precious earth under our feet

Is interesting the feeling of belonging to a place, the feeling of belonging to a certain flag and nationality and the feeling of wanting to be there and knowing that you can't live there anymore.  It is like something is missing but you don't know what.  Blurs of thoughts come into your head and leave you longing to go back in time and be a child again living among your family and friends. Leaving my home country involuntarily was one of the hardest things I have done and one emotion that I will never get over of.   Is like that scar that is in your body that you cannot see but you know is there, and that reminds you that you are not the same after that.  The feeling of missing your family and the first place you ever called home never goes away, the days and years pass by and I still think of my memories there, my culture, my family and the land.  Looking back at childhood photos makes my heart beat faster, heat rises in my skin and under my armpits and my lungs fill up with air and slowly help me release that emotion that you get when you really really miss something so intangible and priceless.  Miami never felt like my home and will never will, I never felt like nesting in my room as I would have in Colombia, or play in the yard like the air was part of me or walk in the streets like everyone around me felt connected by current events. I realize this as I ponder of the time in the near future when I will love to bring Holland to the place where I grew up.  All my thoughts point to Colombia, my unique homeland.


My parents did everything I parent would do to make our immigrant reality feel like home but it was not, it cannot be.  For over years now,  my parents have dealt with the tedious task of dealing with a home that we can't go back to and work out the details of transferring and maintaining the material things that my dad in particular has kept from his travels from 60 years ago.  Strange artifacts that once were familiar to me that held so much history line the walls of the house my parents have rented for over 10 years. I get weird flashbacks from when they were hung in my childhood home, I can picture myself being young and looking at them and always hearing the story that came with entire collections  of things (for lack of a better word) from all over the world.  My dad sits and plays that record that he has played for years and I get melancholic because it brings me back to being in Colombia without a care in the world.  On the other hand, my mom cooks traditional meals that smell and look legitimate but don't capture the essence and the taste of local ingredients and the feeling of joy that accompanies sitting down and eating with your family and speaking your native language.  My parents are great people and I love them so much, they finished bringing us up in a foreign country.   I wonder how they feel about that and if they miss our home as much as I do.   I am so grateful for all their sacrifices and years of devotion to me and my sister and will always be thankful for our home wherever we were.

I will do the same for my daughter in hopes that she will appreciate it one day. My wish is that she knows my roots, my story and that one day she will rejoice in the fact that she is Colombian too.  I want her to know that it was the best place for me to grow up and that I still love it and that there was once a home so special and dear to my heart.  I want her to know she has family that loves her and wishes they could hold her and nurture her.   There will be a home that one day that I want her to remember, love and go back to. A home full of great memories, hung artwork and delicious food.  We are sad to let the cabin in the woods part ways,  in the same way I loved my childhood home. We will search for a special place again and hope to regain that feeling of belonging  in a land nested in rolling hills, wild animals, lush mushrooms, clear water streams and precious earth under our feet.

Back to the forest

My best childhood memories are of my childhood home in Colombia.  My parents allowed us to keep all kinds of animals including turkeys, rabbits, chickens, fish, ducks, a dog and chickens.  The  house was surrounded by a small patch of forest.  I loved to play among the trees with my sister.  One time we build a tree house and by that I mean a used wooden door laid flat in the crown of a tree and some wooden steps to climb up the tree.  I remember napping by the sunlight that filtered through the leaves and it was so peaceful.  Another time I remember running up the same tree to flee my dad if he was mad at me or hiding if he was looking for us.  Memories that still resonate with me and that I wish to pass on.

Oyster mushrooms

Wood frog

Northern tooth

Scaly Chanterelle

Winter Chanterelle

Mushrooms and votes

After a rainy week, there is a lot of mushrooming to do.  I found Elm Oysters, Shaggy Mane, Luminous Chanterelle, winter Chanterelle, Hedgehogs and Honey mushrooms this past weekend.  

I am dehydrating the Elm Oysters at 150 F for 12 hours.  Also, I am attempting to make a spawn from the stems of the mushrooms to inoculate logs for future mushroom harvesting.  I am using coffee grounds and zip lock bags.  I nestle the stems in the grounds and every day I open the bag to let oxygen in. I checked on the stems today (after 3 days) there is fuzzy mycelium growing in the bag. Later I can promote the growth of the mycelium by transferring it to straw that has been sterilized or wood chips. I am excited! or into wooden dowels that can be inserted in logs and sealed with wax. 

Elm Oysters

 I also found flying squirrels in our wood stove.  They were running up the stove pipe but couldn't get out through the chimney.  Unfortunately, there were three other ones that died trapped.  They were small with a grey fuzzy coat, huge eyes, long whiskers and a rectangular shaped tail.

