growing

Reminiscing

/ makingofahome / 3 Comments

This morning I am sitting at my computer with the windows open wide to the morning. It is still dark outside, but the sound of the birds in the trees can be heard over the soft hum of the breeze blowing through the screens. It is indeed a wonderful morning. I push the thoughts out of my mind that question why it is so warm on this day in the middle of March where I find myself sitting in a shirt that bares my arms, the window open and a glass of iced tea by my side. I replace those questioning thoughts with ones of remembrance and gratitude.

The weekend was a great one. One in which we were able to see, and spend quality time with, each and every member of our extended family. My girls were able to play outside, and eat just about every meal out of doors. The tiny asparagus shoots and rhubarb that I planted last year began emerging from beneath the soil and I felt great relief knowing they had made it through the winter. We will indeed have some of our own homegrown food very, very soon.

Over the weekend my husband and I were also extremely lucky in that we were able to attend an amazing local food conference hosted by our state university extension office. I loved attending because of the discussion local food, but also because the seminar was hosted at the forest preserve where I attended residential summer camp so many years ago.

As we neared the lodge where the meeting was to be held, I saw the flag pole where each and every morning we would gather to raise the flag and sing songs. I noticed the path to its right that led us deep into the woods for our many adventures with with nature: hiking, tracking, cooking over an open fire, swimming, canoeing, even repelling. (Yes, the girl who is deathly afraid of heights repelled down a rock cliff! That just shows you how deeply I enjoyed being at this camp.) I took a deep breath in and realized that despite all of the years that had passed, it still smelled familiar.

We entered the lodge and the fond memories continued to flood my mind. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the dormitory where we spent so many nights chatting about our amazing adventures and snuggling beneath the blankets on our bunks, anxious for the new excitement that would greet us at our rising. My husband and I then walked into the dining hall, where many were gathered for this local food discussion, and I was reminded of the meals I shared with friends in this space. The sense of community I felt as we took turns passing food around the table, and learning about stewardship. We only took that which we needed and learned not to be wasteful because the earth was what gave us this bounty, and we must show gratitude for that which many are unable to consume.

While the discussion of local food was a fabulous one, a great learning experience, and a chance to connect with other like-minded individuals; these memories made this day a special one. I am reminded of those moments in my life that brought me to where I am today. Those little experiences, that we may not view as important at the time, mold us into the people we will become later in life.

I hope each and every one of you has a wonderful Monday and an amazing week!

Let Them Read

/ makingofahome / 3 Comments

Three and a half years ago my family and I moved into a new home. While selecting paint colors and sleeping assignments, we also made the decision to not place a television in any of the main rooms of our home. This was a deliberate choice on our part because my husband and I both thought of this move as a turning point in our life and a paradigm shift in our lifestyle.

Who would have thought that such a decision would cause such an outcry from our friends and family. Yes, you are reading that correctly. People who do not even live in our house were upset that we were not placing a television as the centerpiece of our home. The responses varied from the comical, “What will all of your furniture face towards?” to the shocking, “I would rather lose my house than loose my T.V. and cable!” I was utterly flabbergasted by what I was hearing.

When did we get to this point in our culture when people cannot imagine living their life without the constant hum of a television in the background? Now I am not that old, only thirty-one for that matter, but I remember going to my grandparents’ house and walking around outside and looking at all of my grandfather’s flower beds and his enormous vegetable garden. I can call to mind sitting at the dining room table with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins playing cards after a big family meal. I recollect playing for hours in the playroom with my sister, not once thinking of the television, but instead being fully engrossed in the imaginary world we created with our dolls. So why then do people look at me cross-eyed when I say that I don’t have a television in my family room?

Now this is not to say that my children have never spent a moment of their lives in from of a television. We have Friday night movie nights in our basement each weekend. We make homemade pizza, pop popcorn and veg out for a couple of hours, watching our favorite princess movie. This week my girls had their first cold of the winter (Not bad, seeing as it is March!) and they spent some time snuggled up watching PBS shows that we have on DVD. But my point is this: Our lives do not revolve around an electrical box that sits on a shelf or is mounted to the wall.

