We're back!

Anni and I are back from here recent stay in the hospital. She did very well, but was very bored having to stay in bed for 2 days. We're both really tired! We were glad to sleep in our own comfy beds.

But then Alex had need of the medical profession. His cold, sore throat, cough bug wasn't getting any better. So off to the doc we went. Alex has bronchitis. So off to the pharmacy we went for antibiotics.

So, we took it easy for the rest of the day. We read stories, and played in the garden. The pumpkins and peas we planted last week are doing well. We harvested more green beans, tomatillos, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, chives, parsley, and basil.


And then the farm box arrived

It was full of fall goodness. We had broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, lettuce, bell peppers, chili peppers, corn, grape, a melon, nectarines, pears, apples, plums, and asian pears.

For dinner tonight, we had a delicious pasta with smoked salmon and leeks in a cream herb sauce. We served it up with a garden salad and a desert of farm pears and dark chocolate. Delish!

Farmer David

Today, farmer Julie Ann went to the Foolscap Conference with her writing friends Lisa and Judith. It's a very local sci-fi and fantasy venue with panels, auctions, and lots of awesome books. To further expand my reading repertoire, I bought book 1 of a fantasy trilogy. I found an awesome ghostly picture at the auction that bears a striking resemblance to my Nana. Ari thought it was awesome, and Alex enjoyed the Spiderman in the future comic books.

Farmer David took over the Funny Farm while I was away. He worked on the hen box and the garden. He found a curtain rod for the curtains of yesterday that looks great. He even made dinner: Alaskan halibut with jalapeno salsa fresca and avocado, garlic and herb fries, garden green beans, toasted sourdough bread, and chocolate for desert. It was delish! I love Farmer David!

Anni has to go into the hospital for some monitoring tomorrow. So the blog probably won't be updated for a couple of days as I'll be staying with her.

Quadruple Win:wins

Today was a beautiful day in the Northwest. We decided to have a day of fun.

First stop was the Seattle Friends of the Library book sale. It was huge! There was a whole warehouse full of books! Ari was in pure heaven! We left with 2 bags full. Ari found lots of scary books. Alex found an adventure book in his favorite series. Anni found 5 reading books, and I had a boxful of environmental books. All of our books were $1 a piece, and the money raised supports library programs. So, here's the first win:win.

Today was the Smithsonian's visit a museum for free day. You could print a coupon online for admission to many museums across the country. We went to the Experience Music Project (EMP) and the Science Fiction Museum at the Seattle Center for FREE! I liked the Jimmie Hendricks exhibit. The kids loved seeing all the sci-fi aliens and robots. It was WAAAAY COOOOL!, and our second win:win of the day.

After a quick lunch at the Seattle Center, we set off for home. Along the way we passed the Juanita Community Garage Sale at Marina Park. We pulled in for a brief browse. I had $9 in my pocket. I left with an antique wooden bowling game ($2), 2 really nice wicker lamp shades ($1 for the pair), a 3 tier serving tray ($1), and best of all new curtains ($5 for four 84" panels) for my dining room that are a perfect complementary match to the decor. I saved tons not having to buy new curtains, and we helped keep usable stuff out of the landfill. This was the third win:win.

And finally, Ari and I set out for RASP this evening. No, RASP is not short for raspberry. It's the acronym for the Redmond Association of the Spoken Word (used to be poetry). I read a humorous poem, in rhyme no less, featuring catapulting sasquatches, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Natasha and Boris, Ruby, a mayor and skipping. Lisa read a great piece about grits. There was also a featured author talking about her book and several other speakers. This goes on the last Saturday evening of each month. It's great fun, and FREE! The final win:win of the day.

Flowers, pooches, kids, and nudibranchs

The pumpkins vines are snaking across the garden. Their large flowers are popping open, and little pumpkins are emerging! We planted 8 MORE pumpkin plants today, as well as 5 seeds. We love pumpkins! We also planted some fall peas, rutabagas, and cilantro in the garden. The weather is supposed to be nice for the next couple of days, and then, fall arrives!

Here's a photo for the Barkley fans out there. His foot has healed up nicely, and he's back to his bouncy self.

Why are Ari and Alex hanging over the edge of a pier, at night no less?

They're peeking at nudibranchs, those fancy slugs of the sea. The kids joined with students from Ari's marine biology class and People for Puget Sound to observe the sea critters of the night on Wednesday.

