Saturday, December 20, 2008

Gingerbread Friends, a Christmas Gift for All

Dear friends and visitors,
The following short story is from the latest book written by my wife, Tomi Jill Folk and myself. Windowsill Whimsy, Gardening & Horticultural Therapy Projects for Small Spaces was released at the American Horticultural Therapy Association conference in Lexington, KY on Nov 1st. It was written for activity directors, teachers, community workers and family members. It is already selling well, including some international orders.

In this collection of HT projects, activities and quizzes we included a few short stories. The following is an excerpt from this book. It is my Christmas gift to you. Hope you enjoy it.
Peace, Hank

Gingerbread Friends
A
short story
of the shared joy
and the simple blessings
that can be found in the wishes
of a small child and the wisdom of an old lady

Jessie had reached that point in the afternoon where school was BORING. She had enjoyed the reading class in the morning, and art was always fun. Today she had made a special picture to take home for her mother. But, now Mrs. Olsen seemed to have lost her enthusiasm as well. Last year they would have taken naps, but now they had to learn social studies and math in the afternoon. Jessie had always wondered if teachers took a nap at the same time the kids did. Several times she had tried to stay awake and find out, but she always fell asleep. Now, in first grade, there were no naps.

Today is was really cold outside. Wind whistled around the corners of the school and through the big blue spruce that stood by the flag pole. Jessie suddenly realized that Mrs. Olsen wasn’t looking at them, she wasn’t even looking at the book she was holding. She was looking out the window! And she was smiling. When she smiled like that it usually meant that the goldfinches and chickadees were having a snack at the sunflowers that had grown from the seeds they all planted last spring.
"Children!" she said. "Do you see what I see?"
Everyone turned their eyes toward the windows. Jessie stared at the sunflowers but couldn’t see any birds, just the big seedheads nodding at her in the wind.
"Look closely," Ms. Olsen told them all as she motioned for them to get out of their seats and follow her to the windows.
"IT’S SNOWING!" Tanya shouted.
Everyone of the children strained their eyes to see the first snow of the winter. Next week was Thanksgiving. The snow was late this year. Soon each of them had spotted a flake and followed it to the grass on the lawn, or the sidewalk. In a few minutes the beautiful crystals were appearing so fast that they seemed to be standing on tippy-toe on the blades of grass and the needles of the big old spruce at the corner of the playground. Then they would disappear into mini-puddles of water.
Everyone was hoping that there would be enough snow to do all the fun things we can do with it.
Alex was thinking about building a snow fort. Shawna had never seen snow before and was wondering what it felt like to have it melt in your hand. When Carlita closed her eyes she imagined she could feel the wind in her face as she rode her sled down Gourley’s hill. Freddie and Tucker had visions of snowball fights. Michelle was trying to remember where she had put her ice skates last spring.

