Dear Jennica,

Whew! What a hiatus!

I am back, inspired by nature again.

First, urban foraging!
its recyclying day on my street, which in my new town of Montreal means haphazard green boxes on the sidewalks outside our 3-storey brick apartment buildings and a blur of sweaty men going by, taking up the whole one-way street and shaking things up on a big truck. that rumbly sound was money in the bank today for me and i'll show you how!
Spoils of the day:



and a lettuce spinner! just what i needed to be a domestic goddess this summer... and i only looked at recycling boxes on 3 blocks! IMAGINE how wealthy i would be if i had had a bigger bag and a desire for more stuff!

now, Part II of this blog is also about the fabulousness of recycling other people's unwanted crap, but in a different way. this summer i have a balcony garden and an accompanying shortage of pots! so, here is my solution:

From More

From More

From More

From More

and, you know those boxed, washed baby salads that have become wildly popular in the last few years? yeah, the ones with salmonella issues. well, they make alot of plastic garbage, and i intend to benefit. me and my garden to be more precise:

From More

they make fantastic little greenhouses for potted vegetables, which is great when you live in a northern climate with a short growing season like where i am here.

From More

on my small balcony i am growing these things this summer:
peas cucumbers
green beans mystery squash
radishes nasturtiums
lettuce (5 kinds)

and just to prove anyone can do it,
total investment:
seeds $1
soil $2.50
pots free
lettuce babies $5

taaadaaah. i am feeling pretty good about myself! this is year two of urban gardening for me, and i think i learned some important lessons last year which reflect in my choices of crop this season. i am only planting things that have high grocery store value- lettuce especially, and am using WAY more soil this time. bigger pots, better soil and i plan on watering with 'worm juice' from my vermicomposter, which is like the best free fertilizer ever. so hopefully i get more than my overwhelming 2 tomato harvest last year. :P

so, like, whats up with you Jennica?

Dear Jennica,

Foraging for food in the forest is one of my favourite pastimes. which i somehow manage to do only a couple times a year!

Lets take a tour of my foraging this time.

First, i caught 5 minutes of a danish TV show called Frilandshaven (lets translate that as The Rustic Garden) whose topic of the week was their 'Middle-ages Garden.' I didnt catch the names of any of the plants, but they made porridge and syrup from authentic, common, ancient Danish plants the vikings used in cooking.

Intrigued by the idea of free vegetables in my own backyard I went on a hunt and found some in my in-laws immediate vicinity! They have a huge, lush and green backyard. First i found Ground Elder:


Which is commonly used as ground cover in north american landscaping(which is why it may look familiar!) but is native here.

I found recipes online for Ground Elder quiche, omelettes, and pancake syrup you name it! And it grows like crazy! Its a weed here, which is called an ukrudt (say: oo-CROOT) and my mother in law harangued me all afternoon about how you wouldnt catch her dead eating skvalderkål! But i persevered!

I dragged Hans to the woods, in search of this other mighty wild source of nutrients:
Stinging Nettle! My gloves proved to be
a little thin and i got burned, but ploughed on, managing to fill a few bags with juicy leaves.


You have to pick both these greens before they bloom- otherwise they can be bitter and/or bad for you. thats the only precaution!

Apparently, you can use nettle just like spinach- once its been steamed. then there is no more stinging involved, only delciousness. So, soup, lasagne, spanikopita are all possibilities.

heres the haul:

I used a handful of each ground elder and nettle, threw them in a pan with some garlic and oil. I chopped them using the food processor and made a kind of pesto, adding canned corn and feta cheese. My exotically local greens were tasty! They are about like kale in terms of chewyness tho, so one must factor that in when incorporating them into a meal.

here is the result:



the lentils i made with another local herb- lovage. plus an onion, thyme and a curl of orange peel. (you can see the lovage in the smallest baggie on my countertop haul picture)

all in all, it was deliciously healthy and fun to find. plus, i think i get some viking points, right? maybe i can get a boost up in the immigration system here in Denmark? hah, yeah right. anyways thats the report.

in all my weedy glory,
marie

ps: as per my mentioning how much more i relate to wedding-themed pop-culture, here is the katy perry video with the wedding dresses and insanity: love it!

Dear jen,

hello! life IS moving fast. look how little we've blogged-!

but wait, i just have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOO YOOOU!!!! what did you do today? did you get your tattoo yet?

i have been thinking more and more about getting my septum pierced. with a little horseshoe. if i ever get around to it...

i went to another birthday party today, for my friend Anna. she is just great, and her friends are equally excellent. which made for a great picnic and round of the danish version of california kickball. (wait, is that i Canadian thing, or do you have california kickball in Utah? wikipedia says its just called kickball for you guys) ANYWAYS, tons of down to earth women, not wearing the danish-mandatory mascara. and anna even got a dildo for her birthday! hah! but most surprisingly, i got 3 separate compliments on my shoes. this may sound silly, but my shoes really stick out here. they are big clunky brown Keens, in a sea of feminine ballet-flats in girl colours. i always feel like they stick out here and am a little self conscious that i need to wear such supportive shoes to ease my foot pain. and i got compliments on them!!! outstanding, totally makes my week.

but also makes me sad, as i have become selfconscious about things as stupid and my SHOES in this godforsaken country.

which brings me to my next point:
6 WEEKS TIL I COME BACK HOME!!