Preservin'

Today, the funny farmers got out the preserving supplies. We made 4 jars of plum butter and jarred up 6 jars of German red cabbage relish. There was a fantastic sweet and sour smell in the kitchen!

We also went for a walk along the Sammamish River trail this afternoon. It was warm. We hit 90 today! So much for our fall cool down, but the veggies are happy!

A farming kind of day!

It was a busy weekend down on the funny farm. Yesterday, we started as we usually do on a Saturday. We went to the Farmer's market. As our fridge is bursting at its joints with fruit and veg, we decided to look for other market finds. We found some nice grass feed ground beef, some fresh local tuna, and yes, some fruit and veg. We found some lovely baby red potatoes, cilantro, Asian pears, and this:
Can you guess what veggie this ^ is? Answer at the end of the post. Here's a clue: It's a member of the nightshade family (as are potatoes and tomatoes).

In other news, we had a lovely day full of entertainment yesterday (hence the workday today). We perused bookstores. I got a SHORT haircut which I love. Ari and I went out to dinner with friends and then to see the new film "Brightstar", the love story about Keats. It was beautifully done, but a bit dreary for my taste.

Yesterday's garden harvest: tomatoes, green and burgundy beans, a yellow summer squash, a zucchini, 2 delicata squash, and 2 pumpkins.

Here's today's messy haul from the garden: 250 green beans, 59 tomatoes, 3 tomatillos, a green pepper, 12 carrots, 1 baby pumpkin, 1 zucchini, 2 big handfuls of chives, 1 handful of basil, and not pictured one very large purple cabbage. Tonight, I'm browsing the cookbooks to see what I can make with that cabbage!

Today, we worked on the chicken coop's hen box. The weather is beginning to get cool in the evenings. So, we're finishing up the insulated box before the nasty weather arrives. The cluckers were happily nibbling on our shoes strings as we added pieces to their coop.

We also did lots of gardening. It was a perfect gardening day. The sun was out, but it wasn't hot. We weeded the garden plot and pulled the spent zucchini and tomatoes. We planted some more pumpkins and marigolds. Then, we weeded the berry bush row and around the plants in our future meditation circle. Tomorrow, I'll be replenishing the soil in anticipation of planting all the seedlings that are up in the seed trays. I'll also need to go on slug patrol as we had a few days of rain and they're back in force.

Tonight for dinner, we had a lovely fallish Northwest dinner. We had some fresh halibut (from our local fishermongers) baked in the oven with herbs (from the garden). We added the baby red potatoes (from the market) served with chive (from the garden) butter sauce, and fresh steamed green beans (harvested from the garden this afternoon) with lemon pepper and salt. For dessert, a peach cobbler with peaches from our farm box. It was delish!

Did you guess the mystery veggie yet?

It's a golden eggplant! Soon to be a curried eggplant. Yum!

Gorillas, Castles, and Produce, Oh my!

Here are mom and baby gorilla having a forage through the straw.

Alex's most excellent card castle. Is this reminiscent of Gormenghast?

The CSA farm box arrived yesterday. This one had crimini mushrooms, chantrelle mushrooms, oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, eggplant, cucumber, white carrots, leek, nectarines, apples, peaches, pears, and a melon. It was a bit heavier that usual in the fruit department. You'll see why below...

The garden continues to spew forth veggies! Here was Tuesday's harvest: 2 yellow summer squash, 2 zucchini, tomatillos, tomatoes, parsley, sage, thyme, basil, greem and burgandy beans, chives, baby carrots, and a few raspberries, and blackberries.

Last night for dinner, we made a delicious green chili stew with pork and 14 veggies. It was delicious!

Bikes, Bites, and Yikes! Random thoughts from a busy day

Here's our friend Lisa in the middle of her 100K bike ride for charity. She's arriving at a rest stop, 2/3's of the way through. She looks great and is still upright!

Here she is waving by at the stop.
And she's off again!

The raspberries are ripening.

So are the blackberries that are snaking their way over into my yard.

Tuesday's garden harvest; a winter squash (already!), celery, zucchini (of course), tomatoes, and herbs.

Thursday's harvest: acorn squash, yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillos, kale, lots of beans, and herbs.

Today's harvest: Zucchini, tomatoes, beans, carrots, kale, and herbs.

