that.

Now the only one I have to worry about jumping on the new sofa is our fur kid Lucy. Grrrrrr! 

Soul Food

On February 13, Geo and I attended the Northeast Organic Farmers’ Association (NOFA) winter conference. Farmers we are not. However, Geo is interested in the locavore scene here in Vermont, and I am interested in learning new gardening practices. Living in a most rural state, we need to be informed about agriculture.

Keynote speaker LaDonna Redmond of Chicago was worth the price of admission. Unable to find real food in urban supermarkets for her child with multiple allergies, she set forth on a mission of organizing her inner city neighborhood to grow organic veggies. She promotes a sustainable, organic, urban, and local food system that has soul. The food that is grown nourishes not just the body, but also the soul. Food actually becomes a by-product because what is really grown is community. It’s about knowing the people who grow your food, how that food is grown, how it's prepared, and with whom you share it.

She went on to say that the Hippies (who began the back-to-the-land movement) have a lot in common with the Hip-Hop Generation. Both are counter-cultural and anti-establishment, as is sustainable, local and organic agriculture. What she calls the soul-food system is about building community. Community needs to happen in urban areas as well as rural. Through soul-food, the Hippies and Hip-Hop Generation may be able to meet on common ground.

One of the workshops I attended was presented by Lee Reich on weedless no-till gardening. He advises using wet newspapers (4 pages thick) spread out over soil or grass, covering them with an inch or two of compost, and planting seeds directly into the compost. They will take root and grow through the newspaper. The grass or weeds below the newspaper, with no light and air, will smother and die. So this is my plan for my 5 packets of sunflower seeds. I’m collecting newspapers now and will be ready to plant in Spring. This I will do without digging up the lawn in the backyard. Reports to follow.     

#5, Check!

Jenn challenged me to list 50 things I'd like to do during 2010, and DO them. I took up the challenge. Saturday I checked off #5: See an opera.

Verdi's Simon Boccanegra was performed live at the NY Met, starring none other than Placido Domingo. This performance was broadcast in HD, as it was happening, in select theaters across the U.S., including one in South Burlington. I was there. It was fabulous.

Besides focussing on all the action, the camera took us into the orchestra pit, backstage as the sets were being changed, and even into the audience. I could see notes on the musicians' sheet music, and even beads of sweat on the performers. I especially liked seeing all the detail on the costumes. And, yes, there were subtitles for the Italian lyrics.

I'd recommend this experience for anyone who loves music, even if unfamiliar with opera (like me). I'm already planning to see Rosssini's Armida on May 1st.

Someone famous once said, opera has it all - passion, violence, romance, vengeance, murder - what's not to like?

Emotionality

Jazz vibraphonist Stefon Harris is performing in Burlington. Last night he led a workshop on the art of listening. Of course, I had to be there.    

Stefon defines music as the science of organizing sound and silence into emotion. The workshop was about experiencing music emotionally. Sitting at the piano, he directed us to close our eyes, then to experience and demonstrate the emotion our ears were hearing. One time he changed just one note in the chord, and the sound - and the emotion - changed noticeably. 

When our group was having difficulty demonstrating an appropriate emotional response, he asked us clench our fists, or open and raise our arms, just to feel if if the physical response was in tune with what we were hearing. Then we would sense if it was right or not. This worked. He said the body naturally knows how to respond to emotions.

  

When I hear a performance, I may walk away impressed with the technique and virtuosity of the musicians. Now I will focus on how I am feeling as the musicians are recreating and communicating emotions musically.

As Stefon said, when he plays, if we’re not feeling it, he is not doing his job. If we come to a performance filled with the distractions and anxieties of the day, he says, let the music take you away. That’s the beauty of it.

I am eager to practice my new listening skills. It won’t be long. We’re hearing Stefon Harris play the marimba and vibraphone tonight at the Flynn, along with the Imani Winds.