GLORY GLORY GLORY!

you will beat me to my hometown, but your birthday present will be waiting for you there at my mom's house! and i will see you again soon my dear.
Hope your special day got you compliments on something you were not expecting, and maybe even a silly ball game too?

love you.
xxx
marie

Dear Marie, grant writing, dandelion tattoo and a printmaking class

Dear Marie,

SO MUCH HAS BEEN HAPPENING!

I just can't even tell you the joy in my life right now.

When I was in my early 20s I was SURE that we were all just wandering around, suffering and miserable, working jobs to pay for things we thought would make us feel better, trying to navigate relationships that we'd just be better without, trying to make this human experience bearable. I don't feel like that at all anymore.

For example: This was my day.

I usually dread my office job, (see previous posts). I drag myself in at 9 (today it was 9:30 whoops), try to look busy all day and end up with a headache from squinting at the computer screen all day. I've been going back and forth for about a month: should I quit or should I stick it out?? All of the reasons for staying felt like fear of losing the sense of security the job provides, all the reasons for quitting felt like selfish and immature "but I want to PLAY" reasons. But one night I just said to myself: "my sister always says: if it's too hard to make a decision then don't. Just wait until it feels right" So I decided to stick with it. Low and behold the very next day I was presented with an amazing opportunity. The executive director asked me if I'd be willing to write a grant to get a mobile dental clinic up and running to provide care for people in rural communities that don't have access to care. HELLO! That is EXACTLY the reason I got into this whole healthcare world in the 1st place. I wanted to work for the under-served. BAM! The universe provides to those who succumb to it's wily ways.

THEN! I went to my printmaking class at the Saltgrass Printmakers' Studio in Sugarhouse. So great! I'm learning a process called frotage, which I'm sure you know, means rubbing in French (like sexy rubbing, hehe). It feels so so so so so so good to be taking art classes again. And processes that don't require drawing are good for my confidence. It feels equally as good to be able to AFFORD art classes without having to give up good meals.

AFTER THAT!! I went to the tattoo studio and made an appointment for my dandelion tattoo. Tattoo artists are such good people (at least Luis at Eleventh St. Electric Gallery is). Again, being able to afford this is an amazing feeling. It is my birthday present to myself. I am going to be twenty six years old!



I hope the springy feeling of luminosity is hitting you too! Write back.

Love you,

Jennica

PS: here is a new video by my new favorite: it's to make you feel good about being sad if that's what you're feeling right now:

Dear Marie, come to me

I found you an apartment. The guy was was dating here in SLC moved out to go on tour with his band. It's 5 minute walk from my house. All hardwood floors. HUGE west facing window that looks out onto the whole city. Place is cultured, like sourdough bread or homemade yogurt. 2 bedrooms. So I found you a roommate too. My Unitarian friend Kathrine who was supposed to fly in from Mali, West Africa today. She is as crazy as us. I waited at the airport for 4 hours but she didn't show up, so I left. Hope she finds me.

Love You, Jennica

Dear Jennica,

Big News:

after work yesterday Hans met me and gave me the big news:
good news: he got a phD offer at university of western ontario. 28 000 a yr, 4 years. he gets to teach kids in english, and have peers passionate about the same things as him.
bad news: its in the middle of nowhere, FLAT ontario. the province i never wanted to live in!!!

i told him not to apply to places i didnt want to move to. but he did. he said 'we'll deal with it IF i get in! i wont even get in'

well, now hes in and weepy because i wont move there, and its an oppotunity he has GOT to take. AND its all happening in the middle of our goddamn holiday to paris! so much for carefree holiday-time with my old friends. the university has to hear a YES or NO from him on the day we get back!

aint life grand?
the poor guy cant even appreciate this crazy fantastic opportunity because he cant picture living anywhere without me. bah.

i am obviously not sure where i even want to be, i guess he should just go do this and let me work my shit out.

ok. enough of that.
maybe i will end up with you in SLC afterall.
xxx
marie

ps: i just cant let it go! can you imagine moving to this cultural backwater to follow some guy? the idea of living on campus as a university wife is so fucking weird. all of this is. i am only 24 and i am already busy following someone else's life around.

Dear Marie,

marie!

I will pay for you to move to slc. given that it's a reasonable flight. you will move in with me and we will look for an awesome studio apt for you. i will introduce you to the community clinics so you don't have to worry about not having health care and obama will soon take care of that.

you will clean for me until you are dissatisfied making $12/hr and then you will think of something fantastic and unheard of and fabulous and worth telling your grandkids. or mine.

then you will get bored and find some other place to spring and sprout and you will take me with you. and we'll write it all down.

love,
jennica