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Note: this is an essay first posted for Fathers Day 2013  

My dear Meg,

I’m not sure if you remember, but a while back there was a day we had a series of conversations, in which the phrase “Because he’s a boy” kept coming up. An example I recall was you wondering why in the world anybody would try to open a banana with a 10 inch butcher knife, and me explaining “because he’s a boy” (luckily, a…

the end of February

I stopped being able to see

that beginning of the cold,

so winter has no ends.

February is winding on through the snow,

stretching on across the ice,

dragging on into the mud;

the shortest month seems like the longest,

as we huddle down and try

to remember spring.

My life here isn’t limited to our little farm, but it is centered there. I moved here permanently because I thought it was a place and a group of people that were a home for me. Even though that is not always easy, it is always true.

The differences in what we eat don’t seem like they would be that much of a big deal, but these differences can be challenging. I guess it’s easiest for those of us…

It’s been a while.

I’m still living and working on a beautiful apple farm in the Finger Lakes of New York, still cooking and still trying to become wiser.

Our tribe here includes omnivores, but also a lot of vegans and paleo. In addition to this, we also have a lot of friends who have gluten allergies, a disturbing trend of this decade which I don’t understand, but which I know is real. Cooking…

What should I cook to celebrate? On this date in 1618, a meeting of the Bohemian Estates (their representative body, and largely Protestant) in Prague, responded to envoys from the Catholic Hapsburg,s who were their rulers, by throwing two of them out the window. Even though it was a 20 meter drop (70 feet or so), they survived; some say it was divine intervention, Some say it was a very deep…

editor’s note: The staff of the Bistro has moved to an orchard and nursery in the Finger Lakes of New York. I first made this recipe for a wonderful Easter dinner, but because of how our little farm is, I had to try to come up with something that could be eaten by Vegans or folks on a Paleo diet, and which would still be good enough to steal. This recipe is animal free, gluten free, low sugar,…

if it wasn’t for love

I look in the mirror, when I have one. When the light is harsh, I see that my face is lined; the lines are now so deep, so permanent, that I can feel them when I run my hand across my cheek. The lines are from laughing and smiling, done so much that laughter has cut grooves across my face. The rest of my body, especially where the kidneys were or are or where dialysis chopped my veins, is crossed…

“Some look at the world as it is,  and they ask: ‘Why?’ I look at the world, and I ask: ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a dark chocolate and peanut butter sandwich on cherry bread? I wonder how you make cherry bread?'” (This is a variation of my Cherry Pistachio Bread) Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups warm water 1 cup warm milk 1/2 cup Almond Meal (optional) 6-7 cups, give or take, of whole wheat (3 cups)…

editor’s note: This was a recipe from my good friend Sandy, who was quite proud of her Swedish heritage. Rusk can, in general, refer to any hard, twice-baked bread, but this is no zwieback or melba toast. This is an amazing almond rusk, or mandel skorper. Similar cookies/biscuits are found in other countries, such as the Italian biscotti or the Yiddische mandelbrodt, but I am partial to this one.…

Rubber Balls

So, it seems I have this big jar with a lot of bouncy rubber balls in it. Any suggestions?

It has been a while. The Bistro has still not reopened. I have been catering, roofing, painting, landscaping, and anything else I can. Percy has gone to visit relatives back home in the Falklands for their winter. Anno is ghostwriting, editing and translating on-line, where nobody knows you are a mouse. Wode Toad has disappeared. We are still considering vagabonding across Europe in a horse-drawn…

A few weeks ago, two heroes of mine passed away, Jean Ritchie and Ronnie Gilbert. Ronnie Gilbert was one of the founding members of The Weavers, a folk group that was influential and then black-listed in the early 50s. Along with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman, and with the help of Alan Lomax and input from Woodie Guthrie, they sang both American and international folk music, as well…

I SAW GIRAFFES!!!

Rachel, a friend of mine and one of the most wonderful people I know, took me to a zoo–Brights Zooin Limestone Tennessee, in fact. We walked around and saw all sorts of animals–mostly animals from Savannahs, since the climates are similar  in summer, as is the grazing. It is still a bit chilly in the mornings here, so it wasn’t until the second time around the park, when the sun…