Time flies! - Il tempo vola!

Yikes, it's been a month since my last post! I think Facebook, where I can just quickly add a photo almost every day, with a brief caption, is starting to take precedence over my blog.
I've been very busy this past month and enjoying it all, but for the moment I will post only photos from yesterday and today.
Yesterday a group of us visited Masseria Abate Nicola, built in 1719 and modified several times in the 1800s. A masseria is basically a fortified farmhouse. The majority of masserie are found in Puglia and in Sicily and many have been beautifully restored and are now used as resorts, B&Bs or to host events. The long structure with all the arches was once the sheep barn.
Caspita, e` gia` passato un mese dal mio ultimo post! Credo che Facebook, dove posso velocemente aggiungere un po` di foto quasi ogni giorno, con una breve descrizione, stia pian piano prendendo il posto del mio blog.
Sono stata molto occupata questo mese con diverse attivita` davvero piacevoli, ma mi limitero` a mostrare solo qualche foto di ieri ed oggi. 
Ieri ho visitato la Masseria Abate Nicola, costruita nel 1719 a modificata varie volte nell'ottocento. 
La lunga struttura con tutti gli archi era una volta l'ovile. 

Today, with two friends, I set out to visit the famous and unique Giardini di Pomona, a not for profit organization that promotes education about the environment and biodiversity, through the protection and the propagation of cultivated fruit trees, with particular attention to those that are in danger of extinction.
Unfortunately they were closed because the people in charge were taking part in an important march in Cisternino to promote the protection of degraded lands and to safeguard centuries-old olive trees. So, since we could not find the location of the march, we took a walk through Cisternino.
Oggi, con due amici, sono partita da casa per visitare i famosi e unici Giardini di Pomona, ma purtroppo erano chiusi per la partecipazione dei responsabili all'importante Marcia per la Terra. Non siamo riusciti a raggiungere il luogo della marcia, per cui abbiamo fatto una bella passeggiata in Cisternino. 

From Cisternino we went to the antique and used market in Martina Franca, where I bought a little stool to use in the garden.
Da Cisternino siamo passati al mercato dell'antiquariato e dell'usato di Martina Franca, dove ho comprato un piccolo sgabello da usare in giardino. 

After lunch I went home, changed into my gardening clothes and went out to lay down the cardboard layer of sheet mulching for my new vegetable patch-to-be, before the rain expected later tonight. It should have been fast and easy, but it wasn't because I kept changing my mind about the location. I thought I had decided, but obviously I hadn't, because first I laid down the cardboard here.
Dopo pranzo sono tornata a casa, mi sono messa i vestiti per lavorare in giardino e sono andata fuori per mettere giu` lo strato di cartone per la pacciamatura per un nuovo orto, prima delle piogge previste per stanotte. Sarebbe stata una cosa abbastanza facile e veloce, se non fosse stato per il fatto che ho cominciato a cambiare idea sul luogo dell'orto, cosa che credevo di aver deciso in modo definitivo, ma non era cosi`. Prima ho messo il cartone qui, dove era stata appositamente tagliata l'erba. 

But it just didn't feel right - it was too far from the house (permaculture advises keeping close to home the places that you need to visit often), too close to the road and, therefore, too much in view of every passerby. So I moved everything to the other side, at the same distance from the road, but out of view. No dice, it was still too far from the house and from water faucets. So I ended up moving all the way back up to the house to a spot that gets a lot of sun, but that I had initially discarded because I did not feel it would be aesthetically pleasing, since I have to fence it to protect it from dogs, cats and whatever night creatures might come by. It's not ideal, but it has more positives than negatives.
Ma non ero convinta - era troppo lontano dalla casa (la permacultura consiglia di tenere vicino alla casa i luoghi che devi visitare spesso), troppo vicino alla strada e, quindi, sotto gli occhi di tutti i passanti. Allora ho spostato il tutto dall'altro lato, alla stessa altezza, ma nascosto dalla strada. Niente da fare, era ancora troppo lontano dalla casa a dai rubinetti per l'acqua. Alla fine ho finito col tornare fin su alla casa in un punto dove c'e` molto sole, ma che in un primo momento avevo escluso perche` non lo trovavo esteticamente piacevole, visto che lo devo recintare per proteggerlo dai cani, dai gatti e da eventuali animaletti notturni. Non e` l'ideale, ma ha piu`  punti a favore che contro. 

Before collapsing in exhaustion I put a few smaller pieces of cardboard over part of my old garden bed.
Prima di crollare dalla stanchezza ho messo qualche pezzo piu` piccolo di cartone su una parte dell'orto gia` esistente. 

