Cappuccino Brownies. They're Really All You Need!

Hi friends,

Oh, I have such good intentions. All day long, as I wander from my house to the Mercantile to the garden to the clothesline and back to the Mercantile, I write this blog in my head. And in my head it is positively brilliant! However, when I finally get time to set it down and post it, I'm just not that dependable. The posts stay in my head, where they eventually dissolve into dust and dreams...

In the meantime, May is almost over. It's been a surprising, delightful and busy month. We've had the great fortune to host some spectacularly lovely guests. The strawberries are bursting out of the garden - bright red and delicious. We've managed to keep the robin's eggs out of the hands of the children; three fat, awkward and beautifully clumsy babies fledged last week. Jody (the innkeeper) and Sandy (the massage therapist and Jody's assistant) are keeping the place spotless and running beautifully. Nik makes bread every Wednesday - the place smells like heaven.

Today, however, is Thursday, and there is very little time for prattling on about life on the prairie. Instead I'm sharing the recipe of today's Mercantile treat: Cappucino Brownies. Holy smokes, you're going to want to name your children after these brownies. 

Enjoy!

Photograph by Romulo Yanes

Cappuccino Brownies

Makes about 24 brownies

From Gourmet Magazine, 1991

Three layers of deliciousness; they’re frosted with cream cheese and coated with an espresso-spiked glaze.

This recipe looks like a lot of ingredients and a lot of work - it is neither. And the results are TOTALLY worth it.

Butter and flour a 13 x 9-inch baking pan

Preheat over to 350°

For the brownie layer

8 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 large eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup walnuts, chopped

For the cream cheese frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, SIFTED

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the glaze

6 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water

Make the brownie layer:

1. In a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water melt the chocolate with the butter and the espresso mixture, stirring until the mixture is smooth. 
2. Remove the bowl from the heat, let the mixture cool to lukewarm, and stir in the sugar and the vanilla. 
3. Stir in the eggs, 1 at a time, stirring well after each addition.
4. Stir in the flour and the salt, stirring until the mixture is just combined, and stir in the walnuts. 
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake the brownie layer in the middle of a preheated 350ºF. oven for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering to it.
6. Let the brownie layer cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Make the cream cheese frosting:

1. In a bowl with an electric mixer cream together the cream cheese and the butter until the mixture is light and fluffy.
2. Add the SIFTED confectioners’ sugar, the vanilla, and the cinnamon, and beat the frosting until it is combined well.
3. Spread the frosting evenly over the brownie layer and chill the brownies for 1 hour, or until the frosting is firm.

Make the glaze:

1. In a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water melt the chocolate with the butter, the cream, and the espresso mixture, stirring until the glaze is smooth, remove the bowl from the heat, and let the glaze cool to room temperature.
2. Spread the glaze carefully over the frosted brownies and chill the brownies, covered, for at least 3 hours or overnight.
3. Cut the brownies while they are cold with a sharp knife and serve them cold or at room temperature. The brownies keep, covered and chilled, for 3 days.

NOTES: I usually keep some Sharffen Berger chocolate on hand, but had run out (and where the hell are you gonna find that in Rutledge, Mo.?); I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead. I also used salted butter (instead of unsalted). And since Zimmerman's was fresh out of Espresso powder I used Mt. Hagen freeze-dried coffee in its place.  The results were divine.

Name That Pizza Contest - Milkweed Mercantile at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

Fresh spinach, fresh mozzarella, and fresh waitresses 32 kinds of craft beer!

Here at the Milkweed Mercantile at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, we're getting semi-famous for our pizza, served every Thursday (except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day) from 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. We serve homemade thin-crust Neopolitan-style pizza. The mozzarella and feta cheese are made here at Dancing Rabbit from local organic milk. We offer a variety of toppings, which double in the summer during gardening season. We think our pizza is pretty darned good, and so do our customers. Quantities are limited so reservations are highly recommended (660-883-5522).

I was told when I arrived to the ecovillage that I should try pizza night at the Milkweed Mercantile, that it was better than NYC pizza (my home town) and I didn't believe it. I finally experienced it and it is seriously amazing pizza. I don't think I can find crust light this- thin and flaky. The toppings were also done to perfect proportion. This will go down as one of my top 5 lifetime pizza experiences. 

~Lena, NYC

To celebrate our joy of pizza we're having a contest. 
The winners get....(drum roll please)...PIZZA!

