“Begin with the end in sight”–As we put seeds in the ground, we anticipate a delicious future harvest

I’m salivating already…contemplating the harvest.  Nothing can motivate us more to get out in the heat and put seeds in the ground than the idea of eating that luscious melon or stringbeans bursting with flavor, straight from the garden!   Ah, anticipation!  Thinking about what taste treats and nutritional benefits we might harvest a few months later can inspire us now to prep soil, browse seed racks, and get busy planting with the monsoon!

Connecting with the soil, prepping for planting a seed, can be a communion and a meditation, good for the soul and beyond….

Tia Marta here to share garden-to-table thoughts and ideas.  Necessary ingredients and skills to bring:  some stooped labor, lots of time, rain, patience, and perhaps songs will be needed for assisting plants into their food-giving maturity.  I like to think of “companion planting” as the partnership we commit ourselves to when we garden– just me and the plant, a dynamic duo.  We so need each other.  In this era of instant gratification (like fast money in exchange for something to stuff in the belly), we lose sight of the plant “companions” who are really growing our food.  What “companions” can we trust as well as ourselves?

Gardening provides new interactive games, new pets, beings to care for, a lively antidote to self-centered life.

Goodworks Volunteers Barney and Oscar planting chapalote corn seedlings at Mission Garden

When your hands are covered with good clean dirt, you can anticipate a fruitful future!

We at NativeSeeds/SEARCH and Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace’s Mission Garden are planting –and planning– right now for a harvest feast in October:  the right Native American teparies, the most delicious heirloom squash, the best free-range local beef, the sweetest Southwestern heirloom GMO-free corn, the most pungent local chiles, the most flavorful melons, combined with the rich white Sonora wheat harvested from the winter garden.  Put the NSS/Mission Garden local foods feast on your calendar for October 18, and plan to join fellow locavores and food aficionados for a special down-home Farm-to-Table Picnic— very little distance between the farm where the food was grown and the table where we will break bread together and sip local sangria.

First burst of Hopi Red Dye Amaranth–a glorious ornamental and tasty “green” when eaten in the young stages (MABurgess photo)

Marjorie Grubb’s summer-fresh Verdulaga saladEven before growing your monsoon garden, weeds will greet you–and they aren’t all bad.  Even as your seedlings grow you can harvest some delectable weeds like verdulagas (summer purslane) or young amaranth greens.

If you are looking for ideas for planting, there are wonderful helpers at the NativeSeeds/SEARCH store at 3061 N Campbell Ave, Tucson, ready to share their monsoon gardening experiences and tested tricks.  Every Thursday 2-4pm expert gardener Chad Borseth will be there to give a timely demo and to answer questions.  Bring your queries to him–doubtless your questions and the answers will be of help to other fellow gardeners as well.  ALSO for those new to the gardening game, and for veteran gardeners who want a head-start, try planting starts for a leg-up.  They can be so much more dependable than planting seeds.  You can find a diversity of summer plant starts at the NativeSeeds/SEARCH MONSOON PLANT SALE coming up soon–next Friday thru Sunday, July 17-19, at the Campbell Avenue store.  There will be many varieties of chile pepper including our native chiltepin, tomatoes, okra, heirloom squashes and pumpkins, melons, corn, beans, even summer wildflowers…. Come early, as they get snapped up fast.

Seedlings of the ancient Chapalote corn (seed available from NativeSeeds/SEARCH)

Young Tohono O’odham yellow-meated watermelon–come get seedlings at the NativeSeeds/SEARCH Monsoon Plant Sale July17-19

Speckled Tepary Bean seedling seen thru chicken wire protection at Mission Garden

Vulnerable and a little fragile at first, these Southwest heirlooms actually hold in their genes the ability to produce quantities of good food, abiding the unpredictable ups and downs of rainfall and temperature in the desert monsoon season.  With tending, they can be little powerhouses.  Their genes, selected by desert farmers over many centuries, are truly to be respected and preserved–and the way to save them ultimately is not necessarily in a seed bank nor by engineering.  To save them we must GROW them!  Then enjoy positive reinforcement at the harvest.

