Ready, set, camp!

From Wednesday to (Saturday or) Sunday, I will revel in the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Ks. It's a week-long hoo-hah celebrating bluegrass, folk, celtic, cowboy, and Americana music and fellowship at a fairgrounds just outside town. Five stages offer music all day long in the fairgrounds, but possibly more music happens out in the camps, 24/7.

Aside from music, there is gigantic selection of local artisans. They peddle tie-dye, ceramics, soaps, instruments, jams, jellies, jewelry, clothing, rope sandals, and quilts, to name a few things. I purchased my favorite pie plate at the WVF a few years ago.

I love you, pie plate!

When I'm not listening to music, visiting friends I only get to see once a year, and in general basking in the relaxed atmosphere, I'll work at my friend's coffee stand (yes, you can get a latte at a bluegrass fest.)

While I'm eager to get to the festival, I'm not eager to pack for the festival today. In addition to packing a sweater and a coat, I need something to eat (other than a funnel cake now and then.) My best camp breakfast this year will be a granola.

Wine goes well with granola-making

Chocolate - coconut - flax granola

3 cups rolled oats (thick cut is nicest)
½ cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup ground flax (flaxmeal)
1/4 cup cocoa powder (I like Green & Black's)
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut or candied coconut shavings
2 Tbsp. turbinado sugar
a little sneeze of salt
6 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
½ cup (at least) dark chocolate chips or roughly chopped chocolate chunks
1/2 cup sunny seed drops (they're a Sunflower State standard)

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, cocoa, flax, coconut, sugar, and salt and stir them all well. In a saucepan, (gently) heat the honey and oil, mixing them together as they warm. Pour this liquid over your dry ingredients and stir them together well with a spatula.

Spread the mixture evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake your granola until it turns a lovely gold color, or until it becomes fragrant. (Smell is everything when you're baking things.) Halfway through the baking time, give the granola a little stir so it cooks evenly.

When everything is cooked, remove the pan from the oven and set the granola down to cool. If you're a fan of small, uniform granola, give the mixture another good stir; this prevents your granola from hardening into a solid sheet. If you like chunky granola, like me, just give the sheet o' granola a few good whacks with a spatula after it has cooled.

Once cool, mix in your chocolate pieces and sunny seed drops. Store your granola into an airtight container, thick plastic bag, or glass jar. Old spaghetti sauce jars work well for this project. I like to store mine in at least two jars; one for now, one for later. Serves well with milk and plain yogurt. (Or, as I plan to eat it at the WVF, plain, with coffee.)