Monday, 28 September 2015

Havesting Wisdom....oops I meant POTATOES (potato wedges)

 

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
                                                                                                         ~Robert Louis Stevenson~
  
It's harvest time on my homestead. A few weeks ago, we harvested the potato crop I almost didn't plant for lack of room. Late in May, I was running out of garden space but when I saw the Yukon Gold seed potatoes at my garden centre, I couldn't resist.

I dug deep holes at the edge of my garden and planted several prepared seed potatoes in each hole. I didn't have much hope for them since my cucumber, squash and zucchini plants were also planted close by but you know, if you don't plant it, nothing will grow.

After a few weeks, the first green shoots appeared and I quickly covered them with dirt and grass mulch from our newly mowed lawn. We had a hot, dry summer and I wanted to keep them nice and moist. By the end of August I had huge potato plants growing in mounded soil, all along the edge of my garden. The squash, cucumbers and zucchinis didn't seem to mind sharing their space and everyone was doing their own thing.

Potatoes are the easiest thing to grow and amaze me every time I harvest them. You know they are ready to harvest, when the plant has withered and literally died back down to the earth. That's when  you can get a shovel or fork and carefully dig down to see what has been growing underground.

From the looks of the garden, you wouldn't think anything worthwhile is under the ground


I was not disappointed. Hole after hole was abundant with potatoes. The little girls helped me dig them up and were so excited each time they had a potato in hand, you would think they had found gold. Well, in a way they had found a treasure. Although we have a diverse agriculture industry in the Okanagan Valley, in the winter we rely a lot on crops from California. The continued drought there has meant higher prices at the market, making produce very expensive. Being sustainable at least part of the year, is such a gift.....but it takes time and energy.

I didn't have to dig far before I found our first potatoes.....nice sizes too


As I watched the little girls dig in the garden, where moments before there had been old, decaying potato plants, I was thinking often in life the best treasures come to those who either have gone through darkness and come out the other side with their hearts full, or it occurs naturally as we age. Our wrinkles start appearing, our hair thins and goes grey, but inside, with a life time of living, our soul blossoms into a beautiful, compassionate and loving spirit.  We learn so much about life from nature.

Kate loves to dig in the ground...it feels so good and when you find food....WOW!
I love it too!
Treasures!

Victoria and Kathryn, didn't want to stop for pictures...they were having so much fun digging up potatoes.


Since I'm an older mom to young children, I'd like to think that this is one of the spin offs for parenting later in life. Although I don't believe that I personally have less energy than I did parenting our first children, I know that I'm aging, from my reaction to the precious moments in life, like witnessing little people digging for treasure and being thrilled by the smallest things in life....like potatoes. I don't take these moments lightly anymore.

My sister C, said something really profound to me in one of her emails last week and it really spoke to me about harvesting wisdom. She wrote, "Mourning really turns a life around doesn't it? The beauty is when, even though our hearts are broken open, they start to mend and everything feels renewed. You can reset and re-balance life in the new direction you've grown into."

Yes, yes, YES! Kind of like how potato plants grow in the dark. When the plant finally dies and looks its bleakest, there is something beautiful left that can nourish and sustain us. And that is why, in my darkest moments, I know in the end everything is worthwhile. We just need to keep laying seeds and experiencing the deliciousness of life.....full of treasures. 

Last night, was one of those moments. We had a harvest moon party at our homestead. The kids were beyond thrilled, as while eating a yummy stir fry with lots of produce from our garden, we told them all about the harvest moon (also called a blood moon) that would be occurring later in the evening. After dinner, they were bubbling with excitement as they played in our hot tub. (a great way to save water....I can't tell you how many times we have forgone a bath for a hot tub soak instead) Once they were little prunes, they dressed quickly into warm pajamas and gathered in the family room where I had popcorn ready and a Netflixs movie all ready to go. They watched a cute animated movie called, "The Croods," about a prehistoric family, while we waited for darkness to drop her curtain. (I thought it was an appropriate movie since the family in the movie knew little about the world they lived in, yet they knew what was important)

The timing was perfect because once the movie was over, it was nearing 8 pm and was already dark in our part of the world. As we ushered our family outside, you could see the moon rising over the mountain, full and red. The children were in awe as they whispered, "this is better than Halloween!" 

We watched the sky for quite awhile and it took me right back to another eclipse when our oldest daughter was about 7 years old, her brothers were 4 and 1. I remember piling all the kids into the van and driving up the mountain, which hadn't been developed yet. We got out of the car and stood in a field where we could see the expansive sky. Our baby at the time, Mitchell, was happily bundled in a backpack and his older brother Clark, just a preschooler, was bursting with questions about eclipses, the moon, our sun, and our solar system. It was one of those moments in time that you just know you are planting something deep into your child and fueling a passion.