White flowers of Tohono O’odham Black-eye pea quickly producing long pods in the humid heat of monsoon season at Mission Garden (MABurgess photo)

Rich harvest of Tohono O’odham U’Us Mun (black and white spotted black-eye pea) from last summer’s harvest at Mission Garden

These summer-active black-eyes, introduced by early missionaries and adopted by the Tohono O’odham, are well-adapted to hot weather and will provide a prolific feast in the fall. (U’us mu:n, pronounced “moo0nya”, means spotted or patched.)  Some of their pods will reach a foot long.  If you can “catch” them in the fat, mature and still green-pod-phase in your garden, you might get close to Nirvana eating fresh black-eyes–a treat very few have ever experienced.

When you see silks emerge on your maturing corn plants, you can help Nature and Genetic Diversity along by touching a tassel from another plant onto the silks.

Red Sweet Corn, from the Guarijio People of southern Sonora–note the wrinkly kernels indicating sweetness. (Available through NativeSeeds/SEARCH)

Slow knowledge–a term coined by philosopher/farmer Wendell Berry–is what we can gain as we patiently watch the transformation of life in the garden.  They say it even builds new neurological pathways.  At the very least it can help young people learn what the word patience means!

Planting heirloom Flor de Mayo Beans, string beans, and corn now with the monsoon will mean great marinated bean salads in September!

The most nutritious and rich-tasting of all beans–our native Tepary Bean! –domesticated by early Desert People of the Southwest

Get the heat out of the kitchen! Summer is ideal time for cooking your garden or market produce with the SUN! Come see a demo at Sunday St Philips Farmers Market (on sale there).

Happy monsoon gardening!  See you at the NativeSeeds/SEARCH Monsoon Plant Sale next weekend at the NSS Store.  Or come visit our Flor de Mayo booth at Sunday’s St Phillips Farmers Market under the mesquites and sycamores, for gardening tips and a variety of beans to eat and plant.

A NativeSeeds/SEARCH heirloom sunflower–colorful protection for a garden margin

Aunt Linda here on a glorious cloudy day here in the Old Pueblo. And,  Whoops (!)  there goes Life again, changing just when we were feeling comfortable again! Just when we think we have a handle on it, the game changes. Most of you know by now that fats are not “bad”. Fats are now heralded for the importance they play in our health.  If we are wise enough, we allow Beginners Mind to open, and explore what may be there for us. Of course, we can just Resist.

Remember when eating red meat was “all bad” ?  It turns out if it is grass pasture raised it is may be healthy for us.

Remember when soy was considered “all good”;  it was almost a cure-all?  Well … it turns out that is Not Always So.

And Remember: the game will change again.

But one “truth” that seems to stand firm, is that What Goes Into the animal you eat, or that lays the egg your feed your kids, or the bee that harvests your honey/pollen, or the seed/soil that you plant is important.   For the sake of the lard we are about to render,  “You are What your Animals Eat” (see feed bag below) makes a significant difference in the health of the fat you are rendering.

Well, trans-fats are “off the shelves” and in three years, as mandated by the FDA. They must be overwhelmingly “not good” for us if a government agency is willing to move that swiftly!  And, among the fats and oils reshuffling themselves, and reconsidered (based on science) as healthy, heat tolerant, and delicious: Lard is “back”.

Inspiration for exploring this new/old fat and how to use it is:  100% Natural LARD:  The Lost Art of Cooking with Your Grandmother’s Secret Ingredient (From the Editors of GRIT Magazine) As soon as I read about book (2012) which I ordered from our independent book store,  Antigone Books, here in Tucson. The book is mesmerizing. It’s recipes are divine, earthy,  and delicious all at once. And it turns out, we can render our own lard right in our own kitchens. Seemed like a fun thing to do for Independence Day.

