This was probably the fastest knitting project I have ever completed. Granted these hand mits are really easy to make but I am still going to give myself just a bit of credit. See, I tend to knit like I read a book, just a little bit here and there, until finally some six months or so later I am done.

Megan wanted something to keep her hands warm around the house but still allow her enough dexterity to type, knit, whatever. The pattern is from Weekend Knitting.

Here's a close up of Ruby from when we were hangout out today. This weekend got a late start for me since I worked at a booth for eOrganic at the Oregon State Small Farms Conference on Saturday.

We went to HD to get some lamp cord. I have to rewire an antique chandelier that we got in downtown Albany for our bedroom. We also picked up some CFL spot lights for the kitchen. I love how the price of CFLs have come down in the last year or two. I just wish they didn't have Hg in them still. After snack we went outside to turn over some more grass in the lawn to make room for garden plantings but it started to rain. Ruby loves to help me plant seeds and look for worms in the soil. She also insists on looking inside the compost bin at least once while we are in the yard. I showed it to her once a while back and she always remembers about it, even saying her version of the word compost. It melts my heart. 

Once I begin doing something in a certain way, I tend to stick to it for a long time. Take my old bread recipe. It has been really hard for me to experiment with making it any other way. One reason is that I don't want to screw it up and then we won't have any bread the next day (disaster!) But then Megan got the King Arthur Flour baking with whole grains book. At first it was just from the library, but then we realized that we had to have it for ourselves.

So I started with a honey whole wheat sandwich bread from the book. And then moved on to the whole wheat sandwich bread. Then we discovered the easiest whole wheat bread recipe. That's its actual name, the easiest. And seriously, it is only about 10 minutes of hands-on time when using a mixer and it tastes really good. If you haven't tried to make your own bread because you think it is too much work then this recipe is for you. Give it a shot! Megan also made the wheat baguettes recipe and it is the best bread I've ever eaten. It does take a couple of days to make (that's right, more than one day), but is worth the wait.

Here's Ruby eating popcorn with us. Something we all love to do.

No, this is not a late recap of 2008. It is a summary of what I've been up to since 2009 began and I have some good news to report. But I am going to go in chronological order, not so much for effect, just that otherwise I'll get my cloudy brain confused.

The first week of January had me traveling to San Diego for the Plant and Animal Genome conference. This might strike some as odd since I do most of my work as of late with the organic farming world. I am part of a new grant to help a group launch another eXtension Community of Practice, much like my work for eOrganic. I will primarily be managing the group's collaborative website to will help them work as a virtual team to accomplish there goals. This is what I've been doing for eOrganic for the last year and a half. It isn't the soil science that I was trained to do but I find it very interesting, I'm learning a lot, and the outcomes line up with my educational interests too. So we're a just out of the gate working together and this will be a major focus of mine for the next few years.

A week after I returned from San Diego I went to Monterey for the Ecofarm Conference. Located at the Asilomar Conference Center, Ecofarm is a decades old organic and sustainable farming conference attended primarily by farmers and those in the industry. Not the normal academic conference like I've been attending over the past year. The energy was really alive there with so many people eager to learn all they can about farming in such a way to promote the healing of the planet and people. The location is also great at Asilomar, right on the beach near Monterey Bay. I was able to see whales from the shore, awesome!

I was at Ecofarm to announce the launch of the eOrganic Organic Agriculture public content on eXtension. This is the project I've been working on for 1.5 years now and it is really great to finally have a public presence. Go check out our information on eXtension to see what I've been up to. My role has been primarily behind the scenes helping to manage the overall project and to help people to collaborate on writing the information. It has been a lot of work and fun along the way and we couldn't have pulled it off without the great eOrganic members and staff who are all over the country. Way to go team!

So I've been gone a bunch from home as of late so it is good to be back. I also terribly miss my family when I am gone. Next year, I hope to take them with me to Monterey as I should be at Ecofarm again.

In efforts to get rid of using Teflon, I've accumulated a couple of different pans that I use for cooking. I didn't go out and buy these all at once. Its taken about 10 years to assemble the 3 pans that I currently have. Two of them are the old school cast-iron, one is steel. I'll walk through the 3 of them and how I clean them, which is usually the most common question I get about them, and each one is cleaned in a different way.

