Barkley Speaks!

Julie Ann reading up on bug info

Anni having fun at the top the slide.

Today the sun peeked itself out of the clouds. Barkley had a great time taking us for a walk. He was very excited to finally get to the trail after a week's worth of rain. I'll let him tell you about it.

Barkley: "Woof, woof, woof (I saw a squirrel, squirrel, squirrel!), Wag, wag, wag (another dog, and another, and another), Grrrrrr! (Bicyclist in tight spandex pants coming too close to Anni.) We saw lots of salmon jumping in the river and a very inquisitive hummingbird.

It was a good day for quality gardening time. We cut back the peas today to make more room for the pumpkins. We also set up a ripening tray for the tomatoes in the kitchen window. We used the trays from the seedlings. The weather forcast did a reversal on itself from a few days ago and is now predicting another week of sun. See my tomatoes smile! We harvested another bunch's worth of baby carrots and a couple more squash.

Tonight for dinner we made a crockpot full of tomatillo veggie stew with pork. It was full of goodness from our garden, CSA basket, and the farmer's market. We served it up with a salad full of our Black Kir heirloom tomatoes. They're rapidly becoming the family favorites!

Market Time

The Seedling Trays

Today we loaded up the kids and headed to Pike Place Market. Lots of other folks had the same plan, including the thousands of folks on several cruise ships in town. It was so crowded! We did manage to find some bell peppers, eggplant, hot Italian sausages, local clams, spices, ginger herb tea, and lentils. Everytime we go to the market, we have to grab a hombow. I practically lived on those things for lunch when I was a student at the UW. We also visited the trivia shop and the bead shop. I finished up a couple of necklaces I'd been working on this evening.

This afternoon was kind of a lazy one. We restaked the sagging heirloom tomatoes, harvested some squash, and weeded the flower bed. We used the squash along with our clams in a pasta for dinner, with a bowl of cherry tomatoes from the garden and plums from the CSA box.

I took a trip out to the Soulfood bookstore early this evening, my favorite spot for inspirational reading. It's a great spot to pick up goodies to counteract bad vibes and negative juju. I found petroglyph magnets for the fridge and all natural harmony bath products. They smell great and are full of essential oils. I tried the shower gel this evening and feel so M-e-l-l-o-w.

Definitely not claustrophobic

Ferocious Alchemy Kitty defends against equally ferocious toy snake.

Today the sun came out for an hour or two. The tomatoes smiled, and the slugs retreated. The kids are also smiling at the thought of less green tomato dishes.

I had the MRI's on my wrist and shoulder today. I didn't look at the needle going into my shoulder which is probably a good thing because the hole it left was really big! I spent a total of nearly two hours in the MRI! So, I know for 100% certain that I am NOT claustrophobic. What was the result? I'm not quite sure. The tech wanted to know when I was seeing my doc again and then suggested I make it sooner. The he said I shouldn't use, put any weight on, or pressure my wrist in any way. I asked if it was broken. He said, "I'm not allowed to say, but don't use it." Guess I'll find out next week??? He didn't say a word about the shoulder which is what has been bothering me the most. Go figure!

A piece of sun pi

According the local weather forcast, summer may be over and fall arriving. Aren't we supposed to have nearly another month of summer? Apparently not. The forecast for the next week calls for almost another week of rain and cold evening temps. We are contemplating harvesting all of remaining tomatoes tomorrow. We may be relying heavily on our CSA for fall/winter produce.

We picked up our CSA box yesterday afternoon. It was another good one with plums, nectarines, peaches, a mango, chard, celery, corn, carrots, cucumber, lettuce mix, cauliflower, mushrooms, peppers, and green onions. We made a terrific stirfry for dinner last night with a mix of CSA veggies and garden veggies. It was spicy and delicious.

Alex was our chef this evening. He made a yummy quick pasta with bread. Ari and I had our writing group this evening. It was nice to have a break after all the medical appointments this week.

Phases of the moon

Anni at Roosevelt Beach in warmer days!

Today was another cool blustery day with rain and clouds and even a bit of sun. We think we heard the the tomatoes sigh with relief! The last days have been so strange overall, we been wondering if the forces of the universe are out of phase!

