Henny Penny Farmette

As winter approaches, it seems counterintuitive to embrace the cold and dark, especially as we hurry indoors to seek light and warmth. But winter brings the gift of time and circumstances that force us to slow down, rest, reflect, and renew ourselves.

Here on the Henny Penny Farmette, the honey bees remain in their hives until their DNA tells them early spring has arrived. The hens slow their laying of eggs during the cold, dark days of winter. And the soil in the gardens rest as the sap stops flowing in the trees during the months when winter’s chill comes on early and leaves late.

During the current age of telecommuting or arrangements that include some work from home, lying an extra few minutes in bed until the house warms can feel luxurious. After a hearty, healthy breakfast or lunch, a thirty-minute winter stroll across a field, down the road, or to the mailbox and back elevates the feel-good chemicals in your brain, stimulates your sense of well-being, and helps you feel restored.

The winter season is perhaps the best time of year to reflect on impermanence and cyclic change. Start a journal in which to capture your thoughts, hopes, dreams, questions, and ideas about self-evaluation and soul reflection. Learn something new. Sense the charismatic presences around you in nature. Allow your own radiance to flow outward to others.

Winter is a time to think about what you do and don’t want in your life and how you’ll clear the clutter. Is it a person, a habit, a thing? What is it that you want to leave behind in the old year and what do you want to manifest in the coming new year? Before winter is over, make an intention to manifest your deepest desire.

Use the the dark days of winter to reflect on your physical health and mental well-being. What bad habit could you eliminate? What lifestyle change would be healthier for you? How might you gain more self acceptance and self love? What does a picture of great health for your body and mind look like?

Snuggle up in a chair with a warm throw and read a good book when the winds are howling and the cloud ceiling is low. Reading stimulates the mind. Expand your horizons with an arm-chair travel book. Enjoy a fictive trip through a novel. Solve a mystery. Read about the history of food and try a new recipe. The possibilities for indulging your interests are expansive.

Practice mindfulness. Let new ideas emerge from the depths of your consciousness. Winter is the perfect time and you can do this practice in any setting. Take advantage of the gifts the dark offers.

If you enjoy reading about country living topics, check out my series of cozy mysteries available online and in bookstores everywhere.

This newest offering in the Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries provides a recipe for pure pleasure.

Take one medium-sized volume, mix up an ex-cop turned lady farmer, toss in one small town, and add the murder of the local herbalist. Combine a little mystery, add the angst of an old lover, sift in a new admirer, and squeeze in the bitter juice of one uptight New Age guru. Let the pressure build until the top blows. Enjoy with a cup of tea.

Novel #2 in the Henny Penny Farmette series, available September 27, 2016

THE MURDER OF A QUEEN BEE
Author: Meera Lester

Review Issue Date: July 15, 2016
Online Publish Date: June 30, 2016
Publisher:Kensington
Pages: 288
Price ( Hardcover ): $25.00
Publication Date: September 27, 2016
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-1-61773-913-2
Category: Fiction
Classification: Mystery

Kirkus Reviews July 15, 2016

A beekeeper gets a second chance at love and solving a murder.

Former police officer Abigail Mackenzie and her ex-partner Kat Petrovsky are supposed to be having lunch at Abby’s farmette with local shop owner Fiona Mary Sullivan, who’d asked to have a talk with Abby. Fiona recently split from a New Age group whose new leader created a cultish atmosphere, leaving her husband, Tom Davidson Dodge, behind at the commune. When Kat gets a call reporting a burning car with a body, both of them rush to the scene to discover that the body is Fiona’s.

The police chief wants no interference from Abby, but she can hardly help investigating the murder of a friend. After being nearly forced off the road and shot at, she’s not in the mood to discuss relationship problems with Clay Calhoun, the sexy carpenter who loved her and left her heartbroken. Clay evidently wants her back. He plans a fabulous bathroom makeover as a gift to help win her.

Meanwhile, Abby helps Fiona’s brother, Jack Sullivan, straighten out Fiona’s affairs and seeks to discover what lock a mysterious key Abby found in one of Fiona’s diaries unlocks. Though there are plenty of suspects for Abby and the police to check out, Abby naturally finds it hard to concentrate on murder while she’s trying to decide what to do about Clay and her newfound attraction to Jack.  The second from Lester (A Beeline To Murder, 2016) is long on romance, sweet tips, and honey recipes. There’s a thin little mystery, too.

