I bow to no man.

I hate Florida. Yes, hate it. Well...at least I hate May through about September. I usually get distracted around my birthday but sometimes I even hate it up to November regardless of celebratory goodness. I hate Florida for the majority of the year because it is too. damn. hot.

Last June, IndieTutes posted about some pops she made packed with healthy stuff that she let her kids consume at will without any of the cringing that I have been doing every time my kids whine for the 100 count box of neon ice pop sticks I bought in a fit of neurosis at Target a few months ago. What the what was I thinking?!?

Anywho, mental lapses and Red 40 aside plus the year it took me to actually do this, the kids and I gathered 'round the blender and made us some frozen pop mixes. These can be 100% tweaked to become vegan if you so desire, or just switch out ingredients for your own food allergies/protein requirements/tastes. The point of the following *recipes* is that these are pretty much bomb-proof and are -in fact- the bomb. You can't go wrong mixing stuff together and rocking breakfast with a cool treat when it is already 80+ degrees and rising and I haven't finished my first cup of coffee.

Kids love anything on a stick. Or that they think they're not allowed to have.

Here are the three recipes I created and amazingly remembered to write down and then promptly lost the paper so they're round-abouts. More like recipe suggestions, if you will. I used dollar section pop molds I picked up a few years ago at Target. These are fairly small pop molds so YMMV.

Cherry Berry
2/3 cup yogurt (we used strawberry)
16 fresh cherries pitted (duh)
1/3 cup milk
4 frozen strawberries
1 banana

Banana Chocolate PB
1 banana
1tbs cocoa powder
2/3 cup pb (wayyy too much)
1/3 cup milk
1tbs wheat germ

Apple Cucumber
3 large apples
1/2 large cucumber
1/3 cup water
1/2 banana
1tsp wheat germ

Strawberry Banana
1 banana
6 large frozen strawberries
2/3 cup yogurt (strawberry again for us)
1 tbs wheat germ


The moral of the recipe here is that you can pretty much mix up whatever you want and since they're frozen, called pops and on a stick your kids will pretty much eat them all.

Strawberry state of mind

I've already started this year's canning escapades with 6 jelly jars of Strawberry Jam. I love the little labels I've made up but have noticed it's taking nearly as much time to create, print, cut and position the darling things as it was to make the jam. This time I smarted myself up a bit and made up labels with blank canning dates for more Strawberry Jam since I know I will be making a lot more in the very near future.

We're in a high-production strawberry state. While most of the berries sold around here have been coming out of Plant City (a place outside my 100 mile diet circumfrence) they're still pretty darn close. I'm researching u-pick places that fall within it but none are open this time of year and so far, I haven't been able to locate a farm closer that has the production levels Plant City has. I'm working on it though.

I've been allowing my brain to be more concious to what we eat, where it hails from and how it got to us. A lot of it is getting away from prepackaged foods and produce that has to be trucked in from thousands of miles away. This means eliminating things from our diet we've grown used to eating. Somethings though, I'm not sure I'll be able to do without -coffee for starters. There are a few pretty good sized CSA's in the area (community support agriculture) which have been calling my name. I think part of my grocery budget for February will be obtaining a membership somewhere. 

Making the switch from the abundance of convenience city life provided to the limited seclusion of the country has been hard for me. I'm detoxing. I can feel it. My body aches for trips to the store, Starbucks and easily obtainable day trips to cultural centers. I haven't really made any friends out here which adds to my rural depression. It's not bad, just a change.

Part of the solution is to keep busy. The strawberry jam has new friends in a jar of Almond butter and a few loaves of homemade whole wheat bread. I'm learning to rely on myself to make the things I would normally have hopped into the car to go "grab" from the store. I can now make real cheese crackers for a fraction of the price of cheddar bunnies or goldfish. I think I'm going to try fruit leather with the next batch of Strawberries I pick up from the farmer's market tomorrow.

All in all, while the changes are literally life-changing, I'm comfortable with the progression and happy with my ability to see where the problems lie and actively work to make those changes. Plus, the Jam is to die for.

I am scared of my pantry.

One of the quintessential homemaker ideals that stretches across doily covered borders to encompass a myriad of topics like budgeting, shopping, gardening, nutrition, and apocolyptic meltdowns is canning. Taking food (preferably homegrown, organic and the like) and recreating it so that it lasts without the modern conveniences of space-aged vaccuum sealing and electrically cold storage devices.

I can't tell you how in love I am with those little embossed jelly jars. I look at them with stars in my eyes as I imagine myself in a sparkling white apron and June Cleaver skirt humming a tune whilst filling them with fabulous concoctions as I flitter around my checker board floored kitchen -which is also sparkling clean. And no, there is no word to describe my imaginative super self other than flitter.