We also went to the farmer's market today. We always find wonderful local foods there. Today we found locally made sustainable Italian sausage, hazelnut oil, locally caught tuna, potatoes, lettuce, onions, apples, and hot peppers. Yum!

And finally a wise face from our zoo trip last week. This gorilla was watching all the folks watching her.

For the Birds!

Guess where we went on Saturday?

Some exotic island, perhaps?

Alex enjoyed feeding the budgies.

Other birds abounded.

Some with long beaks.

Some with long legs!

Others with flexible necks.

Some dressed to go out.

Or just hang about.

Others happy to stay home.

Did you guess?

We were wild things at the Woodland Park Zoo.

Missing fungi

We picked up our CSA box yesterday. It was full of great fruits and veggies, but missing an item, our mushrooms. We sent an email of inquiry. We love those fungi! In the box, we found a leek, poblano peppers, a mango, potatoes, nectarines and peaches, gingergold apples, rainbow chard, a big lettuce, cantaloupe, red cabbage, limes, figs, and an onion. Yum!

Here's Anni checking out what's being harvested in our garden. She loves the bumpy feel of the sunflower seeds, the smell of the jalapeno and tomato, and the smoothness of that very strangely shaped zucchini. She's learning all about the September harvest. Her favorite things to pick are the cherry tomatoes. Note there are none left in the photo!

NWEI

Hi everyone! Folks have asked us how we learned to do all the stuff we do on the funny farm. Well, it all started with a course and a book.

The course was Voluntary Simplicity from the Northwest Earth Institute and the book was Plenty. Well, Seattle's branch of the Northwest Earth Institute is offering 24 classes throughout the greater Seattle area this fall! Many are offered on the eastside of Lake Washington. These courses get my vote as both a win:win for all the wonderful information and cool folks you'll encounter and a real bargain.

So you are all invited to:

CATCH THE GREEN VIRUS!

Plan to attend an introductory presentation about Northwest Earth Institute discussion courses on:
§ Global Warming
§ Menu for the Future
§ Healthy Children, Healthy Planet
§ Choices for Sustainable Living
§ Discovering a Sense of Place
§ Voluntary Simplicity
§ Deep Ecology

The presentations will provide background information on these Northwest Earth Institute discussion courses. Those who wish to participate in a course will be able to sign up at the presentation, and the meeting days and times will be chosen then.

The courses are participant-facilitated, based on readings drawn from authors including: Wendell Berry, Vicki Robin, Linda Breen Pierce, Paul Hawken, Rachel Carson, William J. Doherty, Eric Schlosser, Juliet Schor, Joanna Macy, Donella Meadows, Lester Brown.

The classes are free. There is a small charge for the course materials.

These courses are developed and sponsored by the Northwest Earth Institute (http://www.nwei.org/) Please see the website http://www.nweiseattle.org/ of the Seattle chapter for specific information.

The mission of the Northwest Earth Institute is: Inspiring people to take
responsibility for Earth.

Please call Chris if you have any questions, at: 425-889-4724.

Keys? What keys? Who has the keys?

Today we decided to go out for lunch. It was a crisp late summer day, cloudy with a hint of rain. The future farmers, on hearing they were about to partake of their favorite Mexican cuisine, raced for the car. I grabbed my purse, locked the backdoor, and gave Barkley a pat on his head as I went out the front door.

The kids were standing outside the car. "Get in," I called. "We can't," they answered. It was then that I had an awful feeling. They did not have the keys. I did not have the keys. Barkley was guarding the house and car keys, from inside the house!

We walked around and around the house. It was locked up tight. Alex contemplated trying to go through his bedroom window by climbing on the roof, but we decided we like his limbs in one piece.

Ari called to Dusty Cat to open the door, but while this talented feline can open all our interior doors, including food cupboards, she was unable to master the front or back door locks.

Anni was happy to be outside and announced that she was starving. Anni is always starving! So we set off in search of lunch.

We walked the 1/2 mile down to the restaurant for lunch. It was delicious! Then we called David, had a coffee, and began the 1/2 mile walk home. It rained most of the way. David wasn't there when we got there; so we weeded the overgrown front garden beds for awhile, in the rain.

From now on, we'll have a keys caller BEFORE we lock the door. (Secondary motto of the story: never trust a persnickety cat to open the door for you.)