THE CONTEST
1. Create a pizza from the toppings listed below, and give the pizza a name.
2. Prize: a gift certificate for one Milkweed Mercantile pizza AND your pizza creation will go on our menu. You will become famous for being a creative genius and most likely your life will change immensely. You will get lots of "likes" on Facebook, and your name will become a household word, synonymous with "good taste," "elegance," and "anchovies."

 One of the judges demonstrating her pizza tasting technique.

3. You may enter as many pizzas as you wish.
4. The object is to create a DELICIOUS pizza with a clever name.
5. Points will be awarded as follows:
    Each judge* will evaluate pizzas independently, and all evaluations will be combined for a total score.
    Each judge may award up to 25 points.

   25 points = perfection.

• Up to 5 points awarded for flavor combination
• Up to 5 points awarded for cleverness of the name
• Up to 5 points awarded for how name fits the toppings 
• Up to 5 points awarded if we actually want to eat the pizza
• Up to 5 points awarded at judges' discretion as bonus points 

 
RULES:
1. To submit entries: leave a comment below OR leave a comment on the accompanying Facebook post.
2. Deadline: All entries must be submitted by midnight on Monday, March 3, 2014.
3. Winners will be announced Friday, March 7, 2014
4. We are not responsible for any lost entries. Blame Bill Gates.
5. Number of winners: Judges may award as many winning combinations as they wish. We're keeping our fingers crossed for lots of great entries!
6.  Have fun!


All pizzas come with our own special tomato sauce (organic crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano, salt)

Meat/Fish toppings:
La Quercia Prosciutto 
Applegate Pepperoni
Italian Sausage
Anchovies

Other stuff
Dan’s Feta Cheese
Egg, local, cage-free
Ranch Dipping Sauce (made here at the Mercantile)


Vegetable Toppings
Smoked Jalapenos from Blue Heron Orchards
Pickled Jalepenos from Mrs. Milkweed’s Kitchen
Fresh Spinach
Red and Green Bell Peppers (from local farms when in season)
Black Olives
Kalamata Olives
Green Olives
Raw Red Onions
Caramelized Yellow Onions
Button Mushrooms
Morel Mushrooms (in season)
Shitake Mushrooms (in season)
Corn, Organic non-GMO
Sauerkraut
Spinach, fresh (from local farms when in season)
Pineapple
Capers
Sundried Tomatoes
Garlic Slices, fresh (from local farms when in season)
Fresh Basil (in season)
Pesto (in season)





* JUDGES
Alline, Top Banana, Milkweed Mercantile
Kurt, The Guy Who Does Everything Else, Milkweed Mercantile
Nik, Minister of Pies, Milkweed Mercantile
Katherine, Vice President, Pizza Division
Mae, Vice President, Dessert Quality Assurance



Ready, set, GO! You have until midnight on March 3rd!

In Which My Heart Cracks Open, Just a Little Bit More...

This last year has been rough.

Lots and lots of work. Not enough sleep. More money going out than coming in. Some dependable help, some not so. Some amazingly abundant loving experiences, some depressing low points. The stuff of which life is made.

I've also been struggling about a lot of what is going on here at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Growing pains, wanting to support folks in whom I believe but having a hard time with some of the decisions that have been made. Feeling like a poor communitarian, wondering if we should just pack up and move on, wanting to contribute but unable to with a happy heart.

Knowing that it is all in my attitude, that I make my own reality, that I have little control over what happens but TOTAL control about how I choose to spin it in my head.

But I just couldn't get over that bump. You know, the bump that is placed in front of abundance, kindness, happiness and satisfaction. The bump that I always trip over. I kept getting stuck in the "I hate everything I see" gutter that is right in front of the bump. 

Fortunately, FINALLY, a series of events - too long and convoluted to relay here - coincided with a visit from Kurt's niece Danae, who is pretty much sunshine incarnate, to lift my spirits and help me truly SEE what is around me.

And then this video was posted on Facebook.



I can't stop watching it. I can't stop singing it as I wander around through my life. I love the girls with bouquets of kale at 1:07, the kids at 4:33, the boy in the blue shirt at 4:47 singing so earnestly. I want to invite the man who is singing at 4:35 to dinner.

And keep moving forward and start looking towards your heart

It'll open all the doors and only then you'll start

To hear the world sing in chorus with your mind and heart

Aligned in purpose everything will feel gorgeous

Thank you Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod. I am grateful for this song, and the music and heart that you bring into the world.


