Organic Carrot Gardening- not for the faint of heart.

I started out with some carrots pulled fresh from the garden.

Then, I cut the tops off, leaving a little bit of green, but not too much. Supposedly this prevents wilting of the carrot during storage and it worked for me. Previous attempts this summer to store the carrots with the pretty, leafy tops failed.

Then I had a sink full of carrots, with lots of soil still on them.

So I lighty scrubbed the dirt off, using no water. At this point the carrots were still somewhat wet from the garden soil, so I put them in a big bowl and stuck them in the fridge to dry.

A couple days later I started scrubbing, and scrubbing, and scrubbing some more with a bristle-y scrub brush.

Then I peeled the carrots.

Trimmed them.

And sent these three with Keith to work. They were the best looking ones. I blanched & froze a few bags and have some more sitting in my sink to be peeled for dinner tonight.

The variety we grew was “Short N Sweet“- and they are only supposed to grow to be 4 inches. Next year I think I will try a different variety- these taste great, but the smaller specimens are a bit of a pain to scrub and peel without losing some of your own skin. Ouch. We also planted the seeds too close together, which may account for why we had so many itty bitty carrots.

And of course, we got a mutant carrot or two…

So here’s the thing about growing root vegetables, organic or not…

You will end up with, err, organic material in your kitchen. As in dirt. Soil. Rocks. Bugs. Spiders.

And guess what happens when you clean up? And add water to the dirt?

You guessed it, MUD. On your countertop. Yay.

And picking, cleaning, trimming, scrubbing, peeling and cutting carrots takes a considerable amount of time.

But I think it’s worth it. Just be forewarned.

I took out Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day from the library over the summer, and have been working on perfecting the basic boule loaf ever since.

I think I’ve got it now. And now it really does take me five minutes of active work to make the dough, shape the loaf, and stick in the oven. At first it was sticky mess that took waaaaay longer than five minutes, but now the recipe lives up to it’s name.

Now, onto bigger, more complicated things. Because, you know, I just have to make things complicated. I’m a Martha, not a Mary, remember? Busy, busy, busy.

I have been following the blog of the authors of Artisan Breads, and am thrilled that they are coming out with Healthy Breads in Five Minutes a Day at the end of this month. Just in time for my birthday, I told my mom. She thought it was kind of funny that I wanted either a bread baking book for my birthday or kettle bells & a kettle bell workout dvd. Carbs or weights. Yada yada. But that’s another story.

So… I have been noticing some new recipes on Jeff & Zoe’s blog and was drawn particularly to their Garlic, Chard, and Parmesan Bread. I love swiss chard and had a ton in the garden, but never got around to making this during peak harvest.

I picked the last of the chard this past week, but was a little insecure about bringing more chard over to our neighbors for dinner (and particularly end-of-the-harvest- chard), so I opted to use some bagged baby spinach I had on hand. I’ve been somewhat addicted to spinach this pregnancy so there’s always some around here. I also opted to use the bread dough that I had in the fridge, which is the basic boule recipe (found here) and I used the cheese I had on hand. Part Skim Shredded Mozzarella and some romano cheese. I don’t like parmesan much and Keith would eat the kind that’s in the green tube without flinching. Yuck. Thank goodness I do the grocery shopping around here. We’re a romano cheese kind of family.

Mmmm. It was delicious! I enjoyed a slice, but left the rest of loaf at the neighbors, or else I would eat it all. And THAT would negate my spin class workout, right?

Plus there’s enough temptation coming out of the oven on a regular basis over here anyways.

I got Jessica Seinfeld’s book, Deceptively Delicious, out from the library this past week in a feeble attempt to get my child to eat more than yogurt, oatmeal, the occasional apple or banana, and crackers.

The first recipe, Mac N Cheese with pureed butternut squash, was a monumental failure. I roasted, I pureed, I boiled, I drained, I mixed, all during Sweet Pea’s nap.

Here you see the picky eater eyeing it.

It doesn’t look like the stuff from the box, mom.

Doesn’t stick on the spoon the same way.

Nope, not even going to try more than a miniscule sampling. No thank you no thank you no thank you.

I should have just taken a nap too.

I’d just like to tell you that I do not look good in jewel tones. Please stop making EVERYTHING in DARK, DRAB colors!!!!

It’s tough enough to go shopping when you are 20 pounds heavier than you normally are, with a big ole belly in front, well knowing that what you are buying will only be worn for a few months. I have gone to the big box maternity store with nothing but a pair of jeans to show for it and have fruitlessly searched various department stores for clothes to no avail. I have no choices ANYWHERE!!! And there isn’t a Gap Maternity within 100 miles of me. Oye. Not like their color palette is much better.

And the Nicole Richie line? A hundred and twenty bucks  for a gray flowy bohemian-ish cardigan? Really? Not everybody is the offspring of a wealthy musician.

