Favorite Food

I love to cook, and I can't get away with cooking anything without Timothy's help. He loves to eat, I love to eat, food is just a very loved thing in our house. So, imagine my dismay when, at dinner last night, Timothy responded to the question of "what is your favorite thing to eat?"

"Dog food."

Hmm.

In other news, I ran the half marathon yesterday. It was long, but really a great experience. Very glad I did it, and I am even considering doing it again when I'm not painfully sleep deprived.

One night

We haven't been sleeping a lot over our way. I was not blessed with children who sleep a great deal, but it has gotten even worse as one illness was quickly followed by another, and this one is a real doozy for the poor little guys. However, we had one blessed night of good sleep on Friday night. Patrick was up only a couple times, and quickly went back to his dreams, and Timothy didn't call out at all. Wow. I felt like a new woman Saturday morning.



I managed to make some yummy food and even do some cleaning, all with my well rested young munchkins either helping or happily playing.



Oh, for another night like that one. I know the day will come when I am not desperately sleep deprived, but at least we got a taste of it for half a weekend.

It's done!

It only took five months, but I'm excited to be able to finally give this to Andrew and Megan! Just in time to keep them warm this winter!



It also makes for great roads.

First try

I'd love to say that Timothy running the last little bit with me was the reason my time was what it was, but alas, I'm not the fastest runner in the world. But, it was a great experience, and I am glad that I tried it. I even want to do another so that I can see if my time improves.

The turnout wasn't huge at the race due to the weather, but it was actually perfect for running--not too hot, but pleasant enough to still be wearing shorts. I find that my strength is on the hills, and even though it's not my favorite part, perhaps I would find more success at racing on something like a mountain run.

Highlights? Definitely having Timothy race toward me at the end. Hands down the best part.

We'll see...

Timothy helped me pick 18 pounds of cabbage today. What, you ask, does one do with 18pounds of cabbage?

Well, I remembered the old pickling crock of my great grandmother's and got it from my mom.



Timothy and I then used the trusty food processor to shred every last head of cabbage.



And we are now letting it ferment in its own juices to make sauerkraut! Check back in about 4 weeks to see if it actually worked!

Motivators

1. Nothing like a small boy digging up potatoes to give to the chickens to spur on a timely potato harvest. Had some of the russets tonight--delicious!

2. Last week, I caught a cold and didn't run much. This Saturday, I actually signed up for a race (yikes!) to get used to the idea of, well, running in a race. So, I couldn't very well let the sun setting prevent my keeping to schedule. On the seventh (and thankfully last) of my hill sprints, a bat flew right in front of me and I could count several stars in the sky. It really was beautiful, to be honest. If only it wasn't getting darker by minutes every day...

Surprise visitors

On our way home from the park today, I noticed one of our neighbors' cows in our field. I told the kids we had better give him a ring to let him know where his stray was, when I noticed another one. We were walking up our steps when I turned around and looking straight at me from behind our eastern hill were twenty jersey cows. I burst out laughing. Timothy was beside himself, excited, and after calling the neighbor I ran to get the camera.



When they saw we had nothing tasty in the barn, they headed over to the other side of the hayfield.

I love living here.

Dinner

I remember summer meals when I was growing up that came almost entirely from the garden. Usually new potatoes, green beans, cucumber and tomato salad, and, not from the garden, something like cottage cheese on the side. I always thought it was pretty cool, even when I wasn't too keen on everything on my plate (the green beans I had growing up were never quite cooked to my liking and ended up squeaking between my teeth--very weird).

Our dinner tonight wasn't quite entirely from the garden, but it was close. The delectable rye bread you see was paired with a tasty borscht made with beets and cabbage from our garden.

Timothy's response was "not like" although he still had several bites. Patrick LOVED it.

August in Vermont

Means blackberries.




And blackberries mean pie.



Funny--over the course of two hour long pickings, I got about 4+ gallons of berries. So, at about $3/cup you pay at the grocery store, I saved about $200. Wow.

Not bad for working in the yard.

Worth it

There are some veggies that are worth the effort and some that, well, aren't. You have to weigh the work that goes into them and then consider how much you get back OR how much better what you get back is from the grocery store.



Take tomatoes. We don't have the greatest weather for them up here and they grow much better elsewhere, but nevertheless, they are so wonderful straight from the garden. They are juicy and flavorful and just lovely morsels (in the cherry variety) of goodness. So, unless I go to the effort of a greenhouse, I'll never grow enough to can, but the joy of a homegrown tomato is most certainly worth the effort.



I can't say that green beans are my favorite vegetable, but they are extremely prolific and the amount I am able to freeze and can (for dilly beans) can be described as sheer abundance. I actually planted a second crop this year and we should be set on beans until next summer.



Peppers, not so much. But, they look pretty cool on the plant... it amazes me what a large fruit this produces for such a relatively small plant. I'm holding out on picking these to see if they'll turn red.



Corn is a no brainer as long as we bring in the ears before the raccoons discover it. Last year I put up 25 quarts in the freezer. So nice.



I wish I could say that peas were worth it for their quantity, but they really aren't. Four rows of peas amounted to about 2 cups (and I'm being generous) of the little balls, but oh, were they sweet. They were Patrick's first taste of green veggies, and I'm really glad about that. It is mind boggling to me to think about how many plants must go into the entire production of Bird's Eye and Green Giant when I see how much effort I put into my silly little pint.

Summer has come...

...and I make apple cranberry muffins. I know, supposed to be fall foods, right? Well, most every day this summer has been fairly fall like, so I had the ingredients already. Actually, I had bought extra cranberries last fall and it's time they left the freezer. I've been using the wonderful cookbook my friend Robyn is always referring to--A Passion for Baking--and I love how the author adds an extra flourish to something rather tasty. This time, an addition of a red apple slice on the top of the muffin. Just lovely.

