Mute Monday

Looking Back to Look Forward

In a few short weeks,
I'll return to tending the birds in my nest!

Thank you for your comments.  The Jesus Prayer really is the silver bullet for those things that rise up to frighten you.  I would say defeat, but honestly, if God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:32).

I have had visits from my spiritual father preceding Christmas and they are a great comfort.  If you ever land in trouble, call your priest!  Call your spiritual father or mother, avail yourself of the sacraments as never before.  Don't be shy!  Had the Church not considered these things, they never would have created the office of Deacon which has been with us from the beginning.  Saint Stephen, pray for us!

So looking back to look forward a bit, my lovely, amazing, heroic husband, who has persevered against all trials and stumbling blocks that have been thrown his way since the day I left them, took me and five of our six children to Nativity of Our Lord Monastery in Kemp, Texas for the monastery blessing and the hierarchical liturgy.  Now, it was probably too soon for me too make such a long trip, but I loved this day.

We arrived late to the blessing, but on time for the liturgy.  Mother Barbara ushered all the children to the front so that they could see everything.  This was so generous because the chapel was packed and because she trusted the children so much to behave themselves out of their mothers' and fathers' sight.  Happily, the children responded well to this act of faith and were mostly still, very quiet, and exceedingly well behaved.

Look how still and quiet!  Fr. Joseph hardly had to even glance sideways!

Our now four year old, E.- we've celebrated two birthdays and three name days just the last four weeks- spent part of the time sitting in my lap and part of the time playing on the lawn just off the porch.  On a side note, sitting throughout the whole of liturgy was wonderfully strange.  Our parish, like many OCA parishes in the South, has only a few chairs around the perimeter for the elderly and infirm, so we all stand.  Because of the crush of people before and behind me and because of my injury, I was so blessed to be able to just sit and close my eyes and listen and pray in my heart as I have never before.  Well, for a moment.  But that was a powerful moment.

As I have mentioned before that Texas has some strange weather, especially right before the first week or two of January.  It was cold that day, but with a bit of exercise and a jacket, E. stayed warm and happy.  When she got too cold, she snuck in, climbed up into my lap, and then stuck one ice cold hand under my sweater on my bare neck and shoved the other, thumb first, into her mouth.  There she sat until it was time to receive and she willingly went with Mother Barbara to the get in line with her brothers and sisters.    It wasn't long before she came scampering back with hands full of antidoron.  As I had not yet received, I could not accept the blessed bits that she was trying to feed/cram into me, but it was cute.  Afterwards, the deacon traveling with Met. Jonah served me communion so that I did not have to try to use my walker (it's more like very slow skipping on one leg, all hop).  At which point, my wayward little imp had finished her load of blessed bread and was now demanding the piece offered me by the altar servers.  She got half.

Afterwards, we were treated to a lovely luncheon reception at the Cedar Creek Country Club.  The children were given preferential treatment and seated at the tables closest to the the guest of honor, Met. Jonah.  As if that weren't enough, the Metropolitan generously received them all first and gave them blessings and sweet gifts that had been prepared by the local mastushki.  Thank you so much, Met. Jonah!

It was a really beautiful day.  We left the monastery spiritually refreshed.  As I reflect on that day, it fills me with so much joy and happiness.  It reminds me how kind and great our Lord is.  I look forward to being fully reunited with my husband and children in our home.  I cannot wait to cook something, bake something, do something to return all the love that they have shown and given me all these weeks.  

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for revealing my path and salvation.  May I become worthy through Your grace of these blessings.

Long Time Gone

Dear Readers,

I have not abandoned my blog.  It is summer and all of the children are home.  Time to blog is difficult to find as we are an early to rise late to bed kind of family here at the Motherworks-Flavius house.

Please forgive my absence.  I have much news to report and many wonderful things to share.  I hope your summer has been fruitful.

Sincerely in Christ,

Svetlana

An Apology and a Recipe

Dear Readers,

I apologize for taking so danged long to write to you.

I have not abandoned the blog, but as you might imagine there is little time to blog other than at the crack of dawn or the dead of night when you have six children.

I started to tell you about our family road trip to Lake Bruin, Louisiana, but somehow I managed to wander far and away off topic opining on the ethanol corn fields that dot the map east of Monroe, how sometimes leaving the 'right' religion can lead you to marital unity and happiness, and how bleach baths can save your sanity under very particular circumstances.  Somewhere around mile marker 214, I look up dazed from want of sleep and slightly bedazzled by staring too long into the luminous glow of the monitor and I realized that I was far off course.  'D' is for [delete].

I still don't have much time to organize my thoughts into a coherent piece, so instead, I present to you a recipe I have been working on South Meets East Spiced Pickled Watermelon Rind©.  Enjoy!

