Hellebores, winter's lovely gift

I love Hellebores. I just love them!
I love the dark thick foliage that reminds me of a giant hand spread out, ready to point you in the direction of the hosta's and Trillium that are sleeping alongside somewhere, under the leaf littered loamy soil.











The flowers that emerge in January are tightly curled and look like small roses, with a giant star setting off the flower bud.
The colors range from cool lime greens to, dark, moody aubergines that fade to dusky antique shades, and everything in between.

A feast of tarts! Homeschool mom's dream!

 Here we are, back home in Seattle after the most amazing trip of my life. (the kids agree-theirs, too!)
Ok, let's get just to the point, the FOOD in France was beyond delicious.
   We ate croissant every day- I mean- when in France do as they do! I'm not referring to the croissant we are used to here in Seattle, I'm talking about the light, flaky, buttery yumminess of a croissant. A slight hint of salt, as well as light mellow sweetness. Are you salivating yet?
I am. It's just not the same here. I am on the hunt for croissant and baguettes that even fall in the realm of 'good' here. I'm now officially a snob of some foods and beverages. I admit.
  Espresso... being from Seattle, you'd think we would be a shoe in for a good shot of espresso. The rich creamy texture, somewhat frothy on the top. Low acid, full flavor. I'm now much more of a snob when it comes to a good shot of espresso. I have had some good coffee here...but it's harder to find.


 I now share the satisfaction of a good cup of coffee with my teenage daughter. She quickly adapted to the rich creamy shots of espresso, having never been a coffee drinker. She found enjoyment in what she always thought was horribly bitter. She started with espresso, and now, at home, can't find the 'right flavor'....I understand her dilemma. We commiserate together, and search for that simple pleasure.


 As we try to accept that we are home now, and things are the way they are here, we try to re-create the flavors at home. We want to continue to eat the foods we so enjoyed while we were in France.
We don't want to let the trip slip away, only hazy memories. Food really can capture a moment in time and inspire memories. So we cook, or more accurately... she bakes. 
   Baguettes are definitely in a category all alone. She keeps trying. Although the loaf is good, it has not achieved baguette status, but will make great sandwiches. She tries again. I love that she can just keep trying, and not get discouraged.
 The entire inspiration for the trip was a 4 day cooking class in Agen, with Kate Hill and Kate McDermott (Art of the pie-Seattle). It was like being in the presence of not just one Julia Child, but 2 Julia's. Just like we've been told, it is true....the food was prepared as food should be... With love and BUTTER. 
 The essence of food.    Slow food. Real food. Farm to table. The traditions and direct relationship of people with the land are things I knew in my heart, but somehow I have a much deeper understanding now, thanks to the Kate's.
 We learned all manner of kitchen wisdom from the Kate's....salted butters, lard, cream, cheeses, foie gras, flour... all the way to butchery. The hot water and cold water crust recipes, as well as the tart recipe have proven to be the most used recipes in our repertoire right now, and I could not be more delighted! Sweet and savory options....Fear not the crusts, and go forward.
Johanna has been experimenting with her new love...Baking. Every mom's dream, a child who makes entire meals and dessert. To feed the whole family. 
 To perfect the tart was the first goal. And try as many times as we need to get it right. Scrumptious!!!


 How lovely to open the fridge and see creme fraiche on the shelves, drawers full of Swiss chard in bright rainbow colors, red onions in piles in a bowl waiting for their turn to be caramelized. Pine nuts, kalamata olives....these are not foods I tire of easily. I feel great comfort and satisfaction in having them around, knowing we will combine them to create a savory feast.
It is true, once you taste something so good, there is no turning back.


This is a common thread in my life. I am living a life that is full, joyous and abundant. I have faced fears and am gaining my strength and courage in myself, there is no going back.  I will continue to seek balance. We are meant to enjoy life, there is but one loaned to us for such a short time. Eat well.

Sheet mulching/deep mulch

New Garden beds over existing lawn. Skill level...Easy.

Have you been wanting to start a garden in an area of your yard, but it feels too overwhelming and have no idea where to begin? Do you have too much lawn to mow? Want to get rid of some of it? Do you want to grow food and flowers? Growing perennial flowers is essential to healthy vegetable gardening, as the bees rely on the food source and the wasps that are attracted to the plants are a predator to many of the bugs that attack vegetable starts....more on that later! It's really quite easy, but it does take some effort. Are you in? Willing? Then let's go!! 

                                                                                   Gather materials...this can take time, and that's ok.

