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From Scratch

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In our family’s attempt to make as much as we possibly can here in our home, there are those weeks that go by when we are in the midst of a creating whirlwind, and suddenly I look at the calendar and it’s Wednesday.  This is one of those weeks.  Oh boy.

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There have been baskets and baskets of beans harvested from the garden, more than we could ever eat at this time.  So, this weekend we rinsed, cut and froze most of our harvested beans to set aside for the winter months.

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We are to that point in the growing season where some of our plants have gone to seed.  So this weekend, entrenched in vines and leaves of green, we pulled out arugula and collected the seed pods for late fall planting.  Then replanted carrots and beets for fall harvest.

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I opened my linen closet last Friday to a cavernous black hole, completely void of any form of soap, lotion or shave oil.  The girls and I got to work and rounded out the weekend with a fresh batch of lotion (I use the recipe from this book.) and shave oil (my recipe can be found here), and a new eczema-friendly soap concoction.  (The recipe for this soap to come soon.)

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And last but not least, there is the fermentation frenzy that has taken over our house the last two weeks.  I don’t often become overly obsessed with much, but oh my, I think I may just be in love with Sandor Katz, his book The Art of Fermentation, and all of the nutritional benefits fermenting has to offer.  I gave this book to my husband last summer for his birthday, to aid him in his beer-making endeavors.  But I now find myself huddled with my morning coffee, spilling over the pages of this book, completely enraptured by the content.

Amidst the fermenting madness is fresh made yogurt, milk kefir, water kefir, and kombucha.  The constant growing process of it all is just amazing, and the wonderful probiotics offered naturally in these foods is simply mind boggling.  I have so much more to learn, but I am sure enjoying the entire process along the way.

I hope all of you are enjoying a wonderful start to your week!

This Week in my Garden

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It’s crazy what can happen to a garden in a matter of weeks.  For so much of the summer, our garden is green.  Lettuce, kale, arugula, Swiss chard, peas, beans, carrot tops, etc.  But now…now is when the real fun begins.  Color.

The raspberries are starting to produce juicy crimson fruits,  tomatoes are moving from green to a pale red, and blood red beets pop from beneath the surface of the soil.

Join me today for a walk through our garden…

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A Day at the Beach

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Living in the Midwest, we have little opportunity to make beach-side trips.  But this weekend we had the wonderful chance to visit…Wisconsin.  Yes, I know what you are thinking.  The words Wisconsin and beach don’t really coincide, but Sunday my mother-in-law competed in a half-Ironman in Racine, Wisconsin and i must say, it was not quite the locale I was envisioning.

We arrived to find ourselves surrounded by sun, sand and waves.  Words cannot do this sight justice, so I thought I would tell you about our day from behind the lens.

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All Things Garden

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With July now well under way, we find ourselves amidst the heart of our growing season, with a list of chores longer than we could ever hope to complete in a day.  Although I can sometimes get frustrated by this endless to-do list, I am reminded that the jobs of a garden are never actually done, so therefore I need just to work through each day, doing what I can to tend to this growing space of ours.

In honor of this height of garden productivity, I’ve decided to designate this week as “Garden Week” here on my blog 🙂  I hope you all enjoy this fun little adventure through our week of gardening bliss.

To start things off for the week, I wanted to give you a little taste of just what our garden is looking like.  Off we go…

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First Harvest

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Yesterday was a big day for our school garden project.  The garden was bursting with vegetation, so we decided it would make the perfect day for our first official harvest of the season!  We were able to glean lettuce, Swiss chard, kale, collards, snap peas, beans, beets and carrots from our seven-bed school garden.

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Once the produce was picked, rinsed and sorted, we drove to our local food pantry to drop off our donation.  Along the way, we spoke of the importance of helping those in need for God tells us “to be openhanded toward [our] brothers and toward the poor and needy in [our] land” (Deuteronomy 15:11).

IMG_3465 IMG_3466 If you are interested in donating to the Rock River Valley Food Pantry, visit their web site here.

What Summer Memories Are Made Of

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When I think back to the summers of my youth, there are certain images that float immediately to my mind…Balmy summer nights, when the sound of chirping crickets drown out all other noise in the darkness while my sister and I camped out with our neighbors in their play house.  Walking barefoot through the damp blades of grass at dusk catching lightening bugs with my mom and dad, then storing those seemingly magical creatures for just a few precious minutes in wooden bug houses my Grandpa Dit crafted.  Taking long leisurely bike rides with my two best neighborhood friends, every once in a while pausing to chat with a boy we all had a crush on.  Running up and down our street in the warm summer sunlight, as a lively game of capture-the-flag was underway.  I have no doubt these memories will stay with me for my lifetime, for these are the moments that define summer for me in my mind.

Ever since having children, I find myself thinking about what little images will be held in their minds for the duration of their lives.  After spending time in the Northwoods of Wisconsin last week,  I can unequivocally say these Northwoods-memories will stay with my girls forever.  For what could be better than a breakfast cooked on the beach? Or jumping off the dock at least a hundred times, never tiring because it fills you with the most thrilling feeling each and every time your body pauses for that brief moment in the air before plunging into the cool waters below? Or crunching your toes in the damp sand as the refreshing water waves over them?  Or having your parents feed you bits of food in the lake because you refuse to get out of that amazingly fun water for even a second?  Or dancing on a stage with your cousins while a Tom Petty song plays, without a care in the world that dozens of grown-ups are watching you, wishing they could embrace the wild abandon running through every fiber of your being?  These are the moments I am sure my girls will carry with them, for this is what summer memories are made of.

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In Gratitude

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This Monday morning I am grateful for…

~a wonderful vacation to the Northwoods of Wisconsin.  (Lots more to come in tomorrow’s post.)

~those family members and close friends who pitched in to help keep the Fagan suburban homestead running in our absence 🙂

~Downton Abbey.  Oh my.  I have recently discovered this show, and have been devouring the DVDs ever since.  It’s like a great British novel brought to life.  What could be better?

~the leader of our book club for choosing The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for our next read.  I am thoroughly enjoying being transported to the isle of Guernsey in the 1940’s each and every time I unfurl the pages of this novel.

~peas and beans just bursting in our home garden.

~a first hand learning experience for my girls.  We plan to head to the local food pantry this week with our first donation from our school garden.

~the Mason jars strewn across my countertop, just waiting to be filled with all kinds of canned deliciousness.

~the fermentation frenzy that is about to begin this week…woohoo!  Kombucha, yogurt and kraut oh my!

~all of you gathered here today!  Wishing you all much happiness and health this week!

July First in the Garden

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I don’t know about all of you, but I am having a difficult time swallowing the fact that today is July 1st.  Where did June go?  Perhaps it was washed away by all of that crazy rain we have been having here in northern Illinois.  But as I sit here, looking out my kitchen window on this first Monday of July, I am shocked by how different this view looks from that of last year.  Peering at me from the other side of my window is a sea of green:  green grass, green vegetables, and lots of green weeds.  This landscape stands in sharp contrast to the garden of last year where everything had a tinge of brown to it.  What a truly striking difference a year makes.

Last July:

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This July:

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Just plain crazy isn’t it?  Well, I have all kinds of garden goodness coming your way this week, and this is just the beginning.  Join me for a walk through the very lush, very green garden…

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And just one last little treat for you…Here is what the garden looked like before I took all of the above pictures…and spent six lovely hours weeding.  Ah.  Gotta love gardening and all of the hills and valleys it brings to our daily lives.

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Happy Monday all!