Roasted Winter Squash and Apples with Quinoa, Kale, Pecans and Tahini Maple Dressing

This gorgeous photo is from  Ashley McLaughlin, an architect turned "cookbook author, freelance food photographer, recipe developer, and portrait photographer."  McLaughlin uses acorn squash with her kale (which makes for an interesting shape), but the winter squash in the 9/30 farm share from Glade Road Growing is slated to be a 2-3 pound buttercup squash as pictured at the bottom of the page. Beside the squash, kale and garlic used in this recipe, other veggies slated for delivery are:  parsley, lettuce mix, and peppers.

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To make tahini dressing:

Heat a clean, large dry cast iron  skillet over medium high heat and add 1 cup of whole sesame seeds.  Stir frequently until they begin to turn golden brown and pop.  Remove from skillet and process in a blender, food processor or mortar and pestle with about 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to make 3/4 cup.  For this recipe, you will need 4 TB.  You can store the rest in a lidded jar in the fridge.  Peel and smash one clove of garlic. Combine tahini and garlic in a jar with with 2 oz. lime juice (about two limes). Seal and shake and let sit for at least 10 minutes.  Add 1 TB of  real maple syrup and sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.  Set aside.

To roast squash and apples:

Slice two crisp, tart  apples, leaving skin on, but removing core (Granny Smith and Cortlands are two of my favorites).

Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds.  I roast it roast face up  in a counter top convection oven for 30 minutes at 475 degrees F, then slice it, peel it and cut it into chunks.  Alternately, you can cut it into 1/4 thick slices and roast it in a conventional oven at 400 degrees F for about 35 minutes, flipping once halfway through.  If you are cooking the squash in the oven, during the last seven minutes add the apples.  Otherwise you can roast separately in the convection oven for a couple of minutes once the squash is done until the apples start to soften and turn fragrant.

To cook kale and quinoa: 
Smash, peel and mince 3 cloves of garlic. Chiffonade the kale by removing center stem, rolling and slicing crosswise to make long strips. 

Cover 1 cup raw quinoa in 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes and then rinse.  Add fresh water and bring back to a boil and let sit covered until water is absorbed, about a half hour.  Fluff with a fork.

Cook kale in lightly oiled cast iron skillet for about four minutes.  Add garlic and cook another minute, then   add a bit of water to steam lightly.  Remove from stove to plate while kale is still bright green and combine with  cooked quinoa.

To serve:

Place quinoa and kale  on a large platter then arrange roasted squash and apples on top. Or you can serve in individual bowls. Sprinkle with 1/2  cup of pecans and drizzle with dressing. 

This buttercup squash photo is  from Canadian registered dietitian, freelance magazine nutrition writer and recipe developer Matt Kadey of the blog Muffin Tin Mania.  Be sure to check out his 11/10/10 recipe for buttercup squash and oat muffins. Other yummy recipes for winter squash and kale include Kaela Porter's roasted squash with red peppers and rosemary from her Local Kitchen blog and Liz Harris's wheat berry salad with roasted squash, kale and whiskey soaked cranberrries from her Floating Kitchen blog.  Plus, here are my winter squash recipes from last season:

09/10/13: Moroccan Squash and Eggplant Stew
10/07/13: Another Moroccan Stew: Beets, Buttercup Squash and Radishes
11/11/13: Pecan-Topped Winter Squash Pie (Pumpkin and Sweet Potatoes Work, Too)

11/18/13: Parsnip, Carrot, Winter Squash and Apple Stew

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Hugh Martin's The Stick Soldiers

Cover of  The Stick Soldiers, BOA Editions, 2013, 103 pp., ISBN 9781938160066.

Robin McCormack's book challenge continues. (Reports are due every Sunday.)  This week a poetry book about the war in Iraq comes with my highest recommendation.


Hugh Martin signed on with the Army National Guard in June 2001 for a standard six-year hitch.  The twin towers of the World Trade Center came down in September.  By 2003, he was attending Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio.  In an essay for the New York Times ten years later, he writes,

The war began for me while I was sitting on a couch in a living room. Like many people, I watched it all commence on television. At a friend’s house on campus, I sat with a few college friends and drank Bud Ice from bottles. We weren’t drinking beer because of the war; we were drinking simply because, being in college, it was something we often did. White smoke from an explosion would burst up from the cityscape of Baghdad as the sound echoed through the dark. Yellow tracers from antiaircraft fire sprayed randomly into the sky. The ticker on the bottom of the screen euphemistically summarized what was happening (while adding some alliteration and a subtle rhyme): “Large explosion rocks Iraq’s capital.” 

By 2004, Martin was withdrawing from school, when his unit deployed to Iraq. These poems recount his time in basic training, his preparation for Iraq, his experience withdrawing from school, his time in country and his return home to Ohio. Hugh Martin went on to finish his degree on Muskingum in 2009,  obtained an MFA from Arizona State University in  2012 and that fall became a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.  This month, he started  as a lecturer in the English Department at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

Photo from The Functional Foodie

The September 23 farm share for Glade Road Growing is slated to include: spaghetti squash, dill, bok choy, Rosa de Tropea onions, carrots and radishes.

Spaghetti squash is a winter squash with flesh that appears solid until it is cooked and falls into  strands like spaghetti.  Many folks cook it with an Italian-inspired tomato or primavera sauce, which is delicious, but I decided to go Asian and provide a recipe for the stir-fried noodle dish Pad Thai, since the consistency reminds me more of rice noodles than of wheat pasta.  The recipe in the photograph called for tofu and bean spouts, but I prefer tempeh to tofu  and substituted radishes and bok choy for the bean sprouts, since they are in the farm share this week.

