Forming A Future

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Ann Lovejoy
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Feeling overwhelmed by the waves? Time to go high!

Pushing The Positive

Spring is truly here now; buds are bursting and blooming, birds and frogs are singing, the nights are warming up, slowly but steadily. Everywhere I turn there are sweet scents on the air. My starts and seedlings are growing happily. The plants that have returned to the garden have revealed themselves; where others passed on, the soil has been refreshed and new plants are settling down to the business of new growth. My space is very limited in this garden, so there are choices to make; there’s not enough room and resources to support endless growth. Thus, some plants that might have made it got yanked to give something else a chance. A few weak yet wonderful plants were moved to more comfortable situations in containers, but anything less than stellar went to the green waste or compost bin.

As I choose what to make room for, what to coddle, and what to recycle, I find myself hoping that we as a society will find the strength and courage to do this on a larger scale. The endless growth model of capitalism just doesn’t work when resources are finite. It’s been fascinating (in an infuriating way) to watch huge corporations grab the lion’s share of government bailout funds, while thousands of small businesses are left to flounder. Like many others, I find myself wondering; if capitalism is so successful, why do mega-corporations require government bailouts every decade or so? Hmm? In the garden, the players that are allowed to stay are the biggest contributors; either they work hard, produce or bloom a great deal, or they are utterly enchanting.

Working Plants

What’s a working plant? Trees clean the air, capture carbon, and offer homes and larders for lots of critters, so if they’re healthy and well placed, they stay. Native shrubs are also habitat for native creatures, and many are beautiful to boot, so for the most part, they stay, as do most native annuals, perennials and bulbs. Hardy herbs are useful in the kitchen, as traditional medicinals, and are terrific pollinator pleasers, so they stay. Edibles stay unless they require more space or more fussing than I can provide. Ornamentals stay if they are utterly enchanting for more than two weeks a year. That seems fair, right? In return, I supply balance; I provide good soil, compost and other soil conditioners, and adequate water. I also control weeds and keep rapid spreaders from taking over. If the garden gets out of balance, my work load goes up and the pleasure factor goes down. That’s how good governance works.

In our society, it’s time to look at business the same way. If our economy is based on a flawed model, it will flounder and fail repeatedly, as we see. It’s perfectly clear that multinational corporations don’t care about the well-being of the people in any of the countries where they are based (usually in order to avoid paying taxes and to take advantage of resources that belong to other nations). When we choose to support small businesses, local farms, family restaurants, regional banks, we support each other as well. In 2008, when world banks were in trouble, Iceland allowed their largest to fail (and also sent most of the top executives to jail for fraud). In the aftermath of total economic collapse (in three days), a band of savvy women took over the country and brought in reforms designed to foster the public good. Iceland recovered and is now well protected against similar abuses, the kind that flourish in American, the UK, and lots of other capitalist cultures. That’s how good governance works, right?

Thinking Ahead

Despite the obvious, painful, and too often fatal consequences, this Great Pause created by coronavirus19 has its positive side. Skies are clearer, water is cleaner, ecosystems are showing signs of recovering faster than anyone had imagined possible. The huge ozone hole over the Arctic has healed already. People have per force slowed down and at least some of us have started seriously thinking. (And some people are seriously drinking, certainly understandable but not especially helpful). Both thinkers and drinkers are wondering what on earth is going to happen. Great question, and I don’t know the answer, but I do know this: what happens is on us. The future is ours to shape and it won’t just magically happen.

One of the hardest parts of the lock down stay home shut down orders is feeling helpless. It’s vital to our sanity and health and to the health of the planet that we remember that we are not helpless. Watching the current regime work its worst on the world, on the American people, and upon the planet is gut wrenching and horrifying but we can’t allow the destruction to be spirit crushing. We do have power, more than we imagined. Yes, voting is a valuable tool (or has been, during fair elections), but it’s not our only tool. Public opinion still has power, as we see when the current POTUS stops offering nightly insanity tips because of enormous public pushback and ridicule. Weirdly enough, though the members of current regime don’t care at all about our welfare, their skins are thin enough that refusal to let rampant idiocy pass unnoticed stings. Exposure of dirty tricks like paying foolish stooges to protest shut down orders stings. Calling out malfeasance when elected officials assist corporations to rob small businesses stings.

