The Way It Is

This poem by William Stafford

The Way It Is

There's a thread you follow. It goes

among

things that change. But it doesn't

change.

People wonder about what you are

pursuing.

You have to explain about the thread.

But it is hard for others to see.

While you hold it you can't get lost.

Tragedies happen; people get hurt

or die; and you suffer and get old.

Nothing you do can stop time's

unfolding.

You don't ever let go of the thread.

Mulberry Pie (I heart butter)

My mom has a mulberry tree behind her house that has been the favorite haunt of Tenzarelli every year round about this time since he was a toddler. My boy can pick berries. He is like a little bear in the berry patch, not a mulberry makes it in the door.

So, for pie, I pick without him and guard my bucket from his grin and say "Now little Sal, you run along and pick your own berries, mother wants to make these into pie"

My new favorite way to make pie:


Easy and you get the perfect amount of crust with every bite. Here comes the I heart butter part:

Our local farmer's market has a vendor who sells FRESH butter - from pastured cows (not certified organic, but local and hormone free) and it is darn good. The best part? $3.50/lb. I used it for the pie and believe me, it is the best pie crust ever. I already love butter in general, but should you come and peek into my freezer this winter (once market is over for the season,) you may just find it full of the waxy white paper wrapped bricks of this lovely stuff.

Mulberry Pies:

1 batch pie crust (I use 1/2 lb butter, 2 c white flour, 1 c wheat, a bit of salt and sugar and ice water in the food processor.)

Filling:

3 cups mulberries (OK to leave stems on, hand pick or use my new favorite method of a shower curtain liner on the ground upon which the mulberries fall after you shake the tree vigorously)

2/3 c sugar

1/3 c flour

Roll crust out and cut into squares, place in muffin tin, spoon in filling, fold up corners and bake at 375 until golden and bubbly.

Eat em with fresh whipping cream


Tenzarelli did eat one, but he'd prefer his berries unadulterated. That's OK, more pie for me. (I shared with the birthday girl, too)

Groundbreaking

There is a house under construction in Dousman, Wisconsin!

sweet strawberry day

I knew in my heart that it was today, or maybe not until next year.
The Wisconsin Strawberry season is oh so brief - and with the heat wave we had recently, it was particularly short (only a bit over 2 weeks, we are at the end already!!!)
So, the cool "chance of showers in the afternoon" forecast on a pick your own day at JehEhr farm (the only organic strawberry u-pick in "150 miles" said the gal at the farm) combined with the fact that I don't work until 2 on Tuesdays multiplied by the availability of Meg and her sweet babe = one perfect morning of strawberry stained goodness.


Tenzarelli waxed poetic about his berry finds "Oh! I found a berry family! A big mother and father strawberry just next to two babies!" and he thought he saw little Sal (from Robert McCrosky's Blueberries for Sal) a few rows over...


Jampaloo was in berry heaven, covered himself head to toe in the sweet red juice quite happily. We had to work hard to keep him out of the flat ("now, little Sal, you run along and pick your own berries.." doesn't work on him just yet!)


And Meg stood by with the babe, see his little head peeking out from under her jacket?



Now, I am eating some of them with some Vanilla ice cream and soaking our red splotched clothes from the day. Heaven.

A Pie for the Pala's Day

Pala Dhondup loves him some lemon desserts. When we first came to America, he didn't really like dessert in general all that much. A pregnant mama hooked on frozen custard slowly shifted him to the dark side...
His favorites are still lighter, lemony treats, so when I saw this pie on Zoe Bakes, I thought it would be perfect for Father's Day...
I felt very professional piling that mile high meringue on top of the pie.

All the new...

There is hardly a moment to take a breath, we are so full of NEW around here...
We've moved on to Dousman... living in an apartment while we wait for our new home to be built. Tenzarelli has already made enough friends to feel like he's always lived here (there are 5 year old boys knocking on our door at 8 am every morning now) but it still feels real new to me, every bit of it. The boxes are only half unpacked because I've been... distracted.
One of the big ones - preventing the Jampaloo from choking to death, as illustrated here:


"Open your mouth! No, don't eat that!" Legos are quarantined indefinitely.

The best new thing, of course, is Meg's sweet babe. I was privileged to be witness to the special day he came into the world, in the very same birth tub that my babe was born in just 9 1/2 months ago. It's been a thrill to be a small part of this tender sweet time with her.

So now, we're beginning to settle in to the summer, striving for some rhythm and form, getting some projects ready and (lacking a yard for the summer) diving into the farmers' markets whole heartedly.

A parting gift from Wood St

I have wanted to hunt for morel mushrooms ever since our friend April told me about them 6 years ago. As we pack up for our big move next Sunday, I have been excited to think that next year will be my year to become a morel hunter, since we are moving to a place with a forest known for good morel hunting right in our backyard.

Imagine my surprise, when right in my backyard Tenzarelli and I found TWENTY BIG MORELS by our back fence. (And don't worry, being a beginner, we first brought them to be officially identified before eating them)

Then, the next day April, the queen of morel hunting herself, was with us and we pulled over near a field....


Tenzarelli and I were enchanted by how gnome like and mischievous these morels are... I swear they all hid when we came, walking over the same patch of land 3 times, then I spotted one, and they all cried, "Game's over kids, she found us, you can come out now!" Pretty soon Tenzarelli and April were seeing them everywhere! THIRTY MORE!


There's my little helper Jampaloo - see the morel peeking out in the bottom left corner?


We couldn't help it, we went looking again today, by the traintracks near our house and found another 10. That's 60 morels in a weekend. Best morel recipe so far? A tie between a creamy garlic sauce with morels and chicken topped with spicy sprouts and the potato morel soup with nettles I made for lunch today. Nettle story and recipe to come...

Oh yes, I was supposed to be packing. Right. Back to that!