Making Tortillas

Cooking tortillas has at least one really fun element. 

I once taught my sociology students to make tortillas from scratch (along with other kinds of 'bread,' as we explored cultural variations) and that was mildly amusing.

My grandma used to fry flour tortillas in hot oil.  They puff up spectacularly and taste even better.  That's a good time.

But, the best time comes when heating raw tortillas, such as these, in a hot pan with a little butter.  If you have a pot of black beans, and some cheese, you can attempt to keep up with the cooking:  Flipping the tortillas by hand until they're done, you fill and eat each one as the next one is cooking. 

I can manage to keep up through three.  I should not be proud of this, but there it is.  With my kids, we can have someone waiting all the way up to nine. 

In the oxen world, I've found my match.  Today, I was cutting grass across the road for Brutus, Cassius, and Zeus- using a scythe, a wheelbarrow, and a rake I made.  Halfway through cutting each load, the chorus would fire back up.  Angry moos let me know that their last 'tortilla' was done and they were expecting the next. 

Maybe I should stick to standing over a hot pan and stuffing burritos in my mouth. 

Shameless Commerce Division: Part 1

The MODA Quilt

Anyone who listens to NPR even a little is familiar with Car Talk, the call-in car repair show hosted by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and all of its running gags.

From "stump the chumps," where they called people back after giving them advice to see if the advice worked, to the closing credits -with an ever-changing list of specialists (airline seat tester: Wilma Butfit and anger manager:  Kirsten Hollered are among my favorites) to the "Shameless Commerce Division" which sold merchandise, the show took a fun approach to car repair.

In that spirit, we welcome you to the "2018 MODA Gathering Shameless Commerce Division."  Here, you'll find great ways to help support the Midwest Ox Drovers Association.  

First, click here to print off a sheet of MODA raffle tickets.  They are just $1 each or 6 for $5.  The drawing is June 24 at 1:00 PM, so if you mail your tickets and money in before then, you'll be entered to win one of this year's prizes:

1st Place: a handmade MODA quilt by Dr. Brenda Grettenberger, MODA treasurer.  It's pretty awesome!

2nd Place: A knockdown, light duty, logging / firewood scoot (more details later)

Look at that Quilting!

3rd Place: An Oxen Med Kit in a handmade wooden chest.  (more details on this later as well)

Mail Tickets to:
MODA Raffle 
Rob Collins
923 Babcock Road
Sherwood, MI 49089

Also, if you click here you can Pre-order one of the limited edition 2018 MODA T-Shirts.  Pre Orders

The 2018 T-Shirt Design

end June 1, so hurry on those.

So, whether you are an oxen feeding specialist like Phil Rooman, or an oxen clean-up engineer like Lotta B. Essen, the MODA raffle helps support our mission at the Gathering and all year long.  

The Med Kit in Progress

Dovetails, cut by hand.

Dado joinery, cut by hand

A Good Wife

Often times, I'll head out the door to school with a shirt and tie on, but the collar of my shirt leaving some tie exposed.  When Cara spots me later in the day, she tucks it in and usually remarks, "You need a good wife."

Most times, I'll tease her right back by saying, "I sure do."

We're used to this back and forth.  She's a good wife for myriad reasons, most of which have nothing to do with oxen.  Once in a while, though, Cara steps into the world of oxen with me.

When Cara was young, her parents took birding trips as part of her dad's job as a naturalist.  Africa, England, Ireland, South America.  Sometimes, she got to go; Other times, she stayed behind and they brought home a souvenir.

One such souvenir from Costa Rica was a model ox cart, painted similarly to the ones they photographed on their trip.

Cara held onto it and recently brought it home fromm her childhood room and gave it to her fashion-challenged husband.

A good wife, indeed.