Chivey Pasta

As heard on the Sagebrush Variety Show Farm Report, here’s the recipe for...

Chivey Pasta

This is a recipe Robert developed one early Spring day when the only thing growing in our garden was chives--lots of them--and nothing else. He rose to the challenge of finding a way to use large quantities of chives in an easy and delicious dish. It has become a household favorite.

1/2 to 1 C (or more) of chives, chopped
1 lb pasta
1/4 C Earth Balance spread
1/4 C unsweetened soy or rice milk
4 T soy sauce
1/2 C nutritional yeast flakes or powder
3 cloves garlic, chopped
dash olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

Cook the pasta until al dente and drain. In a large skillet, sautee the garlic in the olive oil till soft. Add the pasta to the skillet, along with the chives. Toss together for a moment and then reduce heat to low. Add the Earth Balance and mix until melted. Add the nutritional yeast and stir well, gradually adding the soy milk and soy sauce. Continue to toss ingredients together over low heat, until the soy milk is completely absorbed or evaporated. Add fresh black pepper.

Bucky on Deconstructing Dinner

Bucky Buckaw's Backyard Chicken Broadcast was recently featured on Deconstructing Dinner, a weekly one-hour radio show and podcast hosted by Jon Steinman. The show covers a wide range of food security issues, and the Sagebrush Players have long been fans of the show. If you haven't listened to it yet, we strongly recommend it.

Bucky's show will be featured again in upcoming shows in the Backyard Chickens theme in the larger context of the Farming in the City series on Deconstructing Dinner.

No-Chicken Soup Recipes

Mother's Garlic and Spinach Soup 2 heads garlic 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil 5 cups good-quality vegetable broth 4 cups chopped fresh spinach leaves, tough stems discarded.

Preheat oven to 425.

Remove the outer papery covering of the garlic (leave the inner skin). Slice off the top of each head so most of the cloves are exposed. Place on a square of aluminum foil for easy cleanup, or select the smallest baking dish you have. Drizzle 1 teaspoon oil over each head. Fold the foil over the garlic to completely enclose it, or cover the baking dish with foil.

Roast for about 45 minutes, until the garlic is completely soft and lightly browned.

When cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic pulp into a medium-sized saucepan. Add the broth and stir well to combine. Simmer for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.

Just before serving, stir in the spinach and simmer until wilted, about 4 minutes. Stir vigorously (the garlic has tendency to settle out.)

Serve hot. Serves 2 to 4.

Adapted from "The Roasted Vegetable," by Andrea Chesman (Harvard Common Press, 2002)

Simple and Clean Potato Soup (aka Flu Season Weapon)

6 to 8 big potatoes 2 to 4 large cloves fresh garlic salt to taste water

Wash, peel dice those potatoes. Peel & mince garlic.

Slightly warm the garlic in pan with something oily, just to get it going (don't brown it or the goodness is gone). Add potatoes, add water just to hover over the potatoes. Cover and cook until soft. Salt to taste during process.

Tip: if you work NOT to mash those potatoes when cooking (contrary to the theory of most potato souping) you end up with lovely shimmery broth.

Serves 4

Hot and Sour Soup

8 c vegetable stock and/or water 1 oz. dried Chinese black mushrooms 3 T dry sherry or rice wine c cider vinegar 2 T soy sauce 1 t salt 1 pound firm tofu, thinly sliced 2 T cornstarch 6 green onions, minced 1 t white pepper sesame oil

In small bowl, pour 2 c boiling water over dried mushrooms. Cover with plate and let sit 30 minutes. Drain and squeeze mushrooms, saving the liquid. De-stem mushrooms, discard stems, and slice caps.

Combine remaining 6 c vegetable stock with mushroom liquid and mushrooms. Bring to a simmer.

Add sherry, soy sauce, salt, and tofu, lower heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

In the bowl, whisk cornstarch into ? c soup until dissolved. Return this liquid to the soup.

Add green onions and pepper, cook another 2-3 minutes, and serve with a few drops of sesame oil on top of each serving.

