beets are beautiful

This year and last we dug out all the grass from our park strips and one twenty foot section (away from the traffic) is dedicated to food production.  Some potato plants from last year are volunteering their goodness between the flowering cherries but for the most part we've got a thriving crop of beets, beets and more beets this time around.

When I was a kid the only kind of beet I ever ate was one that came pickled in a can.  Man, I loved that bright pink pickled root even then.  Since then I've learned to appreciate the even more delicious fresh beet in myriad ways including our household favorite, the beet pancake.
This is a great recipe that, unlike many others, requires very little cook time because the roots are shredded.  Since the caramelizing of the naturally occurring sugars makes it somewhat sweet, we have it for breakfast but have also enjoyed it as a side dish with dinner and lunch.

Beet Pancake
3-5 medium sized beets (stems removed) (this can also be a mix of carrots and beets if you're into that)
1 Tblsp. chopped rosemary
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup flour
3 Tblsp. butter
Trim the beets and then grate either by hand or in a food processor.  (I use a food processor to minimize the pink staining that always accompanies the handling of beets.)  In a bowl toss the grated beets, rosemary, salt and flour.  Heat half the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to brown.  Add beet mixture and press it firmly into the pan.  Cook uncovered until crisp (6-7 minutes) then gently slide the pancake onto a plate (this works much more easily in a non-stick pan).  Add the other half of the butter and, once again, heat until browned.  Carefully flip the pancake back into the pan uncooked side down and cook until crisp (about 7 more minutes).  Slice and serve immediately. 

We usually prepare this as one giant cake but it could also be done in the shape and size of breakfast pancakes.  We garnish it with nothing.  It's perfect just the way it is.

(Beets are a rich source of fiber, potassium and folate and although quite sweet are very low in calories.  The greens of a beet are actually the most nutritious part of the plant.  The greens contain beta carotene and vitamin C and also have high calcium levels.  Cooking (especially with the skin on) enhances the bioavailability of the beet's nutrients.)

the encyclopedia of country living

Sometimes you have on your shelves books that collect dust year after year.  Other books are referred to almost daily.  I don't actually refer to it every day but perhaps my very favorite of all books I have ever owned is The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery.  It is currently in its tenth edition and has been published in a number of formats of increasing length and content for over thirty years.  What it contains is what Ms. Emery hoped would be "everything someone would want or need to know about family food production...a complete reference, an encyclopedia of information and skills, a practical resource anyone could use..." It is a nearly exhaustive accumulation of knowledge for living off the land and doing it yourself.

Since the inception of this book, many of it's kind have followed but none, I think, so extensive (or so wonderfully charming) as this.


I used it to find a jam recipe recently but I love to read the index to people who have never heard of it.  It contains information (among many, many other things) on choosing and buying land, primitive shelter building, giving birth, caring for your dead, candlestick making, dutch-oven baking, composting, gardening, mushroom cultivating, old-time hand harvesting, crop storage and grain grinding, sugar cane production, wild food foraging, creating home made cosmetics and cleaners, tree pruning, nut roasting, wood harvesting and reforestation, canning, drying, preserving and storing, pesticide contamination, animal husbandry, home butchering, hunting, small animal skinning, hide tanning, soap making, pond farming, raising poultry, goats, cows, pigs, rabbits and bees, cheese making and recipes for everything from jam to blood sausage to slow roasted turtle.

It also contains anecdotes from Carla's life and stories, recipes and tips from many of the thousands of readers who have enjoyed and contributed to this remarkable tome over the years.  It's the book our great, great, great grandmothers would never have needed but one that every back-to-basics mom should have at hand today.

On the acknowledgments page of the volume I own is the following poem by an unknown author:

Mama's Mama, on a winter's day,

Milked the cows and fed them hay,

Slopped the hogs, saddled the mule,

And got the children off to school.

Did the washing, mopped the floors,

Washed the windows and did some chores.

Cooked a dish of home-dried fruit,

Pressed her husbands Sunday suit,

Swept the parlor, made the bed,

Baked a dozen loaves of bread.

Split some wood and lugged it in,

Enough to fill the kitchen bin,

Cleaned the lamps and put in oil,

Stewed some apples she thought might spoil,

Churned the butter, baked a cake,

Then exclaimed: "For Mercy's sake,

The calves have got out of the pen!"

