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Life on Peace and Plenty Farm
Essential Work
At the beginning of February, I was feeling stressed and harried - so much to do in the next months and so many deadlines to meet. The weather was unseasonably warm and sunny and it felt like summer had arrived, skipping completely over spring. I wrote about my longing for a longer winter, and desire for more time to be quiet, slow, and do behind-the-scenes prep for all the big things that were coming our way in 2020. If the adage, “Careful What You Wish For” could be any more true than now, I don’t know when.
Mistakse
Sometimes mistakes in life take years to undo, or cost a fortune, or end up breaking your heart or body. Most of the time, those mistakes can be learned from, and though dearly earned, that wisdom serves well. Farming mistakes can break your heart, body and bank account too, but at least you get a chance to try whatever it was again not too long...
Of Interest: Articles and Recipes
"Pennsylvania Gold" The Mennonite Tradition of Growing Saffron - Saveur Magazine
The spice came to the U.S. during Colonial times along with other old-world crops like spelt. According to food historian William Woys Weaver, saffron-loving Pennsylvanians were once called Geeldeitsch, or “Yellow Dutch,” for the distinctive gold hue of their food. Merchants shipped Pennsylvania saffron to Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and, writes Pat Willard, author of Secrets of Saffron: The Vagabond Life of the World's Most Seductive Spice, in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War, saffron traded on the Philadelphia commodity exchange at a price equal to gold. In the colonies, saffron acted as a flavoring in soups and teas, as well as a domestic remedy for measles and fevers.
The Ultimate Guide to Cooking with Saffron - Chowhound
Great write up by Pamela Vachon in Chowhound about saffron and its uses. There is a small error (stigmas, not stamens are used to make saffron threads), but there are some great dessert ideas in here and valuable information about its uses. "Fortunately, a very little goes a very long way, and mere fractions of grams of saffron can infuse a variety of dishes from...
Saffron Tea as an alternative to coffee
Nice article here in the NYTimes with Camille Becerra’s breakfast - which includes a saffron tea. “Rather than coffee, Becerra drinks saffron water in the morning. The recipe, a gift from Boulaabi, involves soaking the plant’s ruby-colored threads in water overnight to release the nutrients and flavor. “It has a savory note, and is floral-y but not in the way of a rosewater — it’s...