Celebration

Four years ago found me deep in the Sierra foothills of  California, not far from Murphys. Here I believe fostered my appreciation for wines. Murphys is a quaint town which offers some of the most amazing small scale vineyards, shops and beautiful surroundings. It was here that I discovered my liking for port, and have not since discovered one I like as fondly as the small lots produced by Zucca Mountain Vineyards. But now, as life has moved further north, my palate has shifted to pinots, and rightly so as it is the heart of the Willamette Valley. A whole new perspective has been blessed upon my dinner table, a diversity in a single varietal that I never could have wrapped my mind around any other way than living in just this place. This past weekend, in fine celebration of M's engagement, we brushed the surface of the local wineries, a craftily chosen five of over 400 located here in this region. A favorite of the bunch, Brooks, which bestowed upon us a private tasting, an amazing host and a flight of wines that would please any connoisseur. A Lovely way to celebrate, enjoy and experience....

people

I'm convinced. One of the finest joys in life come from watching others. One of these days I going to make someone very angry with my camera. not on purpose of course. but yes the day will arrive that the person I take a picture of will actually not be so stoked on the notion. they will tell me about it.  But that is okay. People are at their very finest when they don't realize they are under the lens, When my picture is being taken, it makes me feel like i'm under a microscope too. I understand. yet I think the idea of pictures, a moment frozen in time, are invaluable. they capture what our memory cannot always contain and what are eyes sometimes fail to recognize.

There is a man at the market that plays the fiddle. He might just be my favorite. Maybe not so much because of his music. no, I think more so because he is he. At that very moment he is perfect. The other night, riding home late on bikes I came across a scene I longed my camera for but accepted the memory as a close second option. I watched a woman in a white dress soulfully play a violin. barefoot, she moved only to the changing of the pitch. In front of her stood a man. black suit and tie. two feet in front of her. nothing else mattered at that moment. The moment was perfect. It defined every essence of beauty I could possibly dream up. Take time out of your walk, your busy day. 10 seconds. stop and look around you next time you are in a crowd of people. you never know what your eyes may see.  

the love-love situations

 
                                        Oregon Wheat Fields

Some people have cats and dogs; I have ladies.  Still some days off from laying; soon.... They were Easter babies, hand picked out from multiple smelly bins of fluffy tufts that ran around on spindly toothpick legs. they slept in the bedroom for the first few nights until it was quickly determined that sleep+light+peeping babies is not an equitable formula. So out they went to the laundry room where they lived until the Rubbermaid nest could no longer contain them. Home now? a backyard wilderness of sorts complete with red chicken coop. perfect. So this is another one of the projects that so heartily fills the Corvallis time. What's more... I wrote not long ago about the wonder of the appearing plums in the backyard. oh they only scratched the surface of my backyard explorations. What could possibly be better than 100's of mini plums? Why a fig tree of course. I had never in my life eaten a ripe fig off a tree. Turns out when your neighbor's tree overhangs your fence and they  show minimal interest on the horizon in the plump round ripening green orbs, well now life is in your favor. damn fresh figs are good. I gave myself a belly ache three days in a row to the point I had to actually physically remove myself from under the tree for lack of any self-control over fig consumption. A love-hate (read love-love) situation.  

Color me Carrot

too lovely not to share

Waiting for them to fall

 Another step in the year of food preservation... what excites me almost more than these blueberries? We got a deep freezer! translation = hand picked food for the winter & no more booby traps set as we open our months stuffed small indoor freezer. I recently brought back fish from my month up north and had just about pushed the three shelved wonder out of commission. but no more.

Often I'm asked "how do you like Corvallis?" my response 7 months ago was very different than it is today. It is like a bit of a treasure box. you have to keep your eyes open and that is when you start to find all the secrets. The day I got home T send me out back to our patio and told me to look around..... Nothing other than confusion. "take two steps forward and look down" still confusion. "look harder." what sat there but a small red round ball. "pick it up and eat it" T told me. It was a wee plum. Our tree out back had started to fruit these amazingly tasty little bits of yumminess. About twice a day we go out and are greeted by 10 new plums that are perfectly ripe and sweet which have made their way from the high branches. We look like monkeys outside collecting them. Even the dogs are getting down on the action. We joked last night that we have 5 competitors for the goods. I'm a pretty savvy one, I even monkeyed my way up the tree in my dress and shook the branches until I got so entangled I was forced back to the ground or would have donated my dress to the tree as a peace offering. I guess I'm impatient.