1. The six-inch Griswald, cast-iron #3. This is my egg pan. It is also good for tofu if you only need one slab worth. I can put 3 eggs in this. When I cook with it I mainly use butter, about 1/3 to 1/2 tbsp. To clean I just wipe out with a paper towel, no water. If something is really caked on I will use water but then I lose a lot of the nonstickiness of it. But after cooking with it a couple of times it will be restored.
2. The twelve-inch Emeril, cast-iron. This is the workhorse. If I need a big pan this is the one. It can handle pancakes for breakfast and veggies for dinner. It is mostly nonstick at this point. Tofu will stick a little bit, but not bad. I use olive oil for most of the cooking, except for the pancakes, which I use butter. To clean, I use a paper towel and water, no soap. If things are really stuck I will break out the green scrubbie and just use it lightly. You want to make sure that you don't have food left in the pan. Adding about 1-2" of hot water to the pan and letting it soak can do wonders. Using the water removes some of the seasoning but I find it necessary to get it clean enough.
3. The Matfer steel fry pan, ten-inch. I love this pan. The angled lip on it makes it perfect for tossing and flipping the food pro-style while cooking. This is not nonstick like the other two so don't try tofu or eggs because you'll end up cursing and spitting. I use it for saute and stir fry.  It is perfect to cook up veggies for two or three, any more than than and I use the 12". To clean I use a green scotch brite and scrub really hard. Soap will attack the metal so water only here. The surface will rust very quickly, so after cleaning I use a paper towel to dry it. You can also put a light film of olive oil on the surface to prevent any oxidation as well.

After writing this down all these nuances seem like a pain, but really they aren't. You can assemble a nice collection of quality pans very cheaply that will last beyond your lifetime. They are easy to maintain but require a bit of practice to get it done right. Check out your local thrift store, they usually have cast-iron pans from days gone by just waiting for you.

I was working from home today when a couple of young guys came to the door to witness to me about Jesus.  We tend to have a lot of missionaries visiting us.  One friend said it was because we really need saved.  That may be, but the flow of soul savers to our house is a bit out of control.  And forget taking walks, missionaries seem to be waiting in the bushes. 

So I answered the door and politely told them that I wasn't interested.  "And yes," I replied, "I have taken a look at the book of Mormon."  I really have, plus various other pieces of religious information left behind by their cohorts.  So I know that their way is not for me.

I suffer from the common ailment of not being able to say the right thing at the right time, so later the conversation kept playing over in the head. I kept trying to come up with something witty to keep for next time this exact same scenario plays out again (in a couple of days I'm sure.)

Faith, being what it is, something that you choose to believe in, must come from within.  It has to be a part of yourself, part of your being. How else could you believe in it? If you don't own this faith then it is not sincere, only an act that you are perpetuating. So where does the faith come from? Where do you, or how do you, get it to spring forth? I suppose you can accept the faith of others as your own. Typically from parents to child, or culture to individual. But accepting the faith of others has a lot of baggage with it. There's the history of the religion to be at peace with. There's the extremists that are doing unspeakable things in the name of that religion. Baggage. Plus, in the end, you really have to believe in it, maybe not all of it, but some part of it enough to call it your own.

You can buck the established religion track and set off on your own spiritual path. This is of course tricky to follow, because it is definitely not a path, no one has laid the groundwork for you.  You can end up floundering about without really getting anywhere. I suppose this is what has happened to me for most of my adult life.  I did join the Unitarian Universalist church for a bit, but I haven't attended for several years now. But their message is the closest I've found to agreeing with me.  Basically, there are many ways to celebrate the mystery of life.  You can pray to a god, you can pray to the universe, you can be a Buddhist. There is no right way, only your way.  This is something I can get with. Find out what makes the most sense to you and then live it.

