The cool air comes back!

Lilies, day and night! Love that bright pink!

We are all ahs and smiles as the cool air finally starts to move back into the Puget Sound area. After temps of 106 and 103, we were ready for some cool relief! Even the chickens were panting! Our upstairs hovered above 90 for the past 3 days. No one could sleep or eat (bad news with all that zucchini in the fridge!). We finally hooked up a tiny room AC in our basement family room and all slept down there. A week ago, an 85 degree day would seem hot to us, but today it was a welcome relief! Just call us a bunch of NW heat wimps!

We finally cooked again. The menu was BBQed Mexican pork, Spanish yellow rice, and grilled zucchini (of course! zucchini 100 remember?) and yellow squash brushed with jalepeno infused olive oil, homegrown pico de gallo, mellow avocado slices, and a hibiscus sparkling lemonade. It was delicious! The lemons and avocado were from our farm box, and the peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, yellow squash, and zucchini all came from our back yard!

Someone recently asked about our exceptions to the local eating rule. We have 3 family exceptions per month and 1 individual exception per week. Usually the family exceptions are: an oil of some kind (olive, peanut, canola), a spice, and citrus or avocados. The individual exceptions are as follows: Ari - coffee always, Anni - hot chocolate usually, but occassionally a hamburger, Alex - lately a frappacino, David - coffee usually, but sometimes a pepsi, & Julie Ann - either chocolate or coffee.

Another reader asked about restaurants. We usually try to frequent local, family owned restaurants. If they serve local, organic food so much the better. Our favorite coffee place is Cafe Ladro who friendly crew serves up wonderful organic fairtrade shade grown coffee. They also have the best apple pie in the universe!

Stats for the Zucchini 100, at last count we were at 81 zucchini left to go. However, over the last few days, I've harvested 12 more! So that brings it up to 93 - 1 in my salad for lunch and another 1 on the grill tonight = 91 to go! Did I mention the 6 more zucchini plants about to spit out zucchini? Help!

Back to business

Our January decorating scheme for the learning center is winter weather.

Along the mantle, we have snowpeople, candles, snowflakes, icicles, and cardinals.
Here's a slightly too light (flash) version of our downstairs wall, freshly painted.
Here's CSA box #1 of 2009.
This one contained an eggplant, mushrooms, avocado, red onion,
red chard, lettuce, garnet yams, a cucumber, roma tomatoes,
oranges, tangerines, pears, and apples.

After all the holiday snow, outings, and dining, we are finally back into our usual routine. Our family local exceptions for this month are olive oil, oranges, and arborio rice. For dinner tonight, we made a delicious chicken, wild mushroom, and nut risotto with garlic frizzled spinach, orange segments, and sparkling wine/juice.

Anni had her cooking group today, complete with a fire drill. She was not amused! Alex joined an online classroom to learn all about the finer points of compound and complex sentences. Ari got a perfect score on a quiz in her college math class. And I worked on getting my misbehaving computer back up and running (success at last!).

January is shaping up to be another busy month. We're starting our planning process for this year's garden and painting the inside of our home. David is busy as ever with his job. Ari is back to college. Alex has rejoined his ed program, and Anni is everywhere as usual. I've rejoined the Earth Institute discussion group and signed up to take a writing class in Seattle. Our writing group is continuing and has added a new member.

Starships, skeletons, and a misplaced toilet

Alex's latest lego creation, a star battle cruiser.

Our Dias de las muertes bulletin board complete with paper marigolds.

Honey, why is the toilet in the tub? David loves to rearrange the furniture whenever the rest of us are out for the day, but this is riduculous! Seriously, David was busy plumping, patching, painting, and flooring. Now about that toilet...

Today was rainy, cloudy, and sunny. Ah, Autumn in the great Northwest. We decided to leave Ari to her studying and David to his fix-its. The little folks and I ran lots of errands. We took some favorite picture book copies to be laminated and found a keyboard for Anni on sale for $9! We went searching for long sleeved t-shirts for Anni, and she found a few to her liking. Then we went grocery shopping for a few pantry staples.

Now that summer is over, it's getting harder and harder to get find all our foods within the mile limits. We are finding much more difficult to find fruits within the 100 mile limit. Luckily, we froze and preserved lots over the summer, and we do get some from further afield via the CSA box. Now what to do with that persimmon???

We are finding that our monthly exceptions have stayed pretty consistent, usually an oil of some type (peanut for Nov.), a citrus fruit (mandarins), and hot chocolate. Our individual weekly exceptions can vary widely. Alex had to have ramen today. Anni wanted peanut butter. Ari (of course) needed coffee. David is currently craving a burger, and I had to have a veggie sushi roll with wasabi.

Responding to a question: Are you still buying organic given the current economy?


The answer is a matter of availability, health/cost ratio, and quality. Overall we do buy organic if at all possible. With the end of the seasonal farmers' markets, it's a bit trickier finding all the organic goodies. We are lucky enough to have a couple of great organic supermarket chains in the area which I hit often, and now even some of the 'regular' supermarkets have an organic section. We do buy less organic food due to cost, but since it's more nutritionally dense, we figure we come out even. Occasionally, we will buy some of the safer non-organics if the organic item is looking particularly poor that week.

Meat is an especially tricky issue, the organic free range or pasture fed meat is extremely expensive. So, we eat veggie at least four times a week now. At first there was much grumbling within the tribe, but now they've adjusted and don't usually ask about the missing meat. And when we do spring for the meat, it's usually part of a casserole, stew, etc with a whole bunch of veggies and grains.