Grateful: A Love Song to the World

by Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod
(emphasis on the parts that I find especially moving today ~Alline)

Written and produced by Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod - See more at: http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=4460#sthash.404QwDFA.TxZl8JV3.dpuf

You're my life, you're my breath You're a smile, you're my guest

You're the earth, you're the sun You're the grass, you are love

You're my hands, you're a bug You're my eyes, you're a hug

You're the light in the dark You're the spark, you are fun

You're my mom, you are water You're the stars, you're my daughter

You're my friend till the end You're my dreams, you're my father

You're the ants on the ground The miracles that surround

I'm feelin' it all around the hemisphere and the clouds

You're my pain, you're my sorrow You're my hope for tomorrow

You're the strength when I'm hollow You're the path that I follow

You're the blessings that exist The small things that are bliss

The gift to realize that everything is a gift

All that I am All that I see

All that I've been

And all that I'll ever be

Is a blessing

It's so amazing

And I'm grateful for it all

For it all

Grateful for it all

You're the blessings every time I try to count

You're the lessons that l learn every time I turn around

You're the water when I'm burned every time I think I've found

Everything I'm looking for and the sign sayin' stop to take a bow

And keep moving forward and start looking towards your heart

It'll open all the doors and only then you'll start

To hear the world sing in chorus with your mind and heart

Aligned in purpose everything will feel gorgeous

All that I am All that I see

All that I've been

And all that I'll ever be

Is a blessing

It's so amazing

And I'm grateful for it all

For it all

Every day I sit and pray 'cause what I have is

More than I deserve or could ever imagine

How do I give back to all of this magic

And spread the love so everybody can have it

Doesn't matter if I'm rich or poor If I got a family or if I'm all alone

Bad things happen I can just complain and moan

But there's a million things that I can be grateful for

So I lift up

My hands now

And I open my heart

And my gratitude

Goes out

To everything

Near and far 

All that I am

Everything I am - All that I see

All that I've been

And all that I'll ever be

Is a blessing

It's so amazing

And I'm grateful

For it all

All that I am

All that I see

All that I've been

And all that I'll ever be

Is a blessing

It's so amazing

And I'm grateful

For it all For it all

For it all

For it all

Grateful for it all

For it all

For it all

You're the blessings that exist

The small things that are bliss

The gift to realize that everything is a gift

Thanks for reading. Sending love and gratitude to you this Thanksgiving weekend, and always.

Alline

We Can't Help Ourselves: Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and a Slathering of Chocolate Ganache

Dear Friends,

Oh, my. What happened to my simple country life? We're just way too busy to find it anywhere!

And that's fine with me, at least for  now. I'm very, very grateful for all of the people and activities that keep me so busy!

Last night was another bustling Pizza Night, with many new friends from Memphis (MO) joining us. The cake we served was our Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate Ganache Icing, developed originally for Bear's birthday a few year's ago. I think we've finally found the perfect combo of PB and Chocolate. The frosting is sweet without being overwhelmingly so, and has a light but very peanutty flavor. The chocolate ganache is, well, the icing on the cake (pun intended).

 Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate Ganache Icing

Before we get started, here's a note on Corn Syrup, which is an ingredient in the ganache. It is what gives the ganache that glorious shiny gloss. Corn Syrup is NOT High Fructose Corn Syrup. Click here to learn the difference between the two.


 To begin - use the Dancing Rabbit Chocolate Celebration cake recipe found here.
 Put the batter in two 9" round pans. When cake layers have cooled, it's time for frosting!

Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting

 makes approx. 2 cups

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons milk, or as needed

2 cups powdered sugar

1. Place the SOFT butter and peanut butter into the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low until the butter and peanut butter are completely combined.
2. SIFT the powdered sugar. While there are many things worse than lumpy frosting, none of them would ever be put on a cake. I just use a regular kitchen strainer, a big bowl, and  a spoon. Takes 3 minutes. Just do it.
3. Gradually mix in the sugar, scraping down the sides regularly to make sure everything is well mixed in.
4. When the frosting starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable.
5. Beat for at least 3 minutes on HIGH for it to get good and fluffy. You many need to adjust the consistency with more sugar or milk.

