100 ~ A ‘century’ of thanks for you, dear readers

I hope all of us who live between the big Ponds (and south of our Canadian neighbor’s border) had a fine, fine Thanksgiving yesterday. This morning, with pumpkin pie and cup of tea at hand, I sit with much gratitude for all of you. When I started this chronicle of living closer to the land in February 2020, who knew (certainly not I!) we’d still be here 100 posts later. Happy 100th, Bird in the Bush! That I’ve managed to sustain for the better part of four years this little riff that’s not quite (or only) about gardening, or foraging, or fishing & hunting, or preserving food (or rescuing hawks and eagles!) is a testament to the boundless wonder and stories to be found in the land, and, importantly, to the attention of faithful readers. Thank you.

    We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here at the farm. Corina arrived from Switzerland on Sunday, and yesterday we hosted a dozen of us around the table. I did get a turkey from the grocery store (a 21-1/2 pound free-ranger from Willy St. Co-op), but nearly everything else we served (boosted by potluck contributions from the assembled) came from the land here:  smoked trout and homemade hard cider as a starter, wild parsnips roasted with birch syrup, buttercup squash from the garden (above - a photo I call “November sunrise”), and pumpkin pie. My ‘pumpkin’ pie was in fact a squash pie – a combination of buttercup and butternut squashes. I’ve found that good, non-pumpkin squashes give more flavor to pie than do pie pumpkins. This time around I used this recipe from the NYT, Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie, and it came out great – the best and lightest pumpkin pie I’ve yet managed (my brother Tom contributed the sour cream for it; one of my neighbor’s dairy cows recently passed away, and the pipeline to local dairy has been temporarily constricted).

     Deer hunting season has been a success so far.  On a beautiful, clear opening morning last Saturday, I shot a small forkhorn buck, and Corina and I spent most of Tuesday butchering it (and drying some the meat into jerky).  The chest freezer in the basement now looks more reassuringly ready for winter...

    I hope many of you also had rich times this Thanksgiving, amidst loved ones and good food. And remember to make every day a day of thanksgiving, for wonders and blessings noted. An appreciative ‘readership’ of the world helps keep it alive and well, too.

What I’m reading and can recommend: 

When Grace Becomes Amazing: A Twelve-Step Spiritual Journey into Freedom, by Howard O

   Another ally in keeping my writing going has been my commitment to 12-Step recovery (in my case the Al-Anon program, for people from alcoholic family systems).  Howard and I first met in the meeting rooms, and we soon bonded over our other shared interests of writing, trout fishing, hunting and spiritual connection (in particular, Native American perspectives on the latter). I am most pleased to report two things: Howard recently published his second book, When Grace Becomes Amazing, and it is wonderful. It’s a deeply reflective chronicle of Howard’s inspirational journey, first to surviving his addictions, and then to thriving, now with nearly 40 years of sobriety. Those who have no need for 12-Step recovery will still find in it some beautiful insights and beautiful writing. You can order a copy here (note that Howard is donating all profits from the book to the Recovery Foundation, an organization based in Madison that provides funds for addiction treatment to people who otherwise couldn’t afford it: www.recoveryfoundation.net).