The Gardener’s Life

I remember summers foraging in my grandfather Serko’s small backyard vegetable garden. When I was very young the garden and fruit trees took up much of the yard. As the years past and he grew older it shrank in size.  Eventually all the trees died (I’m not really sure why) and were cut down, not a one remains today.  He didn’t grow a large variety of things but like many backyard gardeners he always had lots of tomatoes.  What could be better than a freshly picked sun-warmed ripe tomato, the acknowledged star of the summer garden!  Yet, it is the deminuitive carrot that I recall most fondly from those days. 

He would encourage me to help thin the carrots by picking a few before they were ready to harvest.  Parting the surprisingly fragrant green carrot tops, lightly probing the soil to examine the bright orange root tops, I’d look intently as if searching for some buried treasure in the carrot thicket to find the perfect carrot worthy of eating.  When I found a suitable candidate a careful tug so not to disturb its neighbors, a quick rinse with the garden hose and I was soon rewarded with the most marvelous taste treat.  Fresh homegrown carrots bore so little resemblance to their store-bought cousins that they made a lasting impression on me, I had to grow some for myself someday.

It was not until my early twenties in Gainesville, FL at the UF that I had a garden of my own in the student garden plot.  In central Florida one can grow vegies almost year round. However, with sand for soil and intense heat, twice-a-day waterings were a must.  Miss a watering or two and everything would be dead.  Everyday I’d hop on my bike and ride the 3 mile trek through campus past gator infested Lake Alice to my little plot.  My neighbor Ron, an experienced gardener from Belgium, gave me pointers and in no time I was harvesting melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and lettuce.  It was very rewarding and I felt like this was something I could do for a lifetime.

When we moved to Washington I was able to grow vegetables at various rentals and even had a garden at a friend’s house but it was not until we moved into our current home of almost 20 years that I was able to establish a real garden of some scope.  Now you’d think that with such a longstanding interest in gardening that I would buy a house with ample sun, open space, and beautiful rich soil but its quite the opposite.  I live in a place best suited for growing moss and ferns, not vegetables ..... the woods.  Here on beautiful Vashon Island in the heart of Puget Sound we are nestled under a canopy of 100 ft plus douglas fir and hemlock trees.  The native undergrowth is a mix of salal and evergreen hucklberries..beautiful plants in their own right and well mannered garden neighbors!  The soil is sand and rocks with little real topsoil that I’d trade for central Forida soil any day!  Digging requires a strong back, heavy boots, a stout shovel, and a digging bar.  Plant the shovel, stomp hard, go down about three or four inches and you are rudely stopped by rocks intent on having you dig elsewhere.  The 15 lb digging bar persaudes them otherwise but it is agonizingly slow and tiring.  Oh… did I mention that almost my entire property was heavily wooded requiring us to clear a spot for a garden?  What was I thinking?

For about 18 years I’ve managed somehow to coax plants into growing in this less than ideal location.  Our climate in the Puget Sound is maritime, Climate Zone 5 which means it is moderate, not too hot or too cold.  My spot in the woods is even cooler, I don’t get sun in the garden until about 10:30 in the summer and it only lasts until about 3.  The challenge for every gardener is figuring out what grows well in the garden and what doesn’t.  For me there is no sense trying to grow hot weather crops like peppers, squash, tomatoes, etc., there isn’t enough heat for them.  My niche is ideal for crops like broccoli, califlower, lettuce, beets, garlic and assorted other cool weather crops.  String beans seems to do well if planted late and basil always seems to make it but with a lot of TLC.  I grow all my stuff from seed.  This year has been cool and wet most of the Spring and the first few weeks of Summer are about the same.  The garden is about three weeks behind normal yet somehow things are starting to grow and the vegetables are now outgrowing the ever-present weeds… the gardener’s life.

Humbled By A Tiny Loaf Of Bread

12-11-06 update to this entry:  See my Prosphora baking tutorial in the wiki

When it comes to cooking and baking I’m pretty confident in my abilities. I’ll give just about anything a try except if its too fancy, requires a lot of detail or many steps to complete. You won’t find me making braided breads or complex sauces; I’m just not that patient or precise. A friend who is an accomplished baker once told me that cooking is an art but baking is science, understanding and controlling the chemical and physical properties of the ingredients is vital to a satisfactory result.

When I volunteered to make prosphora for our small mission parish I had anything but science in mind. What could be hard about making a small loaf of bread I thought. For the non-Orthodox reader,prophora is a loaf of leavened bread, ranging in size from 2-3 inches in diameter.  Prosphora means “offering” in Greek and is used as the Lamb (the bread which will become the Body of Christ) in the Divine Liturgy and will be used to commune the faithful. During the Proskomedia service prior to the beginning of Liturgy the priest uses several (in Russian practice) prosphora removing portions to commemorate the Mother of God, the Holy Angels, John the Baptist, and others according to the rubrics of the Church. Individual parishioners can also “offer"prosphora for the service along with prayers for family members and other Orthodox during the Proskomedia service.  The priest says a short prayer and removes two small wedges from the loaf and places it on the diskos to be later added to the consecrated Gifts.  After the service the prosphora is taken home and a small piece consumed every morning with a sip of Holy Water to “break the fast” ( you know the true origin of the word “breakfast”). My job was to make prosphora for this purpose.

