The Pod's Delivery Day Photos

I am finally sorting out my photos after having to transition from the camera I drowned in iced tea, to the old clunker camera I was borrowing from the husband, and finally to my new digital camera that I've been using lately. So the delay in sorting out the pictures I've taken in the past month is finally over and I'm back on task and ready to do some sharing. So I introduced the Pod the other day, here are her delivery photos. She literally came on the back of a truck, was lowered in two steps and set into place. Considering that the last greenhouse I acquired came in about a million small pieces and took me two days to assemble and many hours to repair after wind storms have taken their toll in the last couple of years, I am completely thrilled with the low maintenance nature of my new greenhouse. Of course, there has been the initial prep of sealing the benches, but that will be worth it in the end when they don't rot out from the moisture.

We are on the road right now for Spring Break. I am taking the evening off from theme park madness to get some time in to work. It's getting easier to balance work while I travel, lately I'm digging the freedom and flexibility of my online job. The theme park tour has been fun, but the crowds do get old...it will be nice to be back home and back in a normal routine soon.

It's Been A While...

...since I've been around here. I guess I needed a bit of a break. Between work, trips, chores around the house and in the garden, and general busyness, time has been short lately. So while I've been quiet in this space, life has been anything but quiet lately. I am excited to have a few things to share in the next couple of weeks. Today I thought I'd finally introduce "The Pod", the name I have given to my new Solar Green greenhouse. The day it was delivered the husband and I shoveled a yard and a half of pea gravel into the Pod and then moved in the four benches that came with it. Since then I have been busy sealing the wood benches with water sealant and buying plastic trays in which to place the six and nine pack plastic starting containers. I wasn't going to go through the trouble initially (lazy!), but I decided it was worth it. So in between the trips we've been on, I've been trying to get those little chores squared away. Soon I will be starting tomatoes, pumpkins, eggplant, broccoli, summer squash, basil, and probably a few other goodies in my new workspace. Around the time that the Pod was delivered, the decision was also made to move my pathetic little vineyard from the field that the back of our house looks out at, over to our fenced in garden. In addition to the eleven grape vines I moved over, 11 more were planted. They were given to us by a friend of the husband's. I'm hoping that the new location will give my vines a better shot, they did not do too well in their last location with hardly any growth. It was important for me to get them moved soon because they weren't going to be in their dormant stage much longer. I am proud that my new strawberry shoots are taking very well. This summer should be full of delicious strawberries from our garden. The radish seeds I put in the ground have germinated and are growing nicely - I should have home-grown radishes in just a couple of weeks! This will be the first of many rounds of radishes this season!

Let Them Grow Vintage Flower Poster

What a wonderful sentiment now that spring is here...I hope you've enjoyed these vintage posters as much as I have...they were all found (along with many, many more) here.

Enjoy Don't Destroy Vintage Garden Poster

One of my favorites yet...came from here.

Eat These Vintage Poster

I'm loving these vintage posters...all found here.

Vintage Food Preserving Poster

There's a reason I feel connected to the past when I preserve food through canning and freezing...another poster from here.

Vintage Garden Poster

I've seen these vintage gardening and farm posters popping up on gardening blogs all over the web, so I had to check out the source myself. Some things are just always good.

I thought I'd share a few more of my favorite vintage posters over the next few days...I'm still feeling a little under the weather from the nasty cold I had and I just am not back to my normal rambling-blogging self. I'll be back here next week after our weekend down in California.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Photo taken by Chris Anton

I'm still fighting the tail end of a horrible upper respiratory infection, but thanks to some antibiotics and a bit of rest, I'm feeling much better. My greenhouse arrived on Monday and I absolutely love it. When I get the chance to get the pictures downloaded I will share. The next few weeks are going to be busy, we're having a small group of friends over tonight for corned beef with all the trimmings. This weekend the husband and I are flying down to sunny [hopefully] California for a friend's 40th birthday bash, complete with a stop in the town where I went to college and spent a few extra years, San Luis Obispo. Then the following weekend is the start of the s-son's spring break, so we'll be heading back to California (this time road-tripping it) for a week of theme park madness. I'm sure I'll be back here soon!

