Dark Days Challenge

So I signed up for this and I have no news to report at all. I have missed the farmer's market 3 times in the last week and a half due to other commitments and passport getting. As of this morning I am completely out of local eggs, pretty close to out of local cheese and fruit and veggies with not nearly enough to last until next Wednesday (when the farmer's market is) So I guess I buy what TJ's has to offer and try to do better next week. And the challenge is one(!) 100% local meal per week. You wouldn't think that would be hard after a month of them. Go figure.

Our 1st Letterbox gathering

Here's DH getting his handwriting analyzed.



And here is Z (in the striped shirt) carrying his prizewinningly carved pumpkin.

We had a fantastic time at the gathering last weekend and wish there was one to go to every single month. We met lots of awesome people and we hear that there are rumblings for another gathering in the Spring in Monterey. Sign us up!

Computerless

Blogging will be extra light over the next few weeks. I am computer-less. Well, personal computer-less. I have DH's, but I don't like to use it all that much. Our power bills have been exorbitant and we cannot figure out why. We don't have air conditioning, And I don't use my dryer a huge amount. But my 7 year old computer runs hot and loud (and sloooooooow!) and gets louder as it is left on. So I turned it off the other day and watched the electric meter outside as it went from on to off and there was a noticeable slowdown. So we are going to leave mine off for a month and see what the power bill looks like. If it is down by $20+ dollars then I think there will be a discussion of a new computer. And I think it will be. As a bonus, the office is much quieter. But since the camera hooks up to my computer to download photos, I don't know that there will be any photos this month. :(

Eat Local Challenge endpost

Here is the haul I got at the farmer's market today. Well some of it, anyway. The tomatoes are mine from the garden and there were more eggs and strawberries plus some plums that never made it home and potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.

After I got started on this challenge, I felt a little weird about it. Almost false. I live in Southern California in a very agricultural part of Southern California. Lots of the produce much of the country gets in their stores comes from right here. Several of the recent fresh produce recalls are from right near here. (Hi onions! Spinach!) It seems unfair almost to pat myself on the back about eating locally when it is so much easier here then lots of other places. Do I want lemons? Figs? Just pick them from trees I personally have access to. Fresh eggs and chickens and turkey and cheese? Easy peasy. Even bananas, which are a very difficult item to find locally are available here, although they are a little difficult to come by. You have to know someone. (They don't call this a banana belt for nothing)

Right now in my garden, although the tomatoes came up and went into composting this weekend, I still have cucumbers and beans. The strawberries and artichokes are renewing, my herbs are beautiful and the kale is coming in strong. My Dwarf Meyer Lemon tree looks terrible. So sad. I think it isn't going to make it. I will attempt a blackberry when bare root plants come out in a few months.

It feels almost like another way to play "I'm more organic than you." And yet the ideals are sound. So much less petroleum used. So much better tasting food. Recognizing seasons as best you can, especially here in SoCal. Not eating apples shipped here from New Zealand(!) I was really surprised to see that actually. It never occurred to me they came from so far. I figured they were just storage apples. So apples are on hold until they start coming in from local farms. We have a few mealy gala apples right now, but they aren't great. Actually, they aren't even good.

So I did the best I could. I avoided the really heinous things like New Zealand apples and bananas from nations unknown. I tried to stay local as best I could, then California, then west coast. But still I know I wasn't even at 75% local for the month. I bought packaged foods (Hi TJ's!) and I made an effort to get to know the local producers for things and tried to make the local choice where available. But perfection wasn't even remotely attainable. I have neither the budget nor the time to go fully local. Not now anyway. But it is getting easier. And the farmer's market is my friend.

Went campin'

Toddler in aspen leaf crown. Too cute.


Campsite in process of being put together.

I love the annual school campout. Love love it. Even the early mornings and the cold nights and hot days. I can't wait until next year.

Love Thursday

Sheree over at She Knits Shizknits has a weekly thing she calls Love Thursday and, although I usually don't post my own, I keep it in my thoughts for the day to think of all the little things I love. Today I had to share.

I love preserved foods (tomatoes, pickles, lemon curd, etc) lining up in the kitchen like jewels.

I love clearing out the overgrown and finished things in the summer garden (bye tomatoes! bye other tomatoes! bye volunteer cherry tomatoes choking my rose bushes and herbs!) and preparing for fall. (hello kale! and artichokes!)

