petunia girl

More Than Just Fry Bread!

2012-01-31T10:30:00.000-07:00

More than just fry bread...

Ifyou have never tasted fry bread, there's a whole world of

yumminessawaiting you!

Nativewomen and men (you will see in the video) usually

makefry bread from a special flour milled by

BlueBird Flour Mills in Cortez, Colorado.

The secret to the best fry bread?

Theflour has high stretch quality!

Enjoy!

Dad MUST Drive Home!

2012-01-24T12:21:00.001-07:00

Days ago, tried in vain to teach Dad to use cell phone

Wrote down instructions with a crayon on sketch pad

Beside his hearing aid on the dresser lay the phone

Yesterday my cell phone tweeted its greeting

Wow, I had a call from Dad

Something clicked in his brain

And, he wasn't afraid to try

To call and ask "When can we start driving home?"

Snow, for once coming down

How to explain home is here and now

"Couple of hours and we will talk!"

Home for Dad is tottering around his own house

With his own agenda

Making his own one ounce of food

For he and Mom

On Thursdays deliver Meals on Wheels, to others

Even though Dad and Mom are starving

Dad laying on the floor for three days

Mom sends away neighbor, cleaning person

All!

"I can drive!" emphatically he declares

I declare, "You have no memory

You cannot put numbers together to make sense

You drive on the wrong side of the road

You creep

You are stubborn to a fault"

No use

Same, same, same

Week after week

Unlock Cottage door

Dad will drive Mom home

No car, no keys, snow roads, no understanding

Dad MUST drive home!

Bollywood with Curry Leaves

2012-01-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

Curry leaves remind me of my trips to Bangladesh in the late '90's where Bollywood mats crafted by an English woman ended up back home all over my house.

You see this one making merry with the top shelf cook books in my kitchen.

What do Bollywood and curry leaves have in common?

India, of course!

And, Bangladesh kisses the borders of India where curry leaves originate.

Curry leaves, let me make it clear, have nothing whatsoever to do with curry powder.

Known in India as kari patta, the leaves are aromatic and can change the flavor of a dish

dramatically by adding a pungent lemony flavor.

The Bozeman Community Food Co-op carries curry leaves sporadically. Whenever

I see them in the produce section I cannot resist. You see, I have become a devoted follower of what curry leaves can bring to cooking.

My son-in-law, Eric claims I am willing to put lemons in everything I cook. He is close

to being correct! The flavor of lemon universally 'jazzes' up a variety of recipes from

cookies to stir fries. Curry leaves with their lemony aroma fit the lemon twist perfectly!

As cookbook author, Monica Bhide said of her own curry leaf proclivity, "I basically divide

my life into B.C. and A.C. - before curry leaves and after I first ate them!"

Buy curry leaves that are bright, dark green without signs of browning or bruising. Unlike

bay leaves, curry leaves are edible. Add at the beginning of sizzling other spices or near

the end of cooking a rice, poultry, or vegetables.

 There, in my disorganized spice shelf sits the tiny bag of curry leaves.

For maximum freshness, these delicate and expensive leaves should 

be kept in the refrigerator. To keep the leaves longer, dry them. Next on my

to-try list is to make dried curry leaf powder mixed with roasted peanuts, 

mango powder, and chile.

 Tonight, along with a roasted Cornish game hen from the Fairhaven Hutterite Colony

in Montana, we will saute pre-boiled French fingerling potatoes from our garden. They 

will be made hot by sprinkles of bright red dried paprika peppers. Eight or ten curry leaves will be tossed in, along with Kosher salt, ground turmeric, juice of 2 limes, and vegetable oil. A touch of India and Bangladesh, served on a Bollywood mat! 

To Market, To Market!

2012-01-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

A tiny winter farmers' market

draws many

from over hill and dale!

Wooly sheep forgot

that Christmas is past

but determined to lick

the red lillies

Lit by hand punched

tin lamp

The Historian and The Baker

talking bread

Wood-fired bread oven

crusty sour fermented

dough

fly out the door

Beautiful hand-felted

rainbow trout and flower

peeking from behind

vintage-inspired fabrics

Tiny basket snowman

pin cushion

and more SEEDS!

Walls-o-Water

to warm the chill mountain air

red for tomatoes

green for peppers, pumpkins

all from Dillon, Montana

Old slate roof tile

carrying a photo image

1800's Virginia City

Old West mysteries

Birdie cupcakes

And,

A great place to spend a Saturday morning!

Coming soon... 

Virginia City Artisans Market & Growers Guild

Second Saturday of each month

farmers' market and sundry imaginative things

all artisan made

February, Hearts

March, Shamrocks

April, Earth

May, Mother

Links for you

Kim Miller felt artist

Wood Fired Bread Ovens

Chautaqua

This Day...the Last & the Beginning

2011-12-31T11:10:00.001-07:00

Colors of my life

Combine in contemplation

Around favorite blue ceramic cup

Of coffee with foamed cream

To plan upcoming

Holidazzze

Reflections through a window

Lights all hung

Tree aglow

And, no snow

For skiing, sledding, and angel-making

Each November a miracle

To behold

Scarlet abundance

Atop Yellowstone Lake driftwood

Photo by: JC McIlwaine

Dove awaits

Resting after such abundance

Sigh and sleep for

The New Year

Creeping up

In time for Christmas cheer

Diminutive comfort for all

Soft olive chair

My Mother sat there

As she tried so hard

To understand

But, now in 2012

The green chair will

Be my place

Each morning

To read

Seed catalogs

Johnny's Selected Seeds, The Grower's Resource

Territorial Seed Company

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

R.H. Shumway's, Illustrated Garden Guide

And garden ideas from

Zone 4 and Organic Gardening magazines

Wild Fibers, my travel guide to far-flung places

Filled with tales of sheep, goats, yaks, and bunnies

Mystery stories, a slew of sleuth for escape

And, now Blogging for Dummies

More to learn

High Country News

All about the West is the best

Montana Quarterly makes me

Proud to be a Montanan

Along with our State Supreme Court

That ..."Restored Ban on Corporate Political Money"

a law dating back to 1912

And, cannot wait to see

Angelina's movie on Bosnia

A friend recently said to me,

"I am retired. Now all I want is to be able to read during the day!"

In the New Year,

I join my friend, with blue coffee cup in hand

Tiny African stool and Lodgepole pine carved stool

Soft olive chair to join

Women around the world who use tiny stools for sitting

While reading, visiting, cooking, and sifting seeds

In 2010, I hung this beautiful

Hand-felted treasure on the garden shed

To rid it of fiber eating moths

That took over our house

No other marker of time

More poignant
Than watching a rug drift into old age
Blues are one with the sky
Pinks swim in prairie softness
Greens mellow as my reading chair

HAPPY NEW YEAR

EACH OF YOU!

Links for you

Blue ceramic cup

http://www.rwoodstudio.com/

African stool

http://aidtoartisans.org/

Restored ban

http://helenair.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/montana-supreme-court-upholds-corporate-political-spending-ban/article_09cd6140-337b-11e1-89f6-001871e3ce6c.html

Montana thought

http://themontanaquarterly.com/

Gardening in Zone 4

http://zone4magazine.com/

Fibers that grow wild

http://wildfibersmagazine.com/

Georgian Inspired Slipper Socks

2011-12-10T09:24:00.001-07:00

Inspired by walks near the Caucasus Mountains of theRepublic of Georgia bordering Russia, I dreamed my feet to be wrapped in theluxury of wildflowers. Georgia, the crossroads of Western

Asia and Europe, is rich with grape vineyards, delicious cheeses, intricate textiles, and extraordinary

medieval churches.

The Tushetivillage women living on steep hillsides knit slippers (chitti)in between doing farm and household chores. Intricately patterned withhand-stitched soles, Tusheti slippersare a vestige of the past still popular with many mountainpeople.

My slipper design is crocheted with yarn made of handspun woolplied with Madelinetosh Tosh Sock yarn from: Stix, YLY in Bozeman, Montana or on the web: http://www.stixyarn.com

Meant to emulate tinyflowers peeking through the stitches the yarn was spun in a thick/thin manner,then plied using a technique called ‘spiral spun’ holding the sock yarn at a 45degree angle to the thick yarn as the yarn spins.

Simple to crochet, the slipper design begins as a rectangle, folded in half, and then the upper foot area is sculpted to the toe. The crocheted slipper top is then stitched to the swede fleece-lined sole.

Slipper sock soles may be purchased at: http://www.paradisefibers.com

Georgian inspired slipper socks

Georgian women sang and danced to the strains of traditional accordion tunes, a gift

of thanks to our traveling group of textile teachers.

Dementia Free Fall

2011-11-26T09:35:00.001-07:00

Last summer I shared with readers the boots I purchased in a Douglas, Wyoming cowboy boot store. I promised myself that these boots, reminiscent of boots my father wore, would carry me safely down the path of caring for my elderly parents. Thanksgiving this year seemed like a good time to bring my parents from their 'lock down' senior living situation. Following is a brief account of two days spent navigating turkey, elder care, and dementia. Maybe some of you who find yourselves caring for elders can appreciate this story.

Dementia Free Fall

“Let’s get in the car, Mom and Dad!” The adventure out of Highgate lock down began with careful steps across adangerous ice covered driveway. I deposited the grandsin the car, buckled them in, and rushed back in to the Cottage to pick up theirmeds. It took longer than we all thought to package up pills for two nights anda day away. I kept checking to see if the grands werestill in the car. They were there when I finally arrived, however, Mom was outof her seat belt, mad as a cat fight that I had kept them waiting for what shedescribed as “more than an hour!” I knew better than to argue. She then wentinto a sulking silence. Made my heart skip a joyful beat to be able to drive halfwayhome without having to answer the same question over and over, “Where are wegoing? Who lives there (pointing to a red barn)?” And, of course the eternalscream, “Rich, how far are we from home?” Distant juniper trees became blackcows. Cows became farms. Farms became wide-open space. “Do you like thisplace?”

A short hour drive west out of Bozeman and we landed inMcAllister, our home. First out of the car, Mom declared she was freezing. Dadtoo. The wind was intense, bringing in a storm. We rushed into the house. Notaking off coats! Sweet it was that both Mom and Dad took themselves on theirown tour of our home as if they had never been here. Pointing to neighborhoodhomes, the question asked over and over for two days, “Who lives over there? Doyou know them?”

Some years ago hiking the face of the Bridger Mountains, Igingerly walked across a scree field hoping with each footfall that mycarefully placed boot would hold its place. Once, my hiking boot hit a shiftysection and I catapulted down ten feet of unstable rock before catching abreak. For two days and nights having my aging parents spend time at our homefelt like the scree free fall. It hurt, it was exhilarating, it was scary, itwas out of control with no way to change the free fall of dementia. A screefree fall is neutral, not to be taken personally. Samecould be said for dementia’s free fall.

Dad drank atumbler-full of Jim Beam

Jumping from bed, Dadforgot where the bathroom was

Dad took a 1:00 a.m.dash outside to pee off the front porch

Winds 50 miles/hour,temperatures freezing

Socks wet, Dadtracked back to bed, slept ‘til early morning

Mom refused toundress to put on her nightgown

She reached out tostrike me

She yelled for me to getout

I left her alone

She put herself tobed fully clothed with her nightgown covering all

Over turkey Momerupted in anger

Our friend had calledher “Hon”

“Don’t call me Hon, Ihate that!”

She railed, slammed,and stomped away

Silence and sulking

All sighed in relief

Lounging in our living room

“How are those rockssticking?”