Cut Flowers Coming My Way

For the past several days, I have been feeling sicker and sicker with a nasty head/chest congestion combo. Even though I was able to sleep very well last night, I still woke up feeling horrible and exhausted. I found out when I went to the doctor that I have a upper respitory infection - fun! I am now being fixed by anti-biotics and mucinex. I also self-medicated by getting some Vitamin D while out in the garden today. The heavy work involved shoveling the last truckload of dirt into the newly added raised beds in my garden. The two final beds that were filled with dirt are where I am going to be growing flowers that I intend to cut and bring inside. I've always had a hard time feeling good about cutting the flowers that I grow in the garden beds in the front and side of my house. I want to have fresh flowers by my bed, on my desk and on our dining tables, but I don't want to sacrifice the color outside that I enjoy so much. Now I won't have that problem - so far I've planted several of my favorites, ranuculus, irises and the flower that always makes me think of my wedding, liatris. There are still calalillies and peonies left to plant. Lately, every time I spend time out in my garden, I am overwhelmed at seeing my dream garden coming together. I am nearly 32 years old, but I remember beginning to dream about having a garden when I was 19. If I had been able to somehow magically have had my dream come true back then, I don't think my "dream garden" would have amounted to even half of what my current garden has become. I have so much space to plant and experiment. I have a nice area for permanent plants like my strawberries and the flowers I planted today, and lots of space for rotating seasonal vegetables. I have a beautiful orchard that now holds 21 fruit trees and a safe, contained area for my chickens. Life is funny that way, the sweat equity I have from many hours of hard work in my garden makes it a very special place to me. I don't think walking into a "turn key" garden with everything set up would be quite so satisfying. Years ago before I'd met the husband, I told a friend that the type of man who I wanted to be with would bring me fresh cut flowers all of the time or would even buy me a membership to one of those annual "bouquet of the month" clubs for me. Again, it was a young and limited dream, the man I thought I wanted would have thrown a few bucks at flowers. Instead, I have a man who gives money, but also time and hard work to my dream. Not to say that he doesn't bring me fresh flowers...but have you seen what a bouquet can go for - especially during winter - it can be ridiculous. Now rather than fresh flowers I prefer he buy me bulbs or tubers so I can grow my own and enjoy them year after year.

Monday is going to see another part of my dream becoming a reality, I can't wait to share about that, I have an amazing greenhouse coming my way! Even sick, I still feel like the luckiest person I know.

Rambling About Food Issues

I was a substitute for the first half of today for a high school Pre-Algebra teacher. In one of the classes I taught, I met a 15 year old boy who drinks 3-4 energy drinks each day - his preferred brands seemed to be Amp and Monster (he had a collection of drink tabs on a cord in his backpack). I asked him where he purchases the drinks and he told me that there is a vending machine on the high school campus that sells the drinks. He told me that if he doesn't drink the energy drinks, he has headaches and his energy levels crash. I asked him about his daily eating habits and I found out that he only eats one meal per day - dinner. One of the reasons he gave for his one meal per day rule is that he can keep from getting "fat" this way - I have to mention that he is not an overweight child. He did not have an athletic build, but he didn't look like he was carrying much extra weight. He said he usuallyeats dinner by himself in his bedroom at his house because he doesn't like to be around his family. I found out that he really only eats with other people - family or friends - if he goes out to eat at a restaurant, the most common place for that is at Red Robin. Because he doesn't eat lunch at school, I asked him what he does during the school's 30 minute lunch period - his answer was that he hangs out with his friends. I also asked him if the caffeine from the energy drinks he is consuming affects his sleep schedule, and his answer made me sad, he ssaid that he has trouble sleeping anyway so he takes a prescription to help him sleep. He didn't seem to think there was a connection between the energy drinks he consumes and his sleep problems. Interestingly though, he told me that the energy drinks have affected his adrenal glands - essentially making them shut down. I'm not a doctor, but I do know how to look up medical terms on the internet, medterms.com gave this definition of adrenal glands:

Adrenal gland: One of a pair of small glands, each of which sits on top of the kidneys. The adrenal is made of of an outer wall (the cortex) and an inner portion (the medulla).

