Kindergardens Week 9

This weeks Kindergarden assignment is to show our gardens from our children's perspective. This was a ton of fun for my girls because they LOVE to steal my camera and take pictures of themselves!  If they weren't so stinkin' cute they may get in trouble for it! If someone stole my laptop they seriously would wonder why I have pictures of blurry little girls body parts......

Is it just me or does it seem like nothing is growing like it should?  My peppers and eggplants look way too small.  The corn looks on the smallish size too.  And really my beets and carrots just are not growing at all.  I was thinking next spring I will make seed tapes for the beets, carrots and radishes so I won't have to worry about overcrowding! 

The tomato and squash plants, on the other hand, have taken off like crazy!!  I tied the tomato plants to stakes last week and they were about half the size of the stakes.  This week they are almost as tall as the stakes!  I love tomatoes and I cannot wait to pick the first big juicy red globe of goodness!

We also found a little surprise!  I am not sure what it is but we have been filling in this spot in the yard with some leaves, dirt and various other types of fill all spring and the Hubs seems to think we threw our pumpkins off the deck into this spot last year.  I dunno know but I guess we will find out sometime in the fall!  It would be nice to not have to buy all those pumpkins this year!! 

Our roadside lillies finally bloomed.....I love these bright orange flowers!  I transplated this one this spring after it had sprouted leaves and it bloomed.

The girls loved taking pictures of the strawberries.  We still have a few ripening in the beds.

Our lettuce is looking good.....

We had a lot of fun doing this, I think I was more excited than the girls were!  Every week when we walk out there it amazes me how much things have grown and how much closer we are to having fresh, untouched, organic food!  I cannot wait to have the first ear of corn or ripe tomato!  I can practically taste it now!

Hope everyone else had a great week of gardening!  I know we did!  Have a safe and happy 4th!

What a busy week!

Sorry for not posting anything for a few days, we have been busy here!!

We have been busy with the chickens who like to eat the bugs in the field on the other side of the road.  Anyone else see the irony in this?!  And yes we too have been making lots of "Why did the chickens cross the road" jokes this week!  Agnes is still a ham and is the leader of the pack.

We also have been busy cleaning the house, which has been neglected , badly, for the past two months.  No we aren't leaving food on tables or garbage all over.  I just haven't dusted, scrubbed floors, wash down the bathrooms, clean my bedroom and the girls room.  We have kept it pretty tidy, if you showed up at my house today it's clean just not my kind of clean.  But hey we have been working outside trying to make food and chickens grow for two months!  Sometimes cleaning just becomes secondary!

We are also busy getting ready to take the girls on a hike this week.  The Hubs and Little Bird love to hike and he has always wanted to take us hiking, real hiking, not rail trail or walkway hiking, but real in the woods on a path hiking.  Little Bug is not a hiker, not at all!  Walking is not her thing, thank goodness for backpacks!!  We decided that if all goes well this Friday morning we will make this a weekly thing!  I can't wait to share the pictures! 

We are also busy with Little Birds 5th birthday next week!  I cannot believe she is 5......I have been asking myself where the time has gone!  People keep telling me to wait until she is 18 or graduates high school.  I still have 6 years before I worry about that!  My little Peanut is 11......And not so little anymore!  She will be graduating in 6 years, when the time comes I will probably lock myself in my bedroom and cry for days.....   

So this week was busy, busy with life, some fun things and some not so fun things!  I love our little life and I wouldn't change it for a single thing!! 

Kindergarden Week 8

Our family has had one of those weeks. The hubs and Little Bird hit a deer driving home on Father's Day, the girls were sick most of the week so we had to switch up taking days off from work, the chicken coop leaked water in the one side and I lost Photoshop along with some of my pictures. It is weeks like this that you seem to miss all the little things that matter in life so I need to take a deep breath, step back for a moment and relax.  The hubs and Little Bird are safe, the car can be fixed, the girls only had a minor illness, we are working on the chicken coop and I am reloading Photoshop right now.  Just breathe........

This week with the girls being sick and the humidity and the rain we didn't get outside that much.  We harvested some more radishes and strawberries. We actually had the radishes in our salad last night!

The chicken coop leaked on the one side and Agnes is such a ham, she came running over as soon as she saw the camera........

We found a ladybug hanging around.  I love ladybugs, not only are they cute bugs, they are beneficial insects.  

This week the girls learned how to tell it was the end of the day by looking at certain flowers.  Spiderwort and primroses are great time tellers!  It is about 5:30 pm when the spiderwort closes up, 6:30 when the primrose closes and 8:30 when the chickens come home!!

The last picture had nothing to do with Kindergardens, it is the Shawangunk Mountain range and it acts as a reminder to me to stop and enjoy all of the beauty that surrounds us. God has given us so many blessings! Have a great week everyone!  

Couscous with veggies and shrimp

Little Bird and I are home for a sick day, the hubs had to go pick her up yesterday from daycare so it was my turn to stay home today.  She is feeling much better than yesterday but daycare has a 24 hour rule.  I wish I could do this everyday!  I enjoy being at home with them!  I can also catch up on some stuff I have been meaning to do here at home!  Anyway on to the point of the post!!!!!!!

