Better Late Than Never

I wanted to write about fighting allergies with rinsing your nasal passages, but Kim vetoed that one when she saw me trying to take pictures of the procedure on myself. It's really great, but I have chosen to write about our garden instead.

I really like the wood frames we put in. Though, I'm not sure they can be called "raised beds" yet because we didn't fill them with any dirt. Maybe next year. We did throw in a few bags of steer manure, but other than that the soil is the original goat-head infested sandy stuff with last year's sunflower jungle seeds everywhere.

Generally, we try to grow things that can't be found in a standard grocery store. Okay, that might sound a little snobbish. We try to make it as exciting as possible for as much labor we are required to put in it. In the end, we are happy with what the Earth gives us. So, we have some purple potatoes, rainbow carrots, yellow watermelon, and a few varieties of heirloom tomatoes mixed with your standard pumpkin, yellow squash, beans, and peas.

Anyway, as usual we planted things late and the garden is very young. As the saying goes, better late than never. We could have been enjoying the fruits of our labor by now if we had been on the stick. The more delicate spring plants will just have to toughen up if they want to be part of a Kim and Kevin family garden. Because the plants are so small I tried to get really close to make them look bigger, but since I told you that I guess there will be no illusion.

Hope your gardens are doing well!


over 250 sq ft of growing space doesn't look like much when the plants are tiny

sunflower

tomato

lettuce

peas

purple potato

bush bean

Spring S'mores

I finally did it. I took those stinking rocks I've collected over the past 4 years and made my fire pit. I dug out several buckets full of dirt because I wanted the rocks to be level with the grass in hopes that it would ease maintenance when mowing. I was so excited for having done something productive that I wanted to have a marshmallow roast to celebrate. I figured I deserved it after a blister and an afternoon of hard work. Nobody argued with the idea so we set off to the store, called the number on our burn permit, and then I threw away a dead mouse from the garage so that Kim could get to the bin with the roasting sticks. Although, finding something to start the fire with was an adventure. We even tried asking the neighbors. Thankfully, after the 5th house someone was finally home and they were able to help. Yes, we were determined and it paid off. And it was a miracle that there was no wind. We had a great time!

P.S. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were a fun substitute for chocolate bars.

What Not to Say to Kids About Food

I am really enjoying the weekends when I make more time to read - blogs, that is. I've never been much for novels of any kind. I much prefer academic journals or articles related to education, culture, or health, or things with an emphasis on design, whether it be landscaping, architecture, interior design, photography, painting, product design, graphic design, or the like. Above all, it has to be short.

Anyway, I was reading a Psychology Today blog after putting the kids down. I had to laugh at myself because I have said ALL the things the author says not to say to children about food. Interestingly, I seem to remember a parent or two saying the exact same things to me. They are:

"Don't play with your food!" The picture above was taken today before I read the blog. Ethan and Myles were playing with their food. I'm all about this kind of play. However, I don't like tossing, flicking, flooding, or submerging. I guess if they cleaned it up, more power to them. So maybe I should say, Don't make a mess with your food unless you eat it...? Note: Ethan said the apples are the dimples of the banana smile

"No dessert until you finish your meal!"

"Finish everything on your plate!"

"No laughing at the dinner table!"

"Feel bad? Let's go for ice cream."

"If you're good, you get a treat!"

"Don't you realize that kids in Africa are starving? You should feel thankful to eat!"

Click here or the link above to get the article, which explains why we shouldn't say those things.

Cheers!

Smoothie Recipies?

Wow, two posts in one day. I must have nothing better to do. :-)

This last week was Oregon Classified Teacher Appreciation Week. In my building it is usually a week where the certified staff (a.k.a teachers or most anyone else licensed with the infamous organization TSPC) expresses appreciation to all the educational aids, office staff, and custodians for their work in making the school function better for us and the students. So, us teachers frantically planned the week before in selecting a theme and what we would do.

I was on the Smooth(ie) Sailing Social for Wednesday afternoon. Apparently, nobody but me and the music teacher (who wasn't going to be there that day) knew how to make a smoothie. They knew that smoothies were fruity, cold, and refreshingly thick drinks made in a blender, but they didn't know how to make one. I was amazed. I reassured them that it really wasn't that difficult. Throw in whatever you think will taste good together and blend. No, literally. No, finding a recipe would be a waste of our time. I ended up making very specific assignments of things to bring.

I'm glad I ended up skipping out of something else to help make the smoothies because I'm not sure what would have happened. Even after all the ingredients were on the table and I suggested throwing in a banana, a handful of each of the other ingredients, a couple spoonfuls of orange juice concentrate, and water they were still unsure. So, I showed them. I was amazed with how amazed one teacher was. She wanted to take notes! She told me to wait so she could see better and she looked intensely at the pomegranate juice to make sure she knew exactly what it was. Simply knowing it was pomegranate juice was not enough. She studied the bottle. I hope she doesn't freak out at the grocery store when she can't find that exact bottle. I hope she understands that any pomegranate juice will do, no matter what kind of bottle it comes in. I think the idea that any fruit juice will do was a little too hazy for her. They were a little shocked about carrots going in the mix. I figure carrots are relatively sweet so you might as well throw some in and get your vegetables. If V8 can do it then so can I. Granted, some of my personal smoothie tastes might be seen as odd. Anyway, the simple raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry fruit smoothies we made were delicious. I feel proud to have stretched one's palate and imagination.

So this post is dedicated to sharing smoothie ideas. In no particular order my preferred standard ingredients upon availability are: banana, berries (cranberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry), other fruit (like peaches, mangoes, cherries), carrots, ginger root, fruit juice (apple or orange from concentrate), plain yogurt, and liquid (milk or water).

I have also been known to include red pepper (they're not as sweet as carrots, but just a little will add an intriguing flavor, not to mention some veggie vitamins), ground flax seed (for the omega 3s), tofu (for the protein), avocado (good fat), wheat germ, honey (but only if the fruit isn't as ripe and sweet), and even more occasionally cayenne pepper for a spicy kick (which goes well in hot chocolate too), ... I think that's about it.

Sometimes my smoothies are a simple treat like an orange julius. Most of the time they are jam packed with earth-muffin-crunchy-granola goodness.

The Farm Cafe

Last Thursday night I went out to dinner with my oldest sister and her significant other. (I was in Portland attending a technology conference for a couple days.) We went to The Farm Cafe and I loved it. I had the best veggie burger I have ever had. I'm pretty sure they didn't pull this out of the freezer and make it look fancy. I'm not sure how to describe it other than it was a thick patty with slices of red pepper on toasted ciabatta bread. Yum! It's my new favorite place to eat.