a tree-mendous fort
Posted: July 5, 2012 Filed under: Child Centered Activities 5 CommentsA couple years ago, at my day job, we built a tree fort. A furnituremaker helped, and the joinery made this something special; we cantilevered two platforms within an apple tree and it was quite beautiful, wrapped in blossoms during the spring flowering, hidden by leaves throughout the summer, ripe red fruit easily grabbed come autumn.
Something told me not to anchor the fort into the apple tree, and that premonition proved true a year later – last year – when we were told to move the fort to a different location. Down came the pieces (and the tree remains pristine) and the platforms were reassembled, this time surrounded by Austrian Pine trees. We added a crow’s nest, tucked high back among the pines.
But even that was not quite right. As children love a spot to hide in, we wanted to add a roof, and enclose the second level. Dimensioned lumber – your basic 4x4s or 2x4s – would not be right so off we went into the woods looking for beech and birch trees, to limb and cut down and use for the ridgepole, rafters and beams. We “beavered” the rafters and notched the cross beams. We used some pine boards for the walls and roof.
“Nice,” we were told, but “how about some old barn boards? And maybe some lobster rope to wrap some of the boards, and maybe a control panel, and maybe some driftwood, and…we need to trick this out.”
Given those marching orders, off we set looking for old barn wood. I put out a call to the network of Maine woodworkers, and found a woman whose husband dismantled a barn and has stored the wood in the loft of another barn on their farm. She wrote, “About 35 years ago, we tore down a barn in Auburn and put the wood in the loft of our barn. It has quite a few antique nails. I’d love to find a good home for this wood, but I don’t know if this is what [you’re] looking for. It is the siding of the barn, what was under the clapboard, and the wood is all different lengths much of it short. It is not “finished” in any way – may be too rough… but I’d be happy to have you take a look.”
Maybe not the wide beams used in fancy floors, but for a tree fort, with an ocean view…this may just be right. Soon I will be driving north in search of those special boards to add just the touch. In the meantime, the fort sure is a nice place from which to watch the lobster boats crossing the Saco Bay homeward with their day’s catch. As E said, as she tested out the fort, “Daddy, two thumbs up!”
“The Owl and the Pussy-cat” by Edward Lear
Posted: July 1, 2012 Filed under: Art & Healing, Child Centered Activities, Gallery - Quotes 2 CommentsRecently, while reading this to little E, she asked me, “Daddy, will you be the Turkey?” Why, yes, indeed, and this classic surely belongs in our summer’s reading list of love.
“Wedding of Andromache and Hektor:” Sappho
Posted: June 27, 2012 Filed under: Art & Healing, Gallery - Quotes 1 CommentSappho’s is the sun-drenched voice of the first female poet in the Western corpus. She lived on Lesbos, an island in the Aegean Sea, a place of grains, grapes, olive groves and orchards.
Her lyric poems, written during the 7th century BCE, largely exist in fragments yet her voice rings bold with passion and candor, an ecstasy of the senses. In this telling of a wedding feast you can feel the excitement, envision the coming together of family and friends, hear the heavenly songs of love.
Wedding of Andromache and Hektor
The translation is by Willis Barnstone.
Summer = Strawberries
Posted: June 23, 2012 Filed under: Farming off the Farm, In the Kitchen 3 CommentsBy the calendar, summer came one day early (the leap year added one day to February). But in truth, summer arrives when the strawberries are ready for picking. 
And go picking today we did!
So now our household is all about whipped cream and shortcake and berries-a-plenty. Alice Waters’ “The Art of Simple Food” has this recipe for Cream Biscuits – a/k/a shortcake; just add strawberries and whipped cream!
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Stir together in a large bowl: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 4 teaspoons sugar (optional), 2 teaspoons baking powder.
Add 6 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces then add the butter into the flour using your fingers or a pastry blender until they are the size of small peas.
Measure 3/4 cup heavy cream then remove 1 tablespoon and set that tablespoon aside. Lightly stir into the flour the remainder of the cream with a fork until the mixture just comes together. Without overworking it, lightly knead the dough a couple of times in the bowl (this is pretty vague and not sure we hit the mark) turn it out onto a lightly floured board, and roll out about 3/4 inch thick (ours was about 1/4″ thick).
Cut into 1 1/2 inch circles or squares (we ended up with three or four times as many, but they worked fine all the same). Reroll the scraps if necessary. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and lightly brush the tops with the reserved cream. Bake for 17 minutes, or until cooked through and golden. Let cool, then top with strawberries and whipped cream.
…and we hope you find a field to forage…
One Hundred Love Sonnets: Pablo Neruda
Posted: June 19, 2012 Filed under: Art & Healing, Gallery - Quotes 1 CommentFrom the “Morning” sequence, this is sonnet XVI:
on the nature of love…
Posted: June 9, 2012 Filed under: Art & Healing, Gallery - Quotes 7 CommentsAh summer! The idyllic time of year, so nice to sit upon the beach or to lay under a large green tree, gazing aloft as clouds drift by, or perhaps we pick fresh berries and eat pie a’la mode, or that time honored tradition, to idle away hours with a really good book.
My summer reading shall be upon the nature of love. (Well, with little E around, I shall also read aloud Dr Seuss, Beatrix Potter, etc. but the point remains…summer is here.)
With the theme of love firm in my mind, off I dashed to the South Portland Library to grab an armload of poetry, from Sappho to Anne Sexton, from Rumi to Pablo Neruda, with all viewpoints in between. How rich this field!!
Throughout the summer, love poetry will adorn our Art Farm.
You see, our dear friends, planning their September wedding, have asked me to help. More precisely, to serve as official for their ceremony, their Notary Public. Now, this is entirely new to me, and at hearing their request I was speechless and without breath. But of course, yes, I do!
