whistling leaf blower

peas in the new year

2012-01-01T13:20:00.004-05:00

i've heard it's traditional to have peas on new year's day, for good luck and prosperity. black-eyed peas are what we have chosen in the past. but this year we went with chickpeas. the dish is called leblebi (took me about a week to pronounce it without getting tongue-tied). Deborah Madison says it's common tunisian breakfast food. we thought leblebi on new year's day would be a nice way to celebrate the arab spring of 2011, and to offer best wishes to all those struggling for a better life in 2012.

it starts with a simple preparation of chickpeas in a thin, garlicky broth (this can be made in advance). serve it over day old farm bread with the following condiments: chopped scallions, sliced hard-boiled egg, capers, pickled turnips and most importantly, harissa.

harissa is a beautiful thick sauce, deep red in color, and rich in flavor. the caraway seed sets it apart from other chili pastes. harissa is added to the chickpeas as they cook, but to make the peas more acceptable to kids or others who dislike spicy foods, you can go easy on it at that stage, and just serve plenty at the table for those who like it hot. our bread was homemade, as was the harissa (it is one of carl's specialties) and the pickles came from friends who farm turnips.

leblebi is fun to eat, a pleasure to look at, distinctive and memorable in flavor.

happy new year!

beyond banana bread

2011-11-19T09:29:00.003-05:00

i don't actually remember how i came across this, but the ingredient list and images of the the finished product appealed to me, so i printed it out and waited for some overripe bananas to show up in my life. about a week later, they came-- literally to my doorstep, from a neighbor-- so i knew it was time to try the recipe.

let me tell ya folks, it did NOT disappoint.

wow.

i am not even a big fan of banana bread. this is no ordinary banana bread. super moist, with a tender crumb, the chocolate makes it decadent, the lemon makes you forget it's banana bread, and the olive oil and whole wheat flour make it wholesome, arguably, possibly even good for you. bake it in a ring pan, and it feels like a fancy cake.

i urge you to try it the next time you have mushy bananas to deal with.

i used whole wheat pastry flour, and just used regular choc. chips, because that was what i had on hand. i also used orange zest instead of lemon, which was okay, but i bet it's better with lemon. you can find the recipe here.

make another garden

2011-10-10T12:55:00.005-04:00

we are renters, but we tend to act like we own the place. give us a yard, and we will make gardens! here are some shots of the latest:

we've enjoyed a great fall harvest from these bush beans, started in mid july. we've even had enough for pickling, and they are still coming.

the chard was transplanted from our old place, along with many perennial herbs and flowers. herbs are something i hate to purchase at the store. those little overpriced packets of aging leaves can't compare to taking a few steps out the door to snip a few sprigs from my own plant. i am happy to finally have successfully transplanted all of mine.

we've enjoyed fresh lettuce and arugula for a good month and a half now, the carrots are almost ready. they always taste sweetest after a frost.

i have done everything in my power to have a lush spinach bed in the spring. i got this one started in late august, it is now firmly established, and when the frost comes, i'll cover the bed with a heavy layer of straw. at the first glimmer of spring, i'll pull the straw off, and have early spring spinach. spinach is probably my favorite of the leafy greens. i have never grown an adequate amount to satisfy my craving. hopefully, this is the year!

next we'll plant the garlic, and start on terracing the rest of the side yard to build beds for next year.

the end of the day

2011-08-26T19:47:00.008-04:00

it’s late summer, near the end of the month, the end of the day on the last day of the week. a family comes in, just before closing-- a mom and her two small children. i hear them speaking french to one another, softly. the toddler boy is in his underwear and a t-shirt. he has ruddy cheeks, and a sweaty brow. he and his slightly older sister are at the kid’s cubby, near my desk, looking at books, doing puzzles. the mom has finished the shopping, and i look up from my work to see her squatting down, opening the wrapper on a granola bar-the most ready-to-eat food we have in the pantry at that time, breaking off bite size pieces, and offering them to her son. he studies the food in her hand, she reassures him, and pushes a bite into his mouth. then she opens a small can of kern's apricot nectar, and gives him a drink. the girl is distracted- her attention on a coloring book, when her mother offers her the juice. the mother practically pours the liquid into her child’s mouth.

maybe it is because her kids look kind of like my son…maybe it is because it’s the end of a long week, and a full moon—i’m emotional… but i look at that blonde, french woman in her early thirties, and i feel like i know her. i know what that feels like. and yet, i don’t know what that feels like. as a mother, that urge to nourish your child is nearly instinctual. the pressing need to get food into the body of the one who is dependent upon you—that need is so familiar to me. and yet, i don’t know what it feels like to not know that you have access to the food your child needs. i don’t know what it is like to not have enough, to run out and not have the means to go get more. to witness this woman- engaged in the everyday act of feeding her young, of nourishing her family, this ordinary gesture, in that moment was so touching, and so heart breaking.

lately, i have been putting myself through the ringer over my career situation, future prospects, ambitions, and lack thereof. here i am, with this post-graduate degree from a prestigious architecture school, where i devoted many years of study, and accumulated mountains of debt. and i find myself in an income bracket significantly lower than expected, in a field completely unrelated to architecture. i see my cohorts with high paying jobs as architects in big cities, or with successful design firms of their own, professors and winners of high-profile competitions, nationally recognized artists…and i ask myself…have i failed?

today though, on my walk home from the food pantry, where i help people nourish themselves and their loved ones, i’m thinking about that woman putting food in her child’s mouth. and i know i am right where i need to be, that my work is meaningful and fulfilling—that my talents are not wasted, and that i truly love my job. i love my job, i love my life, and there is nowhere else i’d rather be

no excuses

2011-06-19T13:56:00.013-04:00

oh, i had hoped to at least post once per month, but alas! two months have passed, with nothing.

moving.

that is all i have to say: we moved.

shortly before we moved, i worked on a draft of a garden update:

June 19, 2011
in just a couple of weeks we we will no longer live in the midst of the best garden in the world. i'm excited about our new place, and exploring a different neighborhood, but leaving this garden is a challenging adjustment for me. i have planted a mostly full garden here, even though i knew we'd be moving in the middle of the season. our landlord says we can still come by to tend and harvest our crops. i hope he means that.

it has been a great year for brassicas so far.

this cabbage is an early jersey wakefield, and has a conical rather than spherical shape. okra barely germinated, even after two plantings. couldn't get a basil seed to germinate to save my life. i have no idea why. sweet corn looks fabulous.

pea harvest has been spectacular, and some cucumbers are ready and waiting to take their place on the fence/trellis. carrots and beets look lovely, as do the onions.

bush beans and edamame everywhere, plus a lot more flowers than i usually plant. since the landlords plan to put the place on the market, i figure the prettier it looks out there, the more likely the garden will be left alone. we've been eating fresh lettuce since late february and still have some coming on. we enjoyed a few radishes before they bolted in the heat, and the garlic has been "scaped."

this year i made a garlic scape pesto, but found it to be a tiny bit too garlicy, even though i sauteed them first.

the tomatoes and ground cherries are off to an optimistic start, in spite of being super tiny when i put them into the ground. i ended up buying two larger plants from the farmer's market, just to be on the safe side. the exciting new thing i am trying this year is sweet potatoes! they are beautiful plants, and i'm curious to see how they do.

of course i have leeks again, and have tried some eggplant, currently under cover, to prevent flea beetle attack. the soil in the lasagna bed i started a year and a half ago is gorgeous--all dark and crumbly, and (unfortunately) full of tomato seed and violets.

in the new place i hope to do a bit of terracing, plant a small fall garden, get some garlic in, and prepare beds for the spring (using the lasagna method). the new neighborhood has plenty of experienced gardeners to consult and commiserate with. i will work on letting go, and moving on.

* * *

by now we have been in our new place for a full month. we've had to say good bye to excellent soil, wonderful neighbors and the croquet court.

but the new place has nice neighbors, too, plus it came with a cheese hanging hook (over the sink!), and nice colors on the walls.

i struggle to keep a couple of small seed beds moist enough to germinate the fall crops i planted. i have been harvesting from our old place, and attempting to keep up with weeds. we're experiencing a bit of a drought, and record high temperatures for days on end. surprisingly, the old garden is doing well with very little attention.

i've harvested tons of green beans, cabbages, beets, carrots, onions, kale, cucumbers, ground cherries, tomatoes, herbs...even flowers! last weekend we had the first of the sweet corn!

it is wonderful. the edamame is nearly ready, and the sweet potatoes are out of control! i am very curious to see what's under all that gorgeous foliage.

we love our new place, and have had a nice summer, in spite of the brutal relocation. cosmo has been busy with soccer camp, swim classes and montessori art camp.

we all rode our bikes in the july 4th parade, with our dear friends ann and alan. it was just what we needed after days of schlepping, and one of the reasons i so love bloomington. 5 people can hop on their bikes and become an official entry in the independence day parade! cosmo loved getting to ride around, in all directions, in the middle of the street downtown.

we are off to colorado to visit carl's parents, and cosmo will start kindergarten (at montessori) by the middle of the month! the summer has flown by, as usual. thanks to they might be giants (here comes science), cosmo's current passion revolves around the periodic table of the elements. our friend diane gave him a poster of it, which he has been studying carefully, and even chose it as a bed time story a few nights ago! he is also into optical illusions, and successfully pulled off his first magic trick (making a coin disappear).

carl and i have been busy canning, and preserving, and teaching others how to as well. through my job at mother hubbard's cupboard, carl has assisted me in 3 canning demonstrations at the farmer's market.

i discovered the best pickled carrots recipe--ever! i was looking for something that would closely mimic the spicy condiment i used to find in taquerias in houston. found it. these are probably the best thing i have ever pickled, and i can't stop eating them. they taste great with tortilla chips.

here's the recipe (it comes from the TexasBBQRub forum):

pickled carrots taqueria-style.

It sounds like a large recipe, and it is. trust me, though, you'll be glad you made the whole thing.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs large carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick pieces
• 1/2 head of garlic peeled and smashed
• 1/2 large, sweet or yellow onion, roughly 1-inch dice
• 1 1/2 cups white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 10 bay leaves, whole
• 1 tablespoon peppercorns (can vary to taste)
• 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6-8 oz. fresh jalapenos, sliced (and seeded to taste)

Preparation:
Add garlic and peppercorns to oil in a large saucepan, heat to medium heat, and saute until fragrant (just a couple or few minutes or so, depending on your stove). Add in carrots and saute for 2-3 minutes. Carefully add in vinegar, peppercorns, salt, and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes and then add water and jalapenos and bring to a simmer again for another 10 minutes.

Transfer everything two quart-sized mason jars or other covered container(s) and refrigerate overnight. If you find you need more liquid to cover, boil more water and vinegar (equal amounts of each) to top off.

Keep refrigerated. Store the carrots in the liquid and use a fork or slotted spoon to serve them. You may leave the bay leaves in the liquid to add to the flavor, but do not eat them. Always remove the bay leaves before you eat the carrots. You can soften the carrots more with longer cooking times, but you want to keep them firm and with a bit of crunch, or it's just not right.

oh, the places we go

2011-05-28T07:49:00.012-04:00

cosmo has seen the world.

disney world, that is. and he will never be the same again. before his papa in texas generously planned a trip for the whole family (cosmo's aunts, uncles, cousins) i am not even sure that cosmo KNEW about disney world, or disney land. he's watched some disney shows, and a couple of movies...he has even played on the playhouse disney website.

but i don't think he really had a notion of what an amusement park might be like, let alone the happiest place on earth.

so, in the months preceding the trip, we did a little prepping, to make sure that he would get maximum enjoyment out of what will most likely be his only trip to disney world. julie helped us find a kid's guide to disney world at the library book sale.

though it was from 2004, it was still relevant, and allowed cosmo to read about the place, and plan for some of what he wanted to do while he was there. he read that book backwards and forwards, studied the maps and made lists of rides he wanted to go on, and attractions he wanted to see.

nothing can really prepare you though. that place is somethin' else!

though i know cosmo had a blast, and will never forget it, it was also simply exhausting for him. the late night at the magic kingdom, fighting the crowds to see the parade and the fireworks show was difficult for him to recover from, even though we let him sleep in the next day.

he fell asleep in the middle of the day almost every day we were there. he was lucky that justin was willing to carry him around because i could not pick him up due to back trouble, and he is just too big for a stroller (though he did at one point find his way into his little cousin's stroller, and attempted to nap at the epcot)

he also enjoyed occasional breaks engaged in familiar pastimes such as arcades time, and bonding with the littlest cousin over itouch games.

the "wild rides" we went on (splash mountain, mission space, astro blaster) were just right for him, and not too scary.

his favorite ride (depending on when you ask him) was either splash mountain or spaceship earth (the one inside that big ball at epcot). what he liked about that one was the part where it opens up into a sort of planetarium at the top of the bucky ball, and you can see an image of the earth, as if you are in outer space. he was blown away by that.

the one thing that he really had his heart set on, more than anything at the major parks, was the miniature golf course. cosmo is obsessed with mini golf, and the options around here are pretty pathetic. i think this one is called mickey's fantasia gardens, and it is located near one of the resorts, but there is no bus that goes right to it.

we had to take a cab (also pretty exiting for cosmo). no one else in our party wanted to join us for the mini golf, which is too bad because it was awesome. no lines, no crowds, peaceful. and, because it's disney, cool things happen on the course--

like an elephant shoots water when you make it in the 5th hole, and when you walk under the brooms with buckets, you might get a little splash. it is all perfectly maintained, and well designed to be both challenging, and doable.

free passes were included in our packets, so we didn't even have to pay to play. it's the one part of the trip that cosmo is still talking about. i overheard him telling a friend about the squirting elephant just the other day.

two weeks ago, we headed out to columbus for a spontaneous sunday day trip. we haven't been to the children's museum there for a couple of years, and it is a nice drive.

we stopped in nashville for lunch and a game of scrabble. the museum was fun, especially the bubble room.

but after that we ventured across the street to the newly constructed commons. wow.
it's basically an indoor public park. high ceilings, flooded with natural light, and all the latest in indoor safe-but-fun playground equipment. there was one of those netted high climbing structures (like they have at wonderlab), and the whole floor was padded. the place was mobbed with kids of all ages running around screaming and having a blast.

