It’s been happening for awhile now, but the full on onslaught, the riot of spring still feels a little surreal. Happening long enough that daffodils have bllossomed and have had time to dry. Still beautiful, as I see them. It’s my first spring living in this funky old house in the country – the North…
Category: Farming in the North Fork Valley of Colorado
On the way to the proverbial Desert Island? Make sure I stash the bag of Smoked Paprika (with a recipe for Heart Shaped Goat Cheese)
I have to tell you that smoked paprika is top-of-the-charts-almost-aphrodisiac in my life right now. And I have the photo to prove it. Noooo, it’s not that kind of photo. But it sums up my feelings quite clearly. Behind the camera here, I am bursting into song about my love of this homemade, smoked paprika…
Plums – under a rain soaked sky
I have been eating. Truly. I have been thinking about recipes, and making them, and then sitting down somewhere and actually eating them. But my recent move – back to the countryside ’round Paonia, Colorado from the city, has added fullness and textures and people that are being juggled, and huggled, sifted and arranged. I…
My New Farmhouse Kitchen
My spirit has pulled me this way and that in the last year or so. And I find myself, now, back home again. In the valley. Just outside Paonia, Colorado. It’s a little bit like heaven on earth. And a bit of a story, too. The short version is, my heart won out over –…
Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Street Life
Cherry Days Parade in Paonia, Colorado – July 4th heading down Orchard Avenue towards town park. Street Life at it’s finest. You’ve gotta love it. Small Town Beautiful. WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge Zephyro’s Farm and Garden
Onions I Have Loved, Beatrix Potter, plus a recipe for Six Onion Soup with Broiled Chevre Croutons
For starters, may I include this fabulous allium? She is surely an onion I have loved. Along with the whole onion family – the reds, whites, yellows, the Walla-Wallas! The leeks and shallots, scallions and boilers and pearls….spring onions…chives. The garlic…. I began this post long months ago, last year in the spring, with a different…
A Swirl, a Stack, a Plateful of Memories! or “I Love My Home, Planet Earth”
The bonds of friends live on in our hearts – sometimes, especially when we also have a memory of those last foods we prepared or shared together. Today I came across a bright sheaf of photos from the week before I moved from the North Fork Valley. Living to CELEBRATE WHAT IS – I simply…
The Promise of Plums
The promise of plums like glowing constellations spark the midday sky
Spring Crepes with Fresh Goat’s Milk Yogurt and Maple Sugared Violets
A sweet dessert to stun your loved ones with the fantastic fact that it is Spring… …started out like this, here’s the Girls giving some smooches… (take a visit to Rain Crow Farm in my herbed goat cheese au poivre post): …and then into the kitchen to make a batch of tangy, luscious goat’s milk yogurt….
Welcoming Bees … in the Apricot Blossoms
There is always something to be grateful for. The heady buzzing, dizzying swoop and impulses of bees. I stand near the apricot blossoms, opening today in April 3rd sun, and the bees navigate instinctively, intently, all around me, paying me no mind. What is it like, guided by scent and temperature through the world? Diaphanous whir…
A Fervent Planting Day, Spring Altar, and Persian Soup
A wildness is coursing through my veins, bucking winter out of nooks and crannies with a single minded purpose. Get out in that dirt, and start digging. When I did, I immediately unearthed three carrots from last fall – they were crisp, and looked so inviting I came back inside, kicked off my shoes, and ate…
Little Signs, Pachamama and the Smell of Spring
Pachamama, we can only witness — your inspirations welling up green and bright when light stirs you fragrant into spring. Overheard rhetorical question in the tiny Paonia post office this morning, a 55 degree day before another winter storm tonight: “Spring is on it’s way – eventually, right?” And then the rugged questioner turned, gray bearded and smiling,…
A Bit of Winter Garden Magic plus Butternut Squash and Feta Stuffed Pasta Shells with “Under the Leaves” Herbs
With mud in view the garden called out to me like a siren this gray February day, snow clouds descending and Mount Lamborn no longer in view. Everything has been covered in white here for weeks, and coming home from a five day trip I smiled, seeing brown leaves and black earth, re-emerging through the melting snow. Once out…
Bee Heaven, Elderberry Syrup, and a Sunrise Smoothie
When I first visited this amazing Paonia, Colorado home in July of 2011, and was taken into the back yard, I fell in love. The grape bower made of old tree limbs, with a shady alcove to sit underneath -looking out at a rich garden plot beyond. And the towering bushes framing the garden, were loaded, LOADED with elderberries….
Pachamama's Beautiful Food 