Eating Flower Power - if we really are what we eat ....

Buckwheat Soba noodles with onion flowers and nasturium
The power of flowers lies in both their beauty and flavor

Life as Therapy

A meeting honey makers
Five day old Mottled Java chicks - heirloom breed
A honey bee gathers poppy pollen

Drought and Freeze and Ranching Spring 2011

We culled deeply this year, to take some stress off the ranch. The first priority for us as land stewards is to our browse/range. When that is healthy, we can support healthy animals.

Between the freeze this winter (coldest since 1950's) and the lack of rainfall, the land is stressed; we have lightened our animal "load"significantly.

Working in this region has reminded me of the balances Nature offers. Both the more masculine rains of summer and the lighter feminine rains of winter are vitally and equally important. Have you noticed that the male rains of summer tending to be fast, aggressive, and offer a lot of water quickly? That female rains of winter tend to be gentler, longer, and allow the water to really soak into the earth.

We missed the feminine rains of winter this year. Every plant, insect, animal (human or otherwise) in the Sonoran Desert dearly hopes for summer rains. It is not hard to see the dry land in the photos below.

Deciding which animals to keep and which to sell.

Moving the heard on dry terrain.

East Meets West (foraged) Dumplings -- with Heirloom Favas from the garden

Heirloon Fava's - survived the freeze!

They are cooked al dente and served with a bit

of organic (unsalted) butter, salt and pepper.

To make the dumpling filling:

Chard is perfect to add to dumplings; chop fine.

Add some foraged cholla buds, de-spined & cooked,

A bit of blue cheese adds richness and flavor.

Place a TBS of filling into a home made spelt dumpling"wrapper", form it into a satisfying shape - and cook!

NOTE: Dipping Sauce has chiltpin in it for added flavor

Myths from the Myth Making Challenge

Here are the mythmakers and their myths in the order in which they are received:

*Sun Rises on Land. Clean wooden bowl--breakfast womb. She pours almond milk. 2- Stone floor warming touch A stretch, more stirring, now food. Sun rises higher. 3- Honor Feminine. On the Venus-named Fridays By drinking a mocha. 4- New Creation Myth: Chiltepin of the Morning In Friday Mocha! 5- Where gardens exist Humans thrive and co-exist The sun=chiltepin.

By CreativiTea on Chiltepin Challenge: Creation Myth on 10/28/10

** One evening, long before there was Time, first woman sat with needle and thread, stringing white chile flowers into a necklace. She hummed to herself as, one by one, she pushed the needle through a flower, then carefully moved it onto the thread. The full moon above her, shaped like an ovary, cast it's powerful glow onto the tiny white flowers and made her work like play. Her joy being great, she sang the world right into existence. She was surprised at the ease of her creation.

Beauty had come from beauty.

In her surprise, she accidentally pricked herself with the needle, and red blood flowed onto the white flowers, transforming them into bright red chile pods; they now mirrored the shape of ovarian-moon's, only smaller.

As the sun arose, and First Birds began to sing, (as they still do today, throating their own creation-love songs) and took note of the bright red chilies, strung together like red beads, on the necklace. Curious, she swooped down, and took the bright red chilies into her beak as she flew away. Eating and flying, First Bird began spreading chiltepin all over the Land, where they feed the birds of creation even today.

H M L 11/10

***A time long ago, the sun shone bright. It shined on the washes, running with water, on the soil covering the sacred land on which we stand today. The sun was the light, the love, the food for the plants that grew so tall, drinking in the fiery nourishment through their verdant leaves. And the sun loved the plants, and felt a part of them. And on this very same land, from this very same earth, from the mix of the water and soil and air and sun, animals too began to roam. Some had four legs, some had two, some had wings, some had fins. They drank the water, bringing it in to themselves. They breathed the air, taking it in. They ate of the earth, and it became a part of them. But the sun, the sun that warmed the land in which they lived, the sun that shined so much love down upon them every day, that very same sun, felt so far away. The plants had learned how to eat the sun, but the animals had not. And the sun wanted to be closer, and the sun was very clever. It would come to the Earth through one of it’s beloved plants, and could then be eaten by the birds and the people and the animals so dear. And it shone bright upon one of it's plants, the chiltepin, which began to fruit hundreds of little suns for the animals to eat, and became the fire of life and the mother of all chiles. It was eaten with interest and delight, picked and cooked and preserved and replanted, until the sun was no longer apart from all the creatures in this land, but a part of them. And the chiltepin continues to hold the sun within it to this day, and no longer needs the sun’s bright light to shine upon it all the time, for it is already inside of it, just like you and me. T.G. 11/16/10

