Winter Changes

Welcome back, everyone!

Modeling Scott's (literal) birthday suit

...And welcome home to me! After three months of travel, Mr. Yates and I are finally back from our first major jaunt together across the country - no small feat! After flying from California (where it finally stopped raining) back to the Frozen Northlands (where it hasn't stopped snowing), we're enjoying some quiet catch-up time with the godkids & company, as I've christened our adopted clan.
Today was a good day for it, too. It was so cold - 24 degrees below zero - that the girls had the day off from school because the school buses couldn't start. Seriously. Needless to say, they were completely heart-broken. :) As for me, I experienced not a one of the usual Vermont urges to put off my writing and go outside to play, and so was remarkably productive. In fact, the only procrastinating I did was to avoid going outside, where we have yet to finish pushing my car out of the snow-bank it was buried in. I didn't mind the wait. It's already taken us two days just to dig a path for it, and I'd rather be covered in kids than ice.

Speaking of the not-so-wee ones, today's gem of a kid comment came from Ms. S, who was listening to one of her sisters and their other nanny talking about foreign phrases they enjoy.
"Ooh, schadenfreude," suggested the nanny. "One of my favorite German words!"
"That's German?" Ms. S wrinkled her nose.
"Sure it is!" Her sister was all too pleased to explain. "It means taking pleasure from someone else's pain."
"I'll have to remember that," murmered Ms. S thoughtfully, and turned away. As she walked by, I heard her repeating her new phrase softly to herself:
"Shot in Florida, Shot in Florida, Shot in Florida..."

This one almost tops one of her younger sister's comments the other day while actually in Florida, where she was vacationing with her moms.
"Why is the water so much warmer here than it is up North?" quizzed her mom, who never misses an opportunity for homeschooling. "They're both part of the Atlantic."
"Mo-om," replied Madame H incredulously, in that particular way she has. "We learned this already. It's because it's closer to Ecuador. Duhh!"
While technically right...

In other (less hilarious) news, I've finally come up with my New Year's resolutions: enroll in aromatherapy school (and thus, stay in one place long enough to help the kids and plants grow), pay off some debts, and actually use some of those products I'm always giving away and selling - now that's a novel idea, huh? Physician, heal thyself (or at least pamper the bejeezus out of thy skin)!

Speaking of herbs, the blog is finally back in action with a few new pages (hooray!), and I'd love any feedback on the new layout. Okee-dokie, pokies - time for this blackbird's daughter to hit the nest. 

Sweet dreams,

Jessica

Snowed In In Florida (Jacksonville)

Season's Greetings from Jacksonville, Florida, where I'm enjoying that gluttonous, post-party feeling that comes from A) stuffing myself with really good vegetarian food and B) drinking what amounts to a cocktail's worth of tinctures (I like to call it my daily Tonic-tini), and wishing you all a heavenly Christmas.

So I've put about 5,000 miles on the odometer in the past five months, what with the whole "making friends out of strangers and plant-medicine out of weeds" adventure I've been on. Between the stories in this journal and the other encounters and escapades not fit for a blog (but maybe a book?), I'm finally ready to go back North and see what I can write. And plan. And make manifest.
But first, there's this pre-Christmas blizzard to contend with. You know, there's a sort of irony that comes with getting snowed in in Florida, but it's nothing compared to the surreal feeling I got this evening driving through the outskirts of Jacksonville. The streets had a vintage feel to them, and the neon lights and trails of sunset transformed the neighborhood landmarks and gray city blocks into a movie set of three-dimensional Edward Hopper paintings. Each building looked like it was its own perfect model; miniature diners and crab shacks and Mexican markets rendered in well-lit, perfectly painted plasticine.
Driving back over the bridge after catching the dusk-end closing of the 365 days-a-year farmer's market, we stopped at a tiny corner drive-through and walk-up restaurant for ice cream sundaes. The building was shaped like a soft-serve ice cream cone, and looked more like a Disney World prop than an actual restaurant. I wish I still had a camera; it was one of those perfect life-as-art moments.

Driving to Jacksonville, I found myself chanting Hare Krishna along to every song that came on the radio. For a while, tuned to a really great classic rock station, it felt like I was part of some incredible traveling Kirtan, singing along with Supertramp and Guns N Roses as we simultaneously warded off and extolled Kali Yuga, the current age of strife. I wasn't counting along on my prayer beads, but I'm pretty sure I chanted an entire round to the end of Free Bird.
It was great. I know it doesn't count as Japa (using beads to chant the Mahamantra with intention), but for a while there, cruising along the Florida panhandle, drinking horchata and fingering my new mala, I had a grand old time. At Blue Boy Herbs, one of the girls and I would sing the Mahamantra to Beatles songs (Eleanor Rigby was the decided favorite), but that's nothing compared to belting it out to traditional Christmas carols like The Bells of Paradise (Down in Yon Forest). That one's definitely my new favorite.

Both of the friends that I drove here to visit are guys I met on this trip, gentle men with interesting perspectives and stories. Andreas is a Mexican-born artist I met in a hostel made of tree houses this past Halloween. Before he moved down here to go to school, he was a professional massage therapist in the Berkshires, and before that, he served in the Mexican army.
Blake is down here for school, too. An herb-smart former Marine-turned-hippie who came down South after Katrina hit, he and I met at the Essential Herb Cottage this Thanksgiving. Blake worked herbs with Linda for several years, and as far as she and Whitney are concerned he's as much a part of the family as any blood or by-marriage kin.
Both of these guys like good food, a fact I'm relishing after two weeks spent completely surrounded by amazing vegetarian food. Between cooking kidgeree and pumpkin soup at the Essential Herb Cottage, walking down the lane to Darrell Martin's cabin for lunch every day, and taking prasadam at New Talavan, my tummy and taste buds have been seriously blessed in Mississippi. After a certain number of lovingly crafted veg-head meals, its just makes sense to continue the meatless love-fest. Karma or no karma, there are so many amazing meals you can make out of plants, why bother the cows?
Last night, Blake and I went to Andreas' apartment for dinner. The menu: sweet potatoes, baby winter squash and eggplant broiled in a home-made spice rub, served with red Swiss chard, Andreas' Ayurvedic lentils, and bottles of Guinness' super-tasty new anniversary stout. (The Wandering Herbalist's opinion? Less hops than the original, but still enough to send me right to sleep!)
Tonight's dinner came almost exclusively from the Farmer's Market: oven grilled corn on the cob, pan-seared mushrooms seasoned with Montreal Spice mix, steamed mustard greens with Bragg's liquid amino acids, oven-baked sweet potatoes, biscuits, and fried bananas for dessert.
Yumm....

Broiled Sweet Potatoes, Baby Winter Squash & Eggplant

Chop one small winter squash, leave the skin on, and scoop out the seeds. Cube one small eggplant and add to the bowl, along with one large sliced sweet potato. Coat with olive oil, 1 1/2 tablespoons Bragg's liquid amino acids, and -in no particular order or quantity- the following spices:
Himalayan sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Fresh rosemary, parsley and oregano
Ground ginger, garlic, paprika, and cayenne.
Marinate in the spice rub, then spread out on a baking sheet, pour in about 1/2 cup of water, and bake at 450 or so, stirring occasionally until caramelized and delicious.