Last night the raccoons raided my fig trees, leaving a little deposit between honeybee apiary and the hen house.  I know because this morning, I almost stepped in it . . . and I was barefoot and in still in my pajamas.

The White Genoa fig tree is three years old but already produces a bountiful crop

It was expecting the raccoons to drop by. It’s that time of the year when they like to show up for a little late night dining. Who can blame them. Figs ripened to perfection are among my favorite fresh foods, too.

Right now, the limbs of my Genoa White Fig hold an abundance of fruit covered in a thin green skin with rose-colored flesh. Whether you prefer to dry figs, make them into jam, use them in a tart, or serve them fresh with a little goat cheese, almost any variety of ripe fig will be delicious. They are an ancient food, dating back thousands of years to Asia Minor. The trees are hardy and can reach 12 to 20 feet tall.

The Brown Turkey figs are larger than the White Genoa; these figs have a slightly tougher skin

The Brown Turkey, like the White Genoa, is self fertile and produces a multitude of delectable figs by its third year. The skin of Brown Turkey figs turns violet-brown with watermelon-colored flesh when fully ripe. Also, ripe figs turn downward from the limb–it’s how we  they’re ready for picking.

I like to serve figs wrapped in Prosciutto, stuffed with a lovely, locally made goat cheese,  and grilled. They make a great appetizer when friends drop by this time of year. The figs and goat cheese will pair nicely with a bottle of your favorite wine.

Since we live only about 25 to 30 minutes from the Napa wine country, we tend to buy local.

RECIPE: GRILLED FIGS, GOAT CHEESE, and PROSCIUTTO

Ingredients:

6 to 8 Brown Turkey or other ripe figs

1/3 cup goat cheese (or a bit more as needed; try herb goat cheese as a variation)

6-8 slices of Prosciutto

1/3 cup organic raw honey

Directions:

Fit a pastry bag with a tip to pipe the goat cheese.

Fill the bag with goat cheese.

Cut tiny openings into the bottom of each fig to permit insertion of the piping tip.

Pipe the filling into 8 to 10 figs (they’ll swell; don’t over fill or they’ll split).

Wrap slices of Prosciutto around each stuffed fig.

Brush the grill grate with olive oil.

Grill the figs 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove from heat, plate the figs, and drizzle honey across them.

Serves: 4 (2 figs per person)

Fill these cookies with strawberry, raspberry, fig, or apricot jam or dulce de leche

I’m a self-professed cookie monster. I can’t imagine watching PBS’s MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! without a cup of my favorite Earl Grey tea and a cookie. Okay, maybe two cookies And my favorite is actually a two-layer, jam-filled cookie. These cookies are known as Linzer sablés and are the cookie version of the famous Austrian Linzertorte, dubbed the world’s oldest known cake (torte is Austrian for cake, Linzer is forLinz, a city in Austria).

The top cookie and bottom are made of the same nut-flour dough; it’s just that bottom cookie is solid, whereas the top has a hole in the center (to reveal the jam filling). The dusting of powdered sugar on top gives the cookie a lovely professional look.

They are easy to make and are pretty enough for a tea party. Choose different shapes of cookie cutters for the ring cutout. Some specialty shops carry Linzer cookie cutter sets. Use a heart shape cutter to make Linzer cookies for a wedding reception, anniversary party, or Valentine’s Day; a pumpkin or witch’s hat shape for Halloween; or, stars for the Fourth of July and also Christmas. The jewel jam color doesn’t just hold the cookie together; it emphasizes the cutout shape.

Ingredients:

9  Tablespoons unsalted butter (equivalent of 1/2 cup, plus 1 Tablespoon)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup almond flour

3/4 hazelnut flour

2 1/4 cups pastry flour

apricot jam for filling

powdered sugar to sift on top

Directions:

Set oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, but wait to do it until after you’ve made the dough and chilled it for one hour.

Combine butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream until light and fluffy.

Add one egg at a time and beat into the mixture.

Add vanilla (alternatively, bitter almond).

Add to the mixture the almond flour, hazelnut flour, and pastry flour and combine.

Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness.

Cut circles out of the dough using a three-inch round cookie cutter.

From half of the circles, take a one-inch round cookie cookie cutter and cut out a center hole, forming a ring.

Place rings and circles on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake in the center of the oven for 7 to 10 minutes. They should appear golden brown.

Remove and allow the cookies to cool.

Assembly:

Spoon a dollop of jam on each solid circle and spread it evenly over the top.

Place a ring on top of each jam-coated circle.

Lightly dust the tops of each ring.

Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies