In Pursuit Of Maine: May 22, 2015 - The Sheep In The Meadow

Friday, May 22, 2015

May 22, 2015 - The Sheep In The Meadow

The sheep are in the meadow, the apple trees are in bloom in the background, and everything is the way it’s supposed to be. The day feels very easy. That is, nothing feels forced. There is nothing that has to happen. There is no clock and no deadline. Everything plods along in its own time.

The sheep in the meadow.

If everyone in America grew a little garden, what would happen? I think we might get just a little closer to finding that everything is the way it’s supposed to be. It’s amazing how much food you can get out of a tiny space, and I mean tiny. Lettuce and spinach in the cool spring. The planting of peas and beans, staggered every few weeks, that run up fences and take almost no room at all. Fruitful tomatoes, hot peppers, eggplants, and lots and lots of cucumbers for pickling and eating in the dark months. Potatoes and carrots for the cellar. And cabbage. Definitely cabbage for sauerkraut throughout the winter. Herbs in planter boxes hanging off the porch railing, for eating fresh and drying to use in the winter.

What to do with all the food? Eat it, freeze it, can it, dry it, ferment it, share it. All gotten without a supermarket. Blasphemy. Subversion. Treason. Oh, the free-thinking mind. Is there no end to its masterful plots?

Gather the goodness while ye may, my friends.

"The Plain Maine Cookbook" is my own collection of vintage Maine recipes that will immediately bring you back to a simpler time, a less confused time. These recipes are more than just comfort food. They're family food, traditional food, simple food, plain food. One bite and you'll say, "Ah, yes! I remember my grandmother used to make this. I had forgotten all about it!" Recipes for whoopie pies, funnel cakes, fried fiddleheads, haymaker's switchel, coffee can bread, glogg, and much more are in these pages. There is even a recipe on how to render lard. So open the door and go back to some simple, time-tested foods you can prepare easily. You'll find that you save money and waste less by "making do" with commodity cooking. What's in the pantry or in the garden is what's for dinner.

"So You Want to Move to Maine" is an invaluable little book in helping people to make a permanent move to Maine. It will save you a ton of time because all the initial footwork is done for you, including 100 links on how to find work and living quarters, getting your driver's license, pet requirements, programs for people with disabilities, programs for senior citizens, getting married in Maine, hidden taxes and expenses, hospitals, health insurance, handling a real winter like a pro, etc. Stop being "just a number" or another face in the crowd. Walk away from the rat race. Become boldly individualistic and make your mark in life. You can still do that in Maine, one of the last holdouts of ordinary, old-fashioned, kind, and decent American living.

I’ve chosen 37 unique fairy tales that will be loved by both adults and children as they can be read and interpreted on many levels. But if you are looking for only sweet tales that end in joy and fairness, you may want to pass this book by. Some fairy tales are simply “dark,” and that is because sometimes life is simply dark. Not always, of course, but often enough. Sometimes the hero lives; sometimes he dies. Check out my book, “Fairy Tales of Maine,” in the photo link below. If you are brave, you might just meet yourself in one of these tales.