Way back in 2009 I did a quite thorough post about bags, meaning the ones we carry to the market or to stores to bring our purchases home in, so as to be very responsible in helping to reduce plastic bags and paper bags use. At that time I was not in the habit of always bringing bags along, and I knew that if I did a post about bags, and researched consciously my choices, I would find the best solution for my own needs. And I thought I had. At that time I concluded I would be most likely to use the big ones that have a flat bottom and handles on top. But, in fact, I ended up using the ones I could pop into my purse and have at the ready anytime needed. I found them less bulky and much easier to actually have with me at any given time. And I do that now, meticulously. They are inexpensive. They are colorful. They wash readily. The only thing I have to do to maintain the practice is to take the time to roll them back up and snap them in place so they are tucked into my purse at the bottom, not getting in the way. The ones I’m currently using look like this:

And when they are properly rolled up, they condense down to this:

Handy, right? And I always have them at the ready. And they carry a lot.

But I did have a hole in my routine, as I was still grabbing plastic bags for individual vegetable and fruit purchases. There are those in this community who pop them unwrapped into their shopping baskets but I must be too fastidious to do this. I start thinking of where those carts have been and what they have been carrying. Eeeuuu. And then a marvelous thing happened. A woman behind me in line at the health food store laid out a few sheer white bags full of vegetables on the counter and I said, “Oh, wow. Where did you get those?” And as convenient fate would have it, they were for sale in a display near the door! So I grabbed a few. This is what they look like rolled up:

And here is what they look like ready for use:

Aren’t they wonderful?? I am so happy to have this solution to that particular ecological need. The packaging says, “Reuse once a week. Reduce as many as 150 plastic bags a year!” I can easily imagine that is true! They are called 3bbags. I’m sure you can google them.

I’d love to hear what solutions you have found to reduce your consumption of plastic and paper bags, and I hope this post inspires you to add another layer, as I just did!

Kitchen blessings,
Kathryn xoxoxo

Book News: On Sunday morning I was the guest of Lillian Brummet on “Conscious Discussions”, a radio show out of British Columbia. Link here. A review of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy was featured on The Ripple Revolution blog! And on Friday I’m looking forward to doing an Author Meet and Greet at 2:00PM at Copperfield’s Books in Healdsburg in Sonoma County! I hope some of you might stop by!

A recent trip to the vet on behalf of one of my kitties found me waiting in what serves as the acupuncture room. Quietly awaiting I began to explore the room. A framed quote caught my eye and as it was mounted quite high, I pulled it off the wall to read more carefully. Here is what it said:

We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.

I was deeply moved, as this quote resonated with the deepest part of my being and I have many times tried to vocalize some of these same thoughts, but never so eloquently! But who wrote it? There was no author attributed. When I arrived home I typed in a portion of the quote and thus began my introduction to Henry Beston, the author of The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod, which I promptly ordered. There is a synchronicity to this finding, as I’ve been thinking a lot about the Cape these last few months. I have a very old friend, a former teacher I met when I was doing my student teaching in college in Ohio, who has lived on the Cape for years. She took me there once, all the way out to Provincetown. I think once one has been to the Cape it is not forgotten.
Apparently this is what happened to Henry Beston, who, in 1926, after having someone build him a small house on the Cape where he might on occasion visit, he writes, “I went there to spend a fortnight in September. The fortnight ending, I lingered on, and as the year lengthened into autumn, the beauty and mystery of this earth and outer sea so possessed and held me that I could not go.”

Henry subsequently spends a year on the Cape in his small, but comfortable home, documenting, as a naturalist, all the things he bears witness to on those dunes, at the sea’s edge. His adventure closes and he becomes engaged and his future wife tells him she will marry him only when the book is done.

It would be easy and natural to compare Beston to Thoreau, and while one might call them kindred spirits, Beston is a very different kind of man and writer.

His writing is authentic and speaks to issues of our day without the political layers intrinsic to Thoreau, thus, perhaps, capturing a different, and maybe even a wider audience. The copy I secured is stamped as the “75th Anniversary Edition”. I’m happy to bring his work to the attention of my readers. I’m certain many will find nurturance in Beston’s writings.

Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places. For the gifts of life are the earth’s and they are given to all, and they are the songs of birds at daybreak, Orion and the Bear, and the dawn seen over the ocean from the beach.

When the Pleiades and the wind in the grass are no longer a part of the human spirit, a part of very flesh and bone, man becomes, as it were a kind of cosmic outlaw, having neither the completeness and integrity of the animal nor the birthright of a true humanity.

Happy reading!

