A life to Harvest

My name is January...                                                                 

I have been learning my way around a kitchen rather late in life.

My Mother, Donna Jo, was a fantastic cook and kept us all well fed and healthy.

 Donna Jo is on the left in this photo.

I made a chocolate cake once, in the sixth grade, for show and tell, and mashed the potatoes each Thankgsiving, prior to setting the table.  It’s likely I whipped up a box mac and cheese a time or two as a teenager, and could make really swell cinnamon toast, but I had no reason to cook.  Donna Jo fed us.  I did not require much food when left on my own, perhaps an apple smeared with some peanut butter, or a pop tart.

When I was 16, I had a boyfriend that Mother really liked, and she convinced me to make him a dinner.  I remember it being her idea, but I could be wrong.

I do recall that I picked the meal and I dove right off into the deep end, choosing London Broil, with twice baked potato, rolls and asparagus.  The boy and I discussed marriage soon after this meal. J

The second meal I learned was lasagna, and the sauce was made from scratch from a recipe in a small authentic Italian cookbook, which I still use, even though the pages are splattered with stains.

As a teenager I worked in various jobs, but all of them provided meals, so I really had no reason to learn more than how to make food for courting.  Even when I moved out, the restaurants where I worked were where I got my sustenance, and I did not buy my first cutting board or paring knife until I was in my mid to late twenties.  I’ll never forget that day.  I ran into my friend Jules and her Grandma Pauly, who was so excited, at my news of buying something so necessary, she said ‘if I had a bell I’d ring it!’  I have loved that saying ever since.

My Mother gave me a set of blue non-stick pots and pans, and they were used mainly for heating up cans of food, on the rare occasion I used them at all.  My first big purchase, for the kitchen was a hand hammered wok which kept me alive through much of my single life and followed me on any move I made around the state or country.  One pot to clean per meal, is a good thing for a single person.  I often had a tiny kitchen or shared one with a roomie.  Relatively good food was easy to come by and not very expensive in the city, so my wheelhouse of cooking knowledge was very small.  I did not seek out recipes.  I had one Chinese food cookbook.  I had craft projects, friends and nights out on the town.

Then I moved to the country, with a boy, more accurately, a rural lake surrounded by wild woods.  Within one month, my dog and I were walking and we ran into a cougar!  Toto (her name was really Pooh bear) we are not in Tulsa anymore!

There are restaurants in town, but town is far away when one is warm and cozy and busy with gardening and other crafty projects.  I try to keep trips to town down to a minimum and accomplish as much as possible with each visit, to save gas and lower my carbon footprint, not to mention the time it takes.  I find time to be the most valuable commodity.  We also choose to grow as much of our own food as possible.  This saves money and it is really nice to know just where the food comes from and how it was grown, especially now that GMO crops are so abundant and so frightening and unknown.

My maternal Grandmother, Miss Lillie, passed along a green thumb to me and a drive to create flower beds out of nothing at all.  My sweetie has a degree in Horticulture and soon enough our rocky terrain was littered with gardens.  After a few years he started a seed company (www.dustbowlseed.com) which meant that soon I was trying to figure out what to do with baskets of produce, all at once!  It’s an adventure to cook this way, and creativity is necessary.  I love to eat and healthful food is vitally important to how I feel, so it’s become a priority.  After many long threads regarding food and recipes, on facebook, it has been suggested to me that I should write a blog, so here we go.  Let’s cook up a life!

 Miss Lillie and her prize winnin' sweet taters!

I have a feeling we will find inspiration in each other!  Let's talk about gardening, food, books, pets,  herbs,  art, crafts projects, and who knows what else.  Welcome!