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214 on a mission

figs.  Need to find some figs.
IMG_7017f

it's the time of day and i couldn't get a better pic, but you can get the Drift.   Wine and Honey Poached Figs with Fresh Cheese and Herbs.  What kind of cheese?, well, creamy fresh goat cheese the recipe says.  Check.  just need to find the figs.

and this evening i'll make something i might ordinarily make for later in the months, but i want it now.

Roasted root vegetables with Goat Cheese Dressing.   Potatoes, Sweet potatoes, turnips, rutabega, carrots.

the dressing:  Goat Cheese, serrano chili, olive oil, lime juice, green onions, garlic, cracked black pepper, pureed and chilled.  Like going to heaven.

IMG_7016f

and it was a work away day but i wanted to see this at least a little…how the storm goes over into the moon.   

and i was asked to do the math today about how many bales of grass hay i will want to "reserve" as mine.  this last harvest into May when the new first cut will be ready.  so i figured it out, maybe, to be 150 bales.  i really don't like looking at numbers.  it's too harsh.  that's $1,350.  eeeeee.  well,  and really,  on the flip side of the math,  how amazing i can DO it!?!  who would have Guessed.

 

 

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32 responses to “214 on a mission”

  1. handstories Avatar
    handstories

    the storm is looking feather like in it’s reach. & my mouth is watering. & i love saying the word “rutabaga”. bon appetite!

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  2. patricia Avatar
    patricia

    what kind of grass? $9/bale? wow. i know there are all sorts of reasons why the hay is so pricey now–weather, demand, etc. still, that’s a chuck a change. glad you can swing it though. and i for one would have bet on you.

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  3. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    whaa. just lost a huge response to this…
    but Native Grass. i get it from Bill and Nelia, Bill being
    Alz B;s son….
    Alfalfa here last season was 8 a bale. don’t know about
    this year.
    it IS a chunk of change. and when we go to the grocery
    store and are startled by prices of FOOD, this comes into
    play. i am learning SO MUCH!!!
    people want the milk. people want the cheese. and they
    want it for less than at the grocery, because it’s me…
    it’s here. Goats in the Yard. but they need to be FED.
    i WISH WISH WISH i had acres of brouse. i don’t. so i feed them. and i feed them pellets too. once a day. No
    small thing, eating. for them, for Us. so i learn.
    but that also is the POINT for me. if i had children, little ones, i would FOR SURE live where i could have a few Goats. i would spend what money i had feeding those goats and getting REAL and GOOD return to feed my children. all this thing of cheap food, endless food stuff…not good. it’s an illusion.

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  4. grace Avatar
    grace

    good. it’s Reach. good.
    rutabega. ROOTS. i think it’s my Czech genetics. i get
    all crazy with root vegetables.
    i remember my mother telling me how her mother, Caterine
    Ludvinka lived in a small village in Moravia then. Czechoslovakia later. but they had a town “square”, or
    i saw it in my mind as a circle, and all the animals were herded in to the Center in the night. everyones.

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  5. grace Avatar
    grace

    my Social Security check is not quite $7oo a month. but
    feeding me, feeding them, i Can. there is NOTHING left
    over.
    and i say this just for the POLITICAL point…Social Security. it’s a BIG DEAL. a really BIG Deal. maybe i
    should re put that thing i did once about Social Security.
    all my life i worked, somehow. since i was 15. Now, i
    still work. 4 kinds of “jobs” that help feed these Goats.
    because i WANT TO feed these Goats, these Goats that really belong to a Daughter who ALSO works. it’s no small thing, all of it.

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  6. jude Avatar
    jude

    goat cheese and figs are the best combination ever.
    many folks are afraid to live right on the line. i find it exciting.

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  7. grace Avatar
    grace

    you have NO IDEA how i received this comment. a
    RUSH
    of
    of…what?
    a RUSH of
    relief.
    Yes. living on the line.
    Human beings have done that forever. FOREVER. it’s how
    it IS. it’s what MAKES SENSE. it’s what’s REAL.
    this is why i love you, Jude Hill

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  8. jude Avatar
    jude

    still, i long for the fine line, away from this bullshit here.