I love the look of the garden when it is weeded, cleaned up and mulched with compost.
Heirloom melons from the farmer's market.

I love neighbors who are willing to carpool to Z's school even though I can't reciprocate. (Lemons? pickles? tomatoes? Can I pay you in food?)

I love 2 year olds who love the piano desperately and deeply.

I love that I bought my 1st grader his very first yarn (Lamb's Pride bulky Lemon Drop) to teach him to knit this week and that he has elaborate plans already to start knitting hats for me and his brother.

I love getting to help out in Z's classroom every Tuesday thanks to a friend who has been taking B for the mornings (and who I hope to reciprocate for just as soon as potty training has gotten solid)

I love that DH still is learning things he didn't know about me 12 years later. (!)

FO:Small Lap Quilt from Bend-the-Rules Sewing

aka my very first quilt!

So, the first thing I should say it that this is not a small lap quilt. It is a mostly twin sized quilt (not quite wide enough) made according to the general specifications in the book. I chose some Moda Fabrics (I cannot remember the name of the line) in a sock monkey theme. It took a few hours uninterrupted to put together the top, another few hours to machine quilt it with the batting and backing and about a week and a half of here and there sewing to hand sew on the binding.

The pattern was relatively easy to follow, although the mitered corners instructions could have been clearer. There is a mistake in the pattern where it calls for a 144"x144" piece of fabric when she actually meant 44"x44", but that was the worst of it and not a big deal at all. I caught it on my own and then confirmed it in her errata list at the Flickr group

I just love this quilt and I am very grateful to my Dad and his wife for their generous gift card that allowed me to purchase all the fabric and almost all of the notions for this. B already loves it and was horrified I was going to take it away long enough to wash it.

Weekend Report

Wow, what a real crazy week! DH and I got sick the day before Rosh Hashanah. That'll really throw shopping and cooking into a tailspin when all you want to do all day is go to bed. I dragged myself to the farmer's market where I had called ahead to the farm to order 2 chickens for the holiday. They, of course, didn't have them or any meat at all, not even duck which I would have taken as a backup! And so ends the possibility of a mainly local holiday. I did make our challah myself from ingredients already in the house and the beautiful eggs I got at the market and local honey from the farm directly (They have a honey tasting room. How cool is that?). And we had slow roasted tomatoes made with things from our garden plus local olive oil and garlic both from the farmer's market. But the chicken was from TJ's.

And 2nd night we ate at some family friends' home. Wonderful Persian food! And great company. Shabbat dinner was blessedly vegetarian after the heavy food from days prior. (and completely local) I made tortilla espanol from local potatoes, onions and eggs and olive oil. Plus we had fruit and tomatoes and roasted tomato sauce from my garden and the market. If it is tomatoes lately it is from my garden. What a glut of tomatoes!

And speaking of gluts, we went over to DH's new office (the one the company just bought but hasn't moved into because of much renovating to be done.) and we picked an enormous amount of lemons because the lemon trees really needed to be cleared a bit so they could be tended to. So we have an absolute ton of lemons! And they are huge. See:



And so I see lemon curd and preserved lemons and lemon oil and lemon vinegar and lemon meringue pies in our future. These are headed to DH's office today.



Funny story about these pies. DH wanted to make his mom's lemon meringue pie. He has very fond memories of it. So he called his SIL to get the ingredients list to make sure we had everything and then we headed home to make it. As he is finishing up the baking on the 1st one, he happens to notice the recipe for lemon meringue pie on the side of the corn starch box. Yes, it was in fact his mother's super secret special recipe. D'oh!

Caution: Busy week ahead

So here is the quilt as it stands right now. Everything is done except for the handsewing of the binding - which I made good progress on last night as DH and I watched Hidalgo. Not what I would have chosen, but it was a good story. I didn't have much time to set up photos and fix light, so you get a flash photo with altered colors because a 2yo who shall remain nameless was freaking out a bit about who got to use Mommy's camera. I attempted to get a picture of him but it was a blur fest so no photo today.

2nd photo is a close up of what was supposed to a mitered corner. Her instructions were a bit vague (even though there was a drawn picture) Should I open the binding here or leave it closed? I left it closed due to the diagram, but either I should have left it open or I should have been folding the whole binding over double. In either case, it looks okay, but not what I would call mitered.