Jessie’s joy turned to sadness when she thought about the last time they had snow. It was last spring. She could remember helping her neighbor, Old Mrs. Carter, shovel her walk. Tears formed in her eyes when she thought about her neighbor falling and breaking her hip. She remembered running in the house to call 911. She remembered bringing out blankets and a big old quilt to keep Ms. Carter warm until help came. She remembered them lifting the old lady onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. She remembered that Mrs. Carter never came home.
She went back to her seat and got a tissue from her backpack.
Ms. Olsen came over and sat down beside her.
Jessie told her all about how her neighbor had been taken to a hospital, then a nursing home.
"Would you like to visit her?" The teacher asked, as she put her arms around the sadness, giving Jessie a comfortable hug.
"Can I?" Jessie asked in return.
"Of course. I think Mrs. Carter would like to have a visit from you."
The smile returned as Jessie wiped her eyes and tucked the tissue in her pocket. "When can we?"
"The Holly Hill Senior Care Center is only a couple blocks from here. Let’s call your mother and see if it’s all right for you to go."
Jessie’s mother wasn’t certain that it would be good for Jessie to see all those old folks at "the home" but finally agreed to let her visit their former neighbor.
By the time school was out there was a soft layer of fresh new snow all over the grass and the trees, but it was all melted on the walkways and the parking lot. There is a magic in the first snow of winter. Jessie had put on her coat and started for the door when she remembered the picture she had drawn for her mother earlier that day. She raced back to her desk and carefully tucked it into her backpack.
When they got to the Holly Hill Senior Care Center, Jessie thought that it looked a lot like a school. There were sidewalks, a parking lot, spruce and holly trees, and there was even a bird feeder right outside the dinning room windows. When they stepped inside she saw several people in wheelchairs, a nurse and several other people who seemed to be very busy. There were bouquets of flowers in the lobby and a big old sandy colored dog keeping an elderly gentleman company down the hall.
"Levenia Carter is in room 143, down this hall and to the right," the lady at the desk said. Then she thought about it for a moment. "Is she expecting you? She doesn’t get many visitors."
"We’re going to surprise her," Jessie announced. "I even brought her a picture I made today." This piece of artwork had been intended for Jesse’s mother but it seemed Mrs. Carter might need it more.
They went down the hall and made a right turn. There was room 143, beside the door was a name plate that said in small red letters "Ms. Levenia Carter." Inside the room was a bed, a night stand, a small table with a TV on it and a rocking chair by the window. That rocking chair was slowly rocking back and forth, but its back was to them so they couldn’t see its occupant.
"Mrs. Carter, Ma’am?" Jessie asked as a way of announcing their presence.
Slowly the wrinkled dark brown face surrounded by a halo of snow white hair appeared from the side of the rocker. There was a brief moment of pondering, then a smile spread across the entire face and a hand reached for the aluminum walker that waited beside the chair.
"Lord Almighty, if’n you ain’t a sight to behold." She stood and grasped the walker with both hands. "Come over here, Child, let me look at you. My how you’ve growed."
Then she looked at Ms. Olsen and deep lines crossed her forehead. "Who might this be? I know it ain’t your Mamma."
Jessie introduced her teacher and they slowly walked down to the end of the hall where there was a sitting room with some comfortable chairs and a window where they could continue to watch the snow falling on the shrubbery and trees outside.
"I remember the last time it snowed. You saved my life when you called them medics." She paused for a long moment, then continued. "Child, I surely do miss you. Come here and give me a hug."
They talked about snow and Thanksgiving and winter and Christmas. Jessie always like to hear Mrs. Carter talk about her childhood in Georgia where she grew up. Her father had been a sharecropper and life was tough. She didn’t get to go to school much and didn’t learn to read until she moved north with her husband after their farm was sold.
When Jessie gave her the picture she kissed the child and held the colorful drawing of a gingerbread man to her heart. She would pause every few seconds to look at it again.
Soon it was time to go. They walked Mrs. Carter back to her room and put on their coats. After one last hug. Mrs Carter opened the drawer of her night stand and removed a roll of tape. She taped the picture on the wall right beside the window. "There. Now every time I gets lonely I can just look at my Gingerbread Friend." She laughed and everyone hugged again.
Jessie had so many questions she wanted to ask as Ms. Olsen backed out of the parking space and onto the street. She wanted to ask about what it was like to get old. She wanted to ask why everyone seemed so lonely. She wanted to ask why those people had to stay there. She wanted to ask if Ms. Olsen was going to get old and stay there. She wanted to ask if she was going to get old and live there. She wanted to ask why Ms. Carter couldn’t come home again. But she held all these questions inside.
It was on the way to her house that the idea came to Jessie. "Ms. Olsen, could we do something?"
"Umm. Maybe. What do you want to do?" She asked as they reached Jessie’s driveway.
"Could we come back again? Can we visit Mrs. Carter next week?" Jessie asked hesitantly.
The teacher was quiet for a moment, then answered, "I don’t know. Do your think your parents will allow it?"
They did visit the old lady the again, the week after Thanksgiving. Mrs. Carter seemed to have a sparkle in her eyes. Jessie was pleased to see her picture of the "Gingerbread Friend" still taped on the wall where the old lady could see it from anywhere in the room.
They had a nice visit. Mrs. Carter told them about how, when she was just a youngster herself she helped bake gingerbread cookies, because that was all they had to decorate their Christmas tree. "We was too poor to buy ornaments, and us children could eat them cookies when no one was looking."
When they left they walked down the hall passing lonely men and women in chairs and wheelchairs. They all looked so sad, but they smiled when she waved at them and said "Merry Christmas."
"Ms. Olsen, I wish we could do something." Jessie said as they stepped out into the wind and snow that was swirling around the parking lot. "Can we?"
"Well that depends. I think a trip to MacDonald's will spoil your dinner. I don’t think your parents would like that very much."
"No. That’s not what I was thinking." There was a sparkle in her eyes as she spoke. "I wish all of us from school could come over and visit with Mrs. Carter and all the other people here. They all seem so lonely."
"We’ll have to talk to the rest of the students, all of your parents and these folks here too." Ms. Olsen was hesitating, not sure this was a good idea, but proud of Jessie for thinking of it.
"But, it was so much fun to hear her tell the story about her Christmas when she made all the gingerbread cookies." Jessie was using her ‘please, may I’ voice.
An idea was forming in Ms. Olsen’s mind. "I think that would be a lot of fun for everyone. Let’s find out what we can do."
By the next afternoon Jessie and her friends were on the Internet looking for recipes for gingerbread and Mrs. Olsen had spent her lunch hour with the principle. Jessie’s wish was about to come true.
It was Friday afternoon when the bus pulled up to the school and all the children in Ms. Olsen’s class piled in, each one carrying cookie cutters, eggs, flour, milk bowls, gingerbread cookie cutters and cookie sheets.
When they arrived at the Holly Hill Senior Center, there was a big Christmas tree in the lobby. Christmas carols were playing and there were dozens of folks with wheelchairs and walkers waiting for them. It seemed like everyone was talking at once as the lady in the blue uniform and Santa hat led them all down the hall to the dining room and kitchen.
They gathered around the tables and started to read recipes, crack eggs, measure milk and flour. Everyone was talking at once and everyone was getting dusty with the flour and sticky with the egg whites, and everyone was having fun. They worked in teams to mix the gingerbread cookie dough, stamp out the shapes with the gingerbread people cookie cutters, put them on the cookie pans, and march them into the kitchen where the chefs would put them in the ovens. Soon the tables were filled with hundreds and hundreds of "Gingerbread Friends."
As soon as they were cool everyone started decorating and trimming them with icing, candy and colored sugar sprinkles. Each table was a mess and every hand had sticky fingers, but everyone was smiling and laughing.
Finally it was time to take the cookies out to the empty tree in the lobby.
Trays, and boxes and rolling carts were filled with "Gingerbread Friends." Everyone in a wheelchair had a tray of cookies on their laps as they formed a parade from the dining room to the lobby. The school children were pushing the wheelchairs of their new found grand-friends, and everyone was singing Christmas carols as they paraded down the hall.
Everyone took turns hanging their favorite "Gingerbread Friends" on the tree until that tree was so full of gingerbread ornaments that there wasn’t room for even one more "Gingerbread Friend."
But there were still hundreds left, all sizes and shapes of gingerbread men, gingerbread women, gingerbread girls and gingerbread boys.
"Look at all the cookies we have left over," the lady in the blue uniform moaned. "What are we going to do with all of these?"
Mrs. Carter had become quiet, and almost sad as the tree was filled with "Gingerbread Friends." Now she turned to all the people gathered in the lobby. They were all tired, well dusted with flour, dotted with icing in a rainbow of colors. Everyone became quiet while she braced herself against her walker.
"We are all so blessed here today. Look at us. We are warm. We got friends, music and more cookies than we can ever eat."
She paused and shifted to her other foot to ease the pain in her hip. "There’s folks out there," she pointed out the window at the swirling snow, "So poor they ain’t got Christmas trees, no presents, no warm places to live, so poor they ain’t even got a friend."
A big smile crossed her old and wrinkled face. "We can share our blessings. We can share our Gingerbread Friends.
And that’s the way it all started. The Gingerbread Friends were boxed up while coats, and scarves, and mittens and hand knitted caps were gathered from each room. Soon they were ready to deliver the Gingerbread Friends to the homeless shelter downtown, and the people who were in the Meals-on-Wheels program, the school for children with developmental disabilities. And other places that got added to the list as they loaded the Holly Hill vans and the school bus.
The next time you eat a gingerbread cookie,
or see a gingerbread house,
or gingerbread people on a Christmas tree
think of the Gingerbread Friends
and what grew from a wish made by little Jessie
and the vision of an old lady named Levenia.
Think of what can happen when we all join together
and share our joy, and share our blessings,
when we become a blessing to each other.
Peace isn't something we possess, it's something we share