I do not flitter. At all.

The dream dissolves like sugar in boiling water as I carry the cases of jars into the house. My heart sinks, literally. I know its true because I can feel it rest on my stomach -which at this point is churning madly threating to topple over in a very un-June way- as I put them away, wiping the dust off the top of the canning pot and push my love of a stacked pantry overflowing of gorgeous little jars in between my gut and heart so I don't throw up.

 The fact is, I'm terrified of canning. Those pretty rainbow filled jars scare the crap out of me.

Yuck it up, laugh all you want, I can't hear you and I'm grateful for that. It is a completely irrational fear. Rationally, I realize that but it doesn't really change it. Why, you ask am I scared beyond reason of canning? Two words.

Food. Poisioning.

I also realize that if you follow proper canning instructions, work in a clean environment with sanitized equiptment and check freshness seals before ingesting that the percentage of actually obtaining a food-borne illness is relatively slim to none. Dying from it, again high on my list of irrational canning failures is even less emminent. But it still freaks me out.

Which is why I have a cabinet filled with what was supposed to be strawberry jam but is now renamed "Strawberry Cheesecake Topping" (remember to follow fruit to sugar ratios and pectin is your friend). The pretty little brass ringed jars have been shoved to the top most cabinet above the stove out of sight and mind, the contents of which will probably never see the light of day again until we move and I empty the vials of death and diarreah down the drain.

Ridiculous, I know.

But if I can ever redeem myself of this absurd fear I have to contiuously try my hand at canning. I want to master my fear and my incompetence in this vital homesteading area.

Today, I made cranberry relish. And I canned it.

ooohh, aaahhhhh

Please tape your cheers and post congratulatory videos on YouTube for all to see. Though two jars didn't seal those will go in the fridge to eliminate any misgivings about their viral content. The other that did will only be canned until next week when I go to the in-laws for T-day but it's a step, people. A big one.

Now pray no one gets sick, it would be the end of my canning career.

A Cold Toddy

I don't review things that frequently here at SOR. The reason being that it's hard to get a good idea of something just because someone else said so. I'm a very tactile person, I think that's why I do so much crafting and farming. It's all got to do with my hands and senses being engrossed in the experience.

But I digress from the point of this post. I have something I want to show you. It's called a Toddy Cold Brew Coffee Maker. (see left)

I had a fall out with my hot electric coffee maker and since my engines run on copious amounts of caffeine, well, that just wouldn't do. I bought a stove top percolator but to be honest haven't been able to figure it out and it's now just a kettle for other hot water needs.

I also don't like hot coffee. In a state that averages 325 days of HOT I just can't cope with hot coffee early in the morning. So, I'd have to hot brew and refridgerate it anyway.  

I don't get that burned taste with the Toddy because you literally can't burn it. I can make coffee with no electricity which is fabulous. I can make a weeks worth at once which is genius. The flavor is smooth, less acidic and the longer you soak the beans the richer and blacker your brew. I have been using it exclusively for months thanks to Jess at Homeschooling in Heels recommendation.

It takes more prep time than traditional hot machine brewing but I think it's completely worth it.

PITA!

I've made lots of different breads before; sweet, savory, sandwich, rolls, you name it, I've probably made it. But why on Earth I've never tried making pita bread before is beyond me. I rectified that today.

I found this recipe from The Fresh Loaf for easy pita. If you read all the comments you can use 1/3 whole wheat, 2/3 white. I used unbleached all purpose for my "white".

The trick to these is to have a REALLY hot oven and preheat your sheet with the oven. I started the oven at 500 but didn't wait for it to preheat so the first two took longer and didn't get as poofy. They did still split when torn apart just like a regular pita.

I rotated the batches out one pita at a time. So I'd always have at least one in the oven, one cooling, one rolled out while I was rolling out another. The batch made twelve good sized pitas, though it says it makes eight. Which is really good because I've already eaten three some. One didn't count, though, because it was kinda small...

I don't think I could ever go back to buying these at the store again. Ingredients cost maybe a dollar per batch. Though they take about 2 hours from start to finish, it's less time than dragging five kids to the store.

This is definately a keeper recipe I'm glad I've added to my repertoire.

Maintenance Manual

I pulled out Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats this morning, determined to pick up where I left off -on page 27. When I originally purchased it, way back in April,  I was drawn to the methods and sense that this cookbook presents. But things got in the way, as they often do, and the book has been sitting on a shelf in the kitchen since that fateful day I arrived on page 27.

That page holds no real signficance. It's just, by that point in the book, I had just gotten overwhelmed with the sheer force of information. With my dawning realization that I might not be living up to the high standard I set in regards to our maintenance needs, today, I picked it up again. This time armed with a highlighter to help me pull out the important bits. I finished the begining of the book up until the recipes start.