Dinner tonight was tostadas with tiny crab cakes (Whole Paycheck) on a bed of cilantro-cabbage (CSA) slaw, with tomatoes (garden), green onion (CSA), and radish (CSA), and topped with jalapeno (organic from regular supermarket) cream. We served this up with roasted pumpking seeds (garden), black beans (organic from regular supermarket), corn (CSA), and a platter of fruit (mandarins ((monthly exception)), kiwi ((CSA)), and pomegranate seeds ((CSA))). The kids were so thrilled about the miniscule amount of crab that they didn't even realized they'd just eaten eleven servings from the fruit/veggie group.

Demonic dog takes over chair

Barkley, the wunder hund, exhibited a frightening side of his otherwise friendly nature. He turns into demonic dog while sleeping, with stiff limbs and wild eyes and intermittent grunts and whines. We all love his silly long legs!

Today was another sunny one. Yahoo! a couple in a row. The garden is smiling. It was another busy day. Anni had appointments all day!

Then we did some weeding and plant clean up in the front yard. Tomorrow we tackle the weeds in the garden (yet again!). The tomatoes are coming in like gangbusters now! Anni and I are in tomato heaven! Yum!

The results of the MRI on the bumbling bicycler (me) are in, and ...(building suspense and awe)...I have a fractured radius, right at the wrist and major inflamation and -itises in three parts of my shoulder joint. Well, that explains the ouchies and why one should never mix speed with rapid encounters with gravity and ground. So, I'm off to see the bone doc and more PT - oh joy!

This evening's local meal featured Cod from the WA coast, a pasta salad full of garden tomatoes, market peppers, and CSA celery, and a fruit compote of CSA mango and market plums. It was tasty and light. My cholesterol level is smiling (and hopefully heading downward!).

A minor correction: the brown sugar listed as one of this month's exceptions should have been brown sauce, a very British concoction that we all dearly love on breakfast potatoes.

Flowers and Fairy Cakes

A flower in bloom.

Trees in bloom

Pictures from our morning walk at the park. Enjoy.

Today was a sunny, cool, breezy, and cloudy day. Guess we covered most weather conditions by noon. We made a pilgrimage to the mall today for some new baking ware. After 28 years of marriage, ours were very worn out. We decided to add 1-2 pieces a month until we've replaced all the old rusty stuff. We'll reuse that stuff for storage, crafting, etc. Our first replacements were a glass bread pan and a fairy cakes pan. Anni loves fairy cakes! She wants to test this pan out tomorrow! Mmmm, almond fairy cakes!

Today is the beginning of a whole new month which means we had to decide on our 3 family month exceptions. For September, they are organic hot chocolate, organic canola oil, and organic brown sugar. We had a couple of e-mail asking about our individual weekly exceptions. So for August here they were: Anni-hot chocolate, pizza, french fries, & a cheeseburger, Alex-tortilla chips, chili, enchilada, & hot chocolate, Ari-mocha, mocha, mocha, & mocha, David-coffee, hamburger, coffee, & coffee, Julie Ann-mocha, dark chocolate, mocha, and chocolate cake. Notice a junk food and coffee theme here? Glad, they're our exceptions!

Project Goal #1: Eat seasonally, locally and organically

(Barkley and his beloved ball)

To eat seasonally, locally, sustainably, and organically, we intend to buy our food directly from farms, CSA's, farmers' markets, and coops whenever possible.
Rules:
A) 75% of our food purchases from within a 100 mile limit of our home.
B) 25% from with a 200 mile limit.
C) 3 family exceptions per month
D) Just 1 personal exemption per week, individually sized.
E) All exceptions must be organic and sustainable.

Why seasonal? It's all about the taste and the nutrients. Foods in season are at the peak of both their flavor and nutrient content. They very often need little other seasoning when eaten. They are crisp and delicious, juicy and lucious, hmmmm! The snap of tender spring asparagus, the sweetness of early summer strawberries, the sticky, gooey juices of peaches, and the crunch of harvest corn; a symphony of goodness.

Why local? It's all about the vast distances our food is being transported. Studies have shown the average food item times travels 1500 miles to reach our grocery stores. That seems to be an incredible waste of energy resources and food freshness. It also produces lots of greenhouse gases. Why not buy closer to home and support the farmer directly?

Why organic and sustainable? It's all about the chemicals and the environment. Much too much of our commericially grown plant food is exposed to pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and other agents that damage the environment and cause concern for our own health. Similarly, our commericially based animal food is often raised in conditions that pollute the environment and contribute to poor animal health, which then must be treatrd with antibiotics or hormones to boast production. Organic foods eliminate the chemicals. Sustainable foods don't damage the environment and are usually more humane.

Why the mile limits? We are blessed to live in the abundant Pacific Northwest. We can obtain most of what our family needs to eat within a 100 mile limit. A few products, most notably grain, require the extention to 200 miles.

Why the exceptions? This is a family project, not a punishment. We wish to see if we can live in a better way, but we all have our guilty pleasures. Ours include chocolate, coffee, Pepsi, Doritos, Fruit Loops, and dog biscuits. Therefore, we are giving each family member one exception per week, but they'll have to be healthier choices. Likewise, 3 family exclusions are allowed per month to allow for basic menu necessities. Family exclusions must be voted on by all family members. Our first family exclusions are 1 bag of lemons, 1 bottle of olive oil, and 1 wedge of parmesean cheese.

We're off to the Farmer's Market this morning and then to a local farm. We need fruit, veggies, cheese, honey, and grains. Wish us luck.

Julie Ann