Rapture and Priorities

"A room without books is like a body without a soul." - Cicero

"Sit in a room and read - and read and read. 

And read the right books by the right people. 

Your mind is brought onto that level, 

and you have a nice, mild, 

slow-burning rapture all the time." 

      - Joseph Campbell from The Power of Myth

In these pictures are some of the books in my house, which has twice as many books as it does square footage.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. . .The People cannot be safe without information. When the press is free, and every man is able to read, all is safe."
 - Thomas Jefferson

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read." - Mark Twain

    "I think we ought to read 
      only the kind of books 
      that wound and stab us."
           - Franz Kafka

"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, 

we would find in each man's life sorrow and suffering 

enough to disarm all hostilities." - Longfellow

Kitchen books - books in every room of the house.

This is the only poem
I can read
I am the only one
can write it
I didn't kill myself
when things went wrong
I didn't turn
to drugs or teaching
I tried to sleep
but when I couldn't sleep
I learned to write
I learned to write
what might be read
on nights like this
by one like me
~ Leonard Cohen

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.” 

- Thomas Jefferson

How-to Books

Art Books

"Proverbs often contradict one another, as any reader soon discovers. 

The sagacity that advises us to look before we leap promptly warns us that if we hesitate we are lost; 

that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but out of sight, out of mind."  

                                                                   - Leo Rosten

                         What are YOU Reading?
 “Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.” - Voltaire



 “You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”  Ray Bradbury



"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." - Cicero

Making Bone Stock

Lovely isn't it?  This is after cooking, during straining.

Why would you do this?  Because...

1.  It saves money; have you looked at the price of organic stock lately?  Mighty expensive when you can make it with just a little time on the stovetop.  Plus home-made stock tastes better and is more nutritious (less processed, less water).  Get nutrients in an assimilable form, cheaper than buying supplements!)

2. It'super nutritious:  Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus and other trace minerals; Glucosamine and Chondroitin and Gelatin- good for your bones, joints, hair, nails, skin, heart, and on and on...

3. It re-uses what would otherwise be a waste product.

This is what it looks like after cooking and straining.

How?
1. Collect bones as you get them in a ziploc bag in the freezer.  I mix all types of bones, literally from pork to chicken to fish (all humanely raised or sustainably wild-harvested, a prerequisite for me as factory farms are a true atrocity and serious ethical issue, on top of that, who wants to eat sick, tortured animals?  It matters.  We are what we eat.)

2.  Once you have a gallon bag full or so, use a hammer to break open any solid bones to expose the marrow and cover all the bones in a large stove pot (or crock pot) with water, add a couple tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar (this helps to leach out the minerals), and cook (bring to a boil, then simmer with lid) at least 24 hours, but as many as 72.  The longer you cook, the more nutrients you will get out of the bones.  72 hours makes the bones like mush.

3.  Strain and use.  You can fridge for up to a week, or freeze for longer storage.  Freeze in individual size portions, or use an ice cube tray.  You can use the stock for braising other meats, wilting vegetables, flavoring grains or legumes, making soup, reheating leftovers, etc.  I find a use for it almost daily.
Often I just make a huge pot of soup with it right after straining:

This is a soup to which I added right to the bone broth:  soaked and strained Aduki beans, Buckwheat Groats, Olive oil, Shitake, Kelp, Bay leaf, Thyme, Turmeric and Mizuna greens.

Mizuna, an Asian green from the coldframe

Greens Coldframe - with wild greens growing all around!

What?
Easy soup recipe guidelines (all measurements are approximate):
Add to gallon of bone stock:

- 1/4- 1/2 c. olive, coconut, sesame oil or saved oil from cooking fatty meats

- Kelp, small handful - I add this to all soups for it's salt, iodine, and other trace minerals.  Kelp helps to remove heavy metals from the body, so it's detoxing.

- 1 c. grains (cook in stock until done, different for each grain, can soak first overnight to initiate sprouting and improve nutrition)

- 2 c. dry legumes (**soak, strain, and cook them separately first.  There are so many beans and lentils
to choose from - lots of colors and flavors!  Soak  legumes 1-3 days before cooking with a rinse daily; this helps you to digest the beans, getting much more protein out of them, getting rid of the anti-nutrients that coat the beans so that you get more nutrition from the beans)

You can't go wrong with sauteed onions. 

- Greens of some sort:  bok choy, spinach, collards, etc.

- other vegetables and flavoring agents

- a dash of a couple spices (mix and match, experiment!)  I almost always add Turmeric for its anti-inflammatory effect.






Eat as soon as the ingredients are cooked, but simmer as long as you like.  Sometimes I leave this on the stove all day.  Then cool and put some in the fridge for sooner and some in the freezer for later.

These soups are so nourishing you can feel it; they make you feel good.

Another option is to mix vegetable scraps into the bone stock for making vegetable stock, or just use vegetables alone.  Vegetables only need an all-day or overnight (24 hour max) cooking time, so if I am mixing, I will usually cook the bone stock for a day or two first, then add the vegetable scraps.  By vegetable scraps I mean the peelings from carrots, the skin on the broccoli stem, the fibrous ends of the asparagus, onion skins, leaves off cauliflower, etc. - the parts that you usually compost, but are technically edible.  I save all this in a separate ziploc in the freezer.  I just keep re-using the bags, always keeping them in the freezer whether full or not.  Simple.  Keep in mind not to use tomato, pepper, or potato green parts as they are toxic.