One thing I love about this guide and cookbook is that there isn't a vast, overwhelming change in our diets by implementing it. It's not totally what we eat but how we prepare it; the ingredients we use; the method of deployment. For others, that might not be true.

Eating a Nourishing Traditions Diet requires preplanning and forethought. I have done this before, making lists of what we'll eat and when, but the difference here is that if you want pizza on Friday, you'd better start the dough Thursday. Want Ruben Sandwhiches? You need to plan at least 3 days prior.

This is a good thing. It's a way to make sure that when Friday rolls around I'm not standing with the fridge door open ho-humming about what we're going to have. The dough will be waiting for me. It also means my head needs to stay in the present. Not to say there aren't quick meals in the book too, but a lot of the main recipes call for some ingredient that requires fermenting.

It will be a challenge, I think, learning how and what and when to make things. But the health benefits to my family, the slow-down pace of planning will help level the balance on my maintenance/surpassing scale.

1+1 = mmmmmm

I love to use canning jars for single-serving-take-along ice teas. We're in Florida, ya'll, our lives center around good cold Sweet Tea. I've wanted to expand this so the kids could have some too but I've struggled making lemonade. No idea why, just couldn't get the water-lemon-sugar ratios right. Yesterday, a fellow blogger posted a lemonade recipe. Boy, is it good!

For the tea simply place one tea bag in each pint size jar and add boiling water leaving a little headroom for adding flavoring or sweetener. Steep for 10-15 minutes. Seal with a well fitting lid and refrigerate. Hubby likes his unsweet and I like mine sweet so I just make them all unsweet and add sugar to mine when I have one. It's easier than trying to figure out whos is whos.

Now, here's where life gets a little more interesting. I made Shaken Lemonade Iced Tea. Ohhhh. Now that I have a good solid lemonade recipe making my favorite after-coffee drink from you-know-where is easy. And a lot cheaper than the 3+ dollar drink.

Crystal's Shaken Lemonade Iced Tea

Make one jar of tea but reserve one additional empty jar. Make up the lemonade while it steeps. Pour half the tea into the empty jar and fill both jars the rest of the way with lemonade. It's THAT easy!

You can modify the ratios (I like that word today) to more tea or more lemonade per jar to taste.

Using jars makes it easy to grab some hydration to take out to the garden and the lids keep the bugs and dirt out too!

I scored some canning jar drinking cups at the local thrift store.

I got this whole lot for $1.82! So, if you don't have jars at the ready, before you go looking to buy new, see what you can find! Deals like this make the tea even sweeter.

Handmade Holidays - Vanilla Extract

Tahitian Vanilla Beans

I wanted to label this "things to do with a Ball jar" but I didn't use just Ball. I've been doing a lot of things with canning jars lately besides just canning. Don't worry, I'll share later.

This is the first of the Handmade Holiday gifts I've created for end of the year celebrations. It's so simple but such a great gift for people that like to cook. Even if you have zero cooking ability, this is a easy gift to make for those in your life that do. Pure vanilla extract is expensive. I bought a 2 ounce bottle for a mere $6.99. It's not even organic. I use a lot of vanilla. I add it to just about every baked good I create. I used it in homemade ice cream and that one time I made yogurt. I've even read recipes for pork and other savory dishes that call for it, though those I haven't tried.

Making your own vanilla extract is not expensive...overall. I made just over seventeen cups of it.

One cup of my vanilla vs. 2 oz. store bought.

I purchased my vanilla through Beanilla after reading a wonderful article on Vanilla Garlic which has now turned me into a Vanilla Elitist. I got the half pound of Tahitian beans and a 5 pack of Mexican beans (but those are for me so I don't count that cost.) I used Smirnoff vodka and Castillo rum.

Beanilla beans $35
Smirnoff 1.75l  $18 (on sale)
Castillo 1.75l $16 (on sale)
2 Cases of Ball 1/2 pint jars $7.99*

Project total : $85

*I also found some jars at the thrift store for about .40 each, got two 17 ounce jars from Ikea for $2.99 each, these are for me. You could recycle jam or pasta sauce jars. Anything glass, really, that seals liquid and air tight.

$85 sounds like a lot, and it is initially, but lets do the math to see the ounce break down. I made 136 ounces of vanilla extract. $85/136 ounces= $0.625 per ounce. Store bought was $3.50 an ounce. If I kept this all for myself I'd have a life time supply of extract. I actually have a few beans left over for other projects like vanilla sugar, salt or paste. You can also top off the extract bottle when you get about half way down, further reducing the overall cost. I have enough to gift out to at least a dozen people and keep a huge supply for myself.