So, summer actually has finally made an appearance and I am going to enjoy every 80-90 degree minute. It's not going to last too long, as it's already the middle of August. It is a godsend for our garden, and I've been harvesting like crazy. We were gone for a few days to my father-in-law's camp (so, so relaxing!) and after being away from the garden for three days, I had to toss a bunch of overgrown beans. I still managed to pick quite a few to put up in the freezer in addition to our dinner veggie (pureed some for little Patrick... not his favorite so far....). Lots and lots of pickling cucumbers, so pickling is on the to-do list for tomorrow. Tomatoes are overcoming this summer's blight and I have a few red ones getting close to pick. Yum!

Here's to summertime, fleeting but cherished! And a couple pictures of my cuties up at the lake.

Two times the charm

So, we tried it again. Maine. A long drive. Nights away from home. It went well, all things considered. The first night was a little tough and the big little guy got sick, but we had a lot of fun. Timothy loved, I mean really loved, the ocean. It was awesome to see.

Nice to know that it can indeed be done!

Yoga

Timothy loves to bake with me. I like to think it's because he enjoys hanging out with me and shares in my love of cooking, but really, it's most likely because he likes to lick the spoon. And put his entire hand in the batter when I'm not looking. He has a particular affinity for fistfuls of bread dough. Oh, and sugar. I mean, "woogah".



These tasty bran muffins are from my new favorite cookbook, A Passion For Baking (thanks for the suggestion, Robyn!). Not the most photogenic muffin, but the silicone cups are worth touting as a wonderful invention. Leaves a nice tender bottom on the muffin without the necessity of throwing away used paper. A nice present from Santa last Christmas.

I wish I could say we are always cooking healthy things like bran muffins, which would probably aid my attempts at getting into shape. But, alas, I like chocolate way too much. Anyway, regarding workouts, Mondays are stretch and strengthening days and I accomplish that with a yoga class. I really love going--the challenge, the cycle of the workout, the soreness I get in places I never thought to stretch or strengthen. I've been working on the headstand--inversions were a little tough to tackle after breaking my toe a couple years ago--and I'm venturing away from the reliability of the wall. One thing that I particularly like about yoga (or the classes in our neck of the woods anyway) is that there is no expectation of perfection--you do what you can do and you push yourself as far as you are comfortable going. I enjoy seeing how far I can go and I love the freedom to fall over on my butt and hear myself laugh along with everyone else. Mondays are a highlight of the training week.

Trip

The kids and I just took a trip to Maine with some friends whose parents have a cabin on small lake. It was supposed to be a three nighter, but we came home after one night. I felt really guilty about cutting it short, as I was afraid our hosts might take it personally, but as I lay awake last night with our bigger little guy as he is crying in my arms "Timmy go home" interspersed with our littler little guy being up four times in six hours, all I could think was I can't do this by myself and decided to put myself and my family ahead of how I was afraid someone else might feel.

Really, I'm sure it would have been fine if we had ended up staying. As you can see from the pictures, the kids had a ton of fun during the day. And, perhaps I should have had the fortitude to keep going despite my intense fatigue and ill-timed migraine as it would have given Timothy some good overnighter experience. I just don't know sometimes, as a parent, when I'm supposed to comfort and when I'm supposed to teach a stiff upper lip.

I know that I can't let this make me fear overnighters (although it does) and I need to remember the pure glee in Timothy's face as he splashed in the water and had so much fun. I'm sure the longer I look at the joyful pictures from the trip, the memory of difficulties will soon fade away.

What you don't see....

... is the big black bear thirty feet to the right of the turkey. Timothy pointed outside this morning to show me the turkey and when we looked closer, there was a beautiful black bear staring right at the turkey. He wandered off before I had a chance to get the camera, but we saw him a few minutes later loping out in the back field where we have quite a wild strawberry patch. So amazing!

We've actually had quite a bit of animal activity since yesterday when the farmer finally got the first cutting out of our field. It's been such a wet summer, he hasn't been able to hay at all. Lots of birds circling, looking for newly homeless mice I imagine.

Speaking of mice, Timothy has quite an obsession with them. He likes to draw pictures of Tucker chasing a mouse (his description of the image) and talks about mice gobbling up various things (stemming from a great book about a big red strawberry, a little mouse and a big hungry bear). Recently, this has combined with a desire to keep Shawn or me in his room at night (in his new big boy bed!) when he tells us that he is scared. "What are you scared of?" we ask. "Mouse" he replies. "Why are you afraid of the mouse?" "Mouse gobble up." "What's the mouse gobbling up?" we query. "Timmy's trucks." Ah, we don't want to lose those.

It's pretty cute.

I'm back!

Well, it's been almost a year since I last posted to this blog. We've been busy, I guess, and some motivation was lacking to devote my time to sitting in front of the computer. Today, however, I went for a great run on a nearly-summer day (we haven't had many this summer) and decided it was time to start up again for a couple reasons.

1. I'm intending to run a half-marathon this fall and it's going to be difficult staying on a training regimen on those days when I'm sleep deprived from two youngsters being up during the night. If I feel like I have an audience there to show my dedication to, I'll be much less likely to slouch off my workouts!

2. Shawn took the picture of the cheesecake I made yesterday and it was just too good not to share. I've decided I'll cook and Shawn will be my photographer--that is an art I just don't have an eye for.

I've been running off and on since our little Patrick was born--today was the longest run I've done yet, about 4 1/2 miles, and it felt great. The beautiful day definitely helped too--gotta love vitamin D.

So, back to the window into my little world. Enjoy!