We spent some time this afternoon planning for our new learning activities. It should be a busy year! Ari is off to college again. Alex is looking forward to his new PE program with fencing and archery, and Anni wants to do more cooking! Barkley would like a significant increase in the number of morning walks and doggie treats. I'd like to become involved with some more of the Interfaith Church Council activities and the sustainability classes again. David wants more time in the great outdoors.

And the rain goes on!

Anni in the outfield. Anni played baseball this year with the miracle league. She had a grand time hitting and throwing the baseball. Her helpers had a grand time guarding their knees from her bat. We like this picture as it reminds us of sunny days. Sun that giant glowing orb in the sky. The one we can't see through the rain clouds!

We could use a few sunny days. It's pouring again! We did get a brief respite from the rain. We used it to rid the garden of slugs and dandelions which both happen to love this rainy weather.

We have very unhappy tomatoes! We're busy scouring our collection of cookbooks for green tomato recipes. Speaking of cookbooks, we've had a couple of e-mail asking which are our favorites for all the veggies we've been consuming. Our top two are Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon and Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant (ethnic & regional recipes). Both have tons of great recipes as well as lots of wit.

Slugfest

Barkley in desparate need of a sun break!

Today was another really wet one! Did I mention my poor tomatoes yesterday? We harvested lots of orangish ones to ripen in the window. The broccoli seems to love this weather! We also gathered more peapods, squash, and beans.

Tonight for dinner I made a stew with lots of veggies and dumplings in the crockpot. Alex made wholewheat French bread in the bread machine, and Ari made oatmeal walnut cookies in the oven. It was a good day for comfy food.

The wet weather has really brought out our least favorite beasties -slugs. We had a slug stomping contest. I won!

During the brief early afternoon glimpse of sun, we visited Kelsy Creek Farm to look at the bigger critters. We saw horses, pigs, cow, goats, sheep, chickens, geese, rabbits, and bees. We especially like the Polish chickens with their crazy feather head-dos. We kept our distance from the bees (they were busy).

(A special message to the Hearns: Send sun, we see by the international weather report that you guys have some! Even mum had thundershowers today.)

Hiking in the Great Northwest

A view through the trees

Alex at the Tiger Mt. trailhead

Gigantic Devils Club, a very prickly plant.

Today, we awoke to sunny skies. I took the kids for a hike up on Tiger Mountain. We hiked four miles up the mountain and then around the lake. The skies clouded up and sprinkles began to fall.

On the way down, we stopped at the Salmon Hatchery. The only fish we saw were rainbow trout! The Chinook haven't arrived yet.

By the time we got home, it was full on pouring! You've gotta love hiking in the northwest!

I went swimming this afternoon and when I came out, it was still pouring. I took Ari to the movies, and when we came out it was still pouring. It looks like October around here. My poor soggy tomatoes!

Buggy on the trail

Marketing and Gardening

The Market Goodies

The Daily Garden Take

Today was the Saturday farmer's market. It was another good one. We found lettuce, corn, cilantro, red onions, fingerling potatoes, free range/grass feed beefburgers, sundried tomato and basil sheep cheese, and 2lbs of red plums (not pictured). One of the farmers gave us a supply catalog for when we are ready to get going with the chickens. David gave me a gift of earrings from one of the market artists. They're very pretty, silver discs with tree of life cut outs and a dangling peridot. I love them!

The morning garden harvest was very productive, lots of tomatoes, green beans, peapods, chives, some broccoli, squash, and our first baby carrots. We finally planted the sproutlings in the raised bed. I really hope the leeks grow! yum!

Our friend Lisa gave us an aquarium which we plan to use to expand our vermiculture, better know as wormbinning. Now, we just have to order up the wigglers.

Ballad of a Bumbling Bicycler

All was quiet on the garden front. We haven't been quite as active as we would like on the construction front in the backyard farm. This should explain why:

Ballad of a Bumbling Bicycler

As part of our upcoming sustainability project and in an effort to both reduce my carbon footprint and the size of my rumpus, I decided to go for a bike ride with my buddy, Lisa. As I’m a fairly decent runner and swimmer, I had dreams of triathalon glory if only I could remaster the fine art of cycling in the open air. I had thoughts of all the money I’d save, being able to leave the Prius in the driveway and cycle over to the farmer’s market, but first I had to stay upright.

