Kitchen Witchcraft Vol. 1

I have to confess that I didn't can all that great looking food in the picture, but I have canned before and I will again. It's a lot of fun.

What I thought I might do is share a couple of recipes we've been making a lot lately. Erin and I love to eat and we're always on the hunt for new things. I don't want to post long or complicated recipes, just some quick and interesting things that have impressed us, like this smoothie recipe I put up awhile back.

Ok, here goes.

#1. Bilberry/Hibiscus Iced Yerba Mate

I made this one up myself.

3 yerba mate bags/ 2 tablespoons of loose mate
1 tablespoon hibiscus flowers
1/2 tablespoon dried bilberries
1 liter of cold water

I do a cold infusion and usually leave the mate to steep overnight in the fridge. I just put in the bags and I put the herbs in a tea ball and put it all in. I take the bags and ball out the next day. I've experimented with adding citrus, vanilla, and mint and they've all been pretty good.

Bilberries are supposed to improve night vision and hibiscus allegedly lowers your blood pressure. Yerba Mate is full of antioxidants.

#2 Overnight Oatmeal

We've found a couple of recipes for overnight oatmeal online and they've been good. Erin likes hers made to this recipe. I added some other good stuff. You just mix it all up in a bowl before you go to bed and eat it in the morning. Cold oatmeal might not be for everyone, but we like it.

1/3 cup oats
1/2 banana
2 tablespoons chia seeds
3/4 cup soy or almond milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon chopped pecans or almond butter
a shitload of fresh blueberries

Chia seeds are full of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and fiber. Everything else is pretty good for you too. It gives you a lot of energy.

Enjoy!

Bad News for the Mission

Built in 1783 by the Spanish, San Xavier del Bac mission south of Tucson is one of the country's best examples of Spanish colonial architecture. It's a must-see for any visit to southern Arizona. It was an original listing on the National Register of Historic Places back in 1966. But, like everything else in AZ, the clown cavalry that we call "state government" is working as hard as they can to mismanage how the state cares for the historic church.

Columnist Kathleen Ingly outlines the problems facing the mission from both time and idiocy in an article today in the Arizona Republic. To summarize, the mission is undergoing restoration and has been for over a decade. They recently finished restoring the west tower (see photo below) and were moving on to the east tower, but the idiotic state cut the funding. Tough economic times call for such measures, right? Well, not really. The money is supposed to come from The Heritage Fund, a fund appropriated by voters in 1990 for the preservation of natural and cultural state resources. The Heritage Fund is supported by state lottery. Still, couldn't hard economic times demand such actions?

Listen to this. How much would the state have to put into the grant to restore San Xavier? Only $150,000 - small change for such a big project. If the state puts that in, private groups would match funds and help support the $1.5 million restoration. But our garbage government cut ALL the funding for cultural and recreational spending from the Heritage Fund. Ingly points out that the Heritage Fund still gives money to AZ Fish and Game, though. AZ F&G is a complete disgrace since killing Macho B. Macho B was perhaps the final wild jaguar in the United States. If there's money for Fish and Game and there's a little money for San Xavier.

Without the restoration, San Xavier mission is in danger of real structural deterioration. Personally, I would like to see the federal government take over complete management of as many of Arizona's historic and natural sites as possible. The government and many of the people of Arizona are completely incompetent and should not be trusted to preserve places of national cultural significance. For more info, visit Patronato San Xavier.

Great Ideas for a Perfect Life #2

Under the right circumstances, I could stay in Arizona forever. Maybe. Here's how I'd do it. Erin and I would need to find someplace within easy driving distance from Tucson or Sedona, but someplace rural. I'd need some desert views. I'd like some mountains, too, or some towering cliffs. I don't care if they're red cliffs, or brown cliffs, just as long as they're tall enough to make me feel small when I look at them.

I'd want to live in an adobe house with an ocotillo fence. I'd want it to be old, but I'd want to create an off-grid scenario as much as possible. Solar panels for the reliable Arizona sun, rain-catchers, lots of porches and awnings. We'd be able to really open the house to the outside with lots of window that open wide and double doors. Tile and wood inside, firepit out back in a brick patio with benches and surrounded by tall cactus.

I don't have the money scenario worked out exactly yet, but I feel this perfect life idea hinges more on independence than money anyhow. I suppose I'd make money keeping bees and making stuff out of things I found in the desert. Prickly pear fruit products, fossils, and things of that nature. Erin looked up kitchen witchcraft the other day and, while we don't attribute spiritual significance to domestic tasks, the idea of being able to make your own soaps, lotions, oils, incense, herbal preparations and such seems like not only a good, healthy way to live, but also as a possible way to make a modest income.

Coyotes, javelina, jackrabbits...we'd have them all rolling through. The cats would have lots to look at from the windows. I'd get rid of all my clothes except shorts made from cut-off pants, old t-shirts, a couple thermal flannels, my Top Siders, and some boots. And during the monsoon, we'd sit outside on the porch and watch the desert flood and the cactus swell. I'd save every devil's claw and hawk's feather I found, give them out free to kids when we sold our honey, prickly pear jelly, and desert products. I'm pretty sure kids have got to like like devil's claws and hawk feathers.

Talented Friends - Chairman Mao, In Retirement - Neon Magazine #23

I've got a lot of friends who are really talented writers. It's pretty great. For example, my buddy, Ari Sen, has a clever story called "Chairman Mao, In Retirement" in the new issue of Neon Magazine, available here. Check it out.

