The retreat is closed until April and we have only resourcefulness as our tool of survival in the winter months. November has been a positive portent - the mildest ever, with temperatures around 15 degrees. So the woodstock is untouched. It's possible the 6 cubic metres of wood will see us through at this rate, though the logs are fast burners, poplar I think, rather than the slow burn of oak. The woodstock was bartered in exchange for some roof work. Some of the logs need splitting to fit the stove.
The artichokes are ready. We made a honey sauce and peeled down to the heart. I am sure that artichokes like these, that taste of the earth itself, are as good as truffles. The last pumpkin was as sweet as melon, and diced into a curry. The walnuts are like sweets too. The apple juice is a sugar syrup this year.
But apart from a few herbs the garden is dead.
We can lose sight of the simple pleasures in each day, if we project our worries into an unknowable future ... and though I cannot say now whether we will have food at the end of the month, or be warm at xmas, I can say with certainty that it has been like this for a decade, and that each month provides all we need and more ...
... but to be part of nature is to experience the wonders of foraging from month to month like any other creature, be it in the forest, the garden or the market place, where the Turks sell explosive chilli peppers and cheap potatoes ...
Know that this is life, and never let an uncertain future spoil a good meal !
i do not know that i have ever read a post more saturated in real bodily living. truth to god or magic or whoever/whatever is listening. living along the line like this is as authentic as we can live. and we are all living along the line, one way or another. it is only that so many lie to themselves, plump themselves up with feathers.
ReplyDeletei like you very much like this. you seem very animal, but for now, pleased animal.
have you ever happened upon a patch of earth in the sunlight, even on a cold day? and have you ever sat inside the heat of the earth and sun, not thinking a moment on its transience, but enjoying the gift? that is the living inside of this post:)
xo
erin