Harvest season is well underway!

Harvest season is well underway on the Funny Farm. We still have lots of zucchini, patty pan squash, cukes, green beans, and tomatoes. The greens herbs, peppers, and edible flowers are also still producing. Below, are pumpkin # 3 and 4. We're also harvesting loves of raspberry leaf for tea and the dominant garden berry are black berries. After verbally insulting my two eggplants for only turning out 1 eggplant all season, they promptly spit out the lovely one above, and now 7 more are growing! I shall have to remember to speak sternly to them from now on. (Although, I did remember to thank them for the one they made)

As summer winds down, we are taking advantage of the last of the sunshine. Last weekend, we went across the mountains for a musicfest in Leavenworth. We heard some great Northwest talent. One of the musicians was Anni's physical therapist. Great music Hunter! On Sunday, I went hiking with my pal Lisa on Tiger Mountain and then to Snoqualmie Falls. I also learned how to do track lighting installation. Today, we hit our local farmers' market for tree fruits and spicy peppers (which we don't grow) I also found some lovely handmade soaps and beautiful handcrafted cards by our friend and local artist , Danielle, The Crazy Card Lady. Tomorrow, we are off to our favorite apple farm, Jones Creek Farm, to pick apples for apple butter. Anni has been learning about apple in her home school programs and has her basket all ready to go!

And speaking of school, Alex is once again a mighty viking of Inglemoor. He and David went to the football games last night. Unfortunately, the mighty vikings were trounced by the more mighty and less brainy rebels. Ari is gearing up for the University of Washington to start, but she still has a couple of weeks of vacation time which she is using to check out all the student life activities. So far, she's thinking activity clubs and yoga. Anni has been very busy with her home school program and therapy activities. She's doing awesome!

David is busy tacking the honey-do-it list. This week's task: fix the washing machine, which starting groaning, then whining, and finally spun to its death. A family of five can not be long separated from a working washer. I'm busy as ever with the teaching, writing, chauffeuring of future farmers, yoga, dance, and figuring out what to do with all this wonderful funny farm produce. At this very moment, I'm baking a low-fat chocolate zucchini cake, another entrant in the Zucchini 100. It smells divine. Hmm, I think I need to go see if it's done. Laters!

Remaking and hip hop!

We've been busy down on the funny farm this weekend. All the garden fruits and veggies needed to be recharged with some fresh compost. So, there was the turning of the compost, the shoveling of the compost, the spreading of the compost, the watering of the postcomposted plants, the splitting and repotting of the aloe vera plants and then an afternoon nap for all the farmers! Phew!

We also hit the farmers' market yesterday morning for tomatoes, broccoli, sweet pea flowers, and a very cool pendant for Alex, made by one of my favorite market artisan, Stephanie of Ponder Press. It's shaped like a shield, inset with his school colors, gold and black. Go mighty Vikings!

We've been doing lots of arts and crafts this summer, part of our new goal: Be remakers instead of new consumers or destroyers. The idea is to repurpose stuff you already have, might be tired of, or is wearing out, into new items that you really like. We'll be posting pics of some of our remade items over the summer.

Alex was continuing in the artsy mode today with his drawing class at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens.

Anni and I dug into the craft bin and decided to make a very cute purse:

Side 1

We took a rounded wooden clasp box, painted the outside black (with leftover acrylic paint), added dotty scrap paper and leftover black velvet ribbon. Then, we decided to have some fun. We added scrap velcro to the front, back and inside, and attached felt flowers, a wooden flamingo, and a felt bird cage. The additions can be mixed and matched to a unique look. The ones not in use can be conveniently stored inside.

Anni loves her new purse!

 Side 2

Inside

Tomorrow, we'll paint the inside of the purse, after the outside glue is completely dry. Anni already has her eye on some more items in the craft bin as possible future additions.

As many of you already know, I love to dance! Usually, I Celtic modern, ballet, or belly dance, but lately, I've been kicking my heels out. I've been enjoying Zumba with its latin rhythms, and tonight, I took my first hip hop class. It was a blast!Tomorrow, I'm trying a Tease class, va-va-voom!

Summer Fun!

Yesterday was the summer solstice. I celebrated the day by spending it in Seattle with future farmer Ari and her pal, Toni. We started out at Pike Place Market at the Crumpet Shop. I went for one with green eggs and ham, while Ari preferred hers with lemon curd. Next, it was a hop across the street to Starbuck for some fuel for the day.

We met Toni at SAM's (Seattle Art Museum) hammering man sculpture. The featured exhibit was modern minimalism. Lots of the art work was labeled as untitled. So, we had great fun giving them all names. My personal favorite was Horde of Angry Bumble Bees for a canvas of yellow splotches and black zig-zags.

