The Back Forty

Monday, October 22, 2007

New Look

Fickle woman I am...there is an inherent compulsion in me to rearrange sofas, furniture, and apparently the blog, from time to time. I'm dabbling in the unknown -- web tinkering -- though I hardly have any spare time. I tried for a new look. Not sure yet if I like it or if it will be subjected to yet another rearrangement compulsion in days to come. I tried for colors that would harmonize a bit with the header graphic, and most of my tries came out looking like an electric pumpkin montage. Ah, well, like some haircuts, ya just don't know how much you REALLY like it till the next morning.

And so, this blog shall endure scrutiny on The Morning After, and we'll see if the edits survive. If it all is in black and white tomorrow, you'll know it was a bit too Something, and got axed.

I'm stalling. I have "blog homework" to do. I'm so deliquent on thanks and acknowledgements, and on blogrolls and continuing research. I've been stubbornly relaxing...MINDLESSLY...since the ending of the 911 job. I've not had a haircut, deep-cleaned my house, baked bread, or tidied up the exterior landscaping (read "weedeat the tree-sized weeds") at all since I started that job in June. It ate my life...the only time I had here at home was to sleep, and to cram. I hope I can use those skills (for which I continually crammed) someday in some other capacity. I just completed another course for another license. Yes, I just can't stop! (laughing) Today I went and applied for the license and have a temporary one, and am now employable in yet another field. I joked with my husband that I should just keep on getting miscellaneous licenses for things I never intended to do so that I'm the most qualified person out there....for SOMETHING.

Maybe I'm old or maybe the lobe of my brain responsible for creativity and reflection is beginning to atrophy, but I just want to GET ON WITH moving to some land...NOW. Until then, everything is in a holding pattern.

Whine, whine :)

Or I can just be one of those women who decide (surely they DECIDE...) to wear strangely-coordinated mismatched clothing, open-toed sandals, long hair with beads and ribbons plaited here and there, and ankle bells...and making the most fabulous pottery, paintings, sculptures, and weavings ever. I WAS an art major, way back in the day, after all. The paintbrushes are likely rusted now. Or I'll go away to a writer's workshop and drink herb teas or exotic coffees and meet fascinating people and then hole up and write, write, write. Or I'll go to a poetry slam. Or I'll go to a horse farm and offer to shovel out stalls for free just to be near those creatures I love.

I MUST have a chicken SOON. Can anyone relate to this waiting sort of funk? I'll get over it...maybe :) In the meantime, the blog gets dustier, as does the house, and I'm tearing through as many books as possible. Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was the latest smorgasbord of reading pleasure, as was Logan Ward's See You in a Hundred Years. Have I done a single book review here? Nope. It's that sort of funk.

I know what this is all about, or at least partially. I'm job hunting again this week, and am gearing up to do another job to help Get Us There. Were this a teaching, writing, gardening, or animal husbandry type of position, I'd be jazzed. As it is, I'm embracing my last few minutes of Homebodiness tenaciously.

And the post-crastination here continues. Hmmmm...

Hopefullly this will blow over. There are many serious planning considerations rolling onwards in conversation with my husband whenever we have time together these days. We've narrowed things down and are still hot on the trail of Some Land To Be Had. This week we have a day set aside for taking a day trip to do some more hunting. FUN :) :) That'll fuel me for a while :)

Hope to return here in a bit, after satisfying my nesting urge, and possibly even scrubbing the kitchen.

(We'll see about that last bit, ha!)

I'd better get a haircut tomorrow. That has a way of either giving me a shot in the arm, or hurling me to the brink of despair (depending on the skill of the hairdresser and the level of drasticity--is that a word??--of the cut). If the hair still qualifies as "long" when I return and total strangers don't whisper and point as I walk by, I'll consider it a success.

Then I'll be more in the mood to be worth my salt in blogland, and possibly as procrastinating weed whacker and floor mopper, woo hooo!

I shall be back...blogroll is SO delinquent, and there are so many new ones I've been enjoying...I owe 'em bigtime!

Off to nest...and the other stuff, perhaps :)

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Just one more...

...really :)

Strange and beautiful looking...love the wings...whew, the eyes -- I wonder how I look to him?

Friday, October 19, 2007

Bee Bliss

Still practicing with the new camera. I feel like a Peeping Tom...

Close ...

Closer...

Bee in pollen paradise...

(Reminder to love your pollinators...please don't spray your plants. Your plants love the bees as much the bees love them. If you're not sure, just watch for a couple of seconds. The flower literally dances on the breeze, giving nectar and pollen, as the bee nestles into its glory of color, scent, and food...assuring the prosperity and continuation of each. Harmony. We humans should do so well :))

OK, I'll get back to some content rather than superficial posting...just having fun seeing the world through a whole new lens!

Later note: After looking for some pictures to identify the type of bee this might bee, er be, I'm thinking it might be a digger bee. The stand of wildflowers was covered with these bees, and they did not seem aggressive, and were too small to be a bumblebee. They seemed fuzzier than what I think of as a honeybee. Does anyone know from looking at the pictures? The identification information I found was on this page. Sadly, some links took me to exterminator sites, which termed the Digger Bee as "pest" even though admittedly they burrow into the ground, are harmless, and don't sting. And they are especially GREAT pollinators, loving flowers. It's frustrating that they're targeted as pests, simply because they happen to be bees. Why do we have to destroy these creatures that go about minding their own business and HELPING us by pollinating our plants, just because we're conditioned to say "ewwww" to flying things? Not me...I "dig" the Digger!

A Kiss of Nectar

I've been having such fun with the new camera! I'm really thankful for all the blessings our Father has sent our way, and am delighted I have a new medium through which to capture the beauty of what is right in our path.

This is a close-up of a Mexican petunia, Ruellia brittoniana, which grows here in Zone 9 uncontrollably unless corralled. I took the picture this morning with The New Little Camera That Can! I can hardly believe the beauty when zooming into a bee's-eye view...it looks like billowing silk, and the colors are magnificent. Can you imagine a job where you zero in on nectar and pollen nestled in backlit glowing jewel-toned flutes of soft yet strong membranes, floating about atop stems like so many hot-air balloons?

The bees today were really loving these flowers, and a hummingbird was glutting on nectar in the depths of its blue trumpet petals. It gives me more reason to pause, listen, watch, and appreciate the worlds that exists in a single square foot of an overrun weedy patch. How many, many more of such worlds there are to find and learn from in days to come, if only I'll stop to really look.

What a gift! I am grateful...

I hope everyone has a restoring day of rest this weekend.

Shabbat shalom!

(Blog closed for next 24 hrs)

Time for a Shootout

Last night, J and I were out running errands and happened into an office supply store. Earlier that day, I'd shown him my "wish camera" since he told me to be researching which sort we could best use right now. The last time I purchased a camera for myself was in 1986, just before going to Europe for 13 weeks. I was on such a shoestring budget that I knew I'd gain a lot more from photographs than souvenirs, though that didn't stop me from picking up about $20 worth of handmade items in Romania and enough Czech hand decorated eggs to drive customs crazy upon return...heh heh...

Anyway, back to the office supplies. Last night, we were stuck in a line of ONE (us) waiting on the employee who seemed to be taking his break while standing feet away, humming contentedly amongst his flock of copy machines in la la la fashion. To pass the time, J suggested I take a quick look at the camera section. I didn't realize they even HAD a camera section, and sure enough, when I did, I spied THE camera...the one I'd just shown him earlier online...the Wish Camera. Only THIS Wish Camera had a sign that read "Clearance" and had been marked $50 less than the original price, totaling a couple hundred less than when it first came out on the market...whew! I asked the salesman if they had plenty, and he checked, and there was one left in stock.

And that is how the Canon Powershot S3 IS made its transition from the stockroom to hanging permanently via neckstrap from my person. I am ecstatic!!! We cracked it out of its box and earnestly tried to decipher the manual, since I'm not a technology whiz and have never operated a digital before. In fact, it seems odd to me not having to insert film. By the time I figured out how to point and click, it was well after dark, so the photo ops had to wait till this morning. I've only taken a few, trying to get the hang of the different settings. So far I'm rather fumble-fingered, and I held my breath as one of my pictures of wildflowers in the vacant lot next door NEARLY captured a hummingbird I almost mistook for a hornet. Whatever sort of hummingbird it was, it had a brown lower half, and was quite intently gathering breakfast from a blue trumpet flower (not sure the name). By the time I figure out how to focus in, the oppportunity, or rather the bird, had passed.

Anyway, here is one of the first tries. This camera has a 12x zoom built in and also a built in macro mode.

Above is a wildflower (not sure what sort yet), one of my first attempts at both picture-taking and downloading to 'puter...I can't believe I can even see the pollen on the flower petals! The actual flower was less than 3 inches in diameter, and it was not until I enlarged the macro shot a couple times that I could see the pollen standing right there like bread crumbs. This is going to really help me notice things that have been right under my nose, and see many things differently for the first time. Amazing!! I love my camera!!

For now I'm off to find more things to shoot!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Gourd Ahead and Try It, or What to do With a Blue Hubbard Squash

I can't say that October is ushering in a drop temperatures, the crisp tang of autumn scents and the frenzied color wheel of turning leaves way down here in Florida. Predictably, it's rather business as usual outdoors, with more subtle clues as to season.

It's usually about this time of year that the squashes burst on the scene at the local market produce section. Each year, I circle them hesitantly, admiring their audacious shapes, sizes, textures, and hues. Maybe it's just my imagination, but it seems the last couple of years have brought a greater variety of these late season beauties to the mainstream vendors. Like gourds, which themselves are a study in riotous diversity, I've never been quite sure what I'd actually DO with a winter squash if I actually bought one. But I do know they can be eaten. And that gourds CAN'T (or shouldn't). And that one of my personal goals in any food preparation featuring a curcubit (Geshundheit...) is to avoid any verbal proclamations, upon tasting, along the lines of "Ewwww, Squash!"

My family's tastes are progressing. Some vegetables are easier to acclimate to than others. Blue Hubbard squash is the most recent experiment I foisted, er, tested on my willing subjects (read "family"). They gathered, they sampled, they adored. (Well, they asked for seconds at least.)

Last year I experimented on a small scale and discovered some of what I've been missing. My jaded palate had never experienced much beyond the basic yellow crooknecks of summer, and of course the indomitable zucchini. The winter squashes are purportedly great "keepers," and the ones I've seen all have fairly hard shells, similar to pumpkins, which I'm sure are in the same category, or close. I started selecting a few different winter squashes from the display in order to sample them over time and satisfy my curiosity.

I think I started with a Butternut and a Delicata, and halved, scooped out, and baked each in a baking dish covered with foil. I found out it's hard to mess one up...they bake beautifully and can be eaten As Is, or with the addition of a simple sprinkle of spice, pat of butter, or brush of sweetener such as honey, brown sugar, or maple syrup. My taste buds needed to catch up with my adult mindset, which has been slow to adapt to change from the familiar. As so many types of vegetables are yet unfamiliar to me, I now taste with a more open mind.

One of the nicest introductions to the infinite varieties awaiting tasting, and growing, was the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalogue. Their catalogue blows my mind. I shudder to think of how big our first garden will be when we finally get some acreage...I've tried narrowing down my wish list of the selections they offer, and the eventual list is so long it could feed a small developing nation. Their winter squash selections alone number 80....EIGHTY! I have to do breathing exercises and dash cold water in my face to snap me out of the Seed Catalogue Trance my husband has become all too familiar with, and quietly repeat my mantra "but I don't NEED two pages of winter squashes" a few times to return to my present reality. (Until the next time I open and turn the pages..."melons, wow look at all the melon varieties...!")

