Garrison

 

Garrison Roots

Today-December 21, 2011 at 4:00 AM I lost my chosen big brother to pancreatic cancer.

When Garrison first told me he had terminal cancer about five years ago, it was quite the shock.

That night when I got home I tried to process the news as I generally always do, through playing music.  I play the banjo as a meditative practice; I have never been much interested in performing. So when I came home that night five years ago I picked up the banjo and started playing.

This tune came to me then, and I have played and developed the melody for these perfect years that I have since shared with Garrison.

This recording is the first time I have played it as a reflection of Garrison’s life. The song is not sad but instead is joyful—in celebration of his life.

I wish to share it with all that knew him, to honor his courage and accomplishments.

I played and recorded this tune in my kitchen were I have always played it.

Song Title: Reflection of His Spirit

Preserved Lemons

2nd Use From a Lemon and Salt to a Complex Seasoning

I was asked by some friends to start posting some recipes. My choice for this first blog was informed by need. I am running out of my lemon pickles that I use as an acidic salt substitute for green vegetables.

The source of this recipe was a travel show about Morocco and they talked about the preserving of lemons in salt. I am fascinated by the preserving of food as of late.

The process is easy, as always the most critical part of preserving food is fresh, blemish free produce and a very clean environment and utensils.

A dirty hand in the pot can ruin the lot.

I first found some very nice organic lemons. I chose organic in hopes of eliminating fossil fuel fertilizers and pesticides in the final condiment. I am guilty of having a bit of a carbon foot print due to shipping of the lemons but at least I am cutting out the fuel used to go to a processing factory.

Every wee bit truly matters, believe it or not.

Ingredients

Lemons, perhaps limes would be nice

Kosher salt

Very clean jars

Lemon juice 1:1 with water

Olive oil

Canning lid rings

Number 4 coffee filters (or any breathable material)

Process

As far as how much of the above materials you need, you must first decide how much pickled lemons you will use in a couple of months. I process four lemons for a family of 6. I want size of the containers (glass jars) that I process the lemons in to be such that I can compress the lemons to remove air space. 

I am putting two nice size lemons per pint jar

Soak the lemons in cold water for two days keeping them submerged.

On of my many sculptural kitchen projects

This process removes the bitter oils.

Nip off the ends and cut in quarters, but not all the way through.

Prepping lemons

Open up and pack with kosher salt.  I figure about 4 tablespoons per lemon.

Salted Lemons

Then pack them in the jars with a good deal of pressure.  This helps remove air space and expresses some of the lemon's juice.

Packed lemons ready for the fridge.

I then cover them with a torn-in-half #4 coffee filter and canning lid ring and place
in the fridge for a couple of days.

After a couple days in the fridge, top them off  first with a 1:1 mixture of water and lemon juice and then just a thin layer of olive oil, about 3 tablespoons.

They will be ready for use in about 4 weeks and last for several months if kept if the fridge. It is important to keep the lemons submersed in the brine, any lemon above the brine, fluid, is likely to mold over time.

Salt is seasoning one in the same. I use these lemons as salt--with the distinct advantage of using less salt--with the additional advantage of the complex flavors of the lemon.

We like it best chopped fine to puree and added to green vegetables such as broccoli,  asparagus, or perhaps collards. But it could also be nice with fish or in bread dressing oils; truly anything that lemon and salt would enhance.

Sin of the Fathers

2ndUse

From being a Father to understanding my Father

I grew up in a large family of five kids, three boys and two girls ; born in this gender order.
Names from oldest to youngest were  Bill, Mike, John, Susan, and Katy. We were all born pretty much one right after another with a break of a couple of years between number four, Susan, and number five, last born, Katy.

Going out as a family was always tense, especially with Dad. I truly learned to prefer staying at home rather than going to the outside world from my experiences growing up with my family. I realize that it is a lot to try and herd five young children. The way it worked with us is first Mom would manage all, unless someone wasn’t behaving properly. When she was exhausted Dad stepped in and he always seemed angry. I recognize that Mom and Dad had limited resources and experiences--both came from only-children families. I still wonder why they chose big family life, I guess they wanted something they didn’t have growing up.
 
The big laugh came when John, at age about 5, was left behind during a family event. Actually it wasn’t very funny when I realized the fear in my parents. John, the middle child, has always been the quiet one of the bunch, however when he speaks it is generally worthy of a good listen. The punch line "Where is John?" is now used as a device to alert all for a count.
 
