PHILOSOPHER'S JOB

Sit and think

Do no thing

Contemplate contentment

Once at peace

Find work worth doing

Help other people

Move toward freedom

Or create art

Just live in beauty

And speak the truth

It does not matter

Life is so short

IF THE BANK FAILS TRY A BOAT

Agitated by the fermenting anxiety 

Of a stagnant and souring economy

People scurry in the midwinter grayness

Twice the effort to stash half the nuts

Drinking green tea at my window I observe

Through a boiling bean and baked bread fog

That kale and garlic poke out of the snow and wait

Dormant yet strong and storing untapped potential

I too am content to over-winter and vegetate

If by chance summer's abundance comes late

The river-bank accepts a deposit of red worms

For a withdrawal of pink fleshed cutthroat

I will eat wild trout with garlic and greens

While at my window watching and waiting

LOW LIGHT LEVEL ELONGATION

I planted these seeds in the greenhouse a week ago and they are sprouting.  Even though these are cool weather/early seeds, there is just not enough sunlight until late february to avoid elongation.  So for a week or two I bring them indoors under lights, then harden them off back in the greenhouse before I plant them outside around march first.  If every thing works out I will be up to my armpits in salad and saute greens by the first day of spring.

WINTER COMFORT FOOD

             EATING BEANS UNDER PRESSURE

When pinto beans are soaked for 8 hours they will cook under pressure in 6 minutes!  If you lose track of time and go beyond 8 minutes they will become refried.  Black beans take a minute or two less and lentils require no soaking at all.  I bought a 4 quart stainless pressure cooker for last years 3 month sailing adventure to conserve fuel in the B.C. wilderness.  The cooker saves time, energy and retains nutrients, and if I was forced to cook with only one pot/pan it would be the versatile pressure cooker.  Enough of my new infatuation and back to "poor man's meat".  As population increases and resources diminish it is inevitable that the sustainable menu shifts from meat based protein to more and more plant based protein where beans are king.  Since manure is integral to most organic food production, meat has it's place in a sustainable farm model, unless the farmer is an ethical vegetarian.  This being said I think that meat needs to shift from the focus of the meal to a more flavoring agent/condiment role, kind of like it's use in a chinese stir fries.

  I cook 3 cups of dry beans once a week and along with brown rice, use beans in soups. salads, sauces and many dishes including of course mexican dishes.  I avoid kidney and lima beans because of the research suggesting the possibility of toxic compounds and decreased digestibility.  At less than 20 cents a serving, and given its nutrient profile, texture and taste the pinto is my mainstay.  Black beans incredible flavor make them a close second.  Lentils, which are not beans but a member of the vetch family, require no presoaking and cook under pressure in less that 5 minutes.  The first photo shows me soaking 3 cups of beans in 9 cups of water (3:1) during my morning green tea and toast (multi-grain spelt, hazelnut, cherry sourdough).  At dinner time or +/- 8 hours later drain off the soaking water and add enough liquid to barely cover the beans.  This is the point where I jump out of the nutritionists camp and land somewhere south of the Rio Grande.  If you want the beans to be rich and creamy add plenty of fat.  Cook beans the day after you roast a chicken (or any meat) and add the drippings, better yet if you are making a stock ladle the lipid infused top of the stock to just cover the beans.  When cooking for vegetarians use vegetable stock and add half a cup of olive oil.  I add vegetables and spices after I pressure cook to retain their volatile oils and colors.  

Beans can almost be considered fast food.  The second photo shows a bowl of Pacific Rim bean soup where I added leftover stir fry, brown rice, red curry and water to the beans the instant the steam stopped venting  Presoaked raw beans became a soup I would be proud to serve at any dinner party in less than 30 minutes!  Viva las frijoles!

P.S. If you plan on being in public after eating avoid the "killer b combo", beans,beef and beer.

YOU SPINEY DOGFISH

                 THE SEDUCTION OF A GOOD DEAL

We all want a good deal.  When asparagus was $1.79 a pound last week I jumped on it.  Of course the vegetable traveled a thousand miles and was so pumped up with water and nitrogen that I could barely taste it through the cream sauce.  My urine did not even smell funny.  What is a good deal anyway?  Would not a righteous deal be a win/win, where both the seller and buyer feel good about the transaction?  Has the concept of a "good deal" become opportunistic and predatory.  You drive by a yard sale put on by folks obviously down on their luck and see a $20 price tag on something worth $200.  If you offer them $15 and they accept is that a good deal?  Maybe we could disclose that we know someone more than happy to buy it for $200, so sell it to us for $160 and we can make a 20% commission to broker the deal.  In a ethical society should not good mean fair?  

The capitalistic world has become a giant mouse trap baited by rats and a "great deal", a "big score", "something for nothing", a "killing in the stock market", is the cheese.  5 maybe 8% is a sustainable return on an ethical investment.  20 to 30% or even higher means either people or the environment are exploited, usually both with a "great deal" of deception and slight of hand.  How often is a mutual fund, in reality,  a pretty package wrapped up with a shiny bow stuffed with blood money soaked in polluted tears?  Many of my family and friends have lost close to half of their investments and I have to admit some ambivalence in my compassion.  Maybe we should all be thankful that the economic meltdown may have washed some blood off of our hands.

My advice is if someone offers you a "good deal"--------RUN!

                        THOUGHTS  ON FOOD

At the root of any sustainable lifestyle model is food.  Politics and environmental costs of production aside, what nutritional guidelines should we adopt, if not for optimum health, to at least postpone pain, suffering and healthcare costs as we age?  Everybody reacts to food differently so there are few rigid universal shoulds or should'nts.  Each of us has; foods we should avoid, foods that are fuel, and foods (superfoods) that are highly beneficial.  It seems obvious to stock up an beneficial foods first, and for flavor and calories, to supplement with the fuel foods we enjoy, and to just avoid the junk.  This is not that difficult if we remain mindful at the point of purchase and are willing to devote at least an hour a day to meal planning and preparation. Growing food and cooking are not my hobbies they are more like a religion, and I do not even see an option no to.  Who knows what direction this blog will take?  I plan on sharing insights in food procurement, production and preparation.  I am not a purist by any means and eat my fair share of greasy cheeseburgers at the local saloon, but 80 to 90% of the time I make thoughtful choices.  When I prepare a meal I am; part scientist/doctor, part artist/chef, part farmer/hunter-gatherer, and part grandmother/semi-organic cheapskate. 

Many of our unhealthy eating patterns have been ingrained since we were born and reinforced by TV. To help break our conditioning and create a healthier food framework I recommend 3 books as reference material.  First the " Encyclopedia of food values" by Netzer to give you a general idea of the caloric ratios of fat to protein to carbohydrate, in most foods,  Second I recommend the blood type books by Dr D'Adamo, and the zone books by Dr. Sears.  Not that I agree with everything these guys say, but they offer a thoughtful, scientific and useful baseline to assist us in making more informed food choices.

When people find out I do not have a TV, they ask me if I live in a cave.  Not yet, but I am  working on it.  The skip trowel texture on drywall seems to be a perfect substrate for a cave painting.  Here is my work in progress.