Working the garden

When we left for a trip a week ago, our plum tree was bridal white in full bloom. On our return, we see wind, hail, snow and rain have changed her look. She looks less magnificent, but other plants are stepping up to take their turn at being center stage. The peonies are bursting through the soil, their burgundy stems determined to reach upward, and my ‘Carol Mackie’ daphne is leafing out to a new fullness after I pruned it last year. Ah, it’s nice to be back in Washington so we can be participants in the aliveness of our gardens.

Since it’s been so cold, we haven’t had much heart to dig down in the chilled soil. Hopefully, the sun will warm the earth in the next few weeks, and we can put on gardening gloves, don a hat and finally work in the garden.

As nurseries are filling up with an array of plants, and we’re eager to improve our gardens as best we can, we might want to consider a few ideas:

1)    Gardening humbles us to a position of cooperating with nature. After all, the large garden of the earth already has been created. We simply have the honor to share in furthering the masterpiece. Reconsider your use of broad-spectrum pesticides, which kill everything, including beneficial insects. Gardening should not compromise the very earth that gives life to our gardens.

2)    To have beautiful lawns in our Mediterranean climate during the summer months is almost impossible unless we want to use an excessive amount of water. Is this the year, perhaps, when you want to remove the lawn sod and create a garden space with wide and gently curved pathways that will encourage the visitor to linger in the garden? One of the best things we did was to remove the lawn to create a patio area of flagstone so we can sit near a fountain and meditate on burbly sounds.

3)    Soaker hoses are the most efficient way to water. Cover them with dirt or mulch. Directions on the hose are important to read.

4)    Save money when you buy plants. Select smaller pots and look for healthy foliage rather than the blooms. Note the dimensions of the plant on the label. Size mentioned is the minimum size, so think half again larger here in the Pacific Northwest. All new plants should be watered well for one year to help them get established.

5)    Consider interspersing vegetables amid the garden. I’m going to do that this year and will enjoy planning how foliage as well as the actual vegetable color will enliven the garden.

6)    If you don’t plant vegetables or do need to supplement them, consider buying them at one of our local farmers’ markets. We all are feeling the pinch of a recession and wonder if local produce is more expensive. A friend just sent me an article written by Carole M. Triem who cites a business statistics class at Seattle University studying this assertion because nutrition also is an economic issue. The further down the economic chain one is, the more processed, unhealthy food is generally consumed. The Seattle University class found that prices at farmers’ markets were cheaper than at grocery stores. This encourages us to buy fresh food grown in our own soil.

7)    You’re likely to see the orange and black striped tent caterpillars soon. The first sign is a gray, sticky web. Hand pick them (but wear gloves) and burn.

8)    Consider using the Internet to help you solve problems, as well as to help make new plant/tree selections. If you want to know more about tent caterpillars, check out the Washington State University Web site (gardening.WSU.edu/library/inse003/inse003.htm) for photographs, life cycle, treatment, etc. Also, crane flies can become a problem. Another WSU Web site (Whatcom.wsu.edu/cranefly) offers detailed information. To help select grasses, plants and trees, go to one of my favorite sites: www.greatplantpicks.org. In the first paragraph, you can click to plant picks for various years, as well as trees, grasses, etc. You can explore the site further to see how plants were selected, etc.

9)    Gardening transports the mind into the now, the present moment. Many of us have been reading Eckhart Tolle’s book "A New Earth." When we are participating in the miracle of life, we are in the sacred now. In the introduction of his book Tolle mentions that great masters have encouraged us to contemplate flowers and learn from them how to live. The Buddha once gave a silent sermon — to simply gaze at a flower. Many watching him were confounded, but one monk, Mahakasyapa, smiled. And understood. Through 28 successive masters, Mahakasyapa’s realization was passed down and became the origin of Zen.

We can awaken in the garden. Our souls quiet as we listen to bird song and gaze on the wonder of life in a blossom. A Winnebago Indian saying is, “Holy Mother Earth, the trees and all nature are witnesses of your thoughts and deeds.” As gardeners, we participate in the miracle of creation by being kind to the giver of the very breath that keeps us alive.




  

KITCHEN KORNER

By Marian Platt

Where water is wealth

That’s the underlying message of the Sequim Irrigation Festival, which celebrates 113 years this year with the theme "Discover the Treasure of Sequim."

This is the longest ongoing festival in the state and it takes place because it was the irrigation canals in the valley that indeed brought wealth.