Chocolate Ganache

2/3 cup heavy cream

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1. In a small saucepan, heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil.
2. Place chocolate pieces and corn syrup in a large bowl.
3. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and corn syrup and stir until completely mixed and glossy.
4. Allow ganache to cool before pouring over cakes as a glaze. The longer you allow the ganache to cool, the thicker it will set.
5. When it is ready to pour onto the cake, begin pouring slowing in the middle. Using a long pastry spatula*, slowly smooth the icing onto the cake in a circular motion. I find it helps if I slowly turn the cake plate while keeping the spatula steady. As the icing moves from a pool in the center of the cake to the edges, encourage it to “overflow” to create delicious drips.

That’s it!

If you haven't yet voted for the Milkweed Mercantile in the Green America People and Planet Grant program, PLEASE take 20 seconds and do so. We SO APPRECIATE YOU!

Someday soon I'll get back to reporting all the dirt on Ecovillage life. Or maybe not. We'll see. In the meantime, be kind to yourself and one another. 

Love,

Alline

* Offset Pastry Spatula. You don't have to have one, but it sure makes frosting/icing a cake easier!

Poetry Monday, The Wind Map and an assortment of Pre-Rafaelites

Hi friends,

It is a gray, cloudy, blustery day - it is fantastic! I am sitting in our snug and cozy strawbale house, looking out through the glass doors that lead onto our small balcony. The walls are 18" thick, so I can't feel the wind, but the trees outside are lashing about, the wind is howling (or maybe that's the wind turbine howling), and acorns are dropping onto the roof and pop-pop-popping down the slope.

I easily found a poem. But how to illustrate the wind? 

And then I remembered - The Wind Map (click on those words). It is truly the COOLEST thing EVER. 
 

The map is live, so depending upon when you look at it you may or may not see the windy day we're having (we're right in the middle between Denver and Chicago), but you can see what's happening where you live. Check it out!

 

Wind Map by artists Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg.

Here is today's poem, by Christina Rosetti, who was vaguely associated with the Pre-Rafaelite Brotherhood.**  

Who Has Seen the Wind

by Christina Rosetti

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

** Christina Rosetti posed for some of her brother's (Dante Gabriel Rosetti) paintings but as they're not my favorite PRB paintings they're not going here. I much prefer John Everett Millais and John William Waterhouse. We were able to see (i.e. drool over) a whole slew of PRB paintings at the Tate when we were in London a few years ago. Kurt developed a huge crush on Jane Morris, who posed for Rosetti...I fell in love with William Morris. 

 Ophelia by Millais

Lady of Shalott by Waterhouse

OK. I really just meant to spend a few moments here waxing rhapsodic about the wind. Ha! Have a great day!

love,
Alline

Poetry Monday: Black Dogs and Snow

Abby in the snow from Dances with Fabric Blog (thanks, Sharon!)**

Snow, Aldo 

by Kate DiCamillo

Once, I was in New York,
in Central Park, and I saw
an old man in a black overcoat walking
a black dog. This was springtime
and the trees were still
bare and the sky was
gray and low and it began, suddenly,
to snow:
big fat flakes
that twirled and landed on the
black of the man's overcoat and
the black dog's fur. The dog
lifted his face and stared
up at the sky. The man looked
up, too. "Snow, Aldo," he said to the dog,
"snow." And he laughed.
The dog looked
at him and wagged his tail.

If I was in charge of making
snow globes, this is what I would put inside:
the old man in the black overcoat,
the black dog,
two friends with their faces turned up to the sky
as if they were receiving a blessing,
as if they were being blessed together
by something
as simple as snow
in March.

**When it's time for you to adopt your next dog, please consider an adult dog, and while you're at it, a big black dog. They really, really need you. For more on why black dogs are often never adopted, regardless of how beautiful, well-mannered and friendly they are, read about Black Dog Syndrome.

Creating a Life: Art at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

Baby Robins Photo: Rachel Katz

Blog Post Spoiler: At the bottom of the page is info on the Milkweed Mercantile's Artist in Residence Program. Read and share with your artist friends!

Update February 2014 - Info on the second Milkweed Mercantile Artist in Residence Program (for 2014)

And now, the real post.

I've lived here at Dancing Rabbit longer than anywhere else in my adult life. While this is only 13 1/2 years, it feels significant. With the exception of 4 years in Utah, I have lived my entire life in San Francisco Bay Area cities that struck my fancy - Berkeley, the Oakland, Alameda, Kensington and San Francisco.While the specifics were different, the stage was the same - liberal politics, fabulous weather, proximity to amazing natural resources, myriad cultural events, hotbed of new thinking and ideas, and activities that I adored, like book groups, hiking, foreign cinema, author readings, open studios, bike-friendly streets, ethnic restaurants and quilting guilds.