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Serves 4

For peanut sauce:  Process in a blender, food processor or mortar and pestle:
1/4 c. roasted peanut (or substitute cashew and/or sunflower seeds, if you are allergic to peanuts)
2 tbsp white rice vinegar or lime juice
1 tbsp of miso
1 tbsp demerara or turbinado sugar and 1 clove of garlic.
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

For garnish, in separate bowls prepare:
1/3 cup of chopped roasted peanuts, cashews or sunflower seeds
1/3 cup of cilantro leaves torn loose from stem
1/3 cup of chopped green onions
1 lime cut into wedges

Cook the spaghetti squash.  To prep, cut in half, scoop out seeds and stringy pulp with a spoon.  I roast mine face up in a convection oven at 475 for 30 minutes, but you can also cook it in a baking dish  with 1/4 cup of water face down  about 12 minutes in a microwave or  about 35 minutes in a conventional oven at 350 degrees F or until  soft. Set squash to cool and then use a fork to separate the flesh into ribbons.

While the squash is cooking and cooling, prep the other veggies.  Thinly slice one of the Rosa de Tropea onions.  Cut carrots into matchsticks to make 1 cup.  Thinly slice radishes to make one cup.  Thinly slice bok choy to make one cup.  Mince 3 cloves of garlic a one-inch piece of fresh ginger root. Cut one block of tempeh into thin slices.

In a lightly oiled skillet, cook tempeh until lightly browned, about 3 minutes and remove from heat.

Re-oil skillet and add onions, garlic and ginger;  stir until onions are softened and translucent. Add carrots and radishes and stir for about 1 minute more. Add sauce and tempeh and stir gently, until thoroughly mixed.  Remove from heat and add bok choy and squash, tossing to combine. Pour into a deep platter or divide among individual bowls and garnish.  Serve at once.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Dennis Lehane's The Drop

Robin McCormack's book challenge continues. (Reports are due every Sunday.)

This week, I read Dennis Lehane's new novel, The Drop (William Morrow, September 2, 2014, 224 pp.)

Like many of Lehane's novels, including Mystic River, The Drop is set in working class Boston and is a crime novel which delves deeply into the psychology of its characters. Unlike his other novels, The Drop started as the first chapter of what Lehane calls a "failed novel," which he used as as the basis for his short story, "Animal Rescue"  published in the anthology Boston Noir.  After writing for HBO's The Wire, Lehane was asked to expand the short story into a film, The Drop--James Gandolfini's last release also coming out this month--and then asked if it might also be a novel.

The story is of  Bob, who tends bar for the Chechen mob and whose lonely life changes after he adopts an abused pitbull puppy, which he names Rocco after the patron saint for "bachelors, pilgrims and dogs."

Recommended.

Blacksburg Contra September 20: Toss the Possum with Caller Danielle Boudrea

Laura and Charlie Zizette are back in the New River Valley from Minnesota and tonight's Blacksburg contra dance at 8 pm at the YMCA at Virginia Tech welcomes them back with Laura on piano, son Rob on fiddle, playing as Toss the Possum, with Charlie, I'm guessing, on sound.  The caller will Vermont native Danielle Boudrea.  There's a lesson at 7:30.
 

Coconut Red Curry with Bok Choy, Sweet Potatoes and Kidney Beans

Photo

The Glade Road Growing farm share for September 16 is slated to include: lettuce mix, hakurai salad turnips, bok choy, cilantro, tomatoes, sweet peppers and yellow onions.

Serves 4


Quarter 1 pound of sweet potatoes and then cut in 1/2 slices
Chop 1/2 cup of cilantro
Halve 4 baby bok choy
Chop one yellow onion
Chop the green portion of of one green onion
Quarter 1 lime

In a bowl stir together one can of coconut milk and 1 cup water, 1 TB of Thai red curry paste

In a skillet, saute sweet potatoes until they brighten in color.  Add onions and cook until translucent.
Add bok choy and after about a minute, add 2 cups of cooked kidney beans and the coconut milk/curry mixture. Reduce to simmer and cook for about three minutes until all the vegetables are cooked through.

If you want, you can serve this over cooked brown basmati or conventional brown rice or as is, garnished with cilantro, green onions and a lime wedge.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: David Huddle's The Faulkes Chronicle

Robin McCormack's book challenge continues. (Reports are due every Sunday.)

This week I finished David Huddle's new novel, The Faulkes Chronicle  (Tupelo Press, 290 pp, September 1, 2014, ISBN 978-1936797455). Review to come, but HIGHLY recommended. Huddle has a gentle, quirky sense of humor even when he's telling the story of a family losing their beloved mother to cancer. The story is vivid and compelling.

Sauteed Rapini with Potatoes

Photo by Christopher Hirsheimer for Julia della Croce's Italian Home Cooking (Kyle Books, 2010) via her blog.  My version adds onions and red pepper flakes.


The September 9 farm share from Glade Road Growing is slated to include: broccoli raab (AKA rapini, rabe, cima di rapa or broccoli di rapa) , head lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, dill, and yellow onions.

Rapini is in the brassica family, but while broccoli is most closely related to cabbage and cauliflower, this green, leafy, pungent vegetable is more closely related to turnips and Chinese cabbage.  It can be steamed, sauteed, boiled in a soup, made into a pesto or used as a topping for pizza with olives.  It's good combined with white beans, chickpeas, chicken or sausage.

My favorite way to cook it is to steam it briefly to remove some of the bitterness and tenderize the stalks and then to saute it extra virgin olive oil with garlic, chopped onions, red pepper flakes with Yukon gold or red potatoes.

