A Story – Here is a story of a village in the middle of America & how they support their fire department with a Pie Auction!
I’ve written about this before. We made some changes this year.
I wish you could join us in the Ashram Kitchen & experience the pie acution. Someday, perhaps…

Pie Auction in the Midwest
– to support local fire department.
We live in a village far away from town, down a dirt road.
The village was a previous seminary. All around us in the woods are wild birds. Especially one called the sparrow hawk.
The sparrow hawk is a small hawk that flies through the trees along the river which is behind where we live. It lives with a white hawk, that also flies along the river. Sometimes in morning meditation it comes into our yard, flies through the trees as if to say “I’m here too!”

The village, far from any towns, has a mountain & a valley.
People live at the top of the mountain & people live at the bottom. The mountain is called Cherokee Mountain. The Cherokee people come to this land & hunt deer and fish in the river. The fish are catfish. Restaurants in the towns of this Midwest city feature hush puppies & catfish caught in the river.

Our house is at the bottom of the mountain, at the end of a dirt road. Veering off the dirt road, one can walk down to the river. Sometimes it rains a lot. When that happens the river floods. When that happens, as it may soon, we can then see the river rushing by in the meadow behind our house. We can hear it too. Brown, muddy, fast moving – a powerful sound.

The village we live in was at first a seminary and community, led by a spiritual teacher. The seminary lasted for about 25 years. People from all over the country came to study. Some stayed & built houses to live in & to house students. The seminary was a school of Christian, Esoteric (Theosophy, Blavatsky, Alice Bailey, Agni Yoga, etc.) & new age teachings. I was invited to come to this seminary & teach astrology and the wisdom teachings, which I did with a coworker. We taught for many years. In the meantime, the village grew and eventually over time created its own fire department & water district. The villagers built a community center, planted trees & grew gardens.

Present Day:
The seminary itself is closed now, the teacher gone. But the land, river, the village itself & houses remain. Many of the original people have left. New people have come in, bought the houses. Many are building houses in the woods now. They like the fact that the village is in a forest & far from town (12 miles away), near a river & a mountain.

We live in the woods. From the village to the town we pass ranches with cows, horses, meadows, fields of oaks & black walnut trees – some years, fields of wild zinnias in the summer. We drive along the river. when going into town. In the summer this area, because of the river, becomes a resort town. People come from far & wide to float down the river. Often they get lost & end up at our door at midnight, caught in rainstorms or not know where their car is.

In the village, to maintain the finances needed for an independent fire department, there is a pie auction each year in March or April. People bring their “pies” to the community center, write out cards with their names, addresses & the “pie” ingredients & place their “pies” on the long tables for people to look at, assess, peruse & choose.

At first people in the village just brought fruit pies to the auction – sweet, home-made pies, old fashioned pies – apple, berry, blueberry, cherry, key lime pies (some with meringue, some with whipped cream). Over the years the idea of “pie” expanded to mean other foods – brownies, cakes, puddings and cookies. And then to savory pies (pizza pie, chicken, beef & turkey pot pie) and then for the more organic & vegan among us – to salads!

Then, 10 years ago, something new appeared and it has has become the pie auction’s piece de resistance – two complete Turkey dinners!

The auction begins at 5:30pm, Sunday night – tonight, March 25
There is a real auctioneer who auctions off the “pies.”
Some of the “pies” reach up to hundreds of dollars.
People then can “sell” pieces of their “pies”.
People pay a dollar for a piece.
Some people make the auction their family dinner.
Buying several “pies” (savory & sweet), making it a dining out affair.

It’s fun, loud, competitive, hilarious, savory, sweet & delicious.
Especially when there’s free ice cream & coffee with real cream.

The Turkey dinner is what I (our household) made each year.
Two turkey breasts/legs stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, cranberry sauce & cole slaw.
Just like my mother’s turkey dinners.
Everything homemade (even the cranberries), everything organic.
People here in the village now expect it.
The men especially love the turkey dinner.
I/we make two turkey dinners.
One year I added a blueberry pie.
“Blueberry pie in search of Whipped Cream” I called it.

I am writing this in the morning of the Pie Auction.
I have lists & lists of ingredients, timing of when to make each part of the dinner.
I call our offering Dinner from the Ashram Kitchen.
Made with love & curiosity & pleasure & gratitude.
I wish you could join us. Love, Risa

Addenda: this year we changed the menu – we are making two pot roast dinners.
Pot Roast, roasted potatoes & carrots, green beans, cole slaw, homemade rolls, apple pie.
I wish you could join us in the Ashram Kitchen.
We would all work together! Then we would eat together.
Love, Risa

Recipe
Cole Slaw
White & red cabbage & kale – chopped fine.
Red, yellow, orange, & green Bell peppers, green onions, celery, apples. Olive oil, cider or rice vinegar, salt & pepper.

Food is love….Risa