•  Look around and see what you have to work with...rocks, concrete chunks from an old sidewalk or patio, wood rounds (preferably small diameter)
• Cardboard with tape and staples removed
• newspaper...no shiny pages, the chemicals in the inks are not what we want for the gardens.
• Fallen leaves-there should be plenty in the neighborhood, ask your neighbors-leaves (not all leaves are equal-see below) are a treasure trove of nutrients. You can also get free 
• Wood chips from a tree service, call ahead and have a place ready where they can dump and you will get all the free mulch you can handle.
• *fertilizers (organic) with high nitrogen, blood meal is great, bat guano, or fresh 
• chicken manure if you have chickens-we're not planting right away, so there's no risk of burning the plant roots.
• I also LOVE to use KELP in this procedure, the soil benefits are spectacular.

1. Choose your location (think big, don't limit yourself!) I like to use a garden hose to determine the border and have a visual aid for what the garden will look like.

2. Mow or weed whack the area you've chosen (very, very short...leave the clippings for extra nitrogen)

3. lay a heavy dose of nitrogen (fertilizer and or manures) over the entire area you are planning to use as a garden, this will heat up under the layers we are about to put on the new garden and be ready in spring...patience.

4. On the chosen area for the new gardens, lay out cardboard so that it overlaps, or newspaper in thick layers, also overlapping, to prevent weeds from pushing up through. You are laying the paper or cardboard over the existing mowed lawn, and over the fertilizers.

5. Water the paper or cardboard to keep it from flying away. This is the stage where you can start heaping on the raked leaves. Birch, maple, oak, alder are the best leaves for this project.
You can also pile on any small branches and wood chips,( not bark a mulch....which is not a useful garden product, as it repels water....don't get me started) You want the top layer to be at least 6 inches deep, more if possible. This will get the underground soil food web something to work on over the winter.
Come spring, you will be amazed at how loose and workable the ground is. You can expect to be able to stick the shovel in, right into the paper/cardboard dig a hole, add fertilizer, soil amendment and plant whatever you were planning to put in the garden.

France...2011, more than a "vacation"

  This trip to France is far more than a vacation, this is a metaphorical 'smudging', removing all negative energy that I've been harnessed with, due to many emotional obstacles I've been blessed with, and have worked very hard to overcome.
 Life is meant to be lived, so I'm rebirthing myself into the life I want.


 The opportunity to travel to France, came up in May, and with zero chance of that happening (or so I had thought) I declined and with my Taurean bull like attitude, persued the fight with the Bank (Bank of America) to keep my house (as you may know was at risk of foresclosure) and buckled down to address the difficult, full time, stressful job of keeping my home and my business.


In 2010 my aunt Vera died at 98, my namesake, leaving a small inheritance to my mother, who had preceeded her in death, in 2009, which meant the money would go to her kids, me being one of three kids.
 I made the decision  NOT to use that small inheritance on my house. That would be completely insane! I choose to live my life to enjoy it and not be a slave to it.
   After a difficult divorce and simultaniously losing my mom to cancer (3 wks from diagnosis to her death) then nearly losing my house, I figured my Aunt Vera was giving me a chance to experience something I had only ever dreamt of, so I took that chance, and guess what- I could not be happier about my decision.


So, here I am, sitting in a very small apartment in Montmarte, Paris, sipping coffee, baguette in hand and writing this blog post...and learning so much.


These last few years have given me many opportunities to learn about myself, my values, dreams, and  perspective as to how we as Americans extend ourselves way beyond human ability, and put value on things that aren't as important as living happy, healthy lives, within a system that supports that. We are getting pretty loud about that now though, the voices are crying out saying NO MORE.


Anyway....more on that later....France.


Nice, Old town...
We arrive from the ariport by bus, dropped off in the neighborhood we were instructed to land...it's much later than we had planned, about 6pm. I have no phone and need to call Julienne to get the keys to our apt...ummmmm...what do I do?
We amble around, the streets are full of people all are speaking French and Nicoise, not English. We find a phone booth. Great it doesn't take coins, and the instructions are in French AND my phone card from the USA doesn't work. OK, think, and figure out something!!! I ask someone about a phone and am instructed to go to the phone shop, where I plan to get a sim card....ok, off we go, and the sim card is looking to cost about 50 euros....WOWSA!! The language barrier is enormously obvious now, and the clerk and I are not able to understand each other...fortunately a young man comes in (who wants to use the computer in this store, which is approximately 5 feet by 20 feet, houses phones in private stalls, computers and phone cards, not much more that I can tell) and is able to help me to decide to just use the phone in the phone stall. Skip the sim card and spend ,90 to make the call. WHEW, saved a bunch of money!!!