Optional - If you live with chickens in your backyard and they are still laying eggs you can add 2 eggs, beaten, to the soup just before the green onions and pepper.

6-8 servings Adapted from Molly Katzen's New Moosewood Cookbook.

Subru Uncle's Delicious Spicy South Indian Rasam Curry for Curing Cold Cough Fever or Bad Throat

3 cups water 5 teaspoons salt 6 tablespoons oil 2 medium green chilies, slit 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled,washed and finely chopped 1 clove garlic, peeled,washed and finely chopped 5 tablespoons whole black peppercorns 1 cup of fresh curry leaves, washed and torn 1 teaspoon mustard seeds 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi) 3 whole red chilies 2 medium tomatoes, washed, peeled and chopped into cubes 1/4 cup water (This is to be added to cook the tomatoes) 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder 2 teaspoons turmeric powder 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander powder 7 cups water (This is added to prepare the curry for rasam. You can add more or less depending on the consistency) 1/2 cup tamarind pulp 3 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves, washed and finely chopped (to garnish) 6 servings

1 hour 50 minutes 50 mins prep

Immunity-boosting miso soup

Half a cup wakame or kombu seaweed Three tablespoons miso paste (gen mai) Four shiitake and/or reishi mushrooms (dried or fresh) One and a half cups of chopped vegetables (leek, onion, carrot, cabbage, turnips, potatoes, yam) Half a cup of tofu pieces Four to five cups of water (or vegetable stock or seaweed soaking water) One teaspoom sesame oil One teaspoon ginger, grated One clove of garlic, minced

If you are using dried mushrooms, soak mushrooms in boiling water for one hour, discard the stems and soaking water.

Soak seaweed in water (wakame: 20 min, kombu: 4 min), keep soaking water. Cut seaweed into strips.

Sauté seaweed and vegetables in a pan with a little oil.

Add water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 10 minutes. Then add tofu pieces.

Cream miso in a little broth and return to soup. Cook on low heat for a couple of minutes. Do not overheat miso as it will destroy the active lactobacillus (beneficial bacteria).

Garnish (seeds, toasted nori flakes, chives, parsley). Serves four.

Serves 4 Recipe created by Lisa Guy 'Art of Healing'

From Robert: Study Guide to Diarrhea Monster Skit

I really like this skit but I will admit that upon hearing it the night before its premiere air time I realized it may be one of the weirdest skits I’ve written for Sagebrush as well as the most difficult to understand without any background. So here’s the deal:

A company called Ventria really is developing a genetically modified rice that will be grown, not as a food crop, but as biological laboratories for medicines. The idea is the rice will produce two human proteins found in mother's milk, saliva and tears, which help people hydrate and lessens the severity and duration of diarrhea. The proteins are extracted from the rice after harvest and sold as medicine. Diarrhea really is a very serious problem in developing countries, where it is a leading cause of child mortality but as some of the characters in the skit point out there are cheaper and more sensible treatments and preventions already available such as sanitation and the cultures commonly found in yogurt.

Meanwhile, new studies have recently come out pointing to evidence that genetically engineered crops may produce herbicide while they are in our intestines. The health effects of this are unknown but some pretty terrifying possibilities have been put forth by credible scientists (although I’m the only one talking about people spontaneously exploding).

All this made me imagine a piece of fiction where the theoretically well-intentioned company rushes this dangerous product to market as a profit-generating solution to a global problem but it winds up creating new problems. For some reason, rather than thinking in terms of plausible speculative fiction I imagined it more as cheesy science fiction. Then we constructed it in "featurette" format with just the highlights telling the story - kind of like the audio version of a movie trailer.

For facts on the true stories this flash fiction are based on I recommend reading this article on Genetically engineered rice threatens safety of crops. A link to a piece on Genetically Engineered Crops May Produce Herbicide Inside Our Intestines. And, an overview on the GM industry that recently caught my fancy Seeds of Deception.