“Have any of themcome down?”

“They look like theyare about ready to fall”

Hours of ignoring butpaying the price

Accusations of“What’s the problem?”

No onewill talk about it

“Why?”

Laugh it off

Danger

Stare straight intomy eyes

She asks, “Where’sCindy?”

I am Cindy

“No, you are Carol!”

Graham is Rich

“No, I am Graham.”

More danger

Anger, anger, andmore anger

Bonifazi Nadia, Italian Yarn, & a Breadstick

2011-11-20T10:07:00.001-07:00

It's not easy to find a yarn shop in Rome.

But, how can a yarnster miss this shop on Via Giovanni Bosco?

The door handles are a ceramic replica of skeins of blue and red yarn!

Grab the skein door handle, walk in to Bonifazi Nadia and a tapestry of

drawers, boxes, shelves, and piles of yarn for knitting, crocheting, and needlepoint

assault the senses. Five women stood in a tiny space holding up this and that yarn, chatting

in rapid-fire Italian all the while as I, too, rummaged the vast selection.

You see what I mean?

I wondered why a rack of women's bras were also part of the offering? Yarn and

bras go together like......? O, well, no worries, I found a lovely finely twisted soft

Italian made Merino wool yarn, red with flecks of multi-colors to bring home stuffed into

my hiking boots.

Nestled amongst the remains of a recent dinner party, the Italian red yarn is being

turned into a cozy cowl! It's called "Snuggles" and the pattern was created by Rebecca Blair, a Canadian designer. I found the pattern in the Winter issue of Tangled, an online knitting and

crochet magazine: http://www.tangledness.com/html/winter_2011/snuggles.html

The Tangled Chicks say,

"This cozy cowl is seamless and reversible—it begins with an invisible cast-on and is knitted flat and grafted into a ring. The lacepattern is adapted from an antique edging and flares gently to accommodate your collarbone. Worked at a tighter than usual gauge, the angora yarn blooms into a fabric that is dense and luxuriously soft, to keep you warm on the coldest days. "

Knitting on Sunday morning while sitting in the a sun stream,

I think about how I love to knit in the middle of the remains of another day, a dinner party.

There is the last party breadstick, draped over the Italian merino yarn balls.

Really, not so different

than selling bras in a yarn store!

Fried Green Tomatoes, Ahhh

2011-11-12T10:12:00.001-07:00

Cut thick to crunch when chewed

Dredge in stone ground corn meal

Sticks to the juice

Plop in copper skillet a couple tablespoons butter

Drop in tomato slices

Sizzle

Turn, and sizzle

Not too long, go for the crunch

Yes, they are that wonderful soft apple green

A tinge of pink here and there

Juicy despite the greenness of near ripe

A sprinkle of sea salt

Near perfect breakfast passed across to me from the other side

Two southern Missouri Grannys, Hazel and Gladys

One slurped her coffee from a bone china tea cup saucer

The other was in love with her eldest son's best friend

Isn't that what fried green tomatoes are about

Family secrets revealed in each juicy sour bite?

Delizioso Italia!

2011-11-06T14:24:00.002-07:00

And, Here It Is, Winter!

2011-11-05T11:13:00.002-06:00

TODAY!!!

Beauty Everywhere, Italia!

2011-10-29T20:10:00.002-06:00

Taormina, yes, it's real!

Erice

The Prince's vineyard!

We walked through the Prince's olive orchard, his vineyard, and then we drank too much of his delicious white wine. I brought home (packed in dirty underwear) two bottles of the Prince's olive oil.

Cefalu blue

O, Rosita's family farm house, dear me what a place and could she cook!

Rosita's bouganvilla

Rosita's vine covered entries to charming rooms for let

Rosita's sage garden

Rosita's watering scene

Back door entry to Roman ruins hotel in outside of Enna

Now here's a wall color I can wrap my heart around

Draping a tomb opening are Mediterranean caper plant

Just an everyday wash graced by planted profusion

Symmetry, and oh, that yellow

Not afraid of pink either

One painted niche after another on the outside of homes...oh, if only we here had just a smidgen of this elegance.

Greeted by a parking lot garden, of all things

But what about all of this growing in pots, on walls, under window shutters, in parking lots, on staircases, hanging above, below, over, and under vines of all types, posies everywhere, against backdrops of textured stonework.

Sicily is special!

Stay tuned...food to come! 

Alas, Later

2011-10-17T00:28:00.000-06:00

Humbling it is to visit a country with ancient history, spectacular vistas, and very, very few WFI locations! My intention was to bring you along but, alas, not to be. Later from home in the Madison Valley will emerge, the stories from our trip. Thanks for your patience.

Off to Sicily!

2011-10-06T08:39:00.002-06:00

A small group of friends and family will be traveling the back roads and trails of Sicily. Come along as I post photos and a word here and there.

CIAO! MONTANA (for a little while)

East we shall fly!

2011-10-06T08:23:00.001-06:00

Bird house in Adirondacks.

Hello, Again...Finally

2011-09-30T19:53:00.001-06:00

Northern Cheyenne, June 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu3jhKbl_ew&feature=share

Red Feather builds community, beautiful homes, and shared experiences with tribal youth, families, and volunteers. Take a look...

Hopi

Polacca, First Mesa, Arizona

Recipes aren't always edible!

Food transport

In Good Company was good company!

A step in a new direction for the Adams family in Polacca.

Buckskins Made for Walkin' the Path

2011-07-19T16:09:00.000-06:00

These boots are made for walkin' except the first time around brought huge blisters! I purchased these boots on one of 3 trips in June driving back from Colorado. Searching for the jackalope in Douglas, Wyoming, I ended up with a pair of long-sought-after buckskins, just like my Dad's boots. My thought was a sturdy pair of buckskins would help me walk the life path ahead. Neither my feet nor the path would be without a few blisters along the way.

Latest adventure from my dear parents, sweetest people on earth, has been a nightmare. They, of course, remember nothing of what happened!

Buckskins came in handy at the June Red Feather home build at Northern Cheyenne. Here's the truth window to prove the house is built of straw and the Spang/Medicine Bull family stands, delighted! Lots of hard work by family and community members, plus volunteers from near and far. Being the cook that I usually am on Red Feather builds (but not this time) I would like to send out a huge "Thank You" to the courageous few who stepped forward to prepare delicious meals for a legion of volunteers: Marilyn, Gayle, Marlena, Jack, and Mary Lou. What stellar people who jumped in where others had gone before but each brought her/his own recipe for success.

The California gang, part family, part good friends posing before jumping in the car to go float the Madison River one hot day in July. Tiny Otis just cared about his blueberries.

One evening, Slav made her famous brochette. Roasted peppers, garlic scapes, chevre spread on crusty bread, and drizzled with basil-steeped olive oil. With a chilled glass of white wine, they lasted maybe 5 minutes!

Otis and I built a tipi. It was a great place to watch Curious George one morning.

Ah, yes, baby back ribs, potato salad, garden fresh greens, and bread welcomed another July 4 celebration. The neighbors' fireworks were the best ever!

Happy Summer!

Jelly Beans Crocheted Throw, Too Sweet!

2011-05-29T10:10:00.000-06:00

http://www.tangledness.com/html/spring_2011/jellybeans.html

Comfort Food = Oven Roasted Fries

2011-05-17T20:55:00.002-06:00

Sorry to say I have to be gone for a while. In the meanwhile, enjoy these fries! Baby Yukon golds roasted in a very hot oven for 10 minutes, sprinkle with sea salt, and gobble. I am off to Colorado to care for my elders. Hold me in your heart, please!

Abundance Behind a Log Fence, Ah!

2011-05-17T20:52:00.000-06:00

At least once a day, 365 days a year, I gaze at this, My Dream Garden. The second I saw the photo, I printed it from Design Sponge: http://www.designspongeonline.com/. The image hangs above my computer desk along with tattered slips of paper containing quotes from Wendell Berry, Barbara Kingsolver, Yeats, and my great grandmother Minnie's birth and marriage dates, affectionately called "Little Gramma" by all of us cousins. But that's another story entirely.

The garden, the garden...abundance behind a log fence.

Treasure State Pot-O-Gold

2011-04-26T19:37:00.000-06:00

The Bozeman Magpie

http://www.bozeman-magpie.com/spotlight.php

Peach Tree Abundance in Montana Spring

2011-04-26T08:57:00.000-06:00

Saturday dawns under the usual spring white wet snow, April showers, Montana style.

Sabo Ranch greenhouse/chicken house, the chickens live in the rear, plants in the front facing the warmth of southern exposure. Structure is straw bale. Visit: http://saboranch.com/

Imagine a peach tree blooming in the middle of a Montana winter! That could only happen if the tree lived in a greenhouse and this one has lived now for 4 years inside the Sabo greenhouse. You can see it is loaded with fruit! Draped over cool weather greens and lettuce tubes, the peach tree's home is cozy and warm.

The Sabos grow greens in PVC tubes hanging from the greenhouse ceiling. Reminiscent of well-known greenhouse salad maven, Anna Edey's growing methods:http://www.solviva.com/solviva_book.htm, the Sabo's lettuce crop is prolific.

Romaine, orach, and spinach ready to harvest.

On the floor of the greenhouse, peepers scratching and loving the heat. These are meat chicks and will eventually be moved to an enclosed pasture to be raised eating grubs and bugs.

Almost a dozen! The girls in back have been busy.

Women of the Dirt Saturday gathering brought out farmers, growers, bakers, and people buying bagged Maine kelp. Harrison, Montana wheat grower Glenn V. hauled huge bags of wheat berries to offer to animal farmers for feed.

Smaller bags were filled with cleaned wheat berries ready for the grinder. Red fife spring wheat grown without chemical applications by a Madison County grower was a popular offering for local bread bakers. Women of the Dirt is a group of women who have come together around the idea of sharing what they learn about raising goats, sheep, pigs, cows, grain, produce, and fruit trees. Information is shared through monthly gatherings like this one and on-line through an email list that is now close to 200 contacts. Valuable to all is the connection with others around our state and region who are trying to grow their own food! Leave a comment if you are interested in knowing more about

Women of the Dirt.

Local Milk, Local Handmade Yogurt

2011-04-14T10:24:00.002-06:00


Starting my own Home Dairy with the help of Ashley English's lovely book

I have been making cheese and yogurt for many years but never considered that I was doing a 'home dairy'! Since I have no animal to milk: sheep, cow, or goat I buy "Cream on the Top" whole milk from a Victor, Montana organic dairy, called Lifeline Farm.
http://lifelinefarm.com/

Milk being heated to 180 degrees


Cooled down to 110 degrees, outside on the back porch

When cooled add either powdered yogurt starter or 3 tablespoons of your favorite commercial yogurt, stir, and pour into jars.

Jars waiting inside the electric yogurt maker

In my early years of making yogurt I used a large half gallon jar that I placed under the kitchen sink to capture the warmth. Now I use the electric Euro Cuisine Yogurt Maker from Williams Sonoma: http://www.williamssonoma.com

I cannot believe how much easier the yogurt making process is with this handy appliance!

Empty jars are filled with the milk/powder mixture. The lids are conveniently stored in the lid.

Plug the maker in and set the timer according to the type of milk being used. For whole milk I select 7 hours for the time because I like a pretty solid yogurt. If using 2% or skim milk the time must be increased. Place the lid storage lid on top and wait.

Fresh yogurt with peaches and blue berries slathered with Blue Agave Sweetener

What a great refreshing breakfast. Sometimes I add granola.


