Monthly Archive for June, 2006

Number Five is Alive!

Published
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mikaela
on June 20, 2006
in locavore
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Fifth CSA pick-up and I’m beginning to fear my joy on these days. I mean, I know that these amazing harvests aren’t going to continue 52 weeks out of the year, but already… We’re addicted.

Our friend Kelly and I were discussing our luck in living in an area so rich with farm land and CSA opportunities. She and her boyfriend Justin joined the CSA at Pennypacker Farm this year, and we share a Tuesday pick-up day. This week, she got raspberries! No raspberries for us (yet!), but that’s okay, as our share certainly left us feeling nothing but fulfilled.

This week:
three cucumbers
three zucchini
head of red lettuce
head of green lettuce
bunch of spring onions
bunch of basil
four fennel
one kohlrabi
handful of cillantro
handful of dill
3/4 pound of kale and/or swiss chard
1/2 pound of spring greens
1/2 pound of broccoli
bunch of carrots
six beets

Yeah, I passed on the swiss chard this time around. I’ve not given up on it, mind you. I’m just taking a break. And besides, we’ve got it in our garden :o)

Other notes of this week: This is the first pick-up I’ve done on my own. Usually, AveryCain is my co-pilot; Jason is at work and school on pick-up days, but he did join me last Tuesday. Um, does anyone else have off for Flag Day? I didn’t think so :-P Anyway… I think the zucchini are the cutest veggie to date, these outside photographs are the best so far, I’m really glad the kale is still coming, we’ve begun rooting some of the basil so that we can plant it (there’s just so much of it!) and we are going to make excellent use of From Asparagus to Zucchini.

And finally, a kohlrabi update: Tonight, I made a stir fry of the bok choy, kohlrabi, spring onions and some millet that I got from out natural foods co-op. I think it was a wee bit salty, but otherwise yummm!

Maybe raspberries next week? Who knows - half the fun is the surprise!

PS: You remember, “Number Five is alive!” right?

Fourth CSA Pick Up

Published
by
mikaela
on June 20, 2006
in locavore
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I never thought I’d hear myself saying this, but… I think we have too much produce.

Thank goodness the seester and pops are home. Our little family of three just can’t handle this whole share for ourselves. Well, I should say, this little family of three with no freezing or canning knowledge can handle it. By the end of the summer however, I’d say that we will have some of those skills :o)

This week:
beets
kohlrabi
green lettuce
collards
kale
carrots
turnips
red lettuce
basil
spring mix
sugar snap peas
snow peas
cilantro

Beets + kohlrabi = beautiful :o) Other things we’re thinking: Our love for beets is ever-growing, we may be tiring of turnips (not that we don’t love them, we’re just running out of ideas) and we’re finally ready to try the kohlrabi.

After receiving inquiries regarding the preparation of the lesser-know veggies, our fabulous CSA “directors” (Tricia and Tom) have reccomended, and offered to order for interested members, the book From Asparagus to Zucchini. Certainly, we’ll find some awesome kohlrabi direction in there :o)

Meet our boy, Francis

Published
by
mikaela
on June 17, 2006
in love
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Lots of outside work lately :o) The veggie garden that we laid out in April was planted right before Mother’s Day and is doing fabulously. Yay veggies!

The photograph on the top is facing the alley, the photograph on the bottom is facing the house. The white building is our neighbor’s garage whose vintage look is proving to be a perfect backdrop to the garden, don’t you think?

We planted:
tomatoes
zucchini
yellow squash
jalapeño peppers
banana peppers
red bell peppers
broccoli
cabbage
onions
string beans
red lettuce

So far, no fertilizer, no pesticides, no insecticides, no nothing! We mixed in our compost pile with the soil when it was planted and since then, it’s had just sun, water and love. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll continue to get through the season with only those three ingredients.

We also moved Saint Francis to his intended place in the garden. What? didn’t you know Saints should be placed behind the lettuce?

The Saint Francis statue was given to me by two amazing people, Jean and Wally Dolan. Ol’ Saint Franny was chillin’ in their gardens for nearly 30 years, where Wally unfailingly took care of him with a fresh coat of spray polyurethane every other season or so. Then, a few years ago, the Dolans decided to downsize and moved into a condo. They gave a lot of things away when they moved, downsizing not only their landscape, but also their possessions.

Of course, Saint Francis made the cut, and found his new place at the foot of the stairs leading up to the new Dolan home. Wally and Jean always knew that they wanted to pass the statue onto someone, but they wanted to find someone that would care for him and get as much joy out of him as they had for so long.

A couple months ago, they mentioned Saint Francis and their quest to find him a new home to a group of us and I jumped (no really, I jumped), clasped my hand together, and gushed about my love for the Saint and how he is just my favorite Saint ever and how we just dug up our yard and how I would have just the perfect place for him once we put in the gardens and I promised I would take care of him and could I, could I please, keep him? Please? Please, huh, please?

I think primarily in an effort to shut me up, they said yes. I picked him up that afternoon.

So, Francis has kind of been hanging out here and there in the yard since April. This weekend, he picked his preferred location in the lively, colorful and serene vegetable garden. (Click the photo to enlarge it.) He looks perfect there, doesn’t he?

