After a couple months of cool and stormy weather, summer has arrived with its usual blessings of easy living. The weather has gotten warmer along with sunny days. It’s time for porch sitting and hanging out in the White Pine Saloon in the evenings.
I’ve finally gotten on top of needed work and the place is groomed until the first frost arrives in mid- or late November. The flowers have thrived in the cool weather and are well watered by rains almost daily. Increasingly I am cooking outside in the Saloon on the gas stove and the big wood-fired grill. With a full kitchen, it is a joy to be outside enjoying the woods and a sense of being part of the land.
Grilling and cooking using wood cut on the land is especially satisfying. Commercial charcoal and gas grills come up short in flavor and simple enjoyment. Cooking this way is pleasure in itself and most rewarding. If interested, I heartily recommend two large books, beautifully bound, on the subject by Francis Mallmann, an Argentine chef who specializes in Nuevo Andean cuisine using wood fires and cast iron cookware. See Francis Mallmann, Seven Fires (2009) and Mallmann on Fire (2014).
Looking out as I write this, I am confronted by a tapestry of green foliage with a matching canopy enveloping everything. The sun seems to struggle, breaking through here and there, shifting from one side of the cabin to the other. This is life in a rain forest. Someone from North Platte, Nebraska, would feel claustrophobic, but for me, it is paradise.