The Shame Game

Shame, however, only seems to work when it affects a bottom line; thus, if we want to change “their” behaviors, we must change our own. Given that so many corporate and governmental behaviors are overtly shameless, we have to study the keys to effective manipulation carefully. First, watch and learn; many things that I personally find shameful seem perfectly acceptable to the current regime and its followers. Calling those out obviously doesn’t change anything. So what does motivate them? The fear of the loss of our business. Yup. If we want to scare the pants off corporations, we can vote with our pocketbooks. Boycott any big business, however inconvenient (hello, Amazon), that values money over people. And make sure you bring a bunch of people along for the ride.

It’s also time to put steady pressure on the Democrats. Where the hell are they? A few governors are standing up (thank you, Left Coasters), but we are not hearing anything like enough from our elected officials, from senators and congressfolks down to the local school board. Let’s call and write (using letters and stamps, to help the Post Office!) and demand statements and action both. Speak out, speak up and make sure our message is clear; we want American to be reformed from bottom to top, with government by and for the people, not Citizens United. I’m so damn tired of being angry. I want so deeply to be FOR people and principles and platforms that promote social, economic and racial equity and justice, health care, education, freedom, and peace for everyone. It’s on us. Onward.

 

Posted in Climate Change, Garden Design, Health & Wellbeing, pests and pesticides, Pollination Gardens, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Simply Splendid Sourdough

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Ann Lovejoy
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Smaller loaves are good for flavor experimenting

Simple Sourdough, Plain Or Rye

As the Stay Home orders continue, people are practicing practical skills that may not have held much interest before. Gardening and crafting are gaining new adherents, and people who subsisted entirely on restaurant and takeout fare are studying cookery with passionate intensity. Baking is increasingly popular and as a result, yeast has vanished from grocery store shelves and flour and sugar are in short supply. (There seems to be plenty of toilet paper again, however.) Sadly, I’m hearing sorry tales about fallen loaves and sourdough doorstops, so I thought I’d offer some tips for making sourdough bread.

Sourdough is the simplest and most forgiving form of artisan baking. Goldrush miners kept sourdough productive in primitive wilderness camps and it’s even easier in a modern kitchen. Well fed sourdough starters just keep getting better; mine lives in a big bowl on the counter, where it gets fed several times a day (not on any schedule, but as I think of it). The more starters are fed, the livelier they get. Store bought starters will eventually change as wild yeasts are captured so you might as well make your very own. And by the way, if fruit flies are a problem (they so often are), just cover the starter with cheesecloth or a fine sieve. A small dish with a few spoonfuls of starter will fatally lure gnats away from houseplants!

Traditional Sourdough Starter

Before baker’s yeast was commercially available, people relied on various kinds of starters to make sourdoughs and so-called salt-raised breads. The famous San Francisco starters were made with flour, water, wild yeasts, and time. It takes a few days for a starter to develop, and the longer it does, the better it works and tastes.

Classic Sourdough Starter

1 cup water
1 cup unbleached wheat flour

In a glass or ceramic bowl, vigorously combine flour and water and let stand at room temperature. Continue to stir in lots of air several times a day for 3-4 days until bubbly.

Rye Starter

1 cup rye flour
1 cup water
1 small (2-3 inch) organic onion, outer skin intact

In a small, deep glass or ceramic bowl, vigorously combine flour and water, add onion and cover completely with flour mixture. Let stand at room temperature, stirring several times a day, for 3-4 days. When bubbly, discard onion and feed starter as detailed below, using rye flour.

Starter Care And Feeding

Once your initial starter is bubbly, feed it frequently until you have more than enough to work with. Add about 1/4 cup each of water and flour 4-6 times every day, stirring well to incorporate plenty of air. Always feed starter last thing at night and first thing in the morning. When it’s ready to use, classic starter will be a little soupy, with a slightly spongy, curdy quality that gets more pronounced the older your starter gets. Before you start baking, feed your starter, wait about an hour, then pour about 2 cups into a glass jar, cover and refrigerate for up to a week.

To refresh refrigerated starter, pour it into a glass or ceramic bowl; if there’s liquid on top of the starter, pour it off or stir it in for a more sour flavor. Add 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup flour every few hours, stirring vigorously. It’s best to give starter a day or so of feeding to fully activate. If you aren’t planning to use the starter yet, pour two cups into a glass jar, cover and refrigerate for up to a week. Share the extra starter, compost it, or flush it (good for septic systems). Keep starter on the top shelf of the refrigerator, which is a little warmer than the lower shelves. If long-lost starter looks moldy and smells funky, toss it and make a fresh batch.