Also as background, it is worth mentioning that I was the oldest and as soon as possible my parents recruited me to watch over my brothers and sisters.

As a father, I now have a family of four with the first two quite a bit older from my wife’s first marriage--Sarah and Annie.

Rebecca and I have had two more girls together pretty much one right after another--Maddie and Maura.

I have always enjoyed watching my wife parent and be Mom. She has a calmness and a trusting in resolve that I admire. She is developing and practicing a new way, foreign to me, to be parent.

I was home with Maura, age seven, who needed to vent some of her abundant energy, so I sent her to harvest some tomatoes from the garden. She was outside for a bit when suddenly fear welled up in me, something fierce.  I screamed out the kitchen window, "Maura where are you.?"

In stride, not even acknowledging my out burst, she said, "Here Daddy!" and lifted her hand as a visual for me from behind a tomato plant.

Photo of "I am here Daddy" Maura's hand raised in the Garden.

At that moment I was able to empathize with my Father’s panic; seemingly for no good reason at the time. I now am a Father, and have been taught by my father, who was taught by my father's father, to react with fear. Fear may well be an innate mechanism to guarantee  responsibility for one's own offspring's well being.

I must confess that I do not completely reject these confines as protector, and the use of the fear mechanism to keep one's family safe; or maybe it is too late for me to find the new way. 

I am convinced that we live in too much fear as parents, with all the tragedies we share on a global scale experienced through the social and media networks.   

My hope is that my children find the new way.

No More Animals

2ndUse From Dogma to New Joy

So we have the 'limit plus one' for animals on our property (county code). The animals are well-cared for and we have no complaints from our neighbors.

We told our four girls, "No more cats or dogs," even as animals pass in our family we aren’t replacing them right away.

My daughter Annie is 17.  Finding her ‘own way’ very quickly. She is so full of life and creation.  She has a boy friend, Jess, and they are quite serious and perhaps he will be the one and only, the gods know for sure.

They got a puppy, Ruger, yep named after a firearms maker. Jess's passion is to hunt; he does so very responsibly. They promised us that the dog was theirs to care for, they would take care of everything, and for  most of the time he will be at Jess’s parents house. I must admit that they are brilliant custodians but needless to say, we have a new dog.

I must admit Ruger has added vitality to our household, along with some chewing.

A typical joyful Ruger greeting

Friendship gate

2^nd Use from acknowledging  property lines to removing boundaries

In the 90’s I went to Ireland with my friend and boss Patrick Murphy to fly fish for salmon.

As we went from property to property following the stream with an Irish fishing gilly, John, I noticed that there were ladder-like step structures used to cross over wire fences that kept the sheep and cows in but not the neighbors out. I asked Patrick about these constructions from neighbor to neighbor. But what if the relationship changed with your neighbor? Patrick said with a bit of a bollix grin- "they are easily removed."

Today, we have great neighbors to our north. We are so much the same—sharing family, food, arts, and horticulture. I thought about the crossings between properties I saw in Ireland. "Hey Michael, what if we put a gate between our back yards so we don’t have to walk around to the front?" He liked the idea.

Photo by Rebecca Woulfe

 Michael and I made a friendship gate between our properties.

Photo by Rebecca Woulfe

This act acknowledged a relationship of trust and the future love between our families.  And then I heard a small voice in the back of my mind, "True, a bit of a commitment but the gate could always be locked."

We Laugh

Photo by Rebecca Woulfe

Halloween 2011

 2nd Use From Costume Accessory to Dad is "That Good"

Maura posing with wand

I told a dear friend, Shelley, that my daughter was Hermione Granger this year for Halloween. Shelley asked me if I took pictures because she wanted to see  Maura as Hermione. So Shelley is the inspiration for this blog.

As the story goes, Maura announced to us that she wanted to be the Hermione character from the Harry Potter series.  Why not? She is of Anglo Northern Irish decent so she looks the part. We can buy the Hogwarts costume at the WallyMartType store. The catch was she wanted a wand that was more like the movie version, and had rejected a store bought wand because it looked wrong, too twisted.

I, being a dad with a complete wood shop including a lathe, volunteered to make her a wand. But I wanted her there to watch and art-direct the project. Her delight, or perhaps relief, as she saw me set up the lathe and start to carve the wand, increased my resolve for the project. If you have ever watched something turned on a wood lathe it is magical in the way the wood takes shape as it is carved. Following her lead, we pretended it was a real magically empowered wand being made. The wand truly did have the power to create a shared moment and feelings of love between father and daughter. Needless to say she was thrilled.

