Journal

[gallery ids="428,426,425,432,436,435,433,424,427,430,429,434,431"] It's that time again to keep vigil by the mailbox for the next issue of Taproot. If you've subscribed, you should see your copy soon, if not, or if your subscription has lapsed, there's still time to subscribe or renew and get your copy.
It might seem incredibly corny to have the theme DREAM for our spring issue, but I'd like to suggest that it's anything but. Emerging from the depths of winter, we can use plenty of inspiration as we prepare for the mad dash that is the all-too-short growing season, at least here in the Northeast.
And this issue is filled with all manner of inspiring contributions sure to get your own juices flowing and imagination soaring with the possibilities that spring always brings. Kicking off the issue is Schirin Oeding's piece about the plight of honeybees. Hopefully you'll come away committed to lending a hand by setting up your own hive. Push a few pages in and you'll find Stacy Brenner suggesting an alternative to traditional farm ownership that could give aspiring farmers access to land and engage local communities in securing open lands for future generations.
We'll not shortshrift our Hands or Heart sections either. Following on the heels of her wonderful piece from Issue 4 about home cheesemaking, Louella Hill takes us on a journey to pick up some raw milk and then prepare kefir and spiced ghee (yummy!). New contributors Bridget Rose McKeen and Amy Thompson provide with us with ideas big and small for sharing the joys of family and commmuity, all while living closer to the ground. Regular contributors Ben Hewitt and Meredith Winn also add some heartfelt thoughts that will give you something to think about as you wander the rows poking your seedlings into the ground.
We're also releasing signed prints of art in Issue 5 from Clayton Thompson and Phoebe Wahl. Take a look below to see them or visit the Print Shop for our full selection. [gallery ids="439,437,440,438"] In other news, full details of the inaugural Taproot Gathering are now up, including class teachers and the full schedule. Head over and take a peek, won't you? We're really excited to see it all come together and hope to see you there. Remember, registration opens April 8. -jason

          Cheesemaking! Rocket stoves! Packbaskets! Poetry! Photography! Thrift shopping! Natural Fiber Dyeing! Farm visits! Papercutting! Oh my....we could go on and on with all the wonderful offerings that have been pulled together from our East Coast Taproot contributors and the Squam community of teachers for our first ever Taproot Gathering at Squam. Classes during the day, a beautiful environment in which to enjoy and relax, and evening activities to keep you entertained and engaged. Oh! And let's not forget the food! All our meals will be lovingly and locally prepared by Bread and Butter Catering, the latest project from Josh and Katie of One Fifty Ate and Pocket Brunch fame.   Our Gathering will be happening September 11-15th in Holderness, New Hampshire and you can now find all the nitty gritty details over on the Squam website. Registration opens on April 8th, giving you lots of time to mull it all over and plan and prepare for all the goodness that's sure to happen there.   We hope you can join us!

Snow captures and holds for our future inspection the movements of the creatures and machines with whom we share our land. Here are just a few from this winter. Moose! We noticed these down in the field outside our bedroom one morning. Rachael went down later in the day for a closer inspection and found where the big fella (or missus) came up a pretty sheer rise from the ATV/snowmobile trail, tore down our electric cattle fence, ambled across the field, and then took out another of section on the way back down. Looks like I'll be replacing some fence come spring, once we need to run the cow down that way. In case you don't see how big those prints are, here are a few more shots for scale.   And here are a few more reminders that our neighbors are everywhere: Birds (a grouse?) and a snowshoe hare. A mouse who has made a winter home in our greenhouse. A fox who went across our upper field and, I think... may have found something to eat, if the tracks indicate a conflagration, as I think they might. Snowmobilers roam the trails around our house. Except at night when we see their headlights flash by, they are not often noticed. My son walks in circles through the snow, creating spirals that he returns to, all through the season. I believe he finds walking through them meditative. Whenever fresh snow falls, filling in the trails, he comes back out and recreates the path. -jason

I'm just home from a whirlwind trip down to Providence, Rhode Island where all sorts of Taproot dreaming and doing happened. Elizabeth and I put some final and exciting touches on the Taproot Gathering at Squam, I chatted with contributor Christine Chitnis about the good things she's cooking up for future issues, and I spent some time with illustrator Phoebe Wahl, just months away from her RISD graduation. It was a delight to see more of her work in person, including these sweet creatures (above) brought to life in three dimensional form. I traveled home with a big box full of Phoebe's prints for our Print Shop, now signed and headed next to Vermont where they'll be packed and shipped out to you very soon! ~ amanda

  I am over the moon excited to share news of a special something we've been working on! Though it's just a little sneak peek, a save the date really, we hope it will hold you over and excite you too, until full and final details are ready to share in just a little while. This coming September 11-15, 2013, we'll be bringing the pages of Taproot magazine to life in a 5-day retreat on Squam Lake in New Hampsire. A natural collaboration between two businesses dedicated to celebrating handmade, mindful living, community, and a love of the natural world - Taproot Magazine and Squam Art Workshops - is coming together to bring you a Taproot Gathering at Squam! I've had the pleasure and honor of participating in Squam and working with its magic-making creator Elizabeth Duvivier both as a guest, teacher and friend...and am so happy to add 'collaborators of good gatherings' to what we do together.  We've been scheming and dreaming up all kinds of goodness to bring to you at this gathering - from making your own cheese to dyeing yarn, carving wooden spoons to arranging flowers, and writing, sewing, and photography, oh my! Stay tuned until late February for all the details in DREAM, your next issue of Taproot, as well as both here and on the Squam website! ~ amanda

Casting on for my Two Lights Blanket (by Carrie Bostick Hoge, featured in Issue 4 :: WOOD). I think it's going to be just the bit of sunshine to knit my way through the darker days of winter. ~ amanda

One of the few downsides to a print magazine (unlike this format) is that you can actually run out of room. Such was the case with this delicious mushroom gravy recipe from Ashley English that didn't make it into ISSUE 4::WOOD. -jason Marvelous Mushroom Gravy Welcome to your new favorite, go-to gravy. Every kitchen needs one, and here it is. Equally delicious over biscuits, toast points, vegetables or protein, this gravy will satisfy vegetarians and carnivores alike. Yield: 4-6 servings. The Goods: 1 pound mushrooms, sliced* 5 Tablespoons butter, divided 2 cloves garlic 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 cup chicken or mushroom stock ½ cup half & half or heavy cream ¼ cup red wine (optional) 1 teaspoon dried marjoram 1 teaspoon dried sage 1 teaspoon dried thyme Several grinds of black pepper Pinch of salt, if desired *You can use whatever mushrooms you prefer. We’re fond of a combination of cremini and shiitake, but really, any mushrooms will work equally well. The Deal:

1) Melt 3 Tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a heavy sauté pan. 2) Add the sliced mushrooms. Stir to coat with the melted butter. 3) Mince the cloves of garlic; set aside while the mushrooms cook. 4) Cook the mushrooms for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated. 5) Add the garlic, and cook for two more minutes. 6) Remove the pan from the heat. Spoon the mixture into a bowl; set aside to cool for several minutes. 7) In a food processor or blender, puree the mushrooms until they are fine little bits. 8) Melt the two remaining tablespoons of butter in the sauté pan over medium heat. 9) Add the flour to the melted butter, and stir constantly for a minute. 10) Add the mushrooms to the pan, and stir them into the flour for another minute. 11) Add the stock, cream, wine, and seasonings. 12) Cook for about 12 minutes, stirring frequently, until thickened. 13) Remove the pan from heat. Allow the gravy to cool slightly before serving. 14) Spoon over biscuits, toast points, vegetables, or the protein of your choice.

With the White Mountains separating us from our respective Maine and Vermont homes, our periodic gatherings make for lovely New England drives. Most especially on bright and sunny winter days, and when they center around a pie, good and local drink, and great conversation full of new ideas. (at The Parker Pie Co.) ~ amanda

[gallery type="slideshow" ids="268,259,260,261,262,263,264,265,266,267,271,270"] We had such a wonderful time at the Common Ground Country Fair! A yearly tradition for our family, it was a treat to be there for the first time with Taproot. We shared our days with many wandering-by-contributors, and many friends old and new. I was happy to be reminded in the faces we saw and the conversations we had that there are so many of us out here, living fully, digging deeper. ~ amanda

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Photos from September Squam

In June, we participated in the Squam Art Fair (alas, no photos) and returned again in September with a retooled sign, a spiffy new red typewriter (for collecting e-mail addresses, natch!) and two more issues under our belt. We visited with subscribers as well as folks who hadn't heard of us and also had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with Maya Stein, who wrote the wonderful piece in ISSUE 3::RETREAT about her cross-country travels from her home in Boston to the birthplace of the typewriter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We also visited with Maya Donenfeld who has contributed clever crafts to several issues, Pixie Campbell, whose amazing art and words closed out ISSUE 4::WOOD and Meredith Winn who contributed heartfelt photo essays to our first three issues. It's funny how working an event like this can be simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting. Of course it was nothing compared with our first vist as vendors to Common Ground Country Fair, just a week later. -jason

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Photos from our Portland, ME Launch Event

After the publication of ISSUE 1::SOIL, we gathered in Hardwick, Vermont at the Galaxy Bookshop and in Portland, Maine at Longfellow Books to celebrate the launch of the magazine. Contributors from around both locales (as well as Ashley English, who traveled all the way from North Carolina with her family!) joined us to read from their pieces. Well wishers traveled from all around to hear them and to visit with us about Taproot. In Portland, after the event at Longfellow, we had a terrific party at 158 Pickett Street Cafe (they kept the cafe open for us after their normal Sunday crowd had already departed!), where we spent some time getting to know our contributors in person as well as a few folks from the event who had tagged along. Here's a belated, but still warm, "Thank You!" to all who attended, to our contributors and to the bookstore staff. -jason