South Meets East Spiced Pickled Watermelon Rind©
N.B. Jaggery general term for a traditional, unrefined sugar made from raw cane juice.  It still contains the molasses and invert sugars in the sugar crystals as well as many mineral salts.  It can range from a golden brown to dark brown in color.  In Mexico, they sell it in cones called piloncillos.  You can find it at your local Indian or Latin Market.

the vegetable:
1 medium size watermelon

the brine:

1 tablespoon whole allspice

1 tablespoon whole cloves

1 bunch of lemon verbena (washed and well bruised)

1 inch knob ginger sliced into 6-8 pieces

2 2-inch cinnamon sticks

¾ cup kosher salt

¼ cup jaggery or piloncillo

3 quarts water

the pickle:

1 tablespoon whole allspice

1 tablespoon whole cloves

4 lemons

3 satsumas

1 inch knob of ginger, peeled and sliced
2 2-inch cinnamon sticks
1 cup jaggery or piloncilo
2 cups of raw cane sugar
3 cups water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup white distilled vinegar

• Step 1: Prepare the watermelon:  Quarter the watermelon.  Remove the red watermelon flesh, leaving a thin strip of pink on the rind.  Using a y-peeler (or a very sharp paring knife ) remove the inedible green skin from the rind. Cut into 1-inch wide crescents. Set aside.

• Step 2: Make the brine:  Place 3 quarts of water, ¼ cup of jaggery, kosher salt, whole allspice, whole cloves, lemon verbena, ginger,  and cinnamon sticks in a large pot.  Heat over medium heat until all the salt and jaggery dissolve.  Let cool.  In a large non-reactive container, pour brine over the watermelon rind.  Cover and let sit overnight.

• Step 3:  Rinse and cook the brined rinds:  Rinse the brined watermelon rind in two or three changes of cold water.  In a large pot, cover watermelon rind with water and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer until pieces are still crisp but you can pierce with a fork.  Approximately 10 minutes.  Drain in a colander and set aside.

• Step 4:  Make the syrup for the pickles:  Thinly slice the citrus. In a large pot combine the vinegars, sugar, jaggery, ginger, and spices with the remaining 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Add the rinds and simmer for 10 minutes.  Drain in a colander over a bowl so as to catch the liquid.  Place in a sauce pan and reduce until you have 4½ cups of syrup, 12-15 minutes, over high heat.  Transfer syrup to a metal bowl.

• Step 5:  Can those suckers:  Sterilize jars, lids and equipment according to manufacturer's recommendations.  Fill hot, sterilized jars with pieces of rind, meyer lemon, and spices.  Cover with syrup leaving ½-inch head space in each jar.  Process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

The Ranch

Rye grass in the bottom field

My parents own a ranch on the outskirts of town that we like to visit whenever we can.  On a lark, I took the girls and the baby out for a day trip with the hopes of getting an apiary to assemble.  No dice on the apiary, but the trip was not wasted in the least.

We have had several days of rain and cool weather in my little corner of the world.  Down on the property everything than can in getting up to bloom or has already bloomed.  The rye is tall down on the pastures and the pond is full.  A. and I took a little walk along the edge of the water hopping over little streams and rivulets.  In places where water had become trapped there were small brim and pollywogs.  The frogs have taken full advantage of all this water, their eggs seemed to have been laid early this year.  Wherever we advanced upon their position on bank they would fling themselves full-tilt into the water with a loud "eek!"  A. loved it and we spent a long time searching the banks for more frogs to surprise.

The pond

The land lies in the crook of the Brazos River, south of small dam that forms one boundary of a long skinny lake.  It rolls gently down from the top of the property at the road down to the river.  The river itself is full to the brim with rush water from the recent rains.  I was surprised to see it.  I always forget about the water that is to rise, but every year it does with a regularity that makes me feel out of step with nature.

The mighty Brazos River

In the not so distant past, before the dam, this property was farmland.  They grew cotton and corn.  Every spring the rains would come and flood the lower fields bringing the much need nutrients to the soil that would feed these crops that are such heavy feeders.  After the dam was built, the flooding stopped and the farmers had to depend on chemical fertilizers to build up the soil.
 Now this isn't a diatribe against modern farming.  It is simply an observation.  As the price of corn and cotton went down and the price of fertilizer went up the heirs of the land began to look for other sources of income.  Eventually the crops became less and less productive and the family that had owned the land for more generations than I even know sold it to an investor.  The land was tired, good for nothing more than a development.  Or so they thought.  One day along happened my folks and they fell in love.  They bought it from the investor and have slowly begun to restore the tired pastures using natural methods.



