Category Archives: random thoughts

Broke out the smuggled Frenchie cheeses–chabichous, tomme, boutons, banon, and some brillat savarin–this weekend. I invited people to eat cheese, but first forced them to work! We harvested artichokes, carrots, swiss chard (still in a pile in the garden, the rabbits won’t even eat it). Also, pulled weeds and cleared all of the flowering arugula. Planted the tomato plants that Billy watered while I was away in France (they were huge!). Only then did my lovely friends sit down to eat cheese, drink rose, and enjoy a lovely day. These are the green globe ‘chokes, the violettos are just starting to come up. Of course there are aphids on them. I just soak them in water overnight–the remaining? That’s extra protein.

Still jet-lagged.
Returned home to no baby bunnies.
Is Simon shooting blanks? (To be very crass.)
I had a great time in France, mostly because of my cute new niece Amaya and Riana’s great cooking. One of my favorite things Riana cooked was a rabbit! We bought it at the Narbonne Central Market. In France the animals in the market still have their feet and heads. The rabbit we bought was no different. The farmer lady chopped the fresh rabbit into pieces for us, using an enormous pair of scissors. We said ‘oui’ when she asked if we wanted the head (it was for Lucky the cat). Once we got it home, Riana dredged the rabbit with flour and spices, browned it, then baked it in a tagine for an hour. Delicious. I can’t wait to do the same with my urban bunny crop, if only they would reproduce.

Billy’s watching the farm while I’m in France. He reported that the snails are trying to escape. Snails? Yes, well I meant to eat them before I left but was very busy packing and planning an event with Michael Pollan, here’s the link for that event—all about the farm bill, and how it matters to everyone who eats…but back to the mollusks: I found them in my garden, on an artichoke plant. They had munched the bottom leaves so that they resembled filigree and then took up residence on the long stalks. I collected a mason jar full of them, then put them in a larger jar with cornmeal and an artichoke leaf. Glad I waited to eat the little guys because my sister’s French hubby and his mom have lots of advice about how to best prepare them, and Riana gave me some escargot plates. Yesterday at the flea market in Narbonne, we found these snail holders and forks. Yay France for its snail eating ways!

Well, I’ll be gone for the next ten days–to the South of France! Hoping to talk to some farmers and get a little work with a French beekeeper…but mostly I’m going to see my new niece! As you can see, she’s adorable. I can’t wait to ask my sister if having a child feels like raising an animal. Is it the ultimate adventure in animal husbandry? Seems like babies remind us that we humans are animals, but we’ve forgotten. Who knows? So don’t miss me, I’ll be back (with a digital camera from Riana!) in April, around the same time as the baby bunnies are due!

I took Billy and our friend Ingrid up to Napa today and dropped them off on the side of the road…they’re going on a bike trip! They’re headed 130 miles north to Mendocino, where Ingrid will stay to work on Live Power, a wonderful biodynamic farm about which I’m writing a magazine piece. But for the next two days, I’ll be all alone. You know what that means…I’ll finally have time to hand-pollinate all my fruit trees. What with the lack of bees (see the article I wrote in Salon.com about losing my bees), I worry about fruit set. So the other night I bought a paint-brush and plan to play bee all weekend. First I’m going to get the peaches…then the apples…then the plums…and then…

Can’t wait for the favas to start producing. They are in full flower and I expect to see some of the little fruit soon. Though I am worried, too, because last year there were so many more bees around. Not just my honeybees, the noble and bumbling Bombus hasn’t been spotted either. And he loves the fava flowers. I do, too, I throw them in salads. With a little wild rocket, shredded beets, shredded carrots–there’s nothing finer.