Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Sowing Seeds, Spreading Manure

"Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25 NRSV)

“So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!" (Luke 14:33-35 NRSV)


Tumbledown recalls these words of Jesus as he looks through brightly colored seed catalogs on gray days in January and February. In fact, he is behind on such thinking this year. The seed order ought to be in the mail by now. Soon, even in Indiana, it will be time to start the tomatoes and peppers inside under the lights to give them a head start on summer. This year the Burpee catalog sports the New Porterhouse Beefsteak Tomato, “sure to beat any record in the neighborhood.” (But I’ll bet Burpee never went up against any real tomato growers. The tomato competition is fierce in this neck of the woods.)


The picture on the cover is of bright red, perfectly shaped, 4 lb. tomatoes. These purveyors of seed know better than to put pictures of the shriveled up seeds on the cover. They are selling us the plump and juicy fruit at the apex of life, even though it is the tiny dry seed that will arrive in our mailbox. Tumbledown always seems to buy more seed than he can possibly use, because he is sold on these pictures of its potential. His eyes are bigger by far than his garden. But he also never plants quite enough of the seed he over-buys. Sometimes seed packets go unopened, unused. Sometimes they keep until next year, but mostly they must be discarded, lifeless, the potential for 4 lb. tomatoes wasted. Better--even in a Tumbledown garden, where not much reaches its full catalog potential--to put the seed in the ground than to keep it sitting on the shelf.


There is another substance coveted by gardeners that works the same way. Tumbledown gets his from a farmer friend. Tumbledown's mother-in-law reminded him of it this Christmas with a famous quote by Thornton Wilder from “The Matchmaker,” “Money is like manure; it's not worth a thing unless it's spread around encouraging young things to grow.” (Actually, my mother-in-law attributed the quote to the title character of “Hello, Dolly!” … but from Wilder the quote sounds more literary and highfalutin.) The quote has also been famously attributed to the likes of Francis Bacon and John Paul Getty, who may have had a nodding acquaintance with the attributes of money. Whoever said it, the quote is widely used, so the resemblance must be remarkable. The quote is usually concluded—usually by a politician—with the comment that manure, if piled up in one place, just stinks to high heaven.



I doubt that Burpee sells much manure, but if they did, they would probably try to sell it like they do their seeds, with pictures of ripe red berries and tomatoes.



You’ve often heard what Jesus said about seeds and manure piles, and about money. But mostly Jesus was talking about life—his and ours. To convince us, he reminds us of the “much fruit” that will result from our death. Better to spread the wealth and lose our own life, better to plant the seeds and watch another generation of green things grow up, than to leave the seeds to sit on the shelf and store up the manure in stinky piles.


Now, where did I put that order form?


Tumbledown Farm

Friday, January 19, 2007

Payne Hollow: Life on the Fringe of Society

Hubbard, Harlan. Payne Hollow: Life on the Fringe of Society. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1974.



This book is an easy, quick read (167 pp., 4"X5", relatively large print, with Harlan's sketches scattered throughout). It is one couple's story--that of Anna (not a farmer, "town bred" ..."with high standards of respectability and cleanliness," a former librarian) and Harlan (a "shantyboater"). After taking a shantyboat down the Ohio, into the Mississippi and on to New Orleans, they spend some time in Bayou country along the Intracoastal Canal. There they sold their shantyboat and returned by car to a suburban house on the banks of the Ohio River.

The point of the book is the decision to live small. Though the couple could have enjoyed the relative comfort of a house in the center of suburban society, they chose to rent out that house and pursue a less cluttered life for themselves on the "fringe." They returned to Payne Hollow, a place along the Ohio where they had tethered their shantyboat for a summer, swallowed their "drifter and squatter" principles enough to purchase the small holding, and build their shelter with their own hands, raising their own food (garden and goats), living close to nature and telling their own version of The Good Life (Helen and Scott Nearing's tale of similar adventure).

This book is not for the person wanting to learn "how to" set up his or her own homestead. The lessons are writ large, not with the sort of detail needed to emulate the Hubbards. However, for the person needing inspiration to live well, now--especially for the person who feels confined, smothered, and oppressed by the constraints of today's polite consumer society and needs the encouragement and confidence that life can be lived bare bones, this is just the shot in the arm or kick in the pants to send you over the edge.

Monday, January 1, 2007

World's Best Thumbprint Cookies

There has never been a better, more delicious thumbprint cookie, ever! In the blog entry about the Little Red Hen, Tumbledown described the process of harvesting winter wheat with the scythe, threshing and winnowing the grain in preparation for grinding and baking. Today, Tumbledown tasted the fruit of his efforts. The result is so wonderful he must share it with all of you. First, of course, we must grind the winter wheat.


Hand Mill for Grinding Grain


Tumbledown's hand mill is one of the cheapest made, a Porkert from Lehman's (a version is also available from Johnny's, and even more Grain Mills at Amazon.com). There are much better mills to be had, for a price, but the point is to grow and grind your own. If you can afford it, there is nothing like working with good tools to make for satisfaction. If not, don't sweat it; this mill works just fine.


Hand Ground Winter Wheat Flour


After grinding two cups of flour from the remaining wheat (which Tumbledown stores in plastic containers in a refrigerator), preheat the oven to 375 degrees.


Ingredients for Thumbprint Cookies


Ingredients:


1/2 cup of real butter

1/2 cup of shortening

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of sugar

2 eggs (separated)

2 cups of freshly ground flour

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

2 cups of finely chopped walnuts (or pecans, in a pinch)

1 pint of fresh Raspberry jam preserves from the fall harvest.

1 cup of powdered sugar.

Making Raspberry Filled Thumbprint Cookies


Instructions:


In a large mixing bowl cream the shortening and butter with the sugar and 2 egg yolks. Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute. Combine salt and flour and add to previous mixture, continuing to stir and knead ingredients until it reaches the consistency of a firm dough. Form individual cookies by pinching off small amounts of dough and rolling them into balls (each about the size of a golf ball). Dip the balls of dough into a small bowl containing the two egg whites and then roll a layer of chopped nuts onto the surface of each ball. Place the balls on a parchment covered cookie sheet (or, if you like to scrub, onto an ungreased cookie sheet) allowing a space about the size of a cookie between each cookie. Bake for five minutes at 375 degrees. Remove cookie sheet from oven and create a hole in the center of each cookie (using your thumb, if you do not mind burns, or an object of similar size). Fill the hole with raspberry jam. Return the cookie sheet to the oven and continue baking for 5-7 minutes.


Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies


Remove from the oven. Let them cool. Place them on holiday plates and drizzle powdered sugar on top. Beautiful, festive, and delicious!


Tumbledown Farm