short days

www.constantcompass.com2 Comments

and a long list of projects. I think it was two months ago I told Mallory I’m not taking on anymore projects. No more facebook marketplace I said. Things change. Garages fill and I find myself with a long list of to-dos. Which is OK, as long as I avoid those days where the projects bury me like the wet soggy leaves over this cold winter soil. A goal I’ve been trying to set for myself is to finish projects and keep up with what we have in the queue already. You know, the winter fruit tree pruning, the cleaning, the maintaining that comes with being a home owner with a yard.

There’s joy to be found in the upkeep of what you have and not letting things get broken, lay unfixed or rotting (which our house loves to do in these wet winters on the river). It feels good to keep up with these things in the throw away culture we live in. To not let the click of an amazon purchase come before taking some time to fix and maintain what we already own. With that and feeling like I’ve been able to catch up on things, I did what every sane person would do. Browse FB Marketplace for anything and everything that will take my time. Oh bless my wife for her open mind, love and the space she gives me to take on these things. There’s no way I could do it without her and that’s the truth. A loving wife and mother who has been a joy to watch in our first year being parents. I could wax poetic about her for the entirety of this post but I digress.

BACK TO THE PROJECTS!

Well, the typically baking and cooking from scratch is a daily occurrence at our house. Mallory is popping out tasty desserts from overripe bananas to family’s gifted meyer lemons. I try to keep up with her our bread intake which is not an easy job (ask Aunty Elisabeth about it). I’ve really enjoyed cooking dry beans as of late. Pinto, black beans, it can be as simple as soaking them, draining and popping in the pressure cooker with some chicken or beef broth. Solstice sure loves beans!

Besides cooking, I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of vintage mountain bikes again. Like with all things, I find my interest wains then comes back full force and I repeat that cycle until what I can only imagine is death. The same thing has occurred with surfing. Our garage is now full of half broken surfboards and bikes ready to be repaired and put back into action. A new used wetsuit has been ordered. Bike gear and brake replacement cables too. Here’s to getting in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in a couple years in 2024.

Old Diamondback Ascent from the late 80s. Plan to build it into a cruiser/mountain bike/baby transport machine.

I’ve bought a used bike trailer as a way to get Solstice in the outdoors while getting our exercise as well. I’ve set my sights on building up a vintage bike frame as half tour/half mountain machine that can tow a baby in comfort. Most bike nerds know Rivendell and that’s sort of the style I’m after without the price tag. Friction shifting, no internal routing and an easy to fix and keep on the road bike.

nice day in bodega crabbing on a saturday. real nice community of kayakers.

In other news, I went crabbing off the yak for the first time. I’ve always done the pier thing and was able to get 5 keepers for a morning’s work out in Bodega Bay. I also purchased three new used fiberglass kayaks for cheap. I’ve repaired rudders and replaced hatches and now we have a nice fleet of sea kayaks to get in the water this spring and summer. There’s still more work to do like replacing deck lines that I’ll finish in Spring.

I picked up a half yard of seed starting mix and placed a seed order. I’ve slowly to started to sow and hopes to grow the my first peppers from seeds. I typically don’t start the Solanaceae family from seed as they are slow going and I find it easier with our smallish yard to buy from a local nursery what I need. This year I’m going to try it with peppers. Tomatoes I’m still going to buy from the local nursery Imwalles which has been in Santa Rosa for over 100 years.

The fruit trees we’ve planted the past few years are starting to need more and more pruning. I think this will be the first year we actually get to see some fruit on the trees. I’m really excited to think about what jams, chutneys, and desserts are in our future.

Winter brings… mushrooms! I make it a goal to get out at least once a year and this was the first year we got to forage with Solstice. We didn’t come back empty handed, bags full of chanterelles and a sampling of hedgehogs. The trip inspired me to try something I’ve never done which is plug logs with mushroom spawn. I’ve always wanted to try this out but never pieced it together until now.

Pluggin’ an Oak log with Lion’s Mane spawn.

I’m probably missing something, in fact I know I am but I’ll stop it here as Solstice will be waking from her nap soon. See ya on the flip side!

the best wheat bread for the zojirushi

www.constantcompass.comLeave a comment

well, at least the best one I’ve made so far. The 1/2 and 1/2 recipe they have in the zojirushi bread machine cook book is pretty good but I think this honey wheat bread beats it out. It’s soft, the crumb is tight, it slices well and has just enough wheat to be healthy but not overpowering. I wouldn’t say it makes a great sandwich bread without toasting but I toast most things including sandwiches.

couple slices of that sweet wheat, pre buttering.

I use the zojirushi bread maker but I assume you could use it for other bread machines. this has inspiration from another bread machine wheat recipe but I changed a few things. Added flour, dry milk, heat and rise time. Reduced salt, butter, yeast. I adjusted some based on taste and others based on convenience (no 3/4 teaspoons of anything).

Custom Cycle

10 Min Heat, 30 min Kneading, 20 min 1st rise, 60 min 2nd rise, 60 min bake.

315 grams of water

78 grams of honey

350 grams of bread flour

125 grams of whole wheat flour

1 ½ t salt (prefer diamond crystal)

2 TB dry milk powder

2 TB Butter

1 1/2 t yeast

Let me know what you think if you give it a try:

visitor

www.constantcompass.comLeave a comment

For the longest time I had a small garden. They consisted mainly of containers with the exception of a small raised bed in a postage stamp sized backyard. Even though I worked in the industry (horticulture), the pay didn’t necessarily allow me to splurge on a rental with sunny land to grow. There was one season, I found a plot to rent for free and farmed that 1/2 acre and sold at the local farmer’s market. For many years than not, I was confined to containers.

Plants live a semi-tortured life in containers. Containers are great even cute but not best vessel for some plants to live to their full potential. When one doesn’t water a fully grown plant in a container, they shrivel. That pretty tomato can be looking sad in a moment’s notice. A heat wave could sweep through which often does in our dry Northern California climate. The sun will bake the sides of those black containers, I can’t imagine how the roots feel. Terracotta? Those porous things exude more water through their pores than Ham from Sandlot on a summer day. The roots can only grow so deep until they want to burst out from the pot which I’ve no doubt seen. Either splitting out the sides like the first stretch in the morning or driving a root through that tiny drainage hole to whatever soil lies beneath them. Though some plants do well in containers and may actually prefer it, most don’t like it and can often succumb to diseases from constant watering and stress.

But! But! Please don’t let my details of container plants worst moments deter you. It’s better than nothing and they kept my interest in plants going through what seemed like constant moving. After a lease ran its course, they were often loaded into the back of a truck and taken to the next home. Maybe this home would be where they will be planted in soil. Real soil, not that mix in a bag bought at the store. The stuff with sticks and stones and a biome still not fully understood. Sadly. that often that wasn’t the case, they stayed in their containers. Until now, until this beautiful dirt lot before me was welcome into my life through my partner. She had bought a house in Sonoma County and it’s where I found my family, our home, and as the cliche goes, I’ve let my roots sink in.

Not only did I let my metaphorical roots sink in but it was time to set those plants free. Amongst the years of carrying containers I often wished, prayed to the plant gods that a visitor would find my small garden. A visitor in the form of plant that I didn’t sow or grow. One that appeared through a bird’s scat. One that was carried through the wind on a breezy day. One that showed up for just no good reason.

To me this visitor would be a welcome surprise. Oh wow, something new! A message from the wild. All without lifting a finger. These plants some may consider common (or even a weed) weren’t so common in my traveling container garden. They’re taken for granted by the land rich and sprayed with chemicals to go away. Throwing away the opportunity to study it. Admire its beautiful flower with folklore names like Scarlet Pimpernel. The ability to velcro to your clothes as cleavers does. Purslane, a leaf so succulent and featured in the fanciest of restaurants. Don’t get me started on the medicinal properties of these plants.

Cleavers, if you ever see it. Pick a stem and watch it stick to your clothes. I’ve been told this is the plant that inspired velcro!

To this day, I always leave special places for these visitors to do their thing and shout their song. One walking in our garden might point out these plants that litter the pathways like volunteer onions or bushy dandelions. Cleavers growing up a back fence or wild strawberries nesting alongside a raised bed. Have you ever had a to tear out a volunteer sunflower because it wasn’t in a good spot? Let me tell you, it’s heartbreaking. But with that torn out sunflower, there are several others growing where they will. Visiting spots in the garden that I never intended them to. A beautiful process playing out before my eyes.

dial

www.constantcompass.comLeave a comment

These mornings, we wake by 7am. We’re in bed by 9pm. Really, whatever combo gives us maximum sleep time given we’re really on baby time, not our own. Mallory gets up without complaint, puts on something warm, and heads directly for Solstice. The warm mother touch soothes any hunger cries that may be coming from that direction. Admittedly, I seem to be rolling out of bed second these days. A change from the past but I’m not too far behind. It’s time for coffee, more precisely, espresso fills our cups these days. The radio is turned on with the volume set at a level between I care about what’s happening but I also want to hear the birdies. The radio doesn’t wait for you. Something I find enduring when most information is there when we want it. The radio is “take it when we give it” and soon the familiar NPR voices come alive. Traffic on the Bay Bridge, “Ahh, thankful I don’t have to commute,” I say to myself. Cease-fire in Sudan, “Grateful we have peace in our community.” The news providing a sense that our battle is nothing compared to that of others. Of course, it’s all relative but ignorance or being oblivious is no excuse to not hold space for our neighbors no matter how far abroad. After Solstice gets her morning breakfast, I start on ours. These days, it’s anything from day-old nachos turned into our version of chilaquiles or most often, a fried egg on fresh bread baked the day before. I find peace in the routine, love in each other, and an appreciation for the day that has begun to unfold.

pebble

www.constantcompass.comLeave a comment

Fog and cool mornings here along the Russian River. The blue sky has been slow to appear. The summer veggies are either confused or taking a deep breath before the summer bares its heat. The brewer’s blackbirds fiercely defend their nest as I grab the mail, dive bombing my head but I can’t blame them. We’re continuing to pick a small bin of strawberries every couple days. Letting the broccoli go for a little longer. Note to self, plant earlier in Fall as they never quite took off until now. The florets have been quite tasty simply roasted in olive oil and salted on the cast iron. Any day now, I expect aphids to show their force and devour their tender sweet flesh. Only then they will be removed from their beds to meet their final resting place. A compost pile to feed the next generation.

ladybug

www.constantcompass.comLeave a comment

A sign of a healthy garden. The buzzing of bees visiting the flowering maple. Other lesser known pollinators floating around the parsley in bloom. Pill bugs discovered under a layer of wood chips. Cabbage moths floating effortlessly over the brassicas planted a season ago. A slug eating a delicious perfectly ripe strawberry. A healthy garden is not free from insects that cause damage to plants or fruits. A healthy garden consists of the whole entourage. There’s a metaphor there that can be applied to our society. The fervent desire in today’s world to squash anyone that doesn’t support our views. A healthy society like a healthy garden has space for all and in turn, everyone benefits.

the free stand

www.constantcompass.comLeave a comment

I want to connect with my community. I want to share with my community. We are a somewhat rural town made up of old houses that are more like cabins constructed by people living in San Francisco who wanted a place to stay in the summer along the Russian River. This vacation hot spot has now turned into more affordable full time housing with a tight knit community.

As I wasn’t new to the area but new to this neighborhood, I wanted to meet our neighbors. Through daily walks we slowly began to meet our neighbors. The ones living here for 50 years under the tall redwood trees to the newly arrived family who loved the unique character of the neighborhood. You’d be hard pressed to find a house identical to the next.

There is a beauty in sharing and offering help. I believe the person offering the help oftens benefits just as much as the one receiving. So when I had contemplated putting up some sort of stand to offer veggies our family couldn’t consume or to share the odd piece of clothing or tool no longer needed in our household, I knew it would benefit us just as it would our neighbors. With the help of some recycled wood from old fences, a piece of drift wood, and old deck wood I was able to create a little stand to do just this.

I put out extra veggie starts and was left a note thanking us because this particular person hadn’t been able to get to the nursery this year. I put out veggies only for them to be brought back cooked for us. Items that may have been thrown out have been quickly picked up extending that item’s lifetime. It’s been great to have people stop and look in the garden while visiting the stand. I’ve met many people in the neighborhood as well as people just paying through. All my experiences have been positive regarding this stand.

So, today, I go out and look to see what’s been taken. A pair of old speakers, a lime, and a plate. I’ll imagine this person sipping a margarita, eating a grilled cheese while listening to their favorite tunes. Our items that were collecting dust are brought to life through new eyes and hands.