Zoom!

Published
by
mikaela
on June 11, 2006
in simplify/sustainability
. 3 Comments

Best thrift store purchase to date: Aaaw yeah. It’s a Scott’s classic model in impeccable condition, and came with a catch bag and a sharpening kit. Oh, and it cost us 25 bucks.

25.

Bucks.

Had we bought it new, it would have cost us over $100. I’ve been looking for a reel mower since last spring, and I am so glad that I didn’t give up, give in and buy one new. My favorite thrift store, Impact! in Lansdale, reliably came through for us once again. It’s lovely when patience pays off, yes?

It only took five of us, but we figured out how to sharpen the blades:
From left to right, that’s Jason, Mattie, Daddy-O and Bill. Mikaela is behind the camera.

Milk and Eggs

Published
by
mikaela
on June 8, 2006
in locavore
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Now, all we need is bread!

I mentioned a couple weeks ago, how our Bolton’s pick up and Blooming Glen pick up have been working perfectly together. After we pick up our share from Blooming Glen, we stop by Bolton’s to switch out our milk bottles (Penn View Farms in Perkasie) and grab a carton of organic local eggs (Alderfer’s Farm in Harleysville). Bolton’s is actually a free range turkey farm, but they have a little market that carries other staples like milk, eggs, jellies, trail mixes, etc. Tuesday is beginning to be our favorite feel-good-by-acting-locally day of the week!

And actually, I bet we could work in a stop at Bakers on Broad to pick up some fresh, yummy bread. Hmmm… Food for thought :o)

Third CSA Pick Up

Published
by
mikaela
on June 6, 2006
in locavore
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We’ve got a big responsibility this week: Jason, Avery Cain and I have the entire CSA share for ourselves. Daddy-O and Brookie are at Fan Fair, which means no groceries for them!

bunch of basil
two kohlrabi
bok choy
swiss chard
spring onions
red radish
beans - sugar snap and/or snap
peas
green head lettuce
carrots
beets
broccoli
cucumber
turnips
spring mix

Oh boy. That’s a lot of veggie love!

I made a radish salad with the radishes (the ones pictured here and the white radishes I had in the fridge), cucumber and toasted almonds. I dressed it with a mix of apple cider vinegar and olive oil with a few pinches of organic raw sugar. I had plans to make an orange and radish salad (recipe courtesy of dad), but didn’t have all the ingredients on hand. I just couldn’t justify going to the market and purchasing *more* produce. My neighbor, Peggy, suggested the simple one above, which turned out great :o)

And the rest? Lots of yummy green salads, a new love for fresh beets, steamed broccoli lovin’ for AveryCain, using basil on everything and yet another failed attempt at cooking with swiss chard.

Sigh.

Oh swiss chard, why do I keep coming back to you? You’re just so pretty (see? to the left?). I can’t help but keep falling, tripping, stumbling into the illusion that I can make you taste good. I even planted you in my own garden this year! You make me vain, swiss chard, you make me vain and I’m afraid I’ve not given up on your temptations yet. People like this aren’t helping, either.

Well, other than the swiss chard spell under which I’ve fallen once again, It’s been great this week. But we’re glad Brookie and Pops will be back to share next week!

Philadelphia holiday

Published
by
mikaela
on June 5, 2006
in love
. 0 Comments

We stayed in Philadelphia this weekend for the Wizard World Comic Convention. The convention was fun (especially for the boys), but I think the visit to Cereality in University City was the real winner this trip. Seriously? You need to go.

We usually stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Midtown because it’s cheap and they have a pool. A pool on the roof. I mean, it’s like, we’re automatically the Coolest Parents on Earth when we stay there. However, this trip we stayed at Loew’s Philadelphia, because the Holiday Inn was booked. We had an awesome experience at Loew’s. It was the best customer service we’ve ever had a hotel. Everyone was friendly and knowledgeable and pleasant - the housekeepers, the valet, the front desk people - everyone! The only thing we were disappointed with was the charges a la carte-style for the amenities. Ten bucks to use the gym…? Otherwise though, it was really a great, great experience :o)

On the way out of town, we stopped at FDR skatepark. Jason didn’t have his deck, but AveryCain let him borrow his so he could hop on the ramp (not the 12 foot one!). Most of the time, though, Avery rode the concrete section of the park and Jason and I watched.

The best part of the entire weekend though, is the picture of Avery we found on the camera, and placed here at the bottom right (click on it for a larger version). It has got to be the best photograph I have of him. He’s so happy, so natural and so unbelievably beautiful. And, that’s Jase on the left - the one Avery’s smiling at. Damn. I love my boys!

Yay for mini-holidays! :-D

This is where shrubs come to die

Published
by
mikaela
on June 3, 2006
in home
. 0 Comments

Did I say die? I mean, rehabilitate. They come here to get better, healthier, happier, yay!

The best part of rehabilitating plants? Re-potting.
The best part of re-potting? Dirt.
The best part of dirt? Adding water.
The best part of adding water? Mud.
The best part of mud? This:

My little neighbor and Amanda’s sister, Erykah, was my helper this weekend. Actually, she’s been our helper since Amanda and I planted the front bed. I just want to eat her up.

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