November 23, 2020 by

Hello all you souls! Here’s a quick round up of things I’ve wanted to tell you about:

Don’t be a candle in a breeze. Be a fire in the wind.

Fools Crow by James Welch is a book I have been reading and will finish up tonight. I wish I could read it again for the first time. It’s an amazing story, I’ve never read anything like it. The style it was written in has required me to learn a new…dialect or…lexicon…I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe if you’ve read it you know what I mean? This book comes with my highest recommendations. It’s a very beautiful telling of a very human story. Please consider searching for a copy of it at your local bookseller or with independent online booksellers before you one click purchase it off of Amazon. Amazon doesn’t need any more of your money.

We revisited the Lord of the Rings movies over the past few weeks. They’re comfort films for me and I watch them multiple times throughout the year. Sometimes I play them in the background on my workbench while I satin finish earrings by hand or set stones. The message of hope is so strong in that story and it never fails to uplift me. There’s one scene in particular when Legolas is in an armory with Aragorn preparing for an impossible battle against ten thousand orcs and he says, “Forgive me, I was wrong to despair.” I love that scene. It’s simple but important. Don’t despair. There is always hope.

I popped out to the Bruneau Cowboy Christmas two weekends ago and it was so much fun to be out and about with ranchy and farmy artists and craftsmen. Everybody kept telling me they loved my hat. Ha ha!!! That actually means a lot coming from cowboys and cowgirls. The show takes over the entire (tiny) town of Bruneau and it really is a sweet time. I felt I was in good company there and ten different people recognized me and asked me if I was “that girl who makes jewelry” and then we had long, warm chats together. I had such a wonderful time meeting so many great people. My friends. My neighbors. My fellow artists. My Idahoans. Are you headed out to any art fairs this holiday season, if they haven’t all been canceled? I really have no idea what’s going on in the rest of the country this holiday season.

If you are looking to add organ meats to your diet (because they’re a remarkable super food!!!) and you’re having trouble procuring a clean, grass fed and grass finished option, or, if you want organ meats in your diet but you can’t stomach cooking them and eating them because you find the flavor off-putting, I want to tell you about Ancestral Supplements. I think they’re doing such a great job. The beef components that make their supplements are raised on grass and grass finished in New Zealand. They operate under the ancient notion that a heart feeds the heart, a liver feeds the liver, adrenals feed the adrenals, gallbladder feeds the gallbladder…etc. You might like to add their medicine to your medicine cabinet as we go into this winter. I’m working on a bottle of their adrenal capsules and I’m grateful to have it.

It’s shrub season! This is a simple yet powerful concoction to keep in the fridge this time of year and it’s easy to make. I use a 1:1:1/4 ratio — 1 cup cranberries, 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 local raw honey. I put it all in a little saucepan and boil it until the cranberries pop open and the entire mess resembles watery cranberry sauce. I turn off the flame and let it cool and then strain the berries off with a mesh strainer. I’m not a purist about clarity, I like some of the berry to remain in the shrub. I’m the same way with bone broth. I don’t mind some suspended solids. You can get as fancy as you want with it. This vitamin C rich concoction has the added medicinal benefit of cider vinegar and raw honey and can be added to herbal tea, toddies, bubbly water, or cocktails or you can use it for salad dressings or meat glazes. I’m hooked on it. Better yet, you can use really any fruit you want. I’ve made pear cardamom shrub, ginger lemon shrub, apple cranberry shrub…the sky is the limit! Have fun! I’m going to include a link to this shrub post so you can read up a little more on the topic before you embark on this delightful culinary journey.

We killed and butchered Geoffrey two days ago and are deeply thankful to add him to our chest freezer here. We rendered beautiul leaf lard last night and look forward to baking and cooking with it. Top shelf!!! We are currently processing 60 lbs of elk we set aside for breakfast sausage and to this grind we are adding Geoffrey’s back fat as game meats tend to be too lean — as we all know, fats are important for nutrient transfer! We ate pork chops last night and I have never tasted anything that can compare to the flavor of pasture raised pork. Butchering a pig was a steep learning curve, they are put together differently than elk, deer, pronghorn or anything else we have experience butchering. Robert read all he could on the topic and watched as many youtube videos as possible but in the end, we just had to dive in and figure it out. Now we know what tools we need to add to the butcher shop here as well as what works and doesn’t work. We also had a rendered liquid lard spill in the kitchen last night that was terrible. We won’t do that again. Trust me. Learn your lessons as you go!!! We are nearly finished with our harvest season here with only the tom turkeys left to kill and process. We are tired and looking forward to some rest.

Our kitchen is a kitchen that never sleeps.

I plan to list new work in my shop on December 2nd. I apologize for pushing this back a few times. I’ve had hardly any time to work this fall and whenever I make it into the studio I just want to work and not stop to photograph and build listings and ship orders…and the daylight hours are so SHORT now! I feel like I get out of bed and am racing the sunset from the moment my feet hit the floor. I’m also having some computer issues. It’s exasperating. I wish I had a personal IT master at my beck and call to deal with this stuff for me.

The last thing I want to share with you is how much I miss my family and my home province, beautiful Saskatchewan. I wonder when I’ll go home?

Have a beautiful week where you are! Go outside! Let the sun shine on your face, breathe the fresh air, move your body, eat real food, drink herbal teas, wear wool socks, and at night, sleep deeply and wake up refreshed. Don’t be afraid.

I love you all, no matter how you vote, no matter if you wear a mask or not, no matter what you do or don’t believe, even if you don’t love me back…I love you.

