Our Creator cleverly set the universe in motion incorporating natural laws that mirror spiritual truths. This fuels my fascination with gardening. My heart comprehends the necessity of painful pruning in my life after I’ve seriously stressed over chopping off perfectly healthy branches and then witnessed the increased fruit a few months later. I never appreciated rain until I spent six months of drought hauling water in five gallon buckets; hundreds of hours warring on my hands and knees with weeds convinced me to keep my heart clean of “little sins” that can quickly spread and take over, and my delight over a free load of manure (God even redeems crap) is probably embarrassing to my children. Pruning, rain, weeding, compost-these garden practicalities enlighten my heart to deeper truths.
One Thing Leads to Another
In this case, the “thing” was a goat. Every backyard farmer is familiar with this slippery slope; for me it began with thirty adorable baby chicks. Eighteen months later I’m feeding three dogs, geese, turkeys, ducks and now, goats.
Crazy Cake (its so easy to make, it’s crazy!)
A long, long time ago in a faraway land, a young mom with three children under four years old decided to bake a birthday cake and deliver it to her friend as a surprise. Thankfully, Joanna’s favorite cake was super simple to make (her family called it Wacky cake and mine called it Crazy cake). The happy mom hummed as she stirred the batter and busied herself feeding and dressing her wild monkeys while the cake baked. Immediately after pulling the special concoction out of the oven, she ran upstairs to get herself dressed in anticipation of surprising her friend at work. Upon entering the kitchen, it became apparent that a little monkey had reached up high above his head and stuck his little grubby fingers into the warm chocolate cake (didn’t take a detective to see who had chocolate smeared all over his smirky face). Taking a deep breath and quietly talking herself into a calm and peaceful place in her head, she quickly reconfigured her schedule and whipped up another cake (she really liked this friend!). Fast forward an hour and imagine said momma coming into the kitchen and finding the SECOND cooling cake with little finger prints pressed all over it.
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Season’s End
We’re busy wrapping up summer on the farm and I’m feeling reflective as I clean out last season’s old growth, making room for new crops. The garden and orchard took a beating this year; between fungus, bunnies, bugs, Bermuda grass, a hungry escapee goat, ignorance, a couple of flash floods and intense windstorms we didn’t have the harvest we had hoped for. Most of the growth we experienced was in our hearts. But I’m grateful for all we learned and experienced this season, and like any true gardener, I’m already busy dreaming up next year’s botanical adventures
Easy Homemade Ice Cream
We’ve been friends for a while now. You have faithfully read my silly stories and hopefully braved a few recipes, so I think it’s time I shared my signature dish with you. Actually, it’s a signature bowl. A bowl of ice cream!!
Lessons in the Garden
Well, it was another bust season for Thirsty Goose Farm, at least in the way of gardening. Through a series of disasters and mistakes completely different from last year’s misfortunes, we would starve to death if not for the fact other farmers actually grow food. My vineyard and beekeeping mentor busted out in belly laughter when I gave him this year’s synopsis; squash bugs annihilated the squash, wind storms knocked out the corn, birds chomped the grapes, June bugs chawed the fruit trees, a flash flood swept in just as tomatoes were ripening and split them all open, Peter rabbit mowed down hundreds of peanut and sweet potato plants and grasshoppers finished off the rest. (We had a great green bean crop but lost them all when the freezer died.) This tragedy of a farm grows my awe and respect for farmers- so I guess I can honestly say we did manage to grow something (besides an amazing crop of Bermuda grass).
Stranded
Last Friday my car died in the middle of a four lane highway. I raced from work to get the the chiropractor’s office after a week of misery and not sleeping well; earlier that week I was forced to reschedule two appointments because of working late and child’s needs usurping mine, so I was desperate to get there. Also, the previous week my farm truck died so we gutted the van in order to haul trash and buy feed, but on our way out the driveway the exhaust pipe fell off and I had to drive around sounding like a space shuttle taking off. Stranded in the middle of very busy highway, I was unable to hold back the hot tears of (physical) pain and frustration.
Bermuda Blues
Some call it Bermuda grass, I call it my undoing. Bermuda is the “straw” that broke this camel’s back. I can’t carry anymore. I have been accused of being over dramatic and giving up too easily, so I will try to condense the story in a few paragraphs so you can understand my reality.
Hobbit Seed Cakes
This is another recipe shared by Sandy Silveira in Valdez, Alaska. Paul and Sandy have graciously hosted and fed our crew for almost 20 years of visits to Valdez. Wow, where did the time go?! So many great memories of airplane rides, fishing trips, salmon curry, baked oatmeal, fresh bread and lots of laughter. One of my favorite things about cooking is the stimulation of memory and the connectedness I feel to my friends and family who have shared special recipes with me. This is another one of those often requested recipes. They are packed with energy and perfect for eating on the go. We always make a double batch and freeze them.
Squash Bugs and a Snake
Squash bugs are my new nemesis. Here I thought the challenge of gardening in SC would be developing the hard clay soil. Boy was I wrong! Soil development was a simple matter of labor; hundreds of wheelbarrows of compost and mulch, countless trips carrying five gallon buckets full of stinky compost tea, research and creative collection of natural soil components to correct the deficiencies- this all proved to be easy compared to combating squash bugs.
