Plant Whatever Brings You Joy

Each end of year holiday season it is my practice to hope for and find a rose that I might bring into the house and share as part of my celebration. There is always one and I treasure and cherish it and give it thanks for remaining at this most special time of the year. So you might imagine my surprise that this year it looked like there might be several contenders. What I had not anticipated, in my wildest imagination, was that in every direction there were roses attempting to blossom in the garden as the year ended. I took great delight in noticing that during the many and ongoing frozen mornings that greeted me in the garden, they appeared to have been magically dipped in sugar during the night. What a joy to behold! Still, I found the burst of activity slightly strange and almost alarming.

"Have you ever seen so many roses in the dead of winter?"I asked my elderly neighbor.

"Nope."

"Never?"

"Never."

Hmmm.

Regardless, they blossomed, in spite of daily dips into the 20's. Quite remarkable. I began to document their beauty, which I share here. I think they serve as not only a reminder that each living thing responds to its own promptings, but also as a visual metaphor of where we might be in our own process. Do you see yourself among them?

Attempting to capture a small yellow one by the back door, my beloved Border Collie caught me--and my camera--off guard. Even he looks surprised. I found it endearing.

Heartened by the generosity of the season I gathered two of my favorite roses to be The Ones that would join us inside. I accompanied them with a bit of hybrid oregano, a sprig of pyracantha, and a persistent pink snapdragon. They lasted up until today, the last day of the year. Thank you.

Undoubtedly the most precious rose of the season was my beautiful daughter who came to join me for a lovely, laughter-filled holiday, for which I am incredibly grateful!

Happy New Year to you, dear readers! May you find yourselves comforted in the friendships and loves of your lives.

Love and holiday blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Book News: I am humbled to know that many copies of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy found themselves beneath Christmas trees this year, and that new readers are now exploring their pages. Thank you to all of you who gave copies as gifts!

Please watch for an excerpt from my book in the January issue of Ode Magazine!

You can visit the trailer for Plant Whatever Brings You Joy now on YouTube! Enjoy!

Posted on December 31st, 2011 by Kathryn
Filed under: People at Life | 8 Comments »

Yes, yes, you are right. That is Julia Child. As I, like many American women I am certain, immediately went out and ordered her two volume cookbooks after viewing the highly successful "Julia and Julia". And there they sat, basically, collecting dust. Until now. For I am on the quest to make the perfect tiramisu for Christmas dinner, and that, for me, at least, begins with ladyfingers made from scratch. Julia to the rescue. Sort of.

My first task was to spend two hours searching three stores for a pastry bag, and finally surrendered to just a simple bag from Michael's with a tip that might or might not work. (It did not.) Fortunately the accompanying literature (written on a clear plastic bag in 9 pts.) reassured me that I could use the bag simply with "the coupler", which is used to hold the tips that do work to the bag.

Sigh. You get the picture, right? And I forged on!

Apparently, and I'm certain this is not just true for me, when you open a Julia Child recipe book you immediately invoke her spirit into the kitchen. No, really. I felt like she was there the whole time. And not in a good way. No. Sort of in a I'm-watching-every-step-you-take-to-be-sure-you-do-this-right kinda way. Yeah. So I vacillated between talking out loud to her, reassuring her I was doing my very very best, to laughing out loud belly laughs at some of her directions. Like, she measures the butter you use to oil the cookie sheet. No, really. One tablespoon. I kept wondering where it was going and then realized I'd done it when I greased the pan. Oy.

OK, so you grease two sheets with butter [so, 1/2 T each] and then flour them very lightly. Easy enough.

Oh, yes, and you also set aside 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, in a sieve. But I will dispute this, as I found that incredibly excessive. I probably used a third of that at most.

And now the batter. I'm going to forewarn you that if you are not really handy with baking, you will most likely find some of these steps slightly intimidating, but, in retrospect, they are not that hard, so just bless yourself and plow through. You can do it.

The first part is really easy. You slowly add and beat 1/2 cup of sugar to three egg yolks. Add 1 tsp. vanilla. Beat until the mixture is thick pale yellow and "forms the ribbon." That's what she says. Use your imagination. Here's mine at that stage.

Part two is beating 3 egg whites and a pinch of salt until you have soft peaks. Then you sprinkle 1 T. sugar into the froth and beat until you have stiff peaks. One thing she does suggest, which I didn't do but might in future, is to have the bowl immersed in a second bowl of ice water as you are beating. Now I'm curious and I suspect she has her reasons. Though my peaks were quite stiff, thank you.

OK, now it gets a bit trickier, but not if you have done this sort of thing before. It's basically folding. But the language is so precise I must share. Oh, bring along 1/2 cup of unbleached flour.