Serves 6

1. Slice 2-3  unpeeled Yukon gold or red potatoes in (1/2 #) into 1/2 inch thick slices.
2.  Peel the skin from the tough lower stalks of the rapini, using a paring knife or vegetable peeler, unless the stems are very slender--then leave unpeeled. Cut the stems crosswise into 1 1/2- to 3-inch lengths.
3.  Chop one small yellow onion.
4.  Smash and peel 3 cloves of garlic
5.  Steam the potatoes and then the rapini separately until they are tender, but not mushy,
6. In a skillet large enough to accommodate all the veggies, coat with extra virgin olive oil and heat until a drop of water added to the skillet beads and sizzles.  Saute onions until translucent with 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes.  Add garlic and cook until softened.  Transfer to a bowl.
7.  Raise the heat to medium-high, re-oil pan, if necessary and add potatoes and sauté until they are golden and crisp all over, about 12 minutes. Transfer potatoes to a serving bowl or platter.
8.  Re-oil pan and add the rapini and the garlic cloves. Sauté until coated with the olive oil and heated through, about 3 minutes.  If the rapini seems a bit dry, you can add a a few spoons of water.  Add to the potatoes and toss and serve immediate.y.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Christian Klose's Frack this!

Robin McCormack's book challenge continues.  (Reports are due every Sunday.)

I first interviewed geohazard expert Christian Klose, when some were alleging that fracking had caused Virginia's 2011 earthquake. Klose convincingly argues that far from being "Acts of God," “acts of God”; earthquakes often can be triggered by human actions, such as as mining, water storage, oil and gas drilling, and underground hazardous wastewater disposal. The book is understandable to a layperson and also delves into what we can do to assess and mitigate risks.

I'll be posting more details soon. Recommended, but the title is misleading and seems to capitalize on the recent concerns about a currently controversy over a new methods of method for gas drilling.

Rick Wilson: WV Rages Like It’s 1984

Rick Wilson published the following essay in today's Charleston, Gazette and gave me permission to re-publish it here. In Wilson compares politicians' attacks on the Obama Administration's coal policy to the "two minute hate" propaganda ritual in George Orwell's 1984.  I found this screenshot from the film 1984 (the 1984 release)  at mixed media artist and writer Savannah Schroll Guz's  post.  It turns out she lives in Wierton, WV when she's not in Pittsburgh, and she's working on a graphic novel about the Battle of Blair Mountain.

In addition to the illustration, I've added links to Wilson's post, so that you can further explore some of the ideas he's discussed.  Interestingly, he quotes a West Virginian politician from an article in the Washington Post.  When I went to look it up, the quote was from a story in the arc "Uneven Recovery" in the Post's new section "Story Line", introduced by its editor economics writer Jim Tankersley on July 21.  The section plans to examine complex public policy issues through stories which illuminate their human impact.  It turns out that that another coal story which arrived in my email came from that arc--a review of research on coal and the resource curse.

Wilson (along with Beth Spence) is staff for the American Friends Service Committee West Virginia Economic Justice Project (WVEJ) in Charleston, which "works statewide on issues affecting low income and working families." He also has a blog I've enjoyed for years, The Goat Rope (slang for when "good intentions go bad, messily."

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These are difficult times for coal miners in Southern West Virginia and for those whose lives are linked to them. Layoffs and mine closings have become almost routine events in the face of competition as well as changes in regulation. This is a time when coal communities need and deserve serious leadership from the state’s elected officials.

What they've gotten instead is what I like to call a ruling class hissy fit, an art that state leaders have mastered over the last few years. It is basically an all-hands-on-deck command performance where everyone who’s anyone, including those who know better, proceeds to blame all the ills of the state on the president of the United States and his “war on coal.”

The assumption seems to be that everything was peachy here until 2009 and would be again with if the White House had a different occupant and/or the EPA went away.

And that narrative, despite the steady disappearance of coal jobs since the 1950s, seems to be working. The task is probably made just a little easier by the fact that the occupant of that office is a black man with a strange name. It doesn't take much to subtly invoke the demons that dwell below the surface of our “post-racial” society.

The scene, which has become fairly ritualized, reminds me of George Orwell’s novel 1984, in which a regular feature of life in an authoritarian society was the “two minutes hate.” During that time, images of enemies of the state were flashed on TV screens while everyone in the audience was obliged to scream their hatred of the despised villains.

In the words of Orwell’s narrator Winston Smith, “The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretense was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one’s will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic.”

State Senate President Jeff Kessler summed it up pretty well in a Washington Post article: “As a state, we have dealt with [the coal downturn] more from a state of denial, that it’s all caused by Obama and EPA, and if we just scream a little harder it will go back to where it was ... And I’m just not sure that is going to happen.”

The thing is, while hissy fits and two minute hates might promote social bonding and make people feel a little bit better for a little while, they don’t really do much to address the situation at hand or the facts we’re eventually going to have to face.

One such fact is that while coal has been and is likely to continue to be a major part of our economy, the post-World War II days when it employed over 120,000 miners are long gone long and aren’t coming back. Another is that coal’s problems wouldn't go away even if Obama and the EPA did. Even if we grant that new regulations on emissions complicate coal’s future, they aren't the biggest factors.

Central Appalachian coal faces competition from cheaper Western and imported coal and cheaper and abundant natural gas. The free market, which many idolize, is doing more to impact coal than any politician or agency or environmental group.

There is currently a glut of coal on the world market, even as demand for the product is declining in places like China, which is expected to close 2,000 of its own mines by 2015. According to [Mark Pervan,] one of many business analysts cited in a recent Bloomberg story in the Daily Mail, markets are “awash with coal in a time of soft demand.” To add insult to injury, some of the coal U.S. energy suppliers are buying is being imported from places like Colombia. Because of competition for rail service, shipping coal from there can be cheaper than rolling it to domestic sources on trains.

Sorry, but I don’t think you can pin all that on the black guy. Or, as Gazette political columnist Phil Kabler recently noted [on August 11], “I think we can agree that decline in demand for coal in China has nothing to do with tough environmental regulations.”

And while some folks here believe that science can and should be denied on the basis of where their money comes from, climate change is going to get harder and harder to ignore. And it could make some of the problems we’re worried about now look pretty small.