So what does this have to do with Christmas? Every year I feel a bit weird for celebrating Christmas when I'm not really a Christian. I mean I think Jesus was a real person. And I dig him because he was pretty radical in his time, claiming that anyone can have a path to God, not just the established and righteous. He also said that the only way for a rich man to get to heaven is to give all his stuff away to the poor. (I'm paraphrasing quite a bit here I realize.)  But the powerful idea that he preached, that god wasn't just for the priesthood through elaborate rituals, but for anyone is pretty cool and very anti-establishment. He taught that we already have god inside of us. Right on! This is something I can believe in, but I would take it further and say that all things have god in them already, especially the life forms. Life is truly an amazing thing. Where else in the universe to you get a trend of more organization and more complexity as time passes? This post is really rambling, I'll try to find a point here somehow.

Back to Christmas. I do not really believe that Jesus was born this time of year.  I'm not alone in that as many Christians think the same way.  Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, doesn't really matter.  But in this dark part of the year it is really nice to have a tree inside, put some lights on it and maybe the house, get together with people instead of being holed up alone in your house, enjoying great food together, making and buying gifts to share with each other. There are so many great things about Christmas. Its blend of many traditions and cultures is nice, even if some folks might not realize it. You also get to add your own house rules to the occasion as well to make it your own. So instead of worrying about the strength of my faith this year, I am going to relax and enjoy the season.

Enjoy yourselves this holiday season!

Last night I made a new version of my homemade bagels, pumpkin!  We had some left over canned stuff that we needed to use.  I'm not a big fan of canned pumpkin, especially since I have access to so many local winter squash varieties, but I bought the can on sale at the co-op one day and we used part of it in another recipe, so it was on hand.  I wasn't really sure about how much to use so this recipe isn't really tested except for once last night, but it came out pretty good as our house guests would attend to. 

This follows my other bagel recipe on the blog which follows my bread recipe, except for some minor changes.

3 c all-purp flour
2 c whole wheat, stone ground
2 c water, warm
2 tbs yeast, dry-active
1 tbs salt
3 tbs olive oil
3 tbs honey
2 tbs pumpkin pie spice, a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, clove, and nutmeg (you can make your own)
1 c canned pumpkin, or mashed winter squash of your choosing
additional whole wheat flour for dusting (as much as needed)
big pot half full of water
safflower oil for greasing the baking sheets (don't skimp)
time

Start by making the sponge.  Whisk together 1 tbs of the yeast with 1 cup of the water.  Mix in 1 cup of the all-purp flour until you get most of the lumps out.  Set aside.  Whisk together the rest of the flour, salt, yeast, spices.  Once homogenized, make a small well in the center of the flour mix and add the oil followed by the honey.  Mix these together in the little well that you made gradually mixing the flour in a little at a time.  Once a ball is made in the well start adding the rest of the water, about 1/4 cup at a time, pausing to mix it in.  Your ball of wet ingredients should be growing as you mix in more and more flour from the sides of the well.  Once most of the water is added mix in the pumpkin.  Mix this really well, it should start to smell good at this point when the pumpkin and spices start mingling.  Add the rest of the water and then the sponge.  Mix it all up as best as you can.  Add additional whole wheat flour to make the dough manageable to the point where it is not excessively sticky and you can turn it out on to the work table.  Once your turn the dough out on to the table use plenty of extra flour as you knead it (or need it, ha!)  Knead for 5 to 10 minutes continuously adding bits of flour to prevent it from sticking to the table and your hands.  Once the dough is pretty smooth looking and springs back quickly when you poke it, it is ready for the next step.

Now to make the bagels.  Divide the dough into 12 parts of little dough balls.  I like to cut the whole thing in half, then in half again, then cut each remaining section into three pieces.  When each piece, which becomes the bagel, is cut I toss it back and forth between my hands giving it a squeeze each time, which kneads it further.  I then roll it around in my hands trying to get it as smooth and round as possible.  Once satisfied, lay it on the table that's been dusted with more flour.  After all are nice, round, and waiting fill a large pot about half full of water and bring to a boil.  When the water is ready, take a ball, push your thumb through the middle of it to make a hole.  Pull the hole out a little with your fingers to increase its size and then pop it in the water.  Try to handle the dough balls as little as possible during this process.  My pot holds 3 bagels at a time and I boil them one minute on each side then transfer to a plate.  Once the next batch is ready take the 3 bagels off the plate and put them on a greased baking sheet.  When all of the bagels are on the sheet preheat the oven to 400 F and bake for 12 minutes on a side.  Make sure you flip them!  If you want to add a topping the time to do it is during the transfer off of the plate onto the baking sheet.  Just pour your topping on a small plate and give them a dip. 