Yogurt maker with jars and lid storage above

When the yogurt is done 7 hours later screw on the lids and set the expiration date on the lid to be 10 days out from the day the yogurt was made. Most of the time one batch of yogurt is long gone before it reaches the expiration date. It is just too tasty to stick around!

One Day at the Madison Farm to Fork Greenhouse

2011-03-27T18:04:00.000-06:00

Maya and I made a vid about working at the greenhouse. Enjoy!

Craft for Courage, Help Save the Children of Northern Japan

2011-03-24T12:53:00.004-06:00

Want to help: http://craftingforcourage.blogspot.com/p/how-to-help.html

Pray for the Earth, from the Hopi Elders

2011-03-21T06:28:00.001-06:00

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One Volunteer's Story of Building a Straw Bale Home

2011-03-19T08:05:00.000-06:00

A Volunteer’s Perspective

By Patricia S.

Patricia painting

Ask Red Feather volunteers to describe their experiences on a home build, and it may be hard to get a concise answer. Describing the Red Feather experience is sometimes difficult to narrow down into one simple statement because it’s so full of a variety of experiences. It often includes challenges both mental and physical, and truly demands hard work. But the time spent on a build project is always extremely rewarding, and full of many life-changing experiences.

One thing to expect is the physical labor. You are there to build a house, after all, and you are put to work every day. You will have sore muscles you did not even know you had. Your back and arms might ache after a long day of stucco work.

Almost home, a tent in the sand

But when you lay down your head in that tent of yours - sore and longing for a real bed - you’ll fall instantly asleep, tired from a satisfying day of work and well-rested when you hear the breakfast bell. You will wake up knowing that despite your own lowly accommodations, your sore muscles are all part of bringing that house one day closer to a new home for a family in need.

Morning rainbow at Bacavi in Hopi country

When you first arrive at the site, you may be a little unsure about that kitchen tent. You have got a whole week of “camp” food ahead of you, and you are a little worried if it will be any good, or if you will get enough to eat. By the end of the week, it is possible that you have actually gained weight because the food was delicious and abundant. Your first day at home after the build might even find you waiting for the bell, summoning you to a fresh cooked feast made with love. The kitchen crew sure knows how to cook, and there is certainly no shortage of good food on a Red Feather build.

Friends blowing in the wind riding to a corn field

No matter what week you attend, you are guaranteed to meet new people and work side-by-side with a stranger. In spite of each volunteer’s unique background, construction experience and work style, you will find yourself getting to know and befriending people very different from yourself. And, by the end of your time at the build, you will realize that everyone there has something to contribute and everyone is there with a good heart.

Ants on a log snack

There is sure to be a variety of weather conditions on every Red Feather project. In fact, you might encounter the rainstorm of your life and if you do not pay attention to where you put your tent, it just might get flooded. But it will probably be followed by the most gorgeous southwest sunset you have ever seen, glowing red against the desert backdrop. The wind might blow 60 miles per hour one day, but then you find shelter inside the home you have helped build out of straw. No huffing and puffing will blow that house down. Snow might fall in freezing temperatures, or the sun might blaze down on your back on an eighty degree day - or both during the same week! Nevertheless, the kitchen crew is there morning and afternoon, like clockwork, with hot cocoa or an ice cold smoothie to keep everyone happy. No matter the weather, work goes on and makes you feel that more satisfied when the job is done.

Daily schedule for kitchen crew & tool trailer

Maybe you have never been to a Red Feather build but you do construction work for a living. You are sure you know everything there is to know about how to hang drywall. By the end of the week, you have learned a new trick about how to tape that sheet rock effectively. Or, perhaps you can barely hit a nail on the head and are a little afraid that the staff is actually going to expect you to use power tools. Maybe you left the nail gun to your partner, but you learned how to use the chop saw safely. No matter your skills, you will learn something new, and you will be proud of yourself because you helped build a house.

Hopi women rolling the dough

By nature, Red Feather projects are always in communities rich with culture and tradition. Maybe you have never been to a build project, but have visited Hopi on your own years ago. You are intrigued by the culture and are excited to experience it again. But you realize during the build that no guided tour can provide the same feeling as sharing a meal with the woman who grew the beans and labored over her piki stone to make the traditional food before you. No matter your prior exposure, there is something about experiencing these cultures as a Red Feather volunteer that is truly one of a kind.

Fry bread

So, what can you expect on a Red Feather project? Every build is a little different. You can never be sure what the weather will bring, but every week brings a new group of faces. The demanding work might be new to you. However, you can count on the fact that you will come away satisfied. You will make new friends and learn new skills. You will experience a rich culture and see beauty all around you. Your life will forever be changed.

And no matter what, you will build one house.

The end

Patricia is a fellow volunteer on many Red Feather builds. She lives, when not in a tent, with her husband in a tiny town, Tsaile, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation just below the Chuska Mountains. They garden in a hoop house to be able to grow veg at 7000 feet elevation. Sometimes their tomatoes freeze but they have not given up on trying many other cold hearty crops.
Red Feather works in Indian Country on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona and on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. Check out volunteer opportunities at our website:
http://www.redfeather.org

Sunrise at Northern Cheyenne in Montana

Yellowstone Winter Homecoming

2011-03-10T07:11:00.000-07:00

Flying north out of Denver

A view of Rocky Mountain National Park

Wyoming's Wind River Mountain Range

Proof that the Earth is round!

Frozen river tracks

Flying high above the clouds

A bird's eye view

Yellowstone Park in foreground

The mighty Tetons in the distance

Southeast Arm of Yellowstone Lake

One summer not long ago a bunch of us paddled the entire arm

In case you don't believe we actually spent a week

camping and paddling here is our first camp on Yellowstone Lake

Almost home, the Gallatin Mountain Range

Winter hope!

Spring will come!

Must be Away, to Texas We Go!

2011-03-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Upon my return in a week or so, I will start the seeds to grow this beautiful daisy! Does anyone know what it is called? Leave me a name.

Radishes Love Carrots, Really!

2011-02-27T16:32:00.001-07:00

Pot-o-lettuce planted with pansies

I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you ~ Roy Croft

Love abounds in the month of February. I can only exclaim my elation at skipping into March (love notwithstanding) just one jump closer to being able to plant seeds. But musing on the idea of companionship, the question rolling around in my head is, “How can I plan my garden around veg that like certain neighbors?” It’s called interplanting.

Companion planting pivots around consideration of root patterns, growth habits, and heights. Identify plant differences and use this diversity to your advantage. Three garden plan strategies are: 1) grow together because of each others’ root patterns; 2) grow together because leafy tops enjoy the same dance; and, 3) grow together because robust top growth brings shade that other plants love.

A lone rose watches over newly planted lettuce

First, vegetables that like to be together because of root growth patterns are: beans like carrots, celery, corn, cucumbers, onions, radishes. Corn prefers lettuce and potatoes. Kohlrabi loves beets. Spinach can grow between rows of onions. A Madison County gardener recommends, ”I always interplant radishes between my carrot rows. The radishes sprout quickly and provide a microclimate for the sprouting carrot seeds. Radish tops hold the remay off of the tender little carrot seedlings and radishes are harvested before the carrots need the space to grow…twice the harvest in half the space.”

Spring garden observers, these chattering black birds sheltering from the rain

Second, vegetables that have complementary top growth are: beans and celery, radishes, staked tomatoes, corn, and squash. Kohlrabi and beets have similar leafy tops. Cabbage likes a long list of neighbors: chives, cucumber, onions, peppers, tomatoes, corn, and carrots. Leeks and onions like carrots. Lettuce is a very popular neighbor who likes, carrots, radishes, onions, and corn. A Gallatin County gardener declared, “I had moderate luck last year planting onions amongst my broccoli. It seemed to help keep the cabbage worms and moths down to a dull roar. I think I will plant even more onions amongst them this year.”

Third, plants that produce shade become great companions of those plants that love to be protected from intense sun. Bush beans protect celery, lettuce, and spinach. The Brassica family provides ample shade for celery, lettuce, and spinach. Trellised peas and tomatoes are great cover for lettuce and spinach. Corn not only provides a trellis for beans it provides shade for all kinds of other vegetables.

Ennis 3rd graders plant Three Sister seeds in Spring 2010

Study the planting pattern of Buffalo Bird Woman, Hidatsa, who grew gardens in the 1800’s with her fellow villagers, along the Upper Missouri River around what is now Bismark, North Dakota. Her garden was interplanted with the “Three Sisters” consisting of beans, corn, and squash plus sunflowers. Equivalent to an Indian acre, one unit or na'xu contained 10 rows of intermingled hills of vegetables. All of the Three Sister seeds were planted together in one hill. Ten of these acres comprised a garden. Visit the Buffalo Bird Woman garden at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana this coming summer to see Native companion planting.

California poppies make good fence neighbors

Beneficial influences or good neighbors in a vegetable garden are plantings at the ends of beds of certain perennials. Some of these plants are herbs others are considered by many as weeds but we would do well to include in our gardens: lemon balm, chamomile, oregano, marjoram valerian, dandelion, and stinging nettle. Interplanting and rotating crops within a Biointensive bed allows for greater production. However, consider not growing the same crop in the same spot year after year. Different plants take different quantities and types of nutrients out of the soil. If over-planted, soil nutrient deficiencies can lead to diseases and encourages non-beneficial insects.

I like growing varieties of deer tongue, red leaf, and baby romaine lettuces interplanted in pots with pansies or violas [Viola tricolor hortensis]. Both lettuce and pansies tolerate cooler temperatures so can be started early in a greenhouse or cold frame. The best part is throwing both into a tasty salad together. Lettuce and pansies, carrots and radishes, cabbage and onions sown together grow together to be good neighbors!

Violas like chocolate, too!

Seed Pot to Garden Plot

2011-02-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

www.bozeman-magpie.com/planner.php?article_id=204

Celebration of Tulip Patience

2011-02-19T11:42:00.001-07:00

A friend gave me a sack of tulip bulbs in October last year! Our intent was to see if tulips could be 'forced'. Traditionally, I force paper whites so trying a new bulb piqued my interest.

Five months later, you see what happened! The tulips are blooming. With many other things going on in my life the tulips were forgotten in a window behind a sack of dog food. It didn't actually require patience (that implies active choice). More than attention to patience it could be described as benign neglect.

The bulbs or the promise of plant life were watered sporadically, at best. Even so, they survived. Was it being hidden behind the dog food that did it?

When I force bulbs my favorite gravel comes from the shores of Montana's own Flathead Lake. Called rainbow gravel, you can see why. Tiny pebbles made smooth by the constant swishing of cold lake waters round off jagged edges. Paper whites love this gravel as their roots weave deeply to find water. The tulips didn't like growing in the pebbles.

Delicate pink bulbs loved being planted in potting soil. So long ago placed in this pot, I cannot remember the flower colors. Patience...

In the meantime, here is my celebration of just one tulip! You see LaVonne's fluffy wool dove kissing the tulip. This dove has been known to perch in a rosemary tree and a Christmas cactus. She gets around!

Visit my felting artist friend: http://www.localharvest.org/serenity-sheep-farm-stay-M26943
Or see more of her birdies at:
http://www.tartique.com/

Years ago, my daughter spent a semester in Sienna, Italy. I visited her to roam the streets of Sicily and Rome. This terra cotta lady insisted on living in Montana. She especially loves some of my planting experiments, the 5-month old tulip her favorite!