So one fine Sunday morning in July, we unloaded our bikes on the Sammamish River Trail near Woodinville. Lisa, looking the part of an experienced cycler in appropriate gear on a well put together bike, and me on David’s old bike, too big, with a seat that kept twisting itself off to one side. After figuring out just how to get my leg over the “male” bar, balance, and take off, we rode along at a slow speed for a couple of mile.Then we hit a curve and I hit the grass, left hand first. Yowie! After a few minutes of howling and jumping up and down, we continued our ride for a couple of mile more, until my left wrist began to swell and change colors. We decided to head back.

All was going slow and well until we hit the dragonfly bridge underpass near the winery. Here, the trail has a sharp little curve combined with a quick vertical dip. That combined with a sweet little old lady walking on the trail caused me to crash! The decision became whether to take out the lady or attempt to do so with one of the concrete pillars of the bridge. I took neither, opting instead to down the bike hard on the pavement, again with the left wrist hitting the pavement first, followed by the left shoulder, and the bike then slamming the pillar. The lady was spared. The bike and cyclist were not. My wrist was now really beginning to swell and purple and the bike chain had cut a serpentine track across my lower right leg that was dripping copious amounts of blood onto my sneakers.

So on that fine Sunday morning in July, we reloaded our bikes and headed to Evergreen ER. After X-rays, not broken, and a fiberglass splint, sprained wrist, I headed home to clean up my leg and ice up my wrist. But by the next day my hand was very purply, swollen like a lemon, and my wrist felt hot and itchy. After a trip to my doc’s office, I found I was allergic to the fiberglass. The splint was replaced with a neoprene one.

After many, many ice packs and several weeks, most of the wrist began to feel better, but the shoulder did not. The large bruise from the initial impact faded, and I thought perhaps it was just stiff from elevating and protecting the left wrist. I tried swimming to loosen it up. The breast stoke felt fine. The freestyle (crawl) was okay as long as I didn’t rotate the left arm too much, but then I attempted the backstroke. I thought I was going to die, drown right there in four feet of YMCA pool water!

After another trip to the doctor and a physical therapy evaluation, I’ve learned I may have damaged my rotator cuff in the left shoulder. I can’t raise the arm higher than shoulder level laterally or straight vertically or back. Now, I have two PT appointments weekly and am scheduled for an MRI on my wrist and shoulder next Friday.

I now believe the medical costs of my cycling endeavor far outweighs the potential gasoline cost savings. Ari says I need a girly bike with no “male” bar and upright handlebars so I can see where I’m going. Alex is offering me his old training wheels, and Anni says I can have her tricycle. David is still laughing!

In other news, while in the changing room of the pool today, a tiny trapped frog hopped on Anni. She screached and flung it my way. I caught it, and it is now a happy hopper in the garden patch.

The other hopper in the family is David. He's star hopping with Alex in the back yard tonight after putting together the telescope this afternoon (thanks Lisa). Are there supposed to be left over parts?

Garden Bounty Pictures

Flower among weeds

Garden tomatoes

Pumpkin blooms

Drying
Peppers

Basil on the windowsill

Escaping pumpkin

Blooms in the flower patch

Today was rainy, breezy, and sunny. It was a good day for harvesting, lots of tomatoes, a squash, and peapods! The pumpkins are beginning to form. Enjoy the photos.

Late night preservation

Here's a pic of Anni making an icecream cone. Hmm!

Today was another breezy, rainy, cool day. Eek! the slugs are advancing!

There was no post yesterday as we were elbow deep in produce preservation last night. We blanched and froze peas, sugar peapods, beans, squash, and 4 kinds of peppers. Phew! was the kitchen ever steamy! Now we'll have some summer veggies to add to the fall/winter root veggies. Then at 10:30 pm, I decided to start a pot of black current-apple jam. Four hours later, I dropped into bed!

This evening, I went to the Veg of WA vegetarian dinner with my friend Lisa. The food was from an excellent carribean restaurant (Kallaloo).

