My Life as a Turkey

so good. you should watch this.

Watch My Life as a Turkey on PBS. See more from Nature.

Words to Live By

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn." John Muir

The Ghent Altarpiece

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a beautiful Christmas day and a very blessed New Year! xoxoxoxox

Instagrams

Posted with Blogsy

All Soul's Eve

This night where the veil between life and death is most fragile, is a time to remember the dead; to pray them out of purgatory, to offer up tribute and to contemplate endings. The reaper rules the harvest and the long night of winter begins. Let this one minute video be my offering for the artists to whom this homage is dedicated.  *please set your YouTube viewer to 720 HD with the settings gear at the bottom of the screen*


 

Made entirely on iPad.

Las Vegas notebook

 

Leaving our green forested home

The red earth

Desert moonscape

The Grand Canyon

A room with a view

A birdlette at the pool

Gimlet. Then, butternut squash ravioli

View from the dinner table

5 am from our room

This post was made with Blogsy a drag and drop app for iPad. I need to study up but looks like a great service ...I could not get blogger to work via safari on the pad.

Later,gators.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Hens from Hell

Hens From Hell from ande cook on Vimeo.

Got an iPad. It's a good toy. First app I bought was iMovie for iPad, of course. It's pre-fab movie making which is very different from how I usually work. I sort of like the limitations and look forward to learning how to maximize the possibilities. I think there will be a way to combine the two programs to good effect. This little ditty represents about 30 minutes from filming (with the Pad's camera) to final cut. And the Oscar goes to....

October Day

Chilled Summer Soup: A Recipe

Chilled Summer Soup

What to do, what to do with the handful of squash and cucumbers in your garden? I was in Atlanta one weekend and went to the farmer's market in my neighborhood. A fellow asked if I wanted a taste of cucumber soup; I was sure I did not. Cucumbers really aren't my cup of tea. However, the tasting cup was just a sip and to be polite, I took it. What a surprise! Though I could taste the cucumber, the flavor was a bit more full bodied and rich than I expected. When the farmer told me how it was made, I couldnt wait to make a batch for myself. I made a batch that afternoon, and took it to a gathering at the lake and it was a huge hit. I packaged individual servings in small jelly jars which I could cap and take in a cooler. Each jar had a spoon tucked into its decorative twine tie; and since we were on a boat, it took away the hassle of serving. It is so easy to make, and it's a delightful, and lovely, way to maximize the nutrients in vegetables because this soup is served raw. I've fine tuned it a bit to be more to my taste and have been selling (out) of the 8 pints I make every Friday night for my Saturday market.

Chilled Summer Soup:

2 cups homemade veggie broth. (I use this recipe to make mine, only I leave out the mushrooms.)
1/4 onion
1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup of chopped cucumber
1/2 cup of chopped yellow or zucchini squash (I use a blend of both)
1/2 cup avocado
1 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp of fresh dill
1 clove garlic
*cayenne to taste: this is the critical ingredient that give the soup a kick of a finish
sea salt

this makes +/- 2 pints

Blend all of the above in a blender until smooth. Don't use a food processor or a Vitamix: it will destroy the texture. You want there to be a little bit of body to it. Chill for at least two hours. Serve with tiny dill sprig on top or a little swirl of yogurt. This raw soup is divine, and a beautiful first course for a summer dinner.

Haiku Monday: ecosystem

A community
of Rhododendron anchors
July's broadleaf glade.

** Haiku Monday is a weekly multi-participant game that anyone can play. Visit the Pond to find the topic for the week, then post your haiku on your blog, and let Fishy know that you are up. The Badge of Great Honor will be awarded and the winner may display that badge on his/her blog.

Sugar Sugar

2012 Farmer's Market Poster

Haiku Monday: Crossroads

Hazelhurst bluesman!

Scratch got nothing on your soul

but mind that whiskey.

Haiku Monday is a multi-participant contest open to all haiku enthusiasts. C'mon in, the water's fine. Range over to Grumpy Granny's for details, and good luck!

I'm No Farmer

I know now that I do not have a natural knack for gardening, no innate green-thumb and no more beginner's lucks. Every good thing that happens is because I busted A like I was pulling a twisting, flying sunfish into a boat. I figure with the money and labor I put into my garden each vegetable I pull out of the ground cost me about 40 dollars.

A heavy frost killed my blueberries two weeks ago. Today it was almost 83 degrees and I watched in horror as I saw the brussels sprouts and brocolli go limp. The lettuce will get bitter in this heat. I will need to harvest the spinach early because the hot days will ruin its flavor. I have carrots in the ground and a second round of radish I hope I can get them grown and full of flavor but I know they prefer cool air. The first batch of radishes were a gorgeous assortment of french breakfast, cherry reds, white and pinks. A few of them were left in the ground too long and they came out resembling angry purple turnips. I should have carved faces into them like they do in Mexico on the "Night of the Radishes".

Right now, all that really looks great are the strawberries. But that is just dumb luck - I put them in and they just know what to do. Their bright reds are a cheerful greeting each morning when I go out to see what happened in the garden overnight. Today I saw a hummingbird sipping the nectar from tiny purple blooms on the weeds that are taking over the field. I see the big piliated woodpecker almost everyday, and a pair of doves have taken up residence in the platform feeder out by the shed. A five-lined skink sunned himself on the shed deck this afternoon. And tonight, there is a waxing almost half moon. It's beautiful.

The new chicks:

Boogie, Annette and Lily

the Yard Boss

Annette

the USS Lily 

the hens' mister

Lily and Annette