Meet the Family: Simon

Simon is a devilish cat of many nicknames; SimoneyBaloney, fattie, kiki, and I'm thinking of testing out Ghost Face Kittay on him.

Simon recently put out a personals ad in the local paper - this is it:

Large and in-charge, I'm one big ginger with lots of loving to give. Don't let my curves fool you, I'm all muscles kitties. I enjoy eating, torturing field mice, eating, climbing shit, sneaking up on the dogs and jumping on them when they least expect it, eating, and curling up by the window for naps. I'm open to both kitties and dogs who are willing to pull me around on the floor by my ears, or in general, just a good cuddle buddy. 

Simon's been known to be malicious - when he doesn't get his way of late, he has taken to pooping in the sink. But Joe disciplined him pretty well after the 5th incident, so we are hoping he just goes back to doing what he does best, eating, napping, and killing mice.

light it up...

It's December & that means it's time for Channukah - The Festival of Lights!

Joseph and I went to a Channukah party in Olympia, and when we got back home around midnight we discovered Simon stuck about 50 feet up on a tree to the side of our driveway. I have never heard a cat mew so despairingly before. Joe climbed the tree and branch after branch broke off as he ascended. I was standing underneath it shining a flashlight up at him while simultaneously shaking because I was so scared of him falling. But - he is quite the monkey on a tree. He finally reached Simon, and managed somehow to climb down with him most of the way and then tossed him down for the last 10 feet or so. My hero! Simon thanked him by pooping in our sink about an hour later. Clearly, the cat has some behavioral issues we must work out.

In other news, winter in the woods means that you will lose power. If there is a strong storm, chances are the lights will go out, the electricity will go off, and it will be blacker out than you can even imagine. We've begin to learn how to prepare for these times. The wood-burning stove gets pre-set. The flashlights and candles are accessible. You make the best of it and get cozy with the guitars. I wanted to make my own candles to stockpile, so I've started out making beeswax candles, which I have deemed to be the easiest starting point. I'll work my way up.

Honeycombed beeswax candles - Start off by getting sheets, or foundations, of pure beeswax. You want them to be room temperature or they will crack during the process of making them. You can try warming them up if they are too cold with some source of heat for a short time - like a blowdryer or direct sunlight (Not so much of that up around here now!)

Place a piece of candle wick on the foundation sheet around 1/8' to 1/4' away from the edge facing you. Place one end of the wick even with one side of the sheet and allow the excess to hang over the other side. Start at the middle edge of the foundation and fold the edge of the sheet over the wick to encase the wick with honeycomb. Fold the edge gently, working evenly from the middle out to the sides. Then start rolling - for those of you who make sushi - it's the exact same thing. Or, for those of you more medicinally inclined, it's much like rolling a joint. Roll evenly, not too tight, not too much pressure.

When you have rolled the entire sheet, trim the wick to about 1/2" in length. Now light it, and enjoy!

These candles are dripless and they smell ah-mah-zing. I highly recommend making some for your home. Happy Holidays everyone!

snowed in

We were snowed in this Thanksgiving week. It was completely gorgeous.

The chickens stayed in the coop for the most part - They treated the snow as though it were fire to their feet. Here is our adventurous little Americana.

 The sneaky Simon lurked through the snow waiting to catch unknowing prey (Which, one little bird, I discovered him munching on in our kitchen!)

 The dogs had a blast!

We did some sledding and snowboarding about... I had so much fun I screamed like a little girl.

And then we warmed up in the evening over some wine, hot chocolate, and games of chess.

Every time I step outside here, I am forced into an attitude of gratitude. So, Thanksgiving aside, I am very thankful for my family and friends, and I wish for us all happiness and health.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Fall Flew By...

Hi friends - So, it's been a while since I posted - I got a new job up here doing Development & Grant Writing for a theatre, I left town for a convention where my mother was being awarded, and I've been otherwise super busy. But I intend to get back to blogging regularly from here on out. Tonight I will be making and sharing with you my festive honeycomb candle tapers, and later on this week will be introducing more of our furry friends up here. Sadly, we will have to harvest one of our chickens next week (Sicily - and this is why you aren't supposed to name them), and I will be documenting that entire process from the neck slicin' to the pluckin' to the cleanin'  to the cookin'. So, glad to be back here - and for now, I will leave you with an Olympic Peninsula Winter Sunrise. It's getting cold up here. (but I've got my love to keep me warm...)