After SAM, it was time for lunch. We walked south along 1st Ave to Pioneer Square and finally arrived at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant. It's a really cool old place where lots of the jazz greats have played (including one of my favs, Ray Charles) and new artists abound. While waiting for our order, I pulled out a pad of origami paper and we tried our hands at folding a frog, butterfly, and bird. Toni was the only one to get hers done before the meal arrived. Toni and I both indulged in jambalaya; while Ari ordered up the Catfish and hushpuppies. All came with warm and tasty cornbread. It was Southern delish!

Then we headed back north to Pike Place. The girls had serious Manga to check out; while I had groceries to collect at the Spice shop, Italian deli, Parisian bakery, and Chinese bun stand. By the time we were done, we were tired, in need of another coffee, and ready to face Friday rush hour.

I spend the evening of Solstice in my garden contemplating the upcoming full moon. The garden was alive with sounds of birds and bees and the fresh smell of all the flowers we've interspersed between the fruits and veggies.

Today, was our Saturday farmers' market in Redmond. We've been going there for years. Today, we picked up a cucumber, cilantro, tomatoes, green onion, cherries, lettuce, peapods, and shallots. Every week the market has a different theme. Today was mustache day. Here's mine:

Hmm, I think I look a bit like Hercule Poirot.

I spent the rest of our beautiful sunny day in the garden: watering, harvesting, weeding, etc. Here's today's bounty:

lemon balm, chard and kale greens, basil, our first Marionberry and blueberries, a few remaining black currants, chamomile floweres, chives, parsley, strawberries, oregano, calundula floweres, borage flowers, raspberries, lemon oregano, and nasturium flowers.

I used the parsley and chives in a big patch of cheddar chive scones for our picnic tomorrow. The flowers, some of the berries, and herbs went into my lunch salad, delish!

Hope your summer solstice was a lovely one.

Busy, busy, busy!

 The garden is in full autumnal splendor. We've been harvesting lots of herbs, berries, corn, zucchini (courgettes), eggplant (aubergine), carrots, flowers, and tomatoes.

 We've also been eating lots of garden inspired meals. On Tuesday, we made eggplant parmesan with lots of eggplant, garlic and herbs from the garden. On Wednesday, we made garden harvest soup with zucchini cheddar muffins (awesome!). On Thursday, we made homemade herb noodles (using our pasta machine) with a sage (from our garden) cream sauce. On Friday, we made fish fillets in a mango sauce (not from the garden) with a stir fry of zucchini, snow peas, onions, and greens (from the garden!). And today (Saturday), we had a garden feast of stuffed zucchini blossoms, fresh corn, beans, and fresh salsa (Alex's specialty and very hot!). We often start our days with a fresh berry yogurt smoothie. Yum. I love garden goodness.

We've begun harvesting this year's crop of pumpkins. We have seven on the counter so far! I can hardly wait to make spicy pumpkin stew (Yes, Lisa, you can come to dinner!).

Barkley was night romping and ran into a tree limb, injuring his eye. He had to make a quick ($$$) trip to the vet for treatment. Here he his standing guard in the garden (he keeps the chickens out when they're free ranging), wearing his homemade collar guard. The chicken, who usually either ignore him or sit on him, were truly terrified. He finally got some doggy respect.

This past Monday was international talk like a pirate day. Ari and I decided to dress the part prior to our weekly Celtic dancing stint. It was lots of fun, matey! Arrrrrrr.

The sunflowers are finally blooming.

The tomatoes are turning red.

The squash keep on turning out produce.

The berries are ripening.

The garden spiders are claiming their territories.

The green house is resembling a jungle.

And we finally got the eggplant to grow!

In other news, I finished up my aromatherapy class at Bastyr University. My nose is all burned out from smelling so many essential oils in such a short amount of time!

We attended Alexander's high school open house. He seems to really be enjoying his program, and the teachers seem like a great bunch. He and David have been going to the football games. Go Vikings!

Anni has restarted all her school activities. She loves seeing all the other kids for her cooking group, but she really misses Alex. She and Barkley check his room several times a day.

Ari and David have returned for fall quarter in their college programs. David is taking astronomy and environmental science. Ari is taking logic, American studies, and archeology.

Today, we hit the farmer's market for apple pie jam, apple butter, apples (Can you tell Anni is going to learn about apples next week?), cilantro, jalapeno peppers, cantaloupe, and sweet corn. Then it was off to the book exchange to trade books, followed by a stop by the library to return and pick-up. When our local market ends at the end of October, we'll be making a weekly pilgrimage to Pike Place Market.

Tomorrow, Ari, my friend Lisa, and I are off on one of our weekend adventures. Stay tuned for details.