Tumbleweed Soup, the Recipe

Tumbleweed Soup, The Recipe

You asked for it and here it is. Tumbleweed Soup has been a part of our visits to numerous Navajo and Pueblo communities in thew Southwest. As we share the soup we have frequently been told some great stories about this botanical "illegal alien." Several of you have asked for the recipe so here it is. This is one of several dozen information sheets the non-profit organization, Hunger Grow Away has available at no charge. If you would like to have a complete list please email me at hungergrowaway@q.com You can also check out the Hunger Grow Away website at www.hungergrowaway.com

Tumbleweed Soup

Too often we overlook some of the most nutritious plants that grow so willingly in our gardens and fields. The common dandelion is a very healthy food, as are lambsquarters, purslanes and amaranths. In a culture that harvests its food from the supermarket and depends on fast food restaurants to prepare their meals, we have not only become disconnected from the wild harvest, but from the family vegetable garden as well. We can reconnect with regional and cultural traditions, bring generations together and improve our nutrition when we make our food fun instead of fast; our meals a time to share with the family rather than the TV; and when we prepare our own dinner as a creative experience rather than rely on canned, frozen or packaged meals with artificial colors and flavoring, laced with preservatives and other additives. We can live healthier and have fun doing it.

In an attempt to make dinner an adventure and cooking fun
we humbly suggest TUMBLEWEED SOUP

Tumbleweed soup can be a great party, festival or celebration dish that makes for great conversation. This is more than just a meal. It calls for the active participation of all the guests and family members. It is recommended that this nutritious meal be used at special occasions where extended family and/or special guests are going to be present. Each dinner guest can be asked to bring one or more of the ingredients and all of the guests should be a part of the meal preparation.