At some point, we need to move beyond the hissy fit and two minute hate. One step forward would be having some serious conversations about West Virginia’s economic future. Fortunately, that is starting to happen through efforts like What’s Next, West Virginia?, which is supported by many groups [associated with the West Virginia Center for Civic Life] that are holding conversations all over the state about how we can strengthen our local economy.

We also need political leaders who will advocate for the kinds of policies and transitional assistance to help coal miners and communities get through this rough patch. As my friend Ted Boettner [co-founding Executive Director of the WV Center on Policy and Budget]  put it in a recent [Ken Ward, Jr.'s July 31] Gazette article, we need something like a “GI bill for displaced coal miners.” [Also mentioned  Taylor Kuykendall of the Register-Herald in 2010.]

Jason Bailey of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy argued recently that there is plenty of precedence for the federal government to provide such assistance for workers and communities undergoing major hardships and economic changes. The Appalachian Regional Commission itself was created in the early 1960s to promote development within the region. Other transitional programs include:

• The Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, which since 1962 has provided services and supports to workers impacted by U.S. trade policies.
• The Job Training Partnership Act Title III, also established in 1962, was intended to help workers impacted by automation.
• The Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which was intended to help communities impacted by the close of military bases.
• The Clean Air Employment Transition Assistance program, passed in 1990, was established to provide training and assistance to workers affected by the Clean Air Act.
• The Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 was intended to help workers displaced by the failure of rail systems in the northwest and Midwest.
• The Redwood Employee Protection Plan and Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative aimed to assist workers in the declining timber industry of the Pacific Northwest.
• The U.S. Community Adjustment and Investment Program grew out of the NAFTA trade agreement and was intended to help communities and workers by it.

It’s one thing to posture, pose and pretend to care about coal miners and their families. It’s something else to push for the policies they need and deserve. So far, alas, that hasn’t been happening.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Chard, Fresh Tomato Sauce and Cheese

The photo is from Giada De Laurentiis's recipe, but I prefer pasta in a shape that will hold the sauce: rotini, orecchiette (ear shaped), farfalle (bow tie), conchiglie (seashell shaped), penne rigate (ridged tubes) all work nicely.  Some brands I've tried include Dellalo and DeBoles.  


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The 9/2/14 farm share for Glade Road Growing is slated to include lettuce mix, tomatoes, sweet peppers,
parsley, chard, and garlic. Here's a simple pasta recipe with a fresh tomato sauce.

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Serves 4

Wash chard.  Chop stems separately and reserve.  Coarsely chop leaves.

To prepare ingredients for sauce:

• Finely grate zest of a lemon enough to make 1 lightly packed teaspoon. Cut lemon in half squeeze into a small lidded jar. You will need 1 teaspoon for this recipe.
• Peel, smash and mince three cloves of fresh garlic.
• Peel and thinly slice 2 small onions.
• Chop parsley leaves to make 3 tablespoons.
• Chop one 1/4 cup of kalamata olives.  You can substitute a drained jar of pickled capers, if you prefer.
• Seed, devein and chop one fresh serrano pepper. If you don't have a hot pepper, you can add 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes.
• Halve five to six  tomatoes (about a pound) and press lightly to get rid of seeds and extra juice. Slice into large chunks.

Bring water to a boil in the a 2 quart pot with a set in steamer.  Add a bit of extra virgin olive oil to the water and the whole wheat pasta.  Bring back to a boil and turn down to medium. Set the steamer in the pot and c ook whole wheat pasta until al dente. While the pasta is cooking,  in the steamer, first cook the chopped stems and when soft, cook the leaves. Drain pasta into the steamer, set back in pot and cover.  Divide pasta and chard mixture among four bowls.  You can make this more filling by tossing each bowl's contents with 1/2 cup of drained, cooked white beans.  Set aside until the sauce is cooked.

In a large sauté pan, heat 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the hot pepper or red pepper flakes and 1/2 tsp salt and cook, stirring often, until soft and fragrant, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft.   Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until they begin to release their juice, 4  minutes. Stir in the lemon zest and juice. Stir in olives.  Remove the pan from the heat, add the parsley and swirl the pan to blend them into the sauce. Taste and balance the seasoning with salt and lemon juice if needed.

 Pour sauce over mixture.  Sprinkle with freshly grated Asiago or Pecorino cheese and with pine nuts or walnuts, if desired.  Serve right away.

Blacksburg: Khumariyaan and Boston Boys 9/18

Graphic from the poster via Jim and Robyn Dubinsky of Monkey House Concerts.  

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On 18 September, I'm looking forward to

• a free workshop (but need to reserve general admission ticket here) from 4:00 to 5:30 pm at the Anne and Ellen Fife Theater at the Center for the Arts (Jim, along with Geography Prof the Plaid Avenger and ethno-musicologist Dr. Anne Elise Thomas will moderate the workshop;) and
• a concert from 8:00 to 11:00 pm at 130 Jackson Street (a $5 benefit)

Co-sponsored for both events are:  Monkey House Concerts and  the Virginia Tech Center for the Arts. Other sponsors include  the Center for the Study of Rhetoric in Society, The Artful Lawyer, and WUVT radio/ Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, Inc. (EMCVT). 

For more on Khumariyaan, see the fan page on fb and the write-up at  Center Stage. Khumariyaan is one of seven ensembles from Morocco, Pakistan and Vietnam that Center Stage is bringing to the US for month-long tours from June-December 2014.

Center Stage is a public-private cultural exchange program between the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) in cooperation with the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations and additional support from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation and the Asian Cultural Council.)

For more on the Boston Boys, see their webpage.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: 8/31 Beth Macy, Irene McKinney

Robin McCormack's book challenge continues.  (Reports are due every Sunday.)

