freefalling

Latest foster kitty, Boris. He may or may not be named after Boris in The Goldfinch.

We’re freefalling into summer. The kids are a grubby blur. I catch them scarfing fistfuls of garden peas; daily vegetable consumption: Check. Dan calls from work with ideas for our next three camping destinations. I’m bowing at the holy fucking temple of turnip greens (sauteed with oil, garlic, salt; who knew?). The rate at which I pull weeds is directly related to how much lettuce is left in the garden: edible weeds currently tipping the scales. The kids have feralized within the neighborhood, traveling like hobos from trampoline to trampoline. Best way to find them is to open a window and listen. In the evenings, the chickens run to the worm-spangled compost, proving that things are happening in those brains regarding memory.

Tonight’s perfectly respectable salad-to-be of amaranth and purslane. 

We seek water—creeks, rivers, lakes—to soothe the pinch of the Southwestern sun. The kids insert goose feather sails into driftwood boats and point them downstream towards the Pacific ocean. At home they mold endless mud cookies, drying them systematically on boards, to be hurled, concrete-dry, at a piece of plywood. Thwack. They have a hardened row waiting for their friend Jonny, his birthday gift. Inside, Col reads the comic book TinTin and it’s all still so new—this boy, reading—that I have to refrain from asking, So, when you say you’re reading, what exactly does that mean? 

Homeschooling at the kitchen table has dropped off the map. However, I always feel a sense of accomplishment when my kids spend the day outside pulling entertainment from the twin engines of nature and imagination. “Look, they’re so…creative, er, I mean innovative, or, well, um…happy,” I tell Dan. But, I get confused sometimes, because what was it I’m supposed to be preparing my children for? Happiness? An income-producing job? Honestly, it might be something more like: need very little so you don’t have to rely on that income-producing job. 

Sulphur euphoria sets in at The Geyser. Between Dolores and Rico; highly recommended, though I can still smell sulfur on my skin 2 showers later.

The rare June roadkill, backstraps in cooler, nabbed outside Telluride last weekend.

I’ve always liked this quote by Howard Thurman:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Because we’re pretty good at that, I mean, really, when are the children not coming alive? You should see them at the river. On the neighborhood trampolines popping like popcorn. Huddled pointedly over their sticky orbs in the backyard mud pit. Their very brain architecture renders them built to come alive. I envy them their buoyancy, and siphon off what they generously spill.

Recently, at Junction Creek, Col scrambled up a boulder, discovered fish below and spent the next two hours attempting to bomb trout with rocks. Hey – leave those fish alone, I almost shouted, before discovering that this nine year old was uncannily close to nabbing dinner. He’s already fashioning a spear for our next trip. I’ll bring the cooler full of ice.

As usual, parenthood is a slew of questions I can’t answer. But, here’s a knockout recipe for cabbage/carrot ferment.

This is the original recipe. Isn’t it beautiful? Red cabbage with turmeric and ginger. But honestly it tasted like medicine. So I cut it with carrots and now, it’s dreamy.

Cabbage/Carrot Ferment (the easiest ferment recipe yet. No pounding necessary).

Ingredients:

~ makes one quart ~

2 cups chopped cabbage

2 cups grated carrots

1-2 TBSP chopped ginger

1-2 TBSP chopped turmeric

1/2 cup water

1/2 TBSP salt (if this is too much salt, try 1 tsp)

Directions

Mix first four ingredients in a bowl. Mix water and salt in a separate container. Pack veggies into a quart jar. Pour salt water on top. Press veggies down below liquid with a fork. Add more water if necessary to bring liquid above veggies. Cap. Set on counter for 3-7 days. Check daily and re-press vegs below liquid if needed. Taste for preferred sourness.

Boris and Lila, available for adoption in one week…you might have to adopt Rose with them.

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