The ultimate goal of tumbleweed soup is to actively engage all participants in the meal, regardless of age or physical limitations. This is a healthy and nutritious meal that can be enjoyed by all ages, including those with diabetes and those with poor teeth, or no teeth at all. It is low in fats, moderately low in carbohydrates and high in fiber. And it tastes good too.

Ingredients:
*2 cups tender new shoots from spring tumbleweed (Russian thistle, Salsola iberica)
*2 medium white potatoes, can substitute sunchokes
*1 medium sweet potato
*1 garden fresh onion, best with tops
*2-3 cloves fresh garlic
*3-5 garden fresh carrots
*1-2 stalks celery
1 parsnip
1 turnip or small rutabaga
1-2 apples
1 cup cabbage or kale
*1 large garden fresh tomato
*1 cup diced bell peppers any color
*½ cup chiles, fresh , frozen or canned.
*1 cup favorite salsa, best to use home made family recipe made with fresh from the garden vegetables
*1 cup cooked beans, garbanzo, pinto or your favorite
*½ cup (4oz) nopalitos (cactus pads), fresh harvested or canned
½ cup Shredded cheese for garnish
Juice from 1 lemon
*a great sense of humor
*a dash of adventure
*a pinch of courage to try something different

Items marked with an asterisk (*) are most important, others are optional. This can be adjusted to include what is seasonally available from your garden. Each dinner guest or family member can bring their favorite vegetable to add to the pot. Note: regional resources can be substituted, such as dandelions or mustard greens.

Optional additions, all harvested fresh from the garden:
Indian spinach, Lambsquarters
Red Aztec spinach (a variety of lambsquarters)
Purslane
Chard, stalks and leaves
Amaranth leaves
Beet greens
Wild onion, or garlic leaves
Squash
Anything else in season, either wild harvested or from the garden. Each dinner guest or family member can bring a wild harvested, traditional or uncommon vegetable favorite.

Herbs, fresh from the garden:
Each dinner guest or family member can bring a small amount of their favorite herb to add to the pot.
Basil
Cilantro
Fennel
Chives
Parsley
Oregano
Rosemary
Thyme

Preparation:
Before you begin, turn off the TV.
Wash tumbleweed shoots and place in large soup pot. (If tumbleweed isn’t available you can use fresh dandelion, amaranth, lambsquarters or mustard or spinach leaves).
Dice onion and garlic, add to the tumbleweed.
Barely cover with water and bring to boil.
Use medium or low heat and cook for 15 minutes, or until tumbleweed becomes soft. Stir frequently.
Add small amount of water if necessary.
While the tumbleweed is cooking each participant can peel, wash and dice their vegetable contribution. Note: dicing the vegetables can make them easier for guests with dental problems to chew, it also assures that each dinner guest will get some of each vegetable.
After tumbleweed is cooked, place in a blender, along with the broth, and puree.
Pour back into soup pot and add the fresh vegetables, including the chiles. Do not add salt.
Cook on medium heat for 15 to 12 minutes while guests wash and prepare the herbs.
Add nopalitos, salsa, lemon juice and herbs, cook for another 10 minutes or until vegetables are done.

Note: peelings can be composted to become the soil for next year’s garden.

Serving tumbleweed soup:
Let soup cool slightly for about 10 minutes while each dinner guest sets their own place at the table and fresh juice is poured for everyone. Before you begin to dine turn off all cell phones and put on some good music.
Whole juice has less sugar than fruit drinks and punches, fewer additives and more nutrition. Apple, orange, tomato or vegetable juice goes will with tumbleweed soup.
Corn tortillas, corn bread or low fat corn chips and fresh salsa can be served as a companion to the soup. The corn products are nutritious and better for a diabetic diet than white flour based breads or tortillas.
Ladle one cup of soup into each bowl and garnish with shredded cheddar cheese, a teaspoon of sour cream and a mixture of finely chopped chives, cilantro or parsley and diced red or yellow bell peppers. Several corn chips can be placed along the side of the bowl to add eye appeal
Tumbleweed soup makes a great dip for the chips, warm or cold.
Guests are encouraged to engage in active conversation, sharing memories of yesterday’s foods, cooking and dining, what was good about the family sitting at the table together, friends and neighbors dropping by, festivals, feasts and celebrations that centered around the joy of sharing a meal. Thoughts can also be shared about tomorrow’s meals, preparation, what is healthy and what isn’t, why everyone can be a part of the preparation and the after dinner chores.

After the meal:
All uneaten foods should be refrigerated as soon as possible to prevent spoilage.
Children present should clean the table and wash the dishes.
There should be pleasant conversation, music, dessert, coffee or tea and time to enjoy life after a good meal.