Easy steps to making your own Vanilla Extract.

Pour alcohol (rum, bourbon or vodka) into glass jar leaving a 1/4" headroom. Slice a bean the long way careful not to slice it fully in half. Open it up and add to the alcohol. Each 1/2 pint jar fits 1 cup and three beans perfectly. You'll want at least three beans to every 1 cup. Seal it up and put it in a cool, dark place for at least 2 months.

I've heard some people use theirs within a few weeks but I don't want to take chances. Pull them out and shake them every now and again. I'm aging mine 6 months in the top cabinet in the kitchen where I won't see it and will forget about it until my iPod reminds me. r

I also created simple little 2" circle labels through publisher and printed them on full sheet sticker paper. I think it makes them more professional and tells me what I used in each.

I'm very pleased with the results. I'm also going to make a little pamphlet to hang from a rubber band on the side to tell people how to refill the bottle and suggestions for using the beans after it's all gone. I might pair these with a small jar of vanilla sugar and maybe a recipe book of some of my favorites which I'll print out myself.

The first of the gifts are done and I even have some waiting for me! Happy Homemade Holidays everyone.

Slow Lunch and Yoga

I had my first low impact yoga class today. It was great! I love the instructor and the methods of the class. So, peaceful and centering. I pushed my body just enough to stretch the sore muscles. I could feel my body asking for more but I held it back, too worried I'd injure myself more. But the want is there, deep in. If I continue I can see myself getting really good. It made me want to start the free weights that are sitting under the couch again.

After, I headed to the store for a few things. We were out of real butter and fruit and I thought I'd grab lunch. Looking over the aisles I decided I wanted a Havarti and Arugula sammich. mmmm. With basil mayo. oh, yeah. So I grabbed some rolls from the deli, though they were out of wheat they were fresh baked today. Then strolling through the produce I went to get the lettuces.

Hey, I said to myself looking at the $3.29 bag, I can get that from the front yard.

Next on the list was basil for the mayo. Hey, again self, I said,  you have that too. And the tomatoes you need. Almost everything I needed for my lunch was sitting in my front yard. I could have made the bread and cheese too but it would have taken too long and I was hungry today.

On my way in to the house I stopped by my front yard grocery store and pulled off what I needed for lunch. The feeling that I didn't need to buy, the thought that I really could do this myself permeated through me. With a little planning the cheese and bread could be mine too. Mine. Something clicked inside me. Completing, maybe?

It was just such a perfect way to end the morning after the wonderfully gentle workout and delicious lunch I -mostly- made myself.

Drive Thru Lunch

Fresh from my front yard.

It's nice when you can walk outside and pick up lunch on the way from the mailbox. There is romaine, bok choy and some various lettuces (arugula and something else I think, I can't remember what I planted).

These little guys were ready to go. It's not much but it is a start. The front guy is a teeny zucchini that was getting stunted underneath the rapidly growing plant. The strawberry got gobbled up by Max. The broccoli and tomato will join the greens above. I had hoped for a few snap peas but it's getting too hot and the zucchini is taking over their spot. The other snap peas that are in a pot got dug up by Leeloo. Naughty dog but I still love her.

For those of you that are new to the blog last year was a disaster in the garden. I didn't even get what I harvested today during the entire year. Blight prevailed on everything. Harvesting from my own patch of Earth is more fulfilling that I thought it'd be.

There is something...connective about filling bellies I care about with stuff I grew. It seems much more nourishing and filling. Something just plain out right about it all.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

Drinking Herbs

This is the start of my herb drinking collection. From left to right there is spearmint, lemon balm and chamomile. It's pretty much insane how much we spend on drinks. There's Starbucks, making my own coffee, juices, milk, soda, gatorade, Emergen-C, tea, hot coco, water, instant breakfast, almond milk (for Max since he's lactose sensitive), italian soda, and that's just whats in the house right now.

Though each seems to have a place and purpose so much of our bulk in groceries and space for storage, could be cut down if we changed our drinking habits. I think our general health overall would improve too. A few years ago I joined Jenny Craig. They told me that so many calories are ingested through drinks that are high in sugar but people don't realize it. After I took a real good look at that Venti mocha Frappucchino, I realized they were right. I've been better since then about balancing high calorie drinks with low calorie meals but I think I can be even better.

Cutting out the soda, gatorade and italian sodas would help my budget but also help lessen the need for supermarket stops and unneeded calories. We don't drink them that often (and the kids never get soda) but they are still expensive and nutritionally lacking. Harvesting our own ingredients is one more step to getting ourselves self-sufficient.

