New Year's Dinner Celebration

Not my dinner, no - Tom, Kate, and I had meatballs in bone broth with winter greens, solidly good but not exactly fancy. And as predicted, I was asleep before midnight - I never seem to manage to stay awake to ring in the New Year. (Happy Happy, everyone.)

But I wanted to share Adam's New Year's Dinner with you, because I think it's extraordinary. It's not a secret that I think Adam's a pretty special kid, and together with his best friends, twins Alex and Jonah, he's unstoppable.

The scheme (thought up by the boys) was this: They would make a homemade feast of favorite food, with no help (except monetary) from either set of parents. So, on Monday, the boys made their menu and figured out the shopping list. Tuesday, they rode their bikes down to Whole Foods and purchased their supplies. Wednesday, they made the dessert. And Thursday morning, they prepped the veg and got everything ready for the big night. Thursday night, they started cooking about 4 pm and were done with the feast (and the cleanup!) by 9. It was a tremendous success.

Alex & Jonah's mom made a really wonderful menu for them to remember the occasion forever.

I love this whole thing. I couldn't love it more. These kids, all of them interested in good food (and being teenagers, in eating in general), all of them nurtured over the years by parents and grandparents who cook daily and have cooking traditions, decide to have a week-long project to celebrate their friendship and their year by making something entirely themselves. I may be a teensy bit biased, but I think this could be some sort of great movie (though everything would have to go wrong for it to be entertaining, and in real life, it all went right. Nothing burned, nothing failed, I guess it would be quite boring that way in a movie). I love these kids.

A final brag: These guys made PIE CRUST. Most of the adults I know wouldn't attempt pie crust.

All Around the Kitchen

This morning, up at dawn, I looked around the kitchen and thought, goodness, there's a lot going on in here! So I thought I'd show you. The light was bad (again, dawn!), so everything looks extremely dingy, plus I didn't stage anything, but you'll get the nitty-gritty of what's happening around here pretty much every morning.

First, I was adding hot water to a mash for the chickens. It's hovering around 28-30 degrees each morning, and it's frosty out, so I like to give the chicks a hot breakfast. This is Bob's Red Mill muesli, into which I pour boiling water, then let it sit a bit to cool. They love it. (So do I, actually.)

Over by the toaster, there's some sauerkraut fermenting. Tom got this started the day after Christmas with our new recap fermenting caps and airlocks (thanks Stewart and Niki!). We figure this is the perfect amount of sauerkraut to have once a month.

Next to the salt and pepper, I have a mason jar newly dedicated to bacon drippings. I know, this is so Granny, but we throw out perfectly good bacon grease that I can use either for cooking or for making suet cakes for the birds. There's only a bit in here to start, but we'll add to it quickly.

To the right of the cooking spoons, Tom has a batch of cream cheese working. He'll strain this when he gets up and it'll be ready to use, tangy and creamy.

On my kitchen desk sits the last of the honey wine, ready to go to a co-worker of Tom's. (He likes to share things with the head of the Culinary Department at his college. Plus, it sounds like she is going to give us some homemade Kombucha in trade, which is excellent.)

Here's something else on my kitchen desk. It's not mine. But I think it's pretty cute and also pretty well sums up this household:

This is not the droid you're looking for.

Under my desk is a bottle of cider that is fermenting. Tom pitched some wine yeast in to it, put an airlock on it, and it's bubbling away. Hopefully we'll find some local apples to do this with next Fall.

Over next to the coffee maker, I have a heating pad plugged in and on its lowest setting, keeping my new sourdough starter warm.

My last starter, that I made from collected yeasts from our environment, went bad. I decided to order a sourdough culture that is made specifically for whole wheat flour.

This sponge is looking far better than the last and smells sweet and yeasty, so I'm hopeful that in a few days, I'll be able to make some delicious loaves.

Next to my sourdough starter, I notice that someone had a midnight snack. I'm not telling who.

You know it's Christmastime if there's a box of See's Candy in the house!

And lastly, next to the sink where it can get full sun in from the window (once it rises) is a poor amaryllis bulb that I found languishing in the garage. It bloomed last year, then I put it away safely and completely forgot that I had it. It's pretty desiccated, we'll see if it revives.

Hopefully it'll just be a New Year amaryllis instead of a Christmas amaryllis!

My goal today is to move the rest of the mulch around the garden (1/4 of that huge pile is left). It's back to work Monday, so I gotta get it done before then.

A little music to start your morning.

Thoughts on 2015

It's natural to want to look back over the year as it starts getting close to January first. But, as I also have a birthday early in January, it's doubly so for me. As I was moving mulch this morning (the pile is getting smaller every day!), I thought a lot about 2015 and how it evolved, in every area; personally, professionally, and in the garden.