cosmo jumped right into the fray, and seemed to have a smile pasted onto his face the whole time we were there. it was amazing for lots of reasons: the acoustics were perfect-- somehow all that screaming was not unbearable, though it was really crowded, it never seemed unsafe, and, most surprising, it was free, and there was nothing for sale inside. weird.

we'll be moving in july, and will have a whole new neighborhood to explore. other than a possible camping trip to the indiana dunes, and a trip to colorado in august, we'll probably stay fairly close to home this summer (oh, but did i just catch wind of a possible holiday world adventure for cosmo with justin and shawna?)

what exciting travel adventures do you have in store?

treasure hunting

2011-04-18T20:34:00.011-04:00

fungal fever, morel madness, whatever you want to call it, we've got it! some of you may recall how i stumbled upon one solitary morel, at the end of mushroom season last year. that is the only morel i had ever found, and only the second time i've ever tasted one. the first one doesn't exactly count. my mom and stepfather gave me a bite of some they had found when i was about 13 or so. i wasn't sure i liked it, and they didn't exactly want me too, since they had found so few.

yesterday, cosmo took us out into the woods where his montessori class had taken their annual wildflower walk. he wanted to find a treasure hidden under a board in a bridge, that one of the kindergartners had told him about.

turns out it was a letterbox, and the first i'd heard of this charming pastime. after we checked that out, we continued walking on the trail, and i started thinking about morels, and mentioned to carl that sky had told me that the deer eat them. "sad, isn't it?" carl mused on the notion of the opposite of do animals feel pain? --can animals appreciate such distinguished culinary delights as morel mushrooms? approximately 2.5 minutes later, i saw one, right there, white stem glowing in the dappled sunlight, just on the edge of the trail! so, we wondered off the trail, looking for more (they say you never see just one).

i found a couple more, then carl found some. we gathered 16 total! it was all very exciting, though i wasn't completely sure they were morels. later, when we were enjoying our picnic lunch

(gawd! how i love purple sauerkraut on a sandwich!) we saw a couple of other folks exiting the woods with laden bags. carl stopped one of them and confirmed that what we had was indeed edible. a variety of morel commonly called "peckerheads" (lovely).

at home on the innernets, i found what i needed to reassure me that these were not false morels, and were known as some of the earliest morels of the season. sometimes they are called half-frees due to the way in which the cap attaches to the stem.

we had just seasoned our new wok, to a stunning shade of bronze, and decided the morels should be the inaugural dish prepared in the wok, even though cooking them required more of a saute than a stir fry.

it did the job beautifully, and we enjoyed our melt-in-your-mouth foraged feast with a gingered cauliflower dish (also prepared smashingly in the wok).

who would have guessed that the best woks (hand hammered, carbon steel) can also be among the least expensive. our dear friend, mr. kelty, tipped us off to that (thanks chris).

weirdest thing happened the next day...i was walking home from work, up an alley, off a busy street, and spotted a perfect specimen, of a different variety (one of the yellows, or creams?).

this one had popped up in the unlikely medium of of grass, weeds and gravel. i only found the one, then heard a few hours later that a neighbor had found one in her backyard! we headed back out to the woods that night and brought home 14 more!

what came to mind, when i was looking for them the second time, is that it seems i've been training my whole life for mushroom hunting. as a child, i looked down when walking, not because of low self esteem, i've just always been one to visually scour the ground, searching for overlooked treasures. I have been rewarded amply for this habit over the years; i've found cash, earrings, fossils, sea shells, beads, toys and various sorts of paraphernalia. my eyes want to scan a dappled landscape and find a slightly distinct dappled thing, camouflaged within that landscape. it is a great thrill, and i'm good at it.

i hear it's a good year for mushrooms. and a great year for amateurs.

p.s. even cosmo likes the taste of morels.

spring first

2011-03-20T18:13:00.009-04:00

happy first day of spring! was the first thing out of cosmo's mouth this morning. then he dashed over to his calendar to check the date. he's been waiting for this day. we've been telling him that when spring arrives, we can go out in the yard and look for ants for the ant farm we picked up this winter at a swap. today was the day! luckily, the weather cooperated, and it really felt like a spring day. and (bonus!) there were ants!

he and carl set out some bait (honey) on a piece of paper, and after the ants gathered around it, they quickly, and carefully dumped them into the top of the farm. after that it was just a matter of feeding them some cracker crumbs, dropping water in, and watching them go. ants are endlessly entertaining to watch.

for carl and i, it's the new TV. cosmo is fascinated with them too, but then again, he's fascinated with a nearly deflated old balloon, so his gazing at the ant farm window comes and goes. but he's been interested in the habits of ant colonies for a couple of summers now, so i foresee much educational fun in the months ahead.

of course, spring means gardening. the cold frame managed to keep a number of lettuce and spinach plants alive all winter, plus one hearty chard.

they are nearly full sized now, and we enjoyed our first garden salad last weekend when carl's parents visited, along with the last of the fall carrots. i've transplanted some lettuce, spinach and brassica seedlings from the basement grow-light area to the cold frame, and scattered a few plants around the garden as well.

it is perhaps a bit early to expect much growth, but most of them are hanging on. arugula is up, and already making my mouth water! peas are in the ground, but not yet popping up. the garlic is looking good, as are the chives, and perennials and spring bulbs are coming into their own

on this vernal equinox, i turned the compost (the most back breaking chore of the organic garden), started weeding some perennial beds-- with the enthusiastic helping hands of a certain five year old, who triumphantly shouts oh yeah...johnson grass! when he successfully rips up a long trail of that pesky weed. it takes a little one to remind me that weeding can be extremely satisfying.

dinner was enjoyed on the porch (including fresh baked bread, and homemade butter), and we capped off the day with a symbolic torching of last year's christmas tree plus various other woody garden debris from the previous season.

at our little rented urban homestead, spring has officially been ushered in!

winter is for winter

2011-02-13T07:55:00.011-05:00

it's safe to say that one of my pet peeves is people complaining about winter weather. especially in, well, winter! if it's spring, and you're getting winter weather, okay...i can see how that's disappointing. but in january? and february? in the midwest? it. is. winter.
and i, for one, want winter weather in wintertime.

i grew up in southern california, in the san bernardino valley. not even once, in the 12 years that i lived there, did it snow in my town. the white capped mountains towered over us all winter, and if we were lucky, once the roads were cleared, we might get to take a drive into the mountains, to play in the snow. but i didn't see snow falling from the sky until i was thirteen years old, and we had moved to the midwest. the first time i witnessed it, i was standing in an old, 3 story brick school house, looking out from large, wood-framed, double hung windows (the kind that operate on those sash cords). i remarked that it looked like angels were having a pillow fight.
as an adult, i happily spent a year in fargo, and lived many other places with proper winters.

then, there were those 7 years i spent in sub-tropical houston. while it was an intellectually, artistically, politically and socially exciting time in my life, i never appreciated the weather. there were about 2 months of the year when the air wasn't hot, thick, sticky and stifling.

i am the sort of person who needs four distinct seasons. there is something comforting, and ordering about that pattern for me. waiting for the last frost date to pass, before planting certain crops, is an exercise in patience and planning. those first crisp days in october, when the leaves begin to change, are a welcome relief from a sweltering summer. snow covered fields, and ice encrusted branches are visual delights that i relish. i like having routines disrupted by blizzards. keeps us in our place.

i enjoy the change in family life, too. finding things to do in the colder months can be challenging. but, we have those seasonal holidays to occupy us, and valentine crafting for 30 kids takes up a lot of time!

sledding, and snowball fights are always welcome outdoor activities. on christmas day, we took cosmo's new arrowcopter toys out to the park, and chased them down in the snow.

this doesn't mean that i don't look forward spring. i do. i have already begun sowing seeds down in the basement, under a grow light. by mid march, i'll be antsy to get out there and put my hands in the dirt.

a long cold winter makes the first signs of spring so sweet.
until then, winter is for winter.
i'll savor every snowflake and single-digit morning.

burst of color...

2011-01-30T13:35:00.004-05:00

in the dead of winter.

i dug these carrots up from the garden yesterday, and i swear, they are actually growing under there! the ones i dug up a month ago were much smaller.
hard to believe really, when it's overcast and cold for weeks on end.
plants are amazing things.
i cannot get over how crisp and sweet these beauties are.

architecture as play thing

2011-01-23T21:38:00.004-05:00

when it's this cold outside, some of the running around needs to happen indoors.

cosmo and one of his pals made good use of a double stairwell in the fine arts building at IU (just down the hall from the beloved friends of art bookshop).

one would wait at the top while the other went downstairs. the trick was to walk back up so quietly, that the one at the top would not know which stairway had been chosen--- SURPRISE!

and...repeat.

12 days, on christmas eve

2010-12-24T10:20:00.001-05:00

hard crack

2010-12-23T11:17:00.005-05:00

we made lollipops!

making hard candy is pretty simple. just a few ingredients, brought to the "hard-crack" stage (300 degrees F) and then poured into a candy mold.

the trick is to avoid stirring the mixture, once it starts boiling (something do do with sugar crystals?). just let it sit there and bubble until it gets to 300. it does take a while. once you get there, remove from heat, add your flavoring (in our case, vanilla-cosmo's request) and then pour before it cools down.

homemade hard candy that looks, feels and tastes like store-bought, makes for one happy little boy!

certainly not nutritious, but tons of fun for everyone.

five

2010-12-16T21:02:00.005-05:00

oh dear. the holidays are upon us, and i had really hoped to post something about cosmo's birthday before now. he turned five in november. that number always loomed, in my mind, as a huge milestone. it's the point where they move into official kid-ness. not a baby anymore, not a toddler anymore, and barely even a pre-schooler.

cosmo had a wonderful birthday. we had a nice after-school party for him, with 5 kids he chose to invite. it was hard to let go, and let him decide, but since he had opinions, and he doesn't always express preferences, i thought it was important to honor his choices...even if it meant some of my dear friends' children were not invited. gulp.

we had a low-key party, where the most exciting part turned out to be chasing each other around with blow-out noise-maker-party-favor-thingies. talk about cheap thrills! the next day, he came down with strep. the scarlet fever strain. poor little thing. he was mostly couch-ridden through thanksgiving, but was all better in time to go to TX, for an early xmas with nani and family.

this also marks the fifth year of this blog.
five years.
sigh.
'nuf said.

so far, my favorite thing about five-year-olds is the helpfulness. i was expecting this, or at least hoping for it, and, remarkably, it arrived, like clock work. cosmo has a new found interest in helping out, and the competence to actually BE helpful. i will savor this while it lasts.

bugs bummin' me out

2010-11-21T19:55:00.005-05:00

the grey cabbage aphid is destroying all my brassicas! the kale was hit the hardest, but now they are going after the beloved brussel sprouts, the young cauliflower, and i even saw a few on the arugula! it makes no sense. i had never seen them until this fall, and they came on strong. my russian kale was lush just a month ago. they attack the young, tender, new leaves, which basically stunts the growth of the plant, and eventually kills it.

since i garden organically, i am used to hand-picking pests off of my plants. it is one of the benefits of having a small, back yard garden--a person can usually notice and keep up with pest problems. i started by removing these vile creatures with my bare hands, sort of sweeping the leaves with my thumb. but now i just blast them with a strong stream of water from the hose.

it gets them off the plants, but i have to keep doing it, every day. i finally gave up on the kale, and pulled it today. i hope to save the brussels sprouts and califlower, but i don't have a whole lot of hope.

in other bug related news, fruit flies have found my worm composting bins--both at home, and at work. again, this is a new phenomenon for me, and started in the fall. at home, they migrated to the kitchen, too. we have tried everything, including removing any possible food sources cleaning meticulously (and drying everything), plus trapping them with vinegar. we have reduced their population immensely. lately, we "vacuum" them up with the back of a hair dryer. it is strange, but effective (and secretly satisfying).

so far though, i'm not really finding any answers about the worm bin problem. experts say to bury the food scraps in the bedding, or to wrap them in newspaper to avoid attracting fruit flies. i always do one or both of those things, and have never had a problem. now, i still do those things, and i have a fruit fly infestation, and it is not going away. it is especially problematic at work, as i am trying to get the vermiculture system established, and this is a huge set back.

your suggestions and/or commiserations welcome.

for the love of brussel

2010-11-10T20:21:00.005-05:00

this is what i was dreaming about on february 12, 2010.

that's when i planted the brussel sprout seeds, under a grow light in the basement.

we finally had some for dinner, two nights ago--almost 9 months later!
how they made it into those little tiny, tightly-packed cabbage balls, considering all the pests and drought the season thew at them, is a mystery to me.

i have a few wasps to thank, for keeping the cabbage caterpillar population under control (plant dill & fennel to attract them to your garden).

they are so yummy when they're fresh, and i've heard that the ones that come from california aren't as sweet, because they never go through a frost. ours have, and you can definitely tell.

NYC [in a day, on a shoe string]

2010-11-07T19:41:00.016-05:00

my dear friend from grad school is getting married.
it's a big deal.
they live in brooklyn.
the wedding is in jersey.
we are flat broke.
we go to the wedding.
we drive.
we camp in the hills of western new jersey.
there is miniature golf and an arcade.
the wedding is lovely.
cosmo cuts a rug on the dance floor.

(not our campsite)

next day, we take a train to the city.
it rains.
there is a long elevator ride to a foggy view.

(like a seasoned commuter)

the MOMA is mobbed.
never mind, there is art all around.

and subway rides.
and hot dogs.
deli counters.
news stands.
a small dog in a rain coat.
a bike made of bamboo.
and a long car ride home.

(congratulations l + s)

(special thanks to alan, for loaning us the iphone, so cosmo could play doodle jump. it came in mighty handy.)

geez...