The adrenal glands produce hormones that help control the heart rate, blood pressure, the way the body uses food, and other vital functions. The adrenal cortex secretes steroid (cortison-related) hormones and mineralocortoids that regulate the levels of minerals such as sodium and potassium in the blood.

The adrenal medulla makes adrenaline and noradrenaline. Adrenaline is secreted in response to low blood levels of glucose as well as exercise and stress; it causes the breakdown of the storage product glycogen to the sugar glucose in the liver, facilitates the release of fatty acids from adipose (fat) tissue, causes dilation (widening of the small arteries within muscle and increases the output of the heart. Noradrenaline is a neurohormone, a neurotransmitter, for most of the so-called sympathetic nervous system.

The name "adrenal" comes from the Latin "ad-", toward + "rebes", kidney. It refers to the perch of this gland atop the kidney. The adrenals are also called the suprarenal glands, "supra-" in Latin meaning "on top."

I try not to be an overly judgemental person. Also, I've worked with high school students for the past seven years and I realize they often do not share the entire story when it comes to their home lives and their relationship with their parents. However, if I took everything that this student told me today at face value, it is a pretty grim story. I can't help but wonder why his parents have not stepped in. He is not establishing healthy life-long habits. I didn't get around to asking him about exercise and activities he is involved in, but I bet I could make some guesses.

Later in the day, I ended up doing another half-day substitute job at a middle school. Part of the job included supervision in the lunch room. Also on duty in the lunch room was the school's principal. I introduced myself and chatted with her for a bit. I asked her whether there were energy drinks available on the middle school campus. She told me that the drinks are not available for purchase on her campus. She went on to explain that even though the district does not yet have a policy about students drinking energy drinks on their campuses, when she sees an energy drink in a student's hand, she makes a point to ask the student not to drink it or to bring it onto campus. It felt good to hear that.

So why am I writing about this, why do I even care what middle and high school students in my area are eating and drinking? Why am I posting pictures of the sushi I ate for lunch when I was done with my substitute jobs? That last one is easy, I thought the sushi made a cool picture and I wasn't brave enough to take a picture of the food I saw in the middle school lunch room or the energy drinks I saw on student's desks at the high school. But to answer the first question, I have struggled with my own weight since I was about 9 years old. I have gained weight and lost weight several times over as an adult. I know how frustrating it is to struggle with "body image issues", so I tend to pay closer attention when I hear things about issues of childhood obesity and the general obesity epidemic in the United States.

Lately, I have been following Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" campaign. I am proud of her for setting a wonderful example by planting the White House vegetable garden. The blog, Obama Foodorama, is currently my favorite means of staying up-to-date on what our First Lady is up to. I think she has her work cut out for her, her mission is huge!

Since January, I've also been following another blog, Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project. It is being written anonymously by an elementary school teacher - she is staying quiet about her identity to protect her job (can't say that I blame her for that!). She has committed to eating the same school lunch served to her students on every school day of 2010. Her observations are interesting and honest. She discusses taste, variety, freshness, ingredients, nutritional value, the affect the lunches seem to have on her students behavior, the opinions that the students share with her about the food, and she has even mentioned recess (does not happen) and physical education (happens once a week) at her school.

There is quite a bit of attention from the media being given to food issues recently, I shared in the past that I read Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and Michael Pollan's "Omnivoure's Dilema." I also saw Michael Pollan's documentary "Food, Inc." twice last summer (one of those viewings was part of the Seattle showing that was sponsored by Chipotle). I'm not alone, I frequently find myself discussing these books and the documentary with friends and acquaintences. More and more frequently the line between what I'm reading and what I'm doing in my own life is getting blurred.

