Erin’s Eye

June 20, 2021

Well, hello, everyone,

I've been promising an email all about Erin and with just her pictures in it, and the wait is finally over! To start with, I wanted to go over what all Erin has planted in her garden. I'm more or less going to just make a list of everything, but do check out the website as she starts adding to her pages on it, delving deeper into all the things that she has her hands in. So, here is what all she has planted thus far and is currently growing out here: different types of dry and bush beans; cucumbers; onions; red & Yukon Gold potatoes; heirloom and paste tomatoes; spinach; beets; carrots; sugar snap peas; okra; watermelon; pie pumpkins; cantaloupe; butternut squash; peppers(jalapenyo, sweet bell & candlelight hot); patty-pan squash; Bibb & black-seeded Simpson lettuces; lots of zinnias and marigolds; and also lots of volunteer herbs, such as basil, cilantro & mint. It is, of course, very arid out here and she has been running her irrigation system twice a day for about two hours at a time to keep everything well watered. She's doing such a good job of that that she's actually seeing some evidence of mold along the drip lines. She has a garden buddy, a whiptail lizard, who lives in the garden and is really fat, full of insects. He actually comes out to see Erin when she's out there and seems to relish when she runs the irrigation system and promptly comes out to take a dip in a little puddle! His name is George, and Erin wants to love him, squeeze him, etc., I'm actually worried that they might run off to the other Vegas, the less cool Vegas, to do a shotgun wedding and leave me here on the ranch to take care of the horses, work construction, take care of the tractors and do all the daily cleaning and landscaping...oy, vey!!

On the home front, Erin keeps making all sorts of things for the household, including both food and hygiene products. She now makes both corn and flour tortillas every week. She feels that she has nailed the corn ones, but still needs to work on the flour ones...don't forget that we've moved from about 450' above sea level to roughly 6250', so she's still figuring the differences in baking out! Also, every week, she makes parsley tea for us, which is an amazing system cleanser and superfood. At first, it tastes somewhat bland and very vegetal, but once you get used to it, it is the most refreshing and thirst-quenching drink around on a hot, summer day. Also, she makes yogurt every week from store-bought milk with a culture that she started back at the end of the year when we got out here. She also makes bread just about every day and has had our current batch of that going since we've been out here. As far as toiletries are concerned, she keeps us stocked up with a powdered tooth paste that is made out of arrowroot, salt, baking soda, peppermint extract and stevia. I find the salty taste wonderful and feel like it is cleaning my mouth better...after all, we took care of Willow's barbed wire wounds with only a saline solution! She also makes an herbal, garden mouthwash that is made out of fresh parsley, mint, water and vodka. This, too, is very refreshing and feels very cleansing, and it's always fun to find a reason to take a little swig of vodka first thing in the morning...er, I mean, I always rinse and spit. For herself, Erin makes her own face toner out of fresh mint, vinegar and water...once again, the word that she would use for it is refreshing. Her latest ventures have also included perfecting her own coconut-milk hair conditioner and a shampoo made out of water, a drop of oil and Dr. Bronner's soap. She's very eager to see what she can do with some new things out here like: cholla fruits; prickly pear fruits; prickly pear paddles; juniper berries; pinyon pitch; and some crazy-looking wild ground plums that we found on a hike a week or two ago!

One of the things that makes our relationship work is the fact that we're both an even mix of loner and social butterfly. We have both worked since our teenage years(Erin since 12, me since 14) and can put the face on and mix with everyone from the elites on down to the woodhicks. We are content to be out on this ranch and not go to town much, spending a lot of time in our cottage together, but also freely coming and going to work on our different projects without much fanfare. Part of all of this is Erin feeling comfortable with solo trips into both Santa Fe and Las Vegas to get things that we need for the ranch, for us personally, trips to the post office, or running other errands for Kim. We both like the grittier and earthier Las Vegas, but are also blown away with the age, pedigree and overabundance of resources in Santa Fe. On some recent solo trips to Santa Fe, Erin has done everything from discovering a new, favorite grocery store(Smith's...after first checking out Albertson's, Sprout's, Trader Joe's; Semilla and Lowe's in Las Vegas). She also found an amazing Mexican grocery store, called el Paisano(the Countryman), which has its own restaurant, carniceria(butcher), deli and was stocked full of all kinds of specialty canned goods and drinks from all over Latin America, as well as just about every kind of pepper and spice known to man. Very cool...I went with her for a second visit recently to see it for myself and to translate some things for her, but it is going to definitely be a go-to for us! Lastly, in a similar vein, once and a while on Friday nights I cut out right after work and throw the dogs in the car and go into Vegas to run errands or even just burn up some highway and follow that old, white line all the way up to Wagon Mound and back, just to get off the ranch and to jam out to some tunes. When I do this, Erin does the nightly feeding with the horses and has gone from being somewhat timid around them and really unsure of herself around them, to waltzing around in her flip-flops with her Pepe Loco lager in hand, sweet-talking them and hanging out with them around the buggy like they go way back!

Now, for a new batch of pictures! These are all from Erin over the last month or two and are as follows: first up, two shots of George, her garden buddy. There was what she thought was a snake hole along one of the garden beds, but she now thinks that it's George's pad since she'd probably have to make an okay sign with her fingers to fit her hand around his body; next up is a local lizard around the house that was hanging on the screen door one morning; then the road-struck rattlesnake, first skinned and tacked up, then the rattle up close; next, two of the dogs, first Ela waiting for me to return from work(she springs up about 15 minutes before I get back like clockwork!), then her and Willow(you know, the two that like to fight) all snuggled up together in the corner of the couch; then, three horse shots that Erin took, the first two of them eating out of the buggy and then one of just Freedom covered in mud; next, two shots of blanket flowers; then, two shots of aphids and ladybugs duking it out on a plant stalk; and, finally, a quick 'meal' that I threw together for us one night when Erin crashed and didn't get around to making dinner...nothing like some crackers, pretzels, cheddar cheese and homemade apple butter! Hmm, hmm, hmm! She calls these 'Scottmeals,' which to my ears sounds a little condescending...not all of us can cook six things at the same time!

Take care.