Winter Twist Salad

 Winter Twist Kale Salad

Kale 

Pineapple 

Dijon Mustard

Knudsen Morning Blend Juice or Freshly Juiced Apple, Orange, Pineapple and Pear

An invigorating, mineral and vitamin rich salad as winter approaches. Did you know Kale is super rich in Vitamin C with ample amounts of calcium and iron. One cup offers over 100 mg of Vitamin C ~ can't imagine eating a cup of kale? Surprise yourself with this salad as a winter warmer for your immune system. 

Oil and heat the Kale till lightly wilted. You can also serve the salad raw and rubbed with oil. 

Transfer to a bowl, drizzle with dressing and toss in the pineapple. 

Dressing is easy to make just add twice the amount of juice to mustard and whisk till well blended.

Earth Oven Pizzas

Spent the whole day cooking pizzas and pumpkins. A lot of work for a unique taste but also worth it for  observing the rhythms of the meadow

Starting the fire

first pizza ready to go in

I will say mildly blackened food has a rewarding taste that differs from the electric oven failures. Plenty of variations to work out with the earth oven like heating it up hotter and longer for the start and a tool to remove all the fine hot ash. You'll see during this first time I kept a fire going in one corner of the oven to keep the temp up. This was moved around from one side to the other depending on what I was cooking or burning in most cases. 

The rolling fire posed a bit of a challenge when retrieving the pizza with flames running along the inside top or out the front where the oven exterior is black. So, a wooden peel was quickly constructed. The door also had to be soaked in water and propped up for a fresh air draw to keep the fire rolling. A chimney this spring once we're above freezing at night will be great to keep flames and smoke a good distance from my face. 

These are the ways I discovered to manage cooking with a open flame but not absolutely necessary I hope if 

next time a larger fire is made in the oven, burned longer and then removed when reduced to coals. Then the door can be sealed shut to hold the heat with no flames to contend with. Also, a precook on the crust just like electric cooking would be helpful so it's more evenly cooked in the center.
So, this was a good first try to work out these learning lessons but maybe not a daily affair just yet. This type of oven can easily be improved upon and adjusted since it is merely clay, sand and straw. It was a great reason to spend the whole day outside and exciting to finally use. 

Cloud Bands

Wondering if we'd get the snow bands but more warm watery weather.

Howling like the Wind

Ride
into the backbone of the Earth
where hearts pounding against
the icy air
hear
a wolf howling like the wind
the deep swirling spirits
awaken
luring us past
icy water falling
on a sky bridge between
ancient stromatolites and ravens riding thermals

the wolf pack grows and echoes
throughout the valley
reaching
the entrance of the tunnel
as the icy sun sets
behind illuminated snow and clouds
leaving only shadows and silhouettes

Lodge Signs

Birthday Ice and Fire

Standing Waves

i can still hear, an ancient epeiric wind, rustling through the fields of poacea in montana

An Arctic Bird's Winter Paradise

the highlight of my day
numb inflexible hands in an arctic bird's winter paradise, discovering a new way
along the other side of the river
with clear views to the bottom, Common and Hooded Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, Mallards, American Widgeons, Canada Geese, Magpies, a Muskrat and the larch leaf drop
in lofty pillows along the trail with only berries, bare branches and conifers.  

Sky Silver

Sky silver

casting a shade of icy blue 

reflecting in evening light

he paints rainbows 

Sky silver 

casting lines on

the reflecting river 

oncorhynchus paints the undercurrents

Sky silver

wind casting currents

the reflecting raven

paints with iridescent wings 

Our view of the sky today

Migration in Retrograde

waking 

during the morning of dawn stars, vaguely remembering vivid dreaming, the intense pulsars of fleeting light

passing

he found the unlikely flying soloist 

still 

velvet to the touch 

pollen dusting the lower left wing 

stuck 

to the middle of the road in November

at 48 degrees north 

the painted lady feeling missed migrations, her lost dream of yesterday and the vibration of planets in retrograde 

Chirality

Another day with the distorted sun

light suspended 

then filling my heart 

with an enduring warmth 

keeping the embers of my spirit burning

as laughter travels like an echoic wind  

from the kinetic rule makers of merriment 

suspended 

in a new vantage of perspective

  

Reeling Toward the Sun

A glimpse of the future

Sinusoidal Projections

Nearly every morning
has been filled 

               with the late arrival of a grey sun 

   barely perceptible 

the silver lining illuminating

   a thick blanket of clouds 

with only one inversion adventure 

worth 10 minutes of direct sunlight

                                    for weeks

This morning we we're greeted with a sea of cerulean so irresistible
we bathed in the ocean of the sky.  redefining                   

~ delighted ~ 

Earth

Excerpt from Frederico Garcia Lorca,  "Landscape"

    By mistake the evening 

had dressed in cold.

  

Through the mist on the panes

all the children

watch a yellow tree

change into birds.

"Paisaje"
 
 La tarde equivocada

se vistio de frio

Detras de los cristales

turbios, todos los ninos, 

ven convertirse en pajaros

un arbol amarillo

"Floating Bridges"

Every step we take on earth
brings us to a new world.
Every foot supported on a floating bridge.

And I know that there is no
straight road in this world-
only a giant labyrinth
of intersecting crossroads.

And steadily our feet
keep walking and creating
-like enormous fans-
these roads in embryo

"Los puentes colgantes"

Cada paso en la Tierra
nos lleva a un mundo nuevo.
Cada pie lo apoyamos
sobre un puente colgante.

Comprendo que no existe
el camino derecho.
Solo un gran laberinto
de encrucijadas multiples.

Constantemente crean
nuestros pies al andar
inmensos abanicos
desenderos en germen.