Turkey Tracks: Fall Foliage

Turkey Tracks: October 22, 2013

Fall Foliage

These trees are on Sarah Rheault’s land, and they were so pretty one day last week that I turned the car around, went back, and took this picture.

The green tree is an apple tree, and it’s got lots of deep red apples that are not really showing up in this picture.

This view is the kind of fall foliage I wanted to show to my sister when she came for the week of Oct. 6th. But, the trees up north had lost their leaves in a storm, and our trees had not yet turned.

The fall foliage here on the MId-Coast seems late this year. We have had a long dry spell. That’s probably a factor. But they sure are pretty now. One just wants to ride around in the orange and gold light.

Books, Documentaries, Reviews: Don McLean: American Troubadour

Books, Documentaries, Reviews: August 26, 2013

Don McLean : American Troubadour

A remarkable new documentary about the Don McLean story produced by multi Emmy-award winning film director Jim Brown due to air across the PBS network in March 2012.

* * *

A few months back, the Strand theater in Rockland, Maine, screened the new documentary about Don McLean, AMERICAN TROUBADOUR. Both Don and Patrisha were present and hosted a question and answer session. Both are treasured members of our community–they do so much really good work here.

I missed this event at the time and was sad to do so as Patrisha McClean is a friend. Barb Melchisky went and told me that she really enjoyed the film and the time with Don and Patrisha. “It was,” said Barb, “a lovely and interesting evening.”

So, I treated myself. I ordered the DVD, and one night when Mike and the boys were here, we watched it. And we had a “lovely and interesting evening, too.”

Don McClean’s music was iconic for my teenage and young adult years. (Who in my generation could forget the plane crash that took the life of Buddy Holly?) Don’s music was apparently iconic for my son Michael as well. As we watched, and smiled, and laughed, and said “oh, I didn’t know that,” we began to realize that ten-year old Bo was fully engaged with the film as well. And, indeed, Bo went around for days afterwards singing the refrain to “Bye Bye MIss American Pie” and kept asking “well what do those lines mean?” And, it turned out that Michael had done a paper on this very famous song in college and had never forgotten it.

Perhaps more importantly, Bo could see that he could learn to play the guitar well and could do that own his own if he wanted to badly enough. He also took home the idea that he could write songs for himself. And, others. Important songs that capture an era. It will be fun to see how all the tropes in Don’s life percolates in Bo’s head.

I plan to watch the film again this winter–and to maybe will invite some friends to watch it with me. Maybe we will do that even sooner as other visitors and family are coming who would be interested in this man and his music.

In any case, I recommend this documentary to you. And I thank Don for being who he is and for all the gifts of his music.

Turkey Tracks: August Dinner

Turkey Tracks: August 25, 2013

August Dinner

On Friday I pick up my produce from my CSA (Community Shared Agriculture). We CSA members are now at the point where we are getting A LOT of food. As I put away the food, I isolated these ingredients for my supper.

I LOVE Romano green beans. They are my favorites. (Well, ok, I like the haricot verts, too. And the Dragon’s Tongue. And the Providers.) After the CSA, I came home and made a fresh bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich–on gluten free bread–Sami’s–and saved the bacon grease. Lard is really good for you, actually. By keeping the grease on the stove from lunch to dinner, I was creating an asset to use later.

That purple veggie is a kolhrabi. They also come in green. They’re good grated or sliced thinly and sautéed. They’re nice, too, diced and thrown into a lighter summer veggie soup.

First, I cut up the eggplant, put it into a colander over a bowl, and salted it.

Next, I made a fresh salad–made by grating the kohlrabi and some of these tender new carrots. I added in some corn I took off the cob a few days ago–I always cook extra corn and reserve the kernels for salads this time of year. Again, that’s creating an asset for later. I shaved in some parsley. And over it all, I poured a mustardy, garlicky vinaigrette. I keep that kind of salad dressing all made out on the counter–where it just gets better and better. It’s another asset. The salad went into the frig to mellow out. (It is good for several days.)

Next, I washed and snapped the Romano beans and put them into a saucepan with some of the bacon grease, water, and some salt. I wanted them “Southern Style”–or cooked until soft.

Then, I cut up all my lovely vegetables and put them into the cast-iron skillet where I fried the bacon. i also added a lump of unrefined coconut oil, which is so, so good for you and very, very stable–unlike frying with olive oil. (I reserve olive oil now mostly for eating on salads.)

What you see in this pan is the following: the eggplant, the fresh onion, yellow squash, zucchini squash, some fava beans i soaked in salted water and peeled (assets, yes, bukt boy are they a lot of work), and some sliced new potatoes. Add some good sea salt.

When the veggies had cooked down a bit, I added the tomato and some basil, some chive, and some mint from the garden. Maybe some tarragon, too. (An herb garden is a major asset.) I don’t know what it is about mint in this kind of dish, but it’s delicious. See the color developing?

It’s your call as to when you think the dish is ready. Here’s how far I took this batch–and the flavor was deep and rich and gorgeous. I shaved in some parsley to finish it.

