Eating From the Ground Up

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nine

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by alana

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile, the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like wild geese, harsh and exciting–
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

-Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese”

Tonight, dinner at Sadie’s request: potato leek soup with snipped chives from the garden, sauteed mushrooms in butter, roasted asparagus with garlic aioli, bread, and a very tall chocolate meringue pie.

Happy birthday to my sweet one. xo

 

Filed Under: birthdays Tagged With: Birthdays, Mary Oliver, Sadie

« ramp, asparagus, and ricotta frittata
friday reading »

Comments

  1. eila @ the full plate blog says

    Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 2:03 am

    one of my favorite poems by her…. loved this post

  2. sherri says

    Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 2:51 am

    I just found your blog after reading your essay in my Martha Stewart living magazine today. I love it and will be checking in often. Can’t wait to get your book.

  3. jennifer says

    Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 12:32 pm

    Thank you for that.

  4. Gail Goffen says

    Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    the most beautiful thing in my inbox today.

  5. Miki says

    Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 10:37 pm

    Oh …. Indeed.

    Happy Birthday, Sadie. I was like you – I didn’t want cake. (Lemon Meringue Pie, please.)

    ps. You’re really lucky to have your mom as Your Mom.

  6. Lena @ A Happier Meal says

    Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 5:56 pm

    I just found your blog via Food in Jars! I can’t wait to check out your book and make those exquisite granola bars. I also wanted to say how deeply I can relate to little girls growing up. My older daughter turned nine last week. The emotion and nostalgia this brought on caught me off guard.

  7. Mary@FitandFed says

    Friday, April 13, 2012 at 3:53 am

    I also found you through Food in Jars. Quite a beautiful (and subversive!) poem. I loved having little kids and making birthday cakes–I’m glad you had a special day with your girl. Homemade Pantry looks like just the kind of cookbook I could use, and by the looks of your recipe index I’m sure it’s filled with lots of great stuff.

  8. Melissa says

    Friday, April 13, 2012 at 4:08 am

    how funny, I was just thinking of this poem today when I saw a V of geese fly over!

  9. Sarah` says

    Friday, April 13, 2012 at 11:26 am

    Hello, I just found your blog after reading one of your posts in Gilttaste. OMG, I soooo want your book! I am not in America though…I tried to order the ebook, but it didn’t work since I don’t have a US zip code. Any ideas? Can you please help me out? Love your blog, can’t wait to read more!

    • alana says

      Friday, April 13, 2012 at 11:51 am

      Hi Sarah! Where are you? I’m sure we can find a way to get a book out your way. 🙂

  10. Jennifer Hayslett says

    Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    I just started exploring the Blog World today. Yours is my 3rd or 4th one to read – EVER! And I am moved by your writing on a number of levels. I wonder if the blog has a way to have an email sent to my inbox when you make a post?

    I tried to “subscribe” but I got an error message.

    Thank you, Jenn

    • alana says

      Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 9:26 pm

      Thank you, Jenn! I think the subscriber link is working- I just did a test. Just enter your email in the box, and hopefully we’re all set! If if still doesn’t work, if you would be so kind as to let me know, that would be great.


Welcome!

I’m Alana, and I write about food, family and the wonderful chaos that ensues when the two combine. If you’re new to the site, here are a few good places to start, or learn more about me on my about page.

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The Homemade Pantry, The Homemade Kitchen, Eating From The Ground Up 🍳