 Unbelievably narrow streets loaded with cafes, charcuteries, fromageries, patisseries, boulangeries, and so many shops.  Cars and scooters wizzing by...dodging pedestrians and bikes, narrowly missing them by not more than a half meter, apparently that's enough. This takes a bit of getting used to and feels completely foreign to our way of pedestrian right of way/street rules...it's a whole different game over here- Driving- but more on that later.
Gorgeous. We never left Old Nice (to visit other parts of Nice, anyway)
 The buildings are colorful, each having it's own style of ironwork. All of the carvings above the doorways are charming, with giant archways, seemingly ancient wooden doors. Each window above with clean laundry hanging out to dry on retractable clothes lines.
The cobblestone streets that wind down through the buildings are tightly packed with hundreds of bakeries selling fresh baguettes, croisant, paninis,  and the kinds of sweets that I've only ever seen in magazines.
The food is glorious.
 We are offered help each time we look lost, which is often, since we stand in the streets looking at maps, we are often the confused Americans in need of direction...People are very friendly and helpful, we are grateful.
The apt we rented for CHEAP on Airbnb.com is very small, and super efficient. Julienne, the owner, was enormously helpful in helping us get our bearings on the area.

Fall is, fall back, falling

Fall

 lovely colors with the turning of the leaves as they make the decent towards the ground, only to be remade into useful soil, food for the soil to be fed to the plants.

 Beautiful sunsets over the mountains, truly breathtaking at times...  to remind us of just one of the many reasons we choose to live here.

Cooler temperatures. 

 we are lucky to have long growing seasons here in the Northwest...we can plant food to eat here year round

Harvest time for many fruits and root vegetables

Fall is actually the best time to get out in the garden and make it what you really want.

The trees are changing color as are some perennials, which creates an entirely new opportunity to "paint your picture"

Dig and divide spring blooming perennials

plant shrubs, trees and perennials

I am not a tidy gardener, so leaves do not get raked up in my yard, instead they get raked into the beds of my garden to be eaten by the creatures who live in and feed my soil, the soil food web...worms, mycorhizzae, beneficial organisms that enrich my soil, think of the woods and all the loose, loamy soil that exists there....no one rakes it up, it breaks down and refeeds itself. 

I love the way the garden looks and feels at this time of year. I like to walk through and notice the many ways my garden is changing, in color and in form, with spring plants that have gone dormant to make way for the thugs of summer, the toughies who can take the little water I will allow them, but please me with all the beauty and color they are meant to display, as if to say...it's my job, I must do this, Enjoy!

The bird activity  is at a level of excitement that can only be explained by the amount of food and berries available. The sunny days we are blessed with bring generous amounts of song birds out to serenade even the surliest of gardeners.

I am stopped in my tracks of hurry and flurry in the garden to get to the tasks at hand....'what is that song bird, who sings of such joy and relaxed delight?' The flittering little one whom I still have yet to see, hides and sings, to bring me to my own place of peace and joy in the garden of my own life.

So, what to be doing in the garden?

Prune out dead wood on old fashioned roses...these are different than modern roses, old Rose does not mean it's been in the ground a long time...it means it's OLD, as in from 1864 or prior. These old roses are the ones that blooms in abandoned lots, take no real care whatsoever, aside from proper planting, and summer water, if you please???...then you can essentially leave them be. 

Prune out dead wood on shrubs and trees

Divide spring flowering herbacious perennials, replant or pot up

Dig out unwanted thugs in the garden, and weed

Move bigger shrubs if desired, by root pruning and lifting to deposit in the prepared new location.

Create new gardens for next year

Mulch exposed soils with homemade compost, wood chips, manures, leaves, straw or in vegetable gardens, sow cover crops.   Having read Ruth Stout, I am addicted to mulch, period.

Rake leaves from deciduous trees into a pile to make leaf compost or into gardens to break down...maple, alder and birch are the best for this type of practice....

Look for edible mushrooms in the gardens...shaggy manes, Boletus and more (know what you are looking for!! Do not eat if you are not sure.)

More garden talk to come next week...

to be continued....

Day of the dead Sand sculpting

        Carlos Espinoza will be creating a 3 dimensional sand sculpture in the lower dirveway at 
            Village Green Perennial Nursery on Sat October 29th. Join us in this celebration.
              Sunday will be dedicated to offerings and celebration of those who have passed.