Like my tulip, many years ago I fell in love with Andrea Gill's whimsical ceramics:
http://www.alfred.edu/pressreleases/viewrelease.cfm?ID=6182
The artist spent time in Helena, Montana at the Archie Bray Foundation: http://www.archiebray.org/

Two of her ceramic face pots live with us, polka dots abound.

In July at the Santa Fe, New Mexico Farmers' Market, one vendor sells imaginative potholders with wonderful, funny images portraying saints. Our Lady and San Pasqual keep an eye on our own kitchen hot pots and, of course, the pink tulip.

The moral of the story? Never, never give up on a tulip bulb. Inspirational is the patience that lives within the heart of all gardeners and a tulip bulb's DNA!

Musing on Wind and Sun

2011-02-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

One moment I could stare directly at the sun. Such an event happens when the wind creates a haze over dawn.

Welcome to Post #100 for PetuniaGirl!

Makes My Heart Sing

2011-02-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

A Seed Sermon

2011-02-05T12:32:00.002-07:00

Kansas seed man, Wes Jackson says, “Become native to your place.” Inherent in Jackson’s message is a call to those who grow their own food to examine why it is important to connect with place, specifically your place. Jackson is a seed geneticist and author of Consulting the Genius of the Place.

Aside from the more obvious answers to that question, important is the issue of biodiversity.

Home gardeners and organic farmers are on the front lines of preserving plant biodiversity.

Drying fava beans for next year

Adherence to being “native to your place” entails taking care of it. The choices each of us as growers make from seed selection to mulch to fertilizers are critical to the continuation of healthy ecological communities. Mindful gardeners and farmers are stewards of our vegetable heritage through maintaining unique varieties and fostering sustainable growing practices.

Jimmy Nardelo pepper saved for seed collection

Whether you grow in a 3×8-foot raised bed in your backyard or farm 30-acres of black soil in one of Montana’s fertile river valleys, saving seed from successful crops year-to-year is vitally important to the continuation of plant diversity. Seed that is successful in your micro-climate and specific to your neighborhood, is contributing to knowledge of place. However, the preservation of a genetic heritage is in danger of disappearing.

Consider for instance, recent statistics showing the consolidation and patenting of vegetable seeds throughout the world controlled by a few multinational corporations. For example, a non-localvore salad, originates from Monsanto-owned seed that grows 55 percent of store-bought lettuce, 75 percent of U.S. tomatoes and 85 percent of peppers.

Heirloom Sugar Pie pumpkin seedlings

Whereas, historically, seed genetics had been considered part of the public domain, recent developments have placed seed genetics into the “intellectual property” arena allowing corporations to stake claim over thousands of years of agricultural traditions.

Of course, saving seed is dependent on the original crop seed coming from non-hybrid varieties. Hybrid seeds are worthless for replanting, requiring the grower to return to seed companies each year to purchase their seed. When selecting plant seeds to grow out for future seed saving, the seed must be of the open-pollinated variety. Open-pollinated organic varieties will grow “true-to-type” or produce plants like their parents if they not cross-pollinated. Hybrid seeds are incapable of producing plants like the previous generation.

According to a recent Mother Earth News Survey of over 100 US and Canadian seed companies, about a dozen seed companies sell 100 percent organic seeds, while a dozen other companies estimate that more than 75 percent of their listings are organic.

Small locally-focused seed companies are shooting up all over the country. Take for instance, Solstice Seeds of Hartland, Vermont. The owner started two years ago selling the organic seed she had collected from crops grown out for this purpose. Her business has doubled because of gardeners who wish to grow open-pollinated organic seed from a known source.

Consider this list of Solstice Seed traits when you go to buy 2011 seed:

Must be:

Open-pollinated, non-hybrid variety
Produce well and mature within our growing season
Offer possibilities for season extension either through its cold hardiness, lateness of maturing, or adaptability to greenhouse growing
If a winter food crop, must store well in a root cellar or winter over in the ground
Have outstanding flavor
Be a rare or old variety that is worthy of preservation
Show some disease and/or insect resistance
A variety that was either grown historically in our area or is part of our traditional Montana (she says Vermont) winter diet

Help save our vegetable heritage by becoming part of a long tradition started by early immigrants from the Old Country who brought seeds sewn into hatbands and skirt hems.

Honor the farmers who came before us by planting for biodiversity and save the seeds native to your place.

Yellowstone Country Colors of Winter

2011-01-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

Third week January, the Christmas tree goes away and with it goes a flash of color. Outside we are left with tan wisps of grass swaying against crusted snowdrifts.

Another Montana winter descends, when the earth turns to subtle shades of brown. Skies switch between gunmetal gray to sunny crisp bluebird days. Cold and wind converse in a daily visit over the willow fence out back.

Ah, but slipping in through the mailbox is a whiff of spring. I warm up my green thumb in preparation to turn the pages of hope. Seed catalogs have arrived! Yes, I will fantasize five kinds of eggplant in the greenhouse, rows of plump deep green broccoli, and hundreds of heirloom tomatoes falling in perfect ripeness into my garden trug.

That’s the trouble with mailbox hope. It’s just that, an illusion fueled by my desperate desire to bring colorful abundance into my life in the deep of winter. Seed packets with their luscious images are inexpensive daydreams at $3.95 or even $2.75. Seed catalogs are filled to the brim with flights of fancy!

I will save the Seed Savers Exchange 2011, http://www.seedsavers.org/ catalog because the colors of the veg on the cover: cream striped purple eggplant, yellow plum tomatoes, blood red amaranth, purple string beans, and crimson lettuce, my hues of comfort and joy. I fight with my love of color and try to remain true to reason, asking myself, “Realistically, how much can I plant, till, tend, and harvest this coming garden season?”

The Cook’s Garden, http://www.cooksgarden.com/ catalog claims that I will become a “gourmet gardener” by buying their collection of kitchen garden seeds. The vegetable-stuffed yellow pepper on the front of their catalog makes me want to do just that, cook up a stuffed pepper. Yes, but think what has to happen in order sit down to a fresh-cooked meal of your own garden veg!

Irish Eyes Garden Seeds, http://www.irisheyesgardenseeds.com/ is where my French fingerlings, all-reds, and Peruvian purple seed potatoes have come from. Their Yellow Finns are the best. Their farm is Certified Organic and opposes GMO’s in all forms. On page 17 of the 2011 catalog are instructions on how to grow potatoes in a 4-foot square home-built wooden tower. I admit, I am inspired. After all, how else can I have a ‘virgin’ potato patch each year to rid my crop of the dreaded tuber scab?

Johnny’s Selected Seeds, http://www.johnnyseeds.com/, employee owned, purports to build a community of growers. On the front cover, community gardeners bend over to weed the abundant Food Project, http://thefoodproject.org/veg patch on a bustling city corner. Johnny’s seeds have been reliable since 1973, “helping families, friends, and communities feed one another.” If I buy Johnny’s seeds, will I be taking a trip down community building lane?

Baker Heirloom Seeds, http://rareseeds.com/, now owner of the 1811 Comstock Ferre seed company, claims to be “2011’s Pure Seed Book!” Hmmm, with a Missouri pioneer bent throughout their catalog I wonder, will the long skirts and ruffles rub off on me when I buy from their sumptuous hand-illustrated catalog? With over 1300 varieties of veg how can I not want to grow a Belarusian Heart Tomato, fruits up to 2 pounds and are mostly heart-shaped? After all, I do collect heart-shaped rocks, why not tomatoes? Or, could I grow beyond plain old orange pumpkins skipping to pink, red, green, brown, and blue varieties of heirloom exotic squash.

What happened to planting a seed for the pleasure of digging, having black fingernails, and eating a juicy tomato while sitting next to the vine? Mind-boggling is 2011 garden messaging. With the increased interest in growing your own, seed companies have jumped on the wheelbarrow to offer over-the-top abundance of vegetable varieties. Modest will be my choice to plant seeds saved from 2010, buy a few new varieties, and stick with the tried and true. But for a plain old gardener, it sure is fun sitting by the fire to be entertained with seed catalog flights of fancy, the likes of which have never before graced our coffee table!

No flight of fancy, this!

Baby Boomer and the Pumpkin Patch

2011-01-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Dawn, January 1, 2011 found me listening to a TED conference presenter. The link to Tom Chatfield’s “7 Ways Games Reward the Brain” came to me from an architect friend. She had been trying to describe why she had chosen to design a retirement duplex for three friends, no fee for her services. She explained, “Watch this presentation, replace virtual game playing with home design project and you will understand what excites me about working on a spec house project, even at my age (late 70’s)!”

After watching Chatfield’s presentation at http://www.ted.com, I began to think his 7 rewards could be applied to almost anything that stimulates the brain including my pumpkin patch! Well, why not? Here we go…

Experience bars measuring progress: as many of you know, I have grown pumpkins for going on 6 years now. 2010 growing season had its challenges but bringing all those years to bear on the patch this past year made a huge difference.
Multiple long and short-term aims: we gardeners are the eternal optimists, declaring if I try this then I can probably expect to have that happen. Short term, my aim was to find the right seeds for the right outcome. Switching to a new cultivar, Sugar Pie (Cucurbita pepo) from my dear Cinderella variety, bridged the short season growing challenge. Long term aim, save the healthiest Sugar Pie seeds for 2011.
Reward for effort: ah, nothing like the ripe abundance to twang a gardener’s heart strings: 26 pumpkins plus blossoms to stuff and fry. For once, my plan for the pumpkin patch to be treated like the sixth family pet worked beautifully! We moved the patch close by and the 8’ X 4’ raised bed received just the right amount of attention.
Feedback: every time I looked out the back window or sat on the deck, my gaze fell on the ripening pumpkins. Even the tiny green babies with their jagged stripes mesmerized me. Nothing is more satisfying than spending hours watching vegetables grow, right?
An element of uncertainty: it goes without saying; gardening can be an uncertain business. What endeavor carries more risk than planting a garden in Madison County? May winds, June freezes, July hail, August cold nights, September snow, October heat and then its back to winter garden bones.
Windows of enhanced learning: lessons learned: grow a food garden close-at- hand, called a ‘kitchen garden’ I believe. Attend, never leave, water, observe, and weed the patch.
Other people: surprise to me was that others loved playing around with squash blossoms in the kitchen as much as I do, a collaborative effort, actually. Early on Saturday mornings I picked the blooms, the blossom customer showed up, shared her recipes, and went away to prepare for her party. Who would guess that a community of appreciation could be built around a pumpkin patch?

The idea that I am an authentic Baby Boomer turning with 80 million others the age of Medicare and Social Security this very month, makes me wonder, “Where has the time gone?”

Connecting with others through growing a garden, those with the same gray, salt-and-pepper colored hair, bending to weed, erect two greenhouses for Madison Farm to Fork, or endure health issues holds a richness for the appreciation of the moment.

Planning my 2011 garden embraces uncertainty, the power of engagement, friendship, and opportunity, even at my age!

To each of you, Happy New Year!

Secrets of Anon Knitting

2010-12-26T12:54:00.002-07:00

Stix Yarn Shop http://www.stixyarn.com/index.html in Bozeman, Montana plays Secret Santa every year around Christmas. Sign up and your name goes into a hat to be drawn by another knitter or crocheter. Come December 28, over a glass of champagne, you get to open your gift made by someone you may know or not.

The fun of the exchange is meeting another crazy yarn bender who chooses to make a special something for another person, who makes something for yet another. I just hope the receiver of my gift likes alpaca and silk with a few sparkle-farkle sequins thrown in! These remind me of stepping on the spongy Arctic tundra as I hiked to visit the grave of a wonderful artist, Jessie Oonark. I thought about her the whole time I was knitting these wristlets, knowing while they might look like tundra vegetation a person sure couldn't wear them in the often -70 F degree weather in Baker Lake, Nunavut.