To get “off the page” and to learn more, I interviewed Cheralyn Schmidt, my dear friend and Culinary Crusader, who has been rendering her own lard for years (and is famous for her Tamale Parties where invitees create their own tamales from different types of masa, the tastiest being made from home-rendered-lard). She is a Chef, has experience in Ag-Extension, teaches food, cooking, and nutrition —  and is the Make It Happen Woman behind Tucson’s Thriving THE GARDEN KITCHEN (google it).  I could gush on and on about her many talents and her bright spirit, but it is time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

1) WHY would you WANT to render lard? Well, One it is an act of independence to have the Know How. Two, it makes food taste more delicious. Three, contrary to conventional thinking, and as stated above, lard is considered HEALTHY these days. The chemistry involves in fats is complicated, but there is significant research that is changing our thinking about animal fats. Fats are very important in our diets, I encourage you to find out more; you may be surprised.  Four, fill in Your Own reasons. Five, I enjoy experimenting and learning;  the lard-rendering is one place to play with flavors. Do an experiment and see if you can Taste the Difference between pasture raised lard and corn raised lard. Also, embolden yourself with experimentation. Below you’ll see a CHILTEPIN INFUSED LARD that I played with. 2) What is lard? And where can I get it to render at home?  Lard is pig fat, that you can buy from your local butcher (even butchers at your grocery store,  Sprouts, Whole Foods),  4-H folks, your Heritage Breeders (VERY important in supporting Heritage Animals are folks who are willing to buy heritage animals), the county fair, FFA (used to be Future Famers of America, now I am not sure what it stands for).   VERY Preferably, for both your health and the health of the animal, (NOTE: not separate),  you would ask for the fat from Pastured Animals pigs. Specifically, request, the “leaf lard” of the pig, which is located around the kidney’s. It has the best quality, in terms of nutrition and taste. The book gives this as a resource for Resources as well: http://www.LardCookbook.com Above: fresh summer vegetables from the garden have even deeper sweeter notes when cooked in lard. 3)  What can you use this home-made lard to make?  Pie crusts, biscuits, sautéing vegetables, cooking eggs, main dishes such as crab cakes, salmon croquettes, beef wellington, cakes, pies, brownies, cookies, tortillas, tamales.  Summer fruit, berries and vegetables are abundant this time of year! Our nectarine tree is bursting – peoples gardens are brimming over!  and one way to handle the “extra” from your trees or garden is to make pie crusts or empanadas with all that summer joy. Remember to remember the Savory pies (as well as the sweet!)  – you can make a wonderful pie from your tomatoes, summer squash, herbs, your native crops …. whatever is presenting itself. If you are not a gardener, consider wooing yourself and your family/friends with the offerings of the Farmers Markets – with this much abundance comes lower prices and we can make pies galore! Above: Tortilla and Quesadilla made with chiltepin infused lard! Note that the color of the tortilla is a nice yellow from the chiltepin infused lard-fat. Are your sleeves rolled up? Here we go:  Karen Keb’s section “How to Render Lard” (in the beginning of the book), says it strait. I am going to use her basic guide as well as add photos and insights from Cheralyn and my Rendering Session – that took all of an hour and a half, for 7 lbs of pig fat. The focus this post is on rendering the lard itself, so you feel both inspired and confident enough to do this at home. Later this summer, I will feature a pie crust and some amazing filling that includes tequila – so stay tuned! LARD 101 – HOW TO: 1) ” Preheat the oven to 225 F.” 2) “Fill a large roasting pan with the chopped fat.” Ask for it to be chopped or ground. Our 7 lbs that we got from a 4-H pig raised on kitchen scraps was ground for us at the Meat Lab here in Tucson. 3  “Roast Slowly for 30 minutes to one hour”  (or) until the fat has melted and you and you have protein particles  floating on top. Our seven pounds was divided over several pans and took an hour and a half. You may have noticed the red, round, chiltepin added to the pig fat in one of the roasting pans. I love this ancient, “closest living relative to the oldest known chile on the planet” “chile so much I simply HAVE to use it whenever I can. The capsicum infused taste and color added some spice to the lard. Now this can work for you and against you. So for savory pie crusts, quesadillas, or egg cooking  it is SUPERB. You may not want to  add it to your delicate pastry or your sweet berry pie. You will note that the color of the chile infused lard has a  yellow-reddish tint,  and that the lard without the chile is a beautiful white. These colors are seen in both the liquid lard and when it is firm and in the jars as well. Try infusing your lard at home with rosemary. Explore! 4)  “Skim off the solids and set them aside for the chickens” , (Keb really writes this – which I LOVE) Cheralyn suggests that these “Cracklin’s” are good on baked potatoes, on tortillas or in quesadilla’s, even in salads. 5) “Pour the liquid fat through a mesh colander lined with a double layer of cheesecloth.” We used flower sack material and it was perfection incarnate for such a project. Those of you who follow me, know I love to make the yogurts cheese; I plan to switch over to flower sack cloth from here-on-out. 6)  ” Store in a glass canning jar in the refrigerator or freezer. It will keep for months.”