I bought some plants in hopes to create a stash of herbs for making teas and flavored waters to satisfy the desire for something other than water and also give us a supply of antioxdants and other vitamins. We have some lemon and lime trees in the front yard, lemon grass and balm, spearmint, chamomile and china black or green tea. It's not a lot, but its a begining. I'm hoping to find some good information on brewing your own teas and start experimenting when my dried stash gets a little larger.

Hearty Breakfast

There are days when I get in a snit about my uberskinny kids and feel that they need a big hearty breakfast. Today was one of those days.

I made the kids eggs in a nest with a side of bacon. I try and use great, quality ingredients but honestly, I can't wait to pull out my own.  Handmade butter from the churn, the eggs from the coop the same morning, hand kneeded loaves of sprouted grain bread and local farmer supported bacon. Add a cup of fresh squeezed juice from our land and my God my heart would just sing.

Crystal's Pasta

One thing that has slowly changed since I've first gotten married and then mothered babes is my ability to cook. By no means am I a skilled chef. If you've ever been a guest or had me as a guest chances are you've eaten food I've made. I like feeding people.

It's one of those basic needs we all have. Food is the essence of life. I like contributing to others lives in simple ways. Needful ways.

A recipe I've fallen back on time and time again is this simple pasta dish shown above. It's simple and easy yet filling, hearty and packed with vitamins.

Step 1. go in the fridge/pantry/garden and collect a variety of veggies. Try and get a wide color spectrum. Chop them up into bit sized pieces.  (above I have 3 different color sweet peppers, canned black olives and tomatoes) You'll want about 2 cups of cut up veggies.

Step 2. Boil some water and cook up some pasta. Doesn't matter the kind really, we've used everything from spaghetti to ravoili and it always works out.

Step 3. Grab some pasta sauce or mash up some ripe tomatoes, you only want about a cup or two for a large pot of pasta. Warm it in the microwave or stovetop, don't cook it, just warm it up a bit. Toss in your diced up veggies and remove from heat. This will be really chunky.

Step 4. Drain the pasta and pour the sauce on top. Mix well and serve with a generous helping of Parmesean.

You can add salt and pepper or other spices if you like but I usually cook without it. Some ideas for veggies are:

artichoke hearts
roasted red peppers
raw peppers
raw tomatoes
fresh spinach
cucumber (yeah really)
eggplant
zucchini
various squashes
peas
carrots

You name it. This is a great way to use up the little bits of veggies you might have laying around and fast enough to make on a night when you forget what to make or have little time.

Enjoy!

Smoothies a la Me

I like smoothies in all their forms. Juice based, milk based, yogurt based. You say smoothie I say "yeah!" I've always thought it was a great way to use up too ripe fruit and get much needed vites into the kiddo's. I have just one little problem.

I don't know how to make a smoothie.

Well, that's not entirely true. I know how to get a packet of smoothie mix from the store and blend it with frozen fruit and milk but after that my knowledge, experience and confidence in smoothie making goes flying out the window. Right along with all the amazing benefits of this simple treat. I have friends that make smoothies with vegetables (vegetables!) and still I sat on the fence mystified, thinking there must be a book, a website, to learn from. Some carnal knowledge that is ingrained in their bones giving them the keys to successful smoothie making sans powdered mixes and hip juice joints.

So I asked, and guess what? they just winged it. I've been known for sucessfully winging. Heck, I do it daily with five kids running around. Maybe smoothie making isn't too far out of reach for me.

Yesterday, I set out to confront my uncomfortableness. That's part of this whole big scheme I have going on with farming. Looking at a project or problem and not walking away. Not taking the easy road and letting someone else do it. Standing up to it and my inadequacies and head butting them like one of the goats I want to raise.

I stuck some stuff in a blender.

That there is Kefir (another new headbutting thing I'm trying), Strawberries, raw Wheat Germ, organic Whole Milk, Kale and Honey. I only added one leaf of Kale for the whole smoothie. I might be ramming things with my head but I don't want a concussion. Easy, baby steps over here.

I had to tweak it a bit. The strawberries weren't very tasty, actually a bit too tart so I added about a tsp of Raw Sugar to round it out.

I might not have blended it quite enough, the Kale pieces were noticable and a bit large but I did get most of the kids to drink it and I had some too! I encourage you, if there is a thing you want to try but are unsure to just go ahead and do it. The final product might not be perfect but it'll be yours and it'll be good.

Nutrition Smarts

To those of you that read my blog and don't have kids -or maybe have a squeamish tummy- I apologize for yesterday's post. But that's life with kids. That's my life with kids. Two things this blog is about. I'm happy to say that I think the worst is over and thanks to those that sent well wishes. All of this brings me to a subject I've been dealing with for many years, even before kids.

Food.

