Handkerchiefs that Smell of Honey

One of my chief pleasures in life is the fact my handkerchiefs always smell of honey. I have a bar of honey soap that I keep in the bottom of my handkerchief box. This handkerchief box happens to be the exact size of a folded handkerchief. After washing and folding I close the top and steep my hankies in the scent of honey. Then later, when I use them, that scent is there. Such a small, consistent pleasure.

Abundance

I would like to create my own holiday called Abundance. To be celebrated during the harvest season.

Saturday morning I met my friends and we drove down to the orchards. This was the 3rd year of our annual ‘apple picking party’, we picked a LOT, and I mean, a LOT of gala apples and wandered through the orchards. We had an amazing luncheon on the lower patio of fresh focaccia bread, brie, arugula salad, and quiche. Then we changed clothing for an 18 mile bike ride over the hills and around the back side of West Mountain to view the rural landscape and the southern tip of Utah Lake. Upon return we had a dessert of lemon pound cake with fresh fruit un jus. A perfect day.

A Postcard Exchange

Upon recommendation from an acquaintance I hardly ever see anymore (she was really only in my life a short window of time) I signed up to be part of The Benevolent Postcard Society.  It’s like pen pals around the world. Each month you get a different name and address to send a postcard to. I have varied the ones I send, I have made a few, picked up a few in travel, sent a few of my favorite Stella Mars’, etc.

The worst one I ever received was with horrid poster paints all gloppy together with glittery kitten stickers attached at the bottom. Oh, you think, this may have been an artistic statement? Perchance, but it was ugly!

This last month of the exchange I wanted to make one especially from Utah. And so I did. Here is a copy of it. I did notice though that the Great Salt Lake looks rather like a squirrel atop a pedestal, and Utah Lake a bit like an angular acorn.  You can find a link to this society on the right side of my blog.  It was great fun to participate in, and so sad to have it end.


FYI, did you notice that if you cut out the little box on the top, the card is the shape of Utah. Yes, I thought it was clever. The part cut out corresponds, in back, to the location of the stamp.

An Orchard Feast

But really, I’m officially a local food expert? Oh, yay!

Kendall, executive producer for the new BYUtv show, Fresh Take, is a friend of mine. And so when he was telling me about needing an idyllic orchard setting for the episode of ‘A Slow Food Feast’, I offered my family’s orchards. They had originally wanted somewhere closer to Provo, but because those owners never responded to the request and I was sooo willing, and because our orchards really are the most beautiful, they were delighted to use them. The episode was to be a casual dinner in the orchards with local food big-wigs discussing the importance of local food, slow food, organic food, etc. Here is a list of attendees. (Starting at noon on the clock and going clock-wise).

Rebecca Cressman

BYU TV
Fresh Take Host

Joseph McRae
Pizzeria 712 & Communal
Co-creator & Chef

Christi Paulson
Slow Food Utah in Schools
Creator

Blake Spalding
Hell’s Backbone Grill
Co-Owner

Rachel Hodson
Edible Wasatch Magazine
Owner and publisher

Richard Sparks
Utah’s Own
Deputy Director

Colton Soelberg
Pizzeria 712 & Communal
Co-creator & Chef

Emiliano Lee
Liberty Heights Fresh
Cheese monger/manager

ME

Dale Allred
Jacob’s Cove Farm
Owner

When the guests arrived, I got to meet and chat with many of them, Rachel Hodson and I hit it off immediately, I think we are probably close to the same age and disposition. So I went about helping get the final touches completed while ‘make-up and hair’ got all the guests touched up. I took something over to the table, water with mint I think, and Roman asked me to sit down for a minute by him. Roman is the Producer. He said that Kendall and he had a favor to ask of me, because the Tony Capputo’s representative was a no-show, could I fill in? BUT, OF COURSE!!! I decided my credentials would be my Master’s degree in Urban Planning focusing on Urban Greenspace (which includes urban farming). AND, I have been working with SLCo’s Urban Farming Initiative. Oh my, I was wearing almost the same outfit I had worn for my studio portion of The Generations Project, earlier that week. It would look like I walked out of the studio and into the orchards. Luckily I have a lot of my clothes stored at my Mom’s, so I switched sweaters and added a turquoise scarf that Joy gave me years ago (which I have developed a great love for this past year, it also makes an appearance in The Generations Project). Kiera, my friend, had given me a present of ‘fashion glasses’ a few weeks early, so I threw them on as well to complete my transformation…glasses always worked for Clark Kent …Ta-da!!

It was soooo much fun, talking about food, while eating great food, with experts. It will be among the top in the list of great dinner parties in my life, and I get to count part of the hosting credit because I set the table, provided the table, and the perfect location. YAY!!

After we finished filming, there was a dark, mad rush to pick apples and nectarines to take home. Blake wanted apples, I bemoaned she was leaving to return to Boulder the next day and there wasn’t time enough to get her loads to take back. But, she made me an offer, if I would bring her fruit, she would give me food. A DEAL!!! Boulder, UT has apparently had a crappy fruit production year, and so I will bring her plums and apples and get some free food.