Now let's hope it rains tonight so I can proceed with the rest of the sheet mulching layers.
Adesso speriamo che stanotte piova, cosi` potro` procedere con i rimanenti strati della pacciamatura. 

Fava greens and blossoms - Foglie e fiori di fave

Yesterday, through a Facebook post by an Italian friend who has a restaurant in San Francisco, I made an interesting discovery - that the tender leaves and blossoms of fava plants can be eaten raw or lightly cooked. I had no idea. I have quite a few fava plants growing right now, some of which I plan to "chop and drop" as green manure and some of which I will allow to bear fruit. I love raw and cooked young fava beans, so knowing that I can eat parts of the plants I will sacrifice as fertilizer, even though they will not have produced beans, somehow feels less wasteful. 

I found recipes in English here, here and here, and in Italian just this one.  

Today I ate the most tender tops and the flowers raw with olive oil and vinegar, I threw a few in the water in which I was cooking pasta, for the last two minutes of cooking time, and both ways were excellent. Tomorrow I plan on lightly sauteing the larger leaves. 

Ieri, tramite il post di un amico italiano che ha un ristorante a San Francisco, ho fatto una scoperta interessante -  che si possono mangiare le cime e i fiori delle fave, sia crude che cotte. Non ne avevo idea. Ho parecchie piante di fave nell'orto, alcune che ho intenzione di tagliare a pezzi e usare come concime "verde" e alcune che lascero` in produzione. Mi piacciono molto le fave fresche crude o cotte, quindi sapere che posso mangiare anche alcune parti di quelle piante che sacrifichero` come concime, mi fa piacere. Ho trovato varie ricette in inglese (vedere i link sopra), ma solo questa in italiano. 

Oggi ho mangiato le cime piu` tenere e i fiori in insalata condite con olio e aceto, ho buttato alcune delle foglie piu` grandi nell'acqua di cottura della pasta, per gli ultimi due minuti di cottura, e mi sono piaciute in entrambi i modi. Domani ho intenzione di saltare velocemente in padella alcune foglie piu` grandi. 

It's so much fun to find unexpected edibles in the garden!

Mi diverte proprio scoprire nell'orto cose nuove da mangiare!

Spring is right around the corner - La primavera e` dietro l'angolo

You would not know it though from the last three very cool and foggy mornings.

Non si direbbe dalle ultime tre mattinate, molto fresche e nebbiose. 

Today started like this, but turned into a very warm and sunny day, the kind that makes you forget all but really serious problems. I made plans for the 13 new trees I need to plant - 10 Laurels (Laurus nobilis) for a hedge, a mandarin, a carob (the tall one), and a cherry. 

Oggi e` iniziata cosi`, ma si e` presto trasformata in una giornata splendida, del tipo che ti fa dimenticare tutti i problemi che non sono davvero seri. Ho programmato dove piantare 13 nuovi alberi - 10 allori (Laurus nobilis) per una siepe, un mandarino, un carrubo (quello alto) e un ciliegio. 

I'm also getting ready to make my vegetable bed one yard wider and one yard longer. Unfortunately flowers and vegetables need protection from the occasional visits of the pack of stray dogs. 

Mi sto anche preparando a rendere questo orticello piu` lungo e piu` largo di un metro. Purtroppo le aiuole di fiori e di verdure devono essere recintate per proteggerle dal passaggio del branco di randagi. 

In the evenings I'm still having fun looking for critters in the layers of paint. 

Di sera mi diverto ancora a cercare esserini fantastici negli strati di pittura.

"Sometimes we may get a little sad, but we are never completely alone"

Mostly in the background - E` tutto nello sfondo

This is the third visual journal page that started with finding images in the painted and gessoed  background. This is how it looked after I started outlining the images I saw with a pencil.
Questa e` la terza pagina del quaderno che e` iniziata con la ricerca di immagini nello sfondo preparato con strati di pittura e gesso, dopo aver definito alcune immagini con la matita. 

Here is the final product after the addition of a lot of color with Portfolio's watersoluble oil pastels. I found all the images, except the woman's face, in the background.
Eccolo dopo l'aggiunta di tanti colori con i pastelli ad olio solubili in acqua della Portfolio. Ho trovato tutte le immagini, eccetto il volto della donna, nello sfondo. 

