Ah, November.

November? What?

+I’ve been eating a lot of massaged kale salads lately which led me to start some kale seeds in the garden. I have mustard and collards doing well but the swiss chard bit the dust thanks to the deer. I’m going to try my luck with kale in the garden and hope we don’t have the issue of aphids we had last year at the community garden. My kale salads are just a bit of olive oil, some tarragon vinegar (oh, this stuff is so good!) and sea salt (or any salt will work). Sometimes it is just kale and those items, but lately I’ve been adding in a mixture of chopped onions, carrots, and radishes. Sometimes that is my dinner! So good!

+October went quickly but November is shaping up to be full as well. We’re still debating on our Thanksgiving plans. Our usual Thanksgiving habit of camping might not happen this year…you know new house chores and all. Initially we thought about hosting Thanksgiving at the house, but we are completely not ready for that. Next year.

+Some things I’ve been bookmarking throughout the month:

+The Cairngorms in Winter….looks cold and exciting!

+Buy a Happy Turkey From a Happy Farm It is reading things like this that just reaffirm my vegetarianism and the the value of food and items that are worth spending the money on. I love her blog and she always shares wonderful things. On the food note, I’ve heard several things recently regarding the value of the locavore movement and they weren’t good things. I’d like to hear more about the refute before I pass judgement but on the surface some of their reasoning sounds as craptastic as that organic food study that came out in early September. That said, I love my mangoes and bananas from South America, and chowing on some lychees in July.

+Decomposition Stacks via Bromeleighad. I can’t remember where I found this blog but I’ve loved it over the last few months. This particular post highlights her fiber art installation of fungi. Her installations are pretty cool!

+By the Numbers via That Hike Guy He made some pretty cool natural number art to highlight his 100 hikes and 700 miles challenge.

+Drop Biscuits with Cheddar and Mustard greens via Food in Jars. Um, does that have ‘the south’ written all over it. Might need a little brown gravy and potatoes to go with that!

+Butternut Squash Salad with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds via Our Wicked Ways. I’ve been attempting to actually make some healthy meals around here and using a lot of winter squashes so this salad is on my to-make list. Plus, pumpkin seeds…mmmm!

+The Limits of Volunteer Trail Maintenance in the White Mountains via Section Hiker. This was posted earlier in the month but it is even more important now that superstorm Sandy just pummeled the east coast. But, the problems presented are really nationwide, something I can highly relate to in regards to the Florida Trail and certain sections of it. It also makes me interested in trying hard to get involved with the Lone Star Trail club which is right in my area.

+I recently finished Christina Rosalie’s A Field Guide to Now: Notes on Mindfulness and Life in the Present Tense. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book when I ordered it but I had been following her blog since long before she wrote this book, but I’ve also followed during the process of her writing it and what she shared online. It was a sweet book, a set of essays about her life right then as she was writing the book and living life in the present. There are beautiful art postcards throughout the book and small creative challenges for the reader, but really, the best part was the writing and the storytelling. I was left wanting more, more of her writing, more of her thoughts, the writing of the tangledness of everyday life. It was something I related to so much. I really hope there is a follow up sometime in the future!

Welcome November!