Sunrise, Moon Shadow

2010-12-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

Walking in the snow the day after the moon's eclipse, I witnessed the moon shadowed with a red halo, magical! The sun was reflected on the silo. Pure chance and caught unawares until I looked more closely. Truly reflects the magic of the season here in Montana. Makes my heart skip a beat to open an image on my camera to find a surprise even I have no say in creating. Earth's way of communicating is often silent and jarring. Happy Holidays to each of you who have followed my story telling for a year now. I am so thankful to have you visit, from far and near. What a surprise it has been for me to know you are out there.

THANK YOU!

Visions of Sugar Plums and Frozen Apples

2010-12-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

Do you know what ice cider is? Go read about in the Bozeman Magpie

http://www.bozeman-magpie.com/index.php

Wood Pile Love

2010-12-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

Wood pile big and fat!

Lots of warmth in that

The garden shed has reason

This cold and blustery season!

Hours of sweat and toil

Our friend Bird did it royal.

Thanks!

Wrapping It Up!

2010-12-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

Recently finished assembling Gramma Hazel's Kitchen and Bath Gift Sets for a sale in Virginia City. Here you see the Bath Sets. All tucked in and cozy are a cotton wash cloth, a nubby scrubbie, and Organicway's lovely goat milk soap. http://www.organicwaysoap.com/index.html Sarah makes her soothing goat milk soap in the country just north of my home. She started making soap when she suffered from severe skin rashes. When she used her own soaps she found her skin was far less prone to the allergic reactions she had once experienced.

I make these old fashioned scrubbies and wash cloths because I remember how wonderful such a simple homemade item can be to use.

The kitchen Gift Sets come with a scratchy scrubbie, a wash cloth, and plain unscented Organicway's goat milk soap.

I use strips of nylon netting crocheted into each scrubbie to create a stiff scratchy strip that easily cleans stubborn stuck-on food.

I couldn't go another day without showing you some images I captured recently of spider webs. The webs were the most delicate I have ever seen.

Imagine sleeping in this hammock!

Hundreds of these webs were scattered on every possible tree, bench, railing, and bush in our front yard. It was quite magical.

Dew droplets made each web look like blown glass.

I leave you with my favorite, above, wrapping one of the antlers on the Aspen deer who lives on our front porch.

Arctic Outside, Toasty Inside

2010-11-20T10:58:00.003-07:00

OUTSIDE

Our house, outside, today is -15 degrees, blowing snow, and overall just a frigid day!

The chicken has found a new home, nestled in the corner of the willow fence. She used to be a greeter at the back door but it seemed too cold for her to live on concrete.

Magical to snow is how it high-lights circles, lines, and shapes without even knowing. Snow defines winter here in Montana along with wild wind and bracing cold. For me this morning, I searched with a new eye to see what I could see through the gray light. Not staying long, I raced inside to warm up!

INSIDE

Nothing like doing a little cooking to warm the soul! Peaches thawed from the freezer, add a tablespoon of brown sugar and the juices flow.

Follow this recipe and you will end up with a peach galette (in French)! Or crostata, in Italian! Or 'rustic tart' in the Upper Madison Valley of Montana.

Mix together a stick of butter, a cup of white pastry flour, a cup of whole wheat pastry flour, some dribbles of ice cold water, whirl in the food processor until the dough forms a ball and now you have the crust part of the galette. Chill for a short time.

Next, divide the dough into equal clumps, one for each tart. Get out your rolling pin, sprinkle a bit of flour on a clean surface and proceed to roll each blob of dough into a circle (close, anyway).

Spread raspberry preserves on the dough circle and add peaches. Too late, I discovered that not draining the juice off the fruit, makes for a collapsed tart in the oven. Not a goodness, to say the least!

Don't they look scrumptious? Melt some butter and paint the tarts before baking 400 degrees for about 40 minutes or until the little critters are golden brown.

Slather each galette with a perfect amount of creme fresh or whipped fresh cream...yummmm!

Stay warm!

Awaiting, more work on a present...

Wild Garden, Wild Turkeys, Wild Backyard Critters

2010-10-31T10:11:00.000-06:00

Dawn this morning!

Guess who lives here? Yep, a badger. And, in our backyard of all places. Not long ago, I saw a badger jumping on its hind legs tossing around a Richardson's ground squirrel! Couldn't believe my eyes (nor did I have my trusty camera to click the sight).

On our way to Twin Bridges, Montana to participate in a Master Gardening Class, we stopped in Sheridan to see the wild backyard garden of friends. We bumped into the wild turkey flock that calls this tiny town home!

The flock was scarfing up ripe crab apples from the overloaded tree. Think how wonderful it would be to eat a wild turkey who had feasted on crab apples! Of course, these wild critters know they are safe living in town.

Our friends grow in 2-3 foot high mounds! Here is the tomato mound with a fence trellis. Note the still-green fava been plants in the foreground. The mounds are built-up soil from the pathways.

The mound garden has been put to bed for the winter piled with dead veg plants. I want to visit this garden again in full abundance. I hear it is a sight to behold!

Inspired by the Sheridan mound garden, I decided to try my own in the west growing bed. I mixed topsoil, Whitehall sheep farmer's compost, with a scoop of fish fertilizer pellets and peat moss.

Normally, I cover growing beds with straw. It's a challenge to keep soil in our beds considering skunks, dogs, badgers, and wind. All have their own agendas for messing around with soil! This year I will try to keep the mound in tact by covering it with remay and pig fence.

Planted the garlic in this bed, a new location. It's covered with 4" of straw, chicken wire, and held down by rocks and logs. I am hoping that the 100 cloves planted a week ago will start sending out roots with all the water I have given them

The south bed is set for winter with fresh topsoil, compost, and fish fertilizer. It, too is covered with straw and chicken wire.

As winter approaches, my favorite view will soon be changing from hues of yellow to white. Today the potato patch must be prepared for winter but all I want to do is tuck in to read...this

Have you read it yet? Two people sent copies to me so I have one to share!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/magazine/24letters-t-THEFOODISSUE_LETTERS.html?ref=magazine

Taste of Red, Yellow, Pink, Green, & Purple

2010-10-27T10:02:00.000-06:00

One foggy morning, recently, I decided to dive into making as many different kinds of tomato sauce as I could manage. The images in this piece are the colors of the tomatoes and dried basil I gathered to make the sauces: yellow, red, pink, green, purple, oh, so luscious!

Serendipitous how the sunset hues on the garden shed mirrored the tomato sauce colors. A while back I told you about this wonderful hand felted carpet from Khazikstan, relegated to living on the garden shed wall because of its insistence on keeping the moths that laid their eggs and decided to call it home!

Let's get to the tomato sauces! I decided to make as many different kinds as I could invent. On my little stove-top smoker, I smoke sliced tomatoes above mesquite chips. When I spooned the smoked tomatoes to the food mill some of the ash came along. My thought was that it would just add to the flavor with tiny black specks throughout the sauce. The smoked flavor ended up being mild and quite lovely!

See what I mean about the colors of the sunset and a foggy morning?

It all began with heirloom and field tomatoes from the Bozeman Community Food Co-op, http://www.bozo.coop/ plus a slew of my homegrown Italian paste and Beaverlodge slicers. The wrinkled ones are the field variety. Using multiple varieties for the sauces worked well to add different flavors, color, and texture. Two varieties of basil, Sweet and Armenian, were grown and dried by my Ennis friend, Kendra, who calls her business, Wild Thymes. She grows many different types of herbs in her greenhouse and formal herb garden. It is surprising how dehydrating herbs, garlic, and vegetables enhances the flavor to create a burst of summer goodness.

My second sauce recipe was oven-roasted tomatoes with the basil. Roasting in French pottery, of course imparts the flavor the Provencal countryside. "Really? Are you kidding", I can hear you saying. I think cooking anything in earthenware brings a flavor to food achieved in no other manner.

Just out of the oven, the roasted red, green, and purple are waiting to become only red!

Recently, I purchased this Italian food mill. It is called, "Velox" Il Passatutto called a 'tomato press' at: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/

The food mill attaches to a counter top by a suction device in the base. The press can be totally dissembled for cleaning and storing. It's a great kitchen tool! It had no problem separating the seeds and skin from the tomatoes. It can be used for lots of fruits and veg.

Our freezer is now brimming with different flavorful tomato sauces. It has been a beautiful, colorful fall with summer warmth here in Montana. Happy Indian Summer! (Now, there's a topic, where did we get the name, Indian Summer?)

Yellowstone Park, Magical Place

2010-10-18T09:39:00.002-06:00

We started our journey to visit the world's first national park driving south from the Madison Valley in Montana to the town of West Yellowstone. Free Heel and Wheel, a friendly gathering place, owned by Melissa and Kellie http://www.freeheelandwheel.com

is our place to get news on trails, roads, and always, a hot coffee with a cookie. It's a seasonal jumping off point for skiing and hiking! Upon entering the Park we drove along the Madison River where we saw swans, bison, and a majestic bull elk watching over his harem.

Joining people from the world over, we entered the Inn greeted by warm light, a cherry red door, and creaking maple floors. Returning each year to this lovely place since I was a kid, is almost a pilgrimage.

Welcome, one and all!

Lights warm the lobby where folks are mostly bending their necks to look upward to wrap their minds around the craftsmanship and creativity that created one of the world's finest examples of rustic.

Look up!

Could this interior be more magical with its curved lodge pole walkways and staircases?


The Old Faithful clock in the Inn's lobby

Early in the morning before the big eruption of the famous geyser, I caught the beginning.


Dawn

Frost covered the boardwalks, making walking more like skating. I waited and waited.


Raising of the flags

The Inn from the back...


Inside again

Separating the dining room from the Bear Paw Bar, are whimsical etched windows that tell the story of Yellowstone animals partying down!


We hit the Fairy Falls Trail

We are not alone on this trail.

This big guy, best viewed from behind, stayed along the trail


Fairy Falls, our destination

Remains of the Fires of '88, this black fire spire reached to the heavens, almost petrified.

Woodpeckers live and eat amongst the fire spires

leaving holes in their search for

bugs.

Tail up, run like the wind!

Walking out, we couldn't get far enough away. We hurried quietly by hoping our constant companion would look kindly upon our presence.

Castle Geyser

High-light of our trip was happening on the eruption of Castle Geyser, not a frequent occurrence! We stood in the warm, moist steam and spray, trying to avoid the chilly rain surrounding us. Spectacular formation created by the irregular eruptions truly was a castle.

Biscuit and Midway Geyser Basins provided inspiration, texture, and a rainbow of colors to behold.

Classic Yellowstone scenery with the Firehole River in the distance.

Good-bye until snow shrouds this magical place.

Hopi Maize, the Mother in Rainbow Dress

2010-09-21T16:25:00.001-06:00


Blue and white Hopi corn ready to dry

We bounced along sprawled in the rear of a pick-up traveling over parched, rutted roads, far out into Arizona’s high desert region surrounding Hopi’s Third Mesa.

After an hour of jostling, we jumped out of the truck bed onto the ground owned by our friend’s mother’s family, farmed by brothers, uncles, and father. This 20-acre field below sweeps of feathery clouds and distant sandstone cliffs had been worked in the Hopi tradition of dry-land farming without irrigation for hundreds of years. This year snow and rain were abundant.