Our Sequim valley was an arid prairie with dry grasses and cacti, grasshoppers, wild turkeys and only a few settlers. It was “Crazy Callen” from Utah who pictured a different kind of a valley and was able to convince the settlers to consider irrigating from the Dungeness River. On May 1, 1895, a dream came true and a trickle of muddy water passed along the hand-dug irrigation ditch and watered the dry valley, turning it into a fertile farmland.

Sequim celebrates this occasion with a very festive week, May 3-11 with a Crazy Daze Breakfast, arts and crafts, carnival, logging show, art show, kids' day, car show, strongman competition and a grand parade starting at noon on May 10.

This year a big red fire truck driven by our local firemen will be part of the parade. And on its side will be a sign to acquaint the community with the Sequim-Dungeness Hospital Guild.

This guild was organized in the mid-1970s and to date has raised more than $1.6 million for Fire District 3 and Olympic Medical Center for equipment and training that their respective budgets do not cover. The Hospital Guild is located at Bell and Second streets in Sequim. You’ll be surprised at all they have to sell and you will be supporting the community when you buy. It is an all-volunteer organization and they are in need of volunteers.

Being a volunteer takes a bit of time that you might be spending in the kitchen, but there are ways to compensate for that, such as making a casserole before you leave in the morning so all you have to do at the end of the day is simply pop it into the oven. Here are a few good ones.

SMOKY TEX-MEX STEW
1½ pounds stew beef
1 cup each bottled salsa and barbecue sauce
1 package taco seasoning mix
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 can each chickpeas and black beans, rinsed
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Mix all ingredients except beans and cilantro in the crockpot. Cover and cook on high 4-5 hours. Stir in beans and cilantro; cover and let stand 5 minutes for beans to heat through. Serves six.

MUSHROOM TORTELLONI WITH CHICKEN AND RED BELL PEPPER SAUCE
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
½ pound mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into 2-inch julienne strips
1 10-ounce container Contadina refrigerated pesto with basil and sun-dried tomatoes
¾ pound skinned and boned chicken breast halves, cubed
1 9-ounce package Contadina refrigerated chicken & prosciutto tortelloni, cooked, drained
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
Parmesan cheese

Sauté mushrooms and pepper strips in 1 tablespoon olive oil in large skillet until tender, then remove. Heat remaining olive oil in skillet; add chicken, and sauté until golden brown over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and stir in pesto sauce; cook, stirring constantly, until hot. Toss with tortelloni and pepper mixture in serving bowl; sprinkle with pine nuts and Parmesan cheese. Serves four.

HAM & BROCCOLI GRITS
4 cups milk
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup uncooked quick grits
1 2/3 cups ham, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
16-ounce frozen broccoli cuts, thawed
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 small onion, grated
1 egg

Bring milk and salt to a gentle boil in large pot; slowly whisk in grits. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, 7-8 minutes until thickened. Add remaining ingredients (reserve 2 tablespoons cheese). Stir until well blended. Pour into greased 2-quart baking dish. Bake uncovered in preheated 350-degree oven 15 minutes. Sprinkle with reserved cheese and bake 10-15 minutes until bubbly. Serves six.

Hint: Keep a peeled onion in the freezer; so it’s easy to grate when the recipe calls for grated onion.

COUNTRY CLUB CASSEROLE
2½ cups cooked chicken, cut in large pieces
2 cups hot cooked rice
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup finely chopped green peppers
1/3 cup sliced pimientos
1 teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 can mushroom soup
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Combine chicken, rice, onions, green peppers, pimientos, garlic salt, pepper, soup, mayonnaise and parsley. Toss lightly. Turn into a greased shallow 2-quart casserole. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serves six.

Above recipes all from my files.


PAT’S EASY TACO CASSEROLE
1 pound ground beef
1 cup salsa
½ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 cups crushed tortilla chips
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup shredded Colby cheese
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 cups shredded lettuce

Brown ground beef; drain. Add salsa, mayonnaise and chili powder; mix well. In a greased 2-quart baking dish layer half the meat mixture, chips and cheeses. Repeat layers. Bake uncovered in preheated 350-degree oven 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Just before serving, top with tomatoes and lettuce. Serves six.

Support your community — go to the grand parade and cheer when that big red fire truck passes by.
Then become a volunteer at the Sequim-Dungeness Hospital Guild — it’s a great way to make new friends and to serve your community.

