grumbling around

I've been sitting home for the last two weeks, waiting for a phone call.

I filled out the paper work for my energy assistance program, and of course (this happens every year) I was denied! Since I do this every year, I KNOW I had everything filled out properly, but they said I was missing "verification"... so I called them.... and then waited, and waited, and waited.

Couldn't leave the house till they called. Not that I had anywhere to go, I just don't like not being "able" to run out if I wanted too! GIGGLE

This is kinda important to me since they pay a lot of money to my electric and gas bills, without that I would be back to having $10 left after paying the bills.... and $10 bucks doesn't buy much food for the month, so I waited

Finally I said, "fuck this", and called them again....even though the recording said not too..... I did anyway.... and 2 hours later they finally called!!!!

They just needed proof that Matt was a full time student, so I had to email him, make him email me his schedule, print it out, copy it all... and today I have to run out to Staples and fax it to them!

Now,just to be clear, they sent out a check list of what you had to send them, and as I got the paper work, I checked it off.... and the student thing WASN'T ON THE LIST!


I actually checked again after they called, and I was right, it wasn't on the list.

So it must have been something they added at the last minute! Just to freak me out, and piss me off!

But, as of this afternoon, they should have everything, and I should have my assistance. And this is a good thing!

Using what the Earth gives us

ACORNS: A Major North American Indian Food


California Indians did not have to be farmers, and for the most part were hunters and gatherers. There was a ready supply of deer, fish, rabbits, fowl, native plants for vegetables, native fruits, and even seaweed. Even so, acorns are said to have been the main food of as many as 3/4 of our native Californians. Acorns were everywhere, are easy to gather and store fairly well ... as long as your storage places are squirrel tight. Some groups buried baskets of nuts until they were needed. Some claim that white acorns were the most preferred because they were sweet and often eaten without leaching.


Many of the Pomos prefer the Tan Oak because they feel it has more flavor. Many of the MiWuks prefer the Black Oak because it takes less leaching to get rid of the tannin. Many of us don't like the California live oak because "its too much work for the amount of meal you get compared to the amount of leaching you have to do," "its got no character," "too wormy," or "its too easy to get -- nothing that plentiful can be very good." The list goes on and on. My favorite is the Black Oak ... with a little Tan Oak added for character.

Acorns are gathered in the fall after they are ripe, Early in the season you will occasionally find acorns without their "little hats" lying on the ground.

These are usually buggy. (If the acorn is so heavy that it pulls itself from its cap, it is usually because there is a worm flipping itself about inside the acorn, and all this activity is what breaks the nut free from its cap and the tree.)

When the acorns are actually ripe, they fall from the tree, cap intact. If you see any holes in them, throw them away. They are sometimes stored first, to dry them out, and then shelled. Other groups shell them first, and then dry them out by placing them someplace safe, yet warm, to dry.

For the ultimate in information on processing acorn, refer to a new book about Yosemite's Julia Parker, written by Park Naturalist Bev Ortiz which came out in 1992 or 1993. It was published by the same group that produces News from Native California, headed by Malcolm Margolin.

There is first and foremost, the original recipe: AFTER THE ACORNS ARE **COMPLETELY DRY** & REMOVED FROM THEIR SHELLS, the Acorns are ground until the meal is so fine that "it will stick to the basket sifter" when it is turned upside down. When you have determined that you have ground the acorns to "primo" consistency, you must then leach it.


This was traditionally accomplished (before we had woven cloth to work with) by building a mound of fine sand, near a spring or the river, and then scooping out the center. The meal you wished to leach was placed in the center of this mound and water poured over a clean cedar bough which was placed or held above the acorn meal. The tannin would leach out of the acorn meal and harmlessly down into the sand. When tasting it showed the tannin had been removed, the meal was carefully removed from its sand "colander" and put into a cooking basket.

Water is added -- the correct amount for the amount of acorn meal you are going to use, which is something that takes a while to adjust to. Too much water will require cooking longer to get the consistency you want. Not enough water and the acorn will burn. Then special cooking rocks were heated in a fire, rinsed off, and using special stirring sticks, the rocks were stirred in the basket to heat the acorn solution thoroughly. As each rock cooled down, it was removed, and another hot clean rock took its place in the cooking basket. The rock that had been removed was washed off and placed back in the fire to reheat and await its turn to become a cooking implement once again. In what seems like no time at all, the acorn soup is boiling, and the stirring continues until the soup is of the desired consistency -- either thin to eat with a spoon, or thicker to eat with a fork, depending on what the "cook" has in mind. Though the above "soup" was eaten straight by the traditional people, I usually add a little salt, and occasionally some dried currents or blue elderberries, or even raisins. Some people like to add a little cinnamon.

