Field Trip - The Philbrook

 Driving through Tulsa, I stopped at the Philbrook Museum of Art.Though the museum is spectacular in its own right, I only wanted to be in the garden. And what a garden it is.

Ah, Arizona

There has been no miraculous change. No freakish, but painless weight loss. No fantastic, challenging, well paying job. Just this.

Every chance I get I wander through the woods, climb a mountain or wade through a creek. It is hard to be anything but awed in such beauty. My soul is full.

Yawrn!

Looking for a job is horrible. I now understand why people stay at jobs the hate. Moreover, I've discovered quite a bit about myself. Mostly I'm a HUGE procrastinator when it comes to writing cover letters. I will find 107,000 other things to do than write a letter that may help me get a job. What are those 107,000 things? One is dyeing yarn.

The silvery purple one is my favorite and was made from berries in the alley. Lots of berries in the alley. They are much prettier in hanks, but I'm probably only going to have a car full of stuff when I move. So I need pre-wound sock yarn. Wherever I end up, I hope there is an alley.

Pokeberry yarn

These are pokeberries. The grow in the alley behind my apartment (many things grow in the alley. Many things that have been used to dye yarn). Using an alum mordant and this many pokeberries (sorry I don't have numbers), I dyed this yarn.

I like sock yarn that has nuances to add depth to the sock patterns. This yarn has those nuances and some cat hair.

I've been wildcrafting a lot of dyes here. I'll post some yarn I've over-dyed several times. The over-dyeing gives a depth to the yarn I love. 

Bars - simply delicious

In an effort to use up all the food in the house, I have been baking like crazy. Which I love. Right now I love these the most.

These are a good to make with whole wheat flour since the bars are dense to begin with you won't even notice it. I've made these several times with raisins and love them, but I tried chocolate chips (1/2 cup) instead. Wow. This is a good base for different fruit and nut combinations. I see fig and rosemary granola bars in my future.

These granola bars are adapted from this recipe.

Makes 14 granola bars

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 raisins
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking pan.

In a large bowl mix oats, cinnamon, raisins, and flour. Make a well in the center and add honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix thoroughly with your hands.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the bars turn golden. Cool for 5 minutes then cut into bars. 

The Plot

My yard or technically, my cement slab, has become a flourishing garden. I inherited the shipping pallet raised bed. I have an inordinate amount of parsley (inherited), a good amount of lettuce (with the idea that I would eat better) and the imperative cilantro (oh how I love you cilantro). I also have several boxes with tomatoes and basil and an over the door shoe holder filled with peas, radishes and spinach. Quite a lot of food for such a tiny slab. I would love to grow more. Maybe my next slab will be huge.

Fat, Forty and Broke: A Year in Review

I know what you're thinking. I"m not forty. It sounds better. Let me have it.

This time last year, I was renting an apartment over the phone, planning a yard sale and gearing up to leave all my friends and family. Everything was clicking. Serendipity was in play. Click, click, click.

Then mmmmmm. Then some more mmmmmm. Now I feel like someone who was robbed, beaten and nursed back to health (while being feed an inordinate amount of Rally's french fries) by a wizened urban planner who told tales of impact fees and sense of place only to return me to the wild; broke, disoriented and with slightly higher cholesterol. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad I came. I don't regret it. I met amazing people (mostly named Jessica - lots of Jessicas in Indiana), learned to like beer (thanks to Tim and a great trip to Milwaukee), and developed a love of gardening. But now I'm ready to leave. Without a degree, without a savings account.

I don't know where I am going. I don't know how I'll get there. I'm just waiting for something to click.