Love and spring blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Footnote: Some of you will find it interesting that Beston’s outermost house was proclaimed a National Literary Landmark in 1964, however it was unfortunately destroyed in a massive winter storm in 1978.

Dearest Readers,

Okey dokey. Contest time! For the last two weeks I’ve been scouting around for plants that just might elude ready naming! I might be wrong. There are probably whiz kids among you who can Name Them All. Well, that would be a good thing for YOU, as you would be the winner of a copy of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy: Blessed Wisdom from the Garden. And this contest is open to everybody everywhere, so whoever is first able to name accurately all the plants pictured below will receive a free copy of my book, shipping covered regardless of where you live on planet Earth. To be fair, this will entail keeping all comments in the moderation cue until the contest is won, for obvious reasons. Once a winner is named, I will post all comments at once. Fair? Yes? Okey dokey! Ready! Set! GO!

Number one:

Number two:

Number three:

Number four:

Number five:

Number six:

Good luck! I’m looking forward to your comments!

Love and garden blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Well, dear friends, I have taken the step over the threshold into my 8th decade on planet Earth! If I lead you to think I am blithely announcing this, I would be lying. I thought about it. However if the Pope can be known to the world as now 76 I can be known as officially 70, was my reasoning. And, as he enters the next phase of his work and service on behalf of those us and those who live among us, I embrace the mantle of my own humble next steps, continuing to dedicate my life’s work to making a difference. Not to mention that anyone who has read my book carefully will note my birth year is included on copyright page, per US custom. I proudly move into this third act of my life, intending fully to be a healthy role model and lovely krone, though I make no promises about putting aside The Things of Youth, as I still want to learn how to dance hip hop as well as many other numerous endeavors and adventures. So, here we go!

I had been determined in planning this party that there would be live music! I searched high and low for a mariachi band but all leads led to tepid ends and did not materialize. Instead, I was led to a wonderful Cuban singer named Marcos, who came, auditioned, and was secured to serenade us! What a delight!

photo courtesy of Maloah Stillwater

We gathered around two of my garden tables in the soft sunshine of spring. Given that it rained this week I felt especially grateful that the good weather was a blessing on that day, which everyone did enjoy, as you might imagine!

As gardeners, particularly, one always hopes for one’s prettiest blooms to be showing, a bit of a stretch in March, and while the plum tree blossoms had, indeed, come and gone, we were not one wit disappointed. No, we were lavished upon.

The forsythia opened just days before…

The camellias were in full bloom.

I’d never seen the quince more beautiful!

I’d found these Tiger Eye pansies to fill empty winter pots. So cute.

And I’d found several of these very fun metal sculptures to line and bolster an aging fence along the kitchen garden. Whew!

And so, dear readers, I begin another trip ’round the sun. I know this marks a new phase of bringing forth the messages in my book Plant Whatever Brings You Joy. I have made a decision and commitment to do more radio interviews, more booksignings, more appearances, and to develop a media presentation of the life lessons therein that will enable me to meet more folks in person in far more varied venues. As my lovely, wise daughter, Antonia, points out, “Our true heart’s calling is found outside our comfort zones.” Off we go! I hope to meet you on the road.

Love and spring blessings,
Kathryn xoxoox

Book News: Mark your calendars! In keeping with my announcement I will be appearing at Copperfield’s Books in Healdsburg May 10th at 2:00PM. Synchronistically this is National Public Gardens Day, and the Friday before Mother’s Day. I’m also being interviewed May 5th on “Conscious Discussions” at 10:00AM (PDT) on blogtalkradio. I will remind you as date is closer. More to come!

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey caught my attention recently while looking for a new book to read against the cold of winter. At that moment snows had captured the surrounding mountain tops where I live and spring seemed too far away. Surrendering to the inevitability of the season I ordered the book and was delighted when it arrived. I liked the book immediately. (Oh, joy!) Set in Alaska in the 1920′s the story focuses on a childless couple named Jack and Mabel who have left family and familiarity to brave the harsh realities of homesteading. Their relationship, as you might imagine, has suffered under the challenges. As the first snowfall of the season arrives they are struck by a sudden childlike impulse and together they build a child out of the falling snow. The next morning they are surprised to discover the snow child is no where to be found, but they glimpse a young girl, wearing the very gloves and scarf Mabel had placed on the snowchild, running through the trees.

The Snow Child is based on the old Russian folk tale “The Snow Maiden”, with which you might be familiar. Indeed, Eowyn Ivey became inspired when a children’s picture book based on the Russian story arrived at Fireside Books, an independent bookstore in Alaska, where Eowyn worked. “I wasn’t familiar with the story,” she says, “so I glanced at the description on the back cover.” As she’s returning to the counter “an unexpected, exhilarating sensation came over me, as if I had discovered the key to a secret door.”