A Few Tricks

The right flours can make a major difference to the quality of your bread. For a light but chewy loaf with a good crust, mix wet starter with high gluten/high protein bread flour, preferably at least 11% protein; the closer to 13% the better. You can also use part bread flour and part whole wheat or rye flour for a different flavor and texture. For especially good texture, add a couple tablespoons per loaf of gluten flour (vital gluten), a trick that makes many artisan yeast breads outstanding. Gluten flour runs as high as 70-80% protein, so just a little makes a big difference to bread texture and rise. It’s especially valuable for rye bread (yeast or sourdough), helping fragile rye flour capture and hold yeast gasses, which gives the heavy dough much better rise.

For variety, knead in 1/4 cup minced fresh rosemary; 1-2 tablespoons garlic powder; or 1 cup coarsely grated hard cheese and a teaspoon of ground pepper per loaf before shaping. Sourdough tends to flatten out and spread wide rather than rise high, so for the best rise (and best texture), bake it off in oiled standard loaf pans. Proof sourdough in well-oiled, ovenproof casserole dishes for straight sided rounds with perfect crumb and a pleasingly elastic texture.

Making And Baking

When you only want to make one loaf, use any leftover starter to make pancakes, waffles, or cinnamon rolls. For flavorful dinner rolls, mix in chopped herbs, minced garlic, or grated cheese, then form 1/4 cups of dough into balls and put them into an oiled muffin pan. Let rise for an hour, then bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, lower the oven to 350 and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Rustic Sourdough Loaves or Rounds (makes 2)

4-6 cups recently fed, wet sourdough starter
4-6 cups bread flour
4 tablespoons gluten flour
3 teaspoons kosher or sea salt

Stir a few cups of bread flour, the gluten flour and the salt into the wet starter, adding enough flour to make a soft dough. Turn on the oven light (this heats the oven to the right rising temperature) and place a bowl of boiling water on the middle rack. Set dough to rise next to the water. Let dough rise for an hour, divide in half and knead each piece by hand (100 turns) until smooth and elastic. Place each kneaded loaf into an oiled pan or dish and slash the tops three or four times to assist rise. Return loaves to the unheated oven (leave light on) to rise for an hour. Take them out of the oven, preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake the loaves for 20 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 and bake for another 20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 180 degrees. Let cool a bit on a rack before slicing. Makes 2 loaves.

Sourdough Rye Bread

4-6 cups rye flour
4-6 cups recently fed rye sourdough starter
3 tablespoons gluten flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups rye flour and 1 cup water and let stand an hour or more (this autolyses or tenderizes the rye gluten). Add rye starter, gluten flour, ginger (helps rye rise) and salt, blend well, then add 2-3 cups rye flour and gluten flour to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. Turn on the oven light (this heats the oven to exactly the right rising temperature) and place a bowl of boiling water on the middle rack. Set dough to rise next to the water. Let dough rise for an hour, then knead very gently by hand for 1 or 2 minutes (rye is delicate) until smooth, adding flour as needed. Form dough into two loaves and place in oiled dishes or loaf pans, slashing the top three or four times to assist rise. Return loaves to the unheated oven (leave light on) for an hour. Take them out of the oven, preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake the loaves for 20 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 and bake for another 20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 180 degrees. Let cool a bit on a rack before slicing. Makes 2 loaves. Butter up!

Posted in Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Recipes, Sustainable Living | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Great Pause

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Ann Lovejoy
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Winter Lace Mandala by Sue O’Kieff

Let’s Think While We Wait

Lately I’ve seen a few references to this time of waiting as “the great pause” and it seems like a fitting label. We humans don’t handle multiple uncertainties well at the best of times and this is definitely not that. I’ve been finding guidance and clarity from reading Tribal news reports and commentaries. Written by people who have survived centuries of colonialist attacks and rampant racism, these writings hold wisdom that mainstream North American culture has lost or more likely never had in the first place. Reading an account of ways in which women’s traditions around healing were still helpful, I found myself teary eyed, wishing I had any kind of cultural tradition of healing to follow.