And the Eat Local Challenge. Well, we are doing what we can. Trying to include a heavy assortment of local foods at each meal as best I can. Produce is always local, bread and meat not so much (although I do have a source or two for local meat, it can be hit or miss as to supply) I made another (non-photographed) meal over the weekend of 100% local ingredients that I enjoyed immensely. Gotta work on the 2yo though. The 6yo loves it. It feels weird putting up photos of our meals. Heck, it feels weird taking photos of our meals. Sort of self-congratulatory in a way that makes me uncomfortable. And yet I never mind at all looking at other people's. Weird.

The rest of the week: Ah the High Holidays. Where local goes flying neatly out the window. Because there is no way I am going to attempt making my own gefilte fish from scratch. Not happening. And I won't be able to get a local roasting chicken because I was an hour (!) late calling the farm. I didn't know there was a time frame specific to that. Now I do. Just in time for nothing I suppose. It isn't like I have another roasting chicken need anytime soon. We don't eat enough meat for that. Maybe Thanksgiving turkey. I shudder to think how much that will cost. I could get a duck, but those are running $25/each. Plus I haven't the foggiest notion how to do one and I'm not going to try to figure it out in time for Rosh Hashanah. So I'll do my best, but apples aren't in season yet here (they are old storage apples at the market. Ugh) So I'll need to bring them in from somewhere west coast grown (maybe Washington?) And then there's Yom Kippur break fast and Sukkot combined with Z's school's annual campout. Lots of food and celebratory food at that. I'll do my best.

Last, but not least, while I was typing this, my 2yo broke into the office. He disassembled the baby gate, came in and then reassembled it. I guess it is time for the more challenging one to be put up in it's place.

And just a small Happy Birthday in memory of my mom who would have been 59 today.

Starting school

Yes, Z is back in school and I have zero pictures to show for it. I spent Tuesday helping in class while B went to a friend's house with whom we are swapping childcare. It is so incredibly strange to have Z gone for 6 hours of the day. I don't know what to do with myself exactly. I keep wandering from thing to thing. B and I need to figure out a new routine, but I am having a hard time feeling it. It's hard to even remember to make us lunch because I am so used to having lunch with Z when he gets back from kindy. After 2 years of that, it is a hard habit to break!

But I have been keeping busy. I have started my 1st quilt! I did the cutting last week, sewed it up on Sunday while DH had the boys out on a bike ride, bought the backing and batting yesterday evening and pinned it in place and spent time this morning diong the 1st pass on the quilting. I stitched it along all the seamlines or "in the ditch" first and then will go back and sew another line in between the seamlines to help keep it from shifting. And then on to the hardest part - binding. I need to take all the scraps from it and make the binding and then attach it. Since all the finishing is by hand, I expect it to take me awhile of carting it around with me.

And here is where we are right now:

Labor Day Locally

So I have found it completely impossible to eat 100% local so far. Neither enough time nor knowledge of local sources to do it justice. But I think I may take a page out of the One Local Summer Challenge and shoot for one 100% local meal a week and then try to feature local food on the table throughout the week.

This Labor Day weekend, we took a trip to the semi-local Farmer's Market The very local one has virtually no organic growers. It is good for most weeks, but I like making the trip to the farther one at least once a month. In the photo above there are homegrown Brandywine tomatoes and green beans, goat cheese in olive oil from both local goat cheese makers/goat farm and olive oil also from a local producer, grassfed bison short ribs (the goat cheese for me, the bison for DH and whichever boy was willing to try it) and bread for the crostini also from the farmer's market. And a small bouquet from a local grower as well.

It was wonderful and very special feeling making and serving this meal. We get in such a rush these days around this place that we end up either throwing together packaged food or run out to grab something out. We get into the rut of "what's for dinner? Organic or drive-through. A weird juxtaposition I know. We went to a picnic at DS's school last week and so few people brought homemade food. Most brought take-away and lots of others brought packaged food. And, to be honest, if it hadn't been the day before payday, I probably would have gone that route myself. Perhaps the point of this challenge for me is to quit the mindless meals and actually prepare, with love, rather then as an afterthought, the meals around here.

The trick is how to do it while honoring myself as well. Realizing that I can't be super-organic perfect mom and just try to be mindful and nourishing when I put food in front of my kids instead of just putting food there. It is harder then it looks, which is strange since I grew up with a family dinner every single night. Homemade. From a working mom. On a budget. So I know from experience it is totally doable.

