Wisteria is happening

Alaskan Gift Platter

A beautiful gift of glacial silt, stones, and lichen I received this week from Alaska. I'm gonna start adding the glacial silt to my daily vitamin regime - geological roughage.

Stone Barns

I haven't much time for this poor hoe lately but here's a little snippet from a trip to Stone Barns, truly a magical place. We've been using their compost in the city and were happy to get a little trip up north...more visits to come.

sheep shearing:






















logs inoculated with fungus spores:






















greens, greens and beets. look at those mustard greens!:

landscape maintenance

maintenance is such a boring and unsexy word - but it's what i'm always bitching about. finally i read this!:



















(from issue 33, Harvard Design Magazine)

olive experiment

Yesterday I planted a favorite seed - the olive - on one of my terraces in downtown Manhattan. After being smuggled from Portugal, the seed/pit waited and then went through a simulated digestive track of a small mammal over the weekend (soaking in water then sanding and knicking the exterior) then finally placed in some nice warm southern exposed soil. Good luck little buddy! I hope I can provide some positive news on this in the future.

almost spring jams

http://www.mediafire.com/?jl55utfi7um9m3c

oh hellebore

I'm exhausted from talking all day and dodging virgin bicyclists - how refreshing to see these Hellebores on my way home (on Hoyt Street in Brooklyn). Let the sun shineth upon us!

Medieval Feast Menus 1380 - 1450

Moving sucks - always. The only thing good about it is that it forces you to go through your shit. I forgot about this little gem that I picked up at Kitchen Arts and Letters a few years back. They have lots of these reprinted food related booklets but this one was my favorite and I was happy to reflip through it today. Who's to say 300 marrow bones, 11,000 eggs and 3 tons of lard and grease is too much for a dinner party...let's pilfer this place and party like it's 1389:

I'm hungry

During times of stress and illness, I turn to god: Jim Harrison. I've been sick for almost two weeks and finally exiting my coma like state. Naturally, I'm thinking about what to eat. Little Jimmy has taught me so much about life (and food) and since the season approaches us I would like to note some of his favorite things: Calvados, Quail, Morels and Ramps(wild leeks). I mention these things because Ramp and Morel season is coming in March/April - it's a narrow window. Any tri-state area people who know where morels are - I want to be your friend.

snowblindness

Tis the season for planning and Witchazels. I went for a stroll to get out of my computer hole and was happy to find some Witchazel in bloom, the very neatly planted marsh grasses and the belly of the Brooklyn Bridge under construction. The Brooklyn Bridge park is one of my favorites because of the tide pools, the rolling elevations and the extreme exposure to the sun. If you are dying for a vitamin D fix in this dark winter town - go here on a sunny day.