Went to visit Buckwheat and Scout, Che Che's babies. They are happy and healthy. Donkey has not had her babies yet. We are waiting very anxiously for their arrival. 

Always, save the best for last. 

The newbies at the farm

Che Che has given birth to two beautiful babies. A boy and a girl.  They were born yesterday and just seeing them around Che Che brings back memories of Donkey as a baby. Donkey her self is due soon, as you can tell by the photo. 

Here is a video followed by photos of these two rays of sunshine! 

Simply pie in the fall

It is that time of the year...

 when the winter socks and fleece sweaters make their sudden appearance, the days are getting shorter and the windows are no longer open.  When the root crops are picked and the garden beds are turned and prepped for winter crops. When the farmers markets are bountiful and the scenery is so beautiful that you wonder what other place offers this kind of living. The cords of wood are stacked and the squirrels and chipmunks are gathering the last of the seeds.  The chimney is swept and the first Delicatta squash is baked and put on dessert pizza. Hiking, swimming, gardening are replaced by social gatherings indoors, board games and football. Just as the leaves are falling, we embrace this fall season for it offers a chance to reflect, share, learn, enjoy and be thankful for the time spend with friends and family, shaping our lives to be unique in so many ways, in this beautiful place. 

 Directions for the BEST Apple pie ever:

PIE CRUST RECIPE
I used organic all purpose King Arthur's Flour, Earth Balance to replace butter and Organic Palm oil to replace the Shortening

Apple pie filling
I used Gala apples and Turbinado sugar. I peeled some apples and some I left the skin when slicing them.

Black and white

Only in real life would you get to appreciate the beauty of it all.  I recommend going out for a wild walk and appreciating the vibrant colors of the forest.  I cannot imagine a world without photography.    Every time I take my camera in the woods or in the garden, I end up taking so many photos. The following are a collection of garden moments and my recent forest walk. 

As an aside note: I love been able to garden in the middle of the forest, even though it has its disadvantages.  The raccoons have been plowing through the corn isles and munching on some of the ears but not eating them all.  That is quite puzzling.  One the other hand,  the fishing line fence, pie plates and clothes pins have been protecting the garden from the deer.  I harvested 25 pounds of potatoes and finally our first ripe tomatoes.  During the forest walk, I picked a bunch of Chanterelles. 

Green frog by the basement condos

Red and white potatoes matched with red onions and garlic seeds

Unknown small orange mushroom

Unknown shell mushroom

Unknown 

Yellow birch 

Chanterelles

Unknown mushroom

Hollow spot

Mold at work

It has been two weeks since I made Chevre inoculated with the mold that makes the Saint-Maure de Touraine goat's milk cheese.  I have kept it in the basement where it is cold and humid.  I have to turn the cheese every day. The only problem is that the humidity and the temperature do not stay constant and the cheese has dried rather quickly. Also, I was trying to get the basement a bit more humid with a soaked towel.  When I checked the cheese the next day, it had all types of mold on the outside.  So I scrapped the olive, blue and yellowish mold and then washed the cheese with salty water.  I cut a slice the other day and tried it. It has a tangy flavor, nutty and creamy at the same time. I am really excited to try to do it again when it gets colder outside, because then I can put the cheese logs inside our little root cellar.

The fermented, the moldy and the bounty

It is stupendous how you can easily learn a lot from like minded people as you.  I think of this since one of the things that I enjoyed the most this summer was conversing.  In the mornings I would find myself looking at rolling hills under the sunshine while working the soil with others at the farm.  This presented a great opportunity to discuss all kinds of issues, laugh at stories, complain about things, sing in harmony, ask questions and most importantly just listen.  

By way of conversing, I started to ferment cabbage, feed yeast and bacteria with tea, make goat's milk aged cheese and share valuable lessons from the garden.  Talking about how to make things with someone with experience rather than reading it from a book is great.  The following are recipes for what I am making now based on what other people have done.

Sweet start for the harvest season

I was a little late to go into the woods to harvest Chanterelles this year.  However, I still found some in the same spots as last year and I added them to a delicious grilled pizza. Chanterelles grow near the brook by our home, on the ledges that are covered by pine needles mixed in with some birch, maple and beech tree leaves. 

While hunting for the creamy yellow Chanterelles, I was also looking to find a bright orange edible mushroom called The Lobster Mushroom.  To my delight, I found it but it wasn't until I looked up the description and photos, that I harvest it.

 The lobster mushroom is actually a parasitized mushroom.  It is a mushroom that is covered by a fungus that changes its color, texture and flavor.  The host mushroom is a white Russula that is not tasty at all and is white in color, when the fungus attacks it, it deforms it.
I washed it, sliced and dehydrated for a later treat in the year.  Definitely, a treasured pizza topping. Also, this week I canned 6 cups of currant-raspberry jelly from our garden.

