A rainy day gives me a chance to start this year's blog from Canada. As usual, we hit the ground weeding, preparing to plant our garden. How can all that stuff grow underneath snow?? On the other hand, we've already had a crop of rhubarb, which we enjoyed in a pie for Victoria Day yesterday. (Or, as it is known to local anti-colonialists, Long Weekend in May. ;-)
It's wonderful to be home again. This year I made the 1500+ mile drive alone for the first time. Well, I wasn't really alone--I had a collection of books on CD with me (David Sedaris, I love you!). On the way up, I saw an amazing assortment of roadkill, including the debris of an accident scene caused by a perfectly beautiful black steer that looked as if it had merely been tipped over instead of killed. Then after I crossed the border, within the first few miles, I had to stop three times to wait for small herds of deer to clear off the road. I also saw a gorgeous elk and a fat coyote between the border and home. The coyote are having a boom season, so our chickens are confined to the henhouse and yard.
A day or two after I got here, I was sitting in the family room talking to my daughter Selby when I saw a flash of a white tail sprinting across the backyard. Two fawns were chasing each other in and out of our little cedar forest. I've seen plenty of deer in the yard, but this is the first time I've ever seen them playing.
Speaking of Selby, we saw her last high school drama performance--Romeo and Juliet at the elegant, old Capitol Theatre in Nelson this weekend. I hope she'll continue to dabble in theatre, at least, when she goes to college.
Mostly we've been busy trying to get the garden in. I arrived home with a long list of orders to fill--thimbleberry jam, zucchini relish, spicy dills, applesauce, etc.--for family and friends in Arizona. It's been a cold, wet, even snowy spring, so everyone's a little late with planting this year. We're trying some new things this season. We got a couple of those upside-down tomato planters (if the plants survive being wrestled into those planters, they must be very hearty), and Donald has built some garden boxes for plants that need vertical support, such as cucumbers, peas, and beans. Our raspberries are taking over the garden, and we're trying to propagate more blackberries as well. Our two strawberry plants have miraculously turned into seven plants and are already blooming. I've planted winter and summer squash, radishes, carrots, peppers, spinach, and lettuce, and now we're building up a potato and beet hill. For herbs, we have basil, oregano, dill, parsley, rosemary, and thyme.
I thought of a way to take some of our chicken eggs back to Arizona in August: pickling them. The first two experiments are in the fridge as I write this. They are black (balsamic) and yellow (turmeric). I'm told these are very good on salads.
We're reading Michael Pollan's new book In Defense of Food, which is very sobering in its discussion of the "nutritional industrial complex." It motivates us to get out there and weed the next row. Here is his sage advice for healthy, sustainable eating: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Book Report: Just started The Birth House by Ami McKay, which takes place in World War I era Nova Scotia. The protagonist, Dora Rare, is the first female child born in her family in five generations, and she is taught midwifery by a Cajun woman regarded locally as a witch. So far, I am really enjoying this book.
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