Lighted Window

Back on the Wagon

The last three months have been... well, to get it out in the open, they've been your typical first trimester blah (plus two weeks of nasty poison ivy rashes). Of course that does mean I got on the proverbial temperance wagon, but I fell off the blogwagon around the same time. Sorry about that.

Things have gotten better over the last week, though, and I had enough energy today to:

• start cleaning up the guest room (inlaws coming!)
• run multiple errands
• go through 4 boxes of hand-me-down maternity clothes
• spray Roundup on the poison ivy
• GO TO THE FARM! YAY!

Thank God I got my groove back in time for One Local Summer signups! Barely in time. Today's the last day, so if you meant to sign up and haven't, get over there! I have definitely been eating non-local what with trying to get enough greens in my gullet, during a cold New England spring, but our CSA share should be starting up in a couple of weeks, and our garden has baby spinach and lettuce and onions and more. A strawberry patch, too. That was a complete surprise as the snow melted.

We've been greening our garden in other ways, too -- we installed a couple of rain barrels so that we're not watering from the town wells. Except for the Roundup, we're not using any industrial pesticides or fertilizer. Just compost and manure and soap. (I wouldn't even use the Roundup but severe allergic reaction means we have a zero tolerance policy for the plant, and it's nowhere near the food plants.)

We were biking in Western MA yesterday, out near Zoar, and we rode past one small homestead with a long road frontage. The veggie garden gave way to the rhubarb patch, which was followed by a dozen or so blueberry bushes, which yielded to a few venerable old apple trees. Blessed people!

Go Play Outside

Last weekend we went skating up on Freeman Pond in Chelmsford. We'd had about 4-6 inches of snow (with lightning!), which then got saturated by freaky huge rainstorms, which then froze nice and solid. You couldn't ask for nicer ice. (But I'm new to this, so you probably can.) That's my DH on the left and our touring-skating friend on the right.

Got another 6 inches of snow on Friday, nice powdery stuff. Today we went for a walk in the woods near our house and came upon a medium-sized pond with all sizes of boys playing hockey. Also an ice fisherman, a few snowshoers, and a dog, who made off with one of the "goalposts". Too bad the camera was at home!

It wasn't too cold, so when we got home from our walk I grabbed the pruning shears and went to work in the garden. There's been a vine choking the lilacs, bittersweet from the looks of it, and there is no bad time of year to cut that stuff. (Well, clearing it before it sets berries is better than afterwards...) It was SO nice to be out in the yard again, even if it is under a foot of snow.

A red-tailed hawk circled and cried out several times, while I was out there. This place is definitely home, and it's good to be here.

Slow Growth

It's been a blessing to have three weeks at the turn of the year, not with nothing to do (far from it), but with a total breakup of routine. Work gave everyone two four-day weekends in a row, and before that we were traveling, so it's been a while since we had a five-day workweek. It's the kind of timing that lets you set your own constraints, for the most part. You can pick your goals for the day and revise them as often or as whimsically as you like.

I didn't sit down and reassess my life at the cusp of the new year -- it's more of a constant process -- but I did have some time to think. I miss the bounty of summer, the light and warmth that are there for just soaking up, and the ease of getting outside, and staying outside, for hours at a time. Fall and winter brought major changes to our day-to-day life and perhaps it has taken some time to absorb them. Or perhaps winter just slows things down some for me. I would like to grow, write more, find more local foods and put down roots in our new town, but it's not happening as rapidly as it did when I started this blog.

On the other hand, I'm not fussing about the pace. Growth happens in cocoons, too. And in winter.

[Click for larger version]

At Ease

I took these photos at dawn, or just after, this morning. Was up early to get a little work done before work, as it were. (Paid work, same job, in both cases.) The quiet and restfulness in the garden, the end of a season of zany growth, are just what I need right now.

Things are anything but restful around here. Much cleaning, packing, gathering and gleaning; the last of the canning; a bit of swatching; and over all else, a fierce urge to get outside and enjoy the good weather while it's here. We have been making the most of autumn's good looks by going for long walks, and I finally got the rack affixed to my bike and brought the groceries home from Verrill Farm under my own steam.

The time is ripe for moving into, and growing into, our new home. Still, I'm going to miss this one for a while.

Season Confusion

Seems like New England can't decide whether it's summer or fall, and personally, I can't decide which I'd prefer right now, so we're even. A little rain would be good, though. It is HOT and DRY.

No dinners this week for the Eat Local Challenge -- it feels good to take a bit of a breather. Dinners out with friends are not something to be ignored on a busy busy week. And there are Concord grapes in the fridge, along with a ridiculous number of tomatoes, so once the heat breaks (tonight? please?) I'll be putting up some grape jam and the family chili sauce. (Think condiment, not entree.) Finally, we decided to go ahead and buy a dehydrator, after playing with our friends' for a couple of weeks. Gots to get our Schnitz on!

Globe articles on eating locally

[This post has turned into a page, which I will keep updating.]

One Local Supper: Roasted Veggie Tacos

Our own: tomatillos, green beans
Verrill Farm: tomatoes (still hoophouse!), golden squash, red peppers (probably not local), scallions, cilantro
Tossed with olive oil, chili powder, cumin, chopped fresh cilantro, and a little salt, then roasted at 400F for half an hour. Served on tortillas with fresh salsa verde (our own tomatillos! again! yum! puree'd with onion, cilantro, garlic, and hot peppers), Vermont salsa jack cheese, and some avocados my housemate left in the fridge.

While the oven was at it, I also roasted up three large eggplant for eggplant-garlic dip (frozen for later enjoyment). Will have to remember to add A LOT more garlic.

Finally, there is golden squash bread baking in the bread machine. Like zucchini bread, but milder.

We picked about 3 pounds of tomatillos this evening. The branches visibly lifted. What with the hot weather all week, some of the plants flopped over, but we've been watering twice a day now and they're still setting new fruit.

Red tomatoes any day now...

About the vegetarian thing. We've been eating less meat (as in, maybe two-thirds or half as much as usual? haven't been counting). Mainly because I put most of the menu planning effort into figuring out what to do with all of these vegetables (and making cheese) -- the meat is lucky if it gets remembered. At any rate, we both gave blood last week, and I have never felt so healthy afterwards. In recent years I've had trouble with low blood pressure and have always had slightly low iron (by donation standards). Who knows whether it's coincidence? It's a real kick in the pants to put veggies by for winter dinners!

First Fruits

Photographed in the morning sunlight.

The beans are any of Kentucky Blue, Super Marconi, Trionfo Violetto, and Yellow Annellino. I think the flat ones are Kentucky Blue and the purples are Trionfo Violetto. The third one in from the left looks like a Super Marconi, not sure about the two to its left. I don't expect a high yield out of these plants as they got a very late start and there's not that much sun in the front yard.

The Java Thrive

My mom sent this: Coffee grounds for compost and fertilizer

I knew they were good for azaleas, but hadn't ever thought further than that. It's awesome that Starbucks is saving them for recycling into the earth. I'll send this to our corporate cafeteria, too, and see what they say.

In the meantime, they've been added to my miserable-looking petite rosebushes, a poinsettia, the basil, and a kalanchoe. We shall see... the kalanchoe was already looking pretty good now that the mites are gone. Something else has been hassling the roses.

Not much else going on around here. Our only local suppers this week were leftovers. We've both been focused on work. Though, I think we have a baby red-tailed hawk in the neighborhood. Tim's seen a mated pair flying around, and we hear something that sounds like it's trying to do the hawk screech, but needs more practice.

There has been knitting. I'll try to knock out a couple of FO's today and get some pictures up. We biked 22 miles this morning before it got too hot, so the afternoon is pretty much just for eating blueberries with homemade yogurt, reading, and knitting.

Welcome to the Jungle

That's the song that plays in my head when I step onto the porch. If I had known these would get to be 6 feet tall, (1) they'd have proper cages, and (2) perhaps there'd be fewer of them, too. They've been pulled in from the edge of the porch so that our downstairs neighbor doesn't get bombed with perfectly ripe tomatillos.

One of them keeled over in a squall earlier this week, and we swiped an empty (metal?) bean pole to rig up better support. The tomatillos are staked with bamboo -- not strong enough. One of the other bamboo stakes snapped when the wind-stricken plant landed on it.

Looks like we'll have our first fruits in another week, maybe? And then there will be a lot of canning, I'm sure.

The other tomatoes are all minding their own business and bulging along. Cross your fingers that they're getting enough sunlight despite their space-hogging neighbors. (As you can see in the lower left corner, the peas are a lost cause.)

The Red Robin cherry tomato plants seem to be determined to not grow another millimeter, no matter how much fruit they set. It's like hunting for Easter eggs under the leaves.

Notes for next year:

1. Buy a house with a yard
2. Try basil from seed, in a large pot or two, after Jane's method
3. Use cages for the monsters
4. Maybe try some other plants, instead of all tomatoes... I like the salad table a lot.
5. Suggestions welcome :)