Creatures n. 2

All of these creatures, except for the little girl's head, legs and one arm, simply appeared in the layered paint background. I just pulled them out of the shadows (probably the shadows of my brain!).
Tutti questi esserini, con l'eccezione della testa, le gambe e un braccio della bambina, sono apparsi nello sfondo fatto con strati di pittura acrilica. Io li ho semplicemente fatti uscire dalle ombre (probabilmente le ombre del mio cervello!).

The entire 2 page journal spread. Le due pagine del quaderno su cui ho dipinto.

Close-ups. Primi piani.

I've done this a bit before, that is, looking for images in the paint, but only in the last few days have I done it a lot, and I think it is having an effect on my brain. Now I'm seeing things everywhere: tree trunks, rocks, food. For example, see those rocks down there, that I spotted this morning when I opened the curtains? I see the head of a large dog on the right, giving a speech to several animals who are lying down facing him. There's even a little cat to his right, just below the larger rock, which could be a crocodile. Time for therapy perhaps?
L'ho gia` fatto un poco in passato e, cioe`, di cercare immagini nella pittura, ma e` solo negli ultimi giorni che lo sto facendo di piu` e credo che abbia avuto un effetto sul mio cervello. Adesso vedo immagini ovunque: nei tronchi degli alberi, nelle pietre, nel cibo. Per esempio, guardate quelle pietre che ho visto questa mattina quando ho aperto le tende. A destra vedo la testa di un un grosso cane e mi pare che stia facendo un discorso a vari animali che gli stanno stradiati di fronte. Alla sua destra c'e anche un gattino, sotto una pietra piu` grande, che potrebbe essere un coccodrillo. Ora di ricoverarmi?

Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls

Let me say right off the bat that this is a very approximate recipe, and since I made it up as I went along there are no precise measurements. I made four large rolls on the stove top and ate two before I even thought of taking a photo. They are good!
I used a variety of cabbage that here is called "Cavolo Verza Riccio" and it is the one in the third photo from the top here. It's the cabbage I've been using since I arrived here and I really like it.
This is what I did:

1. I boiled some generic variety of white short grain rice (not Basmati, not Arborio).

2. I briefly sauteed onions, garlic and a tiny bit of red pepper flakes and to this I added a can of chopped tomatoes and their sauce, 3 bay leaves, and salt. When the sauce was partially cooked I added some sliced white mushrooms and let them cook.

3. In the meanwhile I placed the four large outer leaves of the cabbage, from which I had pared away the toughest upper part of the stem, in boiling water - one at a time - for a minute or so, then let them drain.

4. I mixed the rice with a couple of eggs, grated Rodez cheese (you can use Parmigiano or Pecorino), some diced provolone (mozzarella would be good, but I didn't have any), a bit of the sauce (onions, garlic and all), and a pinch of cumin. Since I decided to add the mushrooms as an afterthought, they did not go into the rice mix, but it would have been even better with them in there.

5. I placed some of the rice mixture into each leaf, rolled it up and closed it with a couple of toothpicks.

4. To the sauce I added some water and half of a vegetarian organic bouillon cube, broken up into tiny pieces because the organic ones do not melt easily. I then placed the the rolls in the sauce, spooned some of the sauce on top of the rolls, put on the lid and let them cook on rather low heat, for maybe 30 minutes. I kept checking and adding a bit of water when necessary.

These are not small rolls, as you may be able to tell from the photo, because those leaves are large, so each roll is about 4 to 4.5 inches long. I had no problem eating two, and am trying to hold out till dinner before I eat the other two!

I don't know if it's this variety of cabbage or the bay leaves that grow in my back yard and smell a lot like cinnamon, but whenever I combine this cabbage with those leaves, the result is yummy! It's a small shrub that grows right at the base of an olive tree, and I want to try to propagate it by cuttings, because I've never smelled bay leaves quite like it.

Let me know if you try it and if you make any vegetarian modifications. I think something having to do with walnuts would be good....

Creatures and Cornbread

In the midst of putting the final touches on this visual journal page entitled "It sure is crowded in here",

I suddenly got a craving for stovetop skillet cornbread, which is kind of odd since I've never been crazy about cornbread and have eaten it only a few times. I searched a lot for a recipe that fit the bill, and the one that most appealed to me was this one by Martha Stewart.
Of course I modified it and, of course, it didn't look anything like the photo of hers. Instead of 5 Tbs of sugar I used 2, instead of powdered milk and water I used buttermilk, instead of melted butter I used olive oil and instead of baking powder which does not exist here, I used Joy of Cooking's substitution, which is baking soda and cream of tartar.
The center bottom burned a bit, because in order to get a very low flame I had to put it on the smallest burner.

Eh, what can I say? I'm not crazy about it, but I'm eating it.