2010-10-23T21:46:00.003-04:00

well, apparently i cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. ever since i got this full time job, can't seem to manage to keep up with things like blogging, and cleaning the house. i know that many of you moms out there have been doing it ALL, all along. i admire you, and feel truly privileged to have had this time away from the work-a-day world, to focus on cosmo, our home and family, and to pursue the things i love.

the good news is that i still get to follow my passions in my new job. i'm working for a non-profit, and i get to do things like set up a roof-top kitchen garden, build rain barrels, raise worms for compost, design edible landscaping, and do space (and even menu) planning for a small take-out cafe.

i am not complaining, and am thrilled to have work. there is an adjustment period though, for all of us. cosmo is handling it all pretty well, and carl is uber-competent in his stay-at home-dad role. mostly it is difficult for me to accept that i cannot do every. single. thing. that i did before. i still try to, and am reminded about how much more efficient i become, the busier i am. but i have been forced to prioritize, to let go, and to say no. i'm sure it's good for me.

we have had our share of fun times lately, and i think i'll just go photo-essay-style to catch up.

cosmo started montessori in late august. he loves it, we love it. it seems to suit what kind of kid he is, and he took to it readily. this week is children's evening (open house) and i can't wait to see what he chooses to show us in his classroom. at home, he is into games: board games, card games, computer games, and ones he makes up, with, say, over 500 wooden poker chips i found for him at the free swap. he reads almost anything now, and has lots of interesting questions, like why do spirals go round and round, and never end? or, how do you think about nothing? makes me wonder if maybe his is a bodhisattva, after all. he has crossed over into a delightful stage, of being almost helpful, often cheery, chatty, and thirsty for knowledge. he started doing a little reading to himself, in the car (mostly he reads with us, to us--does not yet curl up on the couch with a good novel), and the books he chooses for this are not usually stories, but non-fiction books about subjects like geography or outer space.

here he is with carl's 12 year-old nephew, clem. he like to say "i'm a lot like clem," and by that he means, reading to himself. luckily, he still loves being read to, and is currently absorbed in the magic tree house series.

he got to ride a horse for the first time, at a birthday party, and is crazy for miniature golf. here he is pictured, putting, in the beauty and serenity of the jellystone campground and RV park, just south of town.

we visited the chili woman's farm, where cosmo fed a llama, and complained about wanting to go home. we participated in the annual hub ride fundraiser, for mother hubbard's cupboard. even though we took the shortest (4 mile) route, it was a bit rainy, and there were some hills.

so, we did a lot of walking of the bikes, and coaxing cosmo to find the strength within himself to finish. i was nervous about being out on roads, where cars are, with such a new rider (truthfully, i thought i might have a heart attack).

by the end though, i think we were all glad we persevered, and didn't have to call the SAG wagon. plus, cosmo got to meet a parrot, who also went on the ride!

cosmo accompanied me for some tabling at a sustainability event on campus. i got to strap a rain barrel to my bike rack, and cosmo got to dye a silk scarf with indigo leaves. cosmo also demonstrated, at that event, that he is beginning to overcome his shyness. he made friends with a group of young men, all on his own, and cried when they left without him. he also kicked a ball around with a kid and his parents.

i entered the salsa contest again this year, hoping to hold steady with another third place ribbon. but this year was carl's turn to shine. he made a hoosier harissa, from our own dried chili's, and it was to-die-for. i can't believe he didn't get first in the specialty category (he won third).

the following weekend, i convinced him to make more, and serve it with some other middle eastern/north african specialties, plus homemade pita bread, baked on the grill! they cook so fast, and puff up beautifully, without fail. so simple, even a child can do it.

dear friend, alan, shows off a perfectly puffed pita

Pita Bread

Makes 8 pitas

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar or honey
1 packet yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 teaspoons yeast)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil, vegetable oil, butter, or shortening
Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water.

Once all of the ingredients form a ball, place the ball on a work surface, such as a cutting board, and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes (or until your hands get tired). If you are using an electric mixer, mix it at low speed for 10 minutes.

When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Form a ball out of the dough and place it into the bowl, rolling the ball of dough around in the bowl so that it has a light coat of oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This step allows the dough to relax so that it'll be easier to shape.
While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you are preheating the oven. This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.

After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.
Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes (illustrations and more info here).
Or, put a baking stone on the grill, and cook them outside. as long as there's enough heat, it should work fine, since they cook so quickly. we closed the lid, and checked on them every few minutes. we have an inexpensive charcoal grill, nothing fancy.

the garden has done well, despite the drought. did you know that okra can reach heights of 13 feet? we have pickled it, fried it, made bindi masala, and many other yummy dishes with ours. you can get rid of the sliminess, trust me, and it is delicious.

note: the okra pictured here are pretty, but way too large to eat. you have to pick them when they are under 2 or 3 inches long. they grow quickly, it's difficult to keep up.

some seeds refused to germinate in mid-summer, which made for a weak fall garden, and some crops (like red-russian kale, for instance) flourished, only to be recently attacked by strange, gray aphids like i have never seen. the plants are strong enough to recover from it, and my brussel sprouts have been defended from cabbage worms, by the predator wasps that buzz around the garden. i learned in the grow organic educator series (GOES) class that i am taking this fall, that those wasps are attracted to umbel flower sets, like dill, fennel, and queen ann's lace. i'm taking the course at a discount, since i volunteered to take care of the refreshments for the class each week (basically, coffee and tea). it pushes me to bake something every wednesday, not because it is expected, but because i enjoy it. truth be told, i don't need much prodding to bake.

i made a lattice-top apple pie last weekend, and a lovely pumpkin persimmon pie today (the pies are for us, not the class). sometimes i bring cookies (pictured: currant jelly thumb prints), or a sweet bread that carl has made. the class is fantastic, and can lead to a master gardener certification. more importantly, i am learning a tremendous amount. it's the perfect time to take such a course. after three years of hands-on in the garden, now i am ready to hear from some experts about specific techniques and approaches, and to find out what makes a compost heap do its thang. it's fascinating stuff, and i find my self buzzed and energized after each class, though it makes for such a long day.

we're in full-on fall mode here, saving seeds, drying peppers, gathering persimmons, and apple picking. cosmo's doing his part, putting dry leaves in the compost bin.

i'm trying to put the garden to bed, but it keeps producing. after at least 100 lbs of tomatoes harvested, there are still more coming. we have a nice crop of lettuce, arugula, and carrots for fall, and i'll be planting the garlic any day now.

there's more to tell, but i must stop here, to make sure this gets posted. i hope to write about our road/train trip to NYC, next time. oh, and i want to post about this awesome outdoor pizza oven that our friends built...so, stay tuned!

word families

2010-08-13T22:33:00.000-04:00

it was one of those things i picked up at a yard sale, thinking "i have an idea for something i could make with this." then, it sat around for months, collecting dust. when cosmo pulled it out tonight, and started making up secret words for us to guess, i decided it was time to implement my plan.

it was designed to be a picture frame, with 3 cubes that spin, with 4 places on each cube for photos. it took me all of 30 minutes to select some letters, print them big on card stock, cut them to size, and slide them in their slots. voila! now, we have the best ever word family toy.

cosmo is familiar with the notion of word families from a song on one of our 1970s sesame street records (yes, we have more than one. yes, they get plenty of air play in our house.) so, with the fridge magnets, for instance, he will spell out P-E-T, W-E-T and J-E-T.

with this contraption, there are limitations (only 4 letters on each cube, only 3 cubes) but there is also a built-in structure (vowels in the center, consonants at the beginning and end), increasing the chances of forming actual words. i made extra letter cards, so we can switch it out from time to time.

it is tons of fun to play with-- cosmo likes to spin the cubes and see what word is randomly generated. sometimes you get a non-word, like DIT, but most of the time, it is a recognizable word. and in either case, it's a chance to talk about what is a known, english word, and what isn't. slang counts, as in the case of BOD.

DIY counts, too. obviously.

seeing red

2010-08-09T13:37:00.008-04:00

i'm drowning in a sea of red over here, people. seriously. i may need an intervention.

even my nikki mclure calendar is mocking me (again).

we've got heirlooms, and canners, and romas and two kinds of cherries.
we have canned whole tomatoes, salsa, ketchup and catsup.

we have dried cherry tomatoes, and made them into sauce, and tomato paste. we have fresh ones every night with dinner, and the vines are still loaded out there.

these are all plants that i started from seed, and planted in that layered, sheet mulched bed i made last fall. my goal was to grow enough of our own tomatoes to can them, rather than buying a box at the farmer's market. next year, i think i will scale it back a bit.

cream of the crop

2010-07-25T07:27:00.012-04:00

the term "livin' high on the hog," i believe refers to certain premium cuts of meat, which happen to be located in the higher sections of the animal. as a (mostly) vegetarian, that phrase isn't exactly apropos. but, i will say, that given the current (rather dismal) economic climate of our household (which i won't go into here), damn--do we live well?! the abundance of a garden can make you feel like a queen. in the peak of the summer, a meal that prominently features fresh tomatoes and sweet corn, is about as good as it gets, as far as i'm concerned. that's what we had last night.

i've already told you that our corn is over eight feet tall. well, the ears are getting so fat, that every time it rains, several stalks just topple over. i think this is because 1) the stalks, being so laden with ears of corn, are very heavy, and when they collect extra water in their foliage and silks, it just become too much for the shallow roots to support, and 2) because the corn was planted in mounds (as recommended for the 3 sisters garden) there is a bit of washing-away-of-soil (erosion?) when it rains, making it even more difficult for those roots to keep the stalks upright. in any case, it is quite distressing when it happens, and carl and i have been out there in the mud, searching for any scrap of something tall enough, and sturdy enough to support bundles of corn stalks.

the plants don't seem any worse for the wear having been down, and then back up again. they look healthy and lush, and yesterday, we pulled back some husk, and determined it was time to give it a taste. carl got the water boiling, and i went out to choose the four biggest ones. after a quick shucking, into the water they went.

we served them with a stunning ensalata caprese, featuring a lovely heirloom tomato, and our fresh basil, plus a serving of perfectly sauteed chanterelles (you can't see them, but they are in the bowls that look black in this photo). the corn was sweet and had that wonderful pop! crunch! that i think you can only get from freshly picked. it might be even better in a day or two.

this past week has also been full of pickle making and catsup, and sour kraut to-die-for. cherry tomatoes are great for catsup, because you really have to put them through some sort of food mill or strainer, to get the skins off anyway, so you might as well make sauce or catsup. plus they are sweet, and we have SO MANY of them. it takes a lot of tomatoes to make a little bit of catusp. i think the ratio works out to about one quart of tomatoes = one half pint of condiment. but it is super yummy, and tastes just like...well, catsup. or, ketchup-- whatever you call it. it tastes like what i'm used to when i open a store-bought bottle, only mine doesn't have high fructose corn syrup in it.

and, i am so in love with pickling! i have been making micro-batches (carl calls them boutique) of pickled okra, and french style cornichons (made from baby cucumbers). so far, i haven't made a pickle i didn't like. i canned one full batch, and somehow forgot to put the dill in the jars (!) (though there was dill seed in the spice ball that went into the vinegar). i also worry that they won't be as crisp as the fridge kind. i've been told that putting a grape leaf in each jar, will keep the snap, so i did that.

i'll try them six weeks from now, and let you know. we had a lot of fun with the kids in the banneker youth garden club, harvesting cucumbers from their garden (plus dill, coriander, onion, hot peppers) and making pickles together in their kitchen. i could not believe how excited those kids got about pickles.

most of the fall crops are in the ground, or started in the basement. i've planted carrots, beets, bush beans, cilantro and basil. the brassicas like to be started indoors this time of year, where it is cooler. once the weather cools down a little bit, or they are strong enough to withstand the heat, i can transplant them outside. i'll also plant some lettuce and spinach, but not in these sweltering temperatures.

the warmth has been good for berries. the ground cherries are producing baskets full every day, and we've already started dipping them in chocolate. we also picked the first of the rare, but astonishing, red raspberries, from the two plants that jack gave us this spring (this picture's for you MEP). he was right, they did produce this year! to me, they are like precious gems. the taste of a red raz, like no other food, takes me back to my grandmother's garden. it used to be that you couldn't really find red raspberries in the stores. as a child, i associated them exclusively with my grandmother, and i loved them more than any other fruit. still do.

with the finest ingredients in the world at our finger tips, we really do feel like royalty!

high summer

2010-07-14T13:54:00.000-04:00

it's still july, right? geez, this summer is flying by. i wanted to post about the fourth of july, but that was ages ago, right? well, it was a lovely weekend. we had some family in town, we cooked from the garden and many hands of UNO (cosmo's current favorite game) were played by all. oh, and there was a parade, some cook-outs and a trip to the lake.

the lake was my favorite part. it's a relatively secluded spot (in fact, for a while, we were the only ones there, on the actual day of the 4th!) we had a picnic, did some swimming, and went mushroom hunting in the woods. it's chanterelle season here, and this spot is notoriously thick with those unmistakable, salmon colored beauties. we collectively gathered over 2 pounds.

at home we made a fantastic dish involving butter, white wine, cream and some onions from the garden. hard to go wrong with that list of ingredients. we dried some, and throughout the week used them fresh, in a mushroom beet curry, a garden stir-fry, and pa jun (that korean scallion pancake i'm always raving about).

they have a distinctive, yet mellow flavor, are easy to cook with, and impart a sort of meaty-ness to a vegetarian meal. i love how easy they are to find. not at all like those perfectly camoflaged, rare and elusive morels. these guys are plentiful and their bright color makes them stand out on the forest floor. i say we went mushroom hunting, but it was more like the woods were saying, "here, have a basket of chanterelles!" this is the first time we have gathered them, but it won't be the last.

the garden, by the way, is blowing my mind. the tomatoes are just beginning to ripen. we've enjoyed a few cherry tomatoes, but one of the big guys is a soft shade of orange, so it won't be long. i noticed some spotted lower leaves, on a few of the plants (signs of disease), so i pruned all of the lower leaves, and yesterday i sprayed them with a seaweed/fish fertilizer, just to give them a little boost. now our garden smells like a fish cannery. yum.

many of the branches are so laden with giant tomatoes, they are completely bent over. but, they're hanging on, and seem fine.

i had to pull out the evil third step sister from the three sisters garden. she was severely diseased and pest ridden, and i feared she would contaminate the nearby cucumbers. so, no more pumpkin. we're down to two sisters, but they are doing wonderfully. the corn is towering over my head, at over 8 feet tall! the ears are forming, complete with lush corn silks.

this is a completely new experience for me, i've never grown corn. it is very satisfying so far. and the beans are dutifully climbing the stalks, and starting to flower.

a couple of times i had to untangle the bean vines, which were pulling the corn stalks towards one another. and bending them. but other than that, they seem to make great companions.

the okra is setting pods now. we pickled a few, and they are delicious! the okra flower is so pretty! it looks like a hibiscus or a rose of sharon, and in fact, is sometimes known as african hibiscus. the plants cut a dashing figure in the garden.

the cucumbers, though probably also diseased (those damn cucurbits!) are producing plenty of fruit!