The rocks are saved for the next time, since finding perfect rocks that won't explode when subjected to heat, or won't crumble into the food, or give a bad taste, etc., are not as easy to find as you might think. The baskets, tools, implements, rocks, etc. used to cook acorn are considered a family legacy and kept within a family to be passed down from generation to generation. What makes a good cooking basket is the subject of another dissertation and shall not be gone into at this time. Ask the next expert basket weaver you meet to explain to you how a cooking basket is made.


ALTERNATIVE LEACHING METHODS, & NATURAL DYING USES
The alternative method of leaching, which I personally use (as do most of the people I have spoken to about this subject) is to take my winnowing basket (or a broad-bottomed basket), place a clean, "white" UNBLEACHED cloth (like a tea towel used just for this purpose....which will never be white again) in the bottom of the basket, and then place your finely ground acorn meal on top of the cloth.

Then I get a piece of cedar branch (new growth preferred and place it on top of the acorn meal and run water on it, VERY SLOWLY. I place my basket on top of a large cooking pot (so that I can save the tannin water) in such a way that when the pot fills up, my basket won't be sitting in the water, and the pot can overflow. I check on the leaching process periodically, so I can empty the soup kettle as it fills.

If you are also a weaver and spinner, who does natural dying on occasion, a day or two before you know your going to be leaching acorn, wash any uncolored wool fleece that you may have on hand that you will want to dye later, or any white yarn you want to dye in the near future.

Sometimes If you don't plan ahead. Anyway, as the acorn leaching pot fills, you can pour this tannin-filled water into the washing machine, where you will later place up to 3 or 4 lbs of clean white wool or yarn to soak up the tannic acid solution. When your ready to dye the wool at a later date, the color will come out much more dramatically that it would if you had used "untreated fleece".


Below is a recipe that I have used as recently as last year which is a good one to serve to those who stubbornly believe that acorn meal is yucky ... they'll never even know its there unless you tell them later -- and then they'll say things like "oh, that's why it was so bland," or "oh, that's why I didn't like it," or "that's why it got hungry an hour later." If you want to be sure you are actually tasting the meal, use the recipe exactly as is. Once you feel confident that you wish to include the meal, but you want to add more character to the stew, feel free to add garlic, green pepper, carrots, etc. The acorn then replaces the starch of the potato, and provides you with more nutrition than the potato would provide.


ACORN STEW
1 lb stewing beef

1/2 C finely ground acorn meal (tannin removed)

Salt and pepper to taste

Place beef in heavy pan and add water to cover. Cover with lid and simmer until very tender. Remove from liquid and cut meat into very fine pieces. Return meat to the liquid. Stir in the acorn meal. Add salt and pepper as desired. Heat until thickened and serve.

Several other ethnic food enthusiasts like to substitute acorn meal for corn meal when making muffins -- usually using 1/2 corn meal and 1/2 acorn. Some have substituted 1/2 of the flour in a biscuit recipe with 1/2 acorn meal. Experiment carefully, remembering that a good portion of the work performed by flour has to do with the gluten in the flour. Sorry, acorn has no gluten, so you'll have to keep this in mind.

Here is a modern Acorn Bread recipe from the book "Cooking with Spirit, - North American Indian Food and Fact",
By Darcy Williamson and Lisa Railsback
Copyright 1987 by Darcy Williamson.
Published by Maverick Publications,


Acorn Bread
6 Tbl. cornmeal

1/2 C cold water

1 C boiling water

1 tsp salt

1 Tbl butter

1 pkg active dry yeast

1/4 C lukewarm water

1 C mashed potatoes

2 C all-purpose flour

2 C finely ground leached acorn meal
Mix cornmeal with cold water, add boiling water and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add sale and butter and cool to lukewarm. Soften yeast in lukewarm water. Add remaining ingredients to corn mixture, along with yeast. Knead to a stiff dough. Dough will be sticky. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk. Punch down, shape into two loaves, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes.


Acorn Griddle Cakes
2/3 C finely ground leached acorn meal

1/3 C unbleached flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/3 tsp. salt

1 Tbl honey

1 egg, beaten

3/4 C milk

3 Tbl melted butter

Combine dry ingredients. Mix together egg and milk, then beat into dry ingredients, forming a smooth batter. Add butter. Drop batter onto hot, greased griddle. Bake, turning each cake when it is browned on underside and puffed and slightly set on top. Makes 12 to 15.

Venison-Acorn Stew
2 lbs venison, cut up

1 Cup finely ground acorn meal

Cover venison with water in pot; and cook till meat is tender. Remove meat from broth and chop into fine pieces. Return to pot with liquid and stir in acorn meal.

Halloween SALE!

One of my fav catalogs, Terry's village, is having a sale on all their Halloween stuff!


http://www.terrysvillage.com/holidays/halloween-a1-90000+1237-4-1.fltr

You ought to go check out the bargains, and get ready for next Halloween! If the link doesn't work, just google Terry's village, that should bring up the catalog.

