Monthly Archive for May, 2006

Second CSA pick up!

Published
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mikaela
on May 30, 2006
in locavore
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Man. This is awesome.

Arugala, turnips, spring mix, spinach, red lettuce, purple kale, spring onions, pac choi, beets, radishes, cucumber.

So. Pretty.


I’m not quite sure what to do with all these turnips and basil… Geez, they are beautiful, aren’t they? I think that I may be encountering a crash course in preserving/canning produce.

In addition to the CSA bootie, I picked up a bunch of white radishes from Bolton’s Farm. What was I thinking? I have a feeling that there will be radish salad in our very near future…

Speaking of Bolton’s, the Blooming Glen is right down the street from them. I’ve combined our milk and egg pick up from Bolton’s with the CSA pick up.

Okay. One final look at this week’s score. I love looking at what I have “in stock” and going from there. Very empowering :-D

Dirty, dirty girls

Published
by
mikaela
on May 29, 2006
in home
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One of the teenage daughters from the family to our right, Amanda, and I decided that we would rip out our (verysmall) shared garden. The garden is between our front walks and has had gigantic hostas growing in them since…. Forever. Or, about that long, anyway.

So, up to Suelke’s we went. (Yay! I heart Suelke’s!)

Amanda and I decided on a color theme of white, yellow and blue. It actually turned out to be more white, yellow and purple because there aren’t a lot of blue flowers out there. We grabbed about one of everything (seriously) within our color requirements and a few bags of topsoil. One of my favorite flowers is a columbine, but I had never seen a two-colored one (see photo at right) - it’s beautiful! We bought one to take place center stage in the garden, and two white ones to sit on each side.

Jason was very supportive throughout the entire shopping trip, and so I bought him one of the most beautiful hanging plants on earth. [Photo coming soon!]

Once home, we ripped out the hostas and put them aside for Amanda’s family to take up to their camper at Boulder Woods in Green Lane. Then we tediously picked out as many of the weeds as we could, turned the soil (with a pick ax and shovels), mixed in top soil and laid out the plants. Turns out, Amanda has a really great eye for gardening! She did a fantastic job arranging all the different flowers. Finally, we planted, mulched and watered.

So pretty! [Photo coming soon!]

Green gobbling

Published
by
mikaela
on May 26, 2006
in locavore
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I’ve been making salads for lunch using the CSA salad greens and gorgeous lettuce - yumm! Last night, I made Avery Cain this dinner:

Steamed spinach on a fried egg on a bed of salad greens
I made some garlic olive oil with fresh pressed garlic, fresh chopped basil, salt and pepper stirred into organic olive oil. I fried the egg in a tablespoon of the oil, and mixed the rest with a splash of lemon juice for a dressing on the salad.

(Would you like a helmet explanation?)

I have no idea what to do with the turnips - I’d like to use the turnip greens, too. Do I use them like I would collard greens? And, what about the radish greens, can I use them, too? Can I just steam them all and toss it with a diced potato and vinegar? Should I stir fry them? Ack!

The Helmet

Published
by
mikaela
on May 26, 2006
in parenthood
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How could we have these photographs and not share?

————————————————–

SUBJECT: the helmet ————————————————–
FROM: mikaela@….. Wed, May 24, 2006 at 10:36 AM
TO: …………… ————————————————–
I thought you guys might get a smile out of these photographs. Avery Cain recently decided that it’d be a good idea to *always* wear his helmet - not just while skateboarding. While sleeping, while at school…”In case a piano falls through the ceiling.” “What if I fall out of bed?” “While we’re driving.”

Jason and I aren’t at the point of intervening with therapy to discuss irrational fears yet. We’re too busy laughing. Motherhood is awesome :o)

Have a great week!

Love, m.


————————————————–

And yes, he is wearing his pajamas to school. That’a a whole other story!

First CSA pick up!