they are the pickling kind, so we made our first batch of fridge pickles and found them scrumptious. i used a recipe from organic gardening, on a whim (i am so susceptible to images in magazines!) and next time i will try one that does not include sugar.

i cut the sugar down to less than a quarter of what it called for, but it was still too much. i want my dill pickles savory, not sweet. but they were still crisp and yummy--looking forward to more of that! using our own fresh dill was a treat.

oh, and then there's the cabbage! we have lots of it, and it is astounding. i picked the biggest one, and made some kim chi. also used some of our carrots, but this was not the tastiest crop of carrots i have grown. i just planted another row, for a fall crop.

the garlic is out of the ground, and hanging in the wood shop to cure. harvesting garlic may be my favorite garden task. the fragrance is intoxicating! it was a beautiful harvest, and this year, i will save some for next year's seed. last year, they were so small, i didn't want to plant them, so i just bought more. this year's look as good as i could get from johnney's.

in it's place is a buckwheat cover crop. i'll be planting fall crops in there, probably today.

the morning glories are not as lush as i had imagined they'd be, but they are climbing the twine, and they have glorious blooms every morning, so, i can't complain. this year, i planted president tyler, and heavenly blue.

the leeks are taking their own sweet time, as are the brussel sprouts, but they are starting to show the tiniest of brussel buds...aren't they? they taste better after a frost anyway.

here's hoping you have the chance to take your own sweet time in a garden this summer, too.

many milestones

2010-06-29T13:32:00.010-04:00

cosmo is riding a two wheeler. now, with pedals! two days ago, he sat on the bike he got for his fourth birthday (back in november, thanks nani and papa!), to find out if his feet touch the ground yet. they did. then we went out to try to ride.

and he rode.
just like that.

okay, so...there was cotton candy involved, but he picked it up so fast, it blew my mind. he was riding, and i was actually stopping him, out of...well...fear. my own fear, that is. he loved it! he kept saying, "let go, mom, let go now." it made him giddy, the way learning to read made him giddy. the next night, we tried again, and it was as though he had been riding his whole life. in a way, he has. for nearly half of his life, anyway. he got a balance bike when he was two and a half, and became proficient on it rather quickly. it rides so much like a regular two wheeler, the jump to a pedal bike is pretty smooth. plus, he has been riding behind my bike, or carl's bike, on the trail-a-bike since early spring. that has pedals, but we do the balancing. the balancing and the pedaling all fell into place this week, and he got it.

yesterday, we walked our bikes (and rode a little) several blocks to the b-line trail, and then rode the trail all the way up to city hall. the trail is so relaxing, with no traffic to worry about. today, we loaded up all of our bikes, and headed out to the clear creek trail. there we rode for nearly 5 miles total, on a lovely paved trail that follows the creek. the temperatures were in the seventies, with low humidity...absolutely perfect. he's getting really good at using his hand brake, and getting out of the way when others approach. it's wonderful.

he's also making great strides in swim class. he floated on his back for the first time, on his own, with the help of a life jacket (rather than the swim teacher)

and, cosmo and justin figured out vision, a complicated room escape, computer game that they've been working on for quite a while. it was a delight to hear him tell the story of their accomplishment, in elaborate detail.

i also took him to his very first movie-in-a-theatre (not counting the cry-baby-matinee in houston, when he was 2 or 3 months old). we saw toy story 3. it was a great way to spend two hours, in the heat of the day last week, and he really enjoyed it.

in other milestone news, cosmo read pond, by lizi boyd, to carl and i, at bedtime. it is an extremely simple board book, with only a few words on each page, and reads like a poem. cosmo has read much more difficult texts, but it was particularly moving to me, because it is one of three books that we read to cosmo each and every night when he was a baby/toddler--when we were establishing bedtime rituals. carl and i pretty much have it memorized, and it holds a special place in our hearts. to hear his sweet little four-year-old voice reading those familiar words was heartbreakingly precious.

it's a jungle out there

2010-06-25T13:35:00.007-04:00

i never realized that gardening involved so much cutting up of old t-shirts. i feel like that is all i have been doing for days now. my tomato-super-structure, crafted from bamboo, twine and various other pieces of junk i scrounged up from the yard, has turned out to be inadequate for this tomato jungle. when i first planted those frail little seedlings, nurtured under the grow lamp in the basement, the structure seemed like overkill. now, dwarfed by the towering green vines, laden with blossoms and green tomatoes, it seems i grossly underestimated.

i learned, through research for my gardening internship, that there are two types of tomato plants, requiring two different staking methods. the determinates do best in cages, the indeterminates need some sort of trellising, and also require some extensive pruning. sadly, i did a piss-poor job of labeling my plants, so i don't know which is which, and in any case, they all get the same sort of trellis/staking method, cuz that's what i had on hand. however, i have been attempting to prune. i have not done a ruthless, dramatic pruning of anything, but i have done some, especially the nipping of the little suckers (that's what they're called--seriously! it's a technical term) between branches. but it is clearly not enough.

i am forever tying up the branches, so they don't snap off from the weight of all those yummy tomatoes, but i have quickly run out of things to tie them to, and i have cut up all the old t-shirts i can find. pantyhose are what everyone recommends, but i don't have any of those (big surprise, there), and t-shirts are almost as soft, and nearly as stretchy. but, the cutting into strips of old t-shirts is time consuming.

this may look like a lot of strips of cloth, but i seriously burn through a pile like that in about 2 minutes. at this point, i think it's safe to say i have given up. i'm just gonna have to let nature take it's course. if a branch is unsupported, and breaks off, so be it.

i have also picked off four GIANT tomato worms, which are as interesting to look at as they are destructive of tomato plants. as a child i had one as a pet. his name was tommy. i took three of the ones i found to show to the kids in the banneker youth garden club, and they went nuts over them. i could have spent the entire lesson on that. they were completely captivated.

in other garden pest news, i made the mistake of looking up squash diseases online. whew! there are an astonishing array of things that can go wrong when one attempts to raise cucurbits of any sort. bacteria, fungi, downy mildew, vine borer, various beetles--the list goes on and on. when i went out to inspect my plants, armed with all that new information, i identified at least four different diseases/pests attacking my little pumpkin patch at the base of the three sisters garden.

a bit overwhelming, to say the least. it is amazing to me that any organic gardener ever manages to harvest a single pumpkin. i scraped off some obvious squash bug eggs, killed a few beetles, tore out an entire plant, which i had determined was diseased, and sprayed the rest with a diluted mixture of miracle II soap. that last bit was basically out of desperation. i have no idea if that will do any good whatsoever, but i knew it wouldn't hurt. i'll keep you posted.

my biggest fear with the pumpkin is that it will never set fruit. i have tons of blossoms, but no fruit. i have never successfully grown anything in this family, so i have serious doubts. however, the cucumber plants do look lovely, and i saw one little baby cuke hanging on the vine yesterday, so, there is hope.

currantly

2010-06-18T15:37:00.007-04:00

as mentioned before, we are in the throes of summer berry picking, which also means canning. so far we have done two batches of mulberry jam, a mixed batch of serviceberry jam and sour cherry preserves, and most recently, red currant jelly. last year, i was impressed with the sparkle of the crab apple jelly, but the currants take the cake when it comes to beauty.

my photography skills are not adequate to capture the crimson glow of these lovelies, as they drip from the branch in grape-like clusters. the red is so red, and the translucence makes them seem somehow magical.

cosmo preferred frisbee golf to currant picking, but it sure made him thirsty.

i love the taste of a red currant, and certainly prefer them to the black currant for flavor, but they are a bit tart for most people's tastes, and thus, should be treated with sugar. i am still learning about how to make jams and jellies that feature the unique flavor of the particular fruit, but often they just end up tasting like fruity sugar.

we used the jelly bag this time, instead of the the victorino strainer, because i didn't want to take a chance on the juice being cloudy.

i use pomona's pectin, so that i can use less sugar, and that helps. with the currants, they have enough of their own pectin, so no need to add any, but i was hesitant to deviate from the recipe for fear that it would taste too sour, or worse, not jell as it was supposed to. when i use the pomona pectin, i just follow the recipe on the box, which has very short cooking times, and requires no "jell test." it almost always turns out just right. but with the currant recipe, i had to do do a jell test to find out if it was ready. this involves dipping a cold spoon into the cooking jelly, and then watching the drip, to see if it forms two drops than run together, and then break off in a sheet. i find this process maddening. i had to do it over and over and over again, forever cleaning spoons, putting more in the freezer, testing, freezing, testing and all the while constantly stirring the bejeweled boiling liquid. finally i got something that sort of fit that description, and i turned off the heat and poured the stuff into the jars. all that boiling, and i was left with just less than four small jelly jars.

four small, glistening, gorgeous, jelly jars, that is. that taste mostly like fruity sugar. but have ya ever seen a red like that, with NO food coloring added? (okay, well, imagine it a deeper, richer, more vibrant red than what is showing up here. i promise you, it is an astonishing shade of red.)

we are fast approaching peak black raspberry season. there are more berries to be picked, and more jammin' in store for this household. what's ripe where you are?

take me out

2010-06-16T11:57:00.008-04:00

baby's first ball game, courtesy of NANI! texas rangers vs. tampa bay rays.

there were peanuts and cracker jacks, hot dogs and ICE COLD beers (for the grown-ups).

he doesn't know a lot about baseball, but once cosmo realized there was a score board, he wanted to know exactly what was going on at all times, and, most importantly, "is texas gonna win???"

he root-root-rooted for the home team, and lucky for us, they won! they even scored three home runs, complete with fireworks.

he got to stay up 'til eleven (that's midnight our time) for the second night in a row, which meant he was NOT ready for the ft. worth zoo the next morning. it's hard to keep up with nani, but a nice nap on the car ride back to her place, and he was ready for more fun.

why i garden

2010-06-09T17:04:00.005-04:00

i garden for many reasons. digging in the dirt, fussing over baby plants, just flat-out makes me happy. there's also the deep satisfaction that comes from raising my own food. it gets me outside, enjoying the elements and working my muscles. we save money on produce, and decrease the amount of processed-packaged-shipped-from-far-away-food that our household consumes. but i think the number one reason, is cosmo.

i like that he sees me gardening, observes the growing plants throughout the season, and sometimes, he even helps out. but what pleases me the most is how much he enjoys the food, fresh off the vine. cosmo loves fruit, but vegetables are a much harder sell for him. unless he can pick them himself. he'll grab spinach leaves and pop them into his mouth.

he adores fresh, raw, peas, hand-over-fist.

and even broccoli and broccoli leaves. this year, we taught him how to cut a broccoli stalk, but he regularly strolls through the garden, and stops to nibble the leaves. such a sight fills this mama's heart with joy.

is it summer yet?

2010-05-31T19:48:00.007-04:00

peas are poppin' off the vine, and into happy little bellies.

sour cherries are red on the trees, and delicious in pies.

june berries turned purple, one day early (may 31).

mulberries stain the roads, and make a lovely jam.

cosmo and i dropped everything and ran four blocks to the park, as soon as we heard the jingle of the ice cream truck.

i think it might be summer now.

justin recently gave us this nikki mclure book: mama, is it summer yet? which so perfectly fit the moment--the season where spring glides into summer, and carl and i drag cosmo through the neighborhood to forage for fruit.

canning season is ON at our house. we processed 10 jars of mulberry jam, made simpler with the fabulous victorio strainer that carl's parents passed onto us this year (a product very similar to the one we have, was recently featured here, and since our happy homestead sponsored one of my favorite bloggers, i'd suggest going there first, IF you are in the market for one of these awesome, hand powered machines).

sour cherries are my absolute favorite fruit (until red raspberry season), there's nothing like the flavor, and they hang so perfectly on the branch, blemish free. sweet cherries may be better, for eating-out-of-hand, but the sweet varieties that grow around here seem to struggle with all sorts of diseases and molds, so that by the time they are ripe enough to pick, most are not fit to eat. plus, there is no better pie than a sour cherry pie, and you know how i love to make pie. i attempted a lattice top for the first time, and was pleased with the results. one pie went to a community orchard work party, for inspiration. the other, i brought to a cookout.
the june berries (also known as serviceberries, pictured below) will probably end up in jelly.

welcome summer fruits! welcome summer!

tips for local folks: the cherry tree can be found at walnut and dodds. june/serviceberry trees line the parking lot at the mall, behind macy's, and are also in the parking lot near von lee, on kirkwood and indiana, downtown. as for mulberries? well, find the stains in the road, and look up. they are everywhere!

garlic scapes!

2010-05-21T13:47:00.004-04:00

it has been too wet to work in the garden. for days and days and days it has been too wet to work in the garden. but, in spite of my absence (or, possibly because of it?) the plants just keep on growing and doin' what they do. one of the most exciting things right now is the garlic sending up scapes.

these funny looking things want to be the seed heads for the garlic plant, but i pull them off as soon as i see them, so that the garlic bulbs underground will grow plump and wonderful. when i see the scapes, i know the garlic harvest is getting ever closer. this makes me giddy. plus, you can cook with them. last year, i made garlic soup. this year, i think i will try roasting them with some other vegetables. we have also harvested the first pea pods. or, i should say, cosmo has. carl and i have to be quick, and vigilant to get any of those precious gems.

anything interesting popping up in your garden?

mother's day joy

2010-05-09T09:54:00.004-04:00

cosmo's pre-school class had a special mother's day program on friday. this is the first such event i have experienced as a mom, and, not surprisingly, i sobbed through a good portion of it.

the kids had made several adorable pieces of artwork for us, including a portrait of mom. mine had bright pink hair, and was the most detailed figure cosmo has made, so far. he's not one for representational drawing just yet. of course, i was touched by the portrait, and the caption "i love my mom because she goes to the store with me." we enjoyed some punch and muffins, and the kids performed a few songs for us:

when it was time to go, there were tears and pleas from the children. i finally wrested myself away, and since i was on my bike, i didn't have a good way to transport the artwork. i was about to leave it in cosmo's cubby when our friends offered to drop it by our house. i accepted, but when they arrived, the portrait of me (the one with the pink hair) was missing. i sped back to the school, to make sure it was still there, and hadn't blown away outside, or something. it was nowhere to be seen. i looked around outside, called my friends for more information. when they didn't answer, i went to their house. they searched the car again, told me where they had parked, and said they'd go back to look. it was a very windy day.

i hurried back downtown, and combed the intersection, trying to imagine all the places the wind could have taken an eight and a half by eleven sheet of construction paper, with a drawing of a mom with pink hair on it. i was unreasonably distraught at the thought of losing this precious memento. i couldn't believe i had turned it over to someone else. i was getting close to giving up, when i got a call from carl, saying that our friends had just dropped the drawing off at our house. they had found it somewhere near where they had parked, on kirkwood. i never saw them down there, but didn't care. the drawing was found, that's all that mattered.
i'd photograph it, but some of the lines are too light to show up. trust me, it is heartbreakingly adorable.

happy mother's day!

a hoodie-wearing day.