As I was going down memory lane, our oldest son Clark drove down the drive way after being out with friends for the evening. He's all grown up but still loves looking into the sky and learning about astronomy. As I watched his tall figure stand with his younger siblings, looking at the moon, I was overcome with joy that we were all together experiencing the wonders of living on earth. 

What are you harvesting this fall? With wisdom we use our energy to plant the seeds we want to witness growing. It's rather EXCITING isn't it? What do you want to grow?

Well, of course with our size of family, our potatoes haven't cured long in the garage, and we are already enjoying them in meals. As I move our family closer to being fully vegetarian, with a strong movement towards eating raw foods, I help our older children transition smoothly into this way of eating by including their favourite.....which is yes, potatoes, for many of our evening meals.

Our oldest son Clark hasn't ever met a potato he hasn't liked...helping me with our potato harvest....it seems like a blink of an eye ago when he was a little blonde boy looking with excitement at a lunar eclipse


Recently, I made some lentil burgers, a salad, and of course my famous potato wedges. 

My wedges and lentil burgers...all ready for a harvest dinner


Hope's Potato Wedges

Ingredients

8-10 cut up, quartered potatoes...with skins left on
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
3 minced garlic cloves
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1 tbsp of cumin
1 tbsp of rosemary (I cut up some fresh from the garden)
Sea salt and fresh pepper to taste. 

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Mix all ingredients really well, into a baking pan and put in oven for 30 minutes. Turn every 10 minutes to ensure they get well browned...we like them crispy.

Serve with homemade ketchup....or delicious plain too.


My lentil burger, with homemade buns, salad and treasured pototoe wedges


Next year I plan to make a dedicated area for growing potatoes and want to grow enough to keep us going for a good portion of winter. How about you, do you have a place to grow one of the many varieties for your family?


As I close this post, I just wanted to share a song I love by Neil Young.... (if you can't see the video below click on the hyper link)   Neil Young, called, "Harvest Moon." I hope you have the time to listen to it as it's dreamy and fills me with so much love for this time of year...and for my family and friends. Thanks for coming and being a part of my life. Together we are "Helping Our Planet Earth....aka being hope"



Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope


Monday, 14 September 2015

Summer's End is Near....Black Bean Quesadillas


All summer long I have had a mantra. "With Grace and Ease" let summer unfold." Now here we are nearing the end and I'm not ready to say good bye. Is it just me, or is saying goodbye hard for you too?                

Along our life's path, our moments of letting go are numerous and I often feel that if I could just get this surrender thing down pat, then I would be ready to truly live in the moment. This easy, free flowing process eludes me, although I think I do a pretty good job based on how I feel. Happy and content most of the time. Tremendously grateful always. And yet, saying goodbye, or transitioning into another phase of life is tough for me.

Looking back, this past summer held so many lovely memories that I will hold close to my heart. A few highlights are the following......

Mitchell brought his guitar out when we went camping in July

Kate, Tori and Will, taking in the lake

This week was the hottest week of the whole summer...and of course we are camping!

Grace and Harrison are chilling but in the evening they are competitive scrabble players....lots of great words!

David and I on the rock behind our campsite

My best friend T comes to visit in July...I took her up the mountain behind our house and we snapped a selfie

My sister's C and J, explore the lavender gardens after a morning of making lavender wreaths

I got some great ideas for garden design at the lavender farm....don't you love this iron work?

Here's the wreath I made...it smells great in our guest bath

While everyone isn't looking in this picture (namely Will and Grace) I loved the picture of Sunny, my sister's dog

My sister C and brother in law D, and their sweet dog, Sunny


The kids were endlessly bringing up great produce from our garden...I'd turn our whole yard into edible space but having a bit of lawn is a great source of mulch to retain the moisture in the ground

Our oldest Daughter Alysa came home for a brief time this summer as her best friend was getting married. We walked down to the lake one day and the smoke from forest fires was so thick that you couldn't see all of the beach I think she was happy to return to London where she will spend another year teaching and experiencing life in the U.K.

Mitchell showing me his green transportation that he will use when he returns to University....I asked him if he was going to use a helmet and this is the look I got....."Mom!"

When kids grow up, who knows when they will be together again? Alyssa and Mitchell the day before Alyssa returns to London

My sister C and I at our family's goodbye party for Alyssa and Mitchell

A final, early morning huddle before Mitchell leaves for University....Alyssa flies out later the same day...BOO-HOO!

A final goodbye....have a great year at school Mitchell!

My first baby getting ready for the big trip back to the U.K. on August 31st....If you can go to London....you can do ANYTHING!