Warned to watch for rattlesnakes, we plodded cautiously along cornrows. As I stood next to a stalk in a row of hundreds, tassels swayed in the breeze far above my head proving this year to be a bumper crop. Stalks were filled with ears of robust ripening corn. Heartwarming was this sight, as in years past I have visited cornfields to find stalks, maybe, three feet tall with a sparse crop. Corn is one of the most important foods to tribes across the Southwest, especially the Hopi. Considered to be the essence of life, corn is sacred.

James Poley, telling his corn story

Our Hopi friend and tour guide, James, leaned into a strong wind, corn stalks whipping to and fro, to tell us that he spends much of his time tending his “corn children” walking the rows singing to each plant. “Songs help them grow strong,” he explains. The next day I stood on a windswept roof of a Bacavi village plaza home, swaying to the drums as elaborately costumed dancers celebrated the harvest accompanied by songs of corn.

Corn (Zea mays) comes in many varieties and colors including blue, white, red, yellow and speckled. Blue corn, most important to the Hopi, can vary from pale blue to almost black. It is used primarily to make baked goods, stews, stuffing, dumplings, and beverages. Recent studies have shown that blue corn may have higher nutritional value than other varieties of corn. White corn, also valuable to Southwest Pueblo tribes, is used in prayer offerings and for making hominy and flour. Red corn, used in traditional foods, is an important source of dye. Sweet corn, known as “corn-on-the-cob” is grown throughout the southwest to eat fresh straight off the cob.

A corn crop is dried and stored for use over the long winters common in high desert regions. Village to village, the practice of stringing corn from outside ceiling rafters to dry is widespread. During a good harvest year, enough corn can be stored to last two cropless winters. No one must go hungry.

boiling someviki

half eaten someviki, yum

One particularly savory traditional blue corn dish is someviki or “tied bread”. Dried blue corn is ground by young women on traditional grinding stones. The corn meal is mixed with water and formed into tiny loaves, wrapped in cornhusks, tied, and then boiled.

Blue marbles served with salt & water

Another blue corn delicacy, known as “blue marbles” is prepared in a similar fashion as someviki without husk wrappings. Balls are rolled then boiled. The dumplings are served with salted water, a kind of blue soup. Hopi cooks add chamisa, a culinary ash collected from the burning of chamisa bushes to enhance the blue color. Also, the chemical reaction of the ash with the cornmeal helps to release Vitamin B to assure the nutritional value of the corn.

Come spring, I hope to try dry-land farming in my own garden. Over the winter, the blue and white corn I brought home from Hopi Country will dry on the cob. I will plant seeds in the same manner as James does with his family. Ten seeds to a 7” deep hole, pushed into place with a straight planting stick. When the “corn children” appear, I will sing to them.

Corn is the Mother, the provider of life. The corn or maize plant, domesticated from grass, has sustained human beings for thousands of years contributing to the evolution and definition of individual cultures. Corn embodies the cycle of life, birth to death. Corn is the essence of life.

Good reading on cooking and growing Hopi corn

Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, by Lois Ellen Frank

Hopi Cookery, by Juanita Tiger Kavena

Brother Crow, Sister Corn, by Carol Buchanan

Olympic Coffee Cozy

2010-09-15T11:33:00.000-06:00

http://www.tangledness.com/html/fall_2010/olympic_coffee_cozy.html

COZINESS, BY DESIGN

My first published crochet design...Tangled online magazine, created by friends at Stix Yarn Store in Bozeman, Montana!


Second round sample with copious notes

OLYMPIC COFFEE COZY

Dried Fall Harvest Goodness

2010-09-15T10:31:00.000-06:00

The aroma coming from the dehydrator this morning is that of a fresh veg soup. Ingredients are garlic, onion, sweet Jimmy Nardello peppers, tomatoes, and blue corn. Sounds pretty good! It's the end of the 2010 growing season and we are drying, freezing, and canning as much of our harvest as we can. Pumpkins are turning orange on frozen vines, finally. What goodness.

In fact, the time to plant next year's garlic is just around the corner, October 15, here in the northern Rockies. In case you are now overrun with fresh garlic, here, I share with you our process for making dried garlic chips.


What you need: two-week hanging dried garlic, plastic cutting mat, & sharp knife

Separate cloves and peel. This part is pretty long and tedious. I recommend some good music or an audio book. Your fingers will become very sticky and all the papery skins will be gobbed up on your finger tips but persevere.


Cut the hard ends off each clove. Peel away!

When all cloves are peeled, start cutting the chips. The cloves can be cut either the long way or across. Slices should be about 1/8" thick for best results.

Big fat slices ready to be dried

Place slices on dehydrator racks and dry for about 12 hours. There is nothing quite like the aroma of drying garlic. Of course, you must be a dyed-in-the-wool garlic fan!


Garlic chips stored with tomato chips in a sealed Ball jar

Dried garlic, sweet peppers, and tomatoes last through the winter and into the next growing season if stored in covered jars in a dark place. The burst of flavor of re-hydrated veg is a welcome reminder of summer goodness. Garlic chips can either be used as is in soups, stir-fry, or accompanying rosemary and lemon in roast chicken. The chips can also be ground to a fine mist in an electric coffee grinder.

From my kitchen to yours! Enjoy...

Off to Red Feather House Build in Hopiland

2010-08-26T07:36:00.000-06:00

I will be gone from PetuniaGirl for a while. Will be in Northern Arizona on the Hopi Reservation where Red Feather: http://www.redfeather.org/ will be building another house for a family. Stay tuned for the story and pictures in a couple of weeks.

Lifting the RBA that will hold the rood assembly

Sugar Pie Pumpkinhead in Yellowstone Country

2010-08-25T08:25:00.000-06:00

Still green!

Lone Mountain is white. Looking northwest, the tips of the Tobaccoroots are white. August 22 snow isn’t a promising harbinger for the sugar pies. In fact, the pumpkin plants have already survived two freezes and numerous hailstorms. However, in spite of winter during summer this growing season, the sugar pie pumpkin (Cucurbito pepo) patch is bursting with green globes with a fresh stand of blossoms each dawn.

Seedlings

Can this heirloom, 110-day crop make it to bright orange? A string of hot days would help. Those of you, who have followed my adventures of growing pumpkins, know my tales have centered around (pun intended) Cinderella, the carriage-shaped red-orange French heirloom variety that reaches 10” – 15” in diameter. After three years of growing this variety, I switched to a smaller heirloom cooking pumpkin in hopes of actually ending in the fall with a wheelbarrow full. The sugar pie crop is 2/3 to the finish line. I’m not holding my breath! The largest blue tarp in our collection lives next to the patch, at the ready, should a freeze be forecast.

Sugar pumpkins, described by the seed packet as “7 inch diameter scrumptious wonders,” have smooth textured bright orange flesh and are great for making flavorful, mouthwatering pies, soups, and breads. If you have never made a pumpkin pie from scratch (not canned pumpkin), you have missed out on one of the most delicious of fall treats. One sugar pie pumpkin is enough for one pie. Cut into de-seeded sections, drizzle with olive oil, and roast to golden brown in the oven until a fork easily passes into the flesh. When cool, plop into a blender, skin and all, whirl until smooth. At this point, follow your favorite pumpkin pie, bread, or soup recipe. The mash can also be frozen for future use.

In the beginning

Pumpkins are low in calories, low in fat and provide a wealth of vitamins even though like most other vegetables, they are 90% water. Start seedlings inside in mid-March. A healthy pumpkin seed will germinate right before your eyes! The tiny plants reach for sunlight. Set in a south facing window, and viola, the seedlings take off like wildfire, sending out tendrils and, eventually, blossoms. Pumpkin seedlings are a great way to end winter. When the blossoms start popping out, the aroma of jasmine fills the room. If you grew pumpkin plants for no other reason than to smell the blossoms (and eat them), it would be a worthy effort!

When I brought home a starving puppy from a reservation trip, I fed him Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup. To this day, Baci does cartwheels in front of a cooking chicken! I have the same reaction to growing, holding, and tasting a pumpkin! Folklore tells us that pumpkins are related to the supernatural. Literature is rife with pumpkin references: Harry Potter loved pumpkin juice at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, Linus, a Charles Schulz character believed in the Great Pumpkin, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s witch turns a scarecrow with “pumpkinhead” into a man.

Pumpkin patch

For the love of a pumpkin, I call myself a “pumpkinhead!” They aren’t supposed to grow in our climate but I refuse to believe a Montana sugar pie is a fairy tale. To ensure success, our crop was planted ten feet from the back door this year, moved in from the back forty. We are sleeping, eating, and laughing with the pumpkins. Our patch is the sixth family pet. Tell me I’m not crazy!

How could you not be crazy about this?

Julia, Did You Read Clementine?

2010-08-19T09:59:00.000-06:00

A friend turned me on to this little treasure!
First published in October, 1943, Clementine in the Kitchen is a great read! Did Julia Child read this tiny book before she set upon changing the US palate for French cuisine teaching us how to play in the kitchen?

Clementine, from Burgundy, rustic and delightful, became the cook for an American family, the Becks, living in Paris during World War II. This is the story of Clementine's guidance of the Becks through all aspects of traditional French preparation of food, eating it, and enjoying it. Phineas Beck shared the family's gastronomic journey with Gourmet Magazine readers. Henry Stahlhut illustrated the saga with whimsical drawings and portrayals of Clementine in her kitchen, shopping for food, with a few truffle hunting pigs.

It being fruit harvest time here in Montana, I share one recipe from Clementine's notebook of Burgundy country food traditions. The recipe isn't a dish but a bottle. When Clementine noticed the espaliered pear and apple trees on the Beck house south wall, she exclaimed, "Ah, Monsieur, you have a fine installation there for imprisoned fruit, as one does it in Normandy."

The secret is simple. You force the fruit to grow in a bottle. As the intensified, sun-drenched pear or apple outgrows its companions on the rest of the tree, the fruit will become, eventually, a tasty addition to brandy, Armagnac or apple brandy you add to the bottle. The fruit will be preserved for years as long as it is covered with liquid.

Here, an abbreviated coverage of this book, for sure, but hopefully, enough to pique your interest in searching out a copy, at: http://www.abebooks.com/ where I found mine. Clementine's recipes are sprinkled throughout the book, written in narrative form and are rooted in long French cooking traditions.

From my kitchen to yours...pumpkin blossom cozying up to fresh mint.

Savor Montana Ground

2010-08-17T07:53:00.001-06:00

Go read my piece about terrior, an understanding of how place contributes to the flavor of food in
The Bozeman Magpie
http://www.bozeman-magpie.com/index.php

A Short Goat Story

2010-08-13T21:10:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time, a little goat named Buddy rested in the petunia patch in front of the farmhouse on a goat farm in the Montana Big Sky country. Buddy ended up in this sweet bed because she was weary from skipping around the farm to avoid the farm owner, Sarah, who kept trying to milk her. Buddy finally gave up and let herself be milked. You see, the farm is known for its luscious goat milk soap, made by Sarah in her kitchen.

Now Buddy, the goat is almost famous because she rests on the outside of each and every box of soap made by the goat farm woman. Buddy's milk makes soap that is aged for 6 weeks to let the lye go away so that what remains happens to be the very best soap for human skin. The farm lady sells lots of bars of her wonderful soap at: http://www.organicwaysoap.com/

Buddy on the box, filled with the soaps of natural flavors, loves hanging out with Gramma Hazel's Kitch-N Stuff bath and kitchen gift sets. She likes cozying up this way right next to an organic cotton crocheted scrubbie and wash cloth. She thinks she has hit the big time. After all, she gets to appear in the blogisphere in her new role as PetuniaGirl's cover girl!