I don't remember when I first met Beth Macy, maybe when she was giving some type of journalism workshop in Roanoke, while she still wrote for the Roanoke Times.  Her first book, Factory Man,  is out (here's my earlier post) and now that I've read it from cover to cover,  I can tell you it's full of heart and details. Even her unique format for the notes are readable and she includes an index (although her her descriptions are so memorable that I was able to keep the numerous characters straight without it.) Highly recommended.  In the future I'll write a review and perhaps do an interview.

 While I was up to her home town to attend Irene McKinney's funeral, I spent time in the local library and ordered  some of her books used.  My favorite seller was Better World Book Club, which raises money from its sales of donated books for all sorts of literacy projects.  (I think Irene would have liked that.)  I re-read two of them this week.  Still on the list:  Vivid Companion.


I met Irene McKinney, who was the Poet Laureate of West Virginia, in 2006 when she and I both attended Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition's  West Virginia Mountaintop Removal Writers' Tour.  I next saw her at the West Virginia Book Festival in 2010 when she was excited to be starting an MFA program at West Virginia Wesleyan College.  And then, in less than two years she was gone.

Her poems feature surprising word choices whether she's writing about life in West Virginia or imagining new poems in the voice of Emily Dickenson.

I'm happy  that the Virginia Tech Library has The girl with the stone in her lap (Plainfield, Vt. : North Atlantic Books, 1976 and Unthinkable : selected poems, 1976-2004 (Los Angeles, Calif, Red Hen Press, c2009.)  I'm going to recommend that they also order her posthumous collection, Have You Had Enough Darkness Yet? (Buckhannon, West Virginia Wesleyan College Press, September 1, 2013)

Mary Anne Hitt: Labor of Love--How My Small WV Town Launched a Game-Changing New Model to Go Solar

Photo of Than and Hazel by  Mary Anne Hitt at a ribbon cutting for the solar project of the Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church

I met  Mary Anne when she was the Executive Director of Appalachian Voices and living in Blackburg. In 2008, she went on to direct the Sierra Club's national Beyond Coal campaign and lives in Shepherdstown, WV with her husband Than (a 10th generation West Virginian) and daughter Hazel, both environmental activists in their own right.

Mary Anne first posted this essay at the Sierra Club's blog and gave me permission to reprint it here.  Solar Holler's other projects in West Virginia are for the Bolivar-Harpers Ferry Public Library and the Lewisburg City Hall.

I first published this post at 5:26 pm on 8/29/14 and updated it at 3:22 on 8/30 to credit Mary Anne, after she got back to me and confirmed that she was the photographer.

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This week, my small town in West Virginia cut the ribbon on a solar project that isn't just the largest crowd-funded solar project in the state, but also launches a new model making it possible for any WV community organization to go solar. On a perfect sunny day, 100 elementary school students and dozens of community members joined my husband, Than Hitt, and my daughter Hazel, who cut the ribbon for a 60-panel solar system at the historic Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church. It was an unforgettable day that crystalized all our hopes for the future of West Virginia, and exemplified the power of regular people to change the world.

The genius of this project was that the church went solar for just $1, thanks to over 100 community members who contributed - but they donated their water heaters, not their dollars. Maryland-based Mosaic Power pays homeowners $100 per year to have smart meters installed on their home water heaters that save energy and, in the aggregate, operate as a safe, efficient mini-power plant. These community members are each donating their $100 per year to the church solar project, collectively raising enough money to pay for the solar system. The financing model was developed by our brilliant friend Dan Conant and his company Solar Holler, and now that we have proof of concept in Shepherdstown, he's taking it statewide.

The church is going to generate nearly half of its electricity from the sun, reducing pollution, saving money, and living out the congregation's commitment to caring for the Earth. I'm a member of this remarkable church, where we've spent many a Sunday morning lamenting the destruction polluting energy development has wreaked on our state, from mountaintop removal mining to the coal chemical spill in Charleston earlier this year.

By going solar, we’re not only reducing our reliance on dirty energy, but we’ve demonstrated a model that other WV nonprofits are lining up to replicate. Making this project work was a labor of love three years in the making, dating all the way back to 2011 when my family was the first in our historic town to go solar, which helped get the community talking about how we could do more. Take it from me, when you go solar, it's like creating ripples in a pond - you may set into motion changes bigger than you ever imagined.

Now that we've figured out the details of this community-supported solar financing model, Solar Holler already has two more projects on deck in West Virginia communities, and those are sure to be followed by many more. And the project is being noticed around the country, with press coverage including... the Associated Press, and this great piece by Think Progress. I'm so proud of my husband, who led this project for the church, and so proud of our community.

At the ribbon cutting, our pastor Randall Tremba offered powerful remarks that have stayed with me, because he beautifully captured why the church undertook this groundbreaking project, and what it means for the community and the nation. I'd like to close the post with an excerpt from his remarks:

I am the pastor of SPC, which now stands for: Solar Presbyterian Church.
These solar panels symbolically and actually reconnect this church to an old and long Presbyterian tradition of respect, reverence and connectedness for and with Mother Earth - a reverence sadly forsaken several hundred years ago. We are happy to reconnect to Mother Earth. 

That old reverence is reflected in a poem composed by St. Francis in 13th century and addressed to Mother Earth, Sister Water, Brother Wind, and Sister Moon. But it begins this way. 

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,especially through my lord Brother Sun,who brings the day; you give light through him.He is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!Of you, Most High, Brother Sun bears your likeness.

This project will make a lot of Presbyterians, living and dead, very happy. Let me explain by taking you back through time a ways. 

The Fellowship Hall is attached to the Meeting House out front which was built in 1836 by a community of Presbyterians first organized on the banks of the Potomac in 1743, which was 33 years before there was a United States of America. 