And so off I set now to help craft their ceremony and to give voice to the song deep in their hearts. One fine place to start this odyssey might be these lines from Rumi:
I, you, he, she, we
in the garden of mystic loves
these are not true
distinctions
Another starting point, prudent and practical, would be the State of Maine, Department of the Secretary of State, “Notary Public Handbook and Resource Guide”, from which I quote:
“Often, couples want other persons involved in the ceremony. This is not an issue; however, the Notary Public must, without exception, (sic) do the exchanging of the vows and make the pronouncement of marriage in addition to signing the marriage license.
Official: As an expression of your mutual desires and purpose of being joined in marriage, you will please join hands.
(Addressing the man by name): Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, promising to love, honor and cherish her, and in all respects to be a faithful husband so long as you both shall live?
Answer: I do.
Official: (Addressing the woman by name): Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, promising to love, honor and cherish him, and in all respects to be a faithful wife, so long as you both shall live?
Answer: I do.
(Rings may then be placed on the fingers.)
Official: Since you have entered into this honorable estate of matrimony by mutual promises, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the State of Maine, I now pronounce you husband and wife.
spring pageant
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: Art & Healing, Gallery - Visual 2 CommentsHere in zone 6, on the ocean, there have been two weeks of cool, damp days. The trees and shrubs are happy, with buds ready to burst. This is the magic time, and with a day or two of sunshine, the apple orchard will be resplendent!
Spring blossoms
Posted: April 21, 2012 Filed under: Farming off the Farm, Gallery - Visual Leave a commentHere are photos of the apple orchard, taken April 18th. With the very warm March weather, we are about three weeks ahead of a “normal” spring. The buds are currently in the “half inch green” and “tight cluster” stages.
“Good things last”
Posted: February 2, 2012 Filed under: In the Kitchen 3 CommentsOur Great Uncle Don lives by that mantra. And he knows, having been, for almost four decades, a buyer of furniture and art. From Louisville, Kentucky – home of the Mint Julip and a refined southern comfort – he travelled the world each year, from Asia to Africa and all the way across Europe. He has a finely tuned eye. And his mantra makes sense.
In his eighties now, he doesn’t travel with the same aplomb. But he loves Peanut Butter Cookies and we baked and sent to him some treats: good things that won’t last.
This recipe for peanut butter sandwich cookies is an adaptation of “Not Nutter Butter” from Nancy Silverton’s Sandwich Book. It made 52 individual cookies, or 26 sandwich cookies.
In a medium skillet combine: 4 oz unsalted butter, 1 vanilla bean (or about 1 tsp vanilla extract), and 2 Cups rolled oats and toast them over a medium heat until they are becoming caramelized:
Meanwhile, cream together: 8 ounces unsalted butter, 2 tsp baking soda, and 2 tsp kosher salt until the butter is softened. Then add 3/4 Cup white sugar and 3/4 Cup brown sugar and mix until light and fluffy.
Next add 3/4 cup peanut butter (we used Whole Foods No Salt bulk peanut butter, but you could use any other brand. If using natural peanut butter pour off the excess oil before adding.) And then mix in the toasted oats and 2 1/4 Cup unbleached all-purpose flour. Blend until just combined.
Using a coffee scoop we portioned the cookies and then pressed them down, gently, to flatten them out:
You might add the cross-hatch marks with a fork.
Bake the cookies on parchment paper at 350 degrees for about 17 minutes, or until just beginning to darken on the edges; we like them best when still just chewy in the middle. They will firm up as they cool.
For the filling, combine 3 ounces unsalted butter, 2 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp powdered sugar, 1/2 Cup bulk all natural no-salt peanut butter, and 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp almond butter, unsalted. Blend until smooth and creamy, and then spread the filling between two cookies.
Stone Turtle
Posted: January 28, 2012 Filed under: In the Kitchen 4 CommentsWent to a bread baking class today at the Stone Turtle Baking and Cooking School. Michael and Sandy Jubinsky are two people who love what they do. For 30+ years Michael was the spokesperson for King Arthur Flour and in 2011, he was voted one of the ten best bread bakers in America. He knows his stuff. www.stoneturtlebaking.com
Michael is retired, and in a typical fashion up here, going stronger than ever. He and Sandy built a home, a classroom/bake shop and an awesome wood-fired Le Panyol Stone Oven from France. Stoking the fire with kiln-dried oak (4% moisture) and maple hewn from his property, the oven burns up to 1079 degrees at the dome, 982 degrees on the floor and and produces bread with crust and crumb to die for.
Today’s class was Italian-Style Hearth Breads: a biga pre-ferment, equal parts durum wheat and all-purpose flour (11.7% protein – less gluten than bread flour), some olive oil and slow-to-ferment gift you a tight textured, golden-hued piece de resistance. Perfect for toast! Great with a glass of wine!
There were ten students in the class. We each made two loaves, 700 grams each with approx. 64% hydration (ratio of water to flour), proofed, stretched and folded three times, then ultimately shaped into a boule and placed upon a bread peel. The oven had cooled to just below 600 degrees, and the bread baked for 16 minutes.
We each had a special marking pattern. My two loaves are in the photo to the right, below.
The 64% hydration is somewhat “moderate”; Stephen Lanzalotta, a local baker, makes breads upwards of 85% + hydration – rather like pancake batter – that he kneads by hand, slowly forming the gluten strands that bind and form a superb crumb; his bread lines stretch out the door, buyers waiting up to an hour to purchase his breads.
Of late, wood-fired ovens are the vogue, but they have been around since at least 300 BC when the Greeks enclosed fire within a flame-resistant mortar shell. But history here is moot; what matters today is crust and crumb:
an Art Farm 