Meet the Family: Louise

After Katrina, Joe went to New Orleans to help out with the Red Cross. During his work there he rescued a little cat whom he named Reno. He brought Reno with him to Los Angeles, and not so long ago, Reno and an unknown lady cat in Highland Park became parents to this little baby scrapper. We decided to take her from the streets of LA and bring her to our piece of heaven in the Pacific Northwest.

The entire drive up (it took us 2 days) we tried out different names for this little kitty who would not stop crying. "Mew, Mew, Mew. Mew, Mew, Mew." Chinese water torture, I kid you not. Then it hit me - SING OUT LOUISE!!! (I'm a sucker for show tunes and anyways, Louise... Louisiana - it worked.)
Once we made it up here, she disappeared for a week. Upon resurfacing, Louise no longer mewed.She now spends her days snuggling inside, or curling up by the strawberry plants to watch the chickens. She likes catching and beheading field mice and she loves being pet and cuddled as long as you don't pick her up.

Mushroom Pumpkin Soup

My favorite season of the year is Fall, and all that comes with it. Pumpkins, warm spices, pumpkins, hot drinks, pumpkins and lots of cozy layers.

To celebrate the beginning of this gorgeous season @ Maple Creek, I had to make a pumpkin soup.

I started out by taking a farm fresh pumpkin, slicing it up, and baking it into little squares.

Next I took a handful of dried chanterelles that we had picked from the mountain, and soaked them in a small bowl with hot water for about 15 minutes.

I added a pint of freshly picked chanterelles to the mixture. Soak, strain, then chop.

Next I heated a tablespoon of Earth Balance and a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet with medium heat. I threw in a half cup of minced shallots, and all of the mushrooms and then seasoned with himayalan salt and thyme.

When this was done cooking, I took this mixture and poured it into the blender along with 4 cups of free range organic chicken broth. Puree till smooth. When this is nice and creamy, pour into a soup pot and add the baked pumpkins. Boil, then simmer at a low heat. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Pour into bowls, add a little flax seed on top, and serve. This got me rave reviews last night.

"It was AWESOME." - Joseph

We've Got Elk!

a tree falls in the forest

"Snap, Crackle, POP POP POP!" - It began with an explosion of noise I had never heard before. I ran outside to see - was it elk going crazy? Where there a gang of rural hoodlums loose in our forest with firecrackers? POP! POP! CRRRRRRRRASSSSSH.

When a tree falls in a forest, it sure as hell makes a sound!

The common trees of the Olympic National Forest are Douglas-fir, Western hemlock, Western redcedar, Grand fir, and Sitka spruce. These old forest trees are 30 stories tall and older than 200 years.

The trees on Maple Creek are all at least 100 feet tall and there are a number of snags, or, standing dead trees, around here. Snags are essential to forest life providing birds and mammals with shelter, nesting, and food.

Standing dead trees can remain that way for many years, for many decades even, before they ever fall. These dead trees are integral to the natural diversity of the forest ecosystem, again providing shelter for animals, giving rich nutrient base to new plantlife, and by returning nutrients to the forest floor.

The first week of fall brought a small storm, and pop, one incredibly tall snag fell over right next to our house. (Luckily, not on it!) Our neighbors came over to make sure that we were okay and to offer us a chainsaw along with lots of chitchat.

Joseph went out with the saw and cut up parts of the tree for firewood for the winter. (Good timing!) First, he sections off usable lumber, and what's not usable for lumber he cuts for firewood, and what's not good for firewood he leaves as forest food.

 The top of the tree provided us with a great amount of kindling.

Joseph and Danny put in many hours on the chopping block.

We are going to have a warm winter here, come what may.

BONUS PICS: The chickens all followed me out when I was taking pics of the tree. Here ya go!

Chanterelle, My Belle

The Pacific Golden Chanterelle is an exquisite Northern fungus. For those whose familiarity with mushrooms begin and end with "Hold the mushrooms please" while ordering Chinese takeout, let's start with basic pronunciation: shahn-tuh-rehl. 

