Quiet time

At elevation 6300', I knit like a fiend while listening to vintage Clapton blues. A pot of beef curry simmered in the pressure cooker, and raita mellowed in the refrigerator. That night brought in a foot of snow that cloaks colors, deadens sound, and freezes creatures.

My brain reviews events and starts to consider "intentions" for self when there's "a little time". This list was started years ago when my children were born and I could not hold so many thoughts in my head, so I wrote them down and referred to them when I had 15 minutes for myself. This exercise of recording and thus freeing my mind has become useful to me over the years.

Solstice

A total lunar eclipse occured last night.  The last lunar eclipse on a solstice happened in the 1600s, and the next one will take place in another 400 years. The clouds parted long enough so that the lunar thumbnail disappeared, then glimmered, then went totally dark before the clouds closed in again.  From this darkness, during the eve of the longest night of the year, the earth continued on its path and the moon was once again revealed. "Remember, my friends, no matter how dark it is now, Solstice means the light is coming." [Stephanie Pearl-McPhee] ...And from the dark depths of the lunar eclipse on the solstice, the emergence and ever-increasing duration of light comes from a deeper source.

Shop local

The perennial question of "so what do you want for Christmas?" has been asked, and I have the luxury of having so much to live with and from, that I get to think about a response that can engage others around me.

The adage "think global, act local" has always been meaningful to me. So I return to this, especially as the general economy is depressed, and the action is to "shop local". This idea is described simply in the 3/50 Project: pick 3 local independent "brick and mortar" stores you couldn’t live without and if you spend $50 each month amongst the 3 then basically you are strengthening your own community.

It’s important to remember the repercussions our purchases have. For every $100 spent on local independent stores, $68 goes back into the community through payroll, taxes, and other expenditures. If you spend $100 on a national chain store, only $48 comes back; and if you buy from an online source, NONE of it comes back.

I want my friends and community to do well and to be well.  In turn, we will be better equipped to reach out and assist others - on a local AND global level.

When life gives you lemons...

...transform them into something grand.

Last week I received lots of homegrown Meyer lemons - tart, bitter, sweet, and very juicy. Thank you, K.

So I added salt to some, and preserved them thus.

Marmalade on L, Preserved on R.

And I added sugar to some more.
Specifically, I cut up one grapefruit and many lemons to make 12C, added 1.5Q water, soaked, cooked and added 1C+9C raw+white sugar to yield eight-12oz plus one-10oz jars marmalade.

Oh yeah, THAT's what I'm talkin' about!

Blue Whale

After a week, I finished and blocked "Blue Whale" designed by Stephen West and commissioned by A Verb for Keeping Warm (AVFKW)'s Proverbial Club. 75/25 bluefaced-leicester/tussah-silk "Luster" was indigo dyed by AVFKW and left its blue trails on my hands - a sign of work and accomplishment that washed off with soap and water after each session. As I blocked this shawl I marvelled at the design of the shape, in which I see the whale's fluke greeting me. There is comfort and satisfaction in this work.   Thank you, Kristine.

Diospyros update

Autumnal color.

This past weekend I received 12 beautiful Fuyu persimmons from the family tree and processed 7 of them into 5 pints of brandied persimmons.  Added my own mixture of flavors: star anise, cardamom and lemon.

Persimmons: Diospyros

Persimmons, aka "fruit of the gods", originated in Asia and are centuries old. I am fortunate to have access to homegrown and lovingly tended Fuyu persimmons from a family tree which produces a bumper crop of HUGE fruit every two years.

3 large crisp-ripe Fuyu persimmons yield three 12oz jars of brandied persimmons.
This post will be updated as production increases and images are developed.

The Sacred Golden Apple: Quince

The quince is a very old fruit. It was cited around 600BC by the Greeks and Romans, and it is a component of middle eastern cuisine. The raw quince fruit is very fragrant, but the flesh is dry, astringent, and very hard. It is transformed with heat and becomes supple and edible. A little sugar doesn't hurt, either.

5 large quince is about 1kg gross and yields 6C quince and ginger.
6.75 large quince is about 800g net, and yields 5C quince, orange and cardamom.
1.25 large quince yields 2C quince jam.

Inspired by Christine Ferber and Claudia Roden.

Transformer: the Charkha

Spinnity's Book Charkha

Spinnity showed me a marvelous thing called a Charkha.

The charkha embodies the utility of industrial engineering design as a linchpin to global and local economics and social change.

During the turn of the century, India, which was under British colonial rule, produced cotton and exported it to Britian, who produced fabric and clothing and sold it back to India at a cost higher than India could afford. Gandhi saw that India could become more self-sufficient if they produced fabric from their own cotton.

Charkha: setting the spindle

In order to do so, spinning cotton fiber was essential. The charkha is a compact spinning device that rose in prominance when Gandhi promoted its use amongst the populace: anyone and everyone could spin fiber.

The charkha is a design marvel. It is compact, lightweight and very portable. Components are made of readily available, easily malleable and replaceable material. The drive-to-output ratio is extremely high, about 1:100; there is an efficient use of energy input to output.

Charkha: spinning

Charka: winding on



Charkha: poonis and setting the reel

Charkha: reel in motion



Spinnity's Book Charkha





The charkha contains a world in itself.

Confiture: Pumpkin (warm circles)

Modelled and inspired by Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber.  The kitchen scale is indispensible.  1-2/3 recipes yields 7 cups.

Peeled and finely diced pumpkin macerates overnight with sugar, lemon, and honey. Have you ever tried to peel a raw pumpkin without slitting your thumbs open?

Simmer - the sugar permeates the pumpkin. Then macerate overnight AGAIN.

Lemons are prepped and candied in caramelized sugar.

Tres cher.

Sugar, pumpkin, honey, sugar, lemon, sugar and time.