Mid summer blues

In loving Memory of Bolt, Dina and KG

We will be saying good bye to the sole survivor of our flock of chickens.  She has lost her sisters in the past days and months to raccoons and skunk attacks.  This photo is from this past spring, I remember that back then we were starting to let the goats and the chickens out into the garden.  Where ever the goats went, the chickens followed and so would we.  I could spend hours looking at the goats and the chickens and try to determine their personality patterns, emotions and feelings.  They seemed to be pretty content back then and that is how we would like to remember them.  They loved being outside of their pen.  They would jump on top of Asa or Che Che's back and jump over the electric fence.  While in the garden, they would scratch all the mulch from the paths into the beds or up root a new or small vegetable. They use to have a dust bath under the apple tree.  I recall having a lot of patience with them and in the fall they were always around the garden and the forest.  It was really special to see them in the forest, not to far from home and making noise among the fallen leaves.  No one knows what they ate out there, but I am sure it was a delicacy for them.  Overall, they were the sweetest chickens I have ever had and I am going to miss their joyful yet simple presence in the yard.  We hope that we can place Negra with others of her kind and in a safe place. 

No pain, no gain

Just when I thought that we were the only ones benefiting from the garden,  I came home one afternoon to find our beet greens chewed, as well as; our apple tree, beans, peas and the only sunflower I had in the garden.  I can only blame one creature: deer.  They are very smart and came to visit the garden while we were away.  Come to think about it, there is always something to sacrifice before you can get what you want.  The missing greens and a hike to summit Camel's Hump are examples of how being flexible and adapting to different situations can be rewarding.  

In weather terms

Being outside in this unusual weather makes every day special.  There is never a dull day in paradise. Activities vary with the weather. When it is sunny and hot, there is haying, swimming and lots of weeding to do. When it is cold and rainy, there is mulching, green house work, planting and less watering of the garden. Either way, the weather and the time of year determines the types of projects around the garden. For the past two weeks a lot of things have been happening around the garden. The rows among the beds have almost all being redone. I decided to dig out the paths and put that soil with the old wood chips onto the beds and then spread the new wood chips.  This way, I saved myself from some extra weeding.

Losing out

Harris Hawk about to launch onto glove

These days have been feeling empty in the garden.  We lost two baby chicks and Bolt (one of our adult chickens) to what we think was a raccoon attack. We missed them very much. I feel guilty for leaving the door to their coop open for the night because we were away. 

We found a hole in the fence and covered with rocks and wire fence. The next night, the raccoons came back and we ran after them to scare them off and since, they haven't come back. Now we have two adults, Negra and Dina and we will protect them at all times. 

We love our chickens, they are more than just food bearers, they are our pets. A project to make a chicken run is on the drawing board and until then we don't plan to get more chicks. 

Finally Morels

Unexpectedly, as I was leading a group of students down a trail to a waterfall, I found what I have been wanting to find for a long time.  Morels.  Edible mushrooms that could be black and yellow, growing in deciduous or coniferous forests in mid Spring. They could also be found in burned apple orchards, or so I hear/read.  We ate them in pizza and they were delicious. I love finding wild edibles. The whole idea of being fed by nature without human intervention and dedicated expectation leads to a great feeling of connection with the Earth.  

Moonbeam

For mother's day, we went to see the goats and their buck. Yes, they are spending a whole month with a buck. Which means that Che Che, Asa, Donkey and Kehinde are going to kid in October. His name is Moonbeam from a farm in WRJ. As always, I took a million photos of them and I got to pet Kehinde and Donkey for a while. The yearlings are growing so fast and they look at lot like their parents. Donkey like Che Che, Kehinde like Hades and Wednesday like Asa. 

Photos follow.

We built our homes in the beaver's land

Green Frogs ready to go to their new home

I was optimistic about the presence of the beavers down the road, I was hoping to see them repairing their dam or perhaps eating some twigs, instead a local told us that they are not there anymore.  Most likely they were killed because they were eating white birches near a private fishing pond.  I cannot understand why would you compete for space and resources with beavers. They are a key stone species and gifted architects of beautiful ecosystems.  Last April a family of beavers in Thetford, VT was sentenced to be trapped and killed because they were causing damage to a main road.  People in the town spoke against it, including students that raised money to come up with a solution. Here is the video that made news.

Colors in Spring

Bulbs have been sprouting all over the yard. They are yellow, light orange and white. Some daffodils, tulips and crocus.  Other plants that are making their appearance are the delicious yet wild, Ramps.  Chives are growing fast and so is the garlic that we planted last fall. 

One morning we noticed two garter snakes together and by looking at their different sizes, we could tell that they were a couple.  Also, we have seen golden finches, woodpeckers and the resident phoebes flapping their wings, calling, eating at the feeders and hunting insects.