Local WWOOFing near Myrtle Point, Oregon.

I had this idea to do a Friday Five featuring five things we learned during our recent WWOOF gig near Myrtle Point, Oregon. As I sat down to make the list, though, I realized that five things wouldn't cut it - even with 16 farms and homesteads already under our belts, we still learned a surprising number of new things during our 5-week stay at this beautiful garden and orchard!

the garden

the orchard

For example, we learned how to harvest watercress, lemon verbena, and chamomile.

watercress: cut the tips for salads, 
then give it all a good haircut to promote growth

lemon verbena: three leaves per leaf cluster -

pick two to dehydrate for tea, leave the third leaf

As for chamomile... It's complicated. Next time I see you, I'll explain.

We learned that edible flowers like calendula, nasturtium, and borage make a good salad great.

almost too pretty to eat... almost

We learned about the espalier method of fruit tree training, which saves space, is much easier to manage, and (if done corrrectly) should result in a better harvest yield year-to-year.

espalier: French for Italian for

"something to rest the shoulder against"

We learned new methods of composting and mulching, including scattering coffee grounds around roses and blueberries; improving orchards with taproot plants that are cultivated as mulch for trees; and using biochar as a soil amendment.

chicory feeding the trees

charcoal goodness

Oh, and we learned how biochar is made - in fact, we saw it firsthand!

fire in the hole

I learned how to drive a Mule (correctly) and use a riding lawnmower... both of which rank right up there with leafblowing and weed-whacking in my book. But thanks to my Mule training, I finally understand differential locking. So there's that.

We learned that it's okay to plant cover crops with vegetable crops.

pak choy, meet buckwheat and barley

I learned how to can peaches and pears...

pie coming soon

... and I finally, FINALLY got some practice making cheese - in this case, chevre made from raw cow's milk and kefir grains.

recipe here - who knew it was so easy?

They also make their own brie, gorgonzola, feta, parmesan, and cheddar. And they make their own butter, buttermilk, yogurt, and of course kefir. And a whole lot of other things. (Like bread. Lots and lots of bread. Which we did not enjoy one bit.)

We learned that you CAN grow kiwi in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe bananas too - the jury is still out on that one...

really, coastal Southern Oregon? really?

We learned that bugs are doing their part to keep Oregon weird.

banded alder borer,

our first cabin visitor

"black and yellow garden spider"

(dear bug namers, could you be a little more original?)

We learned that there really is something to herbal remedies. One of the daily routines was "infusion" tea, which supposedly reduces allergies and respiratory issues, and also improves skin, hair, and general health. 

dandelion root, oat straw, and nettle, soaked overnight

Daily gardening and living in a cabin with a wood stove can sometimes lead to a stuffy nose. We definitely noticed a breathing improvement on the days we drank our "infusion," so we're continuing the practice at our coastal housesit. I also learned the hard way, that arnica salve helps to reduce swelling and pain in tweaked tendons. (And I learned not to cut buckwheat with scissors. Ouch.)

We learned that small towns kinda rock.

3rd annual GOATZILLA!

(and the crowd goes wild)

70th annual Bandon Cranberry Festival

Coquille Valley Seed Community's annual tomato tasting

We learned that kittens are AH-DOR-AH-ABLE.

Shaam

Pepper & Ravi

You knew that already, though.

We learned that army mobile units make pretty good cabins for WWOOFers.

shack #1

shack #2

But the most important thing we learned, we actually re-learned. See, we specifically chose this WWOOF experience because of the intentional community aspect. This is definitely something we want to explore as we think about our farm future - assuming you find the right mix of people, it's a great way to share the burdens of cost and labor, and there is much to be said for being surrounded by "your people." (There is also much to be said when things don't go as planned and you find yourself not surrounded by "your people." Exhibit A: Slowly Global's Farm Internship 2016.)

During this WWOOF stint, we spent five weeks with 11 friends who, over the past 25(ish) years, have created a shared space, a shared business, and a shared life together. The only way for this to be successful is to set aside egos, actively listen, and make time for each other. Common sense for any relationship - friends, family, significant other, business partner - right? Well, after the stressful year we'd had to date, let's just say that we really needed this reminder for us. And surely it will pay off if we do go the communal farm route.

