A box of bounty

The CSA farm box for this week

Our Middle Eastern veggie dinner

It was another beautiful day. This might be the sunniest stretch we've had all year. We harvested again. This time it was lots of tomatoes, carrots, yellow squash, and chives.

We also had lessons with Anni's vision teacher, and Anni went to OT today. She loved driving the hand car, a little speed demon in the making.

We picked up our CSA box from the organic farm today. As always it was full of goodness. This time we had potatoes, onions, spinach, romaine lettuce, carrots, corn, red and green cabbage, oranges, limes, grapes, peaches, nectarines, and plums.

We made a terrific veggie feast for dinner tonight and invited our friend, Lisa, to dinner. We had a Middle Eastern themed meal with tabooleh, humus, crackers, a tomato-veggie-lentil soup, fahlafels, spiced yogurts, feta cheese, plums, fig jam, organic wine, and wholewheat pita bread, made from scratch. It was delicious. We're looking forward to leftover fahlafel sandwiches for lunch tomorrow!

Afterwards, we played in the backyard with Barkley, stargazed, and took over Anni's dollhouse with starwar figurines. Ah, good times.

Show me the money, honey

Gigantic plant threatens to take over back deck!

Today was another busy. Anni had OT at home and then a speech appointment. Ari had an interview. We had a trip to the library, and I had a PT appointment. Then we went out for dinner. About the only thing that happened in the garden was a brief watering this morning. We did have sunshine again, so we're hoping for some harvestables tomorrow.

We had an inquiry about the cost of the project. Well the budget guy (David) tells me we're spending almost exactly the same as last year for food. Considering recent inflation and our capitol outlay costs for the gardening materials, I think we're ahead with the project. We are also eating healthier food than last year, lots of organic fruits, veggies, and whole grains. So in terms of nutrients and taste per dollar spent, I think we're way ahead. In terms of nonmonetary costs, we are spending more time doing things together as a family, like cooking, menu planning, gardening, composting, marketeering, and traveling locally. Just cooking with honey is an ooey gooey family experience all in itself.

Back to school joy

The utter joy of back to school. See Alex's ecstactic look of ecstacy as he begins his computer work? Ari is so daunted by her upcoming college schedule that she's taken to hiding behind her curly locks! Just kidding. They are actually kind of excited about their new subjects, specifically Alex wants to get going with life science and Ari is looking forward to archeology.

Anni had a great day to restart her Yoga program, most of it was outside today. She down dogged and chanted while I harvested plums from our friend's tree. The kids also went blackberry picking with David this afternoon. We love free fruit! The garden yielded another oodle or two of tomatoes today.

We had a BBQ for dinner tonight with WA coast salmon with blackberry-chipotle sauce, rosemary (front yard) fingerling potatoes (farmer's market) with baby carrots (garden), and a tomato (garden), cucumber (CSA), and lettuce salad (farmer's market) with dijon vinegrette (homemade in kitchen), and fresh blackberries (field across the street) for dessert.

After dinner and clean-up, we took the telescope out to the back yard and looked at the moon. It was a clear sky and we could even see the individual craters on the moon! Very cool.

In the continuing saga of the ballad of the bumbling bicycling, I saw the bone specialist today. The wrist is still broken in two places and I'm back in the splint for another month. Alex calls it mom's gauntlet of unlimited power. I kind of like that (but only for the peaceful pursuits of ecological good.)

Fun at the WA Coast

Today, we had a fun day at the Washington Coast. We visited Roosevelt Beach, Pacific Beach, Moclips Beach, and Ocean Shores. It was both beautifully sunny and breezy. There was kite festival going on at Pacific Beach. The kids found several great shells and a skimmed many sand dollars on the waves. The kids also liked picking their favorite flavors of salt water taffy. On the way back we stopped at the wildlife refuge to look at all the brown pelicans. We also saw two turkey vultures and a seagull catching a crab. We all had a blast, a splash, and lots of sand between our toes!

Pizza & Sneaks

Today's haul from the farmer's market: a bell pepper, yukon and fingerling potatoes, onions, leeks, green leaf and romaine lettuce, plums, and apples.

Today was another great dry one for gardening. It was time to debean, depea, and debroccoli the garden patch. Those pumpkins needed room to take over.

This afternoon, we had lunch with friends and then found a new pizza stone and grill pan. So guess what was for dinner? Homemade pizza with grilled garden veggies. We also finally found new shoes for Anni. She picked very cool boy's sketchers! They suit our sporty girl.

Tomatoes and Pumpkins, Oh my!

Tomatoes in the window and pumpkin on the vine ripening. There are tons of tomatoes on the vine, but the vines are looking sickly due to last weeks rain. The peas and beans are done for the year. We have 9 pumpkins growing like gangbusters. The one in the photo is already turning orange!

Today was another busy one. Anni had three appointments. I had my chauffer's cap on, zipping her around to speech, OT, and the pool. Alex and I had a chess game this evening. He's getting good! Ari helped to track down the organic fair-trade hot chocolate. We're giving it a test run at breakfast tomorrow.

We made veggie tostadas for dinner tonight. They were yummy and used lots of veggies. Alex is busy checking the cookbooks for recipes for next week. He's our coordinating chef!

Cats demand equal time

The cats are demanding equal photo time. They feel the dog has been getting all the attention. See the prissy, jealous poses they are pulling as they occupy all the chairs in the computer center. So here are the felines, Alchemy and Dusty.

Today was another beautiful sunny day. It's like summer has finally arrived in September! We took a long walk with the dog (sorry kitties). We picked blackberries along the way and were purple by the time we arrived at the park. We saw lots of blue jays and a garter snake among the bushes.

We had a fun cooking afternoon. We made two kinds of bread, Oaty oatmeal and salsa-cheese-corn bread, in the bread machine. We're venturing beyond wholewheat! We made a veggie chili in the crockpot for dinner. It had 11 veggies in it. The kids ate it all! Not a single bean left!

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.

School Time and Soccer Balls

Barkley planning a sneak attack.

Anni and her soccer ball

Today was the first day back at our homeschool. Hear Anni and Alex groan! Of course, it was a beautiful sunny day! Anni worked on her reading program, played a touch game and a vision game, and worked on social studies today. Alex choose a science project, started a reading novel, and mailed back his old course materials. We had afternoon PE at the park - Soccer, with Barkley. He's such a ball hog!


Tonight we made a great veggie dinner. We curried eggplant slices, had a heirloom tomato salad with golden peppers, sauteed rainbow chard with garlic, and spicy chili-cumin potatoes. All the veggies came from our garden, CSA basket, or the farmer's market. The family is getting used to the veggie dinners 4 times a week.

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!