Saturday found C and I at a organic pick your own blueberry patch just a few miles from my house. I'd never seen it before. In 45 minutes we had managed something like 20 lbs of blueberries. The giant berries were literally falling off the bushes. We continued our weekend excursion to a few local wineries. Many out here are family owned and located on a farm of sorts. They are just lovely. We debated trying to visit all the Oregon ones in the next year to come but were quickly shut down by the realization that there are over 450. We'd really be lushes. C picked up a winery tour map and we've compromised our original plan to hitting up a few in each location. A more manageable endeavor. The day continued to a friends house to try their newest home brew experiment. "We gave this one a protein rest" they happily explained. Oh how I love living amongst fellow scientists!

C later helped me sort and clean the berries which Sunday operations turned them into freezer packs, dehydrated berries and jars of goodness. T even put up some heady jars of pickles. We've realized once the canner is up and going we best make the most of it. It turns into quite the kitchen process. The experimental batch; a blueberry, plum and honey compote. I have a gut feeling I will be happy with it come December on waffles. 

For my birthday last year my cousin gave me a book called "the complete book of home preserving." I LOVE this book. It has served as a great reference guide to modern canning. Not only does it cover the basics but it also offers new and fun ideas to putting up everyday fruits and vegis. Highly recommended to my fellow crunchy friends out there. I was blessed with growing up in a family that never put down this art. I can remember from a very young age "beet time." you could tell it was summer when the baskets were full of beets and zucchini from the garden and the kitchen smelled of fresh cut vegis and vinegar. This past time has now followed me into adulthood, my mother donating her canning pot to my Oregon efforts. to those who have a desire to learn- there is nothing better than opening up your own jar of jam on freezing cold day of winter and remembering how warm and lovely it was outside the day you put it up.

reflection

Sometimes order is Chaos but oh how I love it so.....

summer is almost dark

Where did the time go? One month. I saw the stars two nights ago for the first time in 4 weeks. And after all of that; I realize how much you can truly fit into 30 days. kayaks and lonely beaches, Microscopes and children, rain and sunshine, yoga and bicycles, alpine and sand, new land. I spent my last night in Alaska with two dear Colorado friends who also will begin their journey south after spending a year in the land of wild. this time was different. I feel like a tourist. Am i happy? indeed. I had never spent a summer on the road systems; following campers and watching people's eyes light up as they pull over on the turnigan arm to take pictures 4 feet from the highway. I feel privileged to have the experience of new places. to share these places. and so off again to Oregon. Another year.

off the radar

Oregon Sunshine 

&

Multnomah Falls

     Madison, Wisconsin   

                                                                                              Indiana BBQ                                                    

Homer Alaska 

Off the radar.... summer has began in full swing. A month of travels, of reunions with beautiful friends, of places dear to my heart. For the last 9 months I have lived in Oregon, a second round in the universe that exists around a college campus. I watched Oregon go to sleep over the winter. watched snow fall and explored places covered in moss and lava rock. I've learned what it means to live close to my food, my small community is saturated with farms and local goods. And then the spring came and I watched Oregon wake back up, the foxglove pop up all over the hills, the rivers flow full force. I watched the sun return to the sky and scare away the rains and dark clouds that seemed to exist each morning. Did I mention I am now a bit of a champ at riding my bike in the rain (except when it is dark, stormy and I forget my lights... but we'll talk no further of that one!) Indeed, I experienced a new home. And yet today, again, I write from a place I love so dearly. Someone recently told me that if you are unfinished than you will be summoned back but if your work is done than let it exist as a fond memory. I must not have completed my list because I am finding new adventures and seeing places that I never knew. To have loved and lost? No- to have loved and learned. this time I return  with knowledge of place. I know where to find what I love most- it exists at the lowest of tides.

Demoralized

In David Arora’s  terms: “demoralized.”

we literally spend hours searching various burn areas; 1^st year burns, 2^nd year, 3^rd year. Disturbed sites, Manzanita and Ceanothis thickets, loams & sands, slash piles…. Nothing.

 We discovered early season mushrooms of all shapes, colors and sizes; even a good number of false morels and an amazingly large conk. But, when it came right down to what we hunted- we found not one.

Not a single that is, until we gave up.  At that very moment what showed up right in-between my feet? A big fat black morel. And then another, and another…. And the story goes.

We ended up in an open forested area and found ourselves spotting them left and right. Morchellas everywhere. So I suppose the term demoralized explains exactly our affliction: it wasn’t until we stopped looking that we actually found what we desired most.

Morel of the story: the best things in life tend to pop up in the most unusual of places & at the times we expect them least. Keep an open mind.

**Looking for a fantastic fungi reference book that will blow your mind away? “Mushrooms Demystified” by David Arora. Throwing this beast in your backpack feels a bit like a brick so for our west coast outings I love “All the rain promises and more”; I leave the big un at home.