This was our first local WWOOF gig, and now that we're housesitting 20 miles away over the winter, we're happy to say that we're walking away without actually walking away. In addition to introducing us to numerous people in the community, our new friends have hired Patrick at their business. I'll be visiting the garden now and then, and we both look forward to continuing to socialize in the coming months. It's pretty unusual to be able to move into a new community having already made a solid group of friends, and we're really grateful that these folks opened their doors and their lives to us.

But first things first! Our Coos Bay housesit runs through February, which gives us just enough time to save up some money, figure out Operation Five Year Plan (catchy acronym pending), and set it in motion... Stay tuned - we may be standing still, but exciting things are coming soon!

in the meantime, can't complain about our new backyard playground...

ExplOregon: waterfalls!

Some of you may know that 2016 has been a pretty challenging year for us. After three fairly easy years traipsing around the world, I suppose we were due for a dose of reality at some point... (Granted, our challenges don't exactly rival those of many others these days, but they are challenges none the less.)

More than once over the past few months we've turned to nature to regroup. Oceans, big starry skies, and mountains formed millions of years ago have definitely helped to remind us that we are mere blips in the universe (this universe, which doesn't even begin to encapsulate all the other universes, which is a rabbit hole my feeble little brain can't even go down for fear of imploding). These natural places remind us that 10, or 50, or 100 years from now, our 2016 troubles won't matter.

"I'm sorry, what?"

- the Pacific ocean

Waterfalls have a slightly different effect. I can't speak for Patrick on this, but waterfalls remind me that I am not in control. Of anything, ever. There's nothing like standing at the base of a waterfall - or even better, the mouth, if you can get to it - and actually feeling the power of the water as it tumbles over the edge.

Oregon has no shortage of beautiful waterfalls, as I've mentioned here. And here. (Oh, and here, here, here, here, and here.) After all our time in Oregon and our many recent road trips around the state, there were a few waterfalls nearby that we still hadn’t visited so when June's dose of reality hit, we got in the car and headed to these:

• Upper and Lower Kentucky Falls and North Fork Falls, just off Highway 126 heading toward the coast. A moderate 0.8-mile descent from the trailhead took us to Upper Kentucky Falls;  weaving through gorgeous old-growth Douglas fir for another 1.4 miles we found ourselves at the twin falls of Lower Kentucky and North Fork.

"you are not in control"

- upper Kentucky Falls

"you are still not in control"

- lower Kentucky Falls

"la la la I can't hear you"

- lower Kentucky Falls and North Fork Falls

• Koosah Falls and Sahalie Falls, also off Highway 126 right along the McKenzie Pass-Santiam Pass/West Cascades National Scenic Byways and the mighty McKenzie River. It was only an hour and a half out of our way, after all (which, to some, might be a deterrent – but to us, well, it’s kinda what we do).

"let it go"

- Sahalie Falls

"seriously, let it go already"

- Koosah Falls

Spring and early summer are definitely the time to hit all of these places. During our June visits, the roar of the water was absolutely deafening and the moss and lush vegetation were simply stunning. In fact the rest of the Koosah/Sahalie Falls road trip would be spent in the high desert (more on that later), so that afternoon we took ample time at both waterfall sites to admire the gorgeous green scenery that we wouldn’t be seeing again for a while...

Whenever life hands YOU lemons, we highly recommend regrouping however that manifests itself to you. Nature, music, art, community - it's all good. Just be sure to take your freshly-squeezed lemonade (and maybe your old friend, Mr. Flask) along!

Gluten-free in Morocco? Naaaaaah...

It's definitely possible to go gluten-free as a tourist in Morocco if you don't mind eating the same food over and over again. Bread is a staple with every meal and couscous is one of their main dishes but given the right willpower you can avoid both. I didn't have such willpower, and I didn't suffer too much as a result (but I do think the wheat here is not as pure as what I was eating in Central Europe and Turkey).

One day I will be gluten-free again.  I will!

Anyway, here's a very long summary of what we ate during our three-week trip - so much of it was so delicious that it was impossible to narrow down! Hostels often offer breakfast but they don't really have kitchens, and hotels never do, so except for our housesitting stay we had to eat lunch and dinner out wherever we went. (World's tiniest violin - I know. Believe me, though, it gets old fast!)

Breakfast

Moroccan breakfasts always seemed to include mint tea (or coffee upon request) and bread. The tea comes super sweet by default and it's rare that you can ask for no sugar... but it's rude to refuse so we partook in a lot of sugary tea.

