Granny Gravel Bitch and Her Allerton Abbey Adventures...wofati WOMAN!!!

Granny Gravel Bitch and Her Allerton Abbey Adventures...WOFATI WOMAAANN!

First thing folks ought to know about me is I LOVE PIE.

My new buddies/pals/fellow Boots are now WELL AWARE of this fact and our Beloved Paul Wheaton has shown great patience, restraint, and support as he's had to weather the onslaught of delicious sights and smells emanating forth from Fisher Price House kitchen while abstaining from it temporarily. You're an example for us ALL, Paul.

The kitchen at Base Camp aka Fisher Price House quickly became my Dream Kitchen as, on Day 3 of my month long SEPP stay at The Love Shack, a blizzard descended on our gorgeous Montana valley and  Stephen offered to help me get set up in the Bunkhouse at Base Camp until conditions improved a bit.

I decided I could try a new cookie recipe, what with the lads out in the snow working, so I got started and I've barely stopped.

It's very satisfying to be able to cook and bake for folks who'll scarf it down with a smile. Plus the kindness and support the boots offered on those first wintry days in March were all the motivation I needed so once the pies began to appear, all bets were off.

To briefly share that the woman who was FINALLY able to get Granny Gravel Bitch to bake a palatable pie is the illustrious Erin Jeanne McDowell. Her YouTube vids and cookbooks are stellar...I am proudly endeavoring to join her Sturdy Pie Gang.

With the bounty from last year's harvest, there have been apple pies and now, finally, the rhubarb pies have made their appearance the last week or so. Holy fuck, lads & lasses, never have I had rhubarb like this...I'm still mentally and emotionally processing the shock from the quality of flavor...

Pictured here is a simple cherry galette that I made one day, in a rush to use up one last lingering disc of pie dough as well as the rest of a bag of frozen sour cherries our Dearest Samantha had pointed out to me one afternoon. I keep forgetting to nab photos of those other Darlings but I'll get better at that.

Esteban, Stephen, and Seth have been exquisitely patient with me as I move from my one month SEPPing and forge ahead in Bootcamp, alongside them, and get situated at Allerton Abbey in anticipation of conducting the Annual Thermal Inertia test to begin in June. The ebb and flow of pies and cookies has been greatly affected but Granny Gravel Bitch is hitting her rhythm at the Abbey and is gradually finding more time and energy to invest in her culinary creations.

I ought to also address my preferred nickname as I proudly earned it one afternoon while working on a stair project at The Beacon Food Forest in Seattle. (Glenn Herlihy or Jacqueline Cramer, if you're reading this, shoutout to ye both and thank you for your service to the beautiful community of Beacon Hill) Myself and 3 other men had gathered to get a short stairway constructed connecting two of the terraces.  Two of them had some physical conditions that were holding them back that day and the other was needed to help engineer the construction, so it was Gravel Bitch on deck. I happily loaded gravel from the truck to the wheelbarrow and popped down and back with the loads.

I was a feisty 6 foot tall bass-playing redhead back then (2014) and now those auburn locks are silver and gray so adding the Granny to it seems apropos. I have an allergy to ageist bullshit so I sometimes prefer it if folks think I'm waaaay older than I am. Unfortunately, all the weight I gained the last year while learning pie baking is withering away while I Boot full-time...sigh...a gal CAN'T have it all, I guess. Ha!

Much more to come, STAY TUNED as I report back with news items that have absolutely nothing to do with freakin' pie...