These solar panels would make our 18th century founding Presbyterians very happy for, in case you didn’t know, most of them were Scots and the Scots like nothing more than saving a penny. Think Andrew Mellon. 

Scots love saving a penny and these panels will save us many of those.
As much as frugality, the Scots also love technological inventions. Think Alexander Graham Bell. 

As much as inventions, the Scots also love the natural world and work to keep it whole and holy. Think John Muir, son of a Scottish Presbyterian minister. Love of nature is in SPC's DNA....As happy as this project makes Presbyterians, I hope it makes our civic community just as happy and proud. For this project could not have happened without ecumenical and communal support. 

On behalf of SPC, I thank Than Hitt and Dan Conant along with their blue-ribbon committee who successfully guided this project through thick and thin, over humps and bumps, on sunny days and cloudy days, and around twists and turns more than once. But I also thank the citizens of this community. For it takes many hands to make light work and work light.

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Graphic from Solar Hollow via Public News Service.

Savory Skillet Veggie and Feta Cornbread

Photo by  Donalyn Ketchum of The Creekside Cook.

The August 26 farm share for Glade Road Growing is slated to include paste tomatoes, colorful sweet and hot peppers, tomatillos, summer squash and Rosa de Tropea onions. The tomatillos (Mexican husk tomatoes) would be excellent in a salsa verde (puréed with hot pepper, onion, garlic and a bit of water in a blender, simmered for about 15 minutes and cooled and then seasoned with chopped cilantro, lime juice and salt to taste.)

As for the tomatoes, summer squash, onions and peppers, here's my recipe for a savory cornbread inspired by Christine Gallary for Chow.com (She's now the food and cooking editor at TheKitchn.)

Photo from Chow.com (maybe by Chris Rochell, since no credit given and he's the staff photographer)

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1.  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F, with one of the racks set in the middle.

2.  You're going to be using either a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan, an 8-by-8 inch baking disk, 2 7 inch cast iron cornstick pans (Lodge makes the ones I've used)  or a 10 " cast iron skillet.  I prefer the corn stick pans or the  skillet because it makes a crunchy crust and you can serve the bread while it is still warm. For this method, you can heat the skillet in the oven for at least 15 minutes and then grease with extra virgin olive oil or unsalted butter right before pouring in the batter.  Don't do this with the baking pans!  Just grease them  set them aside on the counter until you're ready to pour the batter.

3.  Grate into a medium bowl, enough summer squash (about 1/2 #) to make 1 cup and 1 small onion.  Cut two small tomatoes in half and drain juice and seeds and then chop finely and add to bowl.   Removing the stem, membrane and seeds from a sweet pepper, chop it finely to make 1/2 cup--or you can use mostly sweet peppers with a bit of the hot peppers.  If you use the latter, be sure to keep your hands away from your eyes!  Add pepper to bowl.   Finely crumble 2/3 cup (3 oz.) feta cheese into the bowl and use a rubber or silicon spatula to fold until mixed.

6.  In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients and whisk together:
1 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons dried oregano

7.  In a second large bowl beat two large eggs and whisk together with 1 cup Greek yogurt until smooth. Fold the veggie/cheese mixture into the egg and yogurt mixture until evenly combined.

8.  Pour veggie/egg/yogurt/cheese mixture into flour mixture and stir until flour is just incorporated.  Be careful not to overmix this batter--it's fine to have a few streaks of the cornmeal.

9.  Use the spatula to scrape the batter into the prepared  pan or skillet, pushing it into the corners and smoothing the top. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F and bake 20-25 minutes until the bread is golden brown all over and a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean.  It will take about 30 - 40 minutes in the square pan.  It will take longer to cook in the loaf pan.   You'll want to test it in several spots, because if you hit the cheese, it might appear the bread isn't cooked. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool (5 minutes for the corn sticks, 10 minutes for the skillet, 10 - 15 for the square pan or loaf pan, then turn the bread out onto the rack and transfer to a wooden cutting board.

10.  You don't need to do anything with the corn sticks.   If you've used the skillet, you can cut the bread into wedges as shown below.  If you've used the square pan, cut into 2 x 2 inch squares.  If you used the loaf pan, you need to let it cool for at least another 15 minutes and then cut it in thick slices.  Serve (with lots of unsalted butter, if you want to be decadent!)

Photo from Steve Gordon.

52 Books in 52 Weeks

The book editor of the Roanoke Times pointed me to Sacramento blogger Robin McCormack's book challenge.  Reports are due every Sunday.

I was a member of an book group started by Harriet and Sig Davidson that met in Roanoke  from 1980.  Harriet died in March of 2007, but we continued using the same format of a book dinner until July of 2013.  When the format changed, I attended one last meeting on August 15, 2013. Since I've been limited to reading on my own for the last year and change, 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge seemed like an opportunity.

I need to go back and check my records for the books I've read from January through July, which I will record here later,  but tonight I'm listing the books I've read so far in August.  Because I received review copies for the first three, I'll be posting separate book reviews, but I wanted to make an entry here, so I could link to the virtual reading group.

Henna House, Nomi Eve, Scribner, August 12, 2014, 320 pages (ISBN 978-1476740270)

August  16, Eve was one of the seven featured authors for the Doylestown Bookshop's  first annual August Authors' Fest. (Others were Robin Black,  Rachel Cantor, Pamela Erens, Elise Juska,Violet Kupersmith  and Maya Lang.)

Reimagining Camelot: Wheelwright, Kentucky in Memory and Folklore, Lisa R. Perry, Create Space, July 28, 2014, 206 pages (ISBN 978-1499607901)

I first "met" Lisa through the Appalachian Studies listserve on 12/27/10 when she was inquiring about Carl Sandburg and "Company Town" for her dissertation.  Turns out it wasn't one of his poems, but a song he sang, at least according to his daughter.

