september

I wrote this poem last week as September made it's way into my life. I'm glad that we have had a cooling weather pattern since then, but I still wanted to share.


September arriving
on a warm morning breeze
leaving August behind
the Texas heat
is stifling
and I dream up
cooler temperatures
and rain
snow on the prairie
blooms in stars of white
while trees and grass dry out
nearby
i too feel dry
kids mold clay
and talk about Africa
i suppose the heat
is stronger there
next week
i'll break out
primary colors
and we'll paint
our visions
into existence

September in Texas

Truth be told, I have not been very good about keeping up here lately. I thought that this summer in North Carolina would have me bursting with exciting things to share and it was. The problem in keeping up with my weekly posts was that I was so very busy and having such a blast that I didn't take time out to tell you all about it.

Here's a quick synopsis.

I headed out from Texas at the end of May. After a week on the lake at my in-laws' house, we headed east to NC as a fivesome (Ian, Jim, out two dogs and I). In the beginning I posted. I shared photos and poems and the loss of sweet Little Deer.

Then life got busy. We moved from our old acquaintances cabin to the home of a new one. The neighbors had a grandson close to Ian's age visiting and they got along like old friends. we barely saw him for that week.

Around that time I started working more shifts at the Knife and Fork. This is a great little jewel of a restaurant in Speuce Pine, NC. Chef Nate Allen and his wife Wendy Gardner, pull out all the stops offering fresh local seasonal foods and wonderful service. If you're in that area please check them out (www.knifeandforknc.com) . I had such a wonderful time being a part of their team during this summer and I look forward to next time.

I Also got to spend so much quality with my dear friends, Nicole, Gaelan and Marcie. I have known Marcie since my first year in college at ASU and Nicole and Gaelan since I first moved to teh South Toe Valley. As I've gotten older, I've realized that having friends like them is really a special treat. It seems to get harder all the time to make those deep connections that I know will last the rest of my life.

My son went away to camp for the first time, and let me just tell you he did it big time, 3 whole weeks. It was the longest three weeks I have experienced since he was conceived. In fact the first time I saw him from a distance I cried for the following 20 minute drive to work. At that point it had been about 8 days. I finally got used to him being away and did enjoy the time to myself as well the chance to have alone time with my sweetie. We had a blast hanging around in the mountains together laughing, reading poems, walking in the woods and spending time together.

Then before I could blink it was over and we were on our way back to Texas. Now, here we are settled in after a few weeks and remembering how to be who we are in an environment we have a hard time connecting to. Anyway, the snow on the prarie is blooming, the warm winds are blowing, homeschool co-op is going and UNT is in full swing. Life is always moving forward and it is up to us to hold on tight and enoy the ride.

True Farm to Table: Green Toe Ground Farm

My friends Nicole Delcogliano and Gaelan Corozine, along with their daughters have a beautiful farm called Green Toe Ground, located on the South Toe River. As a family and with help from Summer interns they run a small Biodynamic farm supplying local folks and restaurants with fresh, delicious vegetables. They’ve been living, playing and working on their farm for over a decade.

Gaelan was drawn to farming at a young age. When he was a teenager, Gaelan traveled to Italy to visit family and friends. While he was there, he fell in love with the land and the practice of working it. He apprenticed with a farmer and began to craft himself into a person of the land. After he returned to the US, Gaelan’s interest in farming continued to blossom and grow into a way of life. He worked with a local guy that had a CSA, which stands for community sponsored agriculture. The premise behind a CSA is that each member pays for a part of the production cost and in return receives a share of the vegetables. In this way, the farmer and the members are partners sharing equally in abundance (when the crops are good) and in scarcity (when a crop doesn’t make it). Gaelan’s next big move was to the Arthur Morgan School, in Celo, NC. Introduced to the school by a friend, Gaelan took a job as the gardener. By this time Gaelan had met Nicole and they came together from upstate New York to relocate and try out life in the South Toe Valley. It wasn’t long before they were hooked and began to see their future here in a beautiful swath of sandy loam located next to the South Toe River.

After partnering with Robert Tate for a few years, Gaelan and Nicole bought out his share in Green Toe Ground and began to transform it into their dream of a biodynamic farm. With a lot of hard work and dedication from their family, Green Toe Ground is a thriving, brightly colored, nutrient rich farm in full swing. So far this year Green Toe Ground has produced enough vegetables to feed all of it’s members as well as extra that has been bought up by restaurants in Asheville, NC and surrounding area proudly serving locally grown foods. Just the other day one of the interns told me they harvested 500 pounds of tomatoes. Talk about abundance.