Scoop one fourth of the egg whites over the top of the egg yolks and sugar mixture. Sift on one fourth of the flour, and delicately fold in until partially blended. Then add one third of the remaining egg whites, sift on one third of the remaining flour, fold until partially blended, and repeat with half of each, then the last of each.

Are you exhausted?

And, of course, you must not fold too much or the batter will deflate, so it's true you must take care. It should look rather like this about half way through.

If you have worked with icing and tubes you will probably not be riled by the next step, but I have not, so I was on new territory with the pastry bag. I ran to my twitter followers after the first five minutes and tweeted, "OMG, is there a pastry bag SCHOOL???" I finally surrendered and decided it was fine if my hands were covered with batter and that the ladyfingers were clearly not "even lines" of "finger shapes 4 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide, 1 inch apart."
No, they were not. HOWEVER, after a few minutes in the 300F. degree oven, they seemed to rectify themselves and I was able to tweet, "It's WORKING!!!"

Oh, whoops. Sorry. You have to sprinkle powdered sugar on them before you put them in the oven. Julia says 1/16 an inch...

After 20 minutes or so I pulled them from the oven and put them on a wire rack to cool. I'm rather proud of myself for first effort.

They are not "perfect" but I'm thinking that once they have soaked up some nice espresso and some Tia Maria, and are layered within their destined whipped cream, no one will be thinking of their edges. For now they are safely ensconced in freezer bags in the freezer until I'm ready for Part Two, which I will of course post here!

Love and holiday kitchen blessings,
Kathryn xoxo
Postscript: Julia calls Ladyfingers "Biscuits a la Cuiller".

Book Notes: Western North Carolina Woman is running an excerpt from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy in their December issue. And I've just learned that The English Bookshop in Amsterdam will be carrying copies of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy. Lovely! ~ And if you have not yet seen the trailer we created for Plant Whatever Brings You Joy, or you'd like to view again, click here!

Posted on December 4th, 2011 by Kathryn
Filed under: People at Life | 8 Comments »

More and more I am awakening to the realization that I am destined to become a beekeeper. It is part of my spiritual path. It's simply a matter of when and where. Meanwhile, as a kindly gentleman from Sonoma Beekeepers Association pointed out to me recently, "Start learning now." And so I am, following my inner directives towards a path of bees, who, in all honesty, have long attended me, and I them. Along the path I was advised that the Xerces Society was about to have published Attracting Native Pollinators: Protecting North America's Bees and Butterflies. Longtime followers of this blog would undoubtedly recognize this as My Kind of Book, so I was delighted that Storey Publishing gifted me with a copy so that I might alert all of you to Attracting Native Pollinators as a book all those interested in conscious gardening would want to have in their libraries as an invaluable resource book. For now, more than ever, it is critical that those of us who are called heed that call and learn all we can about our blessed butterflies and bees and learn to care for them, protect them from the onslaught that is their lives, and ensure that they survive, for us and for all who come after. It's that dire, my dearest readers. It truly is.

For those of you who feel a need to educate yourselves on the current well being of pollinators in general Attracting Native Pollinators offers pragmatic information on Threats to Pollinators. I'm certain you are aware that the dreadful practices of monocultural plantings, like the almond industry, and the continued use of pesticides makes it very difficult for our wee ones. But the overall tone of Attracting Native Pollinators is in recognizing the broad spectrum of pollinators in our environments and focusing on the planting of the correct flowers for your locale, taking into account the need for host plants for butterflies as well as those that will later attract them. Chapters include Strategies to Help Pollinators, Providing Foraging Habitat, Nesting and Egg-Laying Sites for Pollinators, Pollinator Conservation on Farms as well as chapters designed for those in more urban environments.

a gentle wasp
photo credit: Rollin Coville

This book is much more than a resource on how to improve habitat for native pollinators. It is a step-by-step guide for changing our stewardship of the Earth; it is a tangible way for people of all ages to make a difference. Active participation in this vital, grass-roots revolution is easy: Plant flowers.
~Dr. Marla Spivak, from the foreword

an underwing moth
photo credit: Bryan R. Reynolds

I was particularly delighted that Attracting Native Pollinators makes clear that, generally speaking, wasps are gentle creatures. Those who have read Plant Whatever Brings You Joy will recall my story of discovering that paper wasps that had built a nest right outside my back patio door were a source of joy and discovery for me once I'd accepted that they were not the fearful critters I'd imagined.

Another section of the book I found particularly interesting were the pages on creating natural nests to attract more solitary native bees, such as leafcutter or mason bees. Check this out!

photo credit: Lloyd Crim

How to Create a Stem Bundle

Cut each stem below a node (usually indicated by a ridge) to create a handful of tubes each with one open end. Strap the tubes together into a tight bundle with wire, string or tape, making certain that the closed ends of the stems are all at the same end of the bundle.

A variation of this is to tightly pack the stems--open ends out--into a tin can, paper milk carton, square plastic bucket, or short section of PVC pipe. You could even make a wooden frame or open sided birdhouse to hold them.

They then go on to explain that you need to place the bundles in a sheltered location, stems horizontal to the ground--or slightly tilted downward--with the holes facing east to receive the warmth of the morning sun.

Do you not love this? Imagine doing this with your children or grandchildren! What an enriching memory for them. And what a teaching.

Just knowing this book was on its way to me I immediately began to look more carefully at what other insects were coming and going in my garden other than my beloved honeybees and bumblebees. I was particularly delighted to find this visitor one morning and she obliged me in staying in one lovely flower long enough for me to capture her on my camera. Anyone know what she is??

Love and garden blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Book News! Dig It! Magazine is now featuring a wonderful review of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy.
Western North Carolina Woman is featuring an excerpt from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy in December and Ode Magazine is also running an excerpt from my book in their January/February issue!
If you have not yet visited my new book trailer on YouTube, link here!
Enjoy!
With Christmas coming I do hope some of you will consider purchasing a copy of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy for a loved one. I hear from booksellers and readers alike, "This is a beautiful gift."

Thank you to Storey Publishing for permission to reprint their photographs.

Posted on November 13th, 2011 by Kathryn
Filed under: Book Notes | 6 Comments »

The following is an excerpt from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy: Blessed Wisdom from the Garden.

Invest in trees

My daughter was making her first journey to Appalachia! And
knowing we would not see each other that Christmas I leapt at the
chance to create a holiday with her in October. Fortunately Halloween
is one of my favorite holidays of the year, upon which I could readily
build, with vast support from the magnificent changing of leaves in a
North Carolina fall.

I called a tree farm outside Asheville inquiring if he had “anything that
looked like a Christmas tree”. Puzzled, he asked why. “Do you really want
to know?” I responded, grinning into the phone. He did. I explained that
my daughter was coming, that it was her first trip to North Carolina,
that I did not anticipate seeing her that Christmas, and that I wanted to
make us a pumpkin tree. This man knew how to hear a mother’s heart.
Clearly touched, he invited me to come out, even though it was a wholesale
business, and he would “find me something”. I drove myself out into the
country with my dog, and eventually spotted the long red gate he had given
me as a landmark. I pulled through the gate and found myself entering a
magical environment of all manner of trees in pots. I had never been to
such a tree farm before, and I was instantly enchanted. When I exited
from the car a warm young man came out to greet me, anticipating who
I was. He indicated I should follow him and I followed his lead through
pots and pots of trees, about which I could scarcely contain my curiosity,
until we stopped before what appeared to be some kind of small and
noble cedar. I felt strangely comfortable with its green upward spiraling
flat branches. It was a narrow tree, about five and a half feet high, and he
called it an arborvitae. “Tree of life,” I smiled excitedly. “I’ll take it!” When
I arrived home I wetted it down, then brought it inside (promising the
tree it was only for a few days) and began the joyful task of wrapping
smiling round pumpkin lights about its limbs, then topping it off with
a long strand of shiny red and gold tiny autumn leaves. I plugged in the
pumpkin lights and stood back to admire my creation: A Pumpkin Tree!
I grinned with glee and anticipation of my surprise. A couple of welcoming
gifts wrapped in orange and gold papers with Halloween stickers
strategically placed about the packages finished off the project. When
Antonia arrived, tired from the long journey, the tree stood in a living
room corner in shining festive welcome and as she spotted it, her weary
face broke into a broad grin. I was so tickled, so pleased.

So now I own two trees. My ginkgo and a Western Red Cedar, as
it turns out, which, curiously, really belongs in the Pacific Northwest.
Nomadic as I am known to be, I am the owner and caregiver of two
trees, who will now make their way with me in my travels. Somehow
they give me great comfort. I fantasize, and have spoken with family
members about placing these trees in our family cemetery plot. Here
lie my greatgrandmother and greatgrandfather and grandmother and
greataunt, and a bevy of cousins are buried nearby, throughout the small
town cemetery. The plot was purchased over one hundred years ago for
us by my greatgrandfather, a true investment in a longterm proposition,
which is, in fact, what a tree is about. One day perhaps I will be buried
there and my body, first purified in the grace of fire, will become part of
these trees I nurture, who in return nurture me.

The trees in my life are not all physical and recognizable trees.
There are the traditions, maintained devotedly year to year, creating
the substance of family memories on which we hang our lives. Chai on
Christmas morning. Gingerbread and popovers and the familiar ornaments
that carry their special memories year after faithful year. Graves
tended. Birthdays honored. Scrapbooks and photo books marking the
passages of life. A wedding veil passed from grandmother to daughter
to sister to grandchild. Stories long told from generation to generation,
each word repeated faithfully as it was first heard by a grandchild or
greatgrandchild. Such is the stuff of families, the roots of which go long
and deep before us.

Who and what are the proverbial trees in your life to which you make
the faithful annual pilgrimages? What does the honoring of these longheld
traditions give in return? How does change or turning away from them
affect your heart and soul? How can they be maintained, tended, and
cared for in a world that will not stand by waiting for us, but catapults
us further into a future we cannot predict, that we cannot count on to
stay the same? What will you take in your hand, your heart, your being
to sustain you on this ever-changing road, the trees of your life that lend
substance, courage, strength, rootedness, and meaning?

Love and Halloween blessings!
Kathryn xoxo

Book Notes: Those of you who participated in The Scarf Initiative might find it interesting that OdeWire.com has just published the story of that social media venture in its current issue, replete with some of the many fine photos that were engendered, due to the love of all of you who responded. Thank you.

Posted on October 24th, 2011 by Kathryn
Filed under: Excerpts from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy | 2 Comments »

rice and beans: basic
When Antonia turned five we moved to Europe. After exploring avenues in France we settled on Holland, where we felt more at home. One reason we felt at home was due to our connections with a vegetarian restaurant called The Garden, which was well located on the Museumplein in the heart of Amsterdam. The Garden was run by a very international group of folks, ultimately including myself. One of the women we worked with was a feisty salt-of-the-Earth dark-haired woman from Ireland who taught us all how to make Vegetable Pie, which became a staple on the menu. To this day vegetable pie is part of our family culture and today I'm sharing it with you!

One of the wonderful things about vegetable pie is that you get to pick what grain, what legume, what veggies you will use each time you make it. Today I picked Spanish rice and black beans and zucchini. But I might just as easily have chosen couscous, lentils and red peppers. The rule of thumb is this, though. You choose a grain, a legume, one or more veggies, plus onion, tomatoes and a cheese. Seasonings are also up to you except for one: you need to include tamari for this recipe.

So. Here's a pictorial of my process. Visual learners (I'm one!) will especially appreciate. Ready?

First, I soaked the beans overnight. Easy.

So I put those on first thing this morning. I didn't even season. I just let them cook in water for an hour or so, until they were soft. While I know it's easy to open a can when it comes to beans, companies continue to use that dreadful chemical in our tin cans, so it really is so much better to simply cook your own. It takes only a minute to get them soaking before you go to bed at night. And there they are, all ready, in the morning. Presto. Unadulterated beans. And cheaper.

Here were the veggies I needed today.

I decided to grate the zucchini and put in a pan and heat quickly over a bit of water, just to be sure they were on their way to being cooked, but just barely.

Okey dokey. Then I whipped up a single piecrust, and put it in the oven at 425 F. for about five minutes, just so it was half baked. Then I removed from oven and put in my first layer: the rice.

Next came the cooked beans.

On top of the beans went the squash. (Isn't this fun??)

Following the squash come the tomatoes. I had plenty of cherry tomatoes from the garden so I just cut mine in quarters and arranged on top. Prettier by the minute!

I then sauteed the onion and a bit of garlic, and added on top of the tomatoes. NOW is a good time to add whatever spices you want to add. I added fresh oregano from my herb garden. I also now add the Tamari, which I dribble here and there. (Shhh! It's the Secret Ingredient!)

Lastly I add a layer of grated cheese. I used cheddar today but I also like to use jack. You can experiment or just use your favorite--or a combo.

I put this delightful concoction in a 350 F oven for about 20 minutes, or until the entire mixture is hot and the cheese is melted. Dinner tonight looks like this!

I really do hope you will try your version of vegetable pie and then stop by and let us know what you combinations you came up with that you liked best! Express yourself! Be creative! And enjoy!

Love and kitchen blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Book News: Ode Magazine ran the story "Rotate Your Crops", excerpted from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy in their September issue in Holland. They kindly translated the story into Dutch. Interestingly, "Rotate Your Crops" happens to be the in-detail story about working at The Garden in Amsterdam! Those of you who might like to read the full story (and who have not read Plant Whatever Brings You Joy yet) will have the opportunity when Ode Magazine publishes the story in their American issue in January 2012.

Posted on September 27th, 2011 by Kathryn
Filed under: People at Life | 14 Comments »