School Work Days

Ah back-to-school. Freshly sharpened pencils, school shopping, organizing, new clothes, the whole deal. I loved it as a kid and apparently I still look forward to it as an adult. And not just in the "oh-thank-heavens-my-kid-is-out-of-my-hair-again" kind of way (although there is some measure of that.)

So in that vein, we were at school today helping get the classroom ready for kids next week. Z's teacher is a brand new teacher and he needs help organizing all of the classroom hand-me-downs, cleaning stuff, decorating stuff, etc. And so we headed down there. Z was into the cleaning at first, but he is 6, so it can't last forever. So he and his buddy went out to play for awhile and then he sat down to this:



And this is what the reading corner looked like when we left today. Everything is stacked into piles of similar material (holidays, general fiction, chapter books, Magic Tree House, etc.) I'm thinking that window would be nice with some curtains. Maybe just a valance?

Birthday Expotition

Dh had a birthday this past weekend and so we dragged him out of bed at an alarming 10am, headed for Peet's where we found this horrifying sign (I usually pay for all my drinks lately on a Peet's gift card. Helps stick to the budget) Luckily DH cleared an emergency check card usage LOL



The we headed north to do some hiking/letterboxing where the James Boys located and conquered their treasure.

Then on to a pizza lunch (sans cheese for the littlest one - once he realizes he's been getting gypped of cheese, we won't be able to have it around him anymore.)

And then to the zoo before getting called back to DH's office to help get the latest build out due to a late breaking bug. Even counting the 2 hours at the office, we had a good time.

Last night (although I have no photographic evidence of it) DH set my phone alarm to wake us up at 3am so we could wake Z to go and watch the eclipse. I stayed up long enough to see the pinnacle and then went back to bed. Apparently, DH and Z stayed up to 4am watching. Pretty cool.

Eat Local Challenge September 2007

I have been food obsessed forever. Well, at least what seems like it. Through years of veganism, diets, eating organic and belonging to a CSA before it was in fashion and when eating organic basically meant eating local. And over the years I have become passionate about local food (although not in a movement sort of way) As a matter of fact, I had no idea until recently that there even was such a thing as a local eating movement. But then an article in my local paper alerted me to a group called Locavores. Which alerted me to the fact that they are having something called the Eat Local Challenge September 2007. (I'm a little to late for One Local Summer)

I've already determined that it will likely be impossible to be entirely month-long local eaters. Between DH's protein powder and flour/bread products (how would I even go about finding a local flour source. That doesn't show up at the farmer's market!) I think I will have to make a goal to eat all fresh foods (fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, etc.) local and all supplementary parts of our diet (flour products, protein powder for DH, sugar, coffee, soy sauce, etc.) a minor part - no more that 25% and hopefully much less. I foresee roasted chicken, fresh veggies, fruits, eggs and goat cheese in our upcoming future. Mmmmmm. Goat cheese. You haven't lived till you've had the pesto goat cheese from Healthy Family Farms. Dh would disagree. Because clearly it is their cranberry walnut that is the pinnacle.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out. September is the month with back-to-school and High Holidays. And Z's school-wide campout. Can it be done? I may have to cut myself some slack, but it is a goal...

Bread and Butter Pickles

One of my favorite canned foods from my childhood! The minute the pickling ingredients hit the pot - even before they came to a boil - the smell transported me back. And then I added the cucumbers:



Then I ladled them into jars, capped them and processed them and in a month or so we will ahve bread and butter pickles. I can't wait to share them with the children who will, I'm sure hate them and I will have made something only I will eat. at least it is something yummy! Hee!

Garden gatherings

The garden has been producing of late. Bags full of green beans, a refrigerator full of cucumbers (that I need to put up) and now the tomatoes are starting. Finally. I can enjoy my toast with tomatoes with my very own homegrown ones. If the Brandywines ever ripen, I will be up to my ears in eating tomatoes and I will be able to can the San Marzanos.