At our house, we have been paying close attention to what we are eating for about the past three years. My husband gets migraine headaches if he eats foods that contain preservatives, so I've become a vigilant "label reader" whenever I'm buying packaged foods. The best thing for us has been to make our meals from whole ingredients and to start canning our own fruit and marinara sauce. There are other reasons that we have become more careful about the foods we eat. The husband and I both have family members who are diabetics, and I currently weigh more than the healthy range for someone of my height and build. Since last September, I have made time to exercise 4-6 times a week. I have been eating more consciously. Though my choices have been far from perfect, I have been able to loose about 11 pounds without doing any true "dieting", just regular exercise, better portion control, healthier food choices and a substantial increase in sleep. It is interesting how infrequently I hear sleep mentioned as an important part of staying healthy and fit.

It has been an easy decision (followed by lots of hard physical labor) to plant a vegetable garden over the last three years. Each year my garden has produced more and I've gained wonderful knowledge from getting my hands in the dirt and paying attention to what is happening. I hope that this coming summer will be the best year so far - we've expanded like crazy with our raised beds.

Being fruit lovers, another easy decision was to add to the number of fruit trees in our orchard. One of the first things that the husband and I ever did together on our property was to plant our orchard. It was how we spend our first Valentine's Day together as a couple long before we were married or even engaged. I guess deep down I was fairly confident our relationship would go the distance, I knew even then that most trees take 3-5 years to begin producing fruit.

Deciding to raise chickens for fresh eggs wasn't as simple a decision, the husband was pretty hesitant at first, but the decision has been one that we have not regretted. The chickens were also quite a bit of work initially and then again when we built their new protected area because of the issues we were having with hawks. They are a great part of our lives, our ten new Buff Orpingtons are growing like crazy and so far seem to be much more friendlier than our group of Americauna chicks from last year. If all goes well, we will have 14 hens laying this fall...plenty of eggs for us and to sell.

Just the other day, we had a conversation about committing to eating locally for a year, though it wouldn't happen until a few years from now. We both would like to live a more sustainable and healthy lifestyle, but we realize that takes many small changes over time to add up to a significant difference. I can tell you right now that when (if?) I have my own child(ren), they will not be drinking 3 or 4 energy drinks a day and eating dinner by themself in their bedroom. One of the [many] things I have loved about the two trips I have been able to take to Italy has been the slow food attitude there. Meals are a time to gather with loved ones and to be nourished through food and fellowship. I want that for myself and for those I love.

Bare with me...

This post is going to be a bit of a "brain download"...I have lots of random things running through my head to share. I spent last weekend in Whistler, BC with a couple of friends participating in a Roxy Women's Snowboard Camp. The camp was amazing, I feel really solid about my riding and have a few things I am going to be working on as far as my riding goes in the future. The entire village was in kind of a "hang over" state after the Olympics, while also gearing up for the Paralympics to start up this week. There was a stronger "international" vibe there than normal. While the girl time was wonderful and fed my need to have the kinds of conversations that only happen when in female company, I did miss being there with the husband, it was the first time I'd been there without him. He liked hearing that I missed him and that every time we turned a corner in the village stroll I thought of him. While I was gone, he held down things here at home. He did an excellent job taking care of the ten new Buff chicks, they are all thriving and growing like crazy. They've doubled in size since we brought them home. He also had lots of cuddle time with Bambino and Figaro, though both little furry boys were pretty happy to see me when I got home. Before I left I fried my point and shoot digital camera by accident in a puddle of iced tea...it was a dumb mistake I made in the midst of trying to quickly pack for the weekend. With the same mistake I also managed to leave a dark stain on our duvet cover - I still need to get to the dry cleaners to get that taken care of. As a result of the iced tea incident, I am now without my trusty camera...I feel kind of naked without it. I hadn't fully realized how much I depended on it and enjoyed having it. I am going to replace it at some point, but in the mean time I have been using the camera on my BlackBerry (I used it to snap these tulip pictures when I came home from the weekend). I also have an old digital camera I can use, but it's just not the same. I'd been thinking of upgrading to a Nikon sometime in the next year - I guess it's time to start saving for that. Speaking of photos, the tulips in these pictures opened up over the weekend. There are so many beautiful colors happening in my garden right now - it's lovely! After winter I always feel like spring's color is like a breath of fresh air. I want to get up to La Connor for the annual tulip festival this week - it's happening a bit earlier than normal because of the warm weather we've had recently. I am sure I'll manage to get some great pictures to share!