I had never pictured myself living in the Midwest, let alone rural Missouri. Heck, when Kurt first found Dancing Rabbit online I didn't even know where Missouri was. [Some of our friends didn't either, evidenced by the mail we received addressed to Rutledge, MS (Mississippi), and Rutledge, MI (Michigan).] If it weren't for Dancing Rabbit and the beautiful house that Kurt has built for us here, I would be long gone. While the prairie is lovely my heart remains stuck somewhere in the Sierra Nevada foothills; while the people in the wider community (outside of Dancing Rabbit) are nice many don't have a clue what we're doing here and are skeptical and uncomfortable around us; the summer weather makes me want to wither up and die, or at least lie on the cool floor and pant with the dogs, and my social circle has shrunken to a mere shadow of its former self.

However, in stark contrast with the (or rather, my perceived) negatives are the stunning positives about life at Dancing Rabbit. My favorite is the absolute quiet and stillness - living in a strawbale house in a rural area is so very different than living anywhere in the SF Bay Area. In the Bay Area, no matter where I lived, I could always hear a freeway. I tried to pretend that the constant whoosh whoosh was the sound of the ocean, but once the traffic helicopters came in that fantasy was shot all to hell. Here, I really do get to experience quiet. Even better, in the summer, I awaken when the silence is broken by a cacophony of birdsong - the randy robins wake up first and start strutting their stuff: "hey ladies! I'm totally hot! Come check me out!" They are followed by everyone from Bobwhite quails to chickadees to sparrows. They all have something to say. We also get the occasional woodpecker exploring the wood on our house, and are often scolded by house wrens nesting in the old shoes we've nailed to trees in our yard.

At night, the stars are amazing. It's kind of like living in a planetarium, only without those cool reclining chairs. There seem to have been lots of meteor showers lately, and we are fortunate to have total darkness here from which to observe them. This is in stark contrast from trying to see Haley's comet from our balcony in Berkeley. "Hey! There it is!" "Um, no, Alline, I think that's a street light..."

In the spring and summer the frogs start in at dusk, and make a wonderful racket. We seem to have a number of different varieties - hilarious blurping, peeping and squeaking comes to us from the ponds. Crickets join in, and in the heat of the summer the buzz of cicadas adds another component to the insect symphony. And then there are the fireflies, providing a moving light show which never fails to dazzle me.

However, even with all of that natural beauty and entertainment, I find myself wanting more. I keep my eyes and ears peeled for kindred spirits; writers, artists, and other creative and intelligent folk who wander into our village and into our lives. I love that the Milkweed Mercantile is serving as a lure, a siren call to bring positive aspects of the "outside" world to Dancing Rabbit. In the last year or so we've had a number of writers and artists visit, and we're hoping to host many more.

Danae's "Library"

We persuaded Danae to transform our downstairs toilet room into a library.

Our new friend, landscape artist Billyo O'Donnell came and visited several times. I was delighted to be able to trade a room for prints of his swoon-worthy work.

Kurt, Alline and Billyo

Guest-turned-friend Jim McGowin, bohemian poet and painter from St. Louis, created four incredible portraits of the environmentalists for whom the Mercantile's guest rooms are named. We're waiting until we reopen this coming spring to mount them on the doors of the rooms, but here is a sneak peek:

Rachel Carson by Jim McGowin  "If a child is to keep alive his sense of wonder…he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."

Wallace Stegner by Jim McGowin “Something will have gone out of us as a people if we let the remaining wilderness be destroyed... We need that wild country, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.”

Aldo Leopold by Jim McGowin

David Brower by Jim McGowin

In keeping with a long-standing DR tradition of creating our own entertainment (since cities and "real" entertainment are so far away), our latest invention is the Artist in Residence Program here at the Milkweed Mercantile. Designed for visual artists, we are also open to hosting writers and poets. The basic idea is that we provide artists with a room in the Mercantile, a place to work, delicious food and the inspiration of 280 acres of Dancing Rabbit and its inhabitants. In return selected artists will create art, and spend at least eight hours sharing his/her artistic skills with members of the community by holding classes/seminars.  We hope to fill all five ten-day sessions with different artists. More info on the Milkweed Mercantile Artist in Residence Program can be found by clicking here. Please share this with your friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers and anyone else who is an artist, knows artists, has seen artists, or has played an artist on TV...