Funny thing about gardening here. All this sun and I thought for sure I would have had tons of ripe tomatoes by now. I mean they've been in the farmer's market for more then a month now. And my Brandywines are huge but nowhere near ready to turn ripe. but my tomato plants are huge and taking over the whole planting area. I never expected plants taller then me. The zucchini was a bust and I am a miserable failure so far at container gardening. Everything seems to be getting rootbound. And I miss my wonderful gardening store in OC where they had the most amazing plants and the best help ever. I need someone to take me under their wing and show me the finer points. But nobody I know locally gardens or sews, or spins or any of the other things I want to learn to do by absorbing someone else's knowledge instead of creating mine from whole cloth out of a book. So I suppose it is down to trial and error. Not such a big deal I guess. You do have to start somewhere.

And here's a pic DH took the other day when B got into the Better Than Cream Cheese and created his very own non-milk moustache.

FO Report: Waving Lace Socks

FO Report: Waving Lace Socks, Favorite Socks by Interweave Press

Started February 2007, finished 08/15/07

Yarn: Austermann Step Color 10 (I think)

Review: Funny thing about this pattern. I saw Sheree make hers ages ago and loved the pattern and the yarn and put it in the back of my mind to do. Then the Favorite Socks book came out with the pattern front and center in it (it *is* the cover sock) and so I picked up some yarn for it that I knew was self-striping and that just seemed right for the project. Turns out, I was not only making the sock Sheree made, but in the exact same yarn!

Anyway, these were actually really great to make. The pattern was easy to follow and I followed it exactly, save for needle size (I used size 2 needles) so that I could make them a tad bigger for my slightly larger then average foot (and they do fit perfectly). The first sock flew by, but it was the second sock that dragged on forever and I can only figure it was because I was out of the knitting groove and didn't feel inspired.

Of course, now I don't know what to move on to do next.

Lots to say today

for some reason.



Anyway, in handwork/sewing/whatever news, I have been busy. I have made it within one repeat and a toe of finishing these socks. It has required forced dedication and swim lessons to accomplish it, but the pair is almost complete. Whew.



Also, I am working on a pair of pants for Z since he is hard to fit. For the record, I am not the world's greatest (or most accomplished or trained) seamstress. I have never made a tailored item ever nor have I ever put a zipper in anything. But now I have. These pants are within spitting distance of being done. Just a waistband and hemming. I sure hope they fit.


Saddest Zucchini ever

Gardening. *sigh* I must be the only person in the world who can't grow zucchini. I have gotten a tiny handful of zucchini out of the garden this year, but mostly I have been plagued by a mildew fungus thing that is gross on the leaves and rotting all the zucchini before they can get to any length whatsoever. My tomatoes are growing tons (although not ripening yet for the most part) and the cucumbers and beans are prolific. The zucchini gets pulled out today.

And for family - the gratuitous shot of the boys. (p.s. Like the artichokes in the vase? Me too!)



p.s. isleta - email me!!! I haven't talked to you in forever and your profile is private. Email address is over there <----------

Mid Summer Blahs

Here is B at the park with some new bubbles. Fun!

Z started swim lessons last week (we waited so he could be in with one of his friends who ended up withdrawing. We should have just started sooner.) He is doing wonderfully in there though. He has made an enormous amount of progress just in the last week. We should have done this ages ago. The downside is that the lessons are every single day, but I suppose that is an upside too. His tennis lessons are good too. I don't see him becoming Andre Agassi or anything, but it is good exercise and also fun, so...

School starts in a few weeks and we are slowly getting ready for it. We've done some supply shopping, but until we get a list, I can only get the obvious basics. I also got Z a new Sigg bottle (pirate themed and very cute) This is the first year that he has full days and so I need to send him with a lunch. Lunch has always been challenging with the kids because they are not sandwich eaters, so I have to be creative. Add a packed lunch to that and it becomes way harder.

Dh has been working 80-90 hour weeks lately and it will go on (presumeably) until almost the end of the month. So all our days are blurring into each other since there is no weekend to break it up. And my favorite pair of jeans has given up the ghost. :(

Happy (belated) birthday to me!

I wish very much that I had taken a picture of the cake Z made for me (with Dad's help) but alas I didn't. It was awesome though. I also was given a $40 Peet's gift card (yum!) and Bend-the-Rules Sewing, for which I am headed to buy fabric today. And then a neightbor and friend very kindly offered to watch the boys (after they were in bed) so we could go out for a little while and enjoy ourselves. And we did.

And here are my guys at the skate park yesterday in all their adorable glory.