Shepard Lane Garden

Cooking is Essential.   It is a Life Skill and an expression of Creativity.   And soup - it can make something out of a little. And yet many are just rediscovering cooking, especially in 2020 among my generation. During the pandemic, a lot of people have learned to cook 'for the first time in their lives.'  That seems so odd, but I do understand it having seen so many others in my generation with vastly different upbringings.  Some got to have frozen microwave meals and fast food.  We didn't.  Even when we lived in the house 'in town' and not miles and miles out in the forest (the rest of the time) we cooked from scratch most of the time.  I've been doing a lot more cooking this week just trying to sort out some of the things I use to cook on a regular basis.  The family cookbook I am working on contains things we all like to eat and also a variety of things like the Stone Soup recipe at the end of this post that I learned to cook from scraps and bits growing u

  I tried to recreate this recipe yesterday, ended up close to a couple of Internet recipes but going to document it here as a 'first attempt' at what I used to make on a regular basis. Important equipment : parchment paper, large baking pan, rolling pin Heat oven to 450 degrees Ingredients : 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder Choose your spices : 1 tsp oregano (Italian seasoning, or any other flavor of herb you like), 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp strong garlic powder granules, dash of tangy ground dill weed herb. Mix all of this together in a bowl, stir well to combine. SETUP : important!  Do these now while your hands are clean Put up to 1/2 cup extra flour in a cup next to your cutting board. Tear off a piece of parchment paper (not wax paper) and place it on your prepared baking sheet on top of the stove. Warm up 1/4 cup of water (do it now, because it will be more difficult in a minute when your hands are full) Proceed :  Get out 2 tbsp of

   I have been taking these projects as 'eat the elephant', a little bit at a time, and making progress.  The one is a red octopus knit toy, and the other is an installment of tested recipes for the family cookbook.  I had planned to start onion seeds yesterday, but did finally get that halfway done today.  I'm still looking for the seed but it is going to take a minute to come across them again.  The pan is ready to go and I have a jug of water and a window waiting for it.   Herbed butter crackers for the cookbook.  I scanned three or four different recipes looking to see if I could job my memory about the crackers I used to roll out more than a decade ago.  Wrote down the info off of one recipe that seemed 'almost' right and changed it to include baking powder.  But, I had the instinct that one of the ingredients used to also be cream of tartar.  I didn't have any, so made it without.  I'll see if these are too hard without it, but it will be something to

  My uncle had said that he appreciated my mom and dad had taken the time to teach me a lot of different life skills.  I agree.  They both taught me a lot.  But, as he said this I was thinking - it was more than just them, and also, it depended on what I was willing to absorb.  It helped being out on a farm out in the middle of frozen Northern Minnesota - having wilderness and very little else to do.  But also, it helped that people instilled patience in me beyond what other kids my age seemed to get.  Sometimes, it was instilled against my will and with resentment, but I learned the task. The thing I am thinking specifically about this morning is not washing the dishes, or hanging the laundry, or weeding the garden or pulling in wood and pine boughs from the forest.. although I did all of those things.  The thing I am thinking about is learning to roll a ball of yarn. My step-grandmother was I have to admit a hard woman to deal with.  She didn't like cats in the house, and would r

  Our Moonflowers last year were a sight to see, being nearly as large as the palm of my hand, and having a beautiful fragrance.  I had to wait for the pods to dry, but since I had forgotten to tie a little colorful piece of yarn near the big flowers (last year was a bit of a blur, for many reasons), the pods were a little hard to find this year!    This is what I was looking for, hard pecan shaped pods that contain seeds that resemble spanish peanuts.  . And here is what I was hunting for the brown pods in, this tangle of brown vines.  It is a little like a needle in a haystack without the little bits of yarn.  But I managed to find enough to replant, and maybe if I get some more time I will go out there and cut the entire vine down to bring to the compost pile.  The pods are actually quite a bit easier to find by touch, as their shells are a distinct difference from both the vine and the dead dried leaves. A little bit of work and you can keep an heirloom alive - the same seeds year

  It is a new year at Shepard Lane Garden.  It is cold, but the sun is shining.  I worry about so many things. But the garden is a place that holds hope and potential.  I have been going through my seeds, thinking about what can be grown this year, and what kind of commitment of time and energy I can put into it.   Challenges and Goals : A challenge: Honestly, my energy output is not as high as it used to be.  My hEDS, basically a collagen disorder, has taken a toll, some days worse than others.  I can still lift a 75 lb object one day and be fine - until almost exactly the same time the next day when I am in pain for several hours.  There really doesn't seem to be any explanation for it - but it is constant and has been this way for several years now.  Mostly, I just deal with the pain (because whole classes of painkillers are basically noneffective on me, I hypermetabolize, joy!)   And it is the little things that are so puzzling.  I am often sitting there wondering 'what in