Jujube dates

Another option is to mix herbs into your stock at the end of cooking time for their therapeutic effects.  Some possibilities include:
Astragalus, Jujube, Goji berries, Dong Quai, Codonopsis, Poria, Burdock root, Reishi, Dioscorea, He Shou Wu, Orange peel,
Lotus seed, and Lily bulb.
Go light at first so as to not overpower the flavor, and up the amount slowly. 

Soup-making:  a weekly ritual.  Warms the belly and the soul.

Redbud Flower Pancakes

“The soil under the grass is dreaming of a young forest, 

and under the pavement the soil is dreaming of grass.”- Wendell Berry

Celebrate Spring and her glorious colors with these delectable pancakes! 

Redbud flowers were eaten by the Native Americans; the Redbud, Cercis canadensis, is a native tree that grows wild (and is easy to cultivate if you don't already have them in your yard). It's heart-shaped leaves have graced this land for a long time. It's flowers are a welcome outburst of color when Spring arrives. Redbud flowers have the same antioxidants and flavonoids that red wine has - super nutritious!
You can eat them raw or cooked; try them in salads too.



These are the organic ingredients I used for the pancakes:
1 1/2 c. whole grain pancake mix
1 c. hemp milk
4 eggs (luckily had fresh, local, organic ones from friends :)
as many Redbud flowers as you want/can harvest. I went heavy because I recently trimmed a landscape client's tree and didn't want to waste all these wonderful flowers, but if you are harvesting from living branches, you may not get as many; you don't want to strip all of them from the tree(s).

If you want, you could throw some violet flowers in there too.

I like to use Coconut oil to cook my pancakes in.

For toppings I love to use ground flaxseed and maple syrup. Of course there are many other options like jams, fresh fruit, honey,...

 
The seed pods that the flowers form into are also edible; the Redbud is in the legume family and its seeds look like a pea pod. Pick them fresh (when they're tender) and use them like you would snow peas, or pickle them.

This book includes a recipe in it for Redbud Wine:

Intrigue in the Botanical Garden

Visiting the United States Botanic Garden for our 3rd Anniversary on 3-3-2013 

Here are some pictures of the spectacular plants to share with you. 

Plants are so amazing, so diverse, so endlessly fascinating - with much to teach us.

 

I didn't get all their names, but I met them nonetheless; let me introduce you...

 “Experience the beauties of nature, and in doing so, learn about yourself.” - Japanese proverb

 “Watching gardeners label their plants

I vow with all beings

to practice the old horticulture

and let plants identify me.”

- Robert Aitken 'The Dragon Who Never Sleeps:  Verses for Zen Buddhist Practice'

  

"I believe I will never quite know.
Though I play at the edges of knowing,
truly I know
our part is not knowing,
but looking, and touching, and loving."
~Mary Oliver 'Bone'

 

“I adore the simple pleasures.  They are the last refuge of the complex.” - Oscar Wilde

"There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

 

“Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of 

others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... 

and some scarce see nature at all. 

But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.” - William Blake

“Of all the plants that cover the earth and lie like a fringe of hair upon the body of our grandmother, 

try to obtain knowledge that you may be strengthened in life”- Oliver Goldsmith

  

 "Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."

 -  Hans Christian Andersen

 

“What will come from the briar but the berry.” - Irish Proverb

“and the leaves were telling secrets to the wind.” ― Peter Mulvey

Wild Greens Quesadilla Omelette

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." -  Harriet Van Horne

This exotic, complex, taste bud-delighting meal won’t be found on a menu anywhere, 
but it may become at regular at your house after you taste it...
 


Start by harvesting some wild greens - about two loose handfuls.  Today I harvested leaves of Red Clover, Plantain, Dandelion, Lady’s Thumb, Ground Ivy, Garlic Mustard, and Wild Onions.  Make sure you know your plants before harvesting so you don’t pick anything poisonous.  
Here are two great books for learning the edibles:

 

This recipe makes enough for two people. 

Chop the greens.  You can use a knife, or I like to use scissors.  It’s important to cut the pieces small because some of the greens are spicy or bitter and you only want a little in each bite.  Test taste them until you know the material.

Crumble 4 oz. of organic feta and dice about 3 medium tomatoes.  We used the last of this year’s tomato harvest - a gift from a friend.

Mix all the ingredients and top a tortilla with them (use half the ingredients for each of two tortillas).  I like to use the sprouted grain, brown rice tortillas from ‘Food for Life,’ since sprouted grains are easier to digest and better for you.

Put this on the top over rack and broil until you notice the edge of the torilla browning; it doesn’t take long!  Then put another tortilla on top, press down, and broil until browned. 

Gently slide one of the Quesadillas onto a plate, being careful because you haven’t used enough cheese to make it one cohesive unit (cheese is best as a occasional condiment, not the bulk of a meal).  Scramble two organic eggs and put them into a lightly greased, heated skillet (medium low?)  big enough for your Quesadilla to fit into, then put your Quesadilla on top and press gently into the egg.  Use a lid so the egg cooks through, about 10-15 minutes. 

Once the egg is solid, gently use a spatula to loosen it up and slide it out onto a plate.  Or I like to put a plate on top of the skillet upside down and then turn the skillet upside down effectively putting the food onto the plate without a disaster.  Slice into quarters.  You can stack these quarters on top of each other if you want, lasagne style.  Yum!

Delicious and healthy - and less than $4 per person!

If you’ve harvested the right greens, no spices are needed - you will have a garlicy, oniony, spicy flavor from the greens.  Play around with different greens for different tastes and strengths.  Some greens are mild enough that you can saute them and eat a big bowl of them solo.  No salt is needed as the feta is salty, though you may want to add black pepper after cooking to help with digestion.