These ruffly trumpets grow in abundance up here underneath the Douglas Firs from late summer until it starts to frost. They seem to really blossom when there is sunshine after a good rain.

These beauties have ruffled, wavy edges, with a smooth yellowish coloring. They are meaty with a faint apricot smell.  

Check out these gill like ridges.

The mushroom hunt: Joseph says "It's so much fun. You are just running through the woods looking for golden trumpets!" He's had great luck where the moss and the fir meet, finding mushrooms on parallel levels to one another. If you plan on going out on a fungus hunt, go with someone who knows what they are doing. Mushrooms are peculiar and mysterious. And you definitely don't want to come back home with a pound of poisonous mushrooms!

Chanterelles are pretty incredible just sauteed alone in butter. So far we've done them up with pasta, and we also made some amazing omelette's with eggs from our chickens and farm fresh red, orange, yellow and green tomatoes sprinkled on top. Yummies!

If you are interested in learning more about mycology an amazing book to check out is Mushrooms Demystified. Happy Autumn Hunting ya'll!

Wild Blackberries - From Picking to the Pie!

Maple Creek is abundantly covered with blackberry plants and this past week they've really come into their own. Berries have been exploding with sun-warmed juice and the dogs and the chickens have been caught nibbling on the lower lying branches. It's pickin' time! But be warned, picking blackberries can hurt - nature protects these super sweet fruits with prickly branches that sting through denim.

All the pies I have ever made in my life have been pumpkin and vegan, so I've been waiting all summer to try my hand at my first berry pie. To start out on my wild blackberry pie adventure,  I picked approximately 5 cups of ripe blackberries. This didn't take very long but it did dye my hands red and I definitely got a few cuts. Yummy berries! I gently rinsed them in a colander.

Next stop: pie crust! Most people buy premade crusts at the store, but I prefer to be in charge of what I eat and what goes into it! Here is my Pie Crust Pastry Dough: (Please be aware, all my measurements are merely estimates - I feel things out instinctively while cooking.) I start out with 3 1/2 cups of flour, a sprinkling of Himalayan pink salt, around a half cup of both organic butter and spectrum naturals organic vegetable shortening and around 2/3 cup of cold water.

Mix it and work it all together until the dough forms. Roll into two balls, flatten, wrap em, and fridge them for 2 hours. Make dinner, take a nap, drink some wine or go for a hike. (My boyfriend brought home some wine last night, so that's what I did!)

Take the dough out and just let it chill for 30 minutes or so while you preheat that oven to 400. Then sprinkle some flour on your working surface, take one of the balls and  roll it on out! Place in pie pan, fold outer edge to rest on rim of pan, crimp edges, and then for a partially baked crust put a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of the crust and fill it with some dried beans to weigh it down. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil filled w beans, and then we move on to the rest of the pie.

Take a large bowl, throw in a bit of brown sugar (I use less the 1/2 a cup, berries are sweet naturally and I hate syrupy sweet pies!) a wee bit of lemon juice, some fresh lemon zest - zinger!, a smidgen of cinnamon a sprinkle of corn starch and throw almost all of your berries (I save a bit for the top - you'll see soon.) Gently mix it all together and let the berries just soak it all in, or out. Pour into your crust and Voila!

Roll out the remaining ball and cut out strips for the top. Lace em on up - You can find help for making a lattice top online. I was not able to make mine look as lovely as that, but hey, I don't cook with rulers okay. Here ya go - Not too shabby if I do say so myself -

Bake it at 400 for 30 minutes. Go outside a take picture. The moon was bright yellow last night.

Take the foil you already used for the weights, and make it into a little hat for your pie to protect the edges at top. Bring oven down to 350 and keep it in there with the hat on now for another 30 minutes.
Wash dishes while enjoying your wine! Then take out the pie, take off the aluminum and take the rest of your berries and lovingly place them on top. Throw her back in there for a while, checking regularly to see when it's done.

Once it's fully cooked to your taste, let it sit out and cool. I let this pie cool for around an hour. Then slice, and pass around.

Joseph started out by suggesting we share a slice. Then after that slice, he went and got another. Then another. The pie turned out marvelously. Sweet and not sugary tasting. Delicate flaky buttery crust. Strong and bold. The blackberries really do all the work!