Here's to a juicy, full, art-filled life!

Thanks for reading.

Love,
Alline

A Week in Provence, or, Franco-American Relations Remain Friendly

NOTE: Kurt and I arrived in France a couple of weeks ago. I seem to be working backward, blog-wise. Meaning that the most recently written post is ready before the one I started three weeks ago. Sigh. I'm sure real writers - oh, like Jackie Collins and Danielle Steel - never have this problem, but such are the challenges of life as I know it...)

We're currently sitting on chaise lounges the front lawn of our vacation rental. With an ocher plaster and stone wall separating us from the road, along with cypress and other trees pruned within an inch of their lives, the air redolent with pine trees, jasmine and honeysuckle, songbirds are singing their little lungs out (Kurt swears that the doves have a French accent) and the air the exact temperature as our skin; it feels absolutely perfect. Also in the garden are olive trees, numerous shrubs, irises (not yet in bloom) and a swimming pool in the back. 

Don't get too jealous - the pool doesn't open until June 1^st, the day before we leave. It currently has pond scum in it, so we won't be swimming. If we wanted to swim in pond scum, we could do it happily at DR. Anyway, Kurt, who is sitting beside me with a glass of local Cabernet practicing the Ancient Art of Doing Nothing, is cracking himself up with punchlines of jokes. “Spit it out” he just said, and laughed out loud. If you really want I'll tell you the joke later.**

 OK. I know I look totally stoned in this picture. I am not. I am merely relaxed, after finally reaching my destination and having a Kir (my new favorite drink), my mini computer perched happily on a pillow on my lap. The real point of this photo is the red (ocher) hillside about a mile in the background. Enough already!

We took the train from Paris to Avignon, rented a car (which wasn't there*) and drove about 45 minutes to the village of Roussillon. It is, as the sign reads when one drives into the town, “one of the most beautiful villages in France.” Can't argue with that. The soil around here is bright orange and has been mined for ocher pigment. All the buildings here are as you would expect – old, gorgeous, ocher-colored, slightly ramshackle. The town has the air of somewhere like Tahoe or Reno – vaguely vacation-oriented, lots of tourists in vacation homes, no parking in the tiny downtown. I'm a little disappointed, but I really don't think I could have picked a better spot to completely unwind (“veg” says Kurt from the next seat) before heading home to the Mercantile to save Mandy from a total nervous breakdown.

We're in the foothills of an area called the Luberon. It is where Peter Mayle wrote “A Year in Provence.” The drive here was, of course, very southern France. I've never been here before, but it feels as if I have. I've been hearing countless stories about France, and seeing pictures of the food, the people, and every geographical area each and every school year since 7^th grade. One would, of course, assume that I would speak fluent French after all those years of intensive study. One would be wrong, of course. While I was voted “Mardi Gras Queen” by my French class in my senior year, it was not because of my scholarship. Much to the chagrin of my various French teachers I could mimic what they said fairly well, without much of it actually sinking in... but I digress...Soon after leaving Paris we began to see red poppies in the fields. So very gorgeous. By the time we got here there were fields full of them. The lavender isn't out yet, but the poppies are!

The one thing that continues to astound us is just how friendly and helpful everyone is. People stop and help us when they see that we are confused (which is, unsurprisingly, often). These are FRENCH people we're talking about! Even if they don't speak English they try. I can't believe that I spent so many years being afraid of Paris. And maybe this is all new. When my college roommates and I were in France (Marsielles and Paris) on our grand European backpacking spectacular in 1981 I remember practicing over and over again “Je voudrais trois tranches du jambon sil vous plait” before taking a deep breath and going into the charcuterie where the lady was MEAN to me and made me cry. The only people who were nice to us then in Paris were the cute young guards at the national monuments. But then, we were cute and young too, and there was beaucoup de flirting going on. ANYWAY! Now I'm old and not so very cute except to those who love me and everyone is NICE. In PARIS! And in train stations all over the country. I am just gob-smacked. And very, very grateful.

Kurt says “we create our own world” and I'm starting to believe him. By this he means that because we try to speak French, and we smile, and make eye contact and try to learn the various customs and rules (like not demanding coffee with our dessert and instead enjoying it AFTER dessert when it doesn't really make any sense but that's what the French do so we smile and have an espresso after our mousse au chocolat or creme brulee) our trip has largely gone smoothly and without life-threatening disaster or stress-induced apoplexy (on either side), or an international incident. Life is tres bon (Frenchy-talk for swell).

