UBC Farm in March

Jolly Little Salad

My friend Silly Lilly gave me some lovely little quail's eggs for my birthday. I also happened to have some tiny olives from a visit to Stage Wine Bar in Victoria, so I decided to make a salad with them. It takes five minutes to boil the quail's eggs, and after they'd cooled I sliced them up and put them on top of blanched asparagus. The olives are cured in fennel and lemon and they taste how I imagined olives should be. I served this with mayo blended with roasted red peppers and a bit of harissa. It's a shame you can't tell the scale of the olives and eggs from the photo I took, but you'll have to use your imagination. The olives are about the size of small jellybeans.

Meatball Soup

Brown rice vermicelli, sliced carrots, ground lamb with ginger, garlic, red onions, and Chinese five spice powder,organic beef broth, and garlic pita on the side.

How My Son Sees Me

Spicy Blossoms

Easter Eggs

Mr. Nibble's Friend, Mr. Droopy

Happy Easter from Mr. Nibbles

On behalf of Mr. Nibbles and all our assorted kin, I would like to wish you a happy Easter!

Today I have cleaned off the top of my fridge in order to germinate some marigolds for a special project. Loiszing and I are cooking up something special in which we take container gardening to a new level. Sure, we take pride in recycling, but what about giving a container more than one live before throwing it into the bin? How about creating a second, third, or even a ninth life for that yogurt container, tetra pack, or babka tin? What about those objects I have bought at thrift shops for props or costume pieces that need to move on to another life? Can I grow wheat in my elevator bra? Stay tuned for adventures in re:container gardening.

Mermaid in Transit

"How's that mermaid dress coming?" people ask me. Friends, relatives, colleagues, and even a city bus driver I happen to know. I can't escape talking about the process. Artists don't often make the artistic process transparent because it's such a fragile period. Yes, I am feeling vulnerable, thanks for asking. Ask a caterpillar what it's like turning into an entomological soup in a cocoon and I'm sure he'll tell you there are some hairy moments. Anyway, I'm in the deep rehearsal stage. The script is written and now it's a matter of getting it off the page and into my body. However my body has a mind of its own. It wants walk, garden, eat, and laze around on the couch reading mystery novels. I'm at the point where I need to "over-learn" the text, rehearse it and block it over and over in a variety of ways so that in performance I will be able to adapt the actions to the venue. I am my own director in this case, so I have to relay on my third eye.

The story itself is called The Laughing Dress and is inspired by a particularly slippery mermaid tale, the medieval story of Melusine. Originating in France, it was one of the spinning tales women told while they were spinning yarn or thread. The first recorded version, by William de Portenach has been lost. It was this story, among others that Jean d'Arras researched when he wrote the tale down in the late 1300's. It was so popular that Melusine was translated into German, Dutch, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, and Italian. At the heart of the story is a mythical marriage between a fantastical female creature and a human man. Melusine's husband must agree to give her absolute privacy when she is taking her Saturday night bath. When he breaks the vow and curses her, Melusine must leave.

This story is an example of pagan culture meeting Christian tradition. Melusine is a pre-Christian water sprite, daughter of Fey Pressine. One one version of the story Melusine promises to pray to God and go to Church like a good Christian wife. Since she is doomed at the end of the story, it serves as a warning to those who cling to pagan ideals. Martin Luther believed the story of Melusine and condemned her as a succubus. There is another story I read about mountain women in Europe, the Hulder-Maidens, who have little tails that drop off when they are married in a Christian Church. "I pronounce you man and wife. Plop. You may now kiss the bride!" (This story is in a book called Trolls compiled and illustrated by Doug Cushman.)

My Melusine story is like a painting that has been inspired by and painted on top of earlier works. We scrape the surface to see what lies beneath. Each version of the story reveals something of the context in which it was created. My version is a murder mystery inspired by the slew of British mystery novels I consume weekly. Well, that's all for now folks, I'd better get back to work.

Kerrobert, Saskatchewan

My post on Plenty below reminded me I have this wonderful photo of my Great Grandma Dean in a general store in Kerrobert circa 1913. She's the woman on the left. Notice the pressed tin ceiling and the strange ropes attached to the ceiling. Wonder what they were for?

Plenty of Chocolate

While in Victoria, I discovered my favourite new store. It's called Plenty, and it's an epicurean pantry full of precious things I love. Prairie Diva spotted the chocolate-covered figs made by Patty Doyle of Pearl Chocolates. When I got home, I realized the figs are also stuffed with chocolate. Ulski loves the chocolate-covered marshmallows she makes too. I also bought a cute owl trivet and someT urkish Delight hot chocolate made by Earth's Herbal Products in Victoria. The owner of Plenty is from Saskatchewan too, and the shop is named after the small town in Saskatchewan we always used to pass on the way to visit my Grandma Gladys in Bounty. It's a beautiful little shop, like an airy general store from dreamland. I love it. And those figs...!
For more info on Plenty, see a website called Spend Locally.

The Weekend the Woman Went

I was gone for two days and so of course when we woke up this morning there were no breakfast foods that our son would eat. Peter chowed down on granola and almond milk and I racked my brains trying to invent something that would at least get Ulski's appetite going. There was some whipping cream in the fridge (surprise, surprise). There were some frozen raspberries in the freezer. Put them together with a bit of maple syrup and you get *razzwhip. I even folded a bit into my yogurt and topped it with granola. Honey, I'm home!

*This was followed by a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread.

Tupper Planting Day

It was a misty moisty morning in March. The Tupper Greenway's dark brown velvet soil was dotted with potted greens waiting to be planted. Everyone had a task and people were busy registering, digging, setting up tents, arts and crafts, preparing food, making name tags and welcoming the community. A shiver ran down my spine as I watched neighbours, master gardeners, teachers and students creating a new garden on a road haunted by tragedy. In 2003 Jomar Lanot, a young student was killed near Tupper High School. He ran up this part of 23rd Avenue calling for help and no-one heard him. The students decided to create a memorial healing garden and with their initiative and the help of parents and teachers they are responsible for this planting day. (Another related project was the creation of the Jomar Lemot memorial pole.)

I was there to show the work I've been doing with Tupper painting and drawing students, and I distributed seed balls and read flower cards. I also had some pollinator stamps children can use to create message tags for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. I was doing what I love to do: meeting people who want to talk about art, bees, healing, and gardening. (I also won a $10 gift certificate for the Flower Factory! Yay!)

The show of local talent was charming and heart-warming. The little Filipina girls shaking their grass skirts to Hawaiian tunes stole the show. Strawberries, sedum, lavender will grow and bloom and feed the pollinators here. The cooking students will use the edible plants in their classes, and the art students can sketch the plants in situ. Botany, history, ecology can all be taught here in the outside classroom. The earth is our teacher and the lesson is life.

Bloomtown

I had a lovely getway weekend in Victoria. The trees are abloom. The flocks of tourists have not arrived yet. The city was quiet, gentle, and friendly. My friend Prairie Diva and I had some good old girl talks about the nature of the divine, letting go of envy, and the best kind of long underwear (silk, merino or bamboo?).