Long before yoga and meditation were mainstream or even practised "on the fringe" (the 1980s to be exact), my Grandma was doing both of them.  "Stretch" classes and "resting" on the couch while sitting upright with eyes closed were what she called it.  While I couldn't be convinced to slow down  and participate back then, I could certainly be convinced to eat her lentil soup at lunchtime.  Usually with a half of some sort of sandwich. 

Then, while I was in college two of my professors strongly encouraged their students to have the experience of at least one day of meditation at our local Zen Center.  It was eye-opening, excruciating, amazing, and completely worth it. We had a silent lunch of lentil soup and salads punctuated by the sound of windchimes and a singing bowl.

And so, with an open heart, I'm presenting to you my Lentil Soup Recipe (I assure you, there is Zen in the chopping):

For years we've wanted an electric car.  For even more years, I've read about all sorts of "green" living tips and philosophies... ranging from homesteading and "grow-your-own-everything (including children LOL)", to DIY sources of power, sustainable diets, carbon footprints, wabi-sabi style, "living small", re-purposing, wild-crafting... the list is seemingly endless. And over the years ideas have come, and ideas have gone by the way-side depending on where we were in life. 

Now we've finally come to a place where a BIG idea has been made an affordable reality.  We are now the proud owners (leasers, really) of an electric plug-in Nissan Leaf.   If feels fantastic to finally be in a place where it fits for us both in our budget and in our hearts.

After only having this car for 1 day, my "green" sensibilities have been peaked once again by one mind-blowing fact:   This car is plugged into a standard  (USA) electrical outlet for 12 hours and has enough charge drive 17+ miles to work, and back.  That's an entire commute, and with some leftover in reserve.  We're leaving lights and appliances plugged in 24 hours per day.  I finally understand the amount of energy we're using up... more than enough to power several cars!

And, of course, this gets me thinking about tons of "green" things and my plans to do better and what can be done first.  Replace old appliances... sure...   insulate the farmhouse better... you bet.  But probably the easiest is to eat lower on the food chain a few days per week.  The statistics are out there and blatant about how many millions of tons of grain and gallons of water go into sustaining our 1st world meat-eating habit.   Am I going vegan?  Nope.  But I AM being more mindful and actually employing it weekly in my grocery shopping list.

Hoppin' John is a Southern (U.S.) black-eyed pea dish usually made around New Years Eve and is thought to impart good luck on the household.  I made it in hope of good luck in out transition to an electric car:


I apologize that the picture is in terrible focus...
Here's a couple "Spring's Trying Real Hard To Get Here"  shots:

I love Spring. The green grass, the birds singing, and leaves on the trees and the WEEDS in my lawn!   Especially Dandelion.  I love Dandelion.  Early on in the season (probably next week or so for me), Dandelion greens are ready for picking and eating.  Over the winter, their bitter sap goes down into their roots as the green tops go dormant.  No sap = Sweet(er) leaves.  This is the perfect time to pick if you want some fresh leafy greens from the yard (no spray, please).

A few weeks later, the tops of the Dandelion turn bitter with the return of the "sap" and they begin to send up a plethora of flowering shoots.  At this point, you can either a) dig up the plant b) get mad and spray your yard so the "weeds" don't spread c) give up your grass for lost and let the flowers go to seed and spread everywhere (the neighbors LOVE this) or, my favorite d)  Pick the flowers, and make WINE!


My husband and I started brewing our own beer and making our own wine and hard cider back in our 20s for two key reasons 1) it's fun and we love creating our own adult beverages and 2) I became sensitive to corn and here in the U.S. corn sugar is used in EVERYTHING... even beer and wine.  I like my drinks to make me feel happy and relaxed, NOT sick!

Last Spring was actually the first time I tried making Dandelion Wine, and it was SO worth it when we finally opened up a bottle at the beginning of this month!
You need a few supplies, a lot of blossoms, and the ability to wait about a year if you want to make wine.

Traditionally, Dandelion Wine was made first thing in the season (umm, probably somewhere other than Upstate New York) so the blossoms were gathered in Early March.  The wine was ready to drink around the Winter Solstice to remind us of Spring sunshine during the darkest time of the year.

This year, I was glad to drink my sunny wine during our March blizzard(s), eventhough we are now experiencing quite a few more daylight hours than we were just a couple months ago.


1) Prepare dandelion petals (remove them from the stem and the bitter green base).  Place petals, sugar, raisins, and acid blend into a food grade plastic bucket.  Bring 1 gallon (3.8L) of water to a boil and pour it into the mixture.  Add Campden tablet, if desired, and let mixture sit for 24 hours.  If you ARE NOT using a Campden tablet, cool the mixture to lukewarm. 

2) in a jar, make a yeast starter culture by combining the wine yeast, yeast nutrient, and orange juice.  Cover, shake vigorously, and let stand 1-3 hours, until bubbly.  Then add to the must (must= the mixture in your bucket)

3) Add the pectic enzyme, loosely cover with plastic wrap or foil, and ferment for three days in the bucket.  Then rack the liquid into a 2-gallon (7.6 L)  airlocked fermentation vessel and allow it to ferment to completion.  About 3 months!

Transfer the wine into bottles, cork them, and put them in a cool, dry, place... out of the sun.

4) Wait at least another 6 months before sampling.




Just in time for the Big Snowstorm!

As I was saying in my last post, a couple weeks ago I got a little giddy in the produce section.  It was GRAND!  Then, I forgot about half the plans I had, and realized that I had 1/2 bunch of Chard, a full (completely forgotten) bunch of Collard Greens... and a few leftover leeks in the fridge. Beautiful, fresh produce that I didn't want to freeze (there's quite enough of that going on outside, thankyou) so it needed to be used up right away.  I decided to use ALL of it in a recipe I modified from Alice Waters's Swiss Chard Gratin .
Turned out amazing and it's the best way I've found yet to use up cooking (winter) greens.

I went off to the woods yesterday, looking for Spring. The wind was icy and my face was freezing and stiff as I slogged through the icy snow stopping every once in a while to listen.  I listened hard for migratory birds and I looked under every bush for chipmunks.   I sniffed the wind for the smell of a thaw.  I got nothing. Nothing at all. I kept walking into the old part of the woods where the creek flows and sat on a fallen tree near the water.  Still looking and waiting and anticipating.  I watched the water ooze by underneath the ice, like a lava lamp.  I sat until my fingers hurt inside my gloves and there was nothing.  No animals, no stray green.... just ice and snow and suddenly * CRACK*   *POP* *SWOOOOSH*  an ice-dam gave way and water came tumbling over the top of the ice.  I grinned. NOT what I had expected, but Spring had began with a *Bang*...  not a chirp, or a scent, or a color... but a Bang.  How appropriate for this year. And then, of course, I wanted to go poke the ice with a stick to get it to move along... but decided against it as I knew the water was super-deep in that particular section.

Today the snow is continuing to melt and the temperatures are finally above freezing.  The Robins are singing and we smelled the tell-tale scent of a skunk coming out of hibernation.


There isn't much local and fresh right now, but we ARE blessed with a beautiful fresh produce section at our local supermarket.  I guess the marginally warmer temperatures were making me giddy  last week as I filled my cart with veggies.  It's been very culinarily rich around here the last couple of weeks, so I'll share some of that with everyone this week on the blog.

I have HAD IT with Winter... but it doesn't seem to be getting the message since today it is snowing again with a windchill advisory of -8.   This is actually pretty unusual around here, but there isn't much anyone can do about it.  So, lets make some chili!