Fun in the sun and shade

We've enjoyed a near 80 degree day yesterday! It's the first one we've had! I spent the whole day outside and am now a delicious shade of pinkish red, despite the sunscreen. We went to the farmer's market in the morning for zucchini, lettuce (Have you ever tried French speckled leaf lettuce? It's delish!), radishes, cilantro, local line caught tuna, apples, local free-pastured pork sausage, and free-pastured, grass feed beef. After seeing Food Inc (the film), we're committed to buying meat and poultry that supports local farmers raising livestock humanely and healthily. We're finding it's a lot more expensive, so we eat even less meat than before (which wasn't much) and lots more veggies. We feel great! We gardened the afternoon away, watering, weeding, and uppotting tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
Today was much cooler that yesterday. We decorated for the Fourth, returned lots of library books, and then headed to our local fruit market for melons, nectarines, plums, citrus, avocados, and blueberries. I think we may be keeping up with Auntie D. in the fruit department! We harvested another 2 dozen strawberries today. That brings this year's harvest to 11 dozen so far. We're beginning to harvest a tomato daily from the green house and lots of chives, cilantro, lettuce, greens, onions, and peas from the garden beds.

This evening future farmer Alex and I cooked. I made my Roasted Veggie Primavera Pasta (recipe follows), and he made a Bonnie Butter Yellow Cake (from my 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook!). Tomorrow, Ari is helping to make strawberry crepes for breakfast. Yes folks, you heard correct; Ari is going to cook! Wonders never cease.

Roasted Veggie Primavera Pasta
This recipe is extremely delicious. The garlic is key! Don't skip it.

1 medium zucchini (courgette), halved and thinly sliced. (If organic, don't bother to peel)
1 medium yellow summer squash (or yellow zuc), halved and thinly sliced (see above)
1/2 large red pepper, halved again and thinly sliced.
1/2 large yellow pepper, halved again and thinly sliced.
1 medium sweet yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced.
1 large cloves elephant garlic (best) or 3 cloves of mild other garlic, left whole and in paper skin
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 Tbsp mixed italian herbs (if mixing your own: oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, and a pinch of sage)

1lb bowtie pasta (I like the organic tricolored ones)

1/4 lb button or small crimini mushrooms, sliced

15 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh garden peas

1/2 fresh grated parmesean cheese

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cover a large pan with foil. In a large bowl, combine zucchini, squash, peppers, onion, and garlic with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italian herbs. Spread on pan as thinly as possible, ideally as a single layer. Cook 10 minutes.

2) Boil big pot of water for pasta.

3) Add sliced mushrooms to oven pan, stirring to mix well. Cook another 10-12 minutes, until veggies are soft and beginning to brown. While these are roasting, cook pasta according to package instructions.

4) Retain 1 cup of hot pasta water, then drain rest. Place pasta in large bowl. Pour hot retained pasta water over peas and tomatoes. Let rest 1 minute. Meanwhile, remove garlic from other roasted veggies. Mash and add to pasta, tossing well. Add rest of roasted veggies to pasta and toss well. Drain and add peas and tomatoes, toss well. Add most of parmesean cheese, and toss again. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Serve immediately! Serves 6 generously. Enjoy!

5) Other veggies to roast are eggplant, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus (unbelievably delish!), yams, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts

Flowers and Followers

 The irises are blooming! First in purple

 and then in yellow. Now, if the slugs will just leave them alone!

 The lupines are standing at attention and attracting lots of pollinators. Yeah!

The red rhodie has also bloomed. The garden is full of beautiful colors.

We've had a busy couple of weekends with Greenfest and the Folklife festival. My friend Lisa and I  danced the day away at Folklife on Memorial Day. We tried Zydeco, Cajun, and Scottish dancing. I got home barely able to move, and then Ari wanted to go Irish dancing! I managed one more hour of jumps and kicks! It was soooo much fun! This weekend, we caught up with our family friend, Ellie, and her lovely new baby girl, Charlie, at Greenlake.

We love that it is local farmer's market season again. Two of my favorite things at the market lately are the sustainably caught local tuna from the folks aboard the St. Jude and the beautiful recycled Scrabble tile charms from Ponder Press. Most of the warmer weather produce isn't available yet due to our especially wet and cool spring, but the market is alive with rhubarb, asparagus, lettuces, onions, spinach. The upside of the down weather is that the cool crops, normally done by now, are still going strong. Ah, I love silver linings!