I’ve ordered this pattern from Burda:

I’m hopeful that *maybe* it’ll work out. Too bad that the model doesn’t look pregnant at all.

Really, Jon and Kate? I mean, really? What are you thinking???

My thoughts on the Gosselin saga are many… I think that Walt Mueller’s June post (the president of the Center of Parent/ Youth Understanding)  and Christianity Today’s article echoes most of my sentiments. The issues in the Gosselin home, or rather, the issues in BOTH of the parents, are the very same sins that lurk in our own hearts.

“This train wreck called Jon & Kate Plus 8 offers a clear window into the human condition. . . and ourselves. This is a couple whose deep, deep narcissism has made them oblivious to each other, their kids, their extended family, old friends, wise living, and perhaps even the God they so blatantly claim to serve. It appears they’ve forgotten the everyday reality of their human depravity and the constant dangers that it poses. They’ve let down their guard. The evidence seems to point to the fact that they are eagerly engaged in the pursuit and worship of created things, rather than their Creator. Life has become about the things they can get. Kate is embracing the life of a diva. But they are not alone. Each of us has the seeds of the same thing sitting in our own hearts. While you and I can sit where we sit and pronounce it as wrong – and we should – I wonder what I would do if I had the opportunity to receive what they’ve received. I know what I should do. I can say what I think I would do. But I know what I’d be tempted to do. So if we are going to fulfill our responsibility to speak up and criticize, it had better be done in a humble spirit that recognizes beyond a shadow of a doubt that each of us is only one bad decision away from the same thing. . . or perhaps we’re already dealing with this stuff but not for the whole world to see.”- Walt Mueller – “Jon & Kate… Too Late?”

I hope that they get off the TV, in interviews, appearances, and the show. I hope that some kind of person that they respect will come into their life and grasp them by the shoulder and give them a good shake.

With baby number 2 on his way soon, we decided to move Sweet Pea into the smallest of our 3 bedrooms. The room has slanted ceilings and a couple little nooks & crannies that we thought would be a fun space for a little girl’s room.

I had ideas and sketches incorporating white eyelet fabrics and soft pink gingham accents…

But then I saw this fabric in the clearance rack at Joann’s:

An embroidered organza for only six bucks. Sold.

Plans quickly changed. I found a great lining on sale with a coupon- I thought the white lining really made the embroidery pop- and the valence project is now my inspiration piece for the room.

I had never worked with sheer fabrics before or linings, but despite the slipping and patience required, I enjoyed it.

I can definitely see the allure of dress-making. With such pretty fabric in my hands I wondered if I would ever sew my daughter a formal dress… or gown… or even for myself! Someday…

The valence is now hanging up in Sweet Pea’s new room. I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of her (big girl) bed while I work on the rest of the space!

Out of a melon patch…

Come melons.

Or, rather, mini-melons.

The cantelope looked luscious, but looks can be deceiving. It was awful. The watermelon was really good, but not good enough to plant again next year. Melons take up too much space and produce too little. I’m all about the production capabilities of my small suburban garden.

But it was kinda fun to eat a mini watermelon with a spoon.

For two days with no car.

the floors get washed. all of them.
the laundry gets done. all of it.
“decor” is  seasonally shifted.
furniture rearranged
furniture reassessed- like do we really need that? the place looks better w/ less furniture
a “to sell on craigslist” pile is established
basement sub flooring gets installed. well, all the pieces we bought. and you thought all I could do was girly crafts.
ran out of bread so i had the time to actually make a halfway decent wheat loaf. IAMSUPERPUMPED ABOUT THIS.
ran out of eggs but couldn’t find a chicken
made a fort out of empty diaper box
worked on flashcards with sweet pea. she definitely know the letters “o” and “a”
toys got lysoled and ran through the dishwasher
area rugs were washed
thought about fertilizing the lawn. thought better of it.
read really silly websites. like www.emailsfromcrazypeople.com prepare to pee your pants.
prayed more.
prayed with sweet pea for both of us to have self control and a good attitude. seemed to work.
assembled a bike trailer to bike to the library… only for it to fall off the bike before you turned out of the driveway. shoulda asked for a tutorial from the husband….

clearly more happened ’round here in the past 48 hours than has in the past two weeks. And as happy as I am with all the accomplishments, I’m looking forward to getting out tomorrow for our first MOPS meeting of the year!!!

We endeavored to create a vegetable garden this year. All of the gardening books we consulted advised starting small.

We didn’t listen. (Photo is from mid-July)

We planted:

7 zucchini/ summer squash plants

14 roma tomatoes

6 banana peppers

18 green bell peppers (actually I think a few were supposed to be red, but I picked them before they turned)

3-4 eggplant

3 pumpkins

A packet of carrot seed

Swiss chard

lots of spinach

4 broccoli- only 2 plants survived

a row of beets

3 cantelopes

3 watermelons

a row of radishes

And I just planted a fall crop of broccoli, lettuce, spinach, kale, and collard greens. I’m hopeful that those will continue into October, before it gets too cold.