Not only do Gaelan and Nicole take pleasure in growing vegetables they also enjoy cooking up the vegetables they nurture into maturity. This includes wonderful Italian feasts which are presented to farm dinner guests under a canopy of stars and twinkle lights by the bank of the South Toe River. The Green Toe Ground farm dinner is an event I have had the good fortune to participate in multiple times. Each time I was impressed with the dedication of my friends to make sure all of their guests had a night to remember.

Over the past two years and with the opening of the Knife & Fork restaurant in Spruce Pine, NC, Gaelan has had the opportunity to spend more time in the kitchen. During the first year of the Knife & Fork, Gaelan worked as the Sous Chef for Nate Allen (owner and chef at the Knife & Fork). Gaelan and Nate worked closely crafting delicious meals made from locally grown vegetables and meats. Gaelan, being a farmer as well as cook contributed to the restaurant in a very direct way. Not only did he give his time and energy to the plants while they were growing in the field, he also gave his time and energy to transform them into wonderful meals to be eaten and enjoyed. So this year when Nate created his team for the WNC Chef Challenge, it was no surprise Gaelan was asked to join the team. With the addition of Brenda Poole, who is the Knife & Fork pastry chef, the team was set for competition.

Fifteen other teams and three feasts later, the team from the Knife & Fork is headed to the finals. They will be going up against the Bistro at Biltmore for the title of Asheville’s top chefs.

I don’t know what the outcome will be, and by that I mean who the judges will choose as the winner. I do know that the meal awaiting the judges will be delectable. I had the opportunity to attend the third round dinner (Knife & Fork vs Posano). I was utterly impressed and pleased by the way the K&F team incorporated the secret ingredient: peaches. It will be interesting to see what the final secret ingredient will be.

While I won’t be able to attend the challenge, I will be waiting to hear the results.

For some of us, there is a deep love affair with food that is a part of our lives. I believe Gaelan is one of these people. He gives of himself utterly to provide clean, pure, fresh food that others can eat. He loves the land where the food grows and appreciates the opportunity to share that love with others. In true farm to table style Gaelan is the complete package of farmer chef.

To learn more about Green Toe Ground Farm , Gaelan and his family visit their website at www.greentoegroundnc.com and check out the farm blog at www.greentoeground.blogspot.com

high cove
wind blows
roan mountain in the distance
golden feather
cicadas sing
i breath in the mountains
at their insistence
summer's waning
my boy is playing
the crescent moon
smiles down upon me
time is moving
faster
i move with caution
thinking carefully
so to avoid
disaster
keeping the sadness
at bay
psyching myself up
for the prairie
i'm on my way
full circle
heading back west
after a refreshing splash
in my favorite
river

Farm Party

This past Monday was the Fourth of July, as most of you already know. Last year my friends over at Green Toe Ground started a new tradition. They decided to combine their birthday celebrations and the celebration of the Fourth into one big shindig. It went off without a hitch and this year proved to be even better. I was glad to be here to help with preparations and party down.




Here you can see Nicole sporting her temporary radish tattoo and getting ready to change into a newly silk screened Green Toe Ground t-shirt.


Here you can see Nate Allen working on the spit roasting of Buster the pig. Early in the morning Gaelan and some friends got together and slaughtered the pig. Then Nate stuffed the pig with chickens and lots of fresh thyme. I made a huge batch of Colonel Neff's sauce and brought it over to the farm figuring that we'd serve it up with the finished pig. Nate thought it was delicious and decided to use it in addition to his own hot sauce goodness as a finishing baste.

I decided that I wanted to come up with some activities for the kids to have fun with. Here's Ian with his cork boat getting ready to race it down the rapids. We also had bubble blowing, face/body painting and water balloon throwing.



For the farm fashion show, Ashely who used to work for Sweetheart bakery put her artistic skills to work and painted me a beautiful cornucopia that covered my whole upper back. It was so beautiful and I really appreciated her taking time out from the party to do it.

And here, in purple glory are the t-shirts we screened using the beautiful hand made screen that Tara (and Joe) gifted them last year. The underwear served as 1st prize for the winner of the farm olympics. There was live music, swimming, dancing, laughing, fireworks and a blast had by all.

rhododendron in bloom

All around me the mountains are bursting into colorful splendor, spotted with blooms ranging in hues from deep pink to white and everything in between. It's a treat for the senses to get up close and inspect all of the little details in each flower.

Summer is rolling along.