If I wasn't reading about eating raw...I was reading about being a minimalist

Here comes a massive cucumber....looks like we are eating a Greek Salad tonight
Victoria and Dugan.....Aunti B and Uncle J's new puppy...Victoria would love to KEEP HIM!....Below, Uncle J and Doogie....this puppy is so easy and laid back


My sister B and I on the morning that they are leaving...we were watching the owl in our birch tree
Will puts down his binoculars to say cheese with his beloved auntie, B

It's hard to say Goodbye

Can you see the owl in our birch tree? He spent the whole day sleeping in our tree


At the end of the day, he left the tree and spent about an hour sitting on our roof...he was screeching like crazy every few minutes......really surreal! to see something so wild, so close.

Here are all the kids looking at the owl. D brought out his computer and matched up the owls vocals with a computer web site....looks like this is a great horned owl
 We have had evening visits over the years with owls but we have never had one linger for the whole day around our house. It was a bit strange and then even more strange when I looked up the symbology of owls.  

If an owl has visited you, an incredible gift has been bestowed.



On the day of our owl visit, I dug up some potatoes and had Clark carry them up, since he LOVES them.

So many great moments. How was your summer? Will it be hard for you to say goodbye to it too?

I have glimpses of what the next season will hold. Our little girls started their first ballet class last week and they are beyond excited to be dancing at long last.


As I was sitting in the ballet school's waiting room the other day, it occurred to me that this was the LAST, first day of ballet, I will ever experience. All of our daughters attended this ballet school and it was bittersweet thinking that the first day will never come again......and so is the nature of life.

There are firsts and lasts and it's up to us to decide how we want to experience it all.

This month is the 50th anniversary of my Dad, Marvyne Derwent Clark's death. I'm now older than he was when he passed away and in a way I feel I'm already living on borrowed time. When you live to an age beyond the age your parent(s) lived, there is a sense at any time, you could also be leaving the earth. We just never know, do we?

My mom Ethel and my dad Marvyne Clark



I remember my dad smiling always, and in the evenings I would fall asleep hearing him tapping away on his typewriter or playing his voilin.

My 3 sisters with mom and dad...I'm in Dad's lap

Little did we know that Dad would only be with us for only a few years more


This weekend, since the weather was warm we heated the pool and the kids swam, albeit in rather cold water, in what I told them probably is the last swim of the season.

 After a barbeque dinner, we roasted marmellows and ate s'mores, since the campfire ban had been lifted. We laid on the trampoline, bundled in blankets and under a star filled sky, we counted shooting stars and made wish after wish. Today, as David painted the window frames, (a job needing to be done before winter arrives) Harrison and I made "his" famous dish, "Black bean Quesadillas.

Earlier this summer he made them for the first time and they were outstanding. Today, he taught me how to make them and they did not disappoint. As our family moves towards eating mostly vegetarian meals, (me having dreams of being a raw vegan) this is definitely a favourite. It's easy to make and economical, not to mention a healthy meal.

Join us in the kitchen and we will make it together.

Along with Physics, Pre Calc, and French, Harrison is taking "Foods" on line this term, I'm looking forward to LOTS of great meals this fall.....he's such a natural in the kitchen


Harrison's Black Bean Quesadillas

Ingredients

2-4 tbsp of Vegetable Oil
3 cloves of garlic 
1 red or yellow pepper
1 hot pepper (we used jalapeno)
1 onion (we used 1/2 white and 1/2 red)

1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp red hot pepper flakes
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper

2- 19 ounce cans of black beans
1-1/2 cups of salsa
8 whole wheat tortillas
2 cups of grated cheddar cheese

Directions

In a saucepan, heat oil and then saute the garlic, peppers, and onion. Add the seasonings and cook until onions are translucent.  Add the cans of well drained beans, and the salsa. Heat well and cook for 10 to 15 minutes on medium heat.



Lay a tortilla on a plate and add the bean mixture to one side. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and fold over.




 Cut in half and place on a lightly sprayed cooking pan. Place in pre-heated (425 degree) oven for 10 minutes. Carefully flip the tortillas and cook for an additional 10 minutes.





Serve with sour cream and top with grated cheddar cheese. This recipe serves 8-12 people. If you have left overs, this meal is perfect for freezing.



We served our quesadillas with basmati brown rice, a kale/Greek salad, and organic taco chips. You can choose the level of spice based on the salsas....we used a medium since we were serving them to our little kids, but our older kids like their food HOT AND SPICY.

D takes a break from painting.....and enjoy's Harrison's Quesadillas

I don't know who likes eating outside, me or the kids....I like not having to sweep up rice, etc from the ground...they like being able to lay down when their tummy gets full

Kate, who can be a bit fussy about what she eats...loves these black bean quesadillas


Tomorrow will be the start of the last week of summer. As I spend this week, fondly remembering all the moments with my family and friends, I will also be thinking of my Dad, knowing that even though he hasn't been physically with me for almost all of my life, he is right here in my heart. I wonder if the owl that came to visit us last week, wasn't his spirit coming to remind me to enjoy the moments fully and let go with ease and grace.

 


Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope
Image result for google images and quotes about winnie the pooh, keep me in your heart