We harvested several prize zucchini, like this one. This guy weighed 5.2 pounds- almost as much as the dog.

We had some issues with rain this summer- it rained ALOT. ALOT. ALOT. As a result, I *think*, some of our veggies experienced “blossom end rot”- where the bottom part of the fruit or veggie is black or rotted. This happened to ALOT of our zucchini. I had started out thinking that I planted too many zukes & summer squash, but due to the rot problem, I had to throw out a good amount. Thankfully my overplanting allowed us to have a great zucchini and summer squash supply in the kitchen. At this point in the year, I have ripped out all of the squash plants that have stopped producing and have just a single summer squash plant with about 4 mid-sized squash on it.

We planted a few sunflowers along the back of the left garden bed. What started out like this in the windowsill:

Turned into this:

Most of the sunflowers grew over five and a half feet tall. We’re now waiting for them to yellow & droop so we can cut them & hang them to dry to harvest the seeds. Next year I want to find a different location for these guys, since the blooms follow the sun all day, you couldn’t SEE them from the house. You had to walk around the back of the garden to see them in all their yellow glory. From my kitchen window all I saw was the backs of the flowers. Not what I had pictured. Oh well. Live and learn, right?

We’re getting lots of tomatoes right now, but the plants look kind of sickly. We neglected to put tomato cages around all of them when they were small and by the time we got around to it, it was really tough to do without killing the plants while threading them through the support cage.

We’re still waiting on our melon patch. You can see a few cantelope (middle and top) and watermelon. We’re also waiting on our eggplants- we planted a variety and it looks like we’ll have a white eggplant and a purple/white one. There are some green ones too, but we don’t know what to do with that?

The beets were awful. I’m never planting those again. They smelled bad, they tasted funny, and when I cleaned & cooked them, the whole house smelled like “farm” as my husband described it. Yuck. I don’t know if we’ll do another melon patch, it seems to take up alot of room and thespace could be utilized in a better way. The carrots don’t seem to be doing much, I don’t like radishes so I shouldn’t have planted them, I want more swiss chard, more broccoli, spinach, and leafy vegetables. The mesclun salad mix didn’t work out as well or as long as it did when we planted it a few years ago at our condo- so I’m thinking head lettuce next year.

I need to research more about root vegetables before deciding to do those again. I’d like to start a strawberry patch and an asparagus patch next year. Our grapes will be in their second year next year, so we might get a few fruit from them next summer!

All in all, the garden was and continues to be a fun family experience. Here’s hoping to a good fall harvest and a late arriving winter

“He shall stand and shepherp his flock in the strength of the Lord,in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.

And he will be their peace.” – Micah 5:4-5

~ His reign is practical in its character. It is said, “He shall stand and shepherd.” The great Head of the church is actively engaged in providing for His people. He does not sit down upon the throne in empty state or hold a scepter without weilding it in government. No; he stands and shepherd. The expressions “shepherd” in the original is like an analogous one in the Greek that means to do everything expected of a shepherd- to guide, to watch, to preserve, to restore, to tend, as well as to feed. His reign is continual in it’s duration. It is said, “He shall stand and shepherd”; not “he shall feed now and then and leave His position”; not “He shall one day grant a revival and then next day leave His Church to barrenness.” His eyes never sllumber, and His hands never rest; His heart never ceases to beat with love, and His shoulders are never weary of carrying people’s burdens. ~ Spurgeon, Morning & Evening

I loved this from my devotional book, Morning & Evening. That God is practical, continual, and powerful in his care for His people. So often times there is a lot of “talk and no action” from people, from leaders, from friends, from ourselves. It is much easier to TALK about a solution or problem than it is to get down & dirty & FIX it.

I thought about that “Fix It” skit from SNL and had to laugh aloud this morning (yeah go ahead, judge me, spending time with God and SNL comes to mind) But seriously, it applies. Think about it. God doesn’t just save us from our sin at the moment of salavation. We’re continually being saved from our sin the the sense that we are continually being molded and shaped into the likeness of Christ- READ: God keeps fixing us up. One sin down, ninety million to go. Identify a problem, FIX IT, identify another problem, FIX IT, and move on ’til it’s all FIXED!

You don’t get sloppy drunk anymore? Great! Don’t swear? Great! How about that judgemental heart? Or that gossip, carefully disguised as a “prayer request”?

He guides us and shows us those things that are destroying us, those things that are displeasing to Him, and works on our hearts until we yield to him and FIX IT!

He gives us all we need to be able to follow Him- his Word & His Spirit. He never tires of us, never goes on a break; He is always shepherding us. Fixing us.

And, unlike the fixing that we do in our own strength, when He fixes something, he does so in the strength of the Lord, a strength like no other!