Each winter when pomegranate season rolls around Ken used to make this salad. He left me a pomegranate, so I made my version. Core and cut up a couple apples. Open up the pomegranate and separate fruit from skin and membranes. Toast some walnuts or pecans and chop. Make a dressing with yogurt, a bit of maple syrup, and if desired vanilla. Combine ingredients and serve. Ken added raisins, I think.
This time of year I try old ingredients in new combinations. This week I received some blue cheese and remembered this recipe for beet salad. Boil beets until you can slip the skins. Chop. Set aside. Toast walnuts or pecans and chop. Set aside. In a serving bowl make the dressing: olive oil, mild rice or white wine vinegar, a bit of honey, dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Add the beets, chopped nuts, some crumbled …
Before I met Ken I had a small house in St Paul. I had many flowers and wanted a buddha statue. I saved my pennies and when I returned to the garden center the buddha was gone. Each time there or any garden center I looked for a buddha. No buddhas. I had told Ken this story and he listened each time and nodded. Once when we were doing a pottery show in the …
I weave rag rugs. At one point I saved dry onion skins to dye some dull rags. I set them in brown paper bags in the old kiln shed. Ken created glazes from ashes – he used wood ash form apple trees, maple ash, and he also used crop sources like the husks from dry beans or corn stalks. When Ken went to clean the old kiln shed he found the bags …
Greetings from the Garden! This CSA box has sprouts, onions, garlic, beets, carrots, black radishes, Kohlrabi, celery root, and Cherokee Trail of Tears Dry beans. Field Notes. We are at the midpoint between solstice and equinox. These mid points are where the drama happens – Solstices and equinoxes mark a conclusion of lengthening days or lengthening nights. Most religions and folklore have names for these points: St Brigid, St Blaise, or Candlemas …
As the days lengthen the eggs start appearing again in the nest boxes! And so it has begun – egg season. And that, folks, is whey the Easter Bunny has a basket of eggs!
Ken loved working all things malleable – making soil blocks, throwing pottery, making bread, black smithing ( which he said was like making taffy, but it’s too hot to touch), mudding sheet rock, laying and grouting tiles, etc. When a musician friend asked Ken to mud some sheet rock Ken said, “Sure! Just get a bucket of sheet rock compound, and call me.” Ken answered the call, and the friend loved to tell the story …
Ken loved fruit. Each winter he would buy pears. And when a bunch ripened all at once he would bake them! His recipe: Halve lengthwise and with a small spoon scoop out core. Place cut side up on a baking pan. Place small pieces of butter on pears. Drazzle (a Ken word) the pears with maple syrup and brandy. Sprinkle with ground cloves. Bake and serve. Leftovers are great warmed in the warming oven of …
Ken has been making sourdough bread for years. I pulled his starters out , fed them and was happy to learn they are still alive! The first try I added too much flour, but it worked for a pizza dough! Today I tried a gain – and it isn’t dog or chicken food!
About a week ago I planted seeds for shoots for the first time; it was a job Ken used to do for us. I am happy to announce things are sprouting and growing I used the biodynamic calendar and chose a leaf day The problem is some varieties may be too big and floppy for the CSA. This is the learning curve. …