Aunt Linda here talking turkey on this soft, surprising, rainy, June morning.  For me, turkeys are magic. They may not be very bright, but there are many times when smarts may be over rated. On this rainy morning, where the dust of life and the desert is washed clean, I choose heart and magic over brains.

The heirloom turkey chick in the photo above is about two hours out of the shell; you can still see it’s “egg tooth” (the hard and temporary tooth that helps it peck its way through the shell and “out” into Life prominent on the tip of it’s beak.)

All domesticated turkeys, (like the hatchling above) come from wild turkeys indigenous to North and South America,

Turkey’s have run wild on this continent for centuries. There are campaigns afoot to re-wild them again, The Gould’s Wild Turkey was re-intorduces to the Sky Islands, here in Arizona, in 2013 – and appear to be thriving. Gould’s Wild Turkey (M.g. mexicana) (Gould, 1856) have long legs, large feet, long tail feathers; it’s primary coloring is copper and greenish gold.  The south Mexican wild turkey (M.g. gallopavo) is not found in the US or Canada.  Archeological sites in central Mexico, dating back to 800-100 BC reveal M. gallopavo bones, but whether these were domestic or wild is not clear.

On a trip to New Mexico last summer,  I came across the ruins of the ancient Village of Tyuonyo (QU-weh-nee); (see photo above)  where rooms were built to shelter turkeys. There, archeological records tell us that Turkeys were raised primarily for their feathers – which were twisted with yucca fiber and woven into blankets, socks, and clothing. This would make sense for COLD winters in the high worlds of the  pinon-juniper of northern New Mexico.

When raising a new-to-me breed, I never make a move without consulting the Livestock Breeds Conservancy. A trip to their website alone is an adventure! It is filled with nutrition information etc ,,, (heritage breeds have requirements that differ from conventional breeds).   I highly encourage you  to find out more at http://livestockconservancy.org/.

I love the way they move. I love the way they sound.  I love how protective the Toms (the males) can be  when they “sound the alarm” upon hearing something (bobcat,  hawk, or human) enter the yard). Toms, in all honestly, can become quite aggressive as they come of age, so be careful if you decide to raise them and you also have small children.  I love the THUMP the males make as they strut. I love the way a warm, just laid turkey egg feel in my hand.  I love how the hens will brood over any number of eggs.. Whether you raise turkeys for meat or eggs or just plain fun, I encourage you check out an heirloom breed and consult the http://livestockconservancy.org/

RECIPE: Magic turkey Tapas – Pies  – with bird pepper goat cheese. The Magic of these little Tapas-Pies is that they are made from two significant indigenous Ingredients.  The native bird of the America’s, the turkey. And: native chiltepin/bird peppers (humans have been eating for about 9000 years.) Chilpetin is considered the closest living relative to the oldest known chile.

