B Trails

 

                This summer, Mark and I have become experts on finding the “B” trails. In order to push the hordes of people crowding onto the “A” trails in the Cascades, the national forest has instituted a pass system. Before you go, you have to go online and get a pass.  I loathe on line passes. The process drives me nuts trying to find something for a specific day and place. So, we avoid the pass trails and head for the B walks. Like the Blue highways, they are less traveled and reward a slower pace.

A B trail:

Ø  Does not need a permit.

Ø  Has a small parking lot—often empty or with one other, dusty, car

Ø  Often has a weirdly steep spot, or a long stretch where nothing changes, or a few downed logs to clamber over.

Ø  Roams along the shoulders of the Cascades, rather than following ridgelines to beautiful vistas.

Ø  Passes small, pond-like lakes that reflect the surrounding trees, not a peak.

Ø  Is never busy. We have gone all day without seeing another person.

Ø 

Has a whole series of small pleasures and observations. We consider scat full of hair and bones, giant shelf fungi, ants creating nests in the center of dying trees, burn patterns, and blooming plants.

Ø  No one has eaten the berries!

Ø  Blessedly quiet. A groaning tree. Birds. The wind.

 

Seedy Cake

         

After a very slow start, it has become a banner zucchini year.  I planted four seeds and transplanted the starts back in May. Usually, four seeds leads to three starts and one dies in the ground. This year, I think four seeds has led to six plants all hiding fruits under their leaves. I went out this morning- -and, I swear, I checked on Sunday night, if not Monday morning and it was Tuesday, seven AM—and there were not two, not three, but four zucchini bread sized fruits on the vines, with several smaller ones coming along fast. I am afraid to check again.

                We like zucchini here. It slips into sautés and curries without a hitch. It plays nicely with tomatoes and bulks up a savory cobbler on a warm evening. I found at least one zucchini and almond pesto salad we enjoy. Zucchini fritters can use up some extra eggs when everyone is laying well (which they are not, right now). There is always zucchini bread with local blueberries that proves the point that fruits that ripen together taste good together. But our favorite way to eat zucchini is Seedy Cake. It’s fast, easy and tasty. If I didn’t have two meetings tonight, I would make one today.

 

2T each of poppy, millet, and flax seeds—or some variation. The millet is key.

Zest of one lemon

¾ c sugar

2 eggs

¾ c oil

1 t cinnamon

¾ t salt

1 t BP

½ t BS

1 c white flour

½ c wheat flour

2 ¼ c zucchini, grated and drained (I squeeze it)

 

Mix wet and dry together separating, them together.

 

Oil the 9 by 9 pan, 350 oven until done.

Clearing out the Basement

             

It is hot—over 100 degrees and dry by the late afternoon. There’s not much we can do outside, so I am tackling the basement, clearing out stuff and painting the floor. I am working my way around the space, about a quarter of it as a time. I have finished the wood piles and the food storage area so I am now into the entryway and the weird junk piles.  It’s much cooler down there.

When you move regularly, you clear out stuff every time you pack. Clothes, odd pieces of furniture that work in one apartment but not another, dishes that have served well but been preplaced but nicer models, stuff that could be repaired that you have not gotten around to it yet….moving is a chance to reevaluate the stash. When you buy a house and settle in, you have to create the opportunities for clearance or stuff will overwhelm you. That’s what I am doing this summer while repainting the floor. There are many levels of Stuff in our basement.

Practical and used regularly: Firewood (sorted into three piles—fireplace, stove, and kindling). Canning jars and rings. Flour, oats, rice in five gallon buckets. Dried beans in jars. Extra toilet paper. Drying racks. Tools and paint. Wrapping paper and holiday bags.  Lawn chairs in the winter. Rabbit, chicken, and cat food. Cat litter. This will all stay. I may purge some of the holiday tins while Mark is not looking.

Practical and used on very specific occasions every year: Steam canner and food drier. Big pasta pot. Storm windows and the outdoor benches. Folding tables for parties.  Coffee maker. Extra dishes and colored canning jars for drinks outside. Ironing board (which could go…) Painting clothes. Pieces to repair our stove; we buy extra when we find them. There’s enough wire to rewire the entire appliance.

Used for a project or hobby as some time in our lives that we hope to return to: Bee hives. Cross country skis. Cabinet doors, old political signs, and sheetrock for poetry installations.  Typewriter. Pump from the greywater fifty gallon drum system.

Sentimental value: Mark has a trunk of stuff; I am not asking. I have an old jewelry box of my mothers and a copper tea kettle.

Could/should  be repaired: Waffle iron. Chicken door. Two chairs with split bottoms. Space heater. A very cool toaster.  Etc. There’s a lot of this stuff down here, mostly clustered around Mark’s office.

Recycling/ regifting: Boxes and packing peanuts.  Tins for storing wheat before we bought the buckets. Paper. Some PVC pipe from the old greywater system. Old sheets for rags. Weird bits of metal and electrical systems.  A small crock pot.  A wicker loveseat (that has left).

Really? Why is this here?: Toilet seat.