Fresh Herbal Infusion
The latest batch of chilled infusion made with herbs just picked from the garden:
Peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, licorice mint, fresh stevia.
Served with a few blueberries just for fun.
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Grown-up Popsicles
I thought about blueberry lemonade, but the blueberries from the farmer’s market are too good to be popsicles. I want to eat them by the handful fresh.
Instead, I paired pink grapefruit juice with minced peppermint from the garden and a hint of vodka at the top.
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State of the Garden
One red and one yellow cherry tomato were ripe this morning. The first of the season in my garden. Just in time for the solstice.
It should come as no surprise that I ate them before I had a chance to take a photograph. And really, they were far tastier than it was possible to photograph.
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Ghee
Just as I by complete coincidence was making ghee, the mail carrier misdelivered my neighbor’s Time magazine.
The debates will no doubt continue. We hunger for simplistic rules that apply equally to all. So much easier than conscious and responsible moderation.
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State of the Garden
The polar vortices must have been good for the grape kiwi. After years of being barely productive, it is flourishing wildly.
Sometimes it takes, as we can learn from mindfully practiced yoga asana, a stressor to stimulate growth or needed change. It isn’t stress that holds us back, but distress.
As for the kiwi vine, even if the birds get all the fruit, I still had the delightful scent of the flowers.
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State of the Garden (Gratitude Practice)
From left to right, pak choi, spinach, baby turnip, new onion, coriander
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Last Year’s Kale
To make room to plant seeds and seedlings of the cool weather greens, today I pulled most of the kale that overwintered. I’m not quite sure how it survived even the visitation of the polar vortices, but my garden is its own private mystery.
Uma’s not sure whether the kale is any good, but it is actually neither too bitter, nor too tough to be edible, though it will need to be picked over well and would be best cooked thoroughly.
To go with the kale, keeping in mind the next wintry front coming through, I am soaking chickpeas overnight. Tomorrow I will braise the kale with wine, garlic, rosemary, and onions, and then stew it together with the chickpeas. The combination of braising and stewing will make tenderize the kale, but still keep it flavorful.
With what I planted new today, the next time it is feeling spring-like, there should be some tender new greens to pick and taste.
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Spring Cleanse?
Though there is still snow on the ground, the days are about to be longer than the nights, and my inbox is full of both expensive and discount offers for cleanses of various sorts, and I’m seeing Facebook posts asking about good spring cleanses with all sorts of suggestions in response. If I were a different kind of reader and practitioner, I’d no doubt be beset with explanations and special offers for dieting into a bikini-worthy body. If I were an even different sort of reader, I might be thinking I needed an official spring cleanse, one of the ones that yoga acquaintances say make them feel light or high, etc.
I don’t much believe in cleanses, but I do believe in listening–really paying attention–to my body and emotions and how they relate to the cycle of the seasons. In winter, I tend to gain a few pounds from spending more time inside and eating the heavy, dense food my body wisely craves in winter both for warmth and protection from starvation (granted the latter is not a real threat for the middle-class, but my genetic make-up doesn’t know that). I fully trust that when the days get warmer and lighter and I can spend more time outside walking and spring vegetables and fruit start to show up at the market, I will lose a few pounds.
Before you get too caught up in thinking that to have the body you’re supposed to have (whether it be for looks or some fashion-driven notion of health) you need to go on some formal diet you might not need or spend money having someone tell you what to eat and when (although if you find that works for you, who am I to say no?), why not try noticing whether the change of light and temperature alters your natural cravings (not the ones for junk food or excess sugar or salt)? If you can notice a change in what food attracts you, try honoring the change.
You might find that small portions of kitcheree (lightly spiced rice and lentil porridge), along with plenty of fruits and vegetables (and as spring produce comes in, you’ll find spring vegetables and fruit want less cooking than do winter ones, or perhaps none at all), feels like a nice way to lighten up for several days as the seasons transition. Ssssh! That’s pretty much what’s in a spring cleanse. If you want to make your change of diet feel sanctioned by the yogis add some reading on Ayurveda or mindful eating to invigorate your practice and your dedication to paying loving attention to your body and how it relates to the seasons and the web and cycle of being.
