Grow It. Eat It.

Breakfast

2012-01-25T15:29:00.002-05:00

We head north tomorrow to see a goodly amount of my family. I am happy about that, very.

I leave you with a new favorite recipe, one for a savory muffin. Sometimes we all need a break from oatmeal and waffles, and these play nice on the go. Also, they are a little bit salty, and I know someone out there is craving a few salty things - you know who you are. Be well out there, all of you.

1 cup plain cottage cheese (large or small curd, doesn't change the result)
3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup green (or kalamata) olives, chopped
1/2 cup grated carrots (or zucchini...or kale...or all three)
1 Tablespoon fresh, chopped oregano (1 teaspoon dried)
2 Tablespoon water
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper

Combine wet ingredients, combine dry ingredients, combine the two gently. Grease the heck out of your muffin tins. This makes 12 regular muffins. Bake at 400 for 30-35 minutes or until tops are golden. The best time to try to turn them out is about 15 minutes after they exit the oven, but even then I usually need to get a butterknife involved.

Happy Friday

2012-01-20T14:23:00.000-05:00

Have good weekends out there.

Stuffs

2012-01-18T08:42:00.002-05:00

More than half of January has scampered by. Yeesh.

Finally wintery here. A light dusting of snow this weekend was extremely exciting - kid loves his snow gear (seriously, this morning I had to hide his mittens because he wanted to eat his grits with them on). We suspect that it's not snowing this year because we finally bought a sled. Maybe I should return it?

I have been embroidering lately. Or sewing with thread. Whatever. Making small patterns. I find that it keeps me from going bananas in long meetings. These will be bracelets. Or somethings.

I have crazy streaks in my hairs now. My mom promptly told me that I looked like a skunk. I'm not even sure I like it but my hair was boring me to tears yet I can't bring myself to cut it off yet.

2012-01-09T16:49:00.002-05:00

Yet another kickass photograph taken by one of our traveling partners in crime, Josh. I have a feeling there is even more yet to come...

Rainy, rainy Monday. A good day for browsing through photographs from a tropical island. I miss that warm water, but it's also good to be home. Sleep on the road was a bit tricky, so we're so glad to be back to the land of nod. Took Osh two nights to remember how to sleep through the night, not bad. He was so funny when we got home; he spent about an hour just running from room to room. Running is kind of new, we like it a lot.

Dorky though they may be, our family was really happy to avoid sunburn in those sunproof shirts. Highly recommend them, takes a lot of the oh-god-the-baby-is-getting-fried stress out of the equation. Although I'd avoid the light blue color unless you want to show some nipples...

Feet on the Ground

2012-01-06T10:57:00.003-05:00

We're home. Our trip was so great. Osh loved the ocean beyond measure, it delighted him so much. We built tiered forts and ate brilliant food cooked in a poorly equipped kitchen with really awesome people and kayaked in a bioluminescent bay and collected shells - Osh: "Pretty!". I flew on the smallest plane of my life and did not hate it. We feel lucky that we got to do such an special thing, thanks a million, Rach.

I turned 35 yesterday. Quiet day. Vacationing with a toddler is maybe not the most restful of scenarios, so sleep has been high on the agenda anyway.

More photos soon.

Headed South

2011-12-26T20:33:00.004-05:00

We're off! We've packed, we've cleaned, we've left the keys with loved ones. Puerto Rico here we come. Looking forward to sand in our toes soon.

So this is a parting gift to any other breakfast lovers out there. My gal Leya asked for this recipe so now you all get it. We schemed up these waffles (or pancakes if you wish) back when it seemed like Osh would never get into solid foods and he loved these right away. These are superfood waffles, and this recipe is for a crowd (or we mix it up and store the batter over a few mornings).

Sweet Potato Zucchini Waffles

3.8 ounces all purpose flour
3.8 ounces spelt flour
2.5 ounces oat bran
heaping tablespoon wheat germ
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
scant 3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
scant 3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon clove
...........................
2 eggs
11 ounces buttermilk
6 ounces milk
4 ounces oil
1.3 ounces molasses
4 ounces grated zucchini
6 ounces cooked, mashed sweet potato

Combine dry ingredients, combine wet ingredients, gently mix wet into the