It's such a vital, integral part of our short time surviving on this big ball and something highly neglected. There are many sides to the food debate, meat or no meat, animal products or not, organic or doesn't matter, farm raised or styrofoam packed. I don't have an answer to what you should do. I can only work towards what is good for us, what we feel comfortable and secure doing. Be it eat meat or not, or any of the other questions being posed at the time.

Back in my youth I was a vegetarian for about six years. It initially started as a "fuck you" to my mom, just one more teenaged thing I could do to piss her off. My family ate meat daily. Sometimes multiple times a day. Sometimes for every meal. I didn't like it. I was forced to eat it if I didn't want to. Made to sit at the table until all the grisly pieces were ingested. But, not truly knowing what vegetarianism was, how to do it or having a very valid reason for doing it to begin with, I was a very bad vegetarian.

I ate carbs and nothing else, really. I hated onions, peppers, squash. I despised celery, lettuce and eggplant. Nary a mushroom would pass these lips! Then I got pregnant and my body screamed for MEAT! So my carnivorous days began again. But I was a bad carnivore too.

Fast food, processed meats loaded with salts and "flavorings", adding meat to dishes just because it had a slot on the pyramid. I didn't know what I was doing was wrong. TV, billboards, media as a whole, bogged me down with false promises of healthy eating for me and my kids with very little thought towards what it was exactly we were ingesting. I'm slowly pulling myself out of the fray, slowly trying to find my balance.

Over the past year or more I've been trying to find a balance in my life as a whole. Where new meets old. Where technology has a place right next to old fashioned. A peaceful marriage between parts of my world that have fallen out of sync. Food is a huge portion of that. It gives me the energy to persue the things I want, to keep us from being sick or better able to fight illness. Over the weekend we ate crappy food. Fast, easy and loaded with garbage -one meal would probably not ever decompose. I felt sick after eating it too after so long away from food I used to eat multiple times a week. No wonder we fell ill to whatever we picked up! If our food makes us sick how could we prevent true illness?

Living in the city gives us lots of options but it also limits them too. There aren't a wide variety of suburban farms at the ready to sell us the freshest food we could get. Though there is a plethora of restaraunts at the ready to serve us a quick dish. It's a major reason I want to be a farmer and to move into the country. So I can walk out my door, head over to a cow I raised from a babe, that's been free feeding in our clover and relieve her of some milk. Then to the chickens for a few eggs, the garden or greenhouse for a pepper and tomato and a few leaves of basil. Gives "vine ripe" a completely new meaning. And while I'm scrambling up that breakfast for my bairn, I know every ingredient has been created under the best circumstances, using the best available methods and can't really get any fresher. I can't get that kind of guarantee from the grocery store. I can't get that kind of satisfaction out of my life if I just went shopping for it.

So, for today I'll try to do my best with what I have. I might not do it right all the time but I'm trying. Trying to create nourishing food for my family that might not be "convienient", might not be the easiest, but are the best I can give.

My relatives must have been Irish

Ever since forever I've had a lusting for Ireland. The accent, traditional clothes, food, sheep, rolling hills, thick wool sweaters, dimly lit pubs and rainy days. When I was a tween I had a crush on an Irish boy named Billy, he didn't have an accent though. I even thought myself a sports fan* of who else but Notre Dame.  I can't watch an Irish movie (OMG! I love "Once") without wanting to hop on a plane. I think sometimes my relatives must be Irish. At least one had to be for me to have this odd craving for a land I've never seen. If someone came up to me and said "Hey, here's a house and a job but you have to move to the Emerald Isle." I'd be packing boxes before the words left that strangers lips. Yeah, it's a little odd.

So, I tend to get all excited when St. Patrick's Day rolls around. Up until now I've hidden it really well.

Yesterday morning I woke up to the wafting smell of corned beef, potatoes and cabbage slow cooking their way to dinnertime. (I had the foresight to make the meal the night before, go me!) I made the kids dress in green. Then had the inspiration of making green chocolate chip waffles.

At lunch we headed outside with our St. Patrick's printed worksheets (again, thanks to Enchanted Learning) after reading St. Patrick's Day book (isbn 0-8234-1173-7 $6.95). The book has a Legends about St. Patrick section where the kids read about different things. One being St. Patrick and the Poision. The legend states, in a very simplified way, that a wizard tried to kill St. Patrick by putting poison in his drink. St. Patrick turned it to ice and dumped it out. Here's an excerpt from the following conversation:

Me- Do you think legends are real?

Alex - Probably not. People like to make up stories about stuff that isn't true.

Me - Do you think St. Patrick could have turned the poison into ice?

Alex- Well, the wizard could have.

So, there you have it. The legends about St. Patrick aren't real but wizards are. Oh, I love my kids.

We talked more, we colored some, we ate sammies of green bread, almond butter and honey.

