Gifts for Teachers

Begin

Around the time we moved from our apartment on Cory Ave to the House that Love Built, my computer was taken out by malware (my husband says I can't prove it was from Hindi music sites...) It took me until last weekend to reformat it and get my last 4 years of photo files back, but I am doing a little dance of joy, because they ARE back, and I am converted into a salesperson for online backup services.

So. Now that we're back up and running in a room of my very own, affectionately known as the studio, I've got some plans.

There's a lot to share, aside from the aforementioned collection of food love Megan and I made...

I'm hoping to solidify some of my writing in this space this year, and to help me kick start, I treated myself to Jen Lee's journal - I'd love to encourage you to pick one up for yourself, and take the journey with us.

A Rambling Path Cookbook

A Rambling Path Cookbook is here!



Marathon layout sessions and last minute "we can do it" pep talks pulled it all together.



Hooray!

Living off the Fat of the Land Soup

Tenzin sitting on a tractor with Farmer Tim standing by

Megan and I are working on a little cookbook. A celebration of food and friendship and community. I shouldn't really be working on this cookbook at this moment, I should be packing boxes for the oh-so-soon move, but you know how it is, when you should be packing, writing cookbooks is more interesting.

My biggest problem is I get really hungry when I wax poetic about food. I have to bring snacks to the computer.

Here's a rough draft of a piece I worked on tonight, the soup I made for dinner (and yes, I went and ate a 2nd bowl after typing it up). And HERE is a post Megan put up about the art for the cookbook. What do you think? Want to reserve a copy of it?

My friend Tim became a full time Organic farmer a few years ago, and named his farm and CSA Lotfotl (Living off the Fat of the Land). We have been eager and appreciative consumers of the veggies he tends with love. On a trip to the farm, Tim let Tenzin mark one of the broccoli seedlings with a stick so that he could put "Tenzin's" broccoli in our share some future day. That single stick somehow yielded an entire season of broccoli that was extra eagerly eaten. That Farmer Tim, he know how to get a person excited about produce.

Baby Dorje wanted me to eat loads of greens while he was in the belly (Served with South River Miso, of course!) , and we can thank Farmer Tim for providing the vegetables that grew a ten pound 3 ounce baby boy.

A late season share of Lotfotl's harvest is probably pretty similar to the selection you'd find in other CSAs or at the Farmer's Market. My favorite thing to do is make soup with whatever happens to be included. Here's one version:

Saute:
2-3 leeks, chopped (or sub onions or shallots)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
4-5 salsify, chopped

Peel and cube the following veggies (or what you have!)
2 turnips
1 rutabega
1 celery root (celeriac)
3 potatoes
1 small butternut squash

Add to sauted leeks and cover with water. Add chicken stock or bullion if desired, salt & pepper and herbs you favor. I like to use a Penzey's blend called Tuscan Sunset with root veggie soups.

Simmer until the veggies are tender, and then whizz away with your hand held soup blender, or use a blender or food processor to puree soup.

While the soup is simmering, cut up one bunch of carrots and one turnip, coat in olive oil and roast at 450 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Garnish soup with goat cheese, chopped chives or other herbs and the roasted carrots and turnips.

www.lotfotl.com

September

Went by too fast...
I became a juggler with too many balls, and some of them fell.
But Pala Dhondup has held steadfast to the new house, and is installing the most beautiful floors for our family in literally every free moment, while Tenzarelli makes the dirt pile in back his castle.

There was one ball I kept held high, a project near and dear to my heart and one that Tenzarelli looks forward to every year and this year. Mr. Tenzarelli eagerly worked to share it this year with his kindergarden class - helping sew each silk a seam to slip their finger knitting through - and we came tromping over the meadow with Jamaploo in the Ergo backpack, his hand on one side of the basket, mine on the other. All of the children brought their marigolds and the goldenrod we'd collected on our morning walk and we gently added them to the big pot while teacher built the fire with the wood the children struggled to carry and pull in the wagon.

We sang "The light of heaven comes to earth, so that the colors may come to birth" as each child reverantly took a turn stirring the flowers in the pot with a stick.

It bubbled and the flowers gave their color to our dye all day, and when the bell rang to announce the beginning of the Michaelmas celebration for the school, the children all came back to dip their silks into the pot we'd nurtured.

As evening fell, the silks hung vibrantly over the meadow drying and a rainbow emerged over us just as it was time for the play to commence. The knight Micheal came forth in the circle of villagers and slayed the evil dragon. The golden capes we made will help all of Tenzarelli's friends remember this day and overcome the dragons they might encounter in the future...

Abundance

Late July has felt so full.

The house that love is building



Painted lady butterflies emerging in Tenzarelli's butterfly treehouse


A frog found in the nearby Bark River jumps for glory at Dousman's annual Frog Jump (not the winner - but this big boy did jump TEN feet for Tenzarelli!)


Jampaloo discovers popsicles (our favorite so far: honeydew with cream, honey and pistachios - and yes, Martha made up that recipe, bless her!)


Baby friends

More baby friends (I can't resist)


Cup Cake Walks with some good pals who missed our Cake Walk at the May Faire.


In just this past week, I've shared stories and laughs and babies with three of the sweetest ladies I know 'round here. PLUS the Shutter Sisters gave me a picture of HOPE to hang in the studio that is under construction in that new house that love is building.