Here's a recipe special request for the Skillet Chile Rellenos we mentioned the other night.
(makes 5 servings)
5 poblano chili peppers
5 eggs
1/2 cup milk (or soy or rice milk)
1/3 cup flour
1/2-1 cup cheese, finely shredded (we like organic sharp white cheddar)
Cilantro
1) Put peppers in enough boiling water to cover peppers. Cover with lid and blanche for 2 minutes. Drain peppers and rinse with cold water. Cool. Cut stems off each pepper, remove seeds, and cut each pepper into 4 vertical strips.
2) In a medium bowl, measure flour. Whisk in milk. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat until smooth.
3) Brush large skillet with olive oil. Heat pan on medium low. Pour in a thin layer of egg mixture. Lay peppers on top in a pinwheel pattern. Cover with remaining egg mix. Cover pan. Let cook over medium low until egg begins to set. (If you like, you can flip the reyenos at this point)
4) Sprinkle cheese over top. As soon as cheese melts, sprinkle with cilantro and serve with favorite sauces, such as salsa, gaucamole, or sour cream.

Rain, cool rain!

For those who don't believe that temp yesterday!

Today, it was rainy and was in the low 70's, quite a difference from the last few days. The slugs used the weather to their advantage and advanced on the pumpkin blossoms. We had to hand collect 6 of the little beasties this morning. We harvested broccoli, peapods, and tomatoes today in the raindrops. We hope it's not quite as stormy tomorrow as all those sproutlings need to be planted.

After our in-state traveling yesterday, we had mostly a home day today. Athough, we did venture forth to the library. We had a huge pile due.

Tonight for dinner, we made an Indian meal of cumin potatoes and cauliflower, a tomato-prawn curry, naan bread, and tomatoes from the garden. Yummy! If it's cool tomorrow, I'm jammin' again.

Pick a peck of peppers

Two hot kids, Alex and Ari in the Yakima Valley on a 104 degree day.

Lisa at the Bonair Winery, "Where did Julie put my wine?"

Today, we ventured to the east. Our friend Lisa joined us as we went in search of peppers to dry for the winter in the Yakima Valley. Luck would have it if us lily-livered light weights didn't chose one of the hottest days of the WA summer to head to the desert! It was hot, Hot, HOT! (Note the droopy looking kids) David wisely stayed home with Anni, smart guy!

We left bright and early, did I mention early? A 5:30 am departure time from our home. We picked up Lisa and headed over the mountain pass and high desert hills. We arrived in Yakima at 9 am, just in time for the start of the farmer's market. It was a really great market! And boy did we find peppers! We bought 9 different kind of peppers and a strand of strung cayennes already drying! We also found purple and white eggplant, sweet walla walla onions, mini cherry tomatoes, rainbow swiss chard, green & purple okra, peaches, apples, and incredible fruity granola.

After a brief stop to put the produce on ice, we headed out to the town of Toppenish to view the western murals painted all over the buildings. It was already nearing a hundred degrees by 10:30 am! We liked seeing the murals, but we loved the cold drink from the Spanish market at the end of our walk!

Then it was out to our favorite winery, Bonair, to see what was new. On the way, we drove by fields of hops, and orchards of pears and apples. We also saw lots of grapes! Lisa and I sampled the riesling, the bonnie bonair, and my former favorite the sunset. We bought the riesling to take home as it was a great price and delicious!

Next, we headed out to Zillah for lunch at El Patron. The kids were in enchilada heaven! With full tummies, we headed to the Yakima Nation Cultural Center to see the museaum. It was full of intricate beadwork, and we learned a great deal about traditional practices, especially salmon fishing. There was also a pow-wow going on on the grounds.

On the way home, we stopped for ice cream in Ellensburg. Then we got stuck in traffic for over an hour! We were glad to have had that ice cream! And water! Did I mention it was hot! We did enjoy the beautiful scenery through the high desert and mountains. It was stunning! And now we have lots of peppers for winter! yippee-cayenne!

Vines-a-growing

The Farmers Strike Back

Pumpkins gone wild!

Score a round for the farmers! We removed 12 more slugs from the garden this morning! They went to their maker in a gloriously intoxicated haze of Rainier beer.