"Berber whiskey"

(they drink this all day every day

and the higher you pour it,

the more respect you earn from locals)

take note, Starbucks -

this is the best way to serve coffee

(separate and with warmed milk)

Sometimes the food at breakfast was just bread - like in Essaouira when we ate at a "snack cafe" with the locals. We liked this particular place a lot because they were pretty friendly and we always sat in front of the lady making the bread. It was really fun to watch her roll and knead and shape the bread while she chatted with the patrons.

the locals went for bread

drenched in melted butter

(as awesome as that sounded

we opted just for honey)

Sometimes you also got pastries with breakfast. (Because a loaf of bread isn't enough bread??) Sometimes the pastries were plain, sometimes they had a little filling, sometimes they had some sort of amazing peanut glaze. The peanut-glazed were our favorites, and sadly we couldn't find them in the markets so they were rare treats.

And sometimes you got a Moroccan pancake - a thick crepe-like doughy plate of goodness with butter and jam on the side. We really liked those times.

our favorite breakfast spread

at Dar Aliane

If you were really lucky, breakfast also included fresh squeezed orange juice, a hard boiled egg, a small container of yogurt, and a little triangle of Laughing Cow cheese. (Yes, Laughing Cow cheese. It really grows on you!)

for champions

at Diyar Timnay in Moulay Idriss

And let's not forget gluten-free Mr Breakfast corn flakes - our meal of choice while house sitting in Rabat.

must be popular -

ingredients are listed in about 50 languages!

Lunch and dinner
Afternoon and evening meal options were almost interchangeable. The true Moroccan options included gluten-free tajines (chicken, beef or veggies cooked in clay pots) or gluten-filled couscous (with chicken, beef or veggies). These are offered everywhere; tourists and locals alike eat them on a regular basis.

upper: veggie tajine

middle: delicious kebab

lower: chicken couscous with veggies

We tried both of these a few times and found the veggies too overcooked and the dishes too underspiced and overpriced for our taste - maybe because we usually ate them in tourist areas? So we gave up on them pretty quickly.

(As an aside, couscous is also regularly eaten on the holy day, so menus will feature "couscous vendredi" - Friday couscous, chef's choice on how it's prepared. We aren't religious but we really like this concept of "couscous Friday" - or maybe we just like saying "oh boy, it's couscous Friday!" - and we hope to implement this tradition when we get back to the States.)

walls and walls of couscous at the supermarket

Back to meals... Omelettes were commonly offered on menus, and these became go-to lunch or dinner choices whenever possible, just for the no-carb, no-gluten protein boost (and the price - eggs are cheap). With cheese, herbs, or just plain they were always delicious!

And speaking of protein, rotisserie chicken is also huge in Morocco. Lots of cafes feature "poulet complet", a whole roasted chicken with rice, or salad, or french fries, or some combination of those. We never could commit to a whole bird but one day we finally broke down and went for a "demi poulet". We can't be sure that the meat we ate had no hormones, but we can be pretty sure it was free range (pretty sure this is true of most meat in Morocco) and we are definitely sure that it tasted pretty awesome.

1/4 each

rice for her, fries for him

On days when we wanted comfort food, we were able to find pizza or shawarmas pretty easily.

an Italian restaurant in Fes?

but of course

a roadside cafe in Casablanca

Salads were always a nice option, always gluten-free (although I'm not 100% sure about the dressing) as long as you skipped the huge basket of white bread that came with them. Menus typically featured a "Moroccan" salad (veggies with tuna), a "salade mixte" (beets, potatoes, greens) or a "salade nicoise" (greens, beets, egg, tuna). Same basic ingredients but totally different tastes to each.

world's largest salade nicoise

beets beets beets

in the salade mixte

homemade Moroccan salad

at the Berber village during our camel trek

Sidewalk stands offer meat sandwiches that they cook right there for you. We'd been curious for weeks but couldn't get up the nerve - there's always some degree of concern with food safety wherever we go, especially when meat and food carts are concerned. Finally in Fes, the price was right (and clearly listed on the sign) and we were starving, so we took a chance. Those sandwiches were so much better than most of the shawarmas we'd had in Morocco and we regretted not taking the plunge earlier in our trip!

they were so good that

we sent several other tourists their way

A popular side dish is fried potatoes. Obviously Jen avoided these but Patrick was able to enjoy a few servings.