Blue Hubbard squash has been on my To Try list for a while, and I just baked some yesterday for the first time. They are likely the variety pictured above, at least that's what the one I bought looked like...(clicking on the picture will direct you to the equally-addicting Seeds of Change site.) I halved one, scooped and cleaned it out, placed it rind-down in a baking pan along with some raw chunked potatoes, carrots, onions, and handful of raw garlic cloves. I splashed a couple tablespoons of white wine and a half cup of water into the bottom of the pan, and topped it all off with a few grinds of salt and pepper. I tucked some of the onion chunks and cloves of garlic into the indentations of the squash, covered the whole thing tightly with a couple layers of aluminum foil, and baked at 350 till done. I usually double the amounts of things I bake, and this was no exception, so two baking dishes of the above were baked at the same time.

We sampled them when cooked fork-tender...it's easy to leave them in the oven and do other things while they cook. I ran errands and arrived back in time for my husband's getting ready to go to work. We stopped and ate together, and the baked vegetables were the perfect meal.

We've both been feeling a bit under the weather, though, and some sort of virus seems to be making the rounds. To ward off the common cold, I decided to take the baked root vegetables in the other baking dish and to incorporate them into some sort of soup. I'm not always so great at improvisation and making my own creations, but this one in a sense made itself. Whenever anyone in my household begins to feel like they might be getting sick, it's my instinct to make some version of homemade chicken soup. That's where tonight's soup began. The only reason I'm posting it here is so I'll remember it for next time...it's one of the best soups I've had in a while. Oh happy coincidence! :)

Here's how I made it...it's so easy and the texture is really nice.

Harvest Chicken Soup (or call it what you like)

1 small blue hubbard squash, (no bigger than a baby's head) halved, seeds and strings removed

1 lg onion, chunked

8-10 cloves of garlic

2 lg carrots, peeled

4 med potatoes, chunked

2 T white wine

a bit of water, just a few tablespoons

Arranged all the above in a baking dish with the squash rind-side down. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Tuck some of the onion and garlic into the scooped out hollows of the squash. Bake covered tightly with foil till fork tender, 1 1/2-2 hrs. Set aside to cool, saving any remaining liquid in the bottom of pan.

In a separate soup pot, place 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts and just enough water to cover. Add some of the cooked onion and garlic you already baked (above). Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a slow simmer. Simmer, covered, till meat is cooked tender, checking water and adding a little if it gets too low.

Once the meat is tender, remove from souppot to cool. Into the liquid left in the souppot, add the liquid from the cooled baked vegetables (above).

Then add 6 additional cups chicken broth (1 lg can) to the souppot.

With a teaspoon, scoop the Hubbard squash pulp into the souppot, and discard rind. With a pulsing action, process together, right in the pot, the squash and liquid with a stick blender (the handheld sort used to make smoothies) till very smooth. One at a time add the rest of the other baked vegetables, blending till smooth. (You can remove the potato skins before blending if you prefer.) At this point, the soup will resemble a golden smooth slightly thick liquid, but not too thick.

Take the cooked chicken breasts and cut into chunks, sized to your preference (I like mine cut small), then add to the soup. Stir this soup over low heat till thoroughly hot, but don't let it boil down...keep the lid on and just on a low simmer.

I don't know what exactly about this soup hit the spot, but it's absolutely delicious and packed with nutrition. The texture is appealing, moreso to me than if the vegetables had not been pureed. The golden hue is a true saffron color, and there are no artificial or processed ingredients in the whole thing. It doesn't taste overtly "squashy" or exotic, yet there is something very "hearth-and-home" feeling about it, and it would be perfect paired with either homebaked bread fresh out of the oven, or hot buttered southern cornbread (not sweet cornbread made with sugar...ick!) It's mild but so flavorful that I didn't add any additional salt or spices, and my whole family loved it.

So Blue Hubbard squash is definately a keeper, if for no other reason than to recreate this soup another time :)