Meanwhile, I had put chicken thighs into the oven–dressed with butter and lemon slices.

When the chicken was done–I poured myself a glass of orange/cucumber/lemon/rosemary infused water. (You can see I need to make more sauerkraut–which is chock full of enzymes and probiotics. I try to eat a little every day of one of these lacto-fermented veggie concoctions.)

And here’s my plate of beautiful, beautiful summer food:

I should have added one of the lacto-fermented dill pickles i just took out of the crock and refrigerated. The roasted lemon slices carmelize, become sweet, and are delicious.

Best of all, I will have at least two meals to reheat and enjoy–or some fun foods to have for lunch.

And, look, folks. Not a recipe in sight. This kind of cooking is my most favorite. You cook, simply, what is in season because that’s all you need to do. The fresh, wonderful food will do the rest for you.

Turkey Tracks: Black Trumpet Video

Turkey Tracks: August 23, 2013

Black Trumpet Video

Well, I don’t quite know what I did to make the video work.

I’ve been doing what I think of as a “computer dance”–reading instructions from WordPress, trying to find out how to clean out the browser stash, the cookie stash, etc. And to figure out whether or not to use Google Chrome as the default setting…

Whatever I did, the video now loaded. Yeah!

What you see at first in the video is Rosie Chickie. She’s the remaining survivor of the fox attack of this spring, and she follows me everywhere in the yard.

Turkey Tracks: Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Turkey Tracks: August 20, 2013

Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Mushrooming is something I really like to do.

And I have not been in the woods mushrooming much in the past two years.

Here’s a whole basket of Black Trumpet mushrooms, some Golden Chanterelle mushrooms, and a few puffball mushrooms–all of which I found at the end of last week. The puffballs are white and are lost in the basket in this picture. There is no puffball that is poisonous, but I would not eat any mushroom that has grown in an area that has been sprayed with any kind of chemical. So, avoid sprayed lawns and golf courses.

I have a very nice video that I can’t get to upload–telling you how difficult these mushrooms are to see growing on the forest floor among the dried leaves of last year. You don’t see the dark stems–what you see you see by looking straight down–and if you look at the tops of these mushrooms, you will see they appear as a light grey/brown.

Here’s what the pile looks like on the kitchen counter. Now you can see the puffballs.

The Golden Chanterelles smell like apricots–and all of these mushrooms are delicious sautéed in a little butter or duck fat and added to a cream sauce, scrambled eggs with a bit of cheese, and soups and stews.

I cleaned the trumpets–you have to snip the ends, open them a bit, and scrape out any debris or critter that has lodged in the funnel. Mostly they are pretty clean.

I dried all but a few of the trumpets and ate the rest with a rich lamb stock I had going in the kitchen.

Yummo!!!

Turkey Tracks: Gardens of Tina Marriner and Robert Pearse

Turkey Tracks: July 16, 2013

Sunday July 14 was the annual Georges Valley Land Trust Garden Tour: “Gardens in the Watershed.” It was such a treat to see this year’s seven gardens–each one special and wonderful. So, come along with me for some of the highlights of the day. I am listing each garden separately as there would be too, too many pictures otherwise.

Gardens of Tina Marriner and Robert Pearse

A few years ago, I noticed that someone up the hill was creating a whole lot of new gardens.

Over the years I slowed the car, complimented the tall, slender, dark-haired woman on her project, and waved.

Sunday I met her close up and enjoyed that meeting so much. She has been watching a crow family over the last weeks as they raise their one chick. We could hear him crying in the background for food from his parents all the while we talked.

Tina Marriner is growing sunflowers for the market. She will plant 15,000 sunflowers this year, of 39 different kinds.

They are spectacular, of course. Here’s a bed of one kind–the house belongs to Tina’s neighbor across Howe Hill Road.

Here’s Tina herself in the volunteer tent:

Here’s some sense of the scale of her sunflower gardens. There are also beds behind me, including a huge round one filled with sunflowers just about to bloom.

There are lots of deer on Howe Hill. Tina is using mothballs in small red cans mounted on sticks to discourage them:

Here’s a close-up of the arrangement:

To the left of these beds is a small pond. Big fat frogs were sunning themselves on the surface. The house is on the other side of the trees to the right.

Here’s the house–note the solar panels. We’re seeing more and more of them up here in Maine.

Here’s the gorgeous view from the house:

Look at how Tina is growing Sweet Peas–which are probably my all-time favorite flowers: Plastic ribbed sheets hung with wire for the peas to climb.

What a treat to see this property. Tina’s Facebook page is “Tina’s Cut Flowers” if you want to see what she’s up to.

Turkey Tracks: The Georges Valley Land Trust Garden Tour

Turkey Tracks: July 16, 2013

The Georges Valley Land Trust Garden Tour:

“Gardens in the Watershed”

Sunday was the GVLT annual garden tour.

The gardens are always along the St. George River valley–which covers a big area.

Giovanna McCarthy and I headed out at 10 a.m., dressed for walking, for heat (hats), and with water and our lunches iced down in a cooler. It was a beautiful day to explore gardens.