NOTE: if you think you want to try the goat yogurt chiltpein cheese, make it 24 hours ahead. (See January 2014 for recipe)

*To start. preheat the oven to 350 and thaw 24 Mini FIllo Shells (of course if you are a purest, by all means make your own)

INGREDIENTS:

-half a medium red onion (finely chopped)

-two toes of garlic (finely chopped)

-16 oz of ground turkey

-6-10 crushed chiltepin (or any red chile you like)

-a handful of oregano from the garden

-one bunch of asparagus (steamed or roasted)

-chileptin goat cheese (make from full fat. 12 oz yogurt, with two tablespoons of chunky salt)

HOW TO:

saute the onion, garlic,

then add turkey, ground chile – cook thoroughly — add oregano and asparagus.

Fill the Fillo Shells

Bake at 350 until golden brown – baking time will depend on the oven – mine took about half an hour

I could not believe how flavorful these little turkey are! ENJOY!!!!

A chile cheese review:

Place one 12 oz., full fat goat yogurt into a towel, in a colander, over a bow, (so whey can drip out)

Add two tablespoons coarse sea salt and chitepin to taste.

Mix thoroughly.

Tie up cloth.

Untie 24 hours later.

Refrigerate after opening.

You can also let it sit in the fridge while you are letting it transform from yogurt to infused cheese.

Aunt Linda here on a hot afternoon this last day of April, in the Old Pueblo. There is notable buzzing in the mesquite tree outside my door. It is a sound I wait for each spring.  For me, the best part of keeping bees is not the honey; though honey is remarkable. The best part is how they open wide my appreciation of the world around me.

If we were to hop a pollen grain and ride it back in time, all the way back to the Cretaceous Period, what would we find?  The first flowers on planet earth.  (Two hundred million years ago, there were plenty of plants on the planet, but no flowers.)

Michael Pollan in The Botany of Desire, describes how “flowers changed everything” when they emerged on the planet.  “Instead of relying on wind or water to move genes around, a plant could enlist the help of an animal by striking a grand coevolutionary compact: nutrition in exchange for transportation.” (p108).

This coevolutionary compact has been so successful that we see it very much in action in our own yards and neighborhoods even as I write.Below are a few photos of this ancient dance thriving in my own backyard – showing Apis Mellifera (honey bees) moving plant pollen around in exchange for nutrition.

The female foraging bee is gather pollen (protein rich food). She rubs her fur on the anthers of flowers and then combs the pollen off her body with the special “pollen combs” located on her front and middle legs. (below)

She packs the pollen into her pollen sacks (alot like “saddle bags”) on her back legs and carries it back to the hive. (below)

Once back in the hive she will store the pollen into cells near the brood nest; She does this by lowering her back legs into the cell and knocking off the pollen pellet into the cell; if you look closely you will see many colors of pollen and sometimes more than one type of pollen pellet in one cell. (below)  Bee Bread is a mixture of of nectar and pollen stored to be later fed to baby bees.

Today’s Recipe is not a recipe at all, but an Invitation.

Seek out and taste fresh honeycomb.

Not just honey, but honey still in it’s wax comb.

If you do not have a beekeeper living near you, then look in a health food stores or farmers market.

It is pure joy to hold and smell and taste honeycomb –  and to taste honey so pure that the last “hands” that touched the honey, were the bees’s  before they capped the cell.   See if you can taste the mesquite, the rosemary, the cactus flower, or whatever blooms near you, within the honey.

Below is honeycomb I harvested this morning.

Cactus Flower and pollen being gathered; note the pollen sack on back leg (below)
More Cactus Flower pollinating going on (below)
Rosemary flowers and foraging bee (below)