Hope all is well, I'll be back soon!

What I've Been Reading Lately...

I've been struggling to find time for reading lately, but our trip to Hawaii made it possible for me to start and finishe two books...the one below on the flight over with a bit left over for some reading on the lanai. It is the story of a couple that is living in NYC in a neighborhood near Ground Zero on 9/11. The story follows them through two days as they experience and react to horror. Their marital, financial and parenting struggles are all put into perspective. It was a moving story, more emotional for me than I would have predicted it would be...but, this book won't be a keeper for me...more about that after a little bit about the other book I read on vacation.The second book I read was a non-fiction story...I wasn't sure what to expect and I mistakenly expected that I wouldn't like the book...the reason that I didn't pick it as my first read. Well, I thought it was an interesting, well written, unique and fascinating story. From one of the two main characters, I learned a ton about the connection between slavery in the South and 20th century share-cropping, and gained insight about homelessness and injustice. From the other main character, I heard a true story about commitment and love between two people who had been married for 30 years, this character also wrote honestly about his aversion to the homeless community and the humility he felt when he realized how his pride had blinded him. This book is a keeper, it will be finding a permanent spot on my shelf...I have an unofficial policy where when I finish any book I decide right away whether I'd read it again or not and/or whether I liked it enough to lend it to a friend. I've been a member of paperbackswap for almost three years. I decided to join after I moved in with the husband and opened several boxes of books that I'd been moving/storing through several apartments and houses throughout my 20's. I'd outgrown many of the books, several more had been required reading in college courses, and some were about subjects that I was no longer interested in. Initially I decided to post 70-something books from my collection onto paperbackswap. I now have just 15 books posted. Since joining I have mailed 122 books to other members and I have received 123. Only once in 122 exchanges did I receive a book that I had not requested instead of the book I was expecting. Strange story actually, the book I received was about Alzheimers and it smelled of smoke and was filthy with pet hair...when I contacted the person who'd sent it, the message I received in return made it clear that they were the unfortunate individual for whom the Alzheimers research had been done. It really was a fluke incident, the other 122 books I have received have been in excellent condition - I have not been disappointed. Most books cost around $2-3 to send (media rate), so it has been a very affordable way for me to keep up my book habit. The post office that we use has just one employee, she knows me well - we like to chat about what we've been reading lately. I used to spend anywhere between $25 and $100 a month on books, but not anymore! I can count on one hand the number of books I've purchased at bookstores in the past few years. In my account set-up I have refused to receive books that have been in a smoking environment, so occasionally I have to wait a bit longer than my "turn" on a waiting list for a particular book. It doesn't bother me anymore to wait to receive a book I want, the patience is good for me, and really, if I desperately want a particular book, I can always go to a book store or to Amazon for it. This typically doesn't happen, all I have to do is take a look at the stack of books on my bed-side stand that are waiting to be read to convince myself that I already have enough reading material. Now I just need another vacation so I can get to a few more of the books in that stack!

A New Addition...

...To our lives in just ten days...I'm excited. Here is a little peak.

I can't wait to share more!

Alternative Energy

I went to the Seattle Home show recently...mostly because the husband and I were interested to see the exhibits. An unexpected (to me) part of the show was being able to see the vendors who had green/alternative energy and recycled products. There were of course lots of solar panel products, geo-thermal heating units, high-efficiency-organic insulation, roofs made out of all sort of recycled materials - plastics, tires, metals, but probably the most interesting to me were the wind energy turbines. I may have never shared in this space that I studied mechanical engineering as an undergrad. Several of the courses I took had an emphasis on alternative energy and efficiency. I am drawn to the idea of being "off the grid" (or at least partially so) on an intellectual and practical level...good thing is that the husband has similar feelings. Some day in the future, hopefully sooner rather than later, our home will be running on sustainable energy.

Chick Day!