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Comments

  1. Brittny says
    November 23, 2020 at 2:28 pm

    Cranberry shrub!!! I will have to try that. I made a rhubarb shrub in the spring and it was the most beautiful jewel-toned hue! I imagine your larder is what dreams are made of

    • The Noisy Plume says
      November 24, 2020 at 9:25 am

      Rhubarb makes everything GORGEOUS. I have a glorious rhubarb here but it’s tucked back in the corner of the garden and I always forget about it and then it flowers and it’s too late…boo hoo.

  2. Chris Moore says
    November 23, 2020 at 2:40 pm

    Love you, love this blog!!

  3. ~ m. says
    November 23, 2020 at 5:35 pm

    Just lucked out and discovered a used copy of Fools Crow at my local independent bookstore!

    Have always wanted to try making shrub. Now I am inspired to do so!

    And, I love you and Robert, I love everything about The Noisy Plume. EVERYTHING.

    xx

  4. Beth says
    November 23, 2020 at 8:02 pm

    Gosh. I love you too.

    And, to a lesser degree, I also love a good shrub! I’ve got a strawberry/kombucha vinegar shrub in the fridge now, but your cranberry/ACV/honey concoction sounds very seasonal and delectable! I’ll have to try it out!

    Xoxo from B in SLC

  5. Jayme says
    November 24, 2020 at 6:43 am

    Your last three paragraphs really struck something in me. Words I needed this morning. Thank you.

  6. Cat says
    November 24, 2020 at 8:19 am

    I am so glad I sat down to read this before starting my day of work–your words always bouy and lift me up! The grey days of winter are surely upon us, and as you race the sunsets, I divide things into daytime tasks, night time tasks, and even further to sunny day tasks (i.e. no rain), and rainy day tasks. It drives Dave bonkers sometimes. I cannot wait to try out those brush recipes! I so wanted to get an elderberry bush or two this year but it never happened…it’s on the garden list for next year! Much love to you and yours.

    • The Noisy Plume says
      November 24, 2020 at 9:31 am

      I try to divide the day, too. Even little tasks in the studio…I ask myself what I can do without natural light in the evenings…then I try to organize my workday around the natural light. I don’t have do divide the week into sunny and rainy days thankfully, we have so much sun out here. But we do have habitual gale force winds that can cause a restructuring of tasks!

      I planted two elderberries two summers ago. I hoped they’d get some legs this summer but it looks like they need one more year…

      Love to have you here, Cat. Thankful to have you in my life.

  7. Maisie says
    November 24, 2020 at 9:15 am

    Love you too beauty! 🌞 Saskatchewan loves you too ✨

  8. samantha says
    November 24, 2020 at 9:55 am

    your words always comfort and inspire me. thanks for always giving us a glimpse into your life. i must try this shrub recipe! i’ve been making cranberry apple butter the last few weeks, and hot damn, it’s delicious! my husband (we just got married 11/7) got his first antelope this year! only hunt he did because of our very tiny wedding, but man oh man, what a delicious animal. it’s so strange how hunting/processing/eating wild animals just makes us love and appreciate them more!

    • The Noisy Plume says
      November 24, 2020 at 10:15 am

      Thanks for being here, Samantha!

      I’m trying to blog more because this space feels so much more free, open, and safe than social media and I’ve really missed writing longer form and just…loving you guys with words and thoughts and sharing.

      Congrats on the pronghorn! They are my favorite animals to see, hunt, and I’m of the opinion that it’s the best game you can put on a table. Just absolutely delicious and tender. Enjoy that food!

      We just finished eating breakfast here and I looked down at my plate at one point and said to Robbie, “On this plate I can see an entire growing season in my garden (potatoes, garlic, and onions with a side of fermented carrots), hours of work in the kitchen, 7 days of backcountry hunting (elk sausage), all the planning and logistics that lead up to the hunt, the work of my horses, one year of raising a pig (back fat ground into the elk sausage), hours of butchering work and meat grinding work, mixing spices, and all the memories we made over the past year. What a special meal.”

      And that was just a simple little everyday breakfast. It’s so beautiful to be connected to our food!!!

      Congrats also on getting married and thank you for being here.

      XX

  9. Luba says
    November 25, 2020 at 11:58 am

    Thanks so much for the reminder about holding onto hope. Seems simple, but so hard sometimes. I love the quote from Legolas!! It’s inspiring for my own life and work. So, peace to you, as you journey on your path. All our roads are tough at times, but the heart is steady. Yours, Luba
    p.s. I’ll try, too, to login (computer willing!) to see your lovely rings on December 2nd.

    • Luba says
      November 25, 2020 at 12:21 pm

      Oh, and yes, the love you extend it large and beautiful. This is why I visit your blog and hope you know that my doing so, is an act of love in return.

  10. Dina Warren says
    November 26, 2020 at 9:24 am

    jillian,
    it is so glorious to read your words on my thanksgiving morning.
    your hands are so beautiful, and they embody everything that you speak about:
    a life well-lived.
    sending love from bozeman.
    xx

  11. Carla says
    November 28, 2020 at 11:56 am

    Wrapping you up in love, dear J! 🙂

  12. Nathalie Carles says
    November 29, 2020 at 11:06 am

    Always a real pleasure to read your long texts….what’s in your mind and here what is in your plate!!!!!

  13. theonlyhurricanegirl says
    December 10, 2020 at 10:58 am

    Thanks for the book recommendation, found me a used copy, can’t wait to start it! I come from a family of readers and we are always looking for special ones to read! Bless You!!!!!