Last night I came home and realized that no one had taken anything out for dinner, by no one I mean me and it's the story of our lives here.....So in my rush to think of something quick, I remembered a recipe I had seen a few weeks ago for a quinoa salad.  We love quinoa here, I have a whole container of the stuff but the more I thought about it I really didn't want to have quinoa for dinner.  I don't have any spinach or some of the other things I needed to make the salad. So scratch that idea.  Then I remembered I had Israeli couscous.  Big delicious pearls of couscous goodness!  I then quickly tried to come up with what would taste good with the couscous, hmmmmm.  I searched the fridge to see what was there, oh yeah, onions, peppers, garlic, carrots and tomatoes. It's my base for spaghetti sauce, and it tastes great together! I have shrimp in the freezer, they take 2 seconds to defrost under some cold water!!  A little cumin, salt, pepper and a little bit of chipolte chili peppers seasoning.  It needed some liquid......Water?  No, there is no taste.  Chicken stock? Nah not feeling it tonight.  Beer? I wonder what it would taste like.  It is a summer ale.  Eh I guess we will find out!  Glug, glug, glug!  Oh and you can cook the couscous right in the liquid so it is a one pot wonder!  So easy and so simple!  Filling and full of veggies! By the way, I never measure (except when I bake) I either eyeball it or add and taste. I included the recipe below, sorry there are no real measurements, feel free to use whatever you want!

We always say we will try something once and if we don't like it we won't make it again.  I got the nonverbal approval from the hubs as he went back for thirds!  He is also not picky like my children who barely touched their dinner.

Tonight I am better prepared, it's crock pot pulled pork with barbecue sauce, coleslaw and corn.  I smell it now wafting through the house!

What creative meals have you come up with when you forget to take something out for dinner?

Israeli couscous with Shrimp and veggies

1/2 of a large red onion, diced
1 medium julienne bell pepper
1 carrot
1 large tomato diced
1 bottle of beer (I used the brand that is the same name as the guy who signed the Declaration of Independence)
2 1/2 cups of Israeli Couscous
2 lbs of shrimp, peeled and deveined
Spices to taste, salt, pepper, chipolte chili powder, cumin

Saute onions, peppers, carrots and tomatoes until soft. Season to taste. I used a veggie peeler to cut up the carrots it was faster that dicing them all up!  Add the liquid cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the couscous and cook until tender.  Add the shrimp at the end, cook until done.  Taste, add more seasoning if needed.

Kindergardens!!

I promised you a little more information on Kindergardens.........If you want to join please head over to The Inadvertent Farmer!

I love Kindergardens, I really just love the premise get your kids involved with gardening and giving back to the community! A garden is such a  simple and fun thing to do with your children.  It really teaches them valuable life lessons on where their food comes from! We have also been given a challenge to give back to our community.  Our extras will go to the Queens Galley here in the Hudson Valley. 1 in 6 Americans struggle with not having enough to eat, that, in my opinion, is 1 too many.  No one, child, adult or senior citizen, should ever have to wonder where their next meal is coming from.  To me it's such a shame that a first world country even has this statistic.

My kids use to think tomatoes only came from the supermarket!  But ours are starting to flower!

We harvested one radish, it was small but tasty, Hopefully we will have some more in the coming days!

Little Bug pick one of the strawberries it was not quite ripe yet but she insisted and gobbled it right up!  Our strawberries are new in our garden this year so they did not produce as much as I thought they would so we had to go to the farm to get a good supply for preserves. I am very glad we have all of these farms around us!  Oh well maybe our strawberries will give us something next year!


Our not quite ripe yet strawberry.  Little Bug ate it anyway......

Mud puddles at the farm!

Strawberries............

Glad we picked enough to make preserves!

I need to figure out how to keep the area cats out of my raised beds, I keep finding little "presents", the hubs solution is electric fence.  Maybe I will get some netting to put over the beds.

The chickens will hopefully start giving us eggs in either July or August.  We really do enjoy the gals and Little Bird really watches over them, she is a great chicken farmer!  For now they run wild all around the yard and get into almost everything!  I am glad they do not get into the raised beds, yet......

The hubs holding Lovely Rita......

Agnes......

Edith and Agnes......

All in all it was a great week for us here!  Lots of stuff is growing away and hopefully by the end of the summer we will have a bounty of goodies to eat and share with our community!

Oh so happy for Friday!

Enough grumpy, grouchy rants!!  On to the good stuff!!! Just a quick update, well an update none the less because this week was full of good and fun stuff!

We are refinishing our basement so it looks less like a basement and more like a oasis for our family.  Things are moving right along after the brief (by brief I mean long) break we took in early spring/late spring/early summer so we could get some of our yardwork and gardening done.  But now the babies birthdays are coming up next month there is a renewed feeling of getting our butts in gear!  Thankfully we have enlisted some help and really I am grateful to have the help right now!! We are really blessed with a wonderful circle of friends! I am hoping to start painting next week, fingers crossed.