A Few Honest Words: The Kentucky Roots of Popular Music, Jason Howard with a foreword by Rodney Crowell, University of Kentucky Press, September 18, 2012, 272 pages, (ISBN 978-0-8131-3645-5)  The paperback is coming out in January, 2015.

Young Thurgood: The Making of a Supreme Court Justice, , Larry S. Gibson, 
Prometheus Books, December 4, 2012, 413 pages, (ISBN 978-1616145712)

Paul Corbit Brown: Rapt in Red, White and Blue - The Enthrallment of Appalachia

Image from the Facebook page for Mari-lynn Evans and Jordan Freeman's Blood on the Mountain. (I've asked for an attribution.)  Photographer Paul Corbit Brown wrote the following essay on August 7, in response to an August 4 story by Marcus Constantino in the Charleston Daily Mail, "Dirt airstrip in Logan tailor made for training Guardsmen for war." Alpha Natural Resources   has "reclaimed" a mountaintop removal site in Logan County WV by letting the Air National Guard use it as a  a 3500 foot  "unimproved, or unpaved runway" when pilots could earn their landing certifications. Alpha acquired Don Blackenship's Massey Energy in 2011 following the Upper Big Branch  mine disaster in Montcoal.

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Wrapping it in red, white and blue doesn’t change its color-coal will always be black. Likewise, Patriotism isn’t simply an idea wrapped in red, white and blue. Patriotism, is not sacrificing a poor segment of our citizenry for the comfort and ease of the rest of the country. Patriotism is not the construction of a military complex on an MTR site. More than 500 mountains have been leveled by mining. Are we really to believe the only suitable location for an airstrip is the one that strips us of our history, our culture and our contributions to humanity in order to profit a handful of individuals?

Our heritage is not so much what we did, but how we did it. It wasn’t that we were coal miners as much as we were hard workers. It wouldn’t have mattered what the industry was, all that really mattered was that we were loving and we took care of our own, that we were compassionate and always lent a helping hand, that we were resilient, that we were, and still are, survivors.

The workers who mined these mountains all those years ago could have just as readily been ranchers or sawyers or stone masons. The job title was merely a byproduct of our environment. Most folks mined coal simply because they needed a job. I have met countless folks who feel the same today, “Give me another job and I’ll crawl straight out of that black hole and never look back,” they say. I know many who have done so.

It’s disingenuous to question our integrity, given our true character and heritage, if we now understand that mining is killing us far more than it supposedly helps us. There is no altruism in "giving" us mining jobs. We don’t accept them because we have a need to live in the past, we simply want to live.

The coal industry doesn’t exist as a mechanism to make jobs, it exists to create a profit. It makes this profit largely by externalizing its costs. The primary cost being the detriments to the health of the workers as well as those who live in the communities where coal is mined, processed, and/or burned. The secondary cost being the toll put on the environment which amounts to robbing subsequent generations.

When the true history of West Virginia is finally written, it's pages will be printed in blood. It will be the blood of the men and women who took up arms and laid down their lives at the battle of Blair Mountain. It will be the blood of the many lives that were carelessly taken by the lawless and money-grubbing attitudes of coal operators like Don Blankenship. It will be the blood of the children born with birth defects as a result the toxins in our water. It will be the blood of the 4000 people who die early deaths every year as a result of the poisons the extraction industries pump into our communities. That same blood is already upon the hands of the politicians who uphold these processes and who continue to ignore our pleas for help. Make no mistake, the day has already arrived in West Virginia, there is no clean water to wash that blood from their filthy hands.


True patriotism, as it concerns our nation’s need for energy, would be for each and every citizen to roll up their sleeves and dramatically conserve energy while working to create energy sources and economies with liberty and justice for all. That’s the way a nation at war becomes victorious. And we are at war. It is not a war on coal, nor is it a war on terrorism. We are at war with ourselves and our horribly skewed sense of what it means to be a great People and we are at war with a terribly flawed idea of what freedom really is. We do not own freedom through the enslavement of others. We do not bask in freedom by surrendering to fear and giving up the personal liberties that our forebears paid for in blood- blood that is ironically symbolized by the red stripes on the American flag. We have confused the toll of funeral bells for the ringing of freedom. We do not let freedom ring for all with the knell of funeral bells for Appalachia, her people, her waters or her air. In Appalachia, Patriotism and Profit couldn’t be any more diametrically opposed. Appallingly, the two are very often misconstrued as one-and-the-same, and as the Truth.

Paul Corbit Brown
President/Chair
Keeper of The Mountains Foundation

Photo by Bob Wojcieszak for the Daily Mail.

Money pours in to Virginia State Senate Race in Southwest Virginia

Money has been pouring in.  My friend Katrina reminded me that you have until 7:00 to vote in the special election to replace Puckett (D) in the General Assembly in you live in District 38.

Puckett's resignation was controversial, and came with accusations of deal making to help the Republicans control the Senate, in addition to the House of Delegates in the Virginia General Assembly. You can see why the R's are hopeful, since they consistently draw about 2/3 of the vote according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

As my friend John reminded me, VPAP let out the 3 voters in Montgomery County in the above chart.  (See Mike Gangloff's "Montgomery County to hold election for three voters" in the July 16, 2014 Roanoke Times. The money shown as raised is through August 8.  Updates are here.  Live returns will be here.

In order for the Democrats to regain  control the Senate, via the tie-breaking vote of Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam., they would have to hold the Puckett seat today, and then hold the Richmond-area seat of former Sen. Henry L. Marsh III in a Nov. 4 special election.

Gingered Fennel, Peach, Tomato and Red Onion Salad

Photo by Jen Smallwood of Portsmouth, Virginia

The 8/19/ farm share for Glade Road Growing is slated to include:  lettuce mix, parsley, fennel bulb, potatoes, Rosa de Tropea onions, tomatoes, delicata and summer squash.  There are so many ways to combine these ingredients that I hardly knew where to start.  I thought, though, that since my recipes  last year's recipes featured roasted fennel (see below) I'd go with raw fennel while peaches and tomatoes are still in season.

