Spring Warren's Blog, page 7
April 8, 2011
I'm a travelin' kind of blogger. I'm visiting Holly West's site today – check it out!
Path to Publication – Spring Warren – Adventures in Bedlam
Spring Warren is the author of Turpentine and most recently, The Quarter-Acre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn, and Fed my Family for a Year. Today, she stops by my blog to tell the story of her…
April 2, 2011
Preserved Lemons with Olives
My olives are ready – shrivelled, salty, meaty – how I love the things. I didn't think I could like them any better, but then I combined them with my preserved lemons – tangy, salty, fresh…the two go together like whiskey and a handsome man – one just makes the other even better! Give it a try (I'm talking olives and lemons, but then again, give the handsome man and whiskey a try as well).
*both how -to's for preserving lemons and preserving olives are in my book The Quarter Acre Farm, and on this blog!
March 30, 2011
Rat, rat, rat, rat. Rats.
Raking, pulling up old stones, routing stumps, turning over cinderblocks. This is what you find in the spring. So pink, so perfect, so bubblegum. What did I do with them? I ate them of course. Tender little things, just right with a minute each side under the broiler.
You DIDN'T believe me?!! I wrapped them in a scrap of towel and put them back in the cinder block, gave them a lecture about relocating to the rental two doors down where there is always beer and fritos available.
Eat them. Sheesh, you don't know me very well. hehehehehe.
March 27, 2011
Baked potatoes with caramelized onions
Today may be the last drizzly cold day, for at least a week, in Northern California. So tonight might be the perfect evening to make some baked potatoes with caramelized onions. I'm always surprised that these are soooooo good because they are equally as simple. Take a bunch of onions and wearing those swim goggles I told you about earlier, slice them thinly. Sautee the onions slowly in a bit of olive oil until they are golden colored. By the time they are golden colored they will also be incredibly sweet, soft, and delicious.
Take a fork and rake it across some pre-baked potatoes that have been cut in half (or you could cut the potatoes in rounds and place them in the baking dish that way, or even mash them, or…) then slather the lovely caramelized onions on top. Sprinkle with cheese of your choice and bake. A light meal that tastes rich.
Robyn O'Brien gives you food for thought…on food.
I love TED talks. I pick up a couple of new IQ points every time I watch one. Check this one out by Robyn O'Brien.
March 22, 2011
Original print Give-a-Way!
To help celebrate the releaseof my book The Quarter Acre Farm by Seal Press, I'm giving away limited edition original prints by artist, Jesse "Nemo" Pruet, hand-tinted by yours truly.
This is a limited edition linoleum print. It is a longer print of a beautiful carrot, and will be struck, tinted, signed, folded neatly in half, addressed and sent through the mail. Each print will have your name, address, and a postmark on the back.
For a chance to win one of these exclusive, frame-worthy pieces of original art, follow the steps below:
1. Purchase a copy of The Quarter Acre Farm and read it.
2. Post a review of it on any of the following sites: Amazon, Barnes&Noble.com, Borders.com or GoodReads.com.
3. E-mail a link to your review and mailing address to: spring.spring@sbcglobal.net
By following these simple steps, you will be able to share your thoughts about my book with me and other readers and have a chance to win one of these beautiful prints. What's not to love?
In case you'd like to tell me what you think in person…There are three, yes THREE readings this weekend. On Thursday at 7 at Borders in Davis, California, national bestselling author Eileen Rendahl and I will be doing a team reading with a literary mashup!
Friday I will be in Berkeley with the amazing artist (and son) Nemo who will be doing live printing (bookplates!) as part of the reading event. That's at Books, Inc. 1760 Fourth St, also at 7 p.m.
On Saturday you can find me and Nemo once more reading and live printing at the Ferry Building #42 at Book Passage from 1 – 2 pm. Hope to see you there!
March 20, 2011
Springtime
It's been a day and a night and a day of BAD weather. Last night was the worst with torrential rains and wind that toppled trees. Now it is gray out, drizzling, my lovely tall favas bent into the mud, the pond filled with detritus, the plum trees denuded after having looked so lovely with their flocking of pale pink petals.