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  9. jude Avatar
    jude

    and what is really great is figs, split in half on VERY bitter greens with goat cheese and dark honey. a bit of jalapeno. slightly burnt under a flame. i could die.

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  10. jude Avatar
    jude

    you should be able to grow figs there.

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  11. grace Avatar
    grace

    bullshit is everywhere.
    it’s in Our Selves, our own self, that we can be free.
    here, there, anywhere.
    we push it off. we clean up and live as best we can.

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  12. grace Avatar
    grace

    e
    yes. yes.
    slightly burnt.

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  13. grace Avatar
    grace

    i could. it takes some focus in the first year.
    but i could. i can.
    i didn’t focus. all they would have needed was compost.
    piled up. warmth.
    i didn’t do it.
    and then, there’s the fig tree, so stunted, in the
    empty lot that Alz B and i used to walk by on our way to
    the Farmer’s Market from her house. just a little stunted
    thing, but it got figs.
    i’ll go look tomorrow.

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  14. Nance Avatar
    Nance

    Why should your goat milk be cheaper than the store… It should be MORE because its better quality… Fresher and local and raised with love… You have to get people used to that idea… Somehow. But it should cost more. I’m so impressed with all you do on your little piece of land. It’s amazing when you think of it.

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  15. grace Avatar
    grace

    the grocery store isn’t going to order goat milk anymore.
    they ended up throwing out too much. i found that out
    today. so there won’t be even Store Goat Milk.
    but…it’s a dilemma. money for food. i have yet to
    understand about that.

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  16. Michelle in NYC Avatar
    Michelle in NYC

    Oh yes, food production and sale, but the worst is the ‘futures’ market where investors (gamblers) bet on the price of crops. Food itself is the innocent bystander, and those of us who love it’s nourishment and beauty are fortunate to retain the perspective of that simplicity in our hearts. That fig dish is stunning…can hardly wait for my next trip to the farmers market. I used to garden for my vet in Brooklyn and the figs were a bonus…also the Spring rhubarb. I’ll bet your goat cheese is better than anything at the grocery…but what a shame you can’t sell some there. It’s enough, perhaps, just to be able to feed yourself and maybe a few friends. Nothing is better than fresh, but I wonder if goat cheese and milk can be frozen. Is that a possibility even…so there would be Winter supply?
    You know, in some parts of the country, folks rent goats to clear their land each Spring and Fall. how fine it would be if yours could forage (sigh). I’m kinda amazed you can manage the $ part. We are in the same boat in some ways, though I’ve no dependents, and without that church garden, now no extra lump of cash. I will be looking around for something to supplement my SS and Pension total soon. ’cause every, everything gets more expensive by the hour…like the storm crossing over the little moon. Yet the moon survives.

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  17. patricia Avatar
    patricia

    i would be very interested in your thing about Social Security. for some reason, seeing those two words spelled out here–it’s like i’m seeing them for the first time. Social Security. is that an oxymoron? don’t get me wrong here. i too live on your kind of ss. and i wonder–all those years, it seemed like SO much was taken out each week/month. and yet…and yet…now it’s just barely enough. almost. i don’t know. and today our gov. goes into partial shut-down. maybe it’s been in partial shut-down for a long time and we’re just giving it a name. i don’t know.

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  18. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Living on the edge: sometimes you just have to balance on that knife edge because your soul is withering…we’ve had good financial times and rough ones and what I have learned is that you take the measure of what is truly important to your daily life and go on. Could have remained in TN, getting by, withering away. We took the leap to that knife edge, took on some debt to get here to New Mexico and it was and is one of the best things we have ever done. Sure the belt is very tight as we pay off the moving expenses but the lightness of spirit, the deepening joy in living here, coming to know this land, is so worth it…the balance of life is such that for how ever long I am on this dearly loved planet, my soul needs to thrive and so it is and while my pocket book is small, our lives are so much richer for having come here.