Bagels only need to cool about 5 minutes before eating.  Make sure to have one while it's hot.

photo by minipixel on flickr

The party that Ruby and I went to yesterday in Corvallis was fun.  There were lots of other kids and parents there.  The toys were awesome, all the ones you wish you had the money for.  Almost everything was made of wood.  This was at an indoor park, nice to have this time of year in the Pacific Northwest.  Ruby had fun, but as predicted, was quite shy around the other kids and parents.  It made me a little sad to think that others can't enjoy the Ruby that I know, so funny and smart.  It also made me realize that when I see other kids, it is possible that what I see is just a reflection of who they really are, and how they are at home.  Being able to be Ruby's parent means that I get a backstage pass to all of her insights and shenanigans.  What a lucky place to be! 

Oh, and she liked the party hats for sure.

Here she is riding the bumblebee scooter

Wow, long week.  Glad that one is over.  Tomorrow Megan has a craft show in Corvallis.  While she is there Ruby and I are heading over to a friends birthday party.  She's turning 2.  I wonder how Ruby will act with all of the other kids.  She is usually pretty shy around groups.  This is funny to us because she is very outgoing around the house, being very dramatic (something Megan says she gets from me.)  But she is our child, as Megan and I are rather shy ourselves.  I'm sure we'll have fun.

Speaking of fun, I was listening to the recent podcast of Sound Opinions, which is great by the way, and they were doing a review of bubblegum pop from the last 40 years or so.  They got around to the 80's and played this song from New Edition, Cool it Now.  YouTube wont let me embed this one, so you'll have to travel over there to see, but it is well worth.  Enjoy!

Megan and I stop at this little outpost on our way to Edgefield during her birthday week.  It's raining outside right now.

photo by b.ug via flickr

Seems like every time I turn around I hear of another book, article, website, political comment, about how the earth is doomed if we don't change our current consumptive behavior.  As speculative and depressing as this is (fear sells) I generally believe it.  I don't believe that life will cease to exists on our planet home, it will just get really ugly for 90% of the species.  After which things will get better again, kind of like a shuffling of the nature deck.  Nature will adapt and heal itself, whether or not humans will be around in the same numbers to see it.

How long till this doomsday cycle begins?  Well the process was set in place back in the advent of agriculture some 12,000 years ago and has brought us to our current situation: the explosion of technology and population with its result of increasing the rate of natural resource loss and breakdown of ecosystem services.  In my view, all of our wealth, livelihood, and health is dependent upon these ecosystem services.  It is where our water, air, food, and shelter come from.  And we have been, like in many other aspects of our lives, pulling out extra resources on credit, with no real plan on how to pay it all back.  And as we become increasingly aware of misguided resource use through study and science, we document it.  The vast amount of writing produced on the subjects of climate change, population explosion, end of days scenarios, etc is pretty phenomenal.  I guess some education on this subject is warranted, but what are some next steps to take?

Let's face it, we are spoiled!  Me included!  Daily hot showers, unlimited food choices, computers everywhere, roads, hospitals, shopping malls, and on and on.  I think we need to remember that it has only been 3 or 4 generations since all this comfort really kicked in.  Now, do I want to give it all up?  No.  But maybe we can find some way to sacrifice a bit. If we started with the biggies, the things that would have the most impact, what are some things to do?

• Water: Shower every other day?
• Transportation: Drive half as much? Travel half as often?
• Electricity: Solar/wind for half our power?
• Food: Get half of our food from local sources that are organic/sustainable?

Possible?  Could we handle this as a country/state/city/family?

Bike sharing by *Sally M*

It was Meet your Maker craft show time again for Meg Friday night.  This means that by 3 o'clock she was out of the house and it was me and Ruby for the night.  I look forward to these monthly happenings so I can spend time with Ruby and Megan can have some fun away from home.  We did the usual, play blocks, read books, and it was even dry enough to go to the park.  We were the only ones there for some reason, which I found odd since it was the first time in a week that I thought the equipment would actually be dry. 

Ruby likes to sit here and read books.