Old World Flavor in a Five-Inch Pod

2010-08-09T08:26:00.001-06:00

Before I start going on and on about fava beans, I thought you might like to see a double rainbow framing the Garden Shed Rug. Breathtaking!

FAVA BEANS

"They don't do well in hot climates and are best grown in cooler spring weather," says the seed blurb. That description of a vegetable seed is music to the ears of a Rocky Mountain gardener! Windsor, 75 days, was first introduced in 1863 in England, 26 years before Montana became a state. Most popular in Europe, the Windsor fava bean (Vicia faba) is finally making its way into American cuisine.

Last week, I was called to a Virginia City friend's garden where she invited me to pick as many fava bean pods as I wanted. Having never seen a fava bean plant in person, I was unsure which group of robust plants in the jungle of abundance was the proper one. She pointed to the 4' tall, large leafed plants lining a narrow path near the garden entrance. Upon closer examination, I could see plump, long bean pods draped throughout the stand. We collected bunches and talked about what we would do with the beans. Neither of us had a clue where to begin.

My cooking source for all information vegetable is the definitive, Chez Panisse Vegetables, by Alice Waters or further, for historical context, William Woys Weaver's, 100 Vegetables and Where They Came From. Waters spends six pages waxing poetic on the fava with preparation suggestions and recipes for the "bright green, sweet and tender beans." Weaver tells of growing three difficult-to-find varieties of the bean: the French tick bean (Faba vulgaris), the Egytian Foul (prounounced "fool") Misri, and the Crimson Flowering fava from England.

Sitting at our kitchen table, I hulled the Virginia City beans. The pod casing with its furry skin is tough. Break open the por and there is a thick blanket, much like quilt batting, lining the interior. Nestled within this inviting bed, are the "bright green, sweet and tender beans" waiting to be plucked from their protective home. Five or six beans per pod, each are encased in their own leathery covering.

Are you beginning to understand why this bean could flourish here? Not unlike winterizing our own home, the fava bean plant has found a way to grow and protect its fruit within layers of insulating coverings. No wonder this legume can survive and thrive in a cool climate.

Since I don't have fresh fava beans to dry this fall, I will search out commercially dried beans to try this Alice Waters recipe: re-hydrate beans overnight; instead of boiling them, fry them in olive oil until crisp; serve salted with a lemon wedge on the side. Like so many of life's simple joys, a crisp salted fava sounds like the bee's knees!

Yummy Rhubarb Iced Tea, Taste of Summer

2010-07-31T17:29:00.001-06:00

Ah, yes, rhubarb. Look at the hail damaged stalks...great for making rhubarb tea! I have been accepting rhubarb from growers all over Madison County. This is one plant that loves living in this part of the world (minus the hail, of course).

Chop stalks into 1/2" pieces. You will need about 15 stalks/1 gallon of water...in other words, lots! Bring the water and rhubarb chunks to an easy boil and keep it that way for 1 hour (watch out for overflowage). At the end of 1 hour, turn off the heat, put the lid on the pan, and let it steep for 12 hours. Sometimes I add raspberries.

Early the next morning over a strong cup of coffee, strain the rhubarb mixture. This is the fun ?? part! I use one of my Gramma Hazel's hand embroidered tea towels (the one with the little bear that says "Wednesday"). Lay the tea towel over the bowl and carefully pour steeped juice mixture into the towel. It might take two or three times of doing this depending on how many gallons of juice you are able to boil. Tie the towel and hang so the juice strains into the waiting bowl. I squeeze the towel. Empty the remaining mush into the compost pail. You now have lovely pink juice!

Add about one bear of Montana Made honey...this is from Pony, Montana, one bear/1 gallon juice. Squeeze two or three fresh lemons and add the juice to the rhubarb juice. Using a potato peeler, peel lemon skin 'chips' to add to your juice when it is served. Don't forget a leaf of mint.

Lovely! Not too sweet, not too sour.

One Woman, One House

2010-07-27T12:22:00.003-06:00

Eight years ago, Cris Lindsay, a hairdresser from Virginia, attended a Red Feather home construction project on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She was so moved by the reservation housing situation that she decided she wanted to help. Sitting at her kitchen table, she decided that the idea of raising enough money to build a home didn't seem that unreachable. She gathered her family, friends, and clients around her idea. They in turn encouraged Cris to realize her dream and agreed to support her efforts.

At the time, building a two-bedroom straw bale house would have cost around $45,000. Cris set this number as her fund raising goal. Undaunted by the immensity of the task, Cris and her husband set about organizing a large party. The event would feature tribal dances and music plus other entertainment. Tickets to buy a table were sold, the top price going for $5000. Cris' story was aired on Oprah. Articles were written in the Washington Post. "Word-of-mouth was the best advertising," says Cris. When the event contributions were totaled, the amount added up to an astounding $35,000.

Still $10,000 short of her goal, Cris decided to hold a raffle. She would give away $10,000 for the price of a ticket, $200. She sold 100 tickets to bring in $20,000. Cris retained $10,000 to reach her goal of $45,000 and the raffle winner walked away with $10,000. Now Cris had the money. The question was where to spend it.

Meanwhile, Red Feather was an evolving organization, changing its approach to building houses. Although the organization began by building homes at no cost to the homeowner, Red Feather realized that a more equal partnership between the organization and the families it built with created greater pride in home ownership and stronger relationships with each party contributing resources to the common effort. Red Feather still brings the cost of homes down for homeowners significantly by providing volunteer labor and corporate donations such as appliances, paint, and tools for the home, while homeowners contribute financially to pay for the remaining materials and physically, through "sweat equity" hours.

Cris had raised enough money to cover a homeowner's material costs. Red Feather staff struggled to find a project that could accept Cris's donation without compromising the values of its housing program.

Back in Virginia, Cris was being pressured by her donors to see the house. "Where is the money? Where is the house?" It took about five years for the money to find a home, literally. The costs of building a home of course, far exceed the purchase of just the building materials - tools and camp supplies must be transported, staff and sub-contractors need to be paid, for instance.

Due to Cris' selfless fund raising efforts and the generous donations of all her supporters, a home was built for Albert McManus and Clara One Feather last month by Red Feather volunteers and members of the local community. The money Cris raised along with the homeowner's investment made the project possible. Cris and her husband, Kris were present, working alongside Albert and Clara painting walls, washing dishes, and sanding trim boards.

When the family walked into the finished home, they quietly walked from room to room. All 80 people at the celebration feast for the family stepped aside as they roamed their new home.

In January of this year, Cris was diagnosed with breast cancer. She attended the home construction project under the watchful eye of her husband because she was undergoing chemo. Her broad smile and easy manner captured the hearts of all. At the time, only a few knew of Cris' role in helping to make someone else's dream come true. Red Feather thanks you, Cris.

Scapes & Blossoms, Farmers' Market Treasures

2010-07-18T16:02:00.000-06:00

Beyond Market Greens

Hidden behind and draping over herb filled jars in one vendor stall, were the treasure trove of the Saturday market. With the clang of the market bell, I swooped in and filled my canvas bag with all the vendor had on hand. Even when I hid the bags back in my own market stall, an intrepid shopper spotted the treasures and demanded to know, “Which vendor brought those? What are you going to do with them?” I guess by now you must have a hint?

I rue the day when I will be forced to queue in front of a vendor who sells blossoms and scapes. One shopper is already on to my secret, how many more! The two ambrosias of delight, zucchini blossoms and garlic scapes are totally seasonal, much like early spring morels. Zucchini blossoms are the harbinger of the prolific green squash we gardeners love to hate. Garlic scapes are the flower shoots removed from the garlic plant to encourage the bulb to turn into a large globe. Ah, but with a bit of sleuthing and Johnny-on-the-spot insistence, bags of these earthly delights can be had for under $10, a mere pittance to pay for a trip to gastronomic heaven.

Was it an Italian mama who first fried up a zucchini blossom to feed her family anything and all that grew in her garden? Or did the New York Times food writer who celebrated her own Family Garlic Festival first crush garlic scapes to make pesto? I don’t know the answer to either of these questions. For sure, today my own family will dine on sheep milk feta stuffed into zucchini blossoms to be delicately fried to a golden brown accompanied by a dollop of garlic scape sorrel pesto smeared on penne.

It is not easy to decide from the many ways to fix garlic scapes: roasted, stir-fried, pickled, sprinkled on salad or simmered into a lovely creamy soup. Scapes impart a soft distinctive hint of garlic without the strong hit of pungency from a garlic clove.

Here is a 15-minute recipe for garlic scape sorrel pesto:

1 cup garlic scapes (about 8 or 9 scapes), top flowery part removed, cut into ¼-inch slices

2 cups chopped fresh sorrel

1/3 cup walnuts

¾ cup olive oil

¼-1/2 cup grated parmigiano

½ teaspoon salt

black pepper to taste

Place scapes, sorrel, and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and mix until well combined and somewhat smooth. Slowly drizzle in oil. With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl. Add parmigiano to taste; add salt and pepper. Makes about 8 ounces pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Now for the blossom part of the meal:

6 zucchini blossoms, pistil removed

6 1/4 inch slices of sheep milk feta

6 basil leaves

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon Real salt (from Heber, UT)

3/4 cup soda water

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

oil for frying

Heat 1 inch of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Carefully rinse the blossoms.

Place 1 piece of feta and 1 basil leaf inside each blossom. Carefully twist the petals together to close. Repeat until all blossoms are stuffed.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder. Whisk in soda water. Batter should be thin like crepe batter. Dip each stuffed flower in the batter. Hold over the bowl to let excess drip off.

Sprinkle a little flour in the oil, if it sizzles the oil is ready. Carefully place each stuffed blossom in the oil. (Note: Fry in batches if you need to, don’t over crowd the pan.) Fry until browned, about 3-4 minutes. Turn occasionally. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate with a slotted spoon. Serve hot.

Brilliant it is that gardeners and farmers have figured a way to double dip on two crops, squash and garlic. Farmers’ markets and CSA’s have no doubt helped to expand the agricultural and gastronomic vocabulary of eaters to include early seasonal additions. Quietly in the field back home, the bumper crop matures while savvy food shoppers scarf up tasty delights, only flowers.

Sky Flowers and Bliss

2010-07-07T16:22:00.000-06:00

Sometimes a great notion! Our neighbors, each year, put on the grandest fireworks any of us have ever seen. And, it all happens above our house. You might find your jaw dropping about now but...

We have a metal roof! Beyond and around our house if we twist and turn, we can witness fireworks around the Madison River Valley, up close, below the Madison Range, and down by Ennis Lake. It is magical!

Equally magical is this leaf lettuce plant going to seed.

This is not a streaming fireworks...no, of all things it is quack grass going to seed in the greenhouse. Quite lovely!

A five pointed star flower. If the right things happen this flower will emerge into a cucumber, not half as beautiful, but oh, so tasty.

See the pepper? It is actually paprika. Bought the seed from a gardener on Etsy, of all places. She lives in the Southeast. Only way to grow paprika and Jimmy Nardellos, my bar none favorite, is in our greenhouse.

Remember when I planted the potatoes? Well, they are about two feet tall! Wonder what's happening under ground?

Beaverlodge heirloom tomatoes in their cozy red walls-o-water.

And, guess who? Sugar Pie pumpkins following two hail storms. They are still putting out blossoms even though the leaves have been pummeled. Gotta say, that is one big bit of magic!