During the day we find ourselves busy with projects and learning, and our evenings are filled with games and reading. And the reading is what we love oh so much! There is truly nothing I love more than to burrow under a hand-made quilt with my girls and venture to a far off land filled with energy and adventure! These are the times that memories are created. These are the times when much is learned. These are the times when I am so glad that my furniture all faces toward a bookshelf, instead of a television.

I leave you with an excerpt we just read a few nights ago from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (My girls are on a Roald Dahl kick these days.):

The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set–
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all….
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they’re hypnotized by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink–
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK—HE ONLY SEES!
‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take that set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow:
THEY…USED…TO…READ! They’d READ and
READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales…
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks…
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.
And once they start—oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.


“I want to make my own thing!”

/ makingofahome / 2 Comments

These are the words that ring throughout our home at least three times a week.  My girls just love to cook and/or bake “their own thing” and yesterday was quite the large step for my oldest daughter.

In the past, she had been content to mix random ingredients together, put it in our counter top convection oven (with Mommy’s help of course), and eat her creations.  Now with that said, she has done quite a bit of experimenting with various flavors and has come up with some delicious combinations, but the creations were random none the less.  But yesterday she said to me, “Mommy, I want to make my own thing, and I want it to be an actual recipe.”

So I decided, why not throw caution to the wind and let her completely take over the kitchen.  With a little bit of my help reading the measurements, she made cut out sugar cookies completely on her own!

Now the crowning moment of this adventure was when it came to the topping for these cookies.  My little five-year old gazed up at me and said, “Mommy I think I am going to sprinkle a little sugar, cinnamon and rosemary  from our garden on top of the cookies.  That way we don’t have to use food coloring or sprinkles with the yucky chemicals.”  (Oh she had just made her mama’s day with that one!) And an fyi…the cinnamon and rosemary combination is one of those flavor combos she came up with during her previous food experiments.  And let me tell you, it is really delicious!

Once she was done with her sprinkles, she sat back, looked approving at her creations and said, “Perfect.  It’s just like Jamie Oliver’s pumpkin muffins when he sprinkles lavender flowers on top for sprinkles!”  (My how this little one impressed me yesterday!)

Pumpkin Scones

/ makingofahome / 1 Comment

As promised yesterday, here is the recipe for the pumpkin scones I made on “Seed Starting Day.”

Mix together the following ingredients in a large bowl:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Using a pastry cutter, add 1/3 cup cold butter cut into small pieces.  Make a well in the center of the mixture and set aside.

Next mix the following ingredients in a medium bowl:

2 eggs

½ cup heavy cream

¾ cup pumpkin puree (In the fall my husband halves pie pumpkins and scrapes out all of the seeds.  He then roasts the pumpkin halves on the grill until soft.  I then scoop out the meat of the pumpkin, run it through the food processor, and freeze it for later use in recipes.  This is what I used for this recipe.)

Add egg mixture to dry mixture all at once.  Then stir with a fork until just moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and flatten into a circle.  Then cut the dough into wedges.  Separate the wedges as much as possible.

Brush the  wedges with a bit of additional pumpkin puree and sprinkle with additional cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes.  Serve warm.  Enjoy!

2012 Seed Starting Day

/ makingofahome / 2 Comments

Ever since we started our garden three summers ago, the third weekend in February marked our “Seed Starting Day” for the year’s garden.  This past Saturday marked this occasion and a wonderful day was had by all.  As I said last week, I was feeling the need to get in the soil and grow something, so I was very happy to see that day pop up on our calendar!

We normally start the morning off with some sort of yummy breakfast, made with products from last year’s harvest.  This year I made pumpkin scones, and they were delicious!  (This recipe to follow in a post later this week.)

Then the girls drew pictures of what they thought would happen to the seeds once they were planted.