2010-05-08T19:35:00.010-04:00

today, it got cold. it's not going to freeze tonight or anything, but it's not a good gardening day. we had a big thunderstorm last night, and the ground is too wet to work, which is what i need to do next. but still, i managed to get in a bit of garden action anyway. i made a quick tent for my tomatoes, which i probably should not have planted yet. but i did. and since it will get below 50 degrees tonight, i wanted to give them a chance to warm up today. i doubt it did any good, but it was all i could think of. not sure if it is the cold front or what, but i have been in a foul mood all day (thus, the uncharacteristic pessimism), and i can't seem to shake it. happens sometimes.

i bartered with my former landlord for some mulch. i spread the mulch at our old place (across the street), in exchange for a pile dumped in our driveway. it worked out to about an hour's worth of work-- not bad! ya can never have too much mulch.

meanwhile, the garden is busy doing its very ordinary and miraculous work. just looking at these gorgeous plants is enough to lift anyone's spirits. so, shall we?

these pea plants are now setting pods. is there a prettier edible plant than a pea?

an action shot of the mulch in a perennial bed, and, have i mentioned that i'm a sucker for lily of the valley? looks like a chandelier for fairies, and smells like old lady perfume.

two new additions to the perennial border: st. john's wort (which deserves it's own post), and a few fall bearing red raspberry bushes, courtesy of our dear neighbor, jack. he claims they'll bear fruit this year. i do hope he is correct.

cosmo brought home some bean plants he started at pre-school. we planted them together, and i fashioned an up-cycled plant marker that we had seen in family fun.

cosmo was probably more interested in the marker than the plants, but that's okay. he's learning so much about the garden this year. he can name almost everything we are growing, plus a bunch of the weeds. he loves pulling radishes from the ground, though he doesn't care to eat them. i, on the other hand, have developed a strong taste for them.

i finally tore the row cover off of the brassica bed. besides being an eye-sore, plants were getting cramped, and it seemed a bit too warm under there, too (especially for these cool loving plants). i figure they are all strong enough now to withstand an attack of cabbage moth/caterpillars. the broccoli already produced a few florets, and the cabbages are forming heads.

the kale is ready for harvesting, and so is the lone chard. we've been enjoying lettuce and arugula at every meal.

[] [] []

there. i feel better already. more and more i come to realize what a perfect therapy the garden is for me.

hidden treasure

2010-04-25T14:59:00.016-04:00

from our friends' house, you walk down past their garden, beyond the fire pit, through some high brush (stop to smell a may apple blossom), and turn right when you get to the clearing.

from there, you head down the hill, through the woods, where you'll find lots of wild edibles, in case you need a snack. sky is an expert forager, and he identified more plants than i can hope to name now.

cosmo and i especially enjoyed the trout lily leaves, and the lemony wood sorrel. in fact, cosmo abandoned his "cheesy crackers" for the tasty leafy greens, and that's saying a lot! at the creek, sky and cosmo turned over rocks to inspect salamanders, water lice, and some strange, gray water worm that only eyes as keen as sky's could spot.

after crossing the creek, we wound around another hill (stop to try on some velcro plant),

past a cow pasture, where (legend has it) one cranky cow hangs out, and she could decide to charge, so we had to be careful. we clung close to the tree line, passed through a wire gate, when suddenly, a small green building appeared--our destination: the children's library in the woods.

the door was unlocked, and we stepped into an utterly charming one room cabin, lined with old children's books. there were a couple of desks, some comfy chairs, and a wood stove. one wall was mostly windows, perfect light for reading. cosmo had selected a few books to donate, from his collection, so we wrote a note to that effect, and left it with our books on the checkout desk. cosmo cruised the shelves, found some familiar titles, and we nestled down to read some dr. suess that we hadn't seen before.

a rain shower made a lovely pattering sound on the tin roof, and we were happy to be sheltered in that magical space. when the rain let up, we checked out a few books, donned the paper rain hats that sky had crafted, and headed back down the trail. checking out books means we will for sure get to come back sometime.

cosmo rode in the back pack, for most of the walk back, but wanted to get down at the creek, and snacked on more sorrel on the hill. he also got to pick up a beautiful turtle in the meadow. by that point, the rain had picked up, and we needed to walk back quickly.

i'm still wondering if it was all just a dream.

one piece of evidence we brought home with us was this single morel specimen. i fried it up almost immediately, and we enjoyed it's wild and meaty flavor as an appetizer to this couscous dish, topped with freshly snipped pea shoots.

i can't share all my secrets, but i can offer this recipe:

Couscous with Raisins and Pine Nuts
from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

2 1/4 cups Vegetable Stock, store-bought vegetable broth, or water
1 cinnamon stick
5 cardamom pods (or more)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup raisins or minced dried fruit such as apricots or figs, or a combination (currants are nice)
1/3 cup hot water or stock
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 1/2 cups couscous (i like to use the israeli kind, or "fat couscous" as we call it)
Minced fresh parsley or cilantro leaves for garnish (or, barely cooked pea shoots, if ya got 'em)

1. In a small saucepan, warm the 2 1/4 cups stock with the cinnamon, cardamom, salt, and pepper while you prepare the other ingredients. Soak the raisins in the 1/3 cup hot water or stock.

2. Place 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet and turn the heat to medium. When it melts, add the pine nuts and cook, stirring occasionally, until they brown lightly, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

3. Place 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan and turn the heat to medium-low. When it melts, add the couscous and cook, stirring, until it is coated with butter, about 1 minute. Strain the stock or water and add it all at once. Bring to a boil,then turn the heat down to its minimum. Cover and cook until all the liquid is absorbed, 5 to 8 minutes. Drain the raisins and gently stir them in, along with the pine nuts and remaining butter. Fluff with a fork to break up any lumps. Garnish and serve.

mouth on fire

2010-04-24T21:44:00.005-04:00

now i know what to do with fist-fulls of cilantro when it has over-wintered, and is huge and bolting, and there are no tomatoes or peppers available to make salsa. i made a cilantro and mint chutney from madhur jaffrey's world vegetarian cookbook, and WOW was it yummy.

i snuck into jack's garden across the street, and snagged a bit of his mint (which he has in abundance, trust me), and used one of the dried hot chiles we have hanging in our kitchen (which came, originally, from some other neighbors). this chutney was plenty hot, and worked really nicely against the spicy/sweet peach chutney i canned last fall. i made my favorite curried cauliflower dish, as a vehicle for the chutneys, and we had it on a nice jasmine rice with some not-so-great store-bought naan. that little dollop of greek yogurt did little to put out the fire in my mouth. a meal like that leaves me feeling slightly euphoric. thank you, capsicum.

here's the recipe:

Delhi-Style Cilantro and Mint Chutney
Hari Chutney

From World Vegetarian, by Madhur Jaffrey

Jaffrey's note: ...Generally, when we use cilantro, we use only the leaves. Here you may use the slender stems as well. The same applies to the mint. This chutney may be kept in the refrigerator for at least 2 days, but it is best the day it is made.

2 well-packed cups fresh cilantro
3/4 well-packed cup fresh mint
3 to 4 fresh hot green chiles (or 1 good, hot dried chile)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Generous pinch of ground asafetida
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Combine all the ingredients as well as 1/2 cup of water in a blender (or small food processor). Blend, stopping and pushing down with a rubber spatula whenever necessary, until you have a smooth paste.
Makes about 1 cup.

[i missed that part about the 1/2 cup of water, which may be why mine didn't get as smooth as i would have liked. but no matter. it tasted great.]

garden tour

2010-04-21T12:25:00.013-04:00

i took a trip down memory lane yesterday, revisiting old posts on rake shovel hoe, my now defunct garden blog. i am so thrilled to have that record, especially the photos, of my early gardening days. what's funny is that my excitement has not waned in the least. if anything, it has grown. here's a sampling of what's going on in the garden so far:

the peas are up, and climbing the trellis i made for them.

i may have created a harvesting nightmare, but, as usual, i plunged into the planting and making of the pea trellis without a clearly thought-out plan in mind. at the moment, these are cosmo's most closely watched plants in the garden. he likes to observe their little tendrils griping the twine, and climbing. but, he is also looking forward to the peas, and keeps asking when the plants will make pods. he's also asking about the husk cherries, which i have now taken to calling ground cherries.

those have been started indoors (along with peppers and tomatoes), but won't go into the ground until mid may, or so.

has anyone eaten tender pea shoots? i recently had them on a dish at a fancy restaurant (pictured here, on top of yummy stuffed peppers that my sweetheart made), and was so impressed i had to grow some myself.

of course, i read up on how to grow your own pea shoots AFTER, i had already started mine. i did everything wrong, but they shot up in about 4 days anyway, and now, less than a week later, they are ready to harvest!

as much as i despise having a big white tent in my garden, i am pleased with how happy my cabbages, broccoli, brussel sprouts and kale are doing under cover. the cabbage moths just flutter about the garden, wishing they could get inside, to lay eggs on my lovely brassicas. they, too, want their offspring to dine on my broccoli. DENIED!

the arugula and cilantro that over-wintered out there (in the cold frame) is already bolting! no worries though, we have more of those started.

we've already begun to enjoy a few salads from our baby greens, and the butter crunch lettuce is starting to take shape. though the carrots and beets were planted almost a month ago, they still seem so tiny.

one of the beds of rye cover crop was getting so tall, i decided one evening to trim it. with some clippers. why? not sure. these things just occur to me.

the next day i turned it over, so i'm not sure what the point of trimming it was, but i enjoyed myself. i planted some hairy vetch in there a bit too late in the fall, so most of it didn't make it, but i did notice a few strands of it in there. now all the rye is turned under, and it will be ready for corn, pumpkin, and beans (three sisters) plus okra, cucumbers and dill in the other bed. some of these have already been started indoors, though we have run out of space under our grow light. a sunny window sill will do, at this point.

the onion sets i planted are up, and look great, as does the garlic, which is getting big. i planted a row of morning glories along the side of the woodshed, and a few sunflowers. it might be too early for those... guess we'll see.

remember the great wall of tomatoes last year? well, the bed they were in now has tomato plants popping up like weeds, ALL OVER! the rye is supposed to suppress seed germination for a while. clearly that window has closed!

our landlords have four large beds of perennials, mostly flowers.

while i enjoy them immensely, i just don't have the time to invest in weeding them. currently, they are over-run with weeds. i got a hold of some free wood-chip mulch in my neighborhood, so i've been loading up the trunk of the car, hauling it home, and spreading it all over the perennial beds. i'm not sure if it is exactly the right kind of mulch for them, but it's what they get. life is too short to worry about other people's flowers.

especially when there's a vegetable patch to endlessly fuss over.

----

apologies for the lousy color on these photos. for some reason, all the photos are showing up in blogger over-exposed, no matter what they look like on my computer prior to being inserted in a post. go figure.

living in an architectural rendering

2010-04-16T12:22:00.006-04:00

maybe you're not familiar with what i mean when i say "architectural rendering." they are drawings that architects make to allow the general public, or clients who need to be sold on an idea, to imagine the future new building, or urban public space, and how it might be used. sometimes they are straight up drawings, or water colors. they include trees, and landscaping, and people inhabiting and interacting with the space.

this is actually one of the renderings for the b-line trail.

when i was in school, we would make slick hybrid drawings, using photos of the existing site, insert a drawing or computer rendering of our designed intervention, and then we'd stick in some scaled figures (referred to, lovingly, as scalies) which were usually cut out of magazines, scanned, and then reduced to the scale of the drawing.

from a project i did with bill rankin-- in nice, france

we would choose figures in action poses-- skateboarding, riding a bike, pushing a stroller, jogging--or a group of youth, gossiping on park benches. sometimes we'd pose people in the studio, doing specific actions related to our project, and use photos of our own for scaled figures.

in any case, the drawings are always idealized notions of what this thing is going to be, who will be using it, and in what manner. well, this week i had the bizarre experience of riding down bloomington's b-line trail, from city hall/showers plaza, to where it ends on second street, near kroger, and seeing an architectural rendering of the B-line trail, turned into 3D, real-time, lived space. and, i was IN IT.

this was taken on another day, but you can see what i mean

there were people jogging with ipods, pushing baby carriages, skateboarding, bike riding, studying historical markers. youth were gathered on park benches, smoking cigarettes, and texting. some guys were playing hackey-sack, dogs were being walked, couples were stolling, holding hands, or talking intimately on a bench, under a shade tree. i saw a guy carrying four kroger bags, full of groceries. the trail was being used for actual transportation, as well as recreation, leisure and fitness.

the weather was perfect, and i was capping off a rather idyllic day of community involvement. i'd started the day meeting with the project manager for the middle way house's new wings project-- discussing how i'm going to get the cubbies for the child care area built this summer. then i went off to one of mother hubbard's cupboard's community gardens, and put in a couple of hours there, thinning lettuce and radish seedlings, and talking compost with other volunteers. after a lovely salad of micro-green thinnings, plus some spinach, arugula and violet blossoms from my own garden (topped with the last of the easter eggs), i jumped on the bike and headed down to city hall, for the first annual meeting of the bloomington community orchard. at the meeting i saw the inspiring orchard design sketches, stunning photos of the many varieties of fruit trees being researched and chosen for the orchard, and we voted in the by-laws for the brand new organization.

riding home, through that picture-perfect urban trail scene, i couldn't help but believe, at least for that moment, that what we imagine and hope for, really can come true. sometimes.

anatomy of a clothing swap

2010-04-14T13:17:00.006-04:00

i've been to a number of clothing swaps over the last year or so. before i moved here, i had never been to one, nor had i even heard of them. now, i find that i rely on them for most of my wardrobe. lucky for me, they happen pretty regularly in my community. in case you've been invited to one, are considering hosting one of your own, or you just wonder how they work, i'd like to let you in on a few of the ingredients for a successful clothing swap.