It has become wild over the years, there are many head of deer, javalina, possible a jaguarundi, and many species of venomous and non-venomous snakes.  There is an enormous owl in the southeast corner of the property.  Rabbits are plentiful.  The cardinals never fail to startle with their bright red coats as they streak through the brush and vines near the river.  There are scissor-tails and finches and jays that like to play in the fields up top.  The songbirds are too numerous to count.

I love this place.  It is truly God's country. On this trip, I noted where the blackberries had gone wild and blooming like crazy, the location of two great pecan trees that lean over the road (where pecan picking will be relatively easy and snake free), the wild grapes are setting their first tiny flowers nearby.  We picked wild garlic to go with some homegrown kale.

The new rooster

I need to carry a spade.  The garlic bulbs
stayed in the ground, but these will still be
good eats.

We visited the chickens.  There is a new rooster.  He is big and white with a speckled collar and black feathers.  I think he must be a Columbian Wyandotte.  He herded his ladies like a champ, making certain they did not stray too close to my vehicle, and he kept them away from the 3 year old (the animal world has decided that E. is a dangerous creature.  It is both funny and nerve-wracking).  It appears that they really did need a man around the house.

The girls collected eggs and chased after buttercup colored butterflies.  Too soon it was time to return home.  I made out traditional stop for chopped beef sandwiches (6 sandwiches for $5, you can't beat it).  I'm becoming vegetarian.  It was hard to resist.  I'll have to come better prepared next time.  It never fails that visits such as these make me want to run away to the country and live my life like Little House on the Prairie.  Maybe someday.  Do you have a refuge from the world?

the ladies

Isn't funny how different real eggs
 are from the store bought?  That little egg
has no yolk, but the long oblong one has two!

On Gardening . . .

My name is Svetlana and I am gardening addict.  It started so simply, a few plants, a few soil amendments, a hoe. . . I don't know when it stopped being a choice and when it became a compulsion.  After the first week week of spring my cuticles are the color of dirt.   Some mornings I find myself wrist deep in the earth furiously digging out bermuda stolons with animal intensity . . . in my pink fruity pajamas (with my pears in the air like I just don't care . . .  Aaaaaaaaaa! Oooooooh!).  But I can stop anytime.  I don't need help.  Just because six mornings out of the week my husband happens to find me  digging or planting or clipping or watering in bare feet or that sometimes I drive by my house two or three times just to admire my roses that are bursting with white and pink blooms . . .  I'm fine.  Really.

The first Passion Flower
 of the season

Spring has sprung!  Wherever you are in the Northern Hemisphere, signs that the Earth is renewing its spirit after the long (or short if you live in the Southern US) slumber of winter.  For me the urges to get out and dig in the dirt are as powerful as any nesting compulsion I've ever had (and actually, my nesting usually takes the form of some sort of radical desire to homestead, but that is another post).  In years past the desire to cultivate was strong, but the timing was all wrong.  Either time or money was arrayed against me and I would pout until the scorching heat of summer drove me indoors until fall.

Rhubarb in Lasagna Garden bed

Texas has three growing seasons (four if you are in the south), which is lovely, but we do pay for it with 100°F+ days and in many parts of the state, drought.  There is something so miraculous about tending the soil, sowing seed, and bringing forth a bounty of sustenance.   Actually, it is nothing short of habit forming.  


I have used many methods of garden plot planning from sod removal, to raised beds in boxes, raised beds out of boxes, lasagna gardening, container gardens, etc.  This year I have struck upon the method for the Lazy Girl in me.  Garden in a bag.  I use the Square Foot Gardening Technique with this method and it works beautifully.

Bag of Soil with a 3-sided cut opening.
The flap is rolled and tucked into the bag.

Starting with 2 or 4 or 6 one cubic foot bags of soil, begin by selecting your site.  Stab a few holes in one side of the bag.  Flip it over, laying it flat and cut a flap out of the top of the bag.  If you are planting peppers or eggplant, no more than 2 to 4 seedlings per  bag.  For tomatoes, 2 seems to be the limit.  Cucumber and lettuce seeds can be sown directly into the bags and gently watered or poked into place.  Sow radish and carrot seeds together and water in.  For lettuce, radishes, and carrots sprinkling a few more seeds on every 2 weeks or so will keep you going for a long time.   


Once the seeds begin sprouting I like to use a little homemade foliar spray to help encourage healthy foliage and root growth.  Mine is a combination of fish emulsion, cider vinegar, and molasses.  There are lots of recipes online for this kind of spray, including Garrett Juice.  Spraying once a week until you see flowers and then twice a week after fruit has begun to set seems to be a manageable and beneficial regimen.

Tiny Vernal Wonders

Flowering Aromatic Sumac

Bridal Wreath Spirea

Tiny Red Flame Grape Budding Flowers

Dew on Red Clover