Early December on the meadow

 Our wintery world 

where white and bright is the order of the day.

 

 

Colour comes and goes, sometimes very quickly 
when it washes over us at dusk and at dawn

This is the season of regeneration and renewal.

 

The month of short days and clear cold nights ...

Spectacularly clear  - intensely moon lit.  

 

Moments of magic that fill us with Gratitude

 

 

We'll be tucking in on the meadow this year for the holidays.

 

Enjoying our off grid bliss.

Cornbread and Rosehips

The wheel has turned.  Nighttime temps are dipping pretty low.

 Days are short and bright.  Mornings sparkle!! 

 

 The rose hips and the willows are the brightest colours in the landscape.

 

 

The creek is almost frozen over.  

 

 

   We keep the kitchen wood stove stoked pretty steady now ~ a cozy and comforting necessity!  This means that the oven is almost always at the ready. Which means, among other things, cornbread. 

Our favourite cornbread recipe uses yogurt and no flour. 

I like to replace the egg with ground flax seed.

 So easy, so quick and so good.  It goes like this.

Use a shallow 1 quart casserole for this cornbread.  Put a tablespoon of butter in the pan  and place it in or on the stove for a few minutes  to melt the butter and warm the dish.   In a bowl, mix the following ingredients together  and then pour into the hot baking dish. 

3/4 cup cornmeal
1 egg (slightly beaten)   or omit the egg and use 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed instead.
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups yogurt (real yogurt, not a low fat variety)
1 tablespoon honey

Return to a hot oven (425) for about 30 minutes until firmed up  and just browned at the edges.  And that's it. The recipe doubles nicely too.   I discovered this recipe in a cookbook I bought in the early 80's 'Nikki and David Goldbeck's Wholefoods Cuisine' I still have the big paperback minus it's cover and I still use it.   Groundbreaking at the time, it's become a good vegetarian basic.  

See you again when the snow flies.

Any day now.

October again

"Listen!  the wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves,

We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!"
-  Humbert Wolfe 

Our 48 acres have been offering up some lovely crisp mornings this month.  The days more often than not turn bright and sunny.  And the Sunsets!!  
Walkabouts. Photographs.  
David, as you may already know, is my Sky Man. He takes beautiful photos of all sorts of things (notably birds) but something magical happens when he points his lens at the sky. Colours, clouds, sun dogs, shades of blue... 
here's one from the other night.

 If you're so inclined, all of these photos appear much larger with a click of your mouse or a tap of your finger. 

 

This particular morning it felt like winter had come

and then ....  oh my.  Too lovely for words.

See these guys to the left here.  I never know just where on the creek they'll be, but one of these mornings I will approach softly enough not to disturb our little flock of fall ducks.  They don't go far but I don't like to startle them. 

It's Sunday.  4:30 in the afternoon. Time to start a fire in the cook stove, think about dinner and winding down, not that we've been all that wound up.

 

Thanks as always for dropping by.  Till next time.