more creation

a skirt i made a few nights ago. (it has two pockets. they are great ) more on the way (I hope) and i started making some wooden jewelry this evening...
and some better photos of the little chicken...

the opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation

Yesterday was pretty rough. I think I'm more shaken up than the chickens are. In general I'm pretty frustrated that we lost the ladies to a dog, rather then to a natural 'wild' predator, and frustrated that the dog's people are trying to blame everything on us and not having chickens penned in. There are leash laws in the counties, but not chicken laws, and it was our property. A sticky situation, now I'm just worried about the rest of the flock and keeping them safe. I'm nervous about letting them out again- for now they are just in their run, and the coop.
Last night I coped by getting some local beer, and I made this cute little stuffed chicken out of a coworkers old sweater... it helped to create something to continue on the little chickens spirit and memory.... also made some sourdough poolish that I had been ignoring in to bread dough, and cracker dough... and we move on. slowly.

a sad, sad, day

Lylee, and the terrible, horrible, no go very bad day.

a neighbor's dog killed 3 of our chickens and came back few hours latter and terrorized a few more... so livid.. and the neighbor's so didn't care. grrrrrrr

really really upset.

tomorrow will be better

rest in peace little lovelies

i say dinner you say yum

I love cooking eggplant. actually, i love everything about eggplant, but I am quite the fan of cooking it. tonight's dinner was tempeh springrolls... I'd marinated the tempeh in tamarind and soy sauce and garlic and things for a few hours, then baked it all, then cut in to thin slices and rubbed them with chipotle powder and smoked salt (thanks liz!) then filled them with basil, lettuce, zucchini, red peppers, carrots, spicy mustard greens, purple cabbage....
top photo: garlic ginger basil eggplant, it was yum.

middle: that same tempeh, with tamarind sauce, carrots, red peppers, cauliflower, yellow squash, green onions, lemongrass


bottom: sticky sweet black coconut rice balls with mangos

fires and puppies (not together, don't worry)

Friday night we got rid of a bunch of wood from the burn pile: tons of gasoline, 4 torches with rags soaked in gas, lighter, huge blaze, 1 small hole in my vest from ashes. Fire combined with Friday's beer thirty?! great idea.
Saturday was a quarterly board meeting, which we were invited to. Fascinating to get to sit in on. In the evening we went to the dinner- quite fun to meet some of the board and just get to see how people interact, learn the personalities and hear more history of the school. A lot of the folk have been friends for 30 years and it's fun to see them doing work but enjoying it too.

in the afternoon I started some seeds across the street and got to use a soil block maker! the coolest, most useful thing ever!!!! it gives you the opportunity to totally remove plastic seed trays from your gardening process.

Sunday breakfast- I made a strata with red pepper, onion, sun dried tomato, mozz, basil, mustard greens... turned out pretty well, not sure if i like bread baked in to my eggs though...

we took Erin's puppy to it's new home for the next few months. These folks live off a bunch of dirt roads in the woods, and it turns out that they lived in St. Louis for 30 years and all of their kids went to new city school! crazy small world!

Started making a skirt - jersey fabric in purple, (i'm actually making a pattern and using it and everything- trying to make my sewing a little more professional and a bit less 'throw it together style' )

breakfast today (sorry, no photos) easy cheese blintz puff- from Sundays at Moosewood. smoothies, Maine blueberries and Vermont maple syrup- Super tasty!

It's sad to see (most) people leave after they've been here a while. A rad wood working prof took off, back to NYC, and it was sad to see him leave- he told me he thinks I make a great kitchen/garden intern, and that was good to hear....

I have a Chinese Eggplant basil dish and other yummies in the works for tonight- i promise photos (maybe even some mango sticky rice!)

hold your judgements

hola!
Yesterday I planted my flats of seeds in the conference room- I'm so excited to have new life starting. The evening was one of the most beautiful scenes here- just don't be too quick to dismiss it as just totally hippy. After dinner Heidi started to screen print in the kitchen, this lovely pattern of roses that forms a heart with grateful dead bears in the middle. A bunch of folk started up a jam session with a stand up Bass, guitars, a flute and some harmonicas, and we played scrabble and some banana grams. It was so beautiful and perfect.

Tonight we had a huge bonfire of a pile of old wood and cast offs that needed to be gone.the pile was at least 12 feet high, covered in gasoline and had flaming toarches thrown in to light it...wonderful.

how long am I gonna have to wait for you seedlings...

A little nod to
Sharon Jones in the title- listened to that track at least 20 times yesterday, singing at the top of my lungs. yesterday was quite the day. I cooked breakfast (smoothies and lemon blueberry muffins) then we had an intern/staff meeting- fabulous but long, a good 2+ hours...
we started our fun at Vermont compost - an amazing place that is truly taking 'waste' and turning it in to this fabulously lush and nutrient potting soil, and compost. And the main workers in this whole business are chickens, 100's and 100's of chickens... such a cool place. We walked through all the piles at different stages, then got to watch them bag up our potting soil and throw it on our shoulders... perfect.
Finished up the afternoon by going over to the house of someone who teaches here. He is totally off the grid and built everything- and his daughter's middle name is heart! awesome! he helped me start tomato seeds, and is going to take care of them for me in his beautiful greenhouse... it's so refreshing- he has this relaxed loving personality and that radiates through both his home and his gardening style, he isn't too particular or calculated. My favorite was stories of eating a great tomato, spreading the seeds on a paper towel, letting them dry then just folding the towel, labeling and throwing it in to the box of seeds...
fabulous!
started my seeds today in community flats on my new shelves. onions, tomatoes, lettuce greens, kale, chard, for now.
more tomorrow!

rawsome!

ah Tuesday! breakfast = asparagus, ham, brie, red pepper, and zucchini omelets. It's so fun having a small class here and getting to cook in (almost) normal size portions. We had some bananas that were going so I made a raw pecan, walnut, date crusted pie with cashew banana cream and coconut butter chocolate... turned out well... I don't think I like the banana one as well as the raspberry ones I was making this summer, but it was nice to have a dessert (because we always do a dessert for lunch and dinner- rotating sugar/ fruit at every other) that wasn't sugar, wheat, dairy.exciting!
Tomorrow= trip to Mont P, picking up soil! starting seeds! busy garden rest of the week and I'm sooo! excited for it.

birch trees and late night sewing projects

what happens when I watch three episodes in a row of project runway? I go home, pretend I know how to make clothing, and make a skirt...
I have a few things to fix, but I think it'll be cute eventually!

becoming a design/ build intern...

Yesterday I cooked breakfast (huevos rancheros, ish... black beans, a red sauce, salsa, and eggs cooked to order) and was gearing up for Lunch when Austin came in to take over for me, a pleasant surprise. I took off for the day, frolicking down (and when I say down, I mean down freaking winding mountain roads) to Rochester where my favorite bookstore/ cafe is. They have some of the best, made in house, bagels I have ever had. yum. after some chilaxing I went to a fabric store to stock up for some projects I have in mind. The store was inside of a Mall (the first I've been to in VT) and I passed a McDonald's on the way- it was weird, and not what I think of when I think of this fabulous state.
Today was a day off in the kitchen, so instead I worked all day with Serena to build shelves extending the conference room windowsills to hold seed trays for starting my seedlings...so exciting! these basic shelves took a solid 7 hours to make- that kind of blew my mind, but they are going to work so well. Fun to use the saws and drills. feast your eyes on these puppies! (oh and some scenic shots of the mountains, and two books I made- one out of a screen print I did just before I left Minneapolis, and the other out of a paper cut tree that I make 'photocopier prints' of)
hearts!
-L