Little Bird graduated from pre-school and Little Bug graduated from daycare up to pre-school.  In case you don't know my two little ones were born 1 year and 16 days apart.  It's kind of like twins except twins are a little easier, in my opinion, because they go through things kind of at the same time, Irish twins do not!  Just as one is getting out of one phase the other one is getting into that phase!  I have my hands very full and am very blessed to have three beautiful, healthy and happy girls!  They had a little ceremony at daycare, no parents, but the teacher took lots of pictures!  The girls had a fun day!  I cannot believe in a little over 2 months Little Bird starts kindergarten.  And my littlest baby is growing up too!  Feels like we brought them home just yesterday!  It's funny how these things sneak up on you!  

I am very, very excited to tell you I have joined the cutest little contest called Kindergardens. Check out Kim's wonderful and informative blog over at The Inadvertent Farmer!  I will have more details about Kindergardens over the weekend!! 

Ahh spring/summer time can only mean one thing........Frank the flower guy!  They are really great to us over at Paradise Perennials.  I found him on Craigslist last year and I will tell you what I will NEVER go to to those home improvement stores again!  Frank is our flower guy from now on!  Oh and you should check out is wife Scarlett's website she make some of the most beautiful rescued glassware for your blooms!  If you happen to live in the Hudson Valley, they are right in Tillson. Seriously two of the nicest, most sincere people I have ever met!  Thanks again Frank and Scarlett for the garlic chives, spiderwort, daylillies, and bee balm!!  I always support local businesses, they are the crux of our economy!

Last night the hubs, the girls and I enjoyed our first campfire of the year!  Mmmmmm toasted marshmallows are good.  I gave in to my rules of organics last night because 1. I know how to make marshmallows 2. they are such a pain to make!  3. a campfire is nothing without marshmallows.  It was nice to sit and sing campfire songs, toast marshmallows and just be together! 

We also went back to the dairy farm yesterday for more milk. The baby calf has not been born yet but the guy there says it could be any day now!  The girls and I can't wait to go back and see the newest edition to the farm!

Alright well that is it for now, stay tuned this weekend for more about Kindergardens!

Oh you eat organic? Must be nice....

Yes actually it is nice........I would even go as far to say it is delightful!  So there stick that in your big, fat, GM, frankenfood, frog leg corn chip and smoke it. I know low blow but I have good reason!  

I was called a demented leftist crunchy nut the other day, I don't agree with it because my political beliefs have little to do with my food convictions.  Yes, I have to fight for my right to eat the foods I want, the way I want but they do not drive my decisions for going organic.  I have my reasons for eating organic.  They are mine, not yours. I don't shame you as you buy your chemical filled fruits, chicken, pork and beef, don't shame me because I choose not to.  Don't tell me that knowing my food is wrong and I am demented for wanting to see my food alive and thriving before killing it.  I don't look at it that way. And I certainly don't beat you up because you don't care where your food comes from or how it was treated.....

There are a lot of different reasons to eat organically and everyone has their own reason.  In a nutshell, it is my personal belief that eating organically and sustainability are key to leading a healthy lifestyle.  I feel better when I eat this way and so does my family.  The rules in our house are to eat local if we can but always organic.  If we cannot find it organic we just don't eat it.  We eat lots of fruits and veggies, drink raw milk, eat organic local honey, and make a lot of our own food.  I make bread and crackers at least once a week.  I am working on a whole wheat organic chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses honey instead of white sugar.  I'll let you know how that goes in a later post!

A healthy lifestyle also means healthy for the planet too!  So what would happen if food would not grow anymore?  What if water was undrinkable?  What if we could not cure simple infections? These are very real questions in my mind and a thing I believe can happen if we are not careful about the types of chemicals we put in the ground or our body, whether directly or indirectly.  Keeping the earth healthy is the key to our very survival, yet most people don't care that we waste more or use more chemicals than we did even 100 years ago.  Our planet is in a very sad state of affairs people!  Time to wake up and smell the roses cause one day it will be too late!

Ok here's my take on chemicals in our food, call me crunchy if you want........Just because you can't see the chemicals on your food does not mean it is not effecting you.  If you could see bacteria on your food and you knew it was harmful, even deadly, would you eat it?  Probably not. If someone poured bleach, glue or that pine scented cleaner on your food before serving it to you would you eat it?  Again probably not.  Well guess what if you are eating the non organic meat from the supermarket you are eating at least the bleach, the glue and the e. coli.  They still keep the pine scented stuff in aisle 7 for now.  And even then I do not trust the supermarkets organic selection because I cannot go to the farm and see the food. And now we are finding out that Big Ag has it's big ol' dirty hands (read: adgenda) in organic and some things are not as organic as the label says.  Everything we put into our body has a reaction, good or bad.  In my opinion we just do not know enough about the chemicals we put in our foods to say with certainty they are safe for human or animal consumption.

So I say stop picking on people who eat organically, let us eat the way we see fit.  I won't let anyone tell me what is good for me or my family.  And I won't tell anyone, who is not willing to listen, what is good for theirs!

Do you eat organically or local or both? Or not? What are your reasons for doing so?