Serves 4 to 6

The first step is to make a fennel frond and ginger pesto:

1.  Squeeze one lemon or lime (2 - 3 TB juice)
2.  Finely chop 1 TB fresh ginger and peel and chop one clove fresh garlic.
3.  Shear the fronds from the fennel bulb and chop roughly to make about 2 cups.
4.  Combine in a blender or food processor with a drizzle of 2 - 3 TB of extra virgin olive oil.  Scrape into a medium to large bowl.

Prepare the salad:

1.  Trim the fennel root and the tender portions of the stalk and slice thinly.
2.  Slice 2 medium peaches in half, remove pit and slice into wedges.
3.  Slice half of the onion into thin rings
4.   Remove the stem core from two tomatoes and cut each into 1/8ths.

Add to bowl and toss lightly. Sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste.  You can serve this over a bed of the lettuce mix, if you like.  If you'd like for this to be a main course, you can include goat cheese and walnuts or cooked white beans.

You can also chop the salad more finely and serve it as a salsa with black beans and yellow rice.

Here's are a couple of other fennel recipes:
*roasted fennel and white beans
*roasted chicken with fennel

and here's a recipe for the squash and tomatoes, combined with eggplant:
*Moroccan squash and egg plant stew

Red Cabbage and Apple Slaw with Cilantro and Lime

Caroline is going out of town this week, so I'm using this photo by Kathryne Taylor of Cookie and Kate. While Taylor's recipe is savory and uses radishes, my is sweet and savory, using candied pecans and dried cranberries.

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The August 12 farm share for Glade Road Growing is slated to include heirloom tomatoes, red cabbage, garlic, summer squash, and jalapeno peppers. I love the combination of red cabbage and apples, whether braised, pickled or fresh in a salad.  Here's my recipe for a slaw without the usual mayonnaise.

Serves 6


1. Wash cabbage and remove outer leaves.  Thinly slice a half a large red cabbage or a whole small one.
2.  Wash and drain cilantro and pull the leaves off the stems.  You will use 1/2 to 1 cup for this recipe and can keep the rest for another recipe by storing the leaves in a covered invited mason jar at the front of your fridge.
3.  Juice two limes (4 TB)
4.  To make dressing combine lime juice with 1/2 tsp sea salt and 1 tsp honey, agave or maple syrup
5.  Thinly slice 2 granny smith apples and toss in dressing to keep from turning brown.
6.  In a large bowl, combine the apples and dressing with the cabbage.  Refrigerate until serving time.
7.  Toss with cilantro.  Garnish with spiced pecans and dried cranberries.

I've included a simple recipe recipe for the pecans which won't require you to turn on your oven.  And if you don't have time to make your own and don't want to buy this pricey topping, raw walnuts or pecans are also delish.  You can make this a main course by tossing in 3 cups of cooked white beans or chicken.

Spiced Candied Pecans

Preheat a dry skillet that's been lightly coated with extra virgin olive oil over a medium-high heat. Add 2 cups of raw pecans halves, 1/3 cup of maple syrup and 1/8 tsp sea salt. 1/4 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring frequently, until syrup is caramelized and nuts are toasted, about 3 minutes. Set out separately on a cookie sheet or plate lined with aluminum foil to cool for about 10 minutes. You can store any extra in a jar with a tight lid.

Cilantro Tabbouleh with Heirloom Veggies

My friend photographer Caroline Montgomery (portfolio), who is also a great friend of Glade Road Growing,  came by my apartment 8/4/2014  to shoot this recipe.  All of the photos are hers except the collage of ingredients at the bottom of the post, which I used for a placeholder until I received hers on 8/5/2014.  I first published this post at 7:59 pm on 8/4/2014 and updated it at 6:52 pm on 8/5/2014 after receiving Caroline's photographs.

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The August 5 farm share from Glade Road Growing is slated to include tomatoes, beets, Rosa de Tropea onions (a red mild torpedo onion traditional to Tropea in Southern Italy), Greenstar lettuce mix, kale, and peppers.  Here's a tabbouleh recipe for the tomatoes, onions and peppers.    I'll post some of her photographs here as soon as I receive them, probably tomorrow.




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Serves 6 for a main course or 12 for a mezze (small plates)

Tabbouleh is a dish found in countries including Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, and other parts of the Middle East.  It's traditionally made of tomatoes, finely chopped parsley, mint, and onion, and seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and sometimes garlic. Bulgur or coucous is often added.  My variation adds green peppers, cucumbers and garbanzo beans.  It substitutes cilantro for the parsley and mint and cooked soft white wheat berries for the bulgar or couscous.


1.  The night before, in a heavy bottomed stainless steel  saucepan,  cover 1 cup raw soft white wheat berries with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover, turn down heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes and then soak until cool.  Rinse well and repeat leave overnight.  The next morning rinse one more time and simmer until soft and rinse and cool.

Treat 1 cup of dried garbanzo beans in the same manner.  This will yield three cups of each.

2.  Finely mince 2 TB of onions, 4 TB of green peppers, 2 medium tomatoes, 1 cup cilantro leaves, 1 cucumber and two cloves of garlic.

3.  In a large bowl combine the beans, wheat and vegetables. Add 1 tsp. cumin powder and toss.

4.  Cut lemon in half, reserving several thin slices for a garnish.  Squeeze lemon into salad. Add  1-2 TB of extra virgin olive oil, if desired and 1/2 tsp. sea salt.  You can also add freshly ground black pepper if you like.  Adjust seasoning to your taste.

5.  Garnish with more cilantro leaves and the lemon slices.  Serve.