"fried potato grease bombs", Patrick said

(as he inhaled them)

And then there was the soup. Harira, Morocco's specialty soup, is a tomato-based bowl of goodness! It has flour and sometimes pasta, so it's not gluten-free, but the best batches also had chickpeas, lentils, onions, and loads of spices. We dare say the better bowls of harira soup may have trumped some of the amazing lentil soup we had in Turkey. If only the Moroccan tajines were as flavorful...!

homemade by our hotel owner in Meknes

(best soup we had in Morocco)

just add olives and beet juice

and you've got dinner

Speaking of olives - WOW, the olives! They're sold in bulk in the medinas, in the markets, at the grocery stores. They're provided as a light (free) appetizer in nicer cafes and restaurants. You can't get a pizza or a salad without olives. They even come with breakfast! They're perfectly cured and sometimes perfectly spiced, and occasionally a cafe or restaurant will also have a bottle of amazing olive oil for bread dipping.

olives drying in Moulay Idriss

the best part of our Marrakech meal in the square

Drinks

If you can't find fresh-squeezed juice in Morocco, your eyes aren't open. The beet juice shown above was definitely a favorite, but we had our share of orange juice too. In Merzouga we finally broke down and tried "banana juice" and "avocado juice" (what could that possibly mean??) - they ended up basically being a smoothie... A delicious, refreshing smoothie. We miss smoothies.

rows and rows of juice stands 

in the Marrakech square

One drink we only found in the Marrakech square at night was a chai tea chock full of cinnamon, cloves and ginger. If we hadn't gotten ripped off by the tea cart guy we would've gone back for thirds, fourths, fifths of this stuff... so good.

best enjoyed with chocolate cake

Pastries

And then there was the sugary deliciousness. Essaouira was our first exposure to fresh doughnuts, fried right in front of you and then dipped in sugar. About $0.25 each. No picture available - we inhaled them too quickly.

Fes's specialty is a sort of chocolate eclair...

so of course we tried it

(it was awful, really)

In Meknes we ran across a small bakery selling deep fried doughy bits in all shapes and sizes. We started to get just a few, then got a little carried away. The bakery guy just laughed at us and pulled out a bigger container. After the dough was fried the treats were dipped in some kind of simple syrup and sprinkled with sesame seeds. They weren't as tasty as we hoped they would be... which is not to say that they weren't good or that we didn't eat every single one.

heart attack in three, two, one...

Almond desserts are also pretty popular in Morocco. Rabat's kasbah has a small cafe where you can rest and sample terribly overpriced mint tea and almond pastries... so we did. Hey, it was tourist day.

tea for two

Street food/snacks
We've already raved about the Moroccan pancakes but they deserve another homage. Thick and doughy, sometimes with a cornmeal dusting, served with your choice of nothing, honey, chocolate, or Laughing Cow cheese. The first ones we had in Rabat's medina turned out to be the best. They were everywhere, though - perfect for a quick on-the-go snack, a meal, a second breakfast, a post-dinner snack... We enjoyed these a lot.

avec fromage

s'il vous plait

We also found smaller bready snacks in Meknes. Totally filling, perfect with harira soup.

top - tasted like corn muffins

middle - tasted like buckwheat couscous patties (a good thing)
bottom - a sugary corn muffin

As far as non-bread snacks on the road, fruit was pretty widely available in Morocco. We probably bought 20 kilos of oranges, all said and done, and loads of bananas and dried dates too.

Moulay Idriss fruit stand

(there was a whole street of this)

$2.50 for all of this in Fes

(those grapefruits were amazing)

And Patrick finally tried a rare treat that turned his tongue purple in Marrakech. Pulpy, not very sweet, and probably chock-full of antioxidants.

prickly pears in the park!

say that five times fast

The smaller markets mostly featured junk food snacks so whenever we went to the hypermarket we tried to load up on raisins, peanuts, and Jen's favorite:

Moroccan fritos

!!!

So yeah, we ate our fair share of bread in Morocco. It wasn't particularly good bread, but it did the trick. Finding gluten-free options wasn't terribly difficult though, and avoiding potatoes was pretty easy. If you have other ideas for avoiding gluten in Morocco, please leave a comment!