This Week's Essay

This Week's Essay is an unapologetic spoof on the Essay of the Week by Diane Josephy-Peavey (DJP) heard in Idaho on NPR affiliates. For many years, Idahoans have heard her romanticize and glorify ranching in the West through her radio essays, claiming that livestock herds are good for the environment and that ranchers are environmental stewards of the land. She is married to an Idaho sheep/cattle rancher whose family has been entrenched in Idaho politics for generations. The Peaveys graze their herds on public lands in some of the most degraded areas in the state.

This Week's Essay serves not only to ridicule DJP’s familiar reading and writing style, but also to bust some of the ranching myths she (and her corporate and lobbyist sponsors) perpetuates through these essays. It should be noted that Idaho tax dollars also support DJP's work.

We also use the This Week's Essay format to convey thoughts on issues of local interest. Last week you heard:

Weeds: This essay is the most obvious DJP spoof to date. Read in a similar voice, using similar clichés, discussing DJP’s favorite subject—sheep—this essay addresses just two of the many invasive non-native weeds spread by livestock across the West: Canada Thistle and Leafy Spurge. Joanne Sheepsley-Peasy’s delivery is just as cheerful and insipid as the real thing.

Homemade No-Knead Bread on the Farm Report

Ever since the NY Times interviewed a baker, Jim Lahey, who generously revealed his recipe for idiot-proof no-knead bread, there's been an international buzz about it. News got to Idaho, and we've tested the recipe and some variations with consistent results: amazing, rustic, artisan, old-world style bread.

On this week's show, we asked breadmaking first-timer Kevin Bayhouse to make a loaf. It turned out wonderful!

We're helping to spread the recipe to help you get off your dependence of corporate bread (puh!). It used to be that you could get a decent loaf from a local bakery, but nowadays they have either gone out of business or cater to upscale clientele with big bucks to spare for a fancy loaf to go with their foie gras. Here's a recipe for us lumpenprole:

Step 1:

3 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp yeast
1-1/2 cups water

Mix the flour, salt, and yeast in a bowl. Add the water and mix with your hand for a few seconds until the ingredients are combined. Cover the dough in the bowl and let it sit for at least 12 hours (we've tried up to 47 hours with success).

Step 2:
Remove the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface and fold over one or two times. Sprinkle what bran, oat bran, or corn meal on a kitchen towel and wrap the dough in the towel (the bran is to keep the dough from sticking to the towel). Let sit for 2 hours.

Step 3:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F, and preheat an ovenproof bowl or pot in it. When it's hot, drop the dough into it and bake, covered (with lid or dish), for 25 minutes. Remove the lid after 25 minutes and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes. When done, allow the bread to cool before slicing.

Here's what Kevin's loaf looked like.

If you're fascinated and want to know more, here's a web site that has a huge online discussion about the bread, different things people have tried, and loads of photos. And here's a link to the video interview with baker Jim Lahey. He says this bread is better than any you could buy in a store, even when made by a 4-year-old.

We also came a cross a related report on the secret behind making baguettes on the fascinating Cooking for Engineers website. Looks like the slow fermentation approach is not such a big secret, after all.

Ever since we insisted that Kevin make bread for the first time ever - and it turned out great - he's become a breadmaking fiend. Here I have graphed his breadbaking activities. He's been baking, on average, one loaf every 2.5 days. He's even been photographing the outcomes. In the meantime I've been testing proportions with whole wheat loaves. For those who have been waiting, here's what I've found:

• 100% whole wheat loaf: use 1 and 3/4 cups water
• 50% whole wheat loaf: use 1 and 5/8 cups water

The basic formula is that for every 3 cups of whole wheat flour, use 1/4 cup extra water This, of course, is the recipe we worked out in the semi-arid climate of Idaho. If you're in, say, the Northeast, you might need less water.

Sagebrush on the Air in Olympic Penisula!

We're very psyched to report that KAYO-LP, 94.3 FM in Aberdeen, WA and Hoquiam, WA, and on their translator in Olympia at 92.9 FM, will be broadcasting the Sagebrush Variety Show twice a week: Wednesdays @ 9pm and Sundays @ 4pm, Pacific Time. And just to remind you, you can hear Bucky Buckaw's Backyard Chicken Broadcast on that frequency, too, Tuesdays 9:45am and Sundays 12:45pm PST. Since they play Bucky's show already, we aren't including it in their version of the SVS, but Carl Etnier's Peak Oil Check-In is still included. The UV-Eye-Opener is not included.

UV Eye Opener Returns for 3rd Season

Since the producers of the Sagebrush Variety Show also help put together the UV Eye Opener--bringing you the high points and low points of the Idaho legislature while it's in session--and it's all politics, we include it in the Idaho broadcasts of the show. Did that make grammatical sense? Anyway, we miss Roger Sherman's take on the madness in the statehouse, but we're happy to have gotten Jim Hansen on board to take over the writing. Robert will read it, since logistics and Jim's busy schedule (as well as ours) do not allow for us to get together long enough to record the ten-minute piece. The UV Eye-Opener also plays on KRFP, Radio Free Moscow during Morning Mix at 8 and 9:30 am Pacific Time on Mondays.

Peak Oil Check-In Comes to SVS 1/15

We've decided to add a new regular segment to the Sagebrush Variety Show: Peak Oil Check-In by Carl Etnier. Carl has his own radio show in northern Vermont called Relocalizing Vermont, and his is the first segment included on our show that is not produced by us. We think it fits right in with the rest of our content.

Bucky Buckaw Podcast

Bucky's newest season is podcasting! Subscribe here.

Bucky Comes to Northern Vermont

Bucky Buckaw's Backyard Chicken Broadcast will premiere in northern Vermont on Thanskgiving! Check out the Relocalizing Vermont show on WGDR, Plainfield, VT 91.1 FM, Thursday mornings 8:30am - 10am. Carl Etnier hosts the show, and he's got quite a bit in common with us Sagefolk, so we're glad to have connected with a kindred spirit.

Autumn Update

It's been a while since we've posted here, but we're making changes to the content available on this website due to storage issues. The podcast will temporarily be suspended, but the good news is that we're going to make selected individual segments of the show available for download.

Unfinished Business: Spuddy Buddy and more

So in these last few shows, I've pulled out a lot of "unfinished" pieces -- things we recorded or started recording but either didn't finish or get to use. You've been exposed to some of them now: The Militant Grammarian, Male Privilege, and the forgettable Little Spuddy piece.

Little Spuddy is nothing more than Idaho's anthropomorphised potato mascot, Spuddy Buddy. There was some trade mission to Mexico a few years ago that included Butch Otter, Larry Craig, and some other of our fine dignitaries, as well as some guy in a Spuddy Buddy costume. Apparently he was stopped at the Mexican border and not allowed to enter Mexico. Oh, the outrage that ensued. [good photos here] Here's a typically Idahoan and rather racist press release from the Idaho Potato Commission itself. Our Little Spuddy piece was completely unscripted and improvised, but based on these events. There was also the gawdawful National Potato Board song we were going to spoof, but didn't record that. At the time, the Mr Potato Head people had not gotten involved but have since adopted it as their own.

The Militant Grammarian was the first in what would be a series on Linguistic Imperialism. There are mistakes made all the time with idiomatic expressions (not to mention individual words), and this is the nature of language in its spoken manifestation. But we wanted to get at some tangential things going on in speaker's heads that influence the outcome of their utterances. In the Militant Grammarian that got produced, we didn't dig too deep, but managed to make a relaxed connection between black English and cultural appropriation by using the example "jibe with it" or "it doesn't jibe." Originally a sailing term, it got into vernacular use when people wanted to say "something's not quite right" ("that doesn't jibe"). Only recently, we keep hearing people say "that doesn't jive" -- and that, if you take it literally, means something totally different. Think jive turkey or jive talking.

Anyway, listen to the piece for the whole story. You can download shows 55 and on from our Show Guide page or podcast 'em.

Male Privilege and Feminism

I came across Barry Deutsch's Male Privilege Checklist about a year and a half ago and got the Sagebrush men to read it. I was hoping to do something fancier with it but for some reason it kept getting pushed aside. It's simply a list (by no means exhaustive) of things men take for granted. He based it on an essay by Peggy McIntosh entitled White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, which of course deals with many things white people take for granted because they don't have to go through the same problems as people of color.