That's it for now. I'll backtrack in the next couple of days and fill in some of the blanks. Thanks for reading!

Love,

Alline

* After arriving on the train from Paris and realizing that our rental car was at the other Avignon train station (ah, the perils of planning a vacation from a desk in Rutledge, Missouri), and taking a bus (after doing our best to understand the walking directions which included "behind the ramparts" in French as given by the really nice girl at the wrong car rental booth) to the right train station, and filling out the voluminous forms, signing our names in dozens of places and agreeing to give the nation of France our first-born grandchild should we dent or otherwise maim the car, we were finally given the keys and directed to spot #127. We walked and walked and walked, and finally came to spot # 127, and it was empty. No car. There were cars in 126 and 128, and in every other spot imaginable, but not 127. I wish we would have taken a picture - it really was like a Fellini film. Kurt went back to the rental desk and the very cute rental agent came back with him, fully expecting (I think) to find that those goofy Americans can't tell one number from another. But she, too, had to concede that spot 127 was indeed empty, sans voiture. After ten minutes of looking for the correct license plate number she finally found it, in #117. C'est la vie!

** Kurt's politically insensitive joke: An Englishman, a Frenchman and an Irishman are sitting around having drinks. Each notices that there is a fly in his drink. The Englishman flicks the fly out of his pint and continues drinking. The Frenchman says “Sacre bleu! Bring me another glass of wine!”  The Irishman grabs the fly and yells “spit it out!”.

Dreaming of Building a "Human Nest" at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

 One of the great things about life at Dancing Rabbit is that just about anything seems possible.This is also one on the greatest downfalls, or at least temptations of living here. Oh, the ideas! As each and every one of us is a dreamer, our ideas vastly outnumber the hours left in our lifetimes.

But still, we add to our lists. It may take a few years, but Ted will most likely get a zipline installed, Maikwe will get her spiritual space, Meadoe will build a music studio, DR will build a theater and a school and a public camping area…

My dreams? Oh, they are never ending. And I keep adding to the list. Now that the Milkweed Mercantile is open, I want to expand the space, add more interactive and educational components to the Mercantile experience, host many more college classes, build tree houses…

But not just any tree houses.

Check this out. It the Human Nest in Big Sur (Central California on the coast) at a place called Timberbones Resort. The photos come from a post at cabinporn.

The dreamer part of me imagines how amazing it would have one of these here at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage - to watch the stars and the fireflies; to listen to the frogs, birds and coyotes (not to mention the cows). The realist thinks "hmmm...that mattress looks a bit grundgy.." and "how the heck to keep out mosquitos?"

So maybe the place for some dreams is just where they are - in my imagination. And maybe all I need to do is go stay a night or two at Big Sur. Either way, it's fun to think about!

Poetry Saturday: Lawrence Ferlinghetti meets Marc Chagall

I've always felt a certain affinity for Paris in the 1920's, and, as a child growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 70's felt disappointed at having missed the Beat boat of the 50's.

This is why I practically swooned this morning when I found that one of my favorite poems, which combines the Marc Chagall* (a painter working in Paris in the 20's) with Beat writer Lawrence Ferlinghetti, (co-founder of San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore) featured on Writers Almanac.

14

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Don't let that horse
                                    eat that violin
    cried Chagall's mother
                                             But he
                        kept right on
                                                 painting

And became famous

And kept on painting
                                       The Horse With Violin In Mouth

And when he finally finished it
he jumped up upon the horse
                                                     and rode away
                  waving the violin

And then with a low bow gave it
to the first naked nude he ran across

And there were no strings
                                                 attached

What does this have to do with living in an ecovillage? Nothing, which is exactly the point. Trying to live sustainably is only one aspect of my life here. And that always feels just a bit surreal... :)

