weekend nourishment: fire planting days, beets & home made cream cheese

i am nourished by our garden, not by grocery stores.
i wasn't able to write yesterday. because i got my hands dirty in the garden. which felt far more sensual. pregnant belly to earth, knees on earth, hands in dirt. mmmmmm. mmmmmmmmm. mmmmmmm.


john our landlord came by to start planting pea seeds. he wanted to experiment with planting different kinds and planting them early, just to see what will happen. we didn't water them and will cover them with straw to keep them warm and let nature take over in the spring. it was a fruit day yesterday, according to the biodynamic calendar, which is a fire day (ruled by aries, leo, & sag)(the moon was in leo); the german anthroposophists denoted fire days excellent days for pruning fruit trees and/or for planting fruit seeds. of which peas is considered one. click me if you want to know: what the hell is biodynamics and why plant seeds in alignment with planets?

he encouraged us to plant the seeds with intention. you know how food tastes if you eat a meal made by a grumpy wumpus versus someone who's feeling particularly sunshiney? one of the fellows here sang a lullaby as he planted his seeds. i thought of the baby and the amazing life force in my belly and the way in which peas have their own little bright green wombs containing them. so i said, 'i love you' to each little seed as i planted it in the ground. i know that sounds silly; i don't care. i love the seeds for their nourishment.


he pulled up beets. svyokla in russian. and now i have dozens of beets. i adore beets. i didn't know we had beets in the ground. that was so exciting to discover. i'm going to make a simple vegetarian pureed borscht this weekend. and maybe pickled beets now that i have more whey for fermenting.


speaking of whey!

This is whey. Why whey? Click me and find out more!
Good question! Whey ferments vegetables simply and naturally. And it also helps to soak grains and break down the phytic acid in the kernel of the grain, which over time, is actually difficult for our digestive systems. You wonder why so many food allergies and bowel syndromes? We don't eat the way our ancestors ate and we suffer for it. So Why Not Whey?

How do you make it?


simple as a dimple~
Dump a container of yoghurt (i use brown cow, plain whole milk yoghurt)
into a strainer lined w/ cheesecloth. let sit over night or during the day for several hours. it will separate. whey on the bottom in the bowl and cream cheese on the top in the cloth. put the whey in a jar. will keep for like 4 weeks or so.

to make the cream cheese a better texture, take the cheescloth ball of cream cheese out of the strainer. twist the excess cloth tight and wind over a handle of a wooden spoon. rest the handle of the spoon over a bowl. put a wooden cutting board over it to add excess weight. you'll get more whey in the bowl and a bit of a more authentic consistency of the creamcheese.


We made jamaican sweet potatoes w/ bananas, curried eggs and heated corn tortillas and put the creamcheese on the tortilla with a little raw honey, and then added the sweet potato banana mixture. mmmmmm~ mmmmmmmm! nourishment!