Savor Sister Linda here this first week on April 2018. Let’s talk about Nature’s Wisdom today through the lens of ranching.

On our ranch, we don’t have a calving “season” – where breeding is controlled and the calves arrive at pretty much the same time; and when they come, they do so under the supervision of humans. There are many benefits to this way of ranching.

And there are many different ways of ranching;  all of which have their pros and cons. On our ranch, we let the cows and bulls work out their love lives on their own, and so they calve all year long.  I’ve been fascinated learning about how cows give birth on wide open range land, and where they can show both domesticated as well as instinctive traits.

One day old calf tucked under the brush by her mother for visual protection.

When a cow calves on open range, she does a few things to protect her young.  I’ll save you from the photos of the mother eating the placenta – which among other things reduces the scent that might alert predators. She then moves her young a short way a way, and visually hides it under cover of brush.

Calves are as vulnerable as they are adorable at one day of age. We found this little girl tucked under the brush and took her and her mother back to the corrals near the ranch house to provide her a bit more protection. This photo was taken May 11th, 2015. 

Fast forwarding to present day, this little calf has grown up and is now a mother herself. She has a wonderful udder – exceptional really – with a rich capacity to provide milk to her young. In the photo below,  she is nursing her own calf (the darker calf on the left) and a second calf (on the right in photo) whose mother is ill and not producing milk. I’ve been asked why her back legs are tied; it is so she doesn’t kick. This photo was taken the second day she was nursing the 3-4 day old calves at the same time.

The same year, May 2015,  as the calf, we discovered this little foal hidden under brush, as well . Leading the mare with a rope, the little one follows in tow, back to the ranch for extra protection.

I don’t have a recipe offering today – but did find myself eating cookies and milk while I was writing ….. so consider making your favorite cookie recipe and pair it with a cold glass milk. There are so many “milks” available these days.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful  April. We’ll meet again in May!

Happy March everyone! Savor Sister Linda with you today in the Old Pueblo writing to you under a gorgeous full moon!

Mandala Magic Meal 

I woke up yesterday thinking about mandalas. Don’t ask me why; these things have a way of arising unbidden. As I was preparing breakfast, I thought it might be fun to “peer into”  the mandala shapes available to us food wise.  We could talk about mandalas for  centuries, and people have done so for just that long,  but for our purposes here, lets just give ourselves permission to simply inspired by The Gist of the Thing.

I find I reconnect with more primal parts of myself when I am in nature. Food is (or was, until we started messing with it) from nature for most of our evolution.  It amazes me that we humans feel so disconnected from the natural world – and as basic a thing as our food sources – when it is from nature that we come.

Now that the light is returning to this part of the world, the hens and turkeys are laying eggs again. Do you know the feeling of cold hands with their stiff, uncoordinated fingers?  In the late winter/early spring, when the mornings are still very cold,  I reach cold-stiff hands underneath warm lay hens. Fingers wrap around almost hot eggs,  and the effect thaws more than my hands.  This simple act reconnects “modern me” with a deeper, more instinctual self .

Whether we grow harvest, forage, or prepare our own food, we can reconnect us with seemingly lost parts of ourselves. Which is of course, what a mandalas are reported to do; reconnect us with parts in need of kinship.

My favorite egg-boiling method: 

Place eggs (a few days old; fresh eggs are harder to peel)  in an uncovered pot.  Bring the water to a roiling boil, and let it boil for about three minutes. Place a lid on the top of the pot, and turn off the heat. I wait about 10 minutes for the heated water to finish boiling the eggs. I find the texture and flavor richer and more pleasant, (than the “roiling and boiling” method for ten minutes where eggs feel too hard and the flavor duller than it needs to be)

These eggs have just beed removed fro the hot water and are now in a cold water bath to make peeling them easier.

Arrange your eggs however you would like and fill them with flavors that speak to you.  You really don’t need a vintage dish like this – the eggs themselves are tiny mandalas. 

Being a Wild Chile Addict, I crush one chiltepin over each egg. 

Mandalas are all around us – just peer into the center of a flower. Or cut open an apple (see top photo). Or grapefruit.  Or Tomato.  Or …..

A wee bit more about Mandalas from Carl Jung himself:

In 1938, I had the opportunity, in the monastery of Bhutia Busty, near Darjeeling, of talking with a Lamaic rimpoche, Lingdam Gomchen by name, about the khilkor or mandala. He explained it as a dmigs-pa (pronounced ”migpa”), a mental image which can be built up only by a fully instructed lama through the power of imagination. He said that no mandala is like any other, they are all individually different. Also, he said, the mandalas to be found in monasteries and temples were of no particular significance because they were external representations only. The true mandala is always an inner image, which is gradually built up through (active) imagination,(C.G.Jung – Psychology and Alchemy, Princeton University Press, 1993, paragraph 123.)

It is not without importance for us to appreciate the high value set upon the mandala, for it accords very well with the paramount significance of individual mandala symbols which are characterized by the same qualities of a – so to speak – “metaphysical” nature. Unless everything deceives us, they signify nothing less than a specific centre of the personality not to be identified with the ego. ( Psychology and Alchemy, Paragraph 126.)

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.