The episode will air in  2011. Last week they interviewed Alice Waters about School Gardens for Fresh Take. Yes, Alice and I are now contemporaries. Ahahahahahaha.

I have an abundant life.

Of Syllables, Rhymes, and Synonyms

The best road trip game ever. A friend learned this game from my cousin and passed it on to a group of us as we drove through Canada. I love it. It is called ‘Hink-Pink’. A game of syllables, rhymes, and synonyms. The person whose turn it is has to think of a rhyming adjective and noun with the same number of syllables (but keep this part secret). For example ‘big pig’, then they figure out a clue phrase to describe the rhyme. Such as, “obese porcine” or “large hog” or “rotund sty occupant”. Each clue phrase is proceeded by the words, ‘hink-pink’ if the words are one syllable, ‘hinky-pinky’ if they are two syllables, ‘hinkity-pinkity’ if they are 3 syllables and so on adding more syllables as needed for the clue. Then everyone guesses until it is correctly guessed, and it is then the turn of the correct guesser.

Example One:
“Hink-Pink”, “depressed foot attire”. Then the guessing begins…….with the correct answer being ‘blue shoe’.

Example two:
“Hinky-Pinky”, “fortunate waterfowl”……with the answer being ‘lucky ducky’.

Example three:
“Hink-pink”, “intelligent illumination”…..with the answer as ‘bright light’.

Variation: I tend to love homophonic combinations. So I have created a variation where you say ‘hink-hink’, if it’s homophonic.

Example Four:
“Hink-hink”, “paying individually Nederlanders”……with the answer being ‘dutch Dutch’.

Example Five:
“Hink-hink”, “unweighty illumination”……with the answer being ‘light light’.

Example Six:
“Hink-hink”, “ticketed treasure”……with the answer being ‘fined find’.

Example Six:
“Hink-hink”, “disgusting bird”……with the answer being ‘foul fowl’.

Example Seven:
“Hink-hink”, “initiate wildebeest”……with the answer being ‘new gnu’.

OK, enough examples. You see how I love it? I play it all day with myself.

The Lily of the Valley

Behold the Lilies of the Field

Transitory ‘Bell of May’, humble, perfumed, gone.
Giving man sight of a better world?
A treasure, but often overlooked.
Only those, who know and love you, know to see.

I began this poem as a little tribute to my favorite flower. But as I was doing my word research I saw more layers become applicable. I have included the sources that make the poem more broadly applicable.

In the ‘language of flowers’, the lily of the valley signifies the return of happiness.

As per Wikipedia, the Lily-of-the-Valley:
1) Is a symbol of humility in religious painting.
2) Lily of the valley is considered the sign of Christ's second coming.
3) The power of men to envision a better world was also attributed to the lily of the valley.
4) Other names include May lily, May bells, lily constancy, ladder-to-heaven, male lily and muguet (French). Its scientific name, majalis or maialis, means "of or belonging to May".

Transitory:
1: passing especially quickly into and out of existence
2: passing through or by a place with only a brief stay or sojourn
3: affecting something or producing results beyond itself

Mathew 6: 28-30 Behold the lilies of the field, how they grow. They labor not, neither spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his royalty was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow shall be cast into the furnace, shall he not much more do the same unto you, o ye of little faith?

The Turk's Turban Tulip

Semper Agustus

This is an image of the tulip for which the most money, 5500 guilders, was paid in 1633 during Tulip Mania. It was painted originally in watercolor.

This is what I have learned about tulips and Tulip Mania.

1)  The tulip, or lale as it is called in Iran and Turkey, is a flower native to large areas in parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The word tulip, entered the language by way of French tulipe and is ultimately derived from the Persian language dulband ("turban"). NOT because the flower head looks like a turban (that was my first assumption , but because of the turban shape of the bulb.)

2) The virus, known as TBV Tulip Breaking Virus, was introduced into the flowers via aphids. The Dutch didn't even know the cause of their fantastical tulips. They thought it was exposure to extreme conditions. I think this is interesting for two reasons. a) it was magical, no human control of the situation, and b) TBV weakens the plant, would they have knowingly sacrificed the vitality of the plant, to have the end result. My guess is yes. We do worse to our own bodies.

3) The virus wasn't stable. Just because the tulip had the variations, there was no way of knowing whether its progeny would have similar markings. There was so much financial speculation about tulips, which is crazy to me considering, THERE WAS NO CONTROL and it can take years to find out what the tulip is even going to look like. With the infection of TBV, every tulip would be effected differently, and so the resulting tulip would be one of a kind. It is one of the reasons so many paintings of tulips were done during this period of time. If you were rich you could afford to have the "portrait" painted of your valuable tulip.

4) The crash of Tulip Mania occurred on MY BIRTHDAY in 1637.

What I like about if tulips became a form of currency. One bulb makes one tulip. Tulips make seed from sexual reproduction (fertilization from another plant's pollen) = resulting in a new kind of tulip. The bulb makes little bulblets from asexual reproduction = clone. What a good way to go about making sure that there is consistancy, yet variety. Bulblets take awhile to become developed enough to make their own tulip, but seeds take ever so much longer. Tulips are smart. I think Pink tulips are the smartest of all.