**** Algo no estaba bien y todo mundo lo sabia. La madre pensaba que hacia demasiado frío para ser feliz. El padre pensaba que todo estaba demasiado calmado y aburrido. El hermano pensaba que no había ni interés ni propósito en la vida del pueblo. La hermana fue la que mas se acerco a la verdad diciendo, “!La vida no tiene sabor, es siempre lo mismo, ni sal ni dulce, ni chispa!” Siempre había sido así pero solo hoy, el séptimo día de la semana les comenzó a molestar.

Fueron al río a pedirle ayuda al agua, pero no les contesto. Fueron a la montaña a pedirle ayuda a la tierra pero tampoco contesto. Alzaron los ojos al cielo, y le pidieron ayuda en silencio. Con una calida sonrisa el Tata Sol les contesto con un regalo rojo y concentrado … les regalo una planta de chiltepin la cual sembraron en la tierra rica y la regaron con el agua dulce. Así fue, que de noche a la mañana el mundo encontró calor, interés, propósito y un sabor nunca imaginado. ¡Gracias, Tata Sol!

Abrazos, Gloria

Chiltepin Challenge: Creation Myth

In a Cora Indian creation story, (according to a Franciscian in 1673, and reprinted in, among other places, Gathering the Desert, by Gary Nabhan), First Man's testes turned into chile pods, (shaped just like the chiltepin), and he sprinkled spice onto the food. There is a beautiful illustration of First Man's "Chile Pods", by Paul Mirocha, on page 122, in the book mentioned above.

I love this creation myth because they speaks deeply of the core relationship between food, spirit, and humankind.

At dawn a few days ago, as I was picking wild chiltepin in the foothills of the Sierra Madres, it occurred to me that chiltepin are also shaped like ovaries.

Both ovaries and testes share a "life giving" role for humans. Both are similarly shaped.

I am sure there is some meaning here.

An inspiration tickled it's way to into my mind: why not write another chile/creation story - this one featuring the feminine. So, in the spirit of fun and balance, I propose that anyone who has interest, write a creation myth, for modern times, that welcomes both the divine feminine and chile/chiltepin.

Let it speak to a feminine wisdom (and perhaps wit), that we all might benifit from. It should not be anti-male in any way - there is enough polarization on the planet; let's not add to that. And let's keep them clean.

Are you game?

If so - post and share your story either in the "comments" section (if it is shortish) - or send to crosspollinating@gmail.com and I'll post it in a blog post dedicated to our new myths. Have fun; I am excited to see what your write!

Wild Chiltepin: on being in love with an 8000 year old plant

WILD CHILTEPIN

I am in love with Wild Chiltepin -- the closest known relative to the first Mother Chile. Untold numbers of humans have been seduced by this tiny, but powerful fruit, for thousands of years. How do I know this? Human coprolites, or "pellets", tell us that humans have been ingesting wild chiles for more than 8000 years(Callen 1965; Nabhan 1997, Hodgson 2001)! And while some foods provide empty calories, this wild chile pepper is nourishing. It is a rich source of vitamins A,C,B2, niacin, and potassium.

When we put our fingers around one of these ancient chiles, we are holding a tiny, fragrant, time capsule, smaller than a pea. Picking just one chile connects us to all the other humans who, for thousands of years, have reached for wild chiles, in just the same way today. I am quite smitten with this connectedness to peoples in times past. My mind roams to all the women, men, and children who have picked this closest-chile-relative for eight thousand years! I marvel at the constancy of this wild chile as times of peace and conflict arose and fell, intonations of dialects morphed, languages died out or were born, different technologies, parenting styles, spiritual beliefs, and values arose and fell away. And still this little chile maintained itself. It resisted domestication. It insisted on wildness.

And with it's wildness comes a flavor that cannot be beat.

Tasting chiltepin right off the bush is a surprising experience. Unlike domesticated chiles - that burn with less heat, but a heat that lasts on the tongue - the chiltepin is more like the flame of a match. It's heat reveals itself quickly, but subsides more quickly too.This seems to hold true for the unripe, green chiltepin as well as the fresh or dried red fruits.

Harvesting chiletpin is a fragrant affair. As the fruit ripens from green to dark purple, then from orange to a dark red, it easily separates from the plant. There is a distinct aroma as the tiny fruit separates from the mother plant, and joins others in the harvesting sack. This is definitely an experience to be savored.! A fruity-chile aroma wafts into your olfactory-factory; and it is a smell you can taste on your tounge and feel on your skin.

Looking at the structure of this wild chile (below) reveals why it does not need humans to reproduce. In Gathering the Desert, Gary Nabhan writes, "The domesticated chiles are mostly pendant, rather than being erect on the stem in a position so that birds can reach them. Whereas chiletpines ripen quickly and stick out above the foliage like sore thumbs, domesticated Capsicums like peppers hang to the ground below the plants' foliage...". The quick ripening, and small size, mean that birds have a complete seed package to eat and distribute easily. Compare this strategy to that to larger chiles - which hang down, take longer to ripen, and are larger, therefore harder to carry if you are a bird, and you can see clearly why this chile has thrived for so many years.

If growing this plant is something that you would like to try in your own garden, keep in mind that chiltepin needs a nurse plant. It loves legumes, like mesquite, and large thorny bushes like Hackberry. Wildness appears to require relationship, and the chiltepin will thrive in a guild relationship where it can be shaded from the sun in the hot summers, and protected from frost in the winters. If you plant chiltepin with your domesticated chile annuals, in direct sun, it will likely die. If you nurture it under a nurse plant, it will thrive into the perennial it is - and can live for years, if not decades. I have watched and tracked chiletpin plants on our ranch in Mexico for over 15 years, and they were large and thriving well before we arrived!

Which brings us back to Wildness. To paraphrase Michael Pollan, wildness is more a quality than it is a place "out there". It cannot be bought nor manufactured - but it can be invited in. to invite some wildness into your life and garden with this wild plant can stir you in unexpected ways.

If you would like to learn to cook with this wild chile, email Cookingfreshtucson@gmail.com. My cooking partner Sally and I delight in using these ancient foods in our lives and kitchens daily. I'll post a photo of our Wild Chile University class, that was a fundraiser for Native Seeds SEARCH (a wonderful organization and a good place to by chiltepin to cook with, or seeds to sow. They are located in Tucson, AZ and on the web at: Nativeseeds.org). Recipes will be posted soon.

Think about experimenting with this tiny chile that packs such a punch - (yet is reported to be BENEFICIAL for the gastric world). It's versatility ranges from salsas, soups, beans and eggs, to adding it to salad dressings, spicy peanut sauces, cupcakes, coco ... I use it literally EVERY DAY!

One note: the oils on any chile can stay on your fingers for a time - and can be easily rubbed into eyes or other parts of the body that are painful. Take care to wash your hands well, or is a spoon or a grinder. (Native Seeds SEARCH sells little grinders made JUST for this type of chile pepper - Nativeseeds.org)

Harvesting wild chiles in Sonora, MX

Chocolate-chiltepin cupcake

"Cooking with Chiltepin" class for Native Seeds SEARCH Jan/10

To buy this special chile for cooking or sowing:

*** Nativeseeds.org

To learn to cook with this fine, wild chile:

*** Cookingfreshtucson@gmail.com

To buy an already established chiltepin plant:

***Crosspollinating@gmail.com

Happy Gardening and Happy Cooking!