It's not accusatory, just enlightening -- and something, IMO, Idahoans in particular need to hear more of. I've never heard more outrageous attitudes and outright misinterpretation of feminism than in Idaho, not even counting all the Limbaugh parroting about "feminazism." In fact, it's such a stifling environment when it comes to equality of any kind that some of the worst offenders are women themselves. I guess that's internalized sexism; I mean, who wants to be labeled a -- you know, I won't even write it because I don't want to perpetuate that crap or risk putting a seed into someone's head who may not be familiar with what I'm getting at.

Feminists come is many varieties and schools of philosophy, but what it all boils down to is wanting to be treated fairly and equally, in terms of respect, in terms of power, income, expectations, standards, and all the unwritten rules that dictate what is okay for a woman to be or do. This is the same for race or class, or men, for that matter, or anyone who falls into one of those "in between" areas.

So why is it so offensive to adopt a belief system that demands equality for all? That is my question.

The Day Idaho Stood Still

Kevin Bayhouse's satire of the science-fiction classic movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still is currently running on the Sagebrush Variety Show. In this adaptation, a flying saucer lands in a park in Boise and the usual mayhem ensues, including characters Governor Clem Stoat and Boise Mayor Abe Biter.

United Vision for Idaho's UV-Eye-Opener Returns

It took us a couple weeks to get a hold of Roger Sherman and make arrangements for producing an audio version of his weekly bulletin on the best and worst of the Idaho legislature while they're in session from UVI's progressive perspective. Normally, Roger reads them in his distinctive wry style but to catch you up to January's events all the Sagebrush Variety Show players got together to perform a special multi-voice dramatic reading for presentation on this weeks show. For the ongoing UV-Eye-Opener broadcast check the Boise Community Radio Schedule for webcast times. Highlanders can also tune in to KRFP 92.5, Moscow where it will start to air sometime this week. You can also read the UV-Eye-Opener at United Vision for Idaho's website. But, honestly, the audio versions are loads of hand-free listening fun that you won't want to miss.

Bucky Buckaw on The Bravery of Chickens and the Cowardice of Congress

Animal Enterprise Terrorist Act (AETA) is as falsely labelled as the PATRIOT ACT. As Bucky says on this weeks Backyard Chicken Broadcast, this bill is not about violent individuals with an agenda. It is about suppressing legitimate criticism of companies. Despite claims that there is a clause in the bill that exempts first amendment protected activities, a wide range of legal experts including Sagebrush Variety Show favorite, National Lawyers Guild, agree that the clause is weak, at best. Undercover investigations, employee whistle-blowing, organizing boycotts, and standing outside a fast food joint handing out pro-vegetarianism leaflets are now all officially equated with terrorism. Seriously, Bucky Buckaw could be convicted and punished as a "terrorist" since his nefarious plan includes telling the truth about factory farms and phony "free-range" operations in order to get people to raise backyard chickens to give up grocery store eggs. AETA is opposed by more than 160 animal protection, social justice, and civil liberty organizations including: National Lawyers Guild, Humane Society of the U.S., ASPCA, Natural Resources Defense Council, the League of Humane Voters and more.

Butch Otter was an original cosponsor of the AETA in 2005. I guess his heroic libertarian streak reaches its limit when the opportunity arises to imprison anyone who might someday picket the Governor's mansion in defense of wolves, ferrets, puppies, kittens or baby chicks. But he was in good company. The bill sailed through both houses with the sole objection coming from Dennis Kucinich as reported here. Barak Obama, "progressive" flavor of the month for the NPR set, attempts to justify AETA in this letter to Blogger, John A. Duerk.

Check out the Equal Justice Alliance anti-AETA site for more information on AETA and how to continue the effort to restore our civil liberties.