first of all, you need to invite a lot of women. this increases the chance that there will be a variety of sizes and styles of clothing. before i had been to one, i feared that i would be surrounded by tiny women, and there would be nothing in my size. that has never been the case. while you might be nervous about inviting too many women to fit in your house, don't worry. a bunch of them won't be able to make it, and it isn't like other parties. the place is going to be cluttered and chaotic anyway, so it's okay if it is also crowded with women.

you'll want to have snacks and beverages, so be sure to ask those invited to bring something yummy to share. some women will go-all-out and bake something, others will bring some sparkling water, or apple slices. there will most likely be a nice spread of delectables. the last one i went to was also labeled as a tea party, so the snacks were in fancy dishes, and they served tea and coffee. i've also been to night swaps, which featured wine and beer.

before you go to a clothing swap, you'll want to cruise through your closet and drawers and weed out all that stuff you haven't worn in the past two years, and pile it all into baskets or bags. you can also take the opportunity to gather any clothes you child has outgrown.

in some cases, the clothes that each guest brought, are dumped in a big pile, in the center of the main room, or multiple piles, un-sorted. no one looks through the pile until everyone has arrived, and then the host says the word, and everyone digs in at once.

another strategy is to attempt to sort the clothes, as they arrive, into rough catagories: pants, sweaters, skirts/dresses, jackets, tops, shoes, unmentionables, and kid's clothes.

in either case, at some point, the event descends into a free-for-all-frenzy of clothes flying off, and on, and a few women running around in bras and underwear, while others discretely retreat to the bathroom, or designated dressing room (hopefully with a full length mirror). some choose to just take the clothes they're interested in home with them, to try on in private. if it doesn't work out, just bring it back next time. i have seen a few items show up over and over again.
i often pick up wool sweaters that have either been shrunk already, or that i can use for making felted crafts.

i've noticed that i get inspiration from other women's fashion choices. someone will put together a few items in a way i would have never thought of. i get more daring in my choices, and take home things i am not completely sure i will wear (after all, everything is free!). a too short camisole might end up looking great over another shirt, or i could take-in these adorable, light-weight pants, and they'd be perfect. i usually walk away with almost as much as i brought, and in the stack, are one or two pieces that become favorites. last fall, i found a gorgeous, chestnut colored, cashmere sweater, which fits me perfectly. it became my sweater-of-choice all winter long.

occaisionally, i find i'm not really in the mood to hunt for clothes. but a house full of half-naked women, talking, laughing, enjoying food and each other's company, is something i needed even more than a new outfit.

the regularity of the clothing swap has changed my addittude towards my closet, from scarcity to abundance. i no longer cling to clothes i never wear (but might some day, if the stars align just right) or clothes-that-don't-fit-me-but-i-hope-they-will-soon. it's easier to let go, when i know i will find something better. Plus, what i bring to the next clothing swap? it just might become a friend's new favorite. last time, i brought a zip-up, charcoal-colored hoody, that i've been hanging onto for years, even though it has never felt right on me. it is in great shape, but too heavy, and a bit too small for me. i finally decided to let it go. early on in the clothing swap, i noticed someone wearing it, and i heard her say "i'm never taking this off!" i ended up finding a roomy, extra-soft, navy blue, pull-over hoody, that i can honestly say is the hoody of my dreams! perfect exchanges like that happen all the time at clothing swaps.

so, don't hesitate! organize a clothing swap today! it's a great opportunity to clean out your closet, recycle, get quality clothes for free, and bring all your lady friends (and their lady friends) together, for fun-with-a-purpose.

this message paid for by clothes swappers of america.

sleeping through the night.

2010-04-10T10:09:00.007-04:00

as most of my few readers know, i don't usually get too personal on the blog. this may be a slight departure from that standard.

lately, i have been dealing with a form of insomnia. this has never been an issue for me in the past. i have had some wacked-out sleeping patterns in my life -- what with architecture school, where 4-6 hours of sleep a night was the norm, and all-nighters were a regular occurrence. then there was the grave-yard shift at the university library, which i'm not sure i ever really adjusted to. at one point in my life, when i was working in a cabinet shop, in the middle of a record-hot summer (no air conditioning in a wood shop), i would come home, go directly to sleep, and then get up around 3am, have a meal, and enjoy the much cooler, wee hours of the morning for my time off from work. when cosmo was an infant, i was awakened many times throughout the night to feed him. but i have never ever had trouble falling asleep, nor have i ever had a problem falling back to sleep, if awakened. i never felt sleep deprived when cosmo was a baby. i am not someone who takes naps in the middle of the day, but when i am tired, i can fall asleep almost anywhere.

however, recently, this has changed. if i am awakened in the night, usually by cosmo getting up to use the bathroom, i have trouble falling back to sleep. it can take two hours, or more, and sometimes i just give up and get out of bed. the worst part of it is what happens to my mind in those dark hours of the night. i start to worry. about everything. or, just one thing in particular--obsessively. one night it might be student loans, another night it will be some minor task i forgot to complete, or someone i failed to correspond with, who is awaiting a reply. or, i might worry about the tone in my voice when i scolded cosmo for something the day before. whatever it is, it gets blown entirely out of proportion. the other night, i worked myself up into a panic over details of a project i have promised the middleway house, which is far from completion, and barely even started. i became so distressed that i bolted out of bed, then felt incapable of doing anything about it, and fell back onto the pillow, sobbing. i could not stop my mind from racing and reeling. it was like i was in an altered mental state. carl calls it nocturnal anxiety. i finally calmed myself, and began to count backwards from 100. i had to do it twice through, and i also sang cosmo's lullaby songs to myself, but finally, i did drift off into sleep again.

in the clear light of day, none of the things i worried about seemed so bad. i no longer have the pressing sense of urgency, nor the feelings of inadequacy. the night before just seems like a bad trip, or something.

so, i have been asking myself: what is the cause of this new, disturbing trend? could it be aging? i have heard that our sleep patterns can change as we get older. could be diet, or caffeine consumption. i have also speculated that there are things i am stressed about, which i am not fulling dealing with in my waking life. could be all of those, plus other factors.

i have looked at some self-help sleep websites, and considered their lists of suggestions for better sleep. last night, i began to implement some of the ideas, and had plans for what i would do if i couldn't get back to sleep. i am happy to report, that i slept through the night. i never cared about that term when cosmo was a baby. it seemed like THE-most-important-thing to so many people. everyone would ask, "is he sleeping through the night?" it didn't matter to me, because we were all well rested.

now, the phrase has a whole new meaning. for me.

april showers

2010-04-03T15:26:00.007-04:00

this morning's rain couldn't keep us from the first outdoor farmer's market of the season. cosmo got a honey straw, and made his traditional visit to the spiral fountain. since the water hasn't been turned on yet, it was actually nice to have the rain.

harmony school student's were having an art show next door, and i was quite impressed with a number of the pieces shown. these delicately crafted wire and paper structures were suspended from the ceiling with golden balloons and fine thread.

here's cosmo, slipping ever-so-carefully, between two configurations of paper airplanes, moments before getting scolded by one of the harmony teachers. i can see why he was concerned. it was a fragile piece, but cosmo understood that, and was passing through without touching anything. the gentle breeze he generated, actually enhanced the work, in my humble opinion. but then, i have always been a fan of art installations that invite interaction.

tomorrow is easter, and we are ready with dyed eggs, and anticipation of our neighbor's annual egg hunt and polka party. i wonder if the cops will be called again this year?

what spring looks like

2010-04-01T09:37:00.015-04:00

i have missed this poor little neglected blog. i know it would be better if i posted everyday. but i guess i am just not that kind of blogger. plus, it's spring! who wants to be sitting inside staring at a computer screen when you could be outside playing in the dirt!?!?! not me. on these warm, breezy, sunny, spring days, i try to get all my required work out of the way, first thing in the morning, so i can head out to the garden. the last predicted frost date for our area is over a month away, but there's already plenty to do out there. so far, i have planted broccoli, kale, cabbage and brussel sprout seedlings, all of which i started from seed, indoors. well, that is not entirely true. i had broccoli and cabbage in the cold frame all winter. but i had started them too late in the fall, so they were tiny, and didn't grow much in the cold. i chose the strongest ones, and brought them inside, to get a head start under out grow light. they fared well, and are considerably larger than the brussel sprouts i started from seed indoors, around the same time.

because the cabbage worms decimated our brassicas last year, i feel the need to cover them all with row cover to keep those pesky moths from laying eggs on our lovely cabbage leaves. whether or not i can live with that hideous tent in my garden all summer, is another question entirely.

i have also planted out all the leeks i started indoors. their tiny threads look so fragile in the ground, it is hard to believe they will amount to anything. i've also planted onion sets, and direct-seeded bunching onions. peas are up, and sort of protected from hungry rabbits, with various-sized wire fencing.

the spinach is getting its first true leaves. mmm, i love spinach. luckily i have a few mature spinach plants that overwintered, with just a layer of mulch over them. cosmo has already started picking leaves off of those, for snacking. lettuce is coming along too. i started some indoors, and some direct-seeded outside. no one in our family is fond of radishes, but i love how fast they grow, and find them satisfying to look at as one of the first spring crops, so i planted a little row of those, and long rows of carrots and beets. cosmo and i pulled up the last of the fall carrots last week. they overwintered nicely with a layer of straw on top, and they sure are tasty.

garlic looks happy, and i've started turning the rye cover crops.
with the cool weather crops in the ground, the warm weather stuff is just beginning to germinate indoors. tomatoes and peppers galore! i also managed to build a new compost bin yesterday.

now i just need some nitrogen-rich material, to layer with my carbon-rich dry leaves. anybody got any extra nitrogen they aren't using? anyone??

ah, but there is more to spring than gardening. we get to play outside, and ride our bikes! we have a new trail-a-bike for cosmo, which is way easier than the baby seat on the back, and cosmo really enjoys getting to pedal, and honk his horn. he has also tried out his two-wheeler pedal bike, and had some sweet success his first time out. we'll work on that more in the coming weeks.

there are also balls to bounce on, and insects to investigate (studying a hole with sky and stephanie),

not to mention grain to grind and dough to knead.

on the spring equinox, cosmo successfully balanced an egg on its end!*

inspired by family fun, i crafted this sort-of advent calendar for easter. cosmo gets to break open one of the circles each day, to find a candy surprise. it's made with tissue paper, glued over a cardboard egg carton. i'm sure it feels great to punch a finger through. even more easter treats arrived in the mail, from nani!

in other cosmo news, they recently had a reach for the stars read-a-thon at cosmo's school. the kids commit to reading (or being read to) for a certain number of minutes, and collect pledges. to my surprise, cosmo got really into it. he was excited about going around to neighbors, and asking for money (unusually for this shy boy), and he wanted to do the reading himself. since we always read several stories at bed time, we did extra reading for this program. cosmo decided that all "early reader" books, which he mostly read himself, would qualify for reach for the stars. we got a stack of those from the library. he met his goal of 150 minutes in one week, and wanted to keep going. he gets to color a star for every 15 minutes of reading, which is his favorite part. in addition to raising money for his pre-school, he also earned $40 in free books! bonus!

dear friends came to visit, and cosmo and ida jane had a glorious three day holiday together.

they played so nicely, i regretted (for a second) not having two kids.

i was stunned to see cosmo climb to the top of the spider web structure (also known as the-lawsuit-waiting-to-happen) out at cascades park. most playgrounds are fairly uninteresting to cosmo, but that day, he was running around like crazy, trying everything.

i think he might have been having a good time. what do you think?

there's even more to tell than this, but i think i'll stop here. from here on out, i'll be blogging daily.

april fools!

how is spring looking in your world?

[] [] []

*note, it is way easier to do this if you can find a slight divet in your floor.

tastes like summer

2010-03-10T09:48:00.006-05:00

fresh, local summer fruits are months away. good thing we stocked up last summer. lately, i have been digging into the pantry and the freezer, and throwing together the most delicious fruit galettes (basically, a rustic pie).

this one is made with frozen blueberries that cosmo and i picked last june, plus some peach jam we made from local peaches, at the peak of the season. i have also been known to sneak in some gleaned pears that we have preserved in a fancy liqueur called eau de vie.

as far as i'm concerned, anytime is pie time.

indoor sports

2010-03-03T11:29:00.005-05:00

cosmo started soccer lessons this week, at the city parks and rec's indoor facility. he took to it right away, ran out onto the field with no hesitation, and started kicking a ball around. for most of the other group activities we have tried, he's a bit more reluctant. i guess he is ready now.

they had a number of activities focused on the olympics for the past two weeks at his pre-school, and we watched some hockey, and other sports on tv. as if on cue, our family fun magazine arrived, with an idea for making a soccer field out of a pizza box, and using straws to blow a cotton ball into the goal. cosmo instisted on looking through the whole magazine with me, and every other page he would say "we should try to make that sometime!" the soccer box project looked like one of the easier ones, so we ordered pizza for dinner one night, and i saved the box. i failed to line mine with green poster board, as suggested, but did mark it with some white electrical tape i had on hand. we found the cotton ball to be harder to move, and not nearly as funny as a tiny craft chick (made, i guess, from a snippet of fluffy pipe cleaner, with some little bits glued on to make it into a chick-like-thing).

prior to this construction, carl and cosmo had transformed the dining room table into a make-shift air hockey table. they used a marble instead of a puck, on account of cosmo's fondness for marbles. the edges were lined with blocks.

i hope these indoor sports can hold us over until some true spring weather hits. i am so ready to get back on the bikes, and into the garden.

let the gardens begin!

2010-02-22T10:20:00.008-05:00

we've got green things growing in our basement! i started some seeds for cold-weather plants: brussel sprouts, leeks, parsley--and i also brought in a few of the seedlings that are barely hanging on outside in the cold frame. so, we have some lovely cabbage and broccoli starts warming up under our new grow light.

i didn't think it was possible to be more excited about the gardening season than i was last year...or the year before, for that matter. but, i am. this year, i have a better home garden space, and i am doing an internship with mother hubbard's cupboard--in the youth gardening program at the banneker center. this means i have two gardens to play in, and i get to teach a group of eight-year-olds about the joys of growing your own food!

plants are amazing things, ya know? last week, we needed some fresh thyme and sage leaves for a recipe. i went out into the back yard, to the spot where our thyme plant lives, brushed aside a half a foot of snow, found the layer of straw i'd put on top, in the late fall (hadn't remembered that i'd done that), and there i found those tiny, tear-drop-shaped leaves, all fresh and green and ready for soup! such a treasure. the sage was easier to spot, it's still standing, with silvery leaves peeking up out of the snow.

muddied my boots and warmed my heart.

my korean grandmother?

