Savor Sister Linda here with you this first weekend in February. I don’t know about you, but these past few weeks have offered a lot of challenges. Opportunities as well. This pie post speaks to the opportunities.

As I’ve been navigating profound water issues at the ranch as extreme drought continues and continues, as well as family health crises, I’ve found that my mental chatter interferes with responding with any level of skillfulness much less elegance.   Conversely, freeing myself  from even some of that mental chatter, allows for innovative ideas and collaborations to arise — whether they be rethinking a water system or collaboratively caring for a family member.

Citrus peel and chiltepin

There is sensual pleasure in creating recipes. The aromas and flavors and work a kind of magic, and as I working/playing  with ingredients I often feel more grounded.   Added to the mixture is the memory of having picked that orange from the tree, and re-visiting  via scent, how the orange smelled as the fruit pulled from the tree – and yet again as I grate its peel.  I re-feel the sound and smell of citrus blossoms as the bees visit the flowers and then return to their hives just meters behind me – and honey too goes into the recipe.   I think of innumerable hands that have, for 8000 years or so, picked chiltepin, and I am not longer sure whose hands I feel, theirs or mine,  as the smooth red fruit separates from the woody plant, the heat of its aroma wafting into my nostrils, a grasshopper hopping off  a thin branches to my left, leaving half chewed fruit behind.

Simply naming it Humble Pie had a surprising affect. The “idea” of humble itself set me free of all that mental chatter and it’s too-ing and fro-ing. It reminded methat cycles exist in life and in nature.

It reminded me that humans are a Part of  – and not the Measure of  – all things. 

I decided then and there, as I was scooping gloppy chocolate into the bottom of the pan, intermittently licking the side of my hands, that from here on out I would take my place in the scheme of things.  I would still be a food producer; would still interact intimately with winged pollinators, leafy plants, and furry beings. It is just that now I would do it more with the attitude of a Curious Apprentice of Nature.

We’ll delve into what I’ve been uncovering and discovering another time. For now, lets enjoy a humble pie!

Humble Pie – this is a no bake pie, with two layers –  a bottom and a top.  

The Bottom Layer  – place parchment paper at the bottom of an 8″ pie pan. Process the following ingredients into a smooth, thick paste.

The bottom later should look something like this.

2  1/3 cup walnuts

1/12 cups dried dates, pitted

1/4 Bourbon (optional obviously; if you choose not to use it, you might add a bit of the milk of your choice) I used the bourbon for fun, and used a quantity that is subtle. I soaked the dates and walnuts in while I grated the orange peel and prepared the other ingredients to allow the flavors to infuse a bit.

1 ripe medium avocado.

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons vanilla exctract

1/4 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

1/4  heaping teaspoon cardamom.

pinch of salt.

The Top Layer

In a food processor, combine the next three ingredients and blend until smooth. Spread this over  the bottom layer and place in the fridge for 2-3 hours. Add your chiltepin, or chocolate nibs, more citrus peel, berries, cream ….. to the top and enjoy.

3 ripe, medium-large avocados

1/2 cup of honey

3/4 cup cocoa

The consistency of the top layer should look something like this.

Chiltepin to taste – and/or dried cherries for the top.

Savor Sister Linda here on this 1st day of December in the Old Pueblo – and a cloudy Friday it is!  We are on the brink of a full moon; check the sky tomorrow evening as it rises, about 5PM, Tucson time.

I am hoping rain follows these clouds. If you know of a good school on the Practice of  Powerful Rain Dances,  let me know. The Sonoran Desert is parched. No matter what side of the border you live, or whether you are an animal or vegetable or mineral, it is dry. Dry. Dry.

A friend and Very Dry Land, as we searched for wild chiltepin plants, two weeks ago.

I read a poem this week that won’t let me go. The poem, True North, is by Doug von Koss, I’ll offer you just a few lines in case they speak to you.

“That other compass

you bought in the city

is no good to you now

This wild chiltepin plant is growing in a Plant Guild, under an Oak Tree (and Mesquite; note the legume leaves). It is because of these mutually beneficial, interdependent guild relationships that these plants survive in even tougher than usual conditions. Note the yellow butterfly.

The chiltepin we did pick are even more precious than usual now. In the photo above you can see a wild chile plant growing under an oak, and near a mesquite tree as well. I love these nurse plants so fundamental to the survival of wild chiles. We harvested here about three weeks ago, talking and picking for hours, feet slipping on steep hillsides, as have countless humans for 8000 years. As the rhythm of the picking worked it’s magic on me, I found myself thinking of the Tree of Life.

Anne Baring, author,  Thought Leader, and a woman of wonderful integrity, (and her co-author Jules Cashford),  in The Myth of the Goddess; Evolution of an Image writes,  “The Tree of Life was one of the primary images of the goddess herself, in whose immanent presence all pairs of opposites are reconciled. Growing on the surface of the earth, with roots below and branches above, the tree was the great pillar that united earth with heaven and the underworld, through which the energies of the cosmos poured continuously into earthly creation. The animating spirit that moved within it was the serpent guardian also of the fruit or treasure of the tree, which was the epiphany of the goddess, that is, the experience of unity.” (page 496).

The experience of unity.  Not the idea of unity. Not thinking about unity. But experiencing it. Which includes our unity with nature and with our food – so that we might live more as it as if we were an expression of life; and less as it we were isolated from it.  When I am picking wild chiles, for example, I feel connected to all the other hands that have picked this tiny chiles for more than 8000 years; I feel reverence for the beaks and tongues of birds who ate/eat and spread it’s seed. I feel happy that I can eat food that is really food. That comes fresh. Not wrapped in plastic; not processed at all.

Chiltepin which in my experience is the most aromatic chile in the world. Not only are they incredibly flavorful, but they smell so darned good!

No recipe this week; the photos won’t transfer over to this site for some reason, and the recipe needs the pics. Instead, consider eating as if you really really really were a part of our food system. Be the Tree of Life. Because we are all connected, to each other and to our food, it is both wise and fun to bring to our tables and our tongues food that makes a positive impact on Our Tree of Life.

Farmers markets are a great place to buy food as “close to the source” as is possible, without growing it yourself. If you live here in the South West, you could plant a winter garden. There are few things as satisfying as feeling your own food. If you live in colder climes, flirt with planting some herbs in a pot inside by a window this winter. Or finding a spot to plant a garden in the spring.

Happy Full Moon.