It is this magic that descended on Eowyn that snowy evening in Alaska, that envelops her interpretation of The Snow Child. It persists from first page to last. (Isn’t it wonderful when you find a book you do not want to put down?)

Snow Child graphic courtesy of Aranda Dill
If you are wondering why I might choose this book for Book Notes on the Plant Whatever Brings You Joy blog, the first novel I have ever reviewed, you will not be hard pressed to understand that gardeners are those most in touch with the Earth. The idea of a couple homesteading in the wilds, charting out a home amidst the unbroken nature, only to find in their lives a child who knows far more about traversing their lands than they, readily appeals. If we are gardening with any depth we know that the canvases we claim as our own are, in fact, not. They are lands that were there millions of years before us, and will remain millions of years after we are gone. To regard the lands with which we are entrusted as an isolated parcel is naive, shallow and unconscious. It is by gardening with the full knowledge that that piece of land, regardless of its size, is part of a vast ecosystem through which many creatures traverse that we are most rewarded. The more we are able to include all of life, to honor its many forms of existence, the more magic we will bring into our own lives.

The mysterious child that Jack and Mabel encounter calls herself Faina. She hunts with a red fox at her side. We have much to ponder about her wondrous life in the woods and what she might teach us, just as Jack and Mabel discover, as they struggle with and embrace, her presence in their lives.

I’d say buy this book and enjoy!

Love and reading blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Book News: My book Plant Whatever Brings You Joy: Blessed Wisdom from the Garden is now available on Amazon, dearest readers!

For anyone needing a prescription for faith and wonder I heartily recommend the following. Go to a nursery and buy a package of lobelia seeds. Any variety will do. Come home and very carefully open the package. (Make sure no breeze is blowing!) Look inside. Pour the seeds out in your hand and contemplate their minute size and then look at the picture on the front of the package. If you are not sufficiently moved, get some dirt, put it in a container, stick some seeds somewhere close to the top layer, place the container in the sun and water gently for ten days. As the delicate green begins to emerge and happy faced tiny purple and blue and white flowers begin to blossom allow yourself to contemplate the fact that the same forces of nature that govern the teeny lobelia seed govern you. Lobelia seeds, not unlike many others, are so small they would at first glance appear to have no value whatsoever! How could anything that tiny turn into anything anyone might be interested in? Yet given the right environ and nurturance the tiny seed grows to a hearty colorful plant that borders gardens and livens planters worldwide.

If you were given the right sustenance, the corresponding water, earth, light and food, what might you become? There really is no difference. Anytime you forget your own value and worth, consider the size of the little lobelia seed and remember that you, yourself, contain a seed within that longs to come to fruition. That is what you are here for. That is your task and your destiny. What might you yield, dearest readers, under the right conditions? Take yourself there!

Love and garden blessings,
Kathryn xoxo
[Yes, dearest readers, the above post is an excerpt from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy, which some of you will recognize. ]

Book News: I was recently honored to be a guest on Vancouver’s “Conscious Living Radio” which airs each Wednesday evening at 6:00PM (PST). If you missed it, the podcast has now been archived and is available for your listening pleasure. The link is here.

For historial perspective and added interest, I have followed up the recipes with a listing of the menu for Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inauguration, dated March 6, 1965. Enjoy!

2013 Inaugural Luncheon Menu
First Course: Steamed Lobster with New England Clam Chowder Sauce
Lobster Tails
New England Clam Chowder Sauce
Sautéed Spinach
Sweet Potato Hay
Second Course: Hickory Grilled Bison with Red Potato Horseradish Cake and Wild Huckleberry Reduction
Bison
Butternut Squash Purée
Baby Golden Beets and Green Beans
Red Potato Horseradish Cake
Strawberry Preserve and Red Cabbage
Wild Huckleberry Reduction
Third Course: Hudson Valley Apple Pie with Sour Cream Ice Cream, Aged Cheese and Honey
Pie Dough
Cinnamon Crumble
Apples
Sour Cream Ice Cream
Maple Caramel Sauce
Garnish
Artisan Cheeses

New England Clam Chowder Sauce

Ingredients:

1/4 cup minced shallot
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup white wine
2 cups canned clam juice
20 Little Neck clams, rinsed in cold water
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
1 cup peeled and diced Yukon gold potato
1 cup diced leek
1/2 cup diced onion
Pinch kosher salt
Pinch cracked pepper
1/4 cup tarragon, chopped at the last minute

Directions:

Combine the shallot, garlic, white wine and clam juice in a bowl.
Place a large heavy bottom pot on high heat for 3-4 minutes.
Carefully place clams in bottom of pot. Pour shallot liquid over clams quickly and cover with lid. The clams will begin to open after a few minutes.
Once the clams are opened, remove the pot from the heat and place clams in a bowl to cool (reserve shallot liquid).
Remove the clams from their shells and roughly chop (these will be added to sauce at the last minute).
Strain the shallot liquid and place into a clean saucepot on medium heat to reduce by half (roughly 1 quart).
In a separate sauce pot, saute the diced vegetable in the canola oil with pinch salt and pepper for 3 to 4 minutes on medium heat.
Add the clam liquid and heavy cream to the vegetables and bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and allow sauce to reduce until your desired consistency and the vegetables are tender. The sauce should coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Add the chopped clams and chopped tarragon to the sauce. [If you are using over lobster, as they did: Spoon over the lobster just before serving.]

Butternut Squash Purée

Ingredients:

1/2 butternut squash, approximately two pounds, roasted
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
pinch Kosher salt
pinch white pepper
1/2 tablespoon maple syrup, medium amber

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400º F.; place squash with cut half facing down on a sheet pan in oven and cook until tender, approximately 25 minutes.

2. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

3. Scoop flesh into a blender using a spoon. Place the butter, maple syrup, salt and pepper into blender. Puree on high speed until smooth, adjusting the seasoning as needed.

4. Place puree in a small sauce pot and cover until serving.

Now here is what President Abraham Lincoln and his colleagues were enjoying back in 1865! You will notice the menu is a bit short on veggies! Even the salads are meat! Short menu: meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar.

Love and celebratory blessings!
Kathryn xoxo

Hall House Frittata

5 eggs
5 cups chopped zucchini
1 1/2 C. Bisquick
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
salt, pepper, parsley

You can use your imagination and preferences and add bits of roasted red peppers, or calamata olives. Last time I made it I used fresh oregano from my winter garden instead of parsley, which was a good choice. But the above is your basic template.

Beat five eggs slightly. Add the above ingredients to the eggs. Pour into a cast iron skillet, into which you have poured 1/4 cup olive oil. Bake in your oven at 350°F. for 45 minutes.

I told you it was easy!

Then, about a week later, synchronistically, my friend Andy Carvin, who works for NPR, posted a gorgeous pic on Twitter of a frittata he had just made for his family! So I immediately wrote and asked him for a recipe, and he graciously responded with a link. So here’s how Andy makes frittata. But first the pic! This looks delicious!

The Perfect Frittata

1 16oz container of Egg Beaters
2 tablespoons evaporated milk
1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers
1/2 cup chopped artichoke hearts
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese
8 kalamata olives
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to broil. In a 10-inch nonstick pan, spray some cooking spray and turn the heat to high. Mix the egg beaters and the evaporated milk, and pour into the pan once it’s sufficiently heated. Leave at high for a minute or two until the bottom of the egg mixture starts to brown, then turn it down to medium high. Using a spatula, carefully lift up the corners of the cooked eggs to allow the liquid egg mixture to run off the top and under it. Do this a few times over a couple more minutes until you’ve sufficiently drained the uncooked egg from the top. It’ll still be very moist on top, but there shouldn’t be puddles of uncooked egg any more.
Turn off the heat. Take the various cheeses and spread them evenly on top. Then spread the red peppers and artichoke hearts. Take the eight olives and spread them evenly so when you cut the frittata into four pieces, each piece will have two olives. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Place the frittata pan under a broiler for three or four minutes, depending on how brown you want it on top. Anything more than four minutes will probably burn it, so be careful. The frittata should rise to double its size, almost like a souffle. Wearing oven mitts, remove the pan from the oven and allow it to rest for one minute. Use the spatula to slice the frittata into four pieces. Serves two people. It goes well on its own but it’s also good with some cottage cheese on the side.

And here’s a postscript from Andy about the Egg Beaters:

Note about those Egg Beaters: Yes, you can substitute eight eggs for the Egg Beaters, but that adds up to a lot of extra calories. And for whatever reason, when I’ve done it using real eggs, the frittata doesn’t rise like a souffle as much.

I hope you enjoy these two variations of the classic frittata! Feel free to play with your options, and come up with your own perfect recipe for you and your family. We on the West Coast are experiencing a spell of very cold weather, so any excuse to fire up the oven is welcomed. The prospect of a lovely frittata makes it all worth while.

Love and winter blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Book News: Plant Whatever Brings You Joy now has a fan page on Facebook. I’d be honored if you visited and “liked”. Thank you!