2010-02-17T08:26:00.000-05:00

when carl makes a good pasta sauce, or homemade gnocci, he jokes "ahh, just like my italian grandmother used to make." he makes the same joke for any other dishes we prepare, which originate from far away lands. lately, we have been honoring my "korean grandmother." this winter, i find myself dead-set on perfecting a couple of korean dishes that i am particularly fond of. i am not necessarily interested in preparing them in the most authentic manner, as i am attempting to replicate something i have tasted before.

when i co-taught a food preservation class with stephanie last fall, we did a hands-on demonstation of lacto-fementation. you don't use milk (as i initially wondered), the lacto refers to the lactic acid that is released from vegetables when you agitate them with coarse salt and allow them to ferment at room temperature for a couple of days. those acids serve to preserve the food, and saturate it in irresistible, complex flavors. this process is used in the making of kimchi, a korean sort of sour kraut, which is usually extremely spicy-hot. my friend erica shared some from a (not spicy) batch she had made, and i almost devoured the entire quart jar on the spot. there was something nearly addictive about the taste. it was crunchy, slightly sour, and utterly compelling. my taste buds just couldn't get enough. since then, i have been trying to duplicate it. my first batch wasn't even close. i used something like nappa cabbage, only leafier, and it lacked the crispness i was hoping for. when i tried again, i used a green cabbage head, and this recipe, with a great deal of modification. for instance, i didn't hug my cabbage, but i did infuse it with good vibes--and, apparently too much red chili for my taste. it actually turned out really well, but as it aged, the heat increased, to the point where a table spoon at a time was all i could handle. but, i am encouraged that i came close, and i will keep trying. that recipe calls for fruit, which seems odd to me. i skipped all the fruit, except the lemon, and next time, i won't include it either.
*also pictured here are tsukemono, from my "japanese grandmother." but that is for another post.

I've also been making korean-style vegetable pancakes (pa jun). i first tasted these at a lovely little korean bar-b-que in, of all places, the town i grew up in, in southern missouri. as a vegetarian, the pancakes were pretty much my only option at that place, but they were terribly delicious. it has been twenty years, and i have never forgotten them. i only started making them at home this fall, after tasting some less-than-satisfying ones at a korean church fundraiser, here in town. i looked up recipes on the web, found this informative, and slightly amusing video, then started experimenting on my own. i find that making a bunch of small ones, is easier for me than a single, pan-sized one, and also offers more surface area for the crispy edges, which is the whole point, as far as i'm concerned. they are very easy to make, which surprised me, because i have a habit of really messing up breakfast pancakes. what's different about these is that you're not going for fluffy and light. it's flat and crispy you're after. so, you can flatten them out with the spatula, as they are browning in the skillet. we keep fizzy water by the case in our house, so when i found a recipe that included seltzer, i knew it was the one for me. you can use whatever vegetable combination appeals to you, as long as it includes tons of scallions. below is what i prefer. serve with a simple soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil mixture, for dipping, and of course, kimchi on the side.

mmmm. just like my korean grandmother, in springfield, missouri!

pa jun (korean pancake)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/4 cup seltzer water (plain water is fine too)

1 egg, beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash of white pepper

two bunches of scallions, sliced in half lengthwise, then chopped diagonally, about 2 inches long

1 carrot, julienne cut
a few mushrooms, thinly sliced

1/2 hot green chili

olive oil

first, prepare all the vegetables. then mix the batter. add the vegetables and stir, just enough to coat them in the batter. heat some oil (a tablespoon or so) in a heavy skillet. once the oil is hot, drop about a half cup of batter in, and spread the vegetables out. repeat, for as many as will fit in your skillet. cook over medium high heat, until the bottom browns nicely, then flip, to brown the other side. at this point, you can press down on the pancake, with at spatula, to flatten, and spread any uncooked batter out into the pan. add more oil if needed. when both sides are crispy, remove from heat. these are best when eaten just off the stove. you can keep them warming on a baking pan in the oven while you cook the rest, but they tend to lose their crunch.

sweet dreams

2010-02-14T15:26:00.008-05:00

we've recently found ourselves in a bedding crisis. i wake almost every morning with an aching back. often, i can't wait to get out of bed, no matter how early it is, because the bed is just so damned uncomfortable. we have a double bed. a futon.

throughout most of my adult life, i have slept on futons. there was a brief futon break in grad school, after i purchased the cheapest possible mattress and box spring upon arriving in houston. but it gave out quickly, as one might imagine. j and i shared an extremely soft mattress set for a while, it nearly broke my spine. the futon we have been sleeping on for the past four years isn't any better, and it seems to have gotten worse lately. or, maybe we are just getting old.

it doesn't help that a certain little person finds his way into the bed at some point in the wee hours of the morning. i wouldn't really mind that, if only the bed were a bit bigger.plus, carl's feet hang over the end of the bed, for crissake!

in a desperate last ditch effort, i switched our bed futon, with the one on the couch. it was lumpier than the other one, and seemed to sort of turn up on the edges--like a raft. horrible.

we both agreed that we'd like to get a king-sized bed, and a nice one. problem is, we don't have that kind of money. anything we could afford would probably not be an improvement on what we currently have. we found ourselves torn between the realities of our financial situation, and our belief that we should be kind to our bodies.

then a little angel posted on facebook that good friends of hers were selling a like-new, high-dollar, stearns & foster, king-sized mattress and box spring for a hundred bucks. though the post was over a day old, and someone had already responded, i called her immediately. within the hour, i had purchased the (immaculate) bed, and arranged to have it picked up by yet another angel (with a truck). the owners even threw in a non-crinkly mattress protector, a mattress pad, two sets of king-sized sheets, and a bed spread-- all in excellent condition. i told them that i felt like we'd won the lottery.

last night, we had the best night's sleep in years--maybe decades! it is so firm, spacious and wonderful in every way, i can hardly believe it's actually sitting there, in our very own bedroom. since he's only had a chance to bounce on beds-with-springs during vacations, cosmo, too was thrilled. our heartfelt thanks to all those who made this possible. we rest easy, because of you.

sick day

2010-02-11T11:58:00.005-05:00

snuggling up in my comfy sweater and fluffy orange blanket
fever
cosmo reading sometimes to me (all the way through), as i rest on the couch
aches and pains all over
carl's yummy soup, with sprouted chickpeas from stephanie
shivering
a beautiful snow on the ground, and in the trees
wicked soar throat
carl drawing an extra hot bath for me, including a pot of boiled water
red wine in a "puck" glass
seinfeld re-runs + rachel maddow
feeling loved

winter light

2010-02-01T11:52:00.006-05:00

after living for two years in a shoe box of a house, with no space for a dinning room table, we now have a nice open "great room," and a proper dining room table. trouble is, the lighting is all wrong. yes, there is an overhead light, but i typically despise overhead lighting, especially this type, which filled every room of my childhood. my childhood not being entirely pleasant, to say the least, i tend to go for "accent lights," and basically, any form of lighting other than overhead.

the overhead lamp in this room also happens to be offset from where one would probably choose to place a dining room table, or, at least where we chose to place our table (and, what's up with that allen wrench in the fixture?). it would be easy enough to hang a nice pendant lamp over the table, either a swag type, with the cord draped over to the wall outlet, or, i could even conceal a cord in the oh-so-attractive dropped-tile-ceiling . but so far, i haven't been able to locate an affordable pendant lamp that i like the looks of. i've strung white christmas lights in two locations, bracketing the table, which increased visibility considerably, but it is still too dark to eat by without candles on the table, we found that two canles weren't enough.

luckily, i happened upon this candelabra at the goodwill a couple of weeks ago. we may end up spending our entire pendant lamp budget on taper candles, but, by god, we can see our food! plus, all those candles help warm the room, and cosmo gets a big kick out of lighting, and blowing out each of those flames every night.

family dance

2010-01-12T10:32:00.004-05:00

only in bloomington would there be a big, family-friendly dance in the middle of winter, right in the neighborhood, in the gymnasium of harmony school. it was sunday afternoon. it was cold. it is not easy to get cosmo out of the house in such weather. but i am so glad we did.

live music, easy, group dances, led by a gentle woman, who clearly knew what she was doing.
the place was packed with adults and children of all ages, sizes and abilities. the repetitive nature of the dances allowed everyone to pick things up at her own pace, and the entire event was about having fun. not about showing off dance skills, or even learning to dance. it was about community, and inclusion, and running around in a big space, in the dead of winter with family and friends.

cosmo was intrigued at the beginning, but didn't want to hit the dance floor right away. after one dance, i pulled him out there, held him, and swung him round and round at the "swing your partner" part. he giggled with glee, and was in for the rest of the time. he clung pretty close to carl and i, refused to partner with anyone but us, but he did participate and declared afterwards that it was "really fun." i know we will be going to the next one (and, i will bring my camera). if you live in town, hope to see you there.

home for the holidays

2010-01-04T22:33:00.013-05:00

as excited as i was to not be traveling for the holidays, by the end of the 2 week break from cosmo's pre-school, i thought my head might explode (to coin a julie phrase). it seemed like cosmo hit some new, belligerent phase (i've recently heard the term "ferocious fours" does this ring a bell with anyone?) just as the break began. the three of us cooped-up in the house, eating holiday sweets, for days on end was not working--for any of us. the bitter cold weather wasn't exactly inviting us to leave the house, but carl and i realized pretty quickly that we had to be pro-active, and make plans to get out and do something every day.

so, when cosmo and i weren't making cookies, gingerbread houses, or this caramel popcorn; and when carl and cosmo weren't busy playing checkers, or constructing elaborate marble mazes, we took little outings.

on christmas day, we went for a walk on the clear creek trail. apparently, the 15 minutes of physical exercise, in the great outdoors was just too exhausting for cosmo, so he had to be carried on carl's shoulders for a good portion of it--until i came up with a "catch me if you can" game, and we all ran the last stretch back to the car.

we went to the wonderlab one day, and on another day, we resorted to going to the mall. the mall can be sort of entertaining, if you aren't actually shopping. i'm always up for people-watching, and we got a bouncy ball from one of the gumball-style machines, and rolled it down the ramps (keeping our eyes peeled for mall cops, of course; cosmo actually got busted for this once before). then carl and cosmo rode the escalator at macy's, up and down a good 10-20 times while i browsed the hand bag section and felt relieved that my particular taste exempts me from being tempted by high priced, fashionable leather goods.

my favorite thing we ended up doing over the break was a day trip to indy, to the children's museum. it was insanely crowded, and we, frankly, didn't plan well. we arrived, hungry, around noon, and thought we'd pop into the museum cafe for a quick bite. we grabbed some pre-made sandwiches, got through the line, and headed into the seating area.

i liked the idea of eating by the big windows, but there was not a single seat available, at any table, anywhere, in the entire (huge) dining room. it felt like i was back in the high school cafeteria, searching frantically for a friendly face, or just an open chair. we ended up sitting on the floor, by a couch, and having sort of a picnic (that's what we told cosmo, when he protested). the food was, surprisingly, decent.

it was worth fighting the crowds. we had never been before, and though we saw only a tiny fraction of the sprawling fun-land, we all had a great time. carl and i were very relaxed, and let cosmo lead the way. we started on the fourth floor, where the carousel is. we went through the mirror maze, and then cosmo discovered a holiday themed, dickensonion diorama-type-thing, where people were moving past shop windows of a miniature town, on a track, or belt. he was utterly fascinated by it. there were also kids sledding down a hill, also on a track. he could not stop looking at it, and he wanted to know where the little figures went, and how the whole thing worked, and i tried to lift him up so he could see more of the mechanics of the thing...but it was mostly concealed.

he waited patiently in line to ride the carosel, and insisted on riding it alone, then he headed straight back to that diaorama! he would have stayed there the rest of the day, but we finally convinced him to check out some other areas, and we moved to the science room. he stopped short at the entrance, where the kinetic-contraption-ball-run-machine was.

i swear to you, he was at that thing for an hour, or more. we peeled him away to move some rubber rocks around in a hopper, but he really just wanted to be at that "marble maze." it was very similar to the one they have at the wonderlab, but the input points, where the kids get to make things happen, were much more engaging and interactive. cosmo was really good at waiting patiently for his turn to move some nob, or push a button, and after he had been at one for a while, he would graciously move away for another kid to have a turn. at some point, he told carl, "i just wanna watch," and he did. forEVER.

i guess a place like this, with so many different kinds of activities to choose from, presents the opportunity to learn something new about your kid. it was one of those moments for me, where i realized that my child is his own person, with his own predilections, and passions. i've known for a long time that he likes marble mazes, but here, it was really striking to see JUST HOW MUCH he loves these kinds of things, even in the face of all this other very cool stuff. i stood there, against an adjacent pane of plexi-glass, and watched him, watching the contraption. i was as amazed by him as he must have been by that machine. i shed a few tears, and when it was time to leave, so did cosmo.

all aboard!

2009-12-19T10:29:00.007-05:00

the snow is falling outside the window. packages are sent. the tree is lovingly decorated with what cosmo calls "ordaments." we are settling into our first christmas together, at home. our home.

cosmo and i took an exciting trip to north texas, to have an early christmas with family there. cosmo returned loaded down with gifts, candy, and stories (told breathlessly) of an indoor water park, a magic wand game,

and a frozen town of whoville. not to mention his first ever sighting of an actual falling star! we got to star gaze out at nani and papa's place in the country, during a meteor shower. unforgettable.

we also now have in our possession a copy of the polar express (the movie, not the book). this has been a favorite of cosmo's, viewed over and over again, every time we visit nani and papa. cosmo doesn't really watch movies. most of them are too scary for him, or too long, too dialog heavy to hold his interest. he really clicked with the polar express though, the first time he saw it, and was not frightened by the hair-raising roller coaster scenes. i think the fact that there is no evil bad guy makes a big difference too. cosmo's understanding of santa is that "it's just a story," but, it is a really engaging story, and the polar express presents a convincing image of the whole operation. last night, in celebration of the last day of pre-school (breaking for the holidays), we had our first ever "family movie night." we watched polar express. carl had never seen it, and cosmo wanted to make sure he didn't miss a single second of it. then he would tell carl what was gonna happen next, and occasionally, we'd look over at him, and he'd be mouthing the words, as if he had the whole thing memorized.

to counter the full-on indoctrination into christmas, this year, i thought it would be nice to acknowledge channuka too. i crafted a simple menorah out of a nice chunk of cedar, and found some channuka candles at cvs. cosmo lit the candles each night, and we sang "o channuka." we played the dreidel game a few nights, after dinner, and on the last night, i made latkes, which we ate in front of the TV, while watching polar express. how's that for blending traditions?