It was another scorcher here, 90 degrees. We gave the garden a good watering early this morning and harvested lots of peapods. The pumpkins vines are threatening to take over the rest of the garden. The pumpkins are already forming. Hmm, I can already smell the pies.

Today was Saturday market day. Alex and I foraged for fresh goodies along with our friends Lisa and Karen and her 3 sisters. We found onions, eggplant, heirloom tomatoes, cauliflower, Thai basil, golden ginger apples, black currents, hazelnuts, hazelnut oil, and blackberry honey.

We put our veggies to work for dinner tonight. We made chili reyenos with fresh salsa, avocado, and chilied mango slices. All the ingredients came from the farmers' markets or our CSA box. The CSA box contains mostly veggies from the farm, along with some veggies from other WA organic farms, and a few organic fruits from CA/Central Am. All of the items are fair trade and sustainably farmed; so we don't feel too guilty about enjoying avocado and mango occassionally.

We had an e-mail question from a reader wondering about our eating preferences. I'd say we are health-oriented flexitarians. We eat lots of organic/sustainable vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. We enjoy many meals with no meat, but we do incorporate meat on some days. It's hardly ever the centerpoint of our meal, rather a side or an ingredient part of a veggie filled whole, as in stews and curries. Our meat, poultry, fish, and eggs come from local sources and is raised as cruelty free as possible (free range, wild caught, no hormones, etc). We love ethnic foods and trying out new recipes from all over. So if you have a favorite veggie filled yummie, zap us the recipe!

Revenge of the Gastropods

Eek! The slugs have launched a counter-attack. Farmer David forgot to put the beer out last night, and the slugs advanced. We had to eject 12 of the voracious little buggers this morning! Farmer Julie Ann set out the beer tonight.

We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave! It was 92 degrees here! We're melting! Send rain to reconstitute us as soon as possible!

We thought we'd give a project update with regard to how we are doing with the 4 different goals.

1) Eat seasonally, locally, sustainably, and organically. This goal is going quite well. Most of our food now comes from local sources, the farmers market or directly from the farm or from our own garden patch. We do seem to have a couple of problem areas to continue to work on, specifically our coffee habit and our love of grabbing bite while out and about, but we have noticed that both of these are decreasing. We're trying to purchase organic, fair-trade coffee as our personal exceptions and to choose locally owned restaurants. We've also joined a great local CSA and gotten to know many of our local farmers. What's next? Decreasing our exceptions and checking out more local sources especially for fall and winter, when many of the farmers' markets are gone for the season.

2) Grow more of our own food. We are doing pretty well with this goal. The summer garden is in full swing, and we are in the process of planting our winter garden. All the seedlings are beginning to sprout. We've build one raised bed and extended the garden fence to accommodate the new planting areas. We've also built a 3 section composting system. What's next? A more permanent worm bin system and 2 more raised beds for the winter crops. Then, it's chicken time.

3) Increase community, decrease our consumerism. This goal has been going very well. Our purchasing has mostly revolved around garden supplies! Friends have been great about saving and digging up jars for our jam endeavors. We've been able to borrow, rent, or purchase used several large tools, technical books, and music to cook by. What's next? We plan to continue our participation in the farm work days on Full Circle Farm as it helps put fresh produce into our community's foodbank. (It's also a heck of alot of fun!)

4. Live and play simply and locally. This summer we didn't take a family vacation to some exotic location. We have had several day-cations to local beaches, parks, and hiking areas to enjoy our beautiful surroundings. We've also had a few get-to-know the local neighborhoods of towns around us. Some of our favorites include Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, the Ballard Locks, and the Blueberry Farm in Bellevue. We're finding that our quest for local, healthy food is a family adventure in and of itself. What's next? This weekend we're going to seach for multitudes of peppers to dry for winter.

Our technical guru let us know that we had the comments button turned off. It's back on now. So please feel free to comment on the blog! (Family friendly only, please! and NO SPAM!)

War of the Gastropods

Today, we waged war on an enemy invader to the garden patch, the common garden slug! Copper pennies did not deter the beasties as they notched up noturnal raids on the squash and pumpkin blossoms. But now we know their weakness, Rainier Beer. Victory! A dish of Rainier resulted in the demise of heaping helping of the slimy intuders. Yahoo!