Homeland Security Level Red: Photo-Terrorism

This weeks Level Red is inspired by the Reporter Arrested for Photographing Governor's Inauguration Parade in Connecticut earlier this month. Now, consider that Boise and the Spokane/Moscow area have Criminal Investigation Units that are part of the same Local Franchise Opportunities in Homeland Security as the one that decided that Ken Krayeske's work on Green Party campaigns merited a folder with large glossy photographs and, apparently, instructions to arrest on sight. We really, really, love this annotated arrest record.

In fictionalizing our account we made the educated guess that Krayeske was familiar with the National Lawyers Guild Know Your Rights pamphlet. The Sagebrush Players strongly recommend everyone read it before they are arrested. To recap, listeners to our show know that you may be detained, arrested or at least harassed if you: wear a t-shirt with arabic lettering on it, are a documented Green Party volunteer, make non-traditional dietary choices, display the wrong bumper sticker of your bicycle or motor vehicle, are a clown on a unicycle, etc.

The upbeat angle to the story is that people are finally getting outraged about this sort of thing and supporting their fellow activists as noted on Krayeske's Blog. Particularly inspiring is how Connecticut Democrats in the Legislature have made the uncharacteristic decision that defending a fellow wonk's political rights is more important than silencing the Green Party through restrictive ballot access laws, constant negative spinmeistering and various social punishments.

Bucky's Backyard Broadcast: Background Links

As promised, here's the page with notable quotes from chicken intelligence researchers. and the study indicating chickens worry. In other words they can anticipate the future and act to influence outcomes. Also, a sample conversation from a fairly typical chicken message board. And in all fairness, I should post to the two essays that dared to talk smack about chicken smarts. There's no doubt that Barbara Kingsolver has a profound appreciation of chickens in Lily's Chickens and When Chickens Fall From the Sky got a chuckle from me despite the "size of a pea" crack. It does seem like the hens get more respect than the men in her family.

Homeland Security Level Red: Rutabagas & Emmetonians - Episode Links

This episode is inspired by The Idaho Green Party, the city of Emmett police and the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) but the main inspiration was this article, Protester=Criminal?, from The Progressive. You know the oft quoted and even more often paraphrased "they came for so and so and I just chilled, then they came for so and so and I was like, it's not my problem, then they came for me and there was no one left to watch my back"? Well, they came for the clowns in 2003 so watch yer back.

I couldn't bear to change the Flying Rutabagas cool name for this episode but the members names and other details are, of course, tweaked for fiction. I'm not sure what the organization or its founding members are up to these days but the original Cycle Circus website is still up.

It is true, however, that Idaho Green Party member, Kevin Bayhouse, ran for Ada County Highway District with a logo featuring a unicycle on his website, pamphlets and road signs. Unfortunately, we never managed to arrange for a real unicyclist to help promote our cause.

Furthermore, although the real Rutabagas didn't protest the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). I'm pretty sure they would agree with our own Bucky Buckaw's anti-NAIS sentiments. NAIS uses the flimsy excuse of disease control as a rationale for a widespread program of microchipping and databasing of poultry and livestock that would be a boon to agribusiness but would most likely smother small farming and backyard animals. After several years of protest from small farmers, homesteaders and "hobbyists," the USDA has officially toned down their rhetoric about mandatory, universal implementation. However, it seems NAIS proponents simply changed strategies to make it appear as if it's not a federal plan but one being implemented by a each states Department of Agriculture. For more on how the NAIS two recommended starting points would NO NAIS and Stop Animal I.D.

The bit about the FBI going through people's trash and the nerdy agent putting a "trash cover kit" in the secret santa pool came from the Sagebrush Variety Shows mole in the Bureau so we can't give you any more details on that. We've said too much already but we thought it was too good to pass up.

And finally, the Sagebrush Variety Show Players have, indeed, been stopped by the Emmet police on flimsy pretexts - at least 3 times. "Technically not breaking the speed limit but failure to slow down well in advance of a new posted speed limit" was one of them and the fictional "interrogation" scene is actually edited down considerably from the interminable and pointless ones we experienced. Tune in next week for Level Red based on Ken Krayeske's outrageous arrest at the hands of his local CIU (it can happen here, folks, Boise's CIU is no doubt spying on your local group as we speak).