[updated, january 4, 2010-- my computer is back in my lap, and here are the photos] soon, i'll post something about holiday crafting, once everyone has received their gifts.

season's greetings to you and yours!

shop local!

2009-12-05T11:29:00.002-05:00

before you start clicking items off your holiday list on amazon, consider heading downtown to your local book shop, (if there are any left in your town, that is). we are lucky, here in bloomington, to have a number of great ones, including an all volunteer run, non-profit--boxcar books!

i had a few titles on my list, that i wanted to get for some children in our family. i started to order them online, and then i remembered that the book corner, on the square, will give a 10% discount if your total exceeds twelve dollars, and 20%, if you spend over sixty dollars. if they don't have what you are looking for, they will order it for you, lickity split. plus, you get to interact with real people, browse through books (with pages), and bump into friends and neighbors on the street.

support local booksellers! keep downtown vibrant! shop local!
ok, i'll stop telling you what to do now.

birthday boy

2009-11-21T09:31:00.005-05:00

we had a little birthday party for cosmo at PDO (parent's day out, his pre-school) yesterday. later, at bath time...

cosmo: i was quiet at PDO today.

carl: oh yeah, why's that?

cosmo: because i was so famous.

november

2009-11-10T13:33:00.009-05:00

tom waits has a song about it.
many significant, life changing events have occurred for me, in the month of november. one year, my apartment caught on fire, and i had to move out. oh, and four years ago, in november, i had a baby! this november, i'm writing 50,000 words in thirty days. i have my doubts that the collection of letters, arranged into words, placed together haphazardly into sentences, over the next few weeks, is going to resemble anything close to what anyone would call a novel, but at least i'll have something to work with. i'll have 50k words that i didn't have before. and, i must say, i love nanowrimo. it's just the kick in the pants i needed to get this crazy story onto the page. i am writing every day, over 2000 words, and i am not editing. i am not reading what i have written. ahhh. it is so freeing.

cosmo had fun trick-or-treating, but seems to enjoy, even more, playing with the candy. he likes to sort it, arrange it, catapult it with a yard stick, move it from one container to another, build with boxes of dots and milk duds, toss laffy-taffy into a cut-out flap in a card board box, count hershey's kisses, and make letters out of skinny tootsie rolls. he never eats any without permission, and when he is allowed to have a piece or two, he just can't. decide. which. one. he wants. so, we showed him how to do "eeny meeny miney mo," "bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish," and "engine engine number nine," so that the decision making is left to chance. he loves this process, and will line up six (or nine, or thirty-seven) pieces of halloween candy, and then, through a long, arduous process of elimination, pick the one piece he will have. he alternates between the three rhymes, and says, "the one that wins, i will eat." he is always thrilled with the winner, even if a milkyway gets eliminated in the first round, and the piece left standing is one, solitary dot. i love the way he says, "MY mother says to pick the VERY best one, and YOU are not IT!"

speaking of tootsie rolls, cosmo looked better in my borrowed costume than i did, but he couldn't walk in it-- just roll. i loved the costume though, for its ease. no make up, no wig, no special clothes, just put it on, and you have an instant, and rather impressive, costume. "cheers!" to whomever crafted it, and "thanks!" to my good neighbors for letting me wear it. cosmo's ghostly cheesecloth kept drifting off his hoodie, but he didn't seem to care, one way or another. the costume was incidental to him. he still can't get over the fact that one day a year, you go out at night, knock on people's doors, they open them, and hand you candy. how can this be? he doesn't run around excitedly, but rather wanders from house to house, sort of stunned, and amazed. he says his obligatory "thank-you," but no smiles. carl called his own, last-minute costume "the haunted shepherd," he was wearing a sheep-herder's hat, from kyrgyzstan.

back at home, we were greeted by these jack-o-lanterns that cosmo and i made out of plastic water bottles. i hope to do a tutorial on those, in another post.

we checked out an awesome book from the library called "applesauce season." it's all about making applesauce, which is something carl especially loves to do. so this time, we got cosmo involved in it from start to finish, including picking out the apples at the farmer's market, and running the cooked apples through the food mill. he really got into it, in part, i suspect, because it is one of his favorite foods.

cosmo has been surprising us, on a regular basis, with his reading skills. i catch myself saying, "you can read that? so, you're a reader? you read now? okay then..." and, i have been saying this for months and months. i guess i have to face the fact that he's learning to read! very exciting. i have even seen him in his room, quietly turning the pages, and reading simple books, all the way through. gasp! he seems to get a lot of satisfaction from it, and tries to read words everywhere we go. he also made a huge leap last week, in his grasp of addition and subtraction. it started with one of the pbs kids games he plays online, but he needed help. i grabbed 5 pens, and showed him how to figure out the answer to a simple addition problem, using the pens, and counting. he was absolutely giddy when he got it. witnessing his little brain grow and expand is one of the greatest pleasures of my life.

(that's 813 words, FYI)

last gasp

2009-10-31T15:04:00.018-04:00

a honey bee gathers the last of the nectar from the asters

i guess i titled one of my gardening blog posts "last gasp" last year. sorry, but that's what it feels like around here. last burst of gardening energy, before winter sets in, and a mish-mash of a blog post, to cover a lot of ground before i dive into national novel writing month, tonight at midnight.

the last cosmo of the season and the view from our window, one week ago.

let's start with the garden:
the rye cover crop is now a lovely green blanket over what was once the sprawling cherry tomato bed. we are still plucking perfect tomatillos off the vine, and i have made two batches of salsa verde (for canning) and countless batches of quick fresh green salsa. and still, there's more.

i've been enjoying the herbs we still have flourishing in the garden, and was astonished at the bounty i brought in last week, as i was preparing dinner for some friends. not all of our fall carrots have matured, but some have, and they are lovely. we are cherishing the last of the beets. the candy-striped ones are called chioggia.

we harvested another armload of leeks and made the memorable leek and goat cheese galette. since another blogger has already documented this process beautifully, i won't repeat it here. this time, i chose to make 4 individual galettes, instead of one big one. it looks so lovely on the plate, surrounded by a wreath of fresh water-cress. since it was just for carl and i (cosmo rarely eats what we eat for dinner), we got two full meals out of it. i think this might be my favorite dish right now. at least my favorite of dishes that come out of our kitchen. and i swear it tastes better with leeks, thyme and parsley from our own garden.

in other garden news, my friend stephanie, garden-educator-extraordinaire, taught me how to create our newest garden bed. first i spread out some cardboard, then a layer of our compost, a thicker layer of leaf-mold from last year's autumn leaves, then a layer of straw. it took me a couple of hours to complete, and it's huge! cosmo had a lot of fun "helping" me. in the spring, we'll dig some holes for transplants, add a little compost or soil to each hole, and that's it. the following year, it should all be broken down, and soil-like, and can just be dug and worked like our other garden beds. i am so thrilled.

we still have lettuce, arugula, and a tiny bit of spinach, which i hope will over-winter with some straw on top. apparently the carrots can stay in the ground too, with a layer of mulch, and they'll come back in the spring.

on to gleaning, and other topics:
we ended up making pear fruit leather, and a pear/cranberry chutney for canning, with the rest of our gleaned pears. one of our neighbors has a particularly nice crab apple tree, with large fruit, that tastes good right off the tree. she told us to help ourselves, and we did.

nothing like starting the morning trimming little tiny apples. but aren't they beautiful?

then carl made this glowing jelly while i was busy shopping at the free swap out at bloomingfoods (they used the truckload-sale-tent to house a glorious exchange of useful stuff, all free of charge! crazy, huh?). there was a littlecrab apple juice left over--tart, and nectar-like. we sipped it from tiny crystal goblets.

take a gander at that incredible tromboncino squash! it was a gift from our neighbor jack, whose son is a farmer. they say you can use it just like butternut, but i found it to be more stringy and watery than a butternut, and lacking in that brilliant orange color. the soup-in-progress (shown below) features a true butternut, and a garden herb bundle.

i managed to get the basement into a somewhat presentable and inhabitable space--in time for our housewarming party, and in time for the crafting frenzy, which has already begun. since some potential recipients of my creations may read this blog, i cannot reveal all the particulars of the crafted goodies that are being churned out of this space, but after the holidays, i'll try to do a re-cap.

we took a short drive to the hoosier national forest last weekend, to climb the fire tower for the ultimate autumnal view. i failed to bring the camera to the top of the tower, but my wimpy little lens wouldn't have even come close to capturing that spectacular vista-- so, it's probably better left to the imagination. cosmo enjoyed the short nature walk, and the lady bug explosion that happens here every fall.

cosmo was down for a few days with some virus, other than the flu. it was quite mild, and luckily, he's over it in time for halloween. hope yours is fun.

as winter approaches...

2009-10-18T19:37:00.001-04:00

the garlic is in the ground. maybe too early? i don't know. it rained for days. the garlic arrived,

the sun came out, i planted the garlic. couldn't help it.

also dragged the cold frame over from our old yard and plopped it over some beets and leeks that are still in the ground. i had wanted to put in some kale and broccoli starts, but i guess i waited too late because i can't find them anywhere. one of my permaculture friends said it would be worth a try to stick some seeds in the ground right now. apparently, brassicas love to germinate in this kind of weather, and while they probably won't grow much over the winter, i might get some baby kale leaves, and we may have early broccoli in the spring. it was tough finding even seeds at the local nurseries. i finally found some bulk seeds at the farm-and-feed co-op, and went a little nuts. i planted cabbage, broccoli, kale and arugula seeds in the cold frame. so far, the kale, broccoli and arugula have germinated. we had our first frost last night. i got the windows on the cold frame just in time. i'm excited to see how the cold frame works when it actually sits in the sun all winter!

we are still harvesting tomatillas, hot chilies and cilantro (made some yummy salsa verde last night, for our housewarming party). we still have parsley, basil, sage, beets, carrots and LEEKS! most of the leeks are reserved for our most favorite leek and goat cheese galette, but we did harvest a few, and made a simple dish involving a lovely, mustard vinaigrette.

the neighborhood is bursting with brilliant fall color, i'm drying and sorting seeds, and dreaming, already, of next year's garden.

blog action day: climate change*

2009-10-13T10:32:00.011-04:00

i'll be frank: i think it's a lost cause. fighting climate change. too late. we've known about the greenhouse effect since i was a little kid--AT LEAST! the situation was dire THEN. drastic action had to be taken immediately to even hope to begin to reverse the trends. instead, it has only gotten worse. and will clearly continue to do so. a new study shows that much of the arctic ice cap will be melted in summer months-- within TEN YEARS, and that the arctic will be an open sea in the next 20-30 years!

so...? that is just the way it is. we are humans, we belong to this earth, we are creatures of this planet, and this is what we do. this is what we have done. if, as creatures of this planet, we take elements of the earth, and manipulate and use them in such a way that they make the earth unlivable for most of the beings that currently in habit it-- if we humans take actions that lead to the destruction of the environment, such that humans can no longer live on earth, so be it. the earth will go on without us, and the adapted ecosystem that evolves will be something else. something we don't get to know about.

it seems arrogant to me, to believe that it is all about us. or, all about our perspective. or, that we think we can control global climate change, or that we think the worst thing in the world would be the extinction of human beings. if we make our planet uninhabitable, then we cease to exist. and i hate to admit it, but i am kind-of okay with that. well, what choice do i have? this is reality. it is simply too late to stop global warming.

i am not at all happy about any of this. i accept it, but it is, nonetheless, still heartbreaking. i dread the loss of the polar bear, the flooding of cities, and i know that the people in the lowest economic classes will suffer first, and suffer the most. it is not fair, it is not just, but it is what we have done, and it seems absurd to think that sticking a piece of newspaper in a recycling bin is going to change this global truth.

but... i still recycle everything that can be recycled, re-use packaging of various sorts, shop almost exclusively at thrift stores and yard sales for clothes and other household items. i buy and glean local food when i can, and preserve much of it for the winter months, in order to eat locally all year. i garden organically, and i compost. i ride my bike for in-town transportation--often (not always), and i bring my own bags to the grocery store.

i figure, as long as humans are still living on this earth, might as well enjoy what we still have.

*i bet i'll never be asked to write about climate change again).

autumnal clichés

2009-10-07T11:19:00.006-04:00

there's nothing like living in houston texas, for nearly a decade, to make one appreciate the splendor of the 4 seasons. when we were living in houston, carl's friend michael (of mike & patty's fame) once sent him an email in october that facetiously suggested he must be enjoying all the wonders of fall: bulky sweaters, apple picking, the rosy-cheeks of the school children...
it's still hot and sticky down there, well into october, but now that we live in the mid-west, we actually do get to experience these seasonal markers. for instance, on sunday, we went apple picking.

the trees were low, and easy for little ones to reach, but since the coveted jonathan variety was almost gone, we still got to do a little bit of searching, to find those precious few that remained. then we filled our bag with golden delicious, and red delicious, and topped it all off with a caramel apple from the quaint little country store.

we used most of the bag for applesauce, which we canned last night. cosmo went through so much of that last winter, i think we'll need to do another batch.

it is so simple: just cut apples in quarters, stick 'em in the biggest pot you can find, with a little bit of water. cook until soft enough to mash with a potato masher (stirring to prevent scorching), then run them through your handy-dandy food mill, to remove the skins and seeds. after that, you just ladle the sauce into the sterilized jars, add a little lemon juice on top (to prevent discoloration), seal the jars, and put into the boiling-water canning bath for 20 minutes. that's it. pure, homemade, nothin-but-apples-applesauce. yum.

we have also been gleaning the fallen pears from a lovely neighborhood tree. one night, we made a crisp, from the pears, plus some black raspberries we had from earlier in the season. it was heavenly. we'll probably try some pear chutney, or perhaps pear butter? any other pear ideas out there?