COPYRIGHT. MARIAN PLATT, SEQUIM, 2008


PEAS AND ASPARAGUS CASSEROLE

2 cups shelled fresh peas, cooked
2 pounds fresh asparagus slices, cooked
1 can cream of mushroom soup
¼  cup sour cream
¼  cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 eggs, hard-cooked and quartered
4 ounces. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

Drain vegetables well. Mix together soup, sour cream, mayonnaise and Worcestershire sauce. In a greased 8-inch square baking dish, pour a thin layer of soup mixture; layer one-half asparagus, one-half peas, followed by one-half eggs. Cover with one-half remaining soup mixture. Repeat layers ending with soup. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake in preheated 375-degree oven 20-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serves eight. 

—  from "Fresh From The Garden Cookbook" by Miriam B. Loo

 

SOFA CINEMA

By Rebecca Redshaw

The movies selected for review are the choice of the reviewer. Depending on your source for DVDs, they may or may not be available that particular week, so you may want to clip the SOFA CINEMA column for future reference. Suggestions for DVD titles are welcome. Enjoy the movies.

NEW RELEASE
"For Your Consideration"
Rated: PG-13

How many times do you hear each year, “It’s a privilege just to be nominated,” when the nominations for an Academy Award are announced? Writer/director/actor Christopher Guest has brought the behind-the-scenes hysteria of the movie community to the forefront with his latest film, “For Your Consideration.”

The cast is the “usual suspects” in a Guest film: Eugene Levy, Jennifer Coolidge, Catherine O’Hara, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard and more. The list of recognizable faces is too long and, anyway it’s fun to be surprised as each character makes an entrance and then brings his or her own brand of wackiness to a scene.

The Guest style of scriptwriting consists of setting a scene, not rehearsing, rolling film and doing two or three improvised takes. Guest has had great success in his career using this format. Rent “Best in Show” and you’ll never watch the Westminster Dog Show in the same way again. Rent “A Mighty Wind” and you might tap along with memories of the folk song era or laugh until you cry at the absurdities.

Rent “For Your Consideration” and get a humorous peek at the egos that teeter on the edge of sanity, all the while preparing for that elusive opportunity to give the acceptance speech of a lifetime. “I’d like to thank ?.”


FOREIGN FILM
"Death at a Funeral"
Rated: R

Ever been to a funeral and imagined that you saw the corpse move? It does give one pause for thought. So, in the middle of “Death at a Funeral” when a tap, tap, tap is heard from within the coffin during the funeral service chaos ensues.

Actually, chaos reigns supreme in “Death at a Funeral” long before the aforementioned tapping. The fun begins with the opening credits. Going to a funeral is rarely (if ever) referred to as fun, but make an exception as you watch the brothers and their wives, the grieving widow, assorted beaus and jilted lovers, a bored priest, a hypochondriac nephew, a suitor inadvertently tripping on LSD, and for added measure, a secret lover lurking in the shadows.

Doesn’t this sound like a lot more fun than most funerals? Frank Oz (of Muppet fame) directs this very English afternoon romp. You may recognize the behavior of a relative or two of your own among the characters. If not, it doesn’t matter, because a good time will be had by all. Except maybe the corpse.


DOCUMENTARY
"Coming Out Under Fire"

Former President Bill Clinton implemented “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” during his tenure, but the fear and paranoia of homosexuality in the various branches of the United States military was rampant long before Clinton’s time.

The documentary, “Coming Out Under Fire” interviews a handful of World War II service men and women who during a time of war served their country well — up to a point. Then they were no longer permitted to serve, summarily relieved of their duties. Arthur Dong, producer, director/writer for this 1994 documentary, gives these now senior citizens — all of whom enlisted to serve and honor their country — the opportunity to essentially “tell” what happened and, to the best of their knowledge, why it happened.

One reason to draw attention to this 1994 film at this time is the current lowering of recruitment standards by today’s Army. Because of the strains of the Iraq war on our service branches, CBS News reported “The Army is accepting a growing number of new recruits with everything from health and weight issues to lower academic test scores to criminal records. The number of incoming soldiers with prior felony arrests or convictions has more than tripled in the past five years. This year alone, the Army accepted an estimated 8,000 recruits with rap sheets.

According to Col. Sheila Hickman, "We've always been an Army that's been known to give patriotic citizens second and third chances."

Second and third chances never came for the gays and lesbians who volunteered to serve and honor their county — and still don’t.


Rebecca Redshaw worked in the film industry in Los Angeles for 25 years. A novelist and playwright, she has published in numerous magazines and newspapers in addition to teaching fiction. She is the Arts & Entertainment critic for the international entertainment website NotesFromHollywood.com. She can be reached at r2redshaw@hotmail.com.