Sundown in Surprise

Erin drove us out to the fields west of Glendale in Peoria and Surprise, AZ. Rain storms to the north really made a sight out of the sky when the sun was going down. The mountains here are the White Tanks, a relatively small set of mountains west of Phoenix. They're actually in Buckeye and Surprise and they have some easily accessible petroglyphs.

R.I.P. Tempe Town Lake

Tempe Town Lake News!, originally uploaded by gbrummett.

Tempe Town Lake is a man-made wide spot in the Salt River. It's contained with a huge inflatable dam - one of the world's largest inflatable dams. Why aren't there more large inflatable dams around you ask? Well, unlike solid dams, they pop or collapse. This is what happened to Tempe Town Lake last night. One section of the inflatable dam collapsed, sending thousands of gallons of water down the bed of the Salt River. I feel bad for the folks that use and enjoy the lake, but these sorts of things happen when a natural environment is overmodified. The entire Phoenix area is an environmental nightmare and the Salt River is just one casualty of overuse. The Salt River is dammed, used for water, electricity, and recreation, but most of the river through the city of Phoenix is dry.

The Salt River isn't the only distressed waterway in the Southwest. The Colorado River doesn't really reach the ocean anymore. What does reach the sea is a shadow of the powerful river that carved the Grand Canyon. Sad as that makes me, I can understand the logic behind using a river for power and water for agriculture. What baffles me is why people in Glendale, Phoenix, Tempe, Chandler et al. feel the need to have lawns of green grass in the summer? As far as I can tell, it's a giant act of collective selfishness and an illogical rejection of what could be a wonderful, unique desert environment. There's nowhere else on earth like the Sonoran Desert, yet these people feel the need to turn it into California or Illinois or Florida.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not all that sorry that Tempe Town Lake fell apart. It almost feels like the desert fighting back and when it comes down to the people of Maricopa County vs the Sonoran Desert, you'll always find me rooting for the desert.

Phoenix Bat Colony

I found an article on AZCentral the other day called "50 Must-See Hidden Gems in Greater Phoenix." One of the gems is a colony of 5,000 Mexican free tail bats that live in a diversion tunnel for the Arizona Canal. It's near the corner of 40th St and Camelback Road. There's a similar bat colony in Tucson under the Campbell Street Bridge over the Rillito Wash that we've seen before. Seeing thousands of bats take flight at the same time is pretty awesome.

The Phoenix bats are a bit tougher to get to. It's about a half-mile round trip walk along a path that runs along the canal. That's not a long walk, but walking along a dark path in Phoenix at night makes it feel pretty long, though it seems like a nice enough part of town. Also, the Phoenix area is a heat island, so, unlike Tucson, it doesn't cool down properly at night. It was still a 107 degrees as we walked the canal path at sundown. This is because of all the man-made materials that trap the heat during the day and release it slowly at night. Overused water (wasted water) has contributed to raising the dew point in the valley, making it feel even hotter. The city is quite a bit hotter than the desert at night. Tucson has desert landscaping and city planning that minimize this effect.

Oddly enough, though we went on a Saturday night and the location was just featured on the Arizona Republic website, we had the place to ourselves. As we approached the colony, hundreds of bats and a fair number of nightjars were swooping along the canal eating insects. If you look closely at the photo above, there are some blurry spots on the water and those are the bats.

Here's a couple more photos from the area.

Tucson Time Lapse

Tucson Night Lights Time Lapse from Aaron Avery on Vimeo.

Timelapse from Sean L. on Vimeo.

I found a new Tumblr today. One designed specifically to break my heart. It's called Fuck Yeah, Tucson. I've even seen some of my own pictures on there along with a lot of other photos and these great time lapse videos. Glendale's alright, I suppose; it's closer to the cool stuff in northern AZ. For example, I made it up to the Mogollon Rim and did some backpacking on the Cabin Loop trails and that was pretty terrific. But, it's no Tucson.

Who's gonna start Fuck Yeah, Worcester? Let's see just how homesick I can get.

Mt. Lemmon Fire Lookout/ So Long, Tucson

Four days before Erin and I moved out of Tucson, bound for the infernal north (Glendale), we headed up to the summit of Mt. Lemmon and stopped by the fire lookout. I'd been up there before, but the lookout wasn't occupied because it wasn't during fire season. This time around we were lucky enough to be invited in and got to look around. Gary Snyder spent some time in one of these fire lookouts in the Cascade Mountains in 1952-53. I could see myself doing that. The accommodations are more than adequate and the views can't be beat.

Happy 206th, Mr. Hawthorne!

From the reverse of this postcard: The Old Manse was built in 1769. It was the home of Rev. William Emerson and Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote "Nature" there. Hawthorne brought his young bride here in 1842 and made this charming residence famous with his "Mosses from Old Manse."

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4th, 1804. His name at birth was actually "Hathorne" - he added the w later. He rented his most famous residence, "The Old Manse," from Ralph Waldo Emerson. He and his wife, Sofia, raised their family there. They could see the the North Bridge, an important battle site in the first fight of the Revolution, from their back window. In fact, the house's builder and original owner, Rev. William Emerson, watched the fight with his family from the house.

We don't think of gothicism as an American tradition, but a review of American literary history quickly reveals a long line of Gothic writers from Charles Brockden Brown, to Poe, to Hawthorne, to James, to Faulkner, to McCarthy. Hawthorne's Gothic presentations of Puritans and early America have come to define our popular understanding of our founding more than perhaps any other writers. Sort of unfortunate, as the Puritans' better traits - such as egalitarianism and emphasis on literacy and education - have been overshadowed by Hawthorne's pictures of austerity. Still, considering his impact on our national consciousness, it seems appropriate that Hawthorne was born on the 4th of July.