The sun has finally found its way to the Pacific Northwest! Today was in the mid 80's and it's warming up over the next few days. The tomatoes are finally starting to get a rosy hue. Can you say tomato sandwiches? Hmm! The beans and peapods are still going nuts. And the pumpkins are threatening to take over the patch!

Does anyone know of a source of regional honey? We'd like to try buying in bulk from a local beekeeper for all our baking and preserving.

A note about garbage: We're noticing a significant reduction in the amount of stuff going in the trash can since the project began. Most of the waste connected to our food choices now goes directly into the compost bin. Our trash can used to be overflowing and now is now less than 3/4 full when it goes to the curb.

Goodies, Gumbo, and Gastropods

Tomatoes ripening

Goodies from our CSA box

I love purple flowers

Today was a busy day in the garden plot. We transplanted an opportunistic berry vine to along the back fence. We also removed a record number of slugs from the garden. Tomorrow we declare war on the gastropods! The flowers are blooming and the tomatoes are finally beginning to show colors other than green. We reseeded the salad bowl container with mixed lettuce. We did lots of weeding too, darn those danelions!

Also today was CSA box pickup. Our box from the farm contained all kinds of wonderful organic fruits and veggies. We got 2 kinds of lettuce, spinach, green onions, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, plums, nectarines, mango, avocados, apricots, and raspberries. Everything is beautifully fresh and chemical free!

Today for dinner we tricked the kids into eating 10 veggies! How you may ask. We made a seafood gumbo loaded with goodness. What is this wonder recipe? (We used all the veggies and some seafood)

Julie Ann's Adaptable Gumbo:
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 Tbsp flour
1 large onion minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 lb okra
4 large roma tomatoes finely chopped, with juice
(or a large can of organic diced tomato, with juice)
1-2 quarts of stock (veggie, chicken, clam juice or a combo)
1-3 cups of greens, roughly chopped (amaranth, spinach, collards, chard, etc)
salt/pepper
hot pepper sauce
Woestershire sauce
Parsley, fresh, finely chopped
For carnivores: 1/2 lb shrimp or shellfish, 1/2 lb white fish cubed, 1/4 lb porkchop or use more of any one or two.
For veggivores: 1/2 lb eggplant (salted & rinsed), 1/2 lb squash, 1/2 lb green beans or use more of any one or two.
For omnivores: see above and pick about 1 & 1/2 lb of your favorites.

1. Make roux: heat 3 tbsp. of oil in small pan over medium heat. Mix in flour and stir well. Lower heat slightly. Watch carefully and stir occassionally until the color of dark caramel. Turn off.

2. Heat remaining oil in large nonreactive pan or pot. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add garlic, okra, and carnivore/veggivore/omnivore options, except shrimp. Saute over low-med heat until meat/fish looses raw appearance and veggies begin to tenderize. Add tomatoes and cook 3 minutes. Add roux. Stir well and cook 2 minutes.

3. Add stock. If you like a thicker gumbo, use 1 quart. If you like a thinner souplike gumbo, use 2 quarts. Cook 15 minutes. Now add greens. Cook 5 minutes. Add shrimp, if using. Cook until thoroughly pink.

4. Season to taste with salt/pepper, hot pepper sauce, and woestershire sauce.

5. Serve over favorite rice or grain, and sprinkle with chopped parsley. This is also yummy with fresh bread to sop up the juice. Enjoy!

The pumpkin trying to escape the garden fence was heard to exclaim, "Get me away from these slugs!"

Honey I Shrunk the Wedding

Okay, okay, these are older pictures from Ellie and Joey's wedding in December (by special request from family members-enjoy!). Alex was the ring bearer, Anni was the flower girl, and Barkley was the wedding service dog.

Today was fairly quiet on the gardening scene. The seed trays are beginning to sprout. I planted a couple of zucchini seeds directly into the ground and did a bit of weeding. It was the chief farmer (me) day's off. I worked out (14 miles total) this afternoon and did some crafting this evening, beading on waxed cord.