Yesterday my old friend Rainbow posted a link to a post from Carry Out Kindness on Facebook, highlighting a wonderful New Year’s practice which inspired me immediately, so I wanted to pass it all along to you on this first day of 2013, as you will want to get started right away! I did! As someone whose life so often revolves around the concept of Planting Whatever Brings Joy into one’s life, you will see immediately why this idea appealed! Above the post the original author had written:

THIS JANUARY, WHY NOT START THE YEAR WITH AN EMPTY JAR AND FILL IT WITH NOTES ABOUT GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPEN? THEN, ON NEW YEAR’S EVE EMPTY IT AND SEE WHAT AWESOME STUFF HAPPENED THAT YEAR!

I loved the idea so much I immediately posted to Facebook and within minutes others were sharing! A seed planted and passed along and along. Seeing this lovely idea has legs, I decided then and there to do two things: first to go and find the Perfect Jar for this new practice, and then to share with all of you. And I then invite you to share far and wide as, I think you will agree, it’s a worthy way to start 2013, and I’m already anticipating a post at the end of 2013, inviting you all to share some of the treasures you logged in your Good Things Jar! Excited??

Now, here’s the vessel I chose for my own Good Things Jar!

Mind you I combed the shelves of Ross in various sections to find this little teapot. It took quite some time. But when I saw it I was delighted. I imagined my Good Things notes would not only be kept, but would be percolating all year long, giving life and depth beyond my immediate acknowledging, spreading their goodness in ripples through the days and weeks of not only my life but all those with whom I shall have contact. I love that, don’t you?

If The Good Things Jar perks your imagination and you find your perfect Good Things Jars, email them to me at plantjoyblog [@] gmail.com and I will post below! And at year’s end we will revisit this adventure and can share the highlights here.

Happy New Year, dearest readers! May you fill your Good Things Jar with countless blessings, which take root and sprout and live forever.

Love and New Year blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Footnote: I wrote to find out where this had come from. Rec’d message it was from Slice of Life. Still don’t know who the original author was, but it’s getting a LOT of play!

Aaaaaaaaaaaand, here’s the first pic I’ve been sent, from friend Carol, of a sweet yellow pitcher she’s choosing to use as her Good Things Jar for 2013!

Here’s another–this gorgeous jar sent by my dear friend Kathlene! I love the variety and creativity emerging, don’t you??

Another Good Things container, sent by dear friend Cornelia, who has chosen a beautiful bowl she recently received as a gift:

I’m loving the variety of containers we have selected to hold our Good Things notations! Don’t you?

I often find it is the little things that I have collected over the years that bring a smile to my lips and remind me of Christmas over the years as I unpack them once again, don’t you? Each year I carefully pull things out of their tissue paper wrappings, discovering once again the joy of my old Santa cookie jar. I find him so cheery and cute! (And he will soon be filled up with freshly made pecan biscotti!):

…or a beloved polar bear candle holder…

As I bring my Christmas treasures out of their near year-long storage I reassess what is here, like paints on a palette, and ponder how I will use these lovelies this year, for their displays are never quite the same. Some take center stage, others are relegated to supportive roles, each having a special place in the slow, careful creation of Christmas.

Often the main table has a live plant as its centerpiece, but this year I wanted to use this simply pinecone tree and an abundance of candles. It feels right.

It is the kitchen table that holds a plant at its center–the paperwhites I planted not long ago and wrote about in my last post. I’m finding their emerging fragrance a lovely herald of the Christmas season, and perhaps due to the kitchen being open on two sides, there seems to be plenty of room for their scent to permeate other rooms, and thus not be as cloying as I might have anticipated, for which I’m grateful.

On the front door I hung a wreathe I made of what was at hand. I clipped branches from my burgeoning rosemary bushes, from a neighboring bay laurel (house is empty!), from my pyracantha and true myrtle in the garden and from limbs gathered from a large fir tree being pruned down the street. (The workers kindly used their chainsaws to cut branches for me when I asked if I might gather some for a wreathe!) I have to admit it’s a rather wild affair–so much so that I bought a second more conservative one at the local big box store, which I stored meanwhile in the dog’s washtub out back. Imagine my surprise when I went out this morning to retrieve and found it embedded under a thin sheet of ice! It will store nicely until I unearth the second wreathe hanger and it will take its place on a second exterior door.

I am more than certain each of you is engaged in a similar joyful practice of creating your own holiday in your homes for your loved ones. What are the things you treasure most that help define your holiday celebrations?

May you have a most blessed, peaceful and joyful Christmas. Thank you for visiting and being part of my garden blogging world.

Love and Christmas blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town!

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
He’s making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town