Items needed to create your Yule log:

While I don't advocate burning candles, unless they are constantly attended too... the fire from the candles is a very important part of the tradition. From the flames comes the rebirth.... but you can light the candles for the ceremony, then replace them with the battery operated flickering candles for any other time! Still looks pretty, but is much safer!

1 – log with three predrilled holds for candles, sizes vary, about 6-8 inches.

3 – candles, green, red and white. (some people prefer "bayberry" candles for luck)

6 – pine cones, 4 to use to help keep your log from rolling, two for decorations.

2 – Yule incense sticks.

1 – Brass candle snuffer with wooden handle

1 – Piece of Holly garland, about 18 inches long.

4 – Pieces of ribbon, green, red, gold, silver, about 20 inches long.

** Any other items you would like to create a beautiful log

Yule log directions.

If you do not have a fireplace:

Create a table centerpiece. Decorate your log with the above items, adding two pine cones to the front and two to the back of your log to help keep it from rolling. You can add extra bows, herbs, ribbons, etc. How you decorate the log is up to you, adding additional items makes it personal.

On Yule or Christmas Eve (as close to midnight as you can get), light your candles and keep them burning while you chant:


Light of fire,
hear my plea,
chase the night away from me.
Let the dawn come bright and gay
bringing us another day



NEVER leave burning candles unattended.

Save your log for the following year. The same log can be used over and over if you don't want to burn it in the fireplace.

You may also place several pieces of your log in a cauldron and burn it, and while it's burning you can sprinkle Yule herbs into the fire.

Save the ash from the log and add a pinch of it to your spells during the year to increase their powers. Save a piece of your log for next year so you can light your Yule log with it.


If you have a fireplace:

Create a table centerpiece. Decorate your log with the above items, adding two pine cones to the front and two to the back of your log to help keep it from rolling.

You can add extra bows, herbs, ribbons, etc. How you decorate the log is up to you, adding additional items makes it personal.

On Yule or Christmas Eve, place the log in your fireplace, and light your candles and keep them burning till they are gone. NEVER leave burning candles unattended. When your candles are gone, remove any plastic items, ribbons, garland, bows, etc., you placed on your log and store them away for next years log.


Then burn it in the fireplace,Saving the ash from the log and add a pinch of it to your spells

Prints in the sand.... giggle

glitter your way to a clean aura!

Today is a Moon´s day, and we have a waning Moon phase-a great time to do psychic cleansing.

If you do lots of tarot readings or healing work for friends, you may be accidentally carrying around psychic garbage.

So here´s a way to get rid of it using lunar magic.

You will need a silver candle in a holder set on a flat work surface and some silver glitter.

With the glitter, draw a counterclockwise spiral around the candleholder. Light the candle and repeat the charm:

I release and banish all psychic pollution today,
As the candle burns, negativity will fade away.
Trapped in glitter and then burned away by fire,
I am now clear and free, that is my desire.

Allow the candle to burn out in a safe place, then clean up any wax and the glitter. Carefully and neatly dispose of it away from your home and property.

Death of the Mouse

so, I'm working on the computer, and Merlin is sitting on the desk watching me.... or I should say... pretending to be asleep... he does that good, you can't even see his eyes open, but they are.... he watches everything!

And all of a sudden he reaches out, and smacks the mouse from under my fingers.... and it whacks against the wall with a resounding "CRUNCH"!

Poor mouse is dead, yes it is.... so I run to the store to get another one..... but how do you explain that the cat killed my mouse????

I swear the guy in the computer department almost pissed his pants laughing at the story!!!!

So much for letting Merlin back in my bedroom, first the bed, now my mouse....HOW RUDE!

The door is no longer open to him....... my bedroom, and computer are safe once again!

Shhhhhh, it's a secret

I have to tell you something, but you all have to keep it secret. Promise?

I know I've been talking about change, and re-arranging furniture and stuff like painting.... and I've been insisting that I DON'T want to move.... but I've been lying to you all!

I soooooo want to move again!!!






I think it's all because my grandparents on my fathers side were Gypsy's. Really, it would be great to blame someone wouldn't it.... but truth be told.... I love moving!

This is the longest I've spent in one place, and after 14 moves, none of my Friends or family are any too pleased with me.... but it a calling..... something that seems to resonate in my bones!

I'm NOT going to move! I insist that I'm settling here, and no where else....but the dreams have started.

The "imagining" myself somewhere else. The wanderlust I guess... and I think it's going to get worse.... I just hope I can control myself...

mainly cause my son would be totally pissed to come home and find I packed up and moved again! GIGGLE

But the urge is so strong!!!!! I wish I had a wagon like the one above, I could move around and always keep my home with me! That would be the greatest thing in the world!!!!!

I would follow the summer, and stay till the fall.... then move on to somewhere that it's summer again!