We hunted for shamrocks in the yard, of which we have an alarming amount.



Then the healthy (well, except for the green food coloring) lunch was topped off with green frosted cupcakes. The "frosted" and "cupcakes" are two separate links to the BEST EVER recipes for chocolate sheet cake and frosting made with flour. Yes, you heard right, flour. And regular granulated sugar, not powdered. It's magnificent and I ate four too many of them yesterday.

I imagine everywhere on St. Patrick's day, in color-coordinated Ireland, everyone busts out the green food coloring, creating food that might look a little "off" (see green pancakes above) and it's not just a silly thing that American's have done to sterotype an entire island nation. Though if you're Irish and completely apalled by my celebratory actions, please feel free to *gently* enlighten me in the comments section. And if you could somehow do it in an Irish accent, all the better.

*I am not and will never be "a sports fan" of really anything, ever. Except maybe sheep shearing or pie eating. Those are sports, right?

Productivity Reins

Yesterday was quite a busy day. First, we woke up at seven...I mean eight. I haven't caught up to Daylight Savings yet*. Rob put together the bike trailer and hooked it up to my new bike. Did I mention we bought bikes on Saturday? Cordi got a new one for her birthday and we picked up a brand new two seater trailer at Target a few months ago for 90% off. All that was left was getting bikes for the rest of us.

The kids were excitedly donning their helmets as they raced impatiently around the yard. Emmy couldn't stay out of her "carriage". It was nine -no that would be ten- before Max got up. We rode a half mile down back streets over to the local highschool where, once a month, they have a farmers market. The day was gorgeous; blue skys, puffy clouds, a high of 70 and a cool breeze. Perfection. Or as close as we can get in Florida. It's days like this that make me long for more moderate climates where these pitifully few days we have down South stretch weeks long. But then we remeber that it usually snows in those places and how much we really actually do hate the cold.

The small turn out of last month's market left me sorely unprepared for this one. The small lawn of the highschool was packed with people, kids and pets. The number of booths grew, practically spilling into the street with local vendors. It was marvelous.

We got a nice bunch of organic veggies and fruits. A head of cabbage for making the sauerkraut in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook that should be here today. Crisp lettuce and perfectly red plum tomatos for a salad. A huge ripe papaya for Duncan's wool block issue. Heavenly organic oranges and local strawberries. We got fresh squeezed orange juice (that we watched the see-through machine squeeze into our cup, mystifying our techie kids) and real brick fired pizzas that were cooked in a portable handmade oven, mystifying me.

My bike trailer trunk was loaded with goodies as we headed home after loosing Emmy for about 5 minutes, alterting the band to make an announcement and being emotionally reunited with my precious wayward daughter. Loosing a kid for any amount of time is terrifing. My heart thumped in my stomach and nausea soured in my throat. It happens, though. Especially, in highly crowded places. A kid walks around a corner, across an asile in a busy place, or follows a new "friend" (meaning some other kid) away from you when your attention isn't laser beamed on them. They're not really "gone" but try and tell it to a parent's kick-drum beating heart. If it hasn't happened to you yet, it probably will at some point. Thankfully, it worked out positively today.

After getting home and gorging on oranges we set out for the yard. Rob "tilled" the beds I was having trouble clearing, using the motorized edger. I made the fourth, and last, bed frame. Now there are two four by eight foot beds, separated in the middle to make four 4x4' beds. Cordi and I bonded over weed pulling. She's my little garden girl. She loves the work, the dirt and the rewards of the harvest. We weeded and added more dirt to the bed, manure mixture and top soil. We planted two fruited pepper plants, seven sprouted romaine, and one lonely basil.

my garden and my girl

We hung the ladybug house and read the instructions on how to release them, which we'll do later this evening. I added a trellis to the zucchini that are growing quite rapidly. The aphids aren't as plentiful as they once were, I don't know it that was because of the two ladybugs I saw (and possibly more hidden ones) or if they just flew away. I don't really care as long as they leave me the hell alone. The broccoli is indeed flowering and I think the carrots are sprouting.

While I was working on the beds, Rob was putting together a wooden picnic table so we can eat outside more and enjoy the work we're doing in the yard (and bonus, not have to have the kids eating in the house for every meal). Maybe we can all fit on this table too so we can enjoy the same meal at the same time. Wouldn't that just be a thing.

Leeloo seems to be a bit better today so her issue might have been the food change. Duncan gobbled up the papaya and is drinking water so maybe his wool block isn't such an issue. Maybe he's just "off feed" because of the climate change.

I made my first bunny poo harvest and generously fed the surviving single tomato and distributing the remainder over the already formed beds. I also drew out some worm tea and gave everyone in the garden a good splash (the plants, not the kids).