Went out and chased them in again,

Gathered the eggs and locked the stable,

Returned to the house and set the table,

Cooked a supper that was delicious,

And afterwards washed all the dishes,

Fed the cat, sprinkled the clothes,

Mended a basket full of hose,

Then opened the organ and began to play,

"When You Come to the End of a Perfect Day."

It sounds like a crazy nightmare to some but is more like my dream of the most perfect life.  And this amazing book has directions on how to live it.
Go ahead, get yourself a copy.  How else are you going to know which organs of an elk are edible?

backyard teepee

I don't know how it came up but somehow Naiya and I got to talking about teepees.  When I remembered that we had a bunch of bamboo poles out in the garage, I gathered them up and threw together our new favorite play space in about five minutes. 

It's six support stakes of greatly varying length, a couple of feet of jute rope (to hold them all together at the top) and two sheets (held on by a couple of clothespins).  Voilà!  We've got a neighborhood in our back yard.  (The playhouse next door is currently out of favor.)

On the first day she immediately filled her new abode with all the stuffed animals and dolls from her room and had a party.  Of course everyone required special outfits, so we spent nearly two hours in wardrobe before the festivities began.

After a while Frodo wandered in to relax in the shade.  No one escapes the ministrations of a girl in the midst of a dress-up extravaganza though. 

Despite the look on his face, he didn't seem to mind and after a time simply closed his eyes and went back to sleep with this ridiculous hat still perched on his head.

Every day since its arrival, we have enjoyed breakfast, snack and hours of play time inside and around this simplest of temporary dwellings.  It's continually amazing how little enclosed hidey places create so much interest and wonder for small and large children alike.

in the blink of an eye - VI

applegate valley wineries

On our way back home from vacation last week we made a quick swing through the Applegate Valley of Southern Oregon.  It's a beautiful basin that makes up the lower portion of the Rogue Valley American Viticultural Area stretching 50 miles north from the California border to the Rogue River just west of Grants Pass.
The valley is home to a number of great tourist destinations and events including the Britt Festival in historic Jacksonville and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.  After our two night stay in Ashland we drove the Applegate Wine Trail and stopped at a few very scenic wineries that, surprisingly, were great fun for Naiya as well.

summer nature table

Just today we transitioned our Nature Table into Summer.

Unlike most other seasons where generally only small changes will alter the scene on this display and play space, the landscape for our Summer table will change many, many times as different activities, stories and natural wonders infuse our lives during these very active upcoming months.

Since Naiya brought home a boat that Oma and Opa helped her make from a little kit, we decided to launch into Summer with a beachy tableau.  Most of what filled our carryover basket of seasonal items from last year were shells, so those were displayed in abundance as well.

Of course, I also had to have something hanging from the ceiling.  This spiral idea came from one of those Waldorf seasonal cycle craft books.  I can't remember which one exactly, but I'm guessing it was All Year Round (which I don't actually own but have checked out from the library several times).

To make it I had Naiya paint one of her lovely pictures on heavy watercolor paper.  Then I traced a spiral round and round (leaving a path about an inch wide) until I got to the outside edge of the page.  After cutting it with scissors, I threaded a piece of embroidery floss from the center of the spiral and hung several smaller spirals and beads down its length.

It's sort of pretty in the picture but the real magic of it comes when the breeze blows through the window and it's in motion...
like a graceful dancing gleam of light.

The little darling, Spring, has run away;
The sunshine grew too hot for her to stay.
She kissed her sister, Summer, and she said:
"When I am gone, you must be queen instead."
Now reigns the Lady Summer, round whose feet
A thousand fairies flock with blossoms sweet.


                                -Cicely Mary Barker

wildlife safari

As a part of our vacation last week we made an afternoon stopover in Winston, Oregon (about 3 1/2 hours south of Portland) to check out Wildlife Safari.  This was the leg of our travels to which Naiya was most looking forward.  As promised, the animals roamed free and a few did, in fact, walk right up to our car as we drove the 4 1/2 mile loop over rolling hills and lush grasslands.

Wildlife Safari is an AZA accredited park that hosts over 600 animals from over 80 species.  It offers up-close animal encounters, drive-through wild animal viewing, a renown cheetah breeding program and medical and research facilities as well as the Safari Village where one can view, pet and ride a variety of critters.