Around Here: Springtime

It's been awfully chilly and cloudy so far this week. Last week was pretty nice, though. We took advantage of some warmer, sunnier weather to plant more geraniums, put out some mulch in the back garden, plant some kresse, and--oh, I don't really recall what all we did. Last week is running together with the week before, when the weather was even nicer. We were outside a lot--planning, planting, and weeding. Despite the current chill (these crazy weather ups-and-downs are par for the course here in May), our garden and other parts of the village are telling us it's Spring. 

Thanks to Husband for the lovely photos (except the one with the colander--I took that while pulling up a bunch of stinging nettles from the back garden and clipping a bunch of the leaves to use later that day in a recipe).

In family news, happy healing to the Boy, who fractured his femur above the knee in soccer back in March (thankfully less major than it sounds, but the healing process takes months). And a big high-five to the Girl, who finished her freshman year of college yesterday!

Modern Pioneering with Georgia Pellegrini

Hello! I'm just about over jet lag following a two-week solo trip to the States to visit my parents. My daughter, who is a college freshman, was able to spend her spring break with us, and we had a delightful time together doing not much of anything. Though I meant to take some pictures and do a blog post about my hometown, I couldn't be bothered. So there--that will have to wait!

Just before I left for Louisiana, I got in a Spring-y mood and ordered the book Modern Pioneering, by Georgia Pellegrini. It was waiting for me upon my arrival back in Germany, and I'm really enjoying flipping through it. Pellegrini, who learned to hunt and wrote about it in Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the Way We Eat One Hunt at a Time, has turned now to a diverse array of projects, recipes, and introductions to skills that just about anyone (living anywhere) can learn, if they want to live a bit more self-sufficiently.

Pellegrini encourages readers to make small but thoughtful attempts to garden, cook from scratch, forage, put together a pantry, use resources wisely, and maybe pick up a few new skills. Much of the content is food-related, which makes sense as Pellegrini is a professionally-trained chef. To be clear, this isn't a book about homesteading, and there's no info about raising animals. Crafts are not a focus, either. This is more of an introduction or overview--something to whet one's appetite for learning and making, especially with regard to food. It's packed with great photos and easy instructions, and I really do think I'll use it often. I'm happy to add it to my burgeoning collection of books on cooking, gardening, and self-sufficiency. Hopefully you'll enjoy it, too!

A Ball, a Burn, a Bike

The sun came out for a few hours sometime last week. Then it went away again. Then it came back full-on for a whole Saturday, with temps in the 70s, just in time for an away-day of high school soccer at Ramstein. Many of our girls, unaccustomed as they were to all of this sunlight and warmth ("What is this giant heat-making yellow ball in the sky??"), later attempted to cover up sunburns while getting ready for Prom that evening at Kloster Machern. It was a busy, bright, fun day.

Sunday was partly-cloudy, and Husband took off in the early-a.m., before anyone else was awake, for a long bike ride.

He's very happy with his new German bike, a Bergamont. His friend made fun of him for getting a basket on the back, but hello--how else are you supposed to haul groceries or a small, not-entirely-thrilled-about-it Yorkie (not pictured this time)?

It's looking really green around here. Have I mentioned it's rained a lot?

Home from his ride, Husband also got a shot of the back of our rock garden. We're starting to see some color back there.

Here's hoping you have a pleasant weekend. I'll be hanging with a group of thirty eighth-graders in Berlin for two nights!

5 Senses Tour, #1

watching: this episode of Wallander (from the subtitled Swedish version, not the Kenneth Branagh series, which I haven't seen yet). Perfectly atmospheric on a foggy, chilly day.

tasting: the hint of balsamic vinegar, which makes such a difference in this wonderful lentil soup.

listening to: Stan Getz and Bill Evans, on Verve in the '60s. Ideal in the evenings.

touching: the silky hair of my adorable canine companion, who loves sitting in my lap when I turn on (and sit under) our Japanese heater table (kotatsu).

smelling: rosemary I dried for a week or so and then stripped off the branches and placed in a small jar. Such an energizing aroma!

Yes, I've finally remembered to participate in Monica's 5 Senses Tour this week!

