Calling All Geeks!

It's that time again ... (my favorite) Author, Pat Rothfuss, and crew are at it again.  They're celebrating his birthday today by kicking off a week long charity fundraiser through Worldbuilders over here.  We all remember coming together last Christmas to raise over a million dollars, and where I *won* this little gem out of the lottery, right?

Well, if you're bummed out you missed the last go 'round of this, and the opportunity to help people Pat's blog to read more about how you can help out while getting your paws on some super-duper swag, and wish him a happy birthday if you want to.
dig themselves out of crippling poverty, now's your chance!  Hop over to

xoxo 

I Leek You A Lot

My gorgeous, although, non prize-winning Musselburgh Leeks

I was fussing with my family tree a few years ago (yup, genealogy nerd too!) around the time I was planning my first solo-garden, and while I sat dreaming of my heirloom seed wishlist I came up with the idea of growing vegetables that my ancestors would've harvested for their dinner tables, or varieties that either originated in or were popular near locations my ancestors inhabited; a few of my favorites have been my Jaune Paille Des Vertus Onions, Weathersfield Red Onions, and since I have both Dutch, and Scottish ancestry I found the Giant Musselburgh Leeks to be totally appropriate.  As it turns out, they're also some of the easiest things I've ever grown in my entire life aside from weeds, and just when I thought my leeks were really cool I googled around a little bit and stumbled upon competition growers *sigh* ... But really, who needs a 20 lb. leek anyway?  I mean, once you're outside of the "Goldilocks Zone" taste really goes downhill on most fruits and vegetables like my Tyrannosaurus Zucchini that's basically only good for grating up for bread recipes, so why bother?  The bragging rights can't be that satisfying can they?  Maybe they can, I've never grown the biggest leek in the county, state, country, world ... So, I wouldn't exactly know, but I happen to grow tasty leeks, and that's all I do need to know!

Ok, so I've got my Giant Musselburgh Leeks, now what?  Did I mention I didn't grow up eating leeks, and had literally no idea what to do with them (if you're like me, you'll probably have to learn how to clean them as well)?  As it turns out, the heavens opened up, and gifted me this recipe for a leek gratin with coconut milk created by Sophie from A Squirrel in the Kitchen.  And yes, in case you are wondering, it did in fact answer all of my leek-related prayers.  Seriously, try it.

Bon appétit!

You Gotta Have a Gimmick

"When deep space exploration ramps up, it will be corporations that name everything: The IBM Stellar Sphere. The Microsoft Galaxy. Planet Starbucks." 

-Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

Brand (noun)
 
1.  Kind, grade, or make, as indicated by a stamp, trademark, or the like:

the best brand of coffee.

2.  A mark made by burning or otherwise, to indicate kind, grade, make, ownership, etc.
the letter M was branded on each animal 

_______________________________________________________________________________

"What's your brand?  What's your brand?  Yeah, but what's your brand?!?  You gotta have a brand!"

I keep hearing this barked as if it really means something beyond a new catchphrase to spew, kind of like "Actionable (and literally ANY word you put after it)." Everybody's got to have a brand these days, it seems, if not BE a brand.  Even not having an overt "brand story" can be in and of itself part of your brand-identity.  Can this get any more annoying?  Only if it comes with a new and improved Kung Fu grip, which I'm sure it does ... somewhere.

Dig It?

Cultivating my green thumb

This week I was finally able to get my garden planted ... I feel a little late to the game, but it seems whenever I try to jump the gun in the PNW, there's always a late frost waiting to put me right back into my place.  So, I opted for "fashionably late" to the seed planting party this year.  Though, I won't be totally cheating like someone (pictured to the left) who will be growing from starts this year instead of seeds, news of which I'm positive has several generations of gardeners rolling in graves as I type this!  I can't blame him though, I've learned everything garden-wise that I know from him (spending much of my youth hopping from boot-print to boot-print to keep the deep soil from cascading over the tops of my tiny rubber boots behind him as he tilled 36' x 72' garden plots season after season with my coat pockets jammed full of seed packets), and he travels a lot without much time to get settled in and prepared for the growing season ... or he's just not as bored as I am, either way I suppose I'll give him a break for it, after all, my parents are the ones who inspired me to start growing my own garden after the overwhelming disdain of buying sickly looking produce from local grocery stores just became too much for me with words close to, "Girl, you know better.  Get to work!"

This year I went with my great-grandfather's recipe of planting according to the phases of the moon by syncing my Lunar Energy Chart from The Darling Tree (if you want one, scroll all the way to the bottom & sign up for her mailing list to get the free file sent to your inbox), with the Farmers' Almanac to produce the ultimate seed planting guide for 2016 that I can print out and keep in my All Things Gardening 3-ring binder.  Oh, didn't you know?  I'm a complete nerd, and this seeps into my gardening life as well (and by "seeps" I mean, flows like a mighty river).

If you're interested in trying to grow your own food, my go-to online heirloom seed stores are: The Garden Hoard & Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Give it a whirl, and see what happens!

xoxo

The Invitation

"It doesn't interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
'Yes.'

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments."

~Oriah Mountain Dreamer

"I Am #Transformed."

1958 - 2016

The Day The Major Arcana Was Turned Up To 11

We all knew when Priscilla Frank dropped this blurb about Ariel Hart's Lisa Frank inspired (free to the masses) tarot deck on The Huffington Post that this was going to happen, right?

Sing Me a Song of a Lass That is Gone

We are moments away from the official end of Droughtlander, almost an entire year after the air date of the final episode of Outlander's premier season (which was necessary to bring us the BEST version of this costume drama possible so, I can't complain!), and in celebration I thought I'd post my essay entry to a "contest" created March 14, 2015 by Costume Designer Extraordinaire, and all around cool chick, Terry Dresbach (these are the kinds of things that come up on misty spring mornings with a bunch of costume & apparel geeks - turned fan girls playing on twitter together) because the conversation had cropped up about how the men of the series sometimes get the lion's share of attention from a largely female audience when there's a really awesome heroine (who has carried the series into it's 9th book, due out in the near-ish future) to celebrate.  So, in honor of Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp Randall Fraser Grey (erm) Fraser (again) we were each to submit a formal essay just showing some good old fashioned love to a lead female character.