Forest and Farm

 No matter what I have harvested before, as my first New Mexico Deer hunt approached, I began to feel like, "this is the real deal!" When draw results were released, and I found out I had drawn a deer tag in the northwest corner of our state, I was ecstatic! And then I was nervous.  This is what I had been working towards, but was I really ready? Was I really a huntress,or just kidding myself? Every time I wrestled with these questions, the answer I felt inside myself was, you are ready, this is real, this is you .  When the actual weekend of my hunt was upon me, I felt it all, excitement, nervousness, pride, trepidation... And then it was Friday afternoon, my workday was over, and the time had come. I had been building towards this moment for so long, I couldn't wait. As with most things involving children, getting out of the house took forever. Nick had gone ahead, and found a campsite. I packed up for myself and the kids, and dropped them off at a friends house. Then t...

It is always gratifying when hard work from the summer pays off in a cozy fall meal. I needed something fairly quick to make this evening and when perusing the pantry and freezer came up with dried porcinis, a bag of polenta, and a package of frozen wild pork sausage from a boar my husband harvested in Hawaii last winter. The mushrooms, of course, had been lovingly gathered by all of us this past August, and dried and packaged, just waiting to re-emerge as the weather got colder. In the midst of mushroom season there always comes a point where I am surrounded by bags of Boletes, dreading the process of slicing and drying every single one of them. I have to remind myself how happy I will be in the fall or winter months when there are no fresh mushrooms to be seen and I can reach into the pantry and pull out that earthy goodness. And so it was tonight. As I opened the bag I could almost smell the mountains again, and just sat there staring at my treasure. I re-hydrated the mushro...

Last night a friend invited us over to dinner.  He wanted to celebrate our fall harvests, and the fact that he had just harvested an elk! Hooray!  He asked me to bring something from my garden, and I thought it was the perfect time to showcase the last of my squash blossoms, as well as some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes that my mother in law had grown.  I decided to make some focaccia because it is pretty quick, easy, and a crowd pleaser.  I think focccia is so pretty! It is a perfect dish for taking to a party. Here are the steps I took to make this simple and yummy dish. Start with pizza dough, I used my simple pizza dough recipe, but any pizza dough would work. Simple Pizza Dough 1 tablespoon dry active yeast 2 cups very warm water About 5 cups flour 2 teaspoons salt 1/2 tablespoon Olive oil Pour yeast into a mixing bowl and add warm water.  After it is dissolved (about 10 minutes) add 2 1/2 cups of the flour.  I use my electric mixe...