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    Best Possible Holiday Walkabout

    ByElizabeth

    I may have a nagging cough from a cold that started over a week ago, and it might not have been the ideal of a walk in the woods with a beloved, but I had the best walkabout possible today.  The air was mild, and the rain held off until mid-afternoon, leaving plenty of time to get out and appreciate the day.  Enjoying that I did not need hat or gloves, I walked for a couple of hours around the neighborhood before I went to the Sunday jam to dance.  I picked up a few things that I needed, said hi to neighbors who were also out walking, and looked at trees and clouds and invited myself to be filled with gratitude for what I have.

    I was thinking about the exhortation to have the “best possible day.”  Before I started my walk, I got an email from a friend about setting a date for lunch, and she said that she’d had the best holiday possible.  I think it was in response to my wishing her such–the best holiday possible, that is.

    I’ve long stopped exhorting people to have a happy holiday or a merry christmas because I have no idea what might be going on with them (or, I do have an idea).  I have enough friends, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances who are facing serious challenges–illness, difficulties with work or difficulties getting work, kids stumbling to get through life, relationship complications, elder care navigations, loss of a loved one, or loneliness–that wishing a happy holiday might be kind of clueless.  And then there is the state of society and the world.

    Thus, I wish that we are able to recognize and experience what we have that is good (while working to make healthier and more life-enhancing choices/changes for the things that are not good that can be changed) and bring out the best in ourselves in navigating all of life–the best possible holiday, day, year, etc.

    best walk 1a best walk 1b best walk 1c best walk 1d best walk 1f best walk 1g

     

     

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    Pulling Purslane for Breakfast

    ByElizabeth

    Look before you weed:  some plants you are throwing out or composting might make a great addition to your diet.

    Purslane and dandelion greens make a delicious addition to the other greens in my garden — chard, spinach, arugula, mache, lettuces, amaranth, etc.  Instead of pulling the purslane and dandelions as invasive weeds when they are growing in between the bricks of my patio, I let them get big enough to eat, and then pull them to include in salads and stir fries.  I also pull small purslane plants and relocate them into hanging pots along with my geraniums and into other little empty spaces.  After having been encouraged to volunteer more freely for a number of years, the purslane is now appearing on its own in more places, mostly in places where other plants would not thrive without a lot of watering.

    As both purslane and dandelions are volunteers (a/k/a weeds), they are free, hardy, prolific, and drought-tolerant.  I find purslane especially attractive if kept picked as any other forking herb or green.  Both purslane and dandelions are highly nutritious, especially purslane which is a great plant source for omega-3 fatty acids (see link above).

    This morning, I threw some purslane into a warmed tortilla, along with avocado, sprouts (I am always sprouting something on the kitchen counter these days), a little local  goat cheese, and a few slivers of vidalia onion.  Densely nutritious, delicious, fairly good for the environment, and satisfying.  What a great way to start the day.

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    A Meditation on Patience

    ByElizabeth

    When I decided to make strawberry towers part of the new sleeping porch garden extension, Niraj Ray of Cultivate the City told me to remove all of the flowers until mid-May to allow the plants to develop leaves large enough to support sizable and sweet berries. He also suggested feeding them every time I water.

    It has been a pleasure nurturing the plants and finally watching plump, juicy berries redden in the sun outside my study window.

    Might this delicious lesson in the benefits of being patient be a lesson applicable to how and when and why to re-emerge post vaccination, but before the end of the pandemic?

    Strawberry shown with old NYC subway token for scale

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