The next evening my wife, Rebecca, told me that she noticed the wand being used as a substitution for a lost drum stick for a certain interactive video game.

Rebecca said to Maddie and Maura, "I bet daddy could make you a new drumstick the same way he made the wand."

Maura told Rebecca,” Oh ya, daddy could--he is that good!"

I have never received a more impactful review of my work in my life.

Maddie being a zombie

 

FYI

Maddie was a zombie cop and she designed her own costume and makeup.

A Moral Quandary

2^nd Use From a 'harmless' carney game to a lesson in life responsibility

My family has within our animal menagerie a number of aqua specimens. None were acquired by my wish, but at the time seemingly accidental, and all were adopted through carnival games.

We now have 2 gold fish and a yellow frog.

Our first aquatic ward was Cookie, a goldfish my daughter Maura won at the age of four at my wife’s work place during their ’Family Halloween Party’. I wasn’t concerned when Maura walked up to the carny-like table with flashy colored local grocery store type table cloth with bright colored water-filled glasses, and was handed a determinant number of ping pong balls. I thought the odds were 1/ 1000 she would win the grand prize—a feeder quality goldfish. We won—hurray—now I have a bait fish’s life to try and care for. I was committed to care for this fish by my early learning that every life is precious; I took this new charge very serious.

Maddie and Maura In costume, the day Maura won Cookie. Photo by Michael Fulks.

As dad, I am sage--all knowing of what is right and wrong, or so I was taught growing up.  I do think it is important as a father to be extra vigilant of accountability in my actions. My life actions are an example for my children; my wife taught me that children mimic our actions and to some extent find their life paths through parental actions, not through parental verbal commands or doctrine. She is right, always.

It has now been four years and three aquarium upgrades at about $900 to care for Cookie, and later to come company. I must admit I do feel success when visitors say, "Wow that is a huge goldfish." I feel like I am doing something right in that Cookie is thriving. 

Left to right: Marmalade the frog, Cookie and Scales the goldfish

 

Then my daughter Sarah was gifted a super Wally store frog from my other daughter, Annie. Knowing sisters, I am sure there was a fair amount of begging to get this frog. I rescued it from a teacup in a windowsill; it has been in the aquarium with Cookie for three years. The frog’s name is Marmalade.

They live well together, and are thriving—getting bigger and bigger in a nice 35-gallon set up. Everything was seemingly stable.

I have been watching, while caring for these animals over the years, and I see their consciousness. I started to feel a bit guilty; and questioning, must they live in such a small confined artificial environment? By having possession of these animals, am I sanctioning the practice of keeping these animals in a captive environment? Am I enabling the small vertebrate animal trade? I rationalize through conditioning; many people with limited resources seem to be quite fine and happy. Who am I to say?

It finally came to a head this year when we went to a county fair in Laramie County Colorado—surprise, surprise, surprise; they have a carnival area with rides and games. Madigan, throwing the same dam ping-pong balls, wins another goldfish and quickly names it Scales. You know if you name an animal then you own it and it becomes your responsibility.

Maddie wins Scales as my wife looks over to me in disbelief.

That’s it; no more ping-pong ball games for vertebrate prizes of any species.  I explained to my little girls that these seemingly harmless games are now prohibited for us. This is my new family law and I am putting my foot down. I explained how we would do our best to be responsible for the aqua pets we have in our possession as of now, but we have learned, It just ain’t right and we got to stop.

Photo of a typical tank of feeder goldfish at a pet store.

 

About the Editor

2ndUse From Exploration of a new Medium to Even Greater Admiration

For about 6 years I have been working and studying horticulture as a means of venting my crazy high physical energy and as possibly a form of esthetic expression.  I have always been a cook and enjoyed finding that I am drawn to making food from the dirt up. The surprise was finding that I was using my experiences as an installation artist in the gardens. I voiced to my wife that I would love to re-present my new explorations as art to the public. But I did not feel that the traditional white box of exhibition was a fit for this work.

My brilliant wife suggesting I do a blog. I didn’t jump on the idea right away since I am a bit digitally challenged.  Rebecca, my wife, is an educator. She has been engaged in digital graphics and printing since the beginning when the computer first became a tool for this industry. Her most resent work is in using the digital world to reach people needing or wanting access to education.

