Artwork and sustainable agriculture are the two threads of my professional life. They mingle fruitfully beneath the surface as I sift through remaining evidence of ancient worlds, trying to sense how people of lost cultures met basic survival needs and also how they responded to the very human hunger for beauty, meaning, and story. In…
Nannernog!
As we skid into the end of the year and the transformative hibernation time, I’m going to wrap up the publishing of segments from the book Sustenance For A Wild Woman with the following delightful, seasonally apt recipe. There are still more recipes and notes in the book, but I’ll leave them there for now,…
Caramelized Carrots
Hello! It’s been a whirlwind several weeks. Not so much over as just wanting to get a few more cold weather comfort recipes out here before turning to other things. Speaking of, next post will be some philosophical thoughts behind a somewhat radical act I’m about to take as a self-employed artist. Till then, another…
Wild Apple Sauce
Good stuff, hot or cold; not just for the toothless among us. In much of North America a probably-infinite variety of apples grow abundantly in the wild, and seem to me to be one of Nature’s intended main carbohydrates for a wide variety of mammals throughout the winter. It is said that they are not…
Dandelion Greens: harvesting, storing & cooking, part 2
The last post gave some ideas about how to accumulate a lot of dandelion greens without much, if any, unwanted effort. Here is one lavish reason why you might want to do that — on top of the tremendous nutrition they offer: . DECADENT DANDELIONS …
Dandelion Greens: harvesting, storing & cooking, part 1
Part cookbook, part herbal, and part gardening guide, these recent posts offer a collection of food-related notes on growing, harvesting, and prep methods. They’ve evolved over thirty-three years of combining my commitment to eat as much wild and home-grown food as possible with a life full of unrelated passions and pursuits. I hope something among them…
August And Everything Tomato, part 4
WHAT ABOUT THE END-OF-THE-SEASON ABUNDANCE OF NOT-QUITE-RIPE TOMATOES? Make a multi-use spicy sauce base. Use the same proportions of dried to fresh tomatoes as described in the previous post, but assuming all or most of the fresh ones never ripened on the vine, for every quart, add: 1 tsp. salt 1 T. sugar 1 T…
August And Everything Tomato, part 3
Combining dried and frozen (or fresh) into a thick, (relatively) quick, fresh-tasting sauce >> prep time: active 5 min. per quart, passive 1-3 hr. for any amount Place a bowl of warm water in the sink. Any size bowl will work, just change the water more frequently if it’s smaller. Have another bowl or the…
August And Everything Tomato part 2
Preserving large quantities of tomatoes can be done in easy increments. Whether you are growing them or getting them from a farmer they will probably start to come in slowly. There is a way to work with this situation and avoid an end-of-season marathon. Harvest or buy 1-3 quarts at a time of ripe cherry…
Zucchini Interlude
. Overwhelmed with overgrown zucchinis? Here’s something that’s virtually effortless, endlessly versatile, and practically imperishable. You need a dehydrating system, but even an oven on very low heat with door slightly open will do. SUMMER SQUASH FLOUR Summer squash flour can be used as a nutritious thickener in soups and sauces, and a substitute for…
August And Everything Tomato
Today, a simple, lush, versatile salad, a favorite from our 25+ years professionally playing around with goat cheese. In the next few weeks, how to process and preserve an ambitious amount of tomatoes as if it were no big deal. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. TOMATO SALAD …
Sustenance For A Wild Woman 