Love,
Alline

*The art of Marc Chagall looks like what you might see upon waking from a beautiful dream: the composition is scrambled with familiar figures and symbols, and riotous colors frame the memory. Chagall was born Moishe Shagal in 1887 in present day Belarus to a Jewish merchant family of modest means. His childhood in a small village was the subject of many of his works, which featured folkloric imagery such as Candlestick with the Burning Lights and the Fiddler on the Roof. He moved to St. Petersburg in 1907, where he studied art and first encountered the modern movements sweeping through Europe. In 1910 he was able to move to Paris, where he immersed himself in the École de Paris with the likes of Modigliani and Leger. Chagall's first solo show at Der Sturm Gallery in Berlin in 1914 firmly placed him among the talented avant garde artists of Europe. Chagall supported the Russian Revolution and became the first Commissar for Fine Arts. However, he resisted the power struggles and the direction the revolution was taking. He left the Soviet Union in 1923. During the 1920s he produced many etchings for book illustrations, including Gogol's Dead Souls and later a series of illustrations for the Bible. In the 1930s Chagall began working in stained glass and his work can be seen at the United Nations headquarters and in several buildings in Jerusalem. Chagall and his family fled Nazi-occupied Europe and lived in the United States from 1941-47. During this time he designed sets and costumes for ballets, such as Massine's Aleko 1942 and New York City Ballet's The Firebird 1945. Back in France in the 1950s, he began working with ceramics, and also produced the famous Paris series of paintings that feature magical scenes set against the Paris cityscape. You can also see some of the most spectacular murals produced by Chagall in the sixties at the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center. Marc Chagall died in France in 1985, a little more than a decade after a museum dedicated to him was opened in Nice.

Choosing our Beer: The Milkweed Mercantile at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

Today I'm taking a break from heavy topics - like the politics of red states and renewable energy - and focusing on one of the more enjoyable aspects of having a cafe. (Tomorrow I'm happily picking up the subject of feminism and men who want to refuse women the right to choose...) Until then, lets talk BEER!

At any given time we carry around 30 varieties of beer at the Milkweed Mercantile. While our first choice would be to sell beer that is brewed here at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, none of the brewers here have yet obtained a microbrewer’s license. This means that it is not legal for us to sell any homebrews here. In the meantime, we wait impatiently.

In addition to carrying local micro-brews, we looking foreward to having beer on draft. With our wind turbine up and running we now have a consistent power supply. We’re hoping to switch from bottles to taps by fall 2012. Cross your fingers!

But back to the topic at hand. Like everything at the Milkweed Mercantile, we pay close attention to the brands we carry. The criteria we use for beers served at the Mercantile are:

1. Must be local, organic, and/or somehow eco-groovy - solar or wind powered, community minded, socially responsible, or something worth supporting
2. Must taste good, at least to some of our customers
3. Must be available from one of our distributors (this is the trickiest one!)

Below is a list of (most of) the beers we currently serve, and why:

New Belgium Brewery, located in Colorado, is an impressive organization. Their web info on sustainability goes on for pages – they really get it. Plus they are big supporters of bicycling, which is near and dear to the hearts of all Dancing Rabbits, whether they drink or not. Even better, folks here love New Belgium’s brews.
We carry New Belgium Fat Tire, Abbey, Ranger, 1554, Trippel, Organic Mothership Wit, plus seasonal varieties.

Bell’s Beer is located in Kalamazoo, MI, which to us is considered local. If this seems like a stretch to you, come visit DR. Your view of "local" might expand a bit. Bell’s doesn’t seem to be particulary sustainability minded, but they are a Midwestern brewery, and they are independently owned. Two checks in the “Good” column as far as we’re concerned. We carry Two-hearted Ale, Best Brown Ale and Oberon (the world’s prettiest beer label and cap!).
 

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. started in the late 70’s in Chico, CA and is still independently owned. In December 2008, they completed what is now one of the largest privately owned solar installations in the country. They also have a bio-gas recovery program. Not only do we love their beer, we love their attitude. I wish all companies were this conscientious. We carry Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Sierra Nevada Stout.

Schlafly is located in St. Louis, MO, which for us is REALLY local. Their sustainability efforts aren’t (yet) stellar, but at least Schlafly is thinking about this stuff, which is a step in the right direction. We serve Schlafly Summer Lager, Octoberfest, Winter ESB, and No. 15.

OK. We admit it. Samuel Smith’s Organic Cider is imported from the UK. But it is organic, and it tastes GREAT!

North American Breweries, makers of Honey Brown Ale, is headquartered in Rochester, New York was formed in 2009 by KPS Capital Partners, LP, a private equity fund. The company owns and operates five U.S. breweries and six retail locations in New York, Vermont, California, Oregon and Washington.

So that's the current list. We're always on the lookout for something more local, more organic, better tasting. And remember - we're keeping it all cold for your next visit!


Love,
Alline