not al the pictures are here, but the heart's content

Hello, everyone!

It's been an interesting set of days lately. Following this short post will be a little pictorial about what's in my viewfinder lately, what's crossing my path.

I went to the Earthsave Louisville monthly potluck last night, which i'm happy to say was a very inspirational success -- and my homemade bread and carrot/cashew spread went over very well. I met some exciting new people in the food education/activism arena and have some new ideas on where to stick my head next ... if you recall, i'm still trying to find a foothold in this area which i'm very passionate about. I also learned about the magic of biodynamic farming! What an amazing concept, that less than 1/4 bag of transformed-into-humus cow manure stuffed into a cow horn can fertilize over FOUR ACRES of farmland! Phenonmenal work the Foxhollow Farm is doing.

I'm going to soon bid farewell to two friends, one of whom has introduced me, in some way or other, to virtually everyone I know/am getting to know here. I'm learning to be okay with it, as I think I'm going to be okay on my own here now that I have this community surrounding me, containing many that I can call upon for fun, networking, support, making change, and more.

I'm working on getting more consistent sleep hours on a regular basis.

I'm going to read about compost, and hopefully do some compost piling up/dumping before I leave for my summer in St. Louis.

here's what it's been around here lately:














I'll try and post more pictures soon if I can, but I'm just anxious to have an update post put out ... it's now Tuesday ... seems I can do everything on the Internet but upload pictures. uh ... okay.

So tonight I made the MOST DELICIOUS item, but I can't take credit for it. It's my friend Jess's idea. Take some brussels sprouts, cut them in half, saute for a while in some sesame oil, red pepper flakes (i didn't have any and used some old hot chili oil i had), tamari, black pepper, sliced thin garlic, onion, and walnuts. holy holy YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMy!!! where in heavens did brussels sprouts get their bad name?

i also have learned the art of making french fries from -- gasp!! -- actual potatoes, cut in strips with the skin left on. place on foiled cookie sheet, with tons of olive oil and a little less sea salt sprinkled on. put in 400 degree oven (450 for people with normal ovens, i believe) and bake 15 minutes. flip, drizzle with more oil, and cook for 10 more. YUM!! (especially drowned in veganaise, oh my...)

so yeah. dinner was amazing. we had a power outage last night due to some strong lightning in the area. kind of made me want to read by candlelight, every night ... hm. food for thought, i guess. luckily all my frozen/refrigerated food made it okay, as the outage was only for two hours. the funny thing was, the house went black, but there were the carrots on my gas stove for the carrot/cashew spread, simmering away over their blue flame, and i could smell my bread still baking in the oven!! haha.

things are pretty good here, despite some chilly/rainy weather. being happy being on my own again, i was kind of caught up in some guy-maybe stuff that seems to have passed like many of these thunderclouds. that's okay. i can wait for the right one, thank you very much! and be happy in the process!

i should be finishing three cups of tea tonight and moving into finishing the anne of green gables series. thank goodness for reading. i took a long walk around my neighborhood last night as the darkness fell, and realized how much i hadn't missed t.v. once i'd decided to just stop watching it cold turkey a few years ago. i don't know what made me think of it. maybe just enjoying the simplicity of a walk, and coming home to finish baking bread and getting lost in a good book. really, besides some knitting, is there anything more gratifying?

be well out there, friends. i'll try and get the rest of my recent pictures up soon.

love and peace,

karen