No, this isn't the result of the puppettes rousting about in the yarn upstairs. You guess!

Madison Farm to Fork Flies in The Bozeman Magpie

2010-07-06T07:12:00.000-06:00

Check out my article on Madison Farm to Fork over at The Bozeman Magpie: http://www.bozeman-magpie.com/thebigmt-full-article.php?article_id=92

Most Happy Fathers' Day to These

2010-06-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

My father, Richard. My brother Richard, father to Ceil, Nic, Ian.

Graham, father to Josette and JC.

Eric, father to Kailea and Shea Willow.

Tim, father to Otis, Kellan, and Erin.

Bob, father to Ryan.

Grandfather, grandson, check out a helicopter.

Wish I could make all of you a breakfast of French toast, coffee, Sabo Ranch bacon, Adirondack family camp maple syrup, with fresh strawberries, a smear of yogurt, sprinkled with lively conversation. Thanks for being in my life, each of you!

Spring of Living Dangerously

2010-06-15T17:50:00.001-06:00

A first!!! The deer didn't munch the tulips! I am living dangerously even talking about it because they have a sixth sense you know. They see those beauties swaying in the morning breeze and it could be all over but for the crunching.

Dawn, ooooh, so bright.

Immature Golden Eagle waiting for a mouse, Grace (she lost a leg to an eagle), a ground squirrel, or a dove.

Greenhouse tapestry

These buckets hold the greenhouse door open. I am enjoying watching them rust. I painted them a couple of years ago. They get richer with each winter.

Here's my new sugar pie pumpkin growing scheme. One long mound with 9 plants guarded by a tent of pig wire. The tent will keep the puppettes out and when the hail comes we can throw a tarp over the whole bed. We'll see how it goes. I love seeing the blossoms, it's almost tropical. (What have I been sipping?)

Here's are my tomatoe growing barrels. Three plants to the barrel, peony cage, wall-o-water, and cover the whole thing with a plastic bag. That's how to get a Rocky Mountain tomato crop!

A worm's view of willow henge!

Home on the Rez, Week One

2010-06-10T20:51:00.002-06:00

The day begins...

The home begins here...

Straw from Dillion, Montana

Window view of the kitchen trailer

Welcome Home!

Inside lookin' out

She said she hated being on the roof last time...hmmm, here she is, again!

Now, she lives to be on the roof!

Queen of Straw!

We let him in the kitchen?

Flute stories

What's not to love about this lady?

And these two, guess who?

Girl with hammer is the boss!

They did it!

The family signs a '2010 Best Wall' winner's cup.

Rockin' kitchen crew!

Three cookateers!

While we built a house, we built a sweat lodge.

She scraped the earth away...

Sweat lodge waits for the right moment.

Second week cooks! They were undaunted.

Almost home...Tobaccoroot Mountains, our backyard.

Plenty Food

2010-06-09T06:48:00.000-06:00

The First Week Crew

On Northern Cheyenne Tribal ground, Dillion-grown straw bales, Indian Tacos, people from Busby, Lame Deer, Helena, Kalispell, Bozeman, Missoula, McAllister, Idaho, Kentucky, Florida, California, Washington, Illinois, Vermont, Nevada, make up the ingredients that mix to build a straw bale house near Lame Deer. Here the June spring lurches forward with snow, cold rain, and wind. Blankets of blue flax, purple larkspur, and puffy sage blossoms dot the landscape. Wild horses: paints, a blaze, and majestic grays kept us alert as they snuffled amongst tents, campers, and vehicles.

Just a five-hour drive from the Madison Valley where we live, but a world away, is the Northern Cheyenne tribe’s 450,000-acre reservation in southeastern Montana. This land of gentle rolling hills topped with ponderosa pine and rust rock outcroppings is the home of about 3500 people. Numbering more than 5000 total tribal members, many live off the reservation to seek employment and places to live. Back on the reservation, a list of over 300 people wait for a place to live. Red Feather, a Bozeman-based non-profit, partners with tribal members to build straw bale homes on reservations in Montana and Arizona. I do some of the cooking for volunteers who come to build a home in 28 days.

While my own recipes make up the Red Feather menu, I search out food that is native to Indian Country to set before people who may never have experienced Native cultures. I quiz Native community folks who visit our construction sites to share their favorite traditional foods. When one Cheyenne woman told me of a childhood favorite, her grandmother’s cow hoof stew, I did a double take! Come to find out, bison hooves make equally tasty additions to stew. Pretty Shield, legendary Crow medicine woman, recommended boiling bison hooves all day, changing the water frequently, ending with a gelled substance that is quite delicious. The remaining softened sinews can be dried to make baby rattles.

The owners of the Cheyenne home we were working to build, Albert Walking Turtle (McManus) and Clara One Feather, are renown for their traditional recipes shared at powwow feasts near and far. They offered to make their venison stew for evening supper one day last week.

Last fall Albert’s aunt killed a deer. He butchered the doe, and hung thin strips of meat on a pole to dry for six months. The venison strips were washed and then boiled in water all day on our gas-fired camp cook stove, despite driving rain and wind. Near the end of the day, we added potatoes, carrots, and wild turnips to the pot of venison. The stew was served with triangles of Clara’s famed fry bread with a dipping sauce of sweetened dried chokecherries. Alongside our own supper offering, the traditional Native food, by contrast, seemed to impart the taste of the ground upon which we stood.

Is it not perfectly fitting that the universal Indian Country sign for ‘Plenty Food’ is a simple drawing of pole-hung meat? The Plains Tribes were and are hunter gatherers. Their knowledge of what grows wild below ground, above ground, the four-legged, the finned, and the winged has been passed down from elders over the generations. The land provides and those who prosper remain close to this sacred wisdom.

Venison Stew

Northern Cheyenne Straw Bale Home

2010-05-28T08:52:00.000-06:00

Tepees, sky, probably cold wet ground, and lots of warm greetings from old and new friends! The Red Feather straw bale house build starts tomorrow. The site is just east of Busby, Montana on Highway 212. Stop by if you happen to be driving through southeastern Montana.

We built this home for Winfield, in the navy shirt, two years ago.

The house waits for the stucco coat. If my memory serves me correctly, this was one of the only sunny days! Shortly after this the stucco was slapped on the outside walls in a snowstorm!

Even when your tent collapses in a storm, a breathtaking sunset erases all disappointment.

Stay tuned, in a week, more photos and happenings from Northern Cheyenne.

Yellowstone Country, Morning

2010-05-25T09:16:00.001-06:00

Off in the distance, a pair of Sand Hill Cranes squawk the morning into being. This view of the morning reminds me of how patterns captured within the landscape define the origin of textile designs: Navajo weavings, felted carpets from mountainous Kyrkistan, and Tusheti rugs.

I asked you about a photo detail in my last post. The photo came from this felted carpet hanging on our garden shed. "Good grief, how in the world could I hang such a beautiful treasure outside on the garden shed?" you may ask. Well, it's a long story but the short of it is, the carpet brought a swarm of tiny moths inside our house! My efforts to rid the carpet of moths, eggs, and larvae, alas, were unsuccessful. In fact, the tiny buggers took over and in the flash of an eye, they were caught eating whole treasure to pieces.

Some in my family recommended taking the carpet to the dump. No way, said I. That's how it ended up on the garden shed. I have decided the beautiful vegetable dyed felted hand stitched carpet from Kyrkistan will hang into shreds, a sort of metaphor of the cycle of life. I will tell you the background story about this carpet from far away mountains soon, but not now.

Another morning greeter, the female tree swallow. She and her mate have returned to raise another family in the Mountain Blue Bird box at the other end of the garden shed. They swoop and glitter their iridescence against the blue sky.

The Sand Hills are deciding where in the surrounding fields to spend the day. Every morning they converse and chatter.

The crackers sold well at the market! Here's a half pound left for our family to gobble!

This weekend begins the straw bale house construction of the McManus family home in Northern Cheyenne country in southeastern Montana. I will be cooking for volunteers for a week so will have to leave you for a while. Upon my return, however, there will be lots to tell you. In the meanwhile, go check out Red Feather's website to see what's up:http://www.redfeather.org/

Crack Her Mania

2010-05-19T21:05:00.000-06:00

A friend asked me for pictures of my crackers. Well, I can't just show you a bunch of crackers without showing a little bit about the process (and why I am dead tired after whipping, mixing, smashing, rolling, cutting, sprinkling, scooping, burning, & crunching). You can see that beautiful mother & daughter Blue Bird Flour (it's used by Hopi & Navajo women to make fry bread; it is comforting to live with 2 sacks of flour), the dough made from whole wheat flour from Manhattan, Montana, rye, sour cherries, yogurt, black pepper, butter, and all the little tools that make an impossible baking scheme possible.

From a bowl of fermented dough to smears on a cotton baker sheet ready for punching, sea salt sprinkle, and cutting. See the smeared sour cherries? Gingerly, I spatula the cut pieces on to a baking stone, & pop them in to a slow oven.

The trick is to not rush to the bathroom or check emails otherwise the whole bloody batch will burn. Then what? A lot of sweat goes up in smoke. Don't think I am not an expert on that. Hmmmm.

Perfect!

A new offering, these hazelnut/thyme stacks I am calling 'wafers'. I adapted the recipe from Clotilde Dusoulier (bless her French heart) of Chocolate & Zucchini http://chocolateandzucchini.com/ . I used Montana whole wheat (at some point I will write about the vast rich variety of nutrient rich wheat we grow here in the Big Sky). Her cookbook keeps me awake late dreaming of walking the streets of Paris to find the most lovely place to eat!

Delicious little stacks!

When I get these + more all packed up for the market, more photos. I have new sacks this season. They have clear windows for viewing the luscious contents. I am in the process of decorating the exterior of each sack. Sigh ("just go to bed already,"she screamed to herself).

O, yes, does anyone out there know what in the world this could be? Well, stay tuned...

Whee Won

2010-05-18T22:46:00.000-06:00

Farm Fantasy

2010-05-15T09:07:00.001-06:00

Good Morning! How about that, a bowl of plucky salad greens greeted me in the greenhouse this dawn. This is probably as close as I will ever get to realizing my farm fantasy, a bowl of pansies and lettuce. Oh, we plant garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, onions, on and on, but we are not farmers. In one week the Madison Farm to Fork, http://madisonfarmtofork.com farmers' market in Ennis will begin the summer season. I have a lot to do this coming week to make my stall happen.

We planted potatoes yesterday. The starts have been resting on the kitchen counter for a few days drying the raw cut ends a bit.

Potato bed in its winter coat: straw, chicken wire, and weights. We have to remove all of this.

After all of the topping is cleared away, then we dig 7" trenches.

We probably planted the potato starts too close but some of them may not make it. We throw in the bottom of the trench, alfalfa pellets, an inexpensive source of nitrogen and minerals.

Cover the trenches with some soil, leaving remaining soil piled along the trench to add when the plants begin to grow. Potato plants like to be mounded with soil as they grow so there is plenty of room for actual potatoes to come along deep under the piles.

Grow potatoes, grow!

Now into the house to get going on products for my farmers' market stall: cotton wash clothes, scrubbers, aprons, pot holders, and pozie pots. And, crackers, crackers, and even more crackers! This year I will add some new flavors: hazelnut/thyme, Parmesan cheese, sour cherry/pepper.

Waiting to be filled

New cracker sacks with windows

Display baskets

Scrubber production

Stacks of wash clothes

Apron in progress

Somewhere in there is a sewing machine that will have to buzz!

Good luck!