Today's Tiny Harvest

We're nearing the end of our summer grape-tomato harvest. I also decided to bring in some more lemon balm and thyme to dry, as I have a ton of both. Like my colander? It's a Japanese rice-rinser/strainer--hence the pouring spout and tiny holes on the bottom (which you can't see in this photo). Real Japanese rice needs to be rinsed before it's cooked, in case you didn't know.

We'll be doing a bit of fall planting in our little raised beds this weekend. What are you growing in your neck of the woods?

Nettles Aplenty

One of the most ab-fab things about our village is that we have these wonderful paths for walking and biking (well, they're pretty nice for farmers and all of their equipment, too). This one runs behind our house.

Remember how I was talking about borage recently? Another wild plant growing in insane abundance around here is stinging nettles, and I found a perfect patch flourishing alongside this path.

As you can see, I had thought to bring my colander, scissors, and the all-important gloves. I'm new to using nettles, but I've been doing some research, and with the new fall crop so handy, I thought it was a great time to do some harvesting.

I'd been out solo that day, but a couple of days later, The Husband and I headed by bike into the forest that begins just down our street.

Of course, we spotted loads of nettles, and I (necessary supplies in tow again) had to stop for more. This patch wasn't as fresh-looking--I can afford to be picky--but I still snagged enough for two nice cups of tea that evening. The Husband is usually willing to try my foraged concoctions as long as he feels certain I'm not trying to poison him; The Boy, who needed the tea due to a cough, is a tougher sell. After repeated urging, though, I think he drank most of his. He hadn't keeled over from the potato and nettle soup I'd served the night before...

For a fantastic array of info on using nettles, go here.

Borage Aplenty

Before moving to Germany, I knew next to nothing about the herb borage. Even after moving into our house and finding a bunch of furry, blue-flowered plants out back, The Husband and I didn't know what they were (nor, oddly, did our garden-happy neighbor, who is older and has lived in this area all her life--turns out she's more of a Flower Person). After asking another German friend, we learned that our plants were, in fact, the edible herb borage. I really wasn't sure how to use them, especially since the leaves and stems are fairly spiky, so I didn't bother with them for a long time. 

Though we got rid of most of what we had while putting in two raised beds, a couple of the plants came back heartily this summer (apparently they pretty much grow like weeds in our area and are sometimes used in a well-known Frankfurter "green sauce" eaten with potatoes at certain times). I decided it was time to learn more about this free food growing next to our strawberries and tomatoes. According to some of my research, borage is a good anti-anxiety/stress, anti-inflammatory, and anti-diarrheal herb that can also help with hormone regulation, fevers, skin ailments, and coughs. Flavor is cucumber-like, and in fact, borage is often paired with cucumbers in recipes.

We've started using the leaves to make tea--a good way to avoid/diminish the spikiness of the leaves. To infuse, pour a cup of boiling water over 1/4 cup bruised fresh leaves. Steep five minutes. The flowers can also be used in teas or in drinks or atop salads or desserts. Since our own plants aren't supplying us with as many leaves as we've been wanting lately, we did a bit of--um, foraging during our bike ride the other day. Don't worry, our neighbor has plenty to spare!

Here's a good link about using borage, and here's another one, with recipes. 

By Bike in September

Ah, yes--we are indeed back in Germany now. School has begun, and we're starting to settle back into a routine. The weather was beautiful here for much of the weekend, so we decided to take a bike ride en famille (minus The Girl, who was in Paris with a friend's family). There are some great paved walking and biking trails in our village, beginning behind our house and just down the street. This is one we've walked many times in the past two years, but for several reasons, we hadn't biked there yet. 

Here's The Husband, atop my persimmon-colored Japanese cruiser. His much-used-in-past-years, fancy American mountain bike is pretty much out of commission--one reason we hadn't been riding together. He thinks he wants his own cruiser now--too bad we didn't buy him one while we were still in Japan, where this kind of bike is ubiquitous (and cheaper than here).

photo credit: The Boy

Our neighbor owns a large patch alongside the path, where he grows all manner of flowers, herbs, and veggies. Outside his home and throughout this space, he proves that he's truly a master gardener.

