A Wish List and Our Love for Garden Pizza

So, here we are in Maine, on the land where we hope to plant our nursery soon.  We have received our biodegradable pots for the plum trees we give to new members (thank you, FertilUSA), we have tools from Home Depot to start planting, Adams County Nursery has donated trees.  We just have a few more things on our wishlist:

1. Soil amendments, such as compost and mulch
2. Materials for a fence to prevent deer from eating our fruit trees
3. A little garden pizza for energy, joy and well-being

Our garden pizza, if we do say so ourselves, is a rather gourmet favorite of practically everyone we know.  That's because we make it at least once a week, so we've had plenty of practice at making the dough just right and devising the most delicious combinations of ingredients we pick straight from our garden.  Yes, our pizzas are grown and made with love you can taste.  Now, we'd like to share the love--and share our recipe--so you can enjoy the deliciousness at home.

Ingredients for One Large & Healthy Garden Pizza of Love
(as always, they're best if you grow them yourself)

For the crust:

2 cups of flour (whole wheat is healthier and works great with this recipe)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup water
1/8 cup vegetable oil (optional)
dash of cornmeal
one large, holy metal pan or pizza stone
...and keep the flour handy for a few more finger-fulls

First, start the grill on high or preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Then, turn it down to medium-heat or 325 degrees.

Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and water in a bowl.  Knead those ingredients on a floured cutting board until just workable (about two minutes or so).   Roll into a nice ball with your hands and cover with a thin layer of oil.  Add a tiny bit more flour to the ball of dough and to a rolling pin (or empty wine bottle--whatever works). Roll out the dough as thin as you can get it.  (If you like it thin and crispy like we do, the dough will be about one-and-a-half feet in diameter before you put it on the pan.)  Spread some oil and sprinkle some cornmeal onto a pan or pizza stone and lift the dough onto the pan. 

And now, for our patented crust-grilling process (TM):

Take the pizza dough out to the grill or put it in the oven just for about two minutes with no toppings until it is thoroughly warm.  Remove from heat and flip it over before adding the toppings.

For the toppings*:

*What we put on our pizza is as creative as our whims and as variable as the weather.  They range from white sauce with cheese, kale and mushroom to fresh pesto, mashed potato, and asparagus.  Feel free to use our guidelines and add or subtract whatever you'd like.

1 freshly sliced tomato (lay these down first in place of sauce)
1/2 cup sliced fresh mozzarella (or vegan alternative)
1/2 cup extra-sharp cheddar (or vegan alternative)
lots of chopped veggies (kale, spinach, squash)
lots of chopped herbs (fresh basil, oregano, rosemary)
1/4 cup romano, parmesan, or vegan alternative

Put it all on with love, but leave a little extra romano on the side to add after the pizza has cooked and cooled down a bit.  (Cooking temperature is medium to medium-high, and time in the oven is about 10 minutes, or until it looks irresistible.)  Cut in little abstract shapes and marvel at what a garden pizza-master you are.

Thanks again for reading!  More to come...

Paint the Scenery

Richard and I have spent a lot of time over the past few weeks traveling back and forth from Maine to New Hampshire.  Maine is where our orchards will be, but New Hampshire is where Richard found a job as part-time tour boat captain.  I recently started working at an unfulfilling job in New Hampshire in order to pay the bills, as they say, and to collaborate with Richard on ReTreeUS while we were here. 

Now, make no mistake; New Hampshire is beautiful.  Richard's mom often refers to the view out their window as "fake scenery" because it's almost too good to be true.  And I enjoy spending time in both states, but I can't shake this feeling, this voice telling me I am trying to weave a little bit of joy into a masterpiece of logistics.

So, today we decided to make Maine our home base, to focus on ReTreeUS, and to build a community there.  This decision feels right not only for me, but for the nonprofit as well.

I had been trying to squeeze time for ReTreeUS, my passion, into a life full of schedules and driving to-and-fro.

Now, I'm excited to report that my passion and me are both getting the time we need.  We're painting our own scenery--the way we want it--rather than squeezing in a few afterthoughts to an already-completed work of art.  We're learning it's never to late to tweak life to make ourselves happier, or turn the volume up a notch on our success.

And I'm sure our successes will multiply when we have more time and community built around ReTreeUS.  Already, we have acquired new partnerships and foundations through networking and friends' word-of-mouth.  And it hasn't even been our full-time gig.

I know that I am happier when I'm focused on my passion, as I'm certain most everyone feels.  We have added some strokes to this painting, this life, so that passion and joy are the full-time focal points, and logistics (like schedules and bills) weave into the background.

We are diving into ReTreeUS with a big leap of faith--no guarantees or salaries.  We hope success will continue and our mission will prevail.  Thanks again for your support!

Recipes and Rewards for Putting Down Roots

For our loyal supporters, it is important to note that the gap between this and the previous entry is no indication of inactivity.  Rather, since arriving in New England, we have come closer to feeling rooted in many regards: personally, professionally, and…literally.

We have settled into our space(s) as best we can, and this could be tricky considering we are bouncing back and forth between New Hampshire and Maine, where neither place is really, fully ours. We have devoted many hours in Maine to getting ReTreeUS off the ground, soliciting donations and finding ways to acquire the land we hope to own for our orchards one day. In New Hampshire, we have spent many hours looking for and diving in to part-time jobs, which will keep us afloat as we work to establish the nonprofit.

Richard is keeping us--and many others--afloat as the youngest boat captain and tour guide for the science center on Squam Lake. I had my first night of training last night at a nearby restaurant, where I was relieved to find that everyone on staff is welcoming and friendly. We hope to earn some money to live on while we spend time with Richard’s family on weekends. We spend the rest of the week in Maine, devoting our time to dreaming, exploring, and getting connected. Most of all, we devote our time to ReTreeUS.

The sun goes down over the land we hope to use for our orchard.

All this networking, dreaming and getting established in Maine has already led to some positive opportunities for the nonprofit; we are (figuratively) putting down roots on the land there and are finally ready to (literally) root the plum trees we planted last spring for new members.

Thanks to Fertil Pots USA, we have a donation of 125 biodegradable pots, in which we will plant the trees that will go to our first 125 members. Fertil Pots are especially nice to give away, because they complement our goal of making gardening more accessible. The pots can be planted directly into the ground—with the tree inside—without hurting or hindering the roots at all.

The American and Beech plum trees are native to New England and bear delicious fruit for eating, canning or jamming. So, the $20 donation members make to our program not only benefits ReTreeUS, but it also provides decades of deliciousness, beauty and fulfillment to the member. At a regular nursery, plum trees of this size would cost at least as much as we ask for a membership contribution.

Speaking of deliciousness, we are back to giving out recipes! Here is an easy one for plum jam. Jamming is a fun hobby and a great way to preserve the summer harvest for winter use. You can pick the plums in summer--in their most ripe and nutritious state--and preserve them with only a few ingredients. This recipe requires no pectin, and you just need a few supplies:

You'll need jars for storing the jam, 2 cups of peeled plums, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 Tbsp lemon juice.

1. Cook plums on medium heat with lemon juice for five minutes.
2. Add the sugar and stir it up.
3. Cook and stir for 15-20 more minutes until everything thickens.
4. Skim off the foam and let it cool.

Your jam is ready! Enjoy it fresh, or put it in jars until winter.

Please tell your friends! It's easy to join ReTreeUS (just click here), and anyone interested in planting fruit trees in New England can easily multiply the impact of each dollar they spend by giving to ReTreeUS. They will receive a quality sapling and support our mission for the cost of one plum tree.

We appreciate the support of Fertil Pots and Home Depot, which agreed to donate tools for constructing fences and planting trees. These are two of our first sponsors, and we look forward to gaining new members who will reap the rewards of these generous companies.

Thanks for tuning in for the latest updates, and thanks for spreading the word as we spread the roots!

Local Food Standard

Driving across the country has been my--dare I say it?--crash course in driving a standard transmission vehicle. I had gotten a lot of practice from California to Tennessee, then had my final exam early one morning when I found myself driving on 95 North through Manhattan.

As we approached the George Washington Bridge and read from our Google map directions: "Take the Lower Level," we wondered why that was the recommendation. The sign read, "Lower Level, local traffic; Upper Level, express."

We both agreed to take the express route--a no-brainer--or so we thought.

We paid the toll and found ourselves immediately surrounded by tractor trailer trucks on all sides. They were honking and moving progressively closer to our car, while we sat baffled and helpless in the rapidly ending lane.

The experience was not only frightening but also brought to a head the trend we'd been noticing from coast to coast: cargo truck after cargo truck carrying food from huge industrial farms to grocery stores...and then to the American table. This is a tragic reality not because the trucks endanger inexperienced New York drivers, but because of the immense demand they require on limited fossil fuels, not to mention the toll it takes on our connection to the earth as the source of our food.

Sunrise in Oklahoma City.  (The semi-trucks are barely out of view.)

The sun is up!  And we've been driving all night long...

Food from afar has become the American standard, although our population was once composed of fifty percent farmers. Just as the automatic car became "conventional" over standard transmission vehicles, our idea of "conventional"--or typical--food has come to mean something unnatural. And the term "organic" has come to mean expensive, rather than living and nutritious.

The good news is, there's hope. While the current system may seem ominous, everyone can make the change...right in our own back yards. If you don't have a back yard, you probably have a window where a box of herbs could grow. If you don't have a window, perhaps you have a roof.

The point is that we can all grow food for ourselves and our families--regardless of income or experience. If you have a question about how to get your garden growing, just contact one of us. It is our goal to take the exclusivity out of gardening. Because everyone deserves to eat food that's not covered in chemicals, and the planet deserves a break from all this oil we use for food transport.

And now, for the part of the story in which we turn off our standard transmission, stop using all that fossil fuel, and relax at our destination.

The station wagon full of things has been unloaded, and we have taken off the surf board we carried all the way. (We actually finally put it in the water two days ago, in Cape Cod, where Richard and I met his family for beach time and a surprise engagement party.) One might presume that the surf board was an inefficient addition to our load, but we found the car had better gas mileage than usual on our trip, and we can only conclude that the board acted as a kind of spoiler, giving us a bit of lift as we drove.

We certainly got a lift from the gentle waves at Nausset Beach, and we're happy to be home.

The two of us, after beaching it, at the family engagement party.

Our little plum saplings at the lake--now with leaves!