Anni made pasta noodles with her school chums today with the hand crank pasta machine. They were delish! Last night, Alex and I gave the machine a turn making lots and lots of mushroom ravioli. We had it for dinner, topped with a very old Italian recipe for tomato sauce. Yum, yum, yum! Here's the recipe:

Ye Olde Italian Tomato Sauce:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion quartered
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
1 stick of butter
1 LARGE can of San Marzano Tomatoes. These tomatoes are definitely NOT local, but are very Italiano. (Substitute at your own peril)
1/3 cup of dry Italian red wine

1) In a sturdy large pot (I used the crockpot), heat the olive oil over medium low. Add the onion and garlic. Turn to very low and cook for 1 hour (why the crockpot works!)
2) Add the butter, cook another hour.
3)Add the Tomatoes, cook another hour or two.
4) While to sauce is cooking, be sure to peek and stir occasionally. You want it to be barely at a simmer.
4) Just before serving, stir in wine.

Serve over your favorite pasta. You will find this sauce is a true burst of rich tomato with a creamy consistency. It's decadently terrific!

Finally, a big shout out to all the folks who've been checking out the blog! We love to check the stats and see where folks are a viewing us. Many blessings!

Farm and Garden

The CSA farm box arrived today. This week featured bok choy, collard greens, romaine lettuce, mushrooms, cucumber, onions, brussel sprouts, broccoli, tomatoes, oranges, lemons, apples, and pears.

Today was a sunny, cool day. We've had a very mild fall so far. The garden is still showing signs of life. The carrots and chives are growing. The celery is happy in the ground, and the squash vines are alive and twirling. Usually by this time, the garden is done for the season.

We're hoping to extend our growing season in Anni's green house. We have an orange tree, tomatoes, peppers, squash, herbs, brussel sprouts, flowers, lettuce, and leeks growing in there. Stay tuned to see how they do.

Dinner tonight was shepard's pie with potatoes from the farmer's market, pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, onions from our garden, and grass fed beef from the farmer's market. We served it up with steamed broccoli from the box today and cauliflower from the garden. Delish!

Whoooooo!

Welcome to our haunted house.

The mummy greets you (and the daddy too).

Witch says step into my cage!

Pumpkins galore!

And even more.

Spooky house aflame.

A bucket by any other name.

The mantel all decked out.

Anni's bulletin board
And eek what is this? An alien civilization? Warts on a witches face? Toe jam? An undersea garden? Hazard a guess...

It's a Romanesco Broccoli. The kids call it Klingon broccoli. It's delish.
We got one in this week's CSA farm box. And speaking of produce, today was our last local farmer's market for the season. Today's finds were potatoes, red onions, pears, chili peppers, spicy cheese, rainbow chard, and a butternut squash. We wish all the farmers a warm and happy winter season. See you next spring!

Today was cold and rainy, a perfect day for a cook-in. So, I made curried butternut squash soup (thanks Lisa for the recipe), potato-leek soup, Italian bean soup with chard (our dinner tonight), turkey leek stock, a big pot of veggie spaghetti sauce, and spiced squash scones (desert tonight). The kitchen smelled incredible!

David and I had a chance to get all decked out in our finery last night. We went to the Seattle Opera to see Lucia Di Lammermoor. It was terrific. The primadonna and base padre especially. Think: a cross between Macbeth (treachery) and Romeo and Juliet (tragic love).

Rainy Season Returns (Did it ever really leave?)

We finally traded in the accord for...
Another Honda, this time a red Civic, just the one David wanted.

The attack of the fruit and veggies continue. Here's the latest farm box: apples, nectarines, mango, oranges, pears, figs, limes, bananas, lemon, plums, corn, mushrooms, green beans, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, and radish. From the farmer's market, we found: pumpkins, squash, green onions, Concord grapes (taste exactly like Welch's grape juice!), and cilantro. And finally, from the backyard garden, coop, and green house: eggs (yes, I know, not a fruit or veg), tons of cherry tomatoes, green peppers, celery, lettuce, red bunching onions, carrots, strawberries, raspberries, herbs, and a lemon cucumber. Phew!

Anni showing off the new and improving learning room. That's the math cupboard to her right, the writing one to her left, her social studies stand-up is behind her, and her musical instruments (which she LOVES!) are all around her. She's also showing that you can go to school barefoot!

Alex, why are you standing in front of that helo with a funny look on your face?

Alex, what are you up to?
Is that helo moving? Alex???

Come BAAAAAACK!

Okay, just a bit of fun. Alex helped David out with the emergency preparedness fair at Evergreen Hospital this weekend. The Coast Guard dropped in with their search and rescue helicopter.

In other news, we've been checking out the latest offering in the Seattle Arts scene. Ari and I went to see The Cider House Rules (based on the book by the same name). David and I saw Wedding Belles (a Southern comedy). Lisa, Ari, and I attended a kickoff event for Write a Novel Life which was strange but fun. And finally, I'm learning the Thriller dance and how to dress like a zombie for the attempt to break the world record later this month! Another Phew!!