Vitamin N

I started a new series today: Vitamin N (as in Vitamin Nature). Expect to see many more of these vitamin capsules over the coming weeks. But it got late here, and I am heading to bed. I will see you tomorrow with your new daily dose of Vitamin N.

cedar tips, seedpods, and a nest

For Ginny

I tried to photograph these cut-leaf sumac leaves when they were fresh. But on a black background they had none of the pastel luminosity that had drawn me to them on a golden October morning. One of the few times I’ve wondered if I should have just left a subject be. I put the leaves in a dark corner to dry and remembered them when Ginny mentioned recently how much she likes seeing my circle compositions pop up in the feed. So this is for you Ginny! Thanks for helping me redeem my sumac!

dried autumn cut-leaf sumac leaves

already? yup.

Oh my gosh, I am almost embarrassed to post this. We haven’t even caught our breath after all those fall sumac leaves, and already I am starting with the pressed and dehydrated leaves. My only excuse is that I chose to spend the day catching up on my inbox, so I had to reach for subjects close at hand to photograph, which meant the leaves I experimented with in the dehydrator this fall. In order to fit them all into the dehydrator, I had to slightly press them flat with a screen on top as well as below. So they look pressed, but indeed they are dehydrated. I like how the colors are preserved; better than pressing I think?

dehydrated leaves from a Minnesota autumn

now is a good time to plant garlic

These garlic stems were gifted to us from a local shop owner whose mom runs a prolific local farm called Two Pony Farm. It wasn’t until we got home that and looked up “deerfield purple” that I realized what a lovely gift this is. We’ll probably re-plant one bulb’s worth of cloves, and eat the other two. I am excited to try it. Isn’t hand-grown foodstuffs one of the best gifts ever? I used to like homemade meal gifts, but now I think I appreciate an exquisite raw ingredient gift even more. Maybe that makes me weird, or maybe, it just means I spent a lot of time living in France where perfect raw ingredients are as revered as the final dish or perhaps more.

deerfield purple garlic

* Deerfield Purple (also known as Vietnamese Purple) is a rare, high-performing purple stripe hardneck garlic variety. It is quite beautiful to look at. Milder than some when raw, it holds its flavor well when roasted. Double the number of cloves from any porcelain garlic at 8-12 cloves per head typically. This is a newer variety in the USA that comes originally from Vietnam via a USDA seed bank in eastern Washington and then via a farm in Oregon that named it after themselves since the seed bank only gave it a number.

little adults

I find it charming when little kids try to carry themselves with the same comport as the adults in their lives. I feel like these baby saplings––possibly still in their first year––are doing the same thing as precocious thee year olds: Copying the adults around them. We know better, however; that it is already there in their DNA, and they are simply being themselves. Not copying. Not trying to impress. Not pretending to be anything other than what they are–six month old maple trees.

baby maple trees in their first (?) November

PS Our resident sandhill crane family of four seems to have departed on Sunday (Nov. 8). They are most likely headed for the Gulf Coast–maybe Texas or Northern Mexico. If we are lucky, Mom and Dad will return next spring in March. Fingers crossed.