Project Spotlight:
Mazz Swift’s Eye, Sea, You Are Hear
A Winter Playlist
7 Questions for Jonny Rodgers
Six Years of January Skies
Soul-Warming Soups
Thank you for supporting Antenna Cloud Farm and joining a Giving Circle. We love being in community with you!
“Eye, window to the soul. Sea, calm and expansive. You are here, present with intense love for the one planet we have.”
We’re so excited to share a project from our dear friend, collaborator, and Ei artist-mentor Mazz Swift! In December 2023, Mazz curated a two-performance event, entitled Eye, Sea, You Are Hear, as part of San Francisco Symphony’s Soundbox program.
In addition to Mazz’s own compositions, the set included a piece by Philip Rawlinson (Ei ‘22), tidal breathing technologies, as well as works by Gabriela Lena Frank (our dear friend and leader of the sister-organization on the west coast, the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music), Haruka Fujii, and Duke Ellington (arr. Peter Evans). Eye, Sea, You Are Hear was performed by Mazz, Clara Lyon, Hannah Collins, Haruka Fujii, and members of the San Francisco Symphony.
With mesmerizing art by Santtu Mustonen, this event was an immersive experience, connecting mind, body, and soul.
Jonny is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in Oregon. Many of your will remember Jonny’s absolutely breath-taking concert here at ACF in 2018, in which he sang and played a set of water-filled glasses.
1. What’s an activity besides music that you are passionate about?
Making sourdough bread. I cultivated a starter from scratch and it’s a hunky-funky Oregon farmhouse starter that makes luscious loaves. I’m a total nerd about it, getting into the ash-weights of various flours from the local mill and other arcane details. Pic included!
2. What do you love most about your home?
It’s a twofold answer: our cottage living room boasts a small wood stove and a seven foot picture window overlooking an oak grove, a pond, and beyond it, the coastal range mountains. Wintertime at our place, sitting by the stove (which we’ve dubbed “The Great Demotivator”) drinking tea, and watching the weather roll in over the hills is the definition of hygge!
3. How do you relax after a long day?
A tea by the fire in the winter, or a motorcycle ride in the summer… well, that’s what I’d LIKE to do, but most days I return from work ready to be a human jungle-gym for my two young daughters.
4. What are you excited to learn more about?
Conducting. Cultivating wild roses. Cooking Asian cuisine. Architectural design. Maybe learning to surf.
5. What is your favorite animal or type of plant, and why?
Foxes have always had a deep significance to me, both because of what they’ve represented in many cultures spiritually, but also because of how I relate to their energy on a personal level. And if one eats one of my chickens now and again, I’m pretty forgiving about it.
6. What advice would you want to go back and give to your younger self?
Taking time to build skills that interest you, even if you can’t see a future use for them, is totally worthwhile so do it LOTS more, especially during downtime on tour when you’d rather be relaxing!
7. What does your life look and/or feel like in 5 years?
I’ll just include a recent poem for that:
I want to give you a house
And enough land
To walk in the morning
And not see a boundary
From your door
I want to give you nourishing food
For breakfast
And clean water
Pretty dishes in subtle patterns
And fruit trees to pick from
Dense with enough fruits
That some are green
Or ripe
Or spoiled
I want to give you cool mornings
And warm afternoons
I want you to sleep
To crickets or cicadas
With open windows
Soft curtains
I want you to walk in the evenings
Without an agenda
I want you to find
A gnarl of scented Wisteria
And dry earth
Or cool grass
Or a path
Partially obscured
By a too-successful garden
Offering
A glimpse of the sea
I want for you
Oranges in the dirt
Because you can’t pick them all
Herb beds
Lavender on the borders
Odd weeds with their own
Unintended and stubborn Beauty
I want for you a well worn
Marble staircase
Or maybe wooden
Up to rooms older than memory
Beds of fresh linen
Shutters open to the night
A little wine
If your body is well for it
And this:
A community at your table
True friends
In conversation
Sparring in wordplay
Or social games
People around you
Whose replies
Give your words
Purpose
I want these things for you
Because your days of toil
And want
Have convinced you
That you are at best
Average
And that you don’t deserve
Plenty
Or beauty
Or rest
Or any of what I have mentioned
Or similar things
You once conceived
Though you do feel you’ve earned
That paycheck of
Only just
Or not quite
Enough
That plain plate
Of beans
Your gnawing hunger
Sweetened
I want for you
The things I dream about enjoying
Because in your practical drudgery
You’ve forgotten your own dreams
And maybe having mine
Will show you which ones
You yourself
Might one day
Want
A photo journal by Sarah Zahorodni
Wakefield, MA | January 25, 2019
Boston, MA | January 13, 2019
Newton, MA | January 28, 2020
Boston, MA | January 29, 2020
Manchester, MA | January 24, 2021
Brighton, MA | January 27, 2021
Manchester, MA | January 24, 2021
Brookline, MA | January 19, 2022
Newton, MA | January 29, 2022
Newton, MA | January 30, 2022
Brookline, MA | January 1, 2023
Gill, MA | January 13, 2023
(feat. Judd & Zo!)