Instagram post 2337331591407595410_13442450 Sending off my taxes today with intention and prayer that they will be used to support programs for the most vulnerable, and that my little contribution will join with others to help move us towards the country I know we can be. #taxmagic ✨
Instagram post 2335726864949371764_13442450 Goodies en route to @north_plain_farm today for pickup! Word about town is that LOTS of moolah was raised for BRIDGE in this little #bakersagainstracism bake sale. Thanks to North Plain Farm and @raisinporpoise for the organizing, to everyone who bought and bid, and most of all to BRIDGE for the essential work they do. (Want to learn more about BRIDGE? Head to the link in my profile.)
Instagram post 2332756427273440195_13442450 So technically you’re not supposed to send food when trying to find an agent, but I did it it. 10 years ago, my granola helped seal that deal, and he insisted I send it to publishers when we were selling The Homemade Pantry (another general publishing no no) That Landed-a woman-with-no-platform-a-book deal Granola is up for grabs in this amazing bake sale, as well as goodies by some of my very favorite bakers (@madeinghent , @raisinporpoise , and @thedooryard to name a few). Oh and maybe my favorite item in there are the magical @susanspungen ginger chocolate cookies I mentioned a few weeks back, made by Sadie herself. All of this is to support the work of @multiculturalbridge , and the order form is up in my bio. Get to it! #bakersagainstracism
Instagram post 2330317921708403058_13442450 My friend @afgoldfarb has been part of a team of people working on this vital project. The link to learn more and help out is in my profile.
Instagram post 2330131706816229761_13442450 I’ll be baking up a storm for this! Local bakers- there’s still room for more! Let @north_plain_farm know that you want IN.
Instagram post 2324845496300301430_13442450 To those who ask here? In Great Barrington? YES. In Great Barrington.
Instagram post 2324091364266290851_13442450 I know there are so many resources out there right now, but I want to share one that’s been really helpful for me in the last several months. There are many seasons of this podcast, but I recommend Season 2 on Whiteness as well is Season 4 on Democracy. #sceneonradio
Instagram post 2322615811734696638_13442450 Black lives matter.
Instagram post 2319329508599466327_13442450 I did not bake these cookies, as I am no longer the cookie baker in this house. But this is the second time that  Sadie has made @susanspungen ‘s Triple-Ginger Chocolate Chunk Cookies (and also the second time I’ve talked about a recipe Sadie has made from the #openkitchencookbook), and I think these might actually be the best cookies I have ever had. I’m often looking for the perfect ginger cookie and this is it, and I’d also choose it over a chocolate chip cookie (or let’s be honest-any other kind of cookie) any day.
Instagram post 2316311882260313364_13442450 No matter how many rulers and pizza cutters and other magical tools I use, it seems that the straight line will always elude me.
Instagram post 2314127252740427104_13442450 Living it up. 💥
Instagram post 2312088043104000827_13442450 Every day my neighbor’s yard gets prettier.
Instagram post 2311325683330503572_13442450 @paulaperlis sent us @susanspungen ‘s new book and of course the first recipe Sadie picked is marked with the *project* heading. She’s been cooking all afternoon and the house smells like ✨✨✨ (With gorgeous images by @gentlandhyers ❤️)
Instagram post 2311141543964321092_13442450 When I took on a day job a few years ago, I found that the first thing to go was all the homemade stuff I’d been making and writing about over the years. I’m still going out to work most days, but I’m finding now with a full and captive house and more downtime in general that those things I love to make are back. For me, it’s granola, yogurt, bread. Hello, old friends!
Instagram post 2308503311808232748_13442450 All the things in the house pasta: roasted cauliflower, a few sad leaves of kale, one jar of fancy tuna saved for a special occasion (how about Wednesday?), Rosemary, homemade breadcrumbs from the freezer fried in butter, crispy sage leaves, pasta water, salt, so much pepper. Success!
Instagram post 2307412630968777107_13442450 @artbywoodgy made this beautiful thing for me for Mother’s Day. All the veggies are on Velcro so I can plan to my hearts delight.
Instagram post 2306345003953662730_13442450 Happy Mother’s Day to my brave and beautiful mom, who birthed two different humans in such different times in her life. With me she was so young, and she figured it all out just as she was learning how to be an adult. This picture was taken nineteen years later, when she was pregnant again and I was almost an adult myself. Thanks for keeping at it, Mom, and for always showing up with love. ❤️
Instagram post 2304888771283579843_13442450 What we do for cake.
Instagram post 2302665269449083186_13442450 It’s a magnolia year for sure.
Instagram post 2295808104927071821_13442450 A long time ago, Joey talked about his crush on this particular alien-like flower with a good friend of ours. Months later, little bulbs arrived in the mail. We put them in the ground last fall, and now they are everywhere. If that isn’t some kind of magic, I don’t know what is. ✨ (🙏🏻 to @wildflowers1 for the cool vase, too.)
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Front cover The Homemade Kitchen

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