I found a book today at the used book store, after striking out at the library, on preserving with honey which is hugely helpful. It's called Putting It Up with Honey by Susan Geiskopf. Alex and Anni both finished their summer reading programs and were awarded special prizes, a pair of new binoculars each. Let's go eagle spotting!

Movin' & Nappin'

Anni and David napping on the sofa.
One pooped out from playing and the other from working.
Ain't they sweet?

Today in the garden, we had to redirect the pumpkin vines that were threating to take over all else. We also finally planted some zucchini in one of the plots. The kids are hoping it won't be too prolific!

Most of the day we were doing our get-ready-for-back-to-school home reorganization and clean-up. It's definately going to take more than one day. We've had the olympics on all day too. We're kind of olympic nuts. Go Phelps!

This evening was another fine farmer's market/garden dinner. We had a great stir-fry of garlic (market), onion (market), bok choy (market), summer squash (garden), broccoli (garden), and pea pods (garden) with a marinated cucumber (market) salad and fresh cherries (market). I'm not missing the supermarket at all!

Salsa, Seeds, Fencing, & Fancy Cakes

The new raised bed, before and after transplanting the sunflowers.

This morning, Alex, Ari, and I went to the Sunday market in search of ingredients for a really good homemade salsa. We found big juicy tomatoes, jalapenos, red onions, & cilantro. They made for a very HOT salsa!

We planted seed trays with 131 seeds of 15 different types of veggies for our fall/winter beds. We started onions, leek, carrots, sage, cabbages, kale, broccoli-rabe, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, spinaches, and zucchini. We'd better hurry and build that next raised bed!

We also extended the garden fence around the the new plotting area to keep critters out, mostly our veggie loving dog.

We also cooked with all our market and farm finds. We made veggie filled enchiladas to go with that spicy salsa. We make a fresh raspberry topped 2-layer cake for dessert. It was filled with our home preserved raspberry jam. Anni had 3 pieces! We also powered up the bread machine for a loaf of veggie bread. The kitchen smelled terrific!

Farming for a good cause

Full Circle Farm Red Beets

Farmer Julie Ann & beans

Farmer Lisa

Today, I went to help on a work party at Full Circle Farm with good pal, Lisa, for a good cause. We worked 4 hours on the farm. We learned about organic farming, and the farm donated oodles of fresh produce to Hopelink families. So what did we do? First, we widened a trail through a forest area as part of a salmon stream restoration project on the farm. We tackled prickly blackberry vines and hidden barbed wire. Then, we picked raspberries and blueberries to take home as a treat. After a yummy lunch, we rode in the tractor wagon out to the veggie fields to glean peppermint beets for the foodbank and picked a few beans. We both loved the dogs who were into retriving favorite rocks. (They desparately need a tennis ball!) The weather was terrific for a farm experience, and we learned alot. (I hope I can move tomorrow)

Romeo, a lion, & Produce O'my

Julie Ann picking pea pods this morning. We also harvested broccoli, green beans, 2 tomatoes, chives, and yellow squash.

Today was a day of theatre, planting, and produce. Alexander had his Shakespearean theatre production. He was Romeo in the swordfight scene and the lion from a Play Within a Play. He did a great job!

The kids were complaining there was no fruit in our home to eat. I made jam with it all! So we went to the small Friday farmer's market and purchased a plethora of fruity local produce: cherries, strawberries, raspberries, apricots, nectarines, plums, and apples.

We started our first plantings in the new raised bed, a line of giant sunflowers! Hopefully, we'll have lots of seeds to roast.

For dinner tonight, we made my favorite potato-leek soup complemented with the smoked salmon, cheese, and pepper jelly, all from our farmers' markets. Dessert was a raspberrry-strawberry compote. Delish!

Of Tapirs, HTML, and Grains

Ari and Lisa at writing group

(Note Ari's flaming flamingo pen!)

Well, today not much happened on the gardening front. Alas, the seeds were not planted, but tomorrow is another day, and hopefully a cooler one.

Anni and I went to the Zoo with her summer camp. All the animals were up and active, surprising for a warm day. We especially loved the hippos who were frolicking in their swimming hole. Did you know they are the most dangerous animal in Africa? (Except for maybe the mosquito.) One little one wanted to know about that strange swinging tail of the male tapir. We had to delicately explain it wasn't his tail!