Yup, 10 little babies came home with me this morning...I walked into the store intending to get 8, but there was a discount on some chick related items if you bought ten...good enough reason for me! Besides, there is the horrible possibility that all ten may not make it to blown hen stage, they tend to be fragile when they are little.Another reality is that even though all of my original 8 from last year made it to the adult stage, we ended up losing 3 of our hens to predators, and we found out that Berkeley was a rooster rather than the egg laying hen we thought we'd brought home. The breed I picked this time is Buff Orpington, they are known to grow to be heavy birds - they get to around 8 pounds. Buffs are also winter hardy and will continue to lay even during short, cold winter days. They are also known to be mellow and docile...we've been having some issues recently with an agressive rooster...ahem, Berkeley...and my hens have always been a bit skittish, so I am ready for a different type of avian personality around here. My newest little ladies (at least I hope all 10 are ladies!) are adorable, even though these Buffs are going to be a good fit for us because of their breed characteristics, I have to admit that the breed choice I made really came down to cuteness. I almost went with Rhode Island Reds, but the "classic" chick-look of these Buffs caught my heart. They are the sweetest little yellow puff balls! They seem to do pretty well in a photo shoot too, I had fun snapping a few shots of this little one, and there will be many more photo shoots to come!

Breakfast for Dinner

After a week away from home, neither the husband nor I were really in the mood to make a big dinner last Friday...so breakfast for dinner was the answer. We had french toast (made with the really thick Texas toast), strawberry-nectarine sauce (that I canned myself last August from the strawberries grown in our garden and nectarines grown locally), bacon and for me - grapefruit juice and Pellgrino spiked with Tuaca - it was Friday night after all!

Homemade Pasta Success!

Yup, did it...I'm proud to say! [Disclaimer: if you're not in the mood to read a very detailed description of my meal prep, you might think about skipping this post. I'm not usually one to be super elaborative when it comes to cooking, but right now the mood is striking me. Just sayin', fair warning!] The recipe I *sort-of* used is here. After reading pasta recipes on a few other websites, I picked up some semolina flour at the market and ended up using about 3 cups of that and another 1/3 of a cup (actually probably more like 2/3) of vital wheat gluten flour. I'd read that it's the gluten that gives the dough it's "chewiness" and allows it to be flexible enough to cut it and boil it without it falling apart. I don't know if it was either of these two flours or the combination of the two or my inexact measurements, but I ended up using 7 or 8 eggs instead of the 4 called for in the recipe (the eggs were super fresh, from that day and the two days before - the ladies are laying between 2 and 4 a day lately). I also ended up dropping in a bit of olive oil as the dough was mixing to help it pull together, it was pretty dry and crumbly without the olive oil and eggs. Oh - I also pinched in a bit of kosher sea salt.So how did it taste? The answer is good, thick and rich. I think the semolina flour and fresh eggs were the major contributors. The texture kind of reminded me of a thick tortellini that I had when we were traveling through Italy. Maybe it was because of the thickness of the pieces I cut or that I didn't roll the dough quite thin enough, but it took more like 12 minutes of boiling to cook the pasta rather than the 4 minutes called for in the recipe. Even still, the pasta ended up al dente. Rather than a marinara or fettuccini sauce, I kind of made up my own sauce/topping. That after noon I stopped at our meat market and I picked up two 8 oz. top sirloin steaks. I trimmed them and cut them into thin strips. Then I marinated the strips in balsamic vinegar, herb infused macadamia nut oil (just brought back from Hawaii!), and fresh ground pepper. I cooked the steak for about 12 minutes at 450 degrees. Then I mixed in some roasted garlic (yes, I also roasted it myself - this was a very handmade meal!), some of last summer's oven dried roma tomatoes, and parmesean cheese. The entire thing went back into the oven to melt the cheese while the pasta finished boiling. We had a mixed green salad with the pasta and if I do say so, the meal was delicious!So now I am kind of wanting to tweak the recipe even more or even try a different recipe - maybe from an Italian cookbook I have. The question is when do I ask for the pasta maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer? Birthday...Wedding Anniversary...Christmas?

There are now lots of pasta dishes I'd like to get around to making from scratch!

By the way, Happy Monday, I hope you have a great week!