A short ride through the woods dead-ends into this open field, overlooking a neighboring village.

On the way back home, The Boy couldn't resist snapping a photo of one of The Ladies, who posed obligingly. Lovely!

April and May in the Garden

photo credits 1, 2, 8: The Girl

It's been astoundingly beautiful and sunny in the German countryside. That's why I chose to take some garden photos in full sun--to show you what it's looked like for the past month or so. It's rare to have so much sunshine here, so I've been trying to take advantage by being outside as much as possible: watering and checking on all of our plants, going for long walks, and watching lots of baseball and soccer. The lack of rain hasn't been so great for the farmers, unfortunately. We finally had a thunderstorm last night, which cut short The Boy's baseball game and made us all go running for cover. It didn't last long, but at least the fields got a welcome drink.

Apples Threaten Takeover

I've been picking up quite a few of these guys on a daily basis for the past few weeks. At first, I'd retrieve six or seven keepers and maybe twenty for the compost, but now that many apples are ripe, I'm getting perhaps thirty of each. We have no idea of the variety of apple, but the tree is a nice old one, in our large side yard. Our neighbor told us that these apples are "not for keeping very long." Some of his, apparently, are. I saw him out on a ladder doing some harvesting of his own this morning. Let me tell you, there are many kinds of apples growing in these here parts. It's great!

The ones from these trees, behind our house but unfortunately not on our property, are used mostly for schnaps, we've been told. Any opportunity to turn something semi-edible into alcohol is much-appreciated and admired in small-town Germany. Hey, we live in the hometown of the famous, national-football-team-sponsoring Bitburger Beer, after all. Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out what to do with our imperfect but organic apples, which seem to be somewhat sweet. So far, I've made pie, crumbles, something like a cobbler, and lots of apple bread, from a wonderful recipe in the lovely Apples for Jam. But now I'm getting so many (I just picked up 35 more), I'm really going to have to do some canning, and soon. I'm more than slightly a canning novice, so it should be interesting; wish me luck.

Every time I head outside to pick up apples in the yard, this guy follows me out the door--but he's not so interested in the apples. He's always, always ready to play: he fancies himself something of a star soccer player because he knows how to punch the ball. He's a bit obsessed with any kind of ball he sees, really. Mind you, a soccer ball, even the small one pictured here, is much too large for Yoshi to hold in his mouth, so he mostly barks it into submission. All the neighbors love us, I'm sure.

Wandering Wednesday

Here I stand (my little dog, too!), by the new raised planter box the Husband, the Girl, and the Boy put together recently in our back yard. We're slowly, slowly attempting to begin growing vegetables here for the first time since we moved to this house last year. Until recently, we'd made do with potted herbs, various ornamental plants in the front and back, and the big, mature apple tree we inherited (more on that soon!). In this small planter, you'll find some spent strawberry plants and some new pea, mixed-lettuce, rucola, and spinach babies. I'm very happy just to see these infants, as I've had precious little experience planting from seed.

In case you're wondering, this is my first time to play along with GardenMama's Wandering Wednesday, and I think it's a good time to think about what I'm wanting to accomplish here--by here, I mean in our home in this little tucked-away German village. Sometimes it's hard for us really to feel at home, since most everyone in the area either grows up here or comes here for a few years with the U.S. government/military. Of course, there are those who come and end up staying for years, even sometimes (like us) buying a house. I think I need to get to know more of these people, since in the depths of winter, I'm not sure I quite get the appeal of this place. But let's think about that later! 

But anyway, I want to make the most of our rural location, and that includes al fresco dinners, countryside walks, fires in the fire pit on chilly nights, visits to local Christmas markets, and plenty of herbal concoctions and vegetable gardening. I've read a lot about gardening, you understand, but there are many things I've not had a chance to put into practice until now. So here we go...

Incidentally, along with GardenMama, I've just found (today!) several lovely blogs that are already giving me an education in and appreciation for rural living (often with crafting and homeschooling in the mix). I'm sure I'll be finding more...

The Magic Onions

Natural Suburbia

Rhythm of the Home

edited to add Plain and Joyful Living

Farmama