Mucho, much thanks to our techie friend Lisa for helping us loads with the blog. Today, after the writing portion of our writing group, she gave Ari and I lesson #1 in pre-school HTML to fix a few clitches in the blog programming. First, she had to tell me what HTML stood for!

In our continuing effort to eat locally, we went in search of local grains. We found Bluebird Grain Farm in WA's Methow valley. They have a CSA for organic and heirloom grains including farro, dark nothern rye, had red wheat, and soft white wheat. This is great news as we can now bake up some bread! Toasty!

Julie Ann

Winter Seeds

Today, we went in search of winter seeds. We finally found a source with organic seeds and some heirloom varieties. So what are we going to plant? Winter cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, onions, carrots, collards, sage, spinach, cabbage, broccoli-raab, and leeks for the fall. Before summer's over we're going to try another harvest of lettuce and to get some zucchini going.

Today's market-based dinner was a marinated cucumber/tomato salad and a terrific Mexican stew. Here's the recipe. Don't let the long list of ingredients throw you, it's super easy! (Note for veggie friends-omit the chicken and use veggie broth. It's still delicious!):

Mexican Stew
Chicken hindquarter (leg + thigh) 1
Onion, diced 1
Garlic cloves, finely chopped 2
Green chili, lightly toasted & chopped 1
Jalepeno, lightly toasted & finely chopped 1
Tomatillos, chopped 2
Red potatoes, medium, chopped 5
Chopped tomatoes w/juice 1 can
Chicken broth 2 cups
Smelt grain (or brown rice) 1 cup
Allspice, ground 1/4 tsp
Cloves, ground 1/8 tsp
Cinnamon, ground 1/8 tsp
Almonds, slivered 1/2 cup
Peanut oil 1 tsp

Wash and dry chicken. Lightly salt and pepper. Place skin side down in bottom of crock pot, turned on high setting. Add onions, garlic, peppers, tomatillos, potatoes. Let cook for 1/2 hr. Then add tomatoes with juice and broth. Let cook for at least 3 more hours. Then add cinnamon, allspice, and cinnamon. Stir well. Add smelt (or rice). Let cook another hour. Just before serving, saute almonds over low heat in peanut oil until golden. Sprinkle over top of stew. Serve with warm tortillas, marinated salad, and a cold beer. Enjoy!

Tomorrow, we're having a field trip to the Woodland Park Zoo and then a seed planting party.

It's official, We're farmers! How we got started.

The morning veggie harvest from the garden

Well, now you know the project goals, we thought we'd update you on what we've done so far.

First about our food production: Part one of the garden is up and running. Every year, since we moved into the house 5 year ago, we've expanded our organic garden. It's now 15'x20' with 5 planting areas. This year we have 1 flower plot to attact those pollinators and 4 veggie plots. We're growing 6 kinds of tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, arugala, romaine, sweet and sugar snap peas, bush beans, carrots, corn, pumpkins, yellow zucchini, artichokes, spinach, mustard greens, broccoli, and strawberries. The herb patch has lavender, basil, cilantro, mint, lemon balm, and chives. Throughout the patch, we've planted sunflowers and marigolds, and the dandelions grow of their own strong will.

Now that the fickle sun is finally starting to show in the Northwest, we are harvesting daily. The spinach and strawberries didn't really do much this year due to our late, wet spring, but the peas are coming in like gangbusters. We're eagerly awaiting the arrival of our tomatoes. The first ones are finally starting to get that first golden edge. This year we planted 4 heirloom varieties in addition to our standard early girls and cherries.

We've also started clearing space to add 3 raised beds in which to try fall and winter plantings. We're exploring local nurseries to see where we can find organic mulch and soil. This year, we built a 3 compartment composting system for turning the kitchen and yard scraps into rich organic matter for the garden. The raw stuff goes into bin one for 2 weeks, bin 2 for 2 more, and then the third bin for final 2 weeks. Out comes rich, brown compost with losts of earthworms for the veggies.

Our research and resource reading for this week has been 2 books about soil and composting that we borrowed from our local library. (See the booklist for titles if you're interested.) Reading books about dirt, we must be farmers!