Rebecca recommended I take a class at Red Rocks Community College in Intro to Computer Graphics. This new information from the introduction class has opened up an entirely new world for me. With my exposure to the course work and a lot of my wife’s help I have started publishing this blog.  It started as a method to documenting my approach to horticulture, but has opened me up to working with the social media as a medium for my work as an artist.

However I am still not comfortable with my writing skills and I must confess that I do not publish anything without passing it by my editor. So I offer my apologizes in advance for any grammatical errors. This blog entry is an exception and I did not have her look at it. I think that my wife’s modesty would have made her evaluation of this blog quite bias and surely the content of bragging about her would of been toned down.

My wife 'the editor' seen here cleaning out the kids’ trash from the back of the mini-van; and still smiling, I look at this image and think how wonderfully simple love is.

Cloning Goose Berries

2^nd Use Science Project to Daddy and Daughter Time

This entry is going to be a bit more DIY, focusing on the cloning of plants. This writing just scratches the surface of the practice but will go through some of the basics.  I think my success was based on, ‘sure am lucky that cultivar of gooseberries my neighbor had was so cooperative.’

I also want to acknowledge the universe that creates opportunities or events that make life worth living. The hard part, for some especially my not so in the pass self, is looking at these events as opportunities rather than chores.

The story starts with my daughter Maura having her first science project. I asked and she conceded to do a horticulture science project and since money was tight and I wanted to plant some bramble, well it just all seemed to fit.

What is cloning plants? To the best of my understanding it is the taking of genetic-containing tissue, such as stem or twig, in order to create another plant identical to the DNA donor or parent plant. This practice, on the level of my approach, is more specifically referred to as vegetative propagation. Whereas a higher technology approach in cloning generally refers to the taking of a small tissue sample from the parent plant to reproduce the new genetically identical prodigy.

FYI- many plants clone themselves naturally, sending out shoots for new vegetation such as bramble or the aspen tree, which is on record for being the largest single living organism on the planet. That is why cloning is a relatively simple process—it is of nature.

I referred to http://www.biotechnologyonline.gov.au/biotec/cloneplant.html

So here is the DYI of it.

First thing needed is some research on the species you want to propagate from cuttings. Some variations are simple to propagate and you simply cut a bit of the plant off and put it in glass water until roots develop and then transplant to the new home. My approach to gooseberries was a bit more complex, not sure it needs to be?

First we needed to find a pot and, since they were previously used, we made sure it was clean and sterile. To sterilize the pots to prevent fungus, virus, bacteria and other damaging microbes, I used a sprayer with 1:9 parts chlorine bleach to water. First we washed the pots and then sprayed all the surfaces and allowed them to totally dry outside for ventilation. You see, chlorine solution is poison and therefore kills microbes but evaporates and leaves no residue. I like to limit my exposure as much as possible to poison so I wear gloves and use it  in a well-ventilated area. I use bleach to sterilize because I come  from a food service background and I think it works. With research you can find several ways to sterilize pots, so choose your own path. 

These are the photos we used for her science project presentation.

From left to right, first Maura washed the recycled pot.  Next she  prepared the growing medium which in this case was a potting soil mix of 1:1 sphagnum moss and horticultural perlite. Finally, she filled the pots and moistened the soil.

We then located the cultivar or parent plant we wanedt to propagate from; in this case it was gooseberries in my neighbors yard. You want the parent plant to be healthy and pest free.

Maura cut a nice healthy twig with clean sharp cutters.

The cuts should be at a 45 degree angle to create more surface area and the cutting or twig should be flexible and showing some signs of vitality as seen in the above photo. Next, cut off the tip of the twig to remove the apical bud as seen in the above photo on the right. This will encourage growth of leaves on the stem.

Then Maura poked a whole in her dirt and dipped the bottom end of the twig in rooting hormone (which I am not sure is even needed in this type of cutting propagation).

She then planted her cutting in the prepared pot about two inches deep.  It is important to bury the stem deep enough so that some of the stem buds, which are located at the juncture where the thorns come out of the stem, are in the soil. This is where the future roots will emerge.

We then just labeled what we did with info of specimen, date, and process. We placed them in the light and kept the soil moist.

The project was a success so in a couple of years we might well end up with some gooseberries, but through the documentation of Maura’s experiment for a school assignment I also documented the growth and development of another experiment in propagation—my beautiful daughter 1 year later—thank the wacky universe. 

 

Maura with gooseberries 1 year later. She loves her Daddy.