But I am trying to remember it is spring, first day of it as a matter of fact. So much spring that lovely tulips like this grace my table, a gift from the local Madisons -farmers and olive oil producers extraordinaire. When tulips are blooming, it is spring, no matter the twists and turns of the season.
Just the other day it was so bright and sunny Tiger was in cat ecstacy, rolling in the hot mulch, trying to shade his eyes so he could both soak up the rays and sleep in the perfect afternoon.
No matter everything outside is slick, uncomfortable, dirty, spattered, cold, battered and windy, we will have cat afternoons again. The sooner the better.
March 19, 2011
Chicken shelter
If this isn't the easiest chicken shelter ever, I don't know what is. It does look a lot better than the ratty tarp I had (laboriously) hung to keep the girls dry during rain, and I'm hoping that it works better, too. It also has a sort of modernist simplicity to it that I like.
The corrugated fiberglass panel was no as pliable as I had figured it would be…I was a bit afraid that I would crack it before I got it to arc to my satisfaction, but it didn't.
The ten days of rain have begun and now the chickens can find some shelter under the archway, eat their grain without the irritation of drips running down their feathered necks.
March 18, 2011
I LOVE this reader!
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Incredibly Helpful!,
March 18, 2011By Kelly "kelly" (United States) – This review is from: The Quarter-Acre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn, and Fed My Family for a Year (Paperback)
I LOVE this book!
Somehow this book manages to be an excellent "how to" guide, an extremely funny diary of the author's failures and successes, and a very readable instruction manual all at once. It will make you feel that producing some portion of your own food is an achievable and worthy goal no matter where you live. This book is just the encouragement and assistance that you've been looking for if you are dreaming of growing your own food on your own small lot/yard.
Above any practical value [though there is TONS of that], this book is the most entertaining and funny thing I've read in ages. Spring Warren has such a humorous perspective and such a clever way of looking at things, I really enjoyed reading what she had to say. I also enjoyed her indomitable spirit which comes through so clearly in this book. Even if you don't ever plan to grow a single thing in your yard, you might enjoy this book just as a really fun read.
I bought this book on a whim because I've been longing to transform my yard into something beautiful and practical [as in: something that feeds us!]. I am so happy that this was the book I chose – it was more than I ever expected. I have laughed out loud and been truly motivated to try this idea. I have learned more than I would have thought possible; all while reading a really great story. You can't ask for more than that from a book.
I agree with another review that says this book avoids all the preaching and chiding that other "environmentally friendly" book often contain – it sure does. The author teaches without preaching and entertains you the whole way.
Buy this book – you won't be sorry!
(Thanks Kelly "Kelly"!)
It's TIME FOR THE GARDEN PLAN!
For most people it was St. Patrick's Day, but for me, it was even better. Instead of beer and corned beef, it was a trip to the nursery. Instead of wearing green, I wore my new garden hat and wrote out my wish list on a vibrantly green piece of paper…
I also wrote out a garden plan. Here it is – the Quarter Acre Farm schematic. 25 beds (not all to scale, but close enough for a jisticist (I get the jist of things, if I don't retain all the details).
Then for each bed I figured, roughly, what I was going to plant there, based on what I had planted there last year. I don't want to follow tomatoes with tomatoes, or even eggplant or potatoes with tomatoes – I mix up those plant families so that I don't encourage plant- specific cooties to attack.
Then my friend Alan and I took off on what we call "TOMATO DAY!" Searching out the best of the best tomato starts (and other farming needs) for the garden. We did pretty well, though, as luck would have it, a cold front has moved into my neck of the woods precluding the actual planting.
When I do actually plant, things are likely to change a bit on that plan. But this year, I'm turning over a new garden leaf and WRITING EVERYTHING DOWN in my GARDEN BOOK, and DATES, and NOTES on the success or failures of different plants (just like I recommend in the back of my book The Quarter Acre Farm – I've shamed myself into it, or taken my own good advice, to put a nicer spin on things.)
So HAPPY TOMATO DAY, and the green luck of the Irish to you!