AND I have 5 pounds of blueberries in my refrigerator. 'Nuff said.

Groundbreaking

There is a house under construction in Dousman, Wisconsin!

Crafty anticipation and symbols of the Republic...

The bean will be born soon... so in honor of that joyous event, Meg's lovely husband hosted a party, complete with Indian take out and the craft we have always wanted to do, but have not, even though I think every person who has a crafty mama-ish blog has been doing it for 3 years now...

(drumroll, please)
We made freezer paper stencils for baby bean clothes.


Everything you've read is absolutely true, it is fun, easy and the results are fantastic.

I didn't get a photo of the pants that Jampaloo has outgrown that we stenciled his traced hand onto for his new friend... but here is one of his real hand, in deep communication with his friend still in the belly:



And, I snuck in shirts for the boys:


For the uninitiated (of whom I was one until about 2 months ago,) this is the symbol of the Star Wars good guys. Yes. Who popped the Waldorf bubble and let in all the plastic Star Wars guys? I pray the day Tenzarelli owns a Star Wars licensed T-shirt with a picture of a dude with a lightsaber is not soon, but anyways, hello, Anakin Skywalker didn't wear a shirt with a cartoon picture on it... no sir... he wore official JEDI gear, with special mysterious symbols on it.

Jampaloo has all the force sensitivity of any Jedi, we know this already, he needs no symbols to prove it, but I like the idea of matchy clothes for the brothers.

Back to packing (countdown until moving day:26 days until May 29th)

Twin Ponds Toys

Introducing a new project:



My Uncle Kirk's toy company and blog (to be managed by me). He loves to be in his workshop - and has been thrilled with the reaction my boys have to his work. Recently, he donated a castle and two of his trucks to Tenzarelli's school for their spring auction.

He wants to see how much interest there is, and we are hoping to set up a little online shop for him soon.

leprechauns

Disclaimer:
I started the draft of this post the day after St.Patty's.
Since then,
I went back to the office 25 hours a week (a few hours EVERY day)
Prepared my house for 20 showings (yes, still for sale)
And all the rest of normal life with a teething babe and a five year old.
But here is the post anyhow, all these days later:

Tenzarelli thought it might be a good year to catch a leprechaun "so he will give us his pot of gold". I won't disagree.

So a trap was constructed:



the inside featured a shamrock nightlight he found at Momo's house and some paper shamrocks "so he will feel at home"

In the morning, we checked the trap, and, lo and behold:



A tiny green shoe with gold laces. Woah.
Now trap mods are underway since this trap only caught a shoe.
Hmmm.

ATC Kids Swap

Impulsively, I signed Mr. Tenzrelli up for the ATC Kids Swap, thinking it would be fun for him to send and receive mail. Of course, not 3 days after signing up, we got a sticker club chain letter from my cousin's daughter. So it is the month of mail (late winter needs that kind of pick me up, doesn't it?)

I think when I signed T up, I was thinking of myself as a 5 year old. My mom tells me if she needed some time, she would simply lay down a stack of scrap paper and some crayons, and I would sit and color until the paper was used up. I still get a shiver of excitement over fresh art supplies nd a stack of paper! Tenzarelli... not so much. 3-D art is his thing. Give the boy some cardboard, scissors and a roll of tape and he will build you something. Legos are his life. Painting he enjoys in smaller time blocks and drawing almost only under coersion.

Naturally, painting was the medium of choice for this project (ATC sculpture sounds much more difficult to mail!) He eagerly began the first one (the rainbow) and then declared he was "done". I pleaded with him to make more, and he said "tomorrow". So easily I forget that words are empty to a 5 year old. Setting the example is key, for imitation is their work, their art.

So, I put Jampaloo on the floor with his basket of silks and toys and painted quietly on some extra pieces of trading-card-cut-paper (how long will I have to be a mother before I will get this? this is what to do! PAINT! Not plead with him to paint!) Within minutes, Tenzarelli had left his legos and rejoined me at the table, and began painting away. My favorite is the cowboy (bottom right corner - very impressionist - no?)


These five little trading cards are sealed and stamped and off to his swap partners. We had fun looking at the names and places they would go to, and trying to choose which painting would go to who. The cowboy went to a little girl from Texas whose card we already recieved with a bonus - stickers celebrating her state. A child in Austria, Tenzarelli determined, was most suited for the rainbow painting.

We are not afraid

Tenzarelli is afraid of the dark. He is afraid to go upstairs if I am downstairs (too bad there is only a bathroom upstairs!). He is afraid to go in his bedroom where his toys are alone. A neighbor boy told him ghosts live in our basement.

argh.

He seems to understand, deep inside, that what I tell him:

"Tenzin, no bad things would EVER come in our house. Our hearts are too good, and that scares bad things away. Pala's prayers are too strong, no ghost could stand that."

But he is still a little afraid.

So. We made Ghost Spray.



Ingredients:

Some water
Some Rose Water
a few drops each of Orange and Rhododendron essential oil
Some good thoughts and words
Pala's Blessing Pills from the Dalai Lama

Shake well and spray when you are scared.

Our whole house smells nice now, since Tenzarelli has sprayed (literally) every shadowy or dark corner of it. Even in the cupboards.

Jampaloo isn't afraid!