Unrelated Situation

 

From Not News to the New News

There was quite the excitement at Red Rocks Community College the other day while I was attending  my class on digital media.   Apparently some students in a chemistry lab mixed a couple of things and made a no-no which called for some evacuation of a section of the campus.

On my way out to my truck I took this shot as a passing thought, the thought being, "what if this image came in handy, if a real event took place I would have documentation."

Nothing really came of the 'miss mixture event',  and I forgot about it until I got this voice mail from Red Rocks Community College.  I realized how different my experience of the evacuation was from that of the droid voice I listened to telling me to ignore the smoking gun.

I decided to create a digital document from my  'moment captured'.   I have now published my take of this event on the social network, where it can become part of the information saturation form of pollution we seem to be drawn to.

This story can now become part of the - No News is the New News - phenomenon.

Winter Greens

From Wanting Fresh Greens to Using Words of Wisdom

“Can’t never could do nothing.”

I first heard these words from Tyler Roots as he bravely quoted his father’s words at his memorial service.

If you have the heart of an artist, then you must understand the contained lesson. My artist culture looks for the exceptions, not as rebellion but as exploration through expression. This creates comments and judgement by many as weird. But I find this way of being exciting a constant exploration. And it always ends for me in "Could be better" — that is my mantra.

As example, my new work as an artist is in horticulture, and the ‘can’t’ in Colorado’s Zone 5 climate is growing green produce, during the winter months from November to May, without investing a great deal of resources in hydrocarbons.

You ‘can’t’ do that — it gets too cold, and you get too short of days.

Well I can’t change the duration of daylight, but I thought perhaps there is something to be done in passive solar to up the temperature and prevent frozen crop.

Now I just want to come right out and say that I didn’t pull this off without using some fossil fuel. I used plastic products such as PVC, and 4 ply poly. But the PVC will last a lot of seasons and the poly was left over scrap from other projects. 

On the web I learned of the work of Eliot Coleman who wrote, The Winter Harvest Book about growing veggies year round.

So this is my first effort at extending season, and as my neighbor Michael pointed out—it’s only seed, what’s to lose? Hell, worse case scenario is I create lettuce popsicle and I learn something.

So I did some research. I chose to grow a cold crop such as lettuce that can thrive during shorter days and cooler temperatures, FYI, I also had a lot of harvested seed to play with. I knew better than to grow a Mediterranean culture such as tomatoes because that lose vitality at about 45 F degrees.

PVC 1/2 pipe just stuck in the ground about 6" each end covered with 4 mil poly with the perimeter held down with scrap

Then I covered the ground with frost row cover fabric, this photo taken in November
 

Well it seems to be working, I wouldn't want to have to try and feed my family year around with this new technology of mine, but I wouldn't say I couldn't.

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.