program notes from dungeness

good morning friends,

and a good morning it is. the fog has succumbed to a flaming sun here in the dungeness lowlands and the flowers have all taken note. jess sneezes in the kitchen and scott is off running his dog. the roosters and drying machine proclaim in symphonic regularity: all is right in your corner of the world.

we have bathed in desserts -- peach cobbler, spice cookies, carrot cake, coconut frosting, delicata squash -- and are free and clean. at last.

there are hundreds of species of mushrooms in the mossy old forest, and miles of mycelium beneath are feet. i suspect the earth is made of mushrooms, even as i suspect dick cheney is made of love.

i'm supposed to have the gift of presence here in rural washington for almost four months this time around. from august 6th to thanksgiving. and riding down the hill yesterday it's very clear how important this time is -- that though there are various threads of color weaving structure through my spacetime, it is my involvement with the earth and the people here at nash's ( nashsproduce.com ! farmers meet the web) that really supports me.

we can lean heavily against the earth. and we do.

i spend my mornings picking carrots by hand, riding the back of the harvesting machine ("carrot cowboy", video to come), grabbing beans of the vine and purple potatoes from the dirt. we wash the tops gentle and the roots with gusto, pack ice into cold boxes and send them off to the unmet city dwellers who make this large (and somewhat unsustainable) circle a reality. it's a great mix of grunt and reflection, spanish and english, political indignation and noblesse oblige.

farming.

we dream up recipes while picking potatoes and have the afternoon to make blue potato tacos and fresh pico de gallo, whirl together

dates pinenuts cocoa chile clove and butter

to top a baking delicata squash.

beetsteaks and beetcakes and beetsalads and beetjuices. breaking the local challenge with coconut frostings and chutneys with dosa and ginger beer fermenting behind the back burner, the only region warm enough for fungal procreation.

as far as other projects go, i'm happy to announce

* cooking com bigode 1st edition is out of gas and still rolling, sold out. we are looking to print another edition in the next month
* the book about the pilgrimage in india is in revision and should be ready for typesetting in two weeks, hopefully available online by october 2 (gandhi's birthday)
* we are soon hiring a Marketing Director for somethingconstructive.net to get the word out so I don't have to
* i will be moving into a small wood-heated abode for october and november, a little more isolated to favor music and other reflections
* you are still welcome to visit until thanksgiving -- denali and mali will be rolling through with all kinds of fan and fare
* the foundations sits foggily on the horizon.

now, 10 minutes til the carrot washing begins and it's time to ride down to the packing shed.

one love
psychiatric vedanta

ankur

--
in sequim from august 2nd through thanksgiving
201 . 736 . 9684  +  360 . 683 . 5398