This was a big year for our yard. Very early in January, we were told we would be part of the Institute of Urban Homesteading's Urban Farm Tour. This lit a much-needed fire under our collective asses to get a lot of work done, fast. Our first project of 2015 was the chicken coop, which was also my birthday present. Soon after that was finished, we got our chickens. Not long after that, we got our replacement colony of honeybees. Then, we built the North Garden.  Tom replaced our old sprinkler system with a drip system. I successfully planted and maintained two year-round pollinator gardens which attracted more critters than we've ever had before. We planted three new fruit trees and countless fruit shrubs and vines. We managed to have a decent summer harvest despite the severe four-year California drought. We bought more rain barrels and built more compost bins. And we successfully raised the fence, to keep out the hungry deer! We learned to pickle and can food, we made bread and sausage and cheese, we fermented beer and wine and cider, and continued to eat well every day, mostly out of the garden. I'd call our year in the yard successful, for sure.

Professionally, this is the year I began to feel more confident in my abilities as a teacher to cognitively-affected children. It's taken four years to get to this place, and it feels good to know that I can help kids feel safe and loved, and maybe even help them to get to a place where they are able to learn. But it's also the year when I realized that this is a younger man's game. There's a reason everyone I work with is half my age. In a mainstreamed situation, with a child who is cognitively more higher-functioning, it's no problem physically. But at this particular school, we are extremely physical every day with kids who are alternately running away, needing to be tightly held or picked up, getting up and down off the floor numerous times a minute, quickly - I'm just not that good at that aspect of the job. I'm old, slow, and chubby, no matter how you slice it. My hands have stopped working right, due to severe arthritis. My feet are similarly destroyed. What this tells me is, no matter how much I love the kids and my co-workers, that I'll be looking for something else come June. I have an idea for a new business, but it's going to take more thinking and planning before I can tell you about it. Be assured, I'll write about it here as it comes to fruition. I'd like to work outside, and regular exercise is a benefit. I certainly don't want a desk job!

Personally, I feel quite fulfilled by the events and happenings of the past year. I fervently wish life was easier for Tom (the difficulties at my job may be physical, but the difficulties at his are interpersonal and political, which is far harder), with his job and his commute. Money continues to be tight which makes things stressful. Living as we do in a very affluent area, the cost of living continues to be quite steep and goes up all the time. We often dream of selling our place and buying a large piece of property elsewhere, for much less. With college expenses coming up in the near future for our kids, this will remain a dream for a while.

Speaking of the kids, what an interesting year it has been for them. I started out 2015 being extremely concerned about Kate's social life, but I end the year feeling very hopeful for her, as she has matured quite a bit and has even rekindled an old friendship. She continues to fascinate with the way she thinks and writes. We're looking in to a performing arts school for her for grades 8-12, which we hope will surround her with like-minded people, but she is an introvert and will always need a lot of alone time.  Adam has grown in both size and personality and is truly a young man now. He got a shaving kit for Christmas and was just invited to a party by a girl, so things are changing for him. He's had great moments of academic anxiety this year that manifested in physical discomfort, which was scary, but I think we've got a plan for high school that will help keep him engaged and interested and challenged. His mind is far sharper than mine has ever been, but he's like me in that he likes to learn fast. Public school is often not exactly fast.

So, on to 2016, with hope and vigor! Here's a few things I'd like to accomplish in the next few months, but it is by no means a complete list:

* build a raised bed area in the part of the yard we just sheet-mulched, but build it in a different sort
   of pattern, and plant herbs, citrus, and other perennial edibles.

* make an insect hotel.

* grow new-to-us plants, like horseradish and rhubarb.

* continue to think about ways to increase water storage in the garden, as El Nino moves through.

* keep my bees alive, and harvest some honey!

* grow a new business which combines my love of children and the outdoors.

This list will continue to change and evolve as the year proceeds.

I'd love to hear more about how 2015 was for you, and what you are planning for 2016. Please share!

Christmas aftermath

Here it is, 1:30 a.m. the day after Christmas. Why is it I can never sleep during holidays? I think it must have something to do with not working hard enough during the day, so I'm not tired enough at night. Though last night I was dropping off around 8:30. Not sure why I'm so tired earlier in the night but wide awake halfway through. A nearly daily occurrence when on vacation.

Oh well, it gives one time to reflect on the important things in life. Like, say, I've decided there are two kinds of people: stackers and singles. There you sit at the table, dinner over, the detritus of a good meal all around you. When it's time to take the dishes to the kitchen, some people stack, scraping leftover food on to one plate, then placing each plate upon the other, all the silverware at the top. And some people like to take many trips to the kitchen, one plate in each hand.

I'm not a huge fan of inefficient movement, and I abhor making more than one trip, so it might surprise you to know that I'm a single, I'm not a fan of the stack. What makes the single more efficient is recruiting someone to clear the table while I start the rinsing of dishes. But if not, I'll still make several trips to the kitchen, with just a couple plates.

It must be how we grow up, how your own mother did things, that determines which way you do them as an adult. Don't you think?

For instance, I never once in my life had plum pudding for Christmas dessert until I visited London during the holiday season in my 20's. But for Tom, one bite of his grandmother's recipe, and he's back in a happy childhood. He loves plum pudding.