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  19. KAMFreeman Avatar
    KAMFreeman

    Edge living is reality in my retired years..an edge that keeps me alert to all…and searching for ways to use what grows in my garden, and your search for more and more of using the wonderful cheese you are making..that part of the edge life keeps us looking, thinking, exploring, growing and truly living in the essence of the place we are. What could be better? That mystery of each month having enough despite the little extras continues to create a time of smiles of joy and a deep breath of a happy self.
    Your ingenuity on that piece of land has been a marvel to watch…from the first photos of land stark and barren to so much life, so much growing…real fences and a room for your creativity to flow forth with the cloth and thread and dyes…That edge has brought forth so much that is beautifully expressed in each step, each stitch, each walk, each photo, and the words, oh how they sing to me day after day.
    Thank you Grace for living on an edge that has been carving away at the creation of a most beautiful life,a life that comes now to me every day in your words and pictures. I am so grateful to be walking along on this journey with you.

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  20. Drucilla Pettibone Avatar
    Drucilla Pettibone

    i’ve been quietly lurking, following your days, reticent to pop on with a comment that is not, well, eloquent, because your writing and photos are so beautiful… I so appreciate your days. But this entry jarred me enough to say $9/bale?!!! can you look around for a better deal? i understand wanting to buy from Alz B’s son, but we used to pay anywhere from $8-12/bale when we first moved to NC, and then I met more people and talked to growers and found one with perfectly great bermuda for $3.25/bale, delivered! Just a thought. The prices have skyrocketed all over since I got my donkey in 1998. But caring for critters takes up most of our money, really it has us living beyond what we can afford, and it causes me much more stress than excitement. Thank goodness for Jude’s perspective!
    And figs and goat cheese just make me all drooly. Enjoy!!
    Sending love.

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  21. Mo Crow Avatar
    Mo Crow

    This post is so full of living with a light footprint on the land & love the layers weaving into the new cloth.

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  22. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    “food itself is the innocent bystander”

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  23. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i have watched you….

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  24. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i love the word
    alert
    what a beauty full word
    alert
    eyes clear…seeing
    ears pricked, listening
    alert!

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  25. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    well, so happy you Un lurked.
    it’s the going rate here. the difference in what i feed
    has to do with DAIRY animals. their milk, their ability
    to produce milk has to do so much with what they Eat.
    Goats, Dairy Goats can do well with bermuda grass.
    actually, i notice the difference in milk with the native
    grass this year and the alfalfa last year.
    AND and BUT
    i really appreciate these thoughts of yours. this Herd
    still is of my daughter. again, i would NEVER choose to
    keep so many Goats. it’s CRAZY unless you are actively producing in partnership with them. but i am holding her Place for her. we’ll see. my greatest hope is that she
    takes them and continues on with her own dream. so, until there is clear sign that she can’t, i will HOLD it for her. i would do anything for her. anything i could.

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  26. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    love, mo…..

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  27. grace Avatar
    grace

    just noticed the MISTAKE in the above…
    Goats DO NOT do well with Bermuda. or Oats.

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  28. mimmin Avatar
    mimmin

    these recipes sound wonderful
    would it be possible to get rough proportions for the goats cheese dressing please, i would love to try the roast root veg with it. and rutabega sounds so much more exotic then swede or as we say in scotland neeps!
    p.s. i would come and goat-sit/feed/hug for you if i lived nearby, in a heartbeat

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  29. grace Avatar
    grace

    and BEETS….BEETS are a MUST!
    Goat Cheese Dressing
    equals 2 Cups
    1C soft goat cheese
    1/2 C milk
    1 serrano chili minced
    1/2 C olive oil
    2 T lime juice
    2 green onions
    2 or 3 cloves garlic
    1 t cracked black pepper
    Puree well and chill one hour
    the root vegetables, swished around in 1/2C sherry vinegar, 1/4C olive oil, as many cloves of thin sliced
    garlic as you like, 1t kosher salt, 1t cracked black
    pepper, 1/2t ground white pepper….
    and sometimes i sprinkle on some Tamari
    Bake 425 for 35min. Allow to cool almost to room temp.
    I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    and i wish you lived nearby too…., but alas…..

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  30. mimmin Avatar
    mimmin

    Thank you so much Grace, I will make this on Friday!

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  31. mimmin Avatar
    mimmin

    it was amazing even though i was a bit heavy handed with the garlic, just so tasty. thank you again xxx

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  32. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    well…so now you know. make a note on your recipe card….
    “NO heavy hand!” I love garlic. Garlic loves me.

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