Published
by
mikaela
on May 23, 2006
in locavore
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The first pick up at the Blooming Glen Farm CSA was today - one week early! Some of the crops were apparently inspired by the unseasonably warm weather :o)

The first booty from the farm included:

one bunch of basil
one head of red lettuce
one head of green lettuce
eight turnips
one bunch of radishes
3/4 pound of salad greens
1/2 pound of spinach
3/4 pound of kale

(Click on the image at right for a close-up.)

The first thing we noticed when we walked into the building was the smell of the basil. Deee-licious! There were a couple families on their way out, and inside, there was a man and a woman. Tricia (the farmer momma) showed us how the pick up process worked, pointing out a white board with the list of crops and the quantity each member should receive. Avery Cain and I split up the list and filled our canvas shopping bags. On our way out, we visited the children’s garden where Avery played in the tepee. Fun!

On the way home we waved to Rosenberger’s Red Angus cows (with their new babies!) and stopped at Bolton’s to get milk and eggs. I think that the Bolton’s stop will become part of the weekly CSA pick up routine - it’s right on our way home :o)

Favorite CSA item of the week:
The lettuce. Never in my life have I seen a head of lettuce and remarked to those around me how beautiful it was. The lettuce is gorgeous. I’m not kidding - look!

It’s so soft and pretty. Oh, and it tastes good, too :o)

Farm crawl

Published
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mikaela
on May 21, 2006
in locavore
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We’ve probably all done a pub crawl before, but how about a farm crawl? There were a few local farms that we’ve been meaning to check out, so I decide to head over to Rand McNally to put together a road trip where they have a very handy “Plan a Road Trip” menu option.

First stop
Blooming Glen Farm in Perkasie, where we made our payment for this season’s community supported agriculture (CSA) share. For $710 for the entire season (from next week until Thanksgiving), my sister (Brookie), my dad (Dan) and JAM will pick up fresh, locally and organically grown produce. There are also monthly member potlucks and pick-your-own wildflowers. Of course, we’ll be monitoring our share every week here. In fact, joining the CSA is what prompted us to start this webpage!

Second stop
Hendricks Farm and Dairy in Telford, where owner Trent Hendricks let us try about a gazillion different types of cheese. Hendricks is famously known for their raw milk, but we skipped the milk this time and instead bought three cheeses and some nitrate free uncured bacon. My sister also picked up some cottage cheese.

Third stop
Country Creek Winery in Telford, where we picked up some sweet wine to make Sangria. We also got to see the barn that they rent out - it’s very cool!

And speaking of cool… Brookie put together an incredibly cool gift for Jason and me this winter. She collected a bunch of sangria recipes, typed them up with a personal message at the top of each one (”this one’s spicy like Kayla” or “This one uses the pink wine Jason’s mom likes”) mounted them onto different colored card stock and decorated the book. Then, she collected common ingredients (apples, oranges, cinnamon sticks, red hots, wine, liquor, etc.) and a pretty glass pitcher and put everything in a big basket. How freaking awesome is my seester?! :-D

Jason had a couple friends over that night so, we used one of Brookie’s recipes and the pitcher to make a simple sangria (apples, oranges, lime juice, orange juice, sugar) with the Country Creek wine, which we served with slices of Hendricks cheese, apple slivers and crackers.

The farm crawl was fun and it felt great to serve guests local treats! I’m working on our next crawl - stay tuned!

Through these windows, we can see your soul

Published
by
mikaela
on May 9, 2006
in home
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More window installation!

The completion of the yard inspired Jason to takle a couple windows. He’s an animal. See, look:


That’s the bathroom window. (Don’t you love the tan and white color scheme. Ugh.) And, here is the spare bedroom window:

The trim has to be painted and re-installed, and we need to find a way to make the bathroom window not-so-see-through. It’ll be nice to do some final touches and get these big projects out of the way.

Speaking of big projects…


Capping these windows is definately a priority. The outer frames are epecially bad on the wall of the bathroom (pictured) and the spare room. I think that this is one project that we will sub-out. Unless we find someone with an aluminum break, of course :o)

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