We've had good food this week, some of it nostalgic (like that plum pudding), and some of it quite modern (a fresh orange and honey sorbet flavored with cardamom and star anise). All of the main meals were dependably good as usual, my mother is an excellent cook. What's more fun lately is that my kids are starting to learn signature dishes and prepare them each time they are called for. That's something that will follow them in to adulthood.

I often wonder: what are the things my kids will remember and pass on to their own families? And I also wonder what new things they will learn from the families they marry into?

Later today we have our annual Christmas cookie making party with close family friends, which is a tradition I hope will live on in my kids and their own kids someday. It's pretty darn fun. I have a few loads of buttercream to make and color later this morning, in preparation for that. And Saturday night, we get to see the new Star Wars, which I'm really excited about.  Seeing the very first Star Wars movie in 1978 is part of my own cultural history.

I got some lovely gifts. I have a new vinegar crock and a vinegar 'mother,' so I'm all set to make red wine vinegar at home. I got some new cookbooks to help continue to inspire me in the kitchen, and some special airlocks for fermenting food in mason jars. Tom signed us up for a weekend at a farm near Mendocino, where we'll help cook local, seasonal meals in the farm kitchen. Do you sense a theme?

I'm thinking Kate got the best gift; a raft of special gift cards to hand out to the homeless people we encounter every time we take BART into San Francisco (although more and more, we are seeing homeless on every corner of our home city, Walnut Creek, as well). Kate has a very soft heart for hungry folks, so Gram found her this special service where she can hand out these cards which have $25 loaded on to them and can be spent on food, clothing, or lodging. When it gets light outside and everyone else is awake, I'll find them and let you know where you can get them, too.

It's cold tonight, a hard-freeze warning is in effect. The vegetable beds are snug in their row covers, I imagine the chickens are pressed cheek by jowl in the hen house, and Joe the dog has a new soft blanket to cuddle up in, which looks pretty cute I must say. Maybe I'll snuggle up in a blanket myself and see if there's something to watch on TV, or download that new cookbook I told you about. It's good to be cozy and comfortable at home, even if sleep is elusive. I'm thankful for plenty to eat and for family traditions, even silly ones like stacking or singles.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Bah Humbug!

To the ants, anyway. To the freaking ants who keep coming in the freaking beehive. Bah! Bah to you I say. You take me out of my happy Christmas place and send me right in to panic mode. BAH!

I can't believe nothing has worked. Not diatomaceous earth, not vinegar, not cornmeal, not cinnamon, not coffee grounds. I caught them today, red-handed, crawling through the muck at the bottom of the hive legs. I lifted the roof of the hive (it's chilly but sunny) and there were dozens. I may have freaked out a little. I stood there for fifteen minutes and killed every ant I saw. I hovered, watching; one would crawl out from the combs, and he'd be history. I may have cackled maniacally. I may have hollered, "Gotcha, you little shit!"

And then I left to do some weeding. And when I came back, THEY were back! So that's when I hollered to Tom. And we brought out the big guns.

Yeah, OK, it's a toothpaste box. But Tom, my genius of a husband, put a bunch of that liquid ant killer stuff inside? and since it's buried in the ground and only open to the ground, the bees can't get to it. And yeah, I know. We're all about no poisons around here. But I just have to help out the bees a bit. They've had it rough these past few months, their numbers are diminished, there's obviously no way they can fend off an ant invasion (this has been going on for a while, after all) and we can't have the ants eating all the honey because the bees need that to survive this winter. So, yep, I used poison. And I hope it works.

As I was standing there murdering every ant I could find, I watched the guard bee at the hive entrance. She was pretty upset that I was standing there making noise (thwap! smash! "#&!^*#!) and every so often would fly out and buzz my face. The bees are on edge. Too many invaders lately (wax moths, varroa, ants), too cold (a few hard freezes and many frosts), too little forage (it's winter, after all). Normally they leave me pretty well alone, even when I'm taking out comb after comb, poking around. Not today. Today, the bees were also saying 'bah humbug.'

the feisty guard bee, patrolling her landing board

Originally I went out intending to weed, and I got to it eventually. The buckwheat is still coming up like mad everywhere, so each little sprout needs to be pulled. There's less every week, though. And it keeps me in touch with what's going on in the beds. For instance, the potatoes have sprouted. Didn't I just say I thought the potatoes were going to be duds? Seems like all I need to do is say that sentence, and the potatoes sprout. Happens every time.

Other plants are doing well also.

carrots, and some random weed I missed

the garlic bed

shallots

turnips

I haven't had much experience with turnips, but this is a small salad variety, so I think they'll be great. Also I look forward to eating the greens.

The Mock Orange is setting seed, so that means it'll start its next process of putting out buds. Mock Orange is one of the first things that blooms in my garden in the spring and the bees adore it, so this is a reminder that springs not far away. We've hit the solstice, folks!