New York, NY | January 20, 2023
Brooklyn, NY | January 21, 2023
Manchester, MA | January 1, 2024
Michi's Versatile Miso Soup
The secret to amazing miso soup is building up some flavor depth and umami richness in the broth before the miso gets added. I highly recommend Tran's World Market in Hadley for all your Japanese and international grocery needs!
1. Start with dashi (powdered fish stock, or make your own with bonito flakes and kombu seaweed). If you don't have (or like) dashi, add a bit of bouillon (my favorite is veggie Better Than Bouillon).
2. I then add fresh or dried mushrooms (shiitake are my favorite for this), and simmer for quite a while.
3. After you've built a solid broth, add some thinly cut veggies (most common are carrot and daikon, but you can get creative with spinach, thinly sliced onion, anything!), and simmer for a few minutes.
4. Then add cubes of tofu, and continue to simmer.
5. When the structure of the soup is set up to your heart's content, the last step is to add the miso to taste. Use high quality miso and be generous! Immediately remove from heat - miso doesn't like to boil. Enjoy!
Sarah’s Gnocchi, Meatball, & Kale Soup
I’ve found that this soup is best prepared with a friend nearby, chatting over the stove as the pot comes to a boil each time.
Cook time: 30-45 min.
Makes 6 servings.
Ingredients:
You can make everything from scratch, but I also rely on pre-made ingredients when I can!
- 1cup diced carrots, 1 cup diced onions, 1 cup diced celery
- 2-3 tablespoons butter
- 8 cups (2 containers) of vegetable broth (or whatever broth you prefer)
- 2 cups of frozen, pre-cooked mini-meatballs
- 1 package gnocchi
- 4-6 cups chopped kale
- Seasoning: salt, pepper, red chili flakes, montreal chicken seasoning (I have this seasoning blend from when a roommate moved and didn’t take this seasoning with her. I’m not sure what’s in it, but it tastes good!)
Instructions:
Most of this recipe takes place in a large pot, but you’ll also need a smaller pot and pan for the gnocchi.
1. Melt the butter in the bottom of the pan. Use as much or as little as you want. I measure with my heart and my heart often wants lots of butter :)
2. Sauté the onion, carrots, and celery over medium heat until the carrots are soft and the onions are translucent.
3. Add the broth to the pot, and let it come to a boil. Add the spices to the broth - measure with your heart!
4. Add add the meatballs to the broth, and let the soup come to a boil once again.
5. While the meatballs are warming up, in a separate pot*, cook the gnocchi. I cook it for about 2 minutes, until the gnocchi rises to the surface. Prepare another pan by melting some butter and keeping the pan warm.
5. Once the gnocchi is cooked, drain the water and then add the pasta to a different pan that has melted butter. Let the gnocchi fry for a bit - the goal is to get the gnocchi crispy and golden brown.
6. While the gnocchi is frying, add kale to the soup. Submerge the kale into the soup so that it wilts slightly. You could also use spinach or another green, but I like kale because it still keeps its crisp texture even when it’s warmed and slightly wilted.
7. When the gnocchi is good and crispy, serve yourself a bowl of the soup, and add the gnocchi to the top
8. Enjoy this comforting soup on its own or with some bread :)
*You could also cook the gnocchi directly in the soup, which also makes the soup a little thicker because of the starch from the pasta. I’ve found that I like frying the pasta to add another texture to the soup, but it also tastes just as good with boiled gnocchi!