As I said, I was pretty cocky about my ability to easily handle this. I’ve made lots of bread over the years, I regularly bake bagels and scones among other things, I’ll be cranking these out in no time was my attitude. Baking prosphora is not like baking muffins or any other type of bread; as with everything in the Orthodox world it is a serious matter requiring a prayerful attitude. After a short prayer and blessing of all ingredients the process begins. The ingredients are basic: unbleached white flour, yeast and water (in some recipes salt)... nothing else. This apparent simplicity is deceptive, the perfect loaf is dense, but not tough, springy but not airy. Comprised of two separate pieces of dough in layers, the top is impressed with a seal of the Cross, and in the four sections the Greek letters of “Jesus Christ,“IC XC, and the Greek word NIKA, which mean “Jesus Christ conquers.“ 

I found a recipe at Prosphora.org called “the foolproof recipe”, now what could go wrong with that ... plenty! There are many variables in baking, even when only a few ingredients are involved. Every brand of flour is different, the same flour can vary seasonally and can change in moisture content from day to day, all effect the process.
The HolyProsphora BakersThe flour I use is a wonderful high gluten product out of a mill in Portland, Oregon, I use it for everything. The so called “foolproof recipe” is not so foolproof for this fool, it required tweaking and considerable trial and error to work with this flour.

With the recipe’s suggested amount of yeast, the loaves were too airy and light.  Airy and light doesn’t hold the impressed letters, they disappear as the dough rises. It also makes it hard for the priest to cut out wedges because the bread tends to form a light domed crust that collapses when cut. For casual eating this is fine but not for prosphora.  With no sugar to feed the yeast the dough rises slowly and can not be rushed, nor should it be allowed to rise too much before baking or put in prematurely to rise too much in the oven.  Humm ..what was that I said about details? Where breads with many ingredients like sugar, salt, and oils are more forgiving, with a greater margin for error, prosphora has to be done just right relying on exact measurements and timings to achieve the proper result. Unfortunately I’ve discovered this all the hard way! After making prosphora that ranged from hockey pucks to flying saucer look-a-likes I’m finally closing in on the right balance of ingredients and timings. 

The primary unlisted ingredient for the real “foolproof “ prosphora recipe ... HUMILITY!  Anyone need a hockey puck for breakfast? 

Dreaming of Athos

Almost from the moment I returned from MtAthos I have been trying to figure out a way to get back. Spending an extended period of time on the Holy Mountain measured in months rather than days is my dream. Make no mistake, I’m not interested in the monastic life, I’m not cut out for that, besides I’m happily married to a wonderful woman and have three terrific kids but, I long to immerse myself in the rhythm of the monastic life for a period. The taste I got on my trip left me wanting more. While I’m sure this is somewhat of a romantic fantasy I do have a fairly good idea of the demands it entails. Many impediments lie in the way to say nothing of getting the permission to stay that long on the Holy Mountain. Of course, one could argue that the spiritual life is not subject to the notions of time and place. One need not journey all the way toAthos in a quest for spiritual growth, all that work can and should be done right here at home, the Church provides everything that is required. Yet, there is something powerful and unique in those surroundings that nurtures the spirit, that focuses one’s energies on the mission at hand… I long for that focus, if just for awhile.

Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards you willhonour your patience.
   
  St. John of the Ladder

Danger: Slow Moving Seniors

An opera audience is a unique group.  At 51 I feel like the kid in the crowd with much of the audience made up of seniors.  Moving around the opera house can be a real challenge, it’s a senior minefield!  Dodging slow moving seniors is a little known skill required of the “young” opera goer that you won’t read about in the promotional literature or opera magazines. Getting to your seat, heading to the bathroom at intermission, leaving the building to catch a late night ferry home is frought with danger.  Being tall and usually quick to move from place to place, I’m not one to be looking down at what lies ahead… I just go.  At the opera such behavior can result in disaster. Slow and steady, scanning the carpeted terrain below is a must.  How horrible the thought of trampling someone’s grandmother or grandfather! 

All joking aside, how nice it is to see older couples all dressed up for the evening,
Original production 1881
L’Opéra-Comique many I’m sure having spent many an evening over the years at the opera.  For me a rookie after two full seasons, every opera is a new experience.  For these veterans a lifetime of opera must bring a different focus to the evening.  I can only use my opera mentor, Gregory as a model.  After 30 or so years of serious opera going he has seen many operas multiple times.  His understanding and grasp of opera is astounding making our intermission debriefings and discussions very meaningful.  This past week’s performance of “Tales of Hoffman” (Les contes d’Hoffmann) by Offenbach is a case in point, I believe he has seen it three times.  A little background I learned: Offenbach died before the opera was finished in 1880.  Consequently it has been the subject of many variations over the years.  Apparently no two stagings are ever alike; music is added, acts omitted or rearranged, dialog added and so on. There are four women (subject to variation as well) in the opera who are the object of Hoffman’s obsession.  Historically some productions have one woman singing all four roles, a major undertaking since they are all very different in range and style.  The great Joan Sutherland was one of the few in recent history capable of handling such a daunting task and performed the opera in Seattle in 1970 (read a review of her Met performance 1973). Beverly Sills was another known for brilliantly handling these parts.

One of the marvelous things about opera is its rich history and the role that every new production and performance has in shaping that history.  As our experience grows as opera lovers ( I guess I can say that about myself now) we too shape the history of this unique art form.  If not for the patronage (and generous financial support I might add) of the many loyal and aged fans of opera there would be no opera for us youngsters to attend!  I just hope the next generation of young opera goers (ya know the 40 years olds) will keep any eye out for me when I’m shuffling around the opera house!