We're ate pizza again for dinner, leftovers from our visit to Rob's aunt Saturday night on a new stoneware pizza pan. I've been drooling over switching out our teflon coated ones for the stoneware equivalents but the price is holding me back. What a wonderful woman for giving me a brand new one! We also were gifted her upright full-size freezer (see the big white rectangle on the porch in the photo with Rob and the table?) All that and I still uploaded photos from the visit and got in a few rounds of Mafia Wars. I'm excited with the days' happenings, thankful for the opportunities -and gifts- we've been given and optimistic after a bad day of worry.

*It's stupid and I hate it and it will take me until a week before the time changes again to get used to it...and change all the clocks in my surrounding area to the correct time.  

Hearty Healthy Pumpkin Muffins Recipe

I read somewhere that cupcakes are just an edible utencil for eating frosting. And if that's true than muffins are edible utencils for streusel. I *heart* streusel. More than homemade frosting. I've been tweaking this recipe for a few weeks and I think I have it to the point where I can confidently share it. I've added quite a few nutrition boosters to make this delicious treat a bit healthier food option.

 Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

1/4 cup Salted Butter

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 can of Pumpkin Puree

1/2 cup Heavy Cream

2 Eggs

2 tbs Black Strap Molassas

2 cups Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

2 tsp Cinamon

Pinch of All Spice

Pinch of Nutmeg

2tbs Raw Wheat Germ

2tbs freshly ground Flax Seed

Topping Ingredients (mix these all up)

2/3 cup Flour

1/4  cup Brown Sugar (or Raw Sugar)

1/2 cup Grain Mix*

1 tbs Wheat Germ

2tbs Salted Butter

*I used Bob's Redmill 5 grain oatmeal mix but you can use whatever mix or just plain non-quick cook oats

Directions
Preheat oven to 375. Cream the butter and both sugars together. Mix in the eggs one at a time until well blended. Add pumpkin and everything else wet, mix for thirty seconds. Add dry and mix well. Fill lined muffin tins 3/4 full. Add a tablespoon of topping to each and pat it down a bit to stick into the batter. Cook for 20-25 min until a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool completely before removing liner. Maxkes 2 dozen muffins.

You can substitute regular molassas for the black strap and omit the flax and wheat germ if you like but those few ingredients will boost the health value of your muffins. My kids gobble these up (as do I and Rob) and the 2 dozen doesn't last but a day. Enjoy!

In The Yard

I'd like to post that I got the entire third garden bed dug out today. I'd like to tell you that my back didn't hurt. That I didn't get dizzy and light headed. That I managed to get those poor romaine sprouts in the ground that are stifling in the little pots I bought them in weeks ago. I'd like to, and I probably could if I wasn't being honest.

A strawberry that has so far eluded Emmy.

Truth is, after two hours working out there I'm beat. My head is a little fuzzy, my shoulders are killing me (Thanks a whole lot to the guy that hit me last July). I'm too young to feel this bad after just a little bit of work. I really need to focus on my food intake and stop eating tons and tons of Girl Scout cookies with every meal while trying to convince myself I'm just doing it to support my two new Brownie Scouts  food that's not very good for me. I have a sweet tooth. A bad one. And I'm picky. And an emotional eater. But that's a whole other post.

One of the blueberries.

The 3rd plot got about half way cleared out. That creeping Florida grass just doesn't want to come up! Cordelia was a trooper and hung though it, helping to pull up as much as she could after I broke it up with the three prong handheld garden rake/fork thing*. We'll have two 4x8' beds once I'm done plus the various potted trees.

Garden so far.

I did get to replant the pineapple which Leeloo has been battling. Did you know various long green things are a puppy's sworn enemy? She got the broccoli too. And the Elephant Ear tree has been taking some hits.

Unmarred Broccoli

Days like this are precious in the hot as Hell state of Florida. It's gorgeous outside a high in the low 60's. Bright blue sky the perfect shade without a cloud in the sky to take from it's brilliance. Birds swooping and singing to me while I work. The bugs are still laying low since the temps do tend to dip. I have to covet these kinds of days while we have them.

The sky above my house.

Seeing the veggies and fruits sprouting and not having to worry quite yet about the bugs is a huge thing for me from last years horrific, heart crushing invasions. Everyday I pray they'll survive. I go outside filled with hope and a little bit of fear. In a few years we might be banking ours and the lives of five little kids on what I can grow and actually get to harvest. The garden could make or break us. It's a liberating feeling, exciting too and yet very, very scary.

Zucchini

Sorry the photos aren't cleaned up more. My editing software seems to think the photos are being used elsewhere and refuses to save any changes. I haven't been having a very good relationship with technology lately.

*Does that thing even have a proper name?

Pineapple Not So Express