Here is my five year old daughter’s drawing.  She said, “This is a picture of a pot, with the plant marker and a few sprouts coming up.  The sun and rain are coming down on the sprouts.”  Such the gardening expert!

This is the drawing my two year old completed.  She said, “This is a plant with a rainbow.” She is on her way to garden expert status very, very soon I’m sure.

This year for our seed starting mix, we took a five gallon bucket and filled it up half way with compost from last summer.  We then mixed in one small package of coir (coconut husk fiber), which helps to retain moisture much like a peat mixture does.

We mixed away until we had a nice ground mixture, perfect for seed starting.

Then my husband and girls got busy planting tomato seeds (Amish Paste, Martino’s Roma, Speckled Roman, and Italian Heirloom…all my favorite tomatoes to make tomato sauce with in August), basil seeds and Butterfly Weed seeds.  The girls were really able to contribute to the effort this year and it was awe inspiring to see those little hands working the earth, and instinctively knowing how to plant these small seeds so that they will later grow to provide us with a bounty of vegetables.

We keep our seeds in our craft room in our basement.  My husband hooks up fluorescent shop lights that can be moved up as the plants grow.  He also hooks the lights up to a timer so that the plants can get 14-16 hours of light per day.  We also put an oscillating floor fan in there with the seeds to help prevent mold or fungus from growing on the surface of the soil.

A Bit of Spring

/ makingofahome / 4 Comments

This morning I feel a bit remiss because as I peer out my kitchen window I find a fairly hefty amount of snow fell overnight.  The garden that was showings signs of early spring just yesterday is now covered with a thick layer of snow and the earth is hardened once again by the cold temperatures.  Even though we have had a very mild winter, the need to delve into the soil and plant something is seeping into my veins.

I often find myself feeling this way on these cold February mornings and I think today I have come up with a temporary solution for my need to plant something, anything.

The girls and I grab a few Mason jars and go to work.  We will sprout some seeds this morning!  You can purchase sprouting seeds at just about any garden center and all it takes are those seeds, cheese cloth, a Mason jar and water.

Simply follow the directions on the back of the seed package and in about 4 days you will have lovely little sprouts to add to salads, stir fries or smoothies.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend filled with fun and family!  Enjoy!

Inspiration

/ makingofahome / 1 Comment

Last week in my post about our Red Wigglers, I mentioned that we purchased our most recent batch from Growing Power, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Growing Power is truly one of the most amazing places I have been in my lifetime, and it is no wonder why there were only a few people on our tour who were even from the Midwest. People travel from all over the globe to visit founder Will Allen’s urban garden, situated in a food desert on the north side of Milwaukee. If anyone reading this post is ever in the area you must, must, must stop by for a tour.

For my birthday, my husband told me that my present was going to be a family trip to Growing Power. Now that is my kind of present! Love it!

I’m not sure what exactly I was anticipating going into this trip, but Growing Power far exceeded every single one of my expectations! Not only were there thousands upon thousands of plants being grown in this facility, there were mushrooms, fish, chickens, turkeys, bees and goats. Solar cells and cisterns. It was unbelievable.

And what is more amazing than all of this is their outreach programs. Growing Power sells their food at a store front food stand, sources their food to local restaurants, collects waste from local breweries and coffee houses for use in their compost bins, and they have unbelievable youth education programs. One man on our tour was there with his three young children and he was from Milwaukee. He told my husband and I that Growing Power even does a CSA-type food drop off for many of the local schools. He said that on Mondays parents can turn in a sheet if they want a box of food on Friday, and then on Friday the students are sent home with their box filled with vegetables from Growing Power and a new order form for the following week. I was floored.

Why can’t every community do something of this nature? All children deserve to have their bodies nourished with this healthy food. All children deserve amazing educational opportunities like the ones that Growing Power offers to youth of their community. I believe with every fiber of my being that something like this is possible in every city in our nation. Growing Power reaffirmed my belief that this is actually possible. I am truly inspired.