We started just up Howe Hill, where two gardens were located: the gardens of Tina Marriner and Robert Pearse and the gardens of Eilene and Leonard Ames. I’m going to do the gardens as separate entries, starting with my “up the hill” neighbors Tina Marriner and Robert Pearse.

We had lunch at Fernwood gardens, a nursery specializing in shade plant. What a treat to see Fernwood in its new location. i really enjoyed all the whimsical touches in their gardens. But more on that later.

Giovanna and I ended the day by stopping by John’s ice cream on Route 3, above the St. George Lake state park. That’s Giovanna, now hot and tired and ready for an ice cream.

I got peach, and Giovanna got coconut–and boy did that coconut ice cream look good. John’s ice cream is all homemade. We each took home two quarts in the cooler. My son Mike is bringing my two grandsons tomorrow, and they will all be delighted to see John’s ice cream in the freezer: rocky road and butter pecan!

Turkey Tracks: Margaret’s Rag Rugs

Turkey Tracks: July 15, 2013

Margaret’s Rag Rugs

Friend Margaret Rauenhorst just made the two prettiest rag rugs I’ve seen yet.

First, husband Ronald VanHeeswjik made her the hand-held loom–using the original stacked method, not the method that miters the corners which makes the loom totally flat and, we think, harder to handle. They figured a way to make a stand that allows Margaret to prop it over a radiator as she wanted to stand to make the rugs. Along the way, they made some other improvements in the loom and in the braiding that I think are really good.

Margaret collected her fabrics from Good Will, The Salvation Army, and local quilting stores with fabric on sale. Just remember to choose fabrics that don’t ravel easily and that will wash and wear–that probably means cotton sheets, tablecloths, curtains, and the like. (And wash everything you bring into the house to prevent bedbugs.) Margaret divided her fabrics in half so that she could keep the rugs similar in color.

First before anything, look at these beauties:

The one on the left is made by banding the same colors; the one on the right is more of a herringbone pattern, where you keep switching colors when a color runs out.

I love the clear colors Margaret has used–the rugs shimmer in the light. So pretty. And of course Margaret checked with the bride to see what colors she and her groom liked together before collecting her fabric.

Here’s Margaret braiding/weaving on her loom. Note how she’s using a dowel to separate the background strands–I like that idea a lot.

Here’s another improvement: the side bars slip up and down until you get enough tension on them–and can slip all the way out if you are not careful to grip them when you lift the loom. Ronald and Margaret solved this issue by drilling a hole in the bottom of each bar and attaching a clip that keeps the bar from sliding. They’ve promised to drill mine when I finish with the rug that’s on the loom now–which will be a winter project for me maybe unless one of the kiddos or Tami gets interested.

As part of the wedding gift, Margaret put together a little book of all the “sayings” she said ran through her head about healthy marriages and relationships as she stood and braided. She told me some of these one day when I went to see the first rug. I thought them wonderful–and still think she should maybe do something more formal with that book. (The bride loved it–how could she not?) Many of them speak to how lives get woven together as we live: the bride and groom, of course. But, also, Ronald, Margaret, and me as they took up this rag rug project. And, of course, all the lives woven together on this blog.

I can pretty much bet that those two rugs will be with that bride and groom throughout their lives together.

What a gift–on so many levels!

Earlier entries on this blog give more information about a good rag-rug book and how to make the loom. It’s pretty basic.

Turkey Tracks: Greg Heath and Crew: Last Night

Turkey Tracks: July 12, 2013

Greg Heath and Crew: Last Night

They came; they visited and saw our coast; they sailed; they flew home.

I picked them up a bit late from the boat–due to a time mix-up. They were ready for warm showers and naps. They were not hungry: Captain Annie sent them home with full and happy bellies.

After dinner, just at dusk, we went down to Camden for an ice cream cone:

Here’s a picture of Greg and namesake “Also Greg” looking at our harbor from the “harbor green” that lies at the harbor’s head:

Here’s what they’re viewing:

They all got a good night’s sleep, and this morning dawned clear and blue. We had breakfast on the deck, Greg mowed my lawn (yeah and thanks!!!!), and off we went to the airport.

Turkey Tracks: Pea Soup Fog

Turkey Tracks: June 30, 2013

Pea Soup Fog

Pea soup fog in Maine is so thick you can’t see into it or beyond it–give or take the space just around you.

I’ve been on a mission for a while to capture the sense of that enveloping white mist with my camera.

I took this picture on Friday. The fog had moved way inland. It surrounded my car, limiting visibility to about 30 feet.

See?

The camera actually captured more clarity than there actually was on the road. And, makes the tree in the mist seem further away. Interesting.

I love it when I’m on Route One in the summer, and the fog bank that can sit over the water for days starts to come onto land. It sends out long tendrils of white at road level–almost as if the fog is trying to grab hold of road, rock, trees, meadows and pull itself ashore.

If you are on a boat on the water, suddenly you find yourself sitting in a white cocoon. Only the boat and the water are both moving…

Mercy! Everyone starts listening for other boats’ warning bells, the clanging of buoys, and any other hint of where one might be and what is near one…

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