When I think about what I was taught about American traditions, it’s clear that our insistence on individuality won out over being a people. We were never a people, never united, never sharing a truthful cultural identity. Things are changing though; around here, there’s increasing acknowledgment that we white folks are, hello, living on someone else’s land. There was a popular story among early white settlers on this island that native people never lived here. All the settlements were dismissed as fish camps, cleared away to make room for saw mills and shipyards and farms. Now we are learning that we are living on land that was cared for by the Suquamish people for thousands of years. Thousands.

Lovers Of The Land

Here’s what the tribal website says:

“‘Suquamish’ translates to “people of the clear saltwater” in Southern Lushootseed, the language of the Suquamish People. D’suq’wub, meaning “place of the clear salt water,” has been home to the Suquamish people since time immemorial. It is the ancient place on Agate Passage, the site of Old-Man-House village, the winter home of Chief Seattle and the heart of the Suquamish People. It is here — past, present, and future — that the Suquamish People live on the land of their ancestors and of their great-grandchildren.”

Who among us can say anything similar? You are blessed if you can claim anything remotely like such a lineage, such a relationship of people and place. Last week, Suquamish Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman wrote this:

“Many have called the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic unprecedented. For the Suquamish Tribe, the original inhabitants of this land, this is not new. Since first contact in 1792, we faced waves of destructive diseases that killed thousands of our people. Our ancestors survived, though, strengthened by cultural beliefs that center on protecting the environment, honoring elders, and planning with future generations in mind.

“Many in Kitsap share these values, and our common purpose has helped create a resilient community that is able to meet the threat posed by today’s pandemic…. During this pause for social isolation, we should reflect on the things we most value. As we rebuild, we should do so in a way that protects our waters and sea life, and invests in the well-being of our youth and elders. We should consider the impacts of everything we do on the next seven generations.”

Reflecting On Clear Water

One thing I’ve been reflecting about is the way pollution is clearing up in rivers and lakes that are no longer watery highways. The skies are clearing over cities where cars are parked, streets are empty, and business is not as usual. It’s so often claimed that we simply can’t afford to change our ways in order to halt climate change, but apparently when it’s a matter of life or death, we can. Water is clear, skies are clear, air is clean, and humans have stopped our ceaseless restless race to grab and snatch. In this clearing process we can see that our beloved earth, like the human body, has an astonishing ability to rebalance; earth’s systems tend towards regaining health naturally unless overburdened by disease or damage. If we stop actively destroying our planet, it can heal, the oceans can heal, the forests can heal, the soil can heal.

Obviously we CAN stop, because we just did. But now what? It’s my deepest hope that we don’t try to return to business as usual, and I’m pretty sure that will prove impossible anyway. Instead, we seriously need to find new ways to live and work. Today I was moved to tears (yes, again) to learn that the governors of Washington, Oregon and California announced a Western States Pact, a plan to carefully restart our shared economies, putting the health and wellbeing of all our people first. The plan is based on science-based information, in vivid contrast to the amorphous national strategies of confusion, confustication and bebotherment.

Becoming A People

I am hopeful that this collaborative effort is a step towards becoming a people, rather than a nation. Like many aging hippies, I cherish the high dream of a country where everyone matters, where health and wellbeing is at least as important as the GNP, and where productivity is redefined to eliminate destructive and extractive industries. Changing human nature is difficult, slow work, yet in many ways we are accelerating the process even as the entrenched old guard dig in and fight back as hard as they can. More people are literate today than at any previous time in history. Fewer people live in poverty than ever before. When we are watching, we can see signs of progress even in totalitarian countries; maybe few and far between, but any sign at all is a miracle.

One positive effect of the pandemic that has the human world shut down is that we are seeing each other as people. We weep for New York as we weep for Italy and Iran. We cheer for China and Japan when it looks like the virus has been slowed or even possibly stopped and groan when flareups recur. We celebrate Germany and New Zealand, places where quick action and cooperative response have changed the story. It seems to take a disaster for us to recognize our common humanity but now that we have a Really Big One to share, I believe most of us are starting to see ourselves and each other as one people. Whatever it takes, it’s worth it.

Posted in Climate Change, Health & Wellbeing, Sustainable Living | Tagged | 5 Comments

Keeping In Touch Without Touching

Posted on April 6, 2020 by Ann Lovejoy
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If you can’t dye Easter eggs, try sheep…natural dyes of course

A Flurry Of Flower Fairies

Today Washington State Governor Jay Inslee announced that schools will remain closed until September. A lot of other institutions and businesses will remain closed as well, of course, and millions of people are wondering how long we can keep this level of isolation going. Watching New York’s struggles to find safe places to put thousands of their dead makes it pretty clear that we are going to figure this out together, because the alternative is just too horrifying. As I walk around my neighborhood, I’m seeing fewer people, all of whom avoid me as assiduously as I avoid them, unless we recognize each other, in which case we pause at increasingly large distances to exchange a few catch-up questions and answers before moving on. Most of the other walkers are wearing home made masks more or less like ours, in a pleasing array of colors and prints. The colorful masks seem like a symbol of our willingness to cooperate, to do what we can to try to flatten the damn curve. Maybe we are all the more willing since there are now over 100 cases in our county, and the first local person has died of covid-19.

For me, as for so many, the garden is more comforting than ever. Checking my seed trays, sowing more of this and that, tidying up the beds, making room for the seedlings that are popping up, all this is the most soothing activity in my day. However, as I puttered this morning, something even more delightful happened: Two cars pulled up in front of my little garden and two small families spilled out, carefully distanced from each other and from me. From each car came a kindergartener and parents, all garbed in homemade costumes. Fluttering wings, floral headbands, bright sashes, colorful clothes were set off by large hand painted signs explaining which kind of fairy I was seeing. A geranium fairy, an azalea, a camellia, a bluebell, a cherry blossom, all twirled and pranced and laughed and joked, then flew away to cheer up the next person on their list.

Meeting The Need


The two families had chosen 10 people to visit, including school teachers and friends like me. It was an enchanting little episode and it still makes me smile to think about it. It also made me vow to reach out more myself, to make more calls, even to do a drive-by or two myself. I have done a few, dropping off bread and cinnamon rolls to my grandkids, who waved sadly from the doorway. I’ve been baking for the family for years and home delivery seemed like a fun idea but I cried all the way home. I’m deeply grateful that they’re safe and well but it breaks my heart not to be able to hug them. And man truly does not live by bread alone; I made a loaf of sourdough for a dear friend who just entered Hospice care and learned that the real need was for toilet paper. At the store, I found single rolls available (limit four per customer) and dropped them off to even more heartfelt thanks.

In my neighborhood, two young women decided to start growing some of their own food. Neither one has a very sunny yard, but I helped them figure out where to put some big pots by using our phones to send pictures back and forth. I dug out some extra seed trays and gave them a turn with the shared seed packets that have been going the rounds. Most of us just have tiny gardens and many seed packets contain way more than any of us can use. There was a whole pack of sweet peas left over so I sowed them in small pots to pass around the neighborhood when they sprout. Several of us are sowing flats of different vegetables and will swap when they’re big enough to transplant. Community building with kale and turnips! At least we don’t have to plant the vegetables six feet apart…

Let’s Stay In Touch

For some folks, distanced visits or drive-bys aren’t possible, but we can find ways to connect even so. One neighbor’s dad is in quarantine at a local senior living facility, so he stands outside his dad’s window and talks to him on the phone. Another friend tapes cute pictures of grandkids and cats on her mom’s window and shows her family videos on a tablet held up to the window. One of my significantly impaired elderly friends is in lock-down in a nursing facility and doesn’t like to leave her phone on, which makes it extremely difficult to call her. Instead, we send cards with interesting images-she was a photographer and an artist and it’s fun to find pictures that might appeal to her.

This ongoing separation is making it very clear that friendship really does need to be actively cultivated, just like our weedy gardens. When we can’t keep up our weekly lunches or coffee dates or have tea and knit together, we have to get a bit more creative to stay in touch. Phone calls can feel a little stilted when there’s not much that’s new to talk about (especially when people are out of work), but we can always swap recipes for cooking with leftovers and random ingredients. We can also take this opportunity to go deeper than usual, being honest about the struggle to cope with an unimaginable situation. If we have a hard time writing cards, we can send poems instead of chit chat. Really, I don’t think it matters that much what we say, as long as the essential message is, I’m thinking about you, missing you, and wishing you well. Onward, right?

Posted in Health & Wellbeing, Natural Dyes, Planting & Transplanting, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living, Teaching Gardening | 7 Comments