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Gardening (Part 2)
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 Amanda Cooke
mothering Mother
Student- Colorado College
Gardening Inspiration
Growing your own food is a journey not many take in these times of abundant inexpensive and high calorie foods that fill the shelves of super markets just a short car drive away. To know and see with your own naked eye how a seed transforms into the plant that produces the next ingredient of your recipe is to know the secret of good eating itself. Nothing is more whole and local than fresh food you produce in your care on your very own land or inside your home. With your home garden you will avoid the carbon footprint of transportation and processing of both conventional and organic industrial agriculture. Even your soil is thriving with life! Producing your own food is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences, to connect with your food in a whole new way and to bring to life an entire meal with your bare hands! You have the freedom to grow whatever vegetable you please. All it takes is a trowel, some seeds, and a good spirit to get started in one of the most ancient yet constantly evolving arts.
Indoor Garden
 If you don’t have a backyard or would like to grow herbs and other indoor plants year round, growing indoors is certainly possible with a southern facing window. Terracotta pots, planting containers, or any other container with a hole in the bottom can provide a home for your indoor plants. Perennial herbs that must come indoors in the winter include rosemary and bay leaf while you can also grow annuals from seed such as basil, cilantro, and dill among many others. Perennial mint and chamomile for tea also grow well indoors. You can also grow lettuce indoors in a seed tray, planting seeds every couple of days for a continuous supply. By the time you are finished eating one harvest the next one is ready! Sprouts are a great way to incorporate plant protein into your diet and add a delicious element to any salad or sandwich. Lentils, beans, and grains like wheat berries are great to sprout.
Composting can also be done on a small scale indoors. Under the kitchen sink or in the basement are potential locations for indoor worm composters or bocashi kits. If you contribute food waste to a community compost bin, you can save your waste in the freezer to avoid unpleasant aromas.
For further information in your specific areas of interests, see the resource list below.
Books:
Food not Lawns by Heather C. Flores
The Healing Kitchen: The Indoor Herb-garden Pharmacy for Cooks by Patricia Stapley
Sites:
Composting Tips: http://www.howtocompost.
Permaculture: http://www. |
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mothering Mother
Pesto Sauce |
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It is basil harvesting time, and there has never been a better time to make pesto sauce. In the shorter, darker and colder days of the winter, the freshness and lightness of this pesto will spark reminders of the basil days of summer.
This recipe is intentionally dairy free. Why? Dairy is hard to digest, and the production of it takes a large toll on the environment. Those cows eat a lot, drink a lot and poo a lot, as well as passing some good gas. So, lighten the load for Mother Earth and for your digestive system and create our mothering Mother Pesto Sauce. The mixture of the flavors of the basil, the lemon juice and the garlic, coupled with the subtle supporting flavors of walnuts and olive oil, are sure to keep you a “happy healthy eater”!
mothering Mother Pesto Sauce
2 cups basil leaves, densely packed
3 cloves garlic, sliced
3 T walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt, freshly ground black pepper
T=Tablespoon
Separate the leaves from the stems. Rinse in a sink of cold water and then spin to remove most of the water.
 Prepare the garlic by removing the skins, and slicing in half lengthwise. Carefully pull out the center core and then slice the garlic clove. Squeeze 1 lemon and remove seeds. Keep pulp if you like.
 Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor. Blend to puree, about 30-60 seconds. Taste for seasoning and adjust.
 Immediately pour the pesto into a jar and cover with a lid, to preserve the vibrant flavors. The pesto will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 3 days, and will stay fresh in the freezer up to 1 year.
We recommend letting go of the pasta with the cow! Try breaking from the traditional pasta combination and trying one or more of the suggestions below:
Enjoy the bounty of the Summer harvest!
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Eating Our Way Out
(Part 6)
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Sydney MacInnis
Founder mothering Mother Holistic Nutritionist and Yoga Instructor The summer season of fresh food is so exciting that it is difficult for me to pull myself away from the kitchen to write this newsletter. Beautiful fresh vegetables that have come from the market and from the gardens of friends are calling to me. To pull me out of the kitchen and into this writing I am choosing solitude, except for the chant music and the single candle.
Change is in the air. A year ago the mothering Mother raised eyebrows and voice levels as retailers told us that the idea was interesting, but not for them right now. Now a year later a knock off has been created. What is the expression, “Imitation is the highest form of flattery!” We’ll take it. We are celebrating the fact that more of you are seeing the cotton experience as a natural combination for the whole foods experience. Keep going… a retailer asked us for canvas lunch bags, and this opened the door to the cotton lunch experience (see the green bites in this newsletter). Nothing endures but change!
How open is your door for change? The doors are all around us, inviting us, but what blocks us. Fear of the unknown is what holds us back. F-E-A-R – False Experiences Appearing Real – the only way to overcome it is through desire that powers action and commitment. So easily said but not so easy to do. Desire requires careful observation to understand the difference between what is a gateway for the unexplored, and what is a gateway for addiction and greed. John O’Donohue in “To Bless the Space Between Us” writes:
“In terms of its creative side, desire is the quickening of the heart that calls forth change. Somehow the eye of desire can glimpse possibility where the overfamiliarized mind cannot see it. Once it glimpses this, desire cultivates dissatisfaction in the heart with what is, and kindles an impatience for that which has not yet emerged. Our dreams and fantasies showcase the directions in which our desire would love to lead us. Dreams are narratives of desire… There should be a healthy tension between the life we have settled for and the desires that still call us. In this sense our desires are the messengers of our unlived life, calling us to attention and action while we still have time here to explore fields where the treasure dwells!”
Take a quiet moment, and slow deep breathing, to begin connecting with the desires of your Self. It is my wish that healthy Earth eating provides the fuel upon which these desires come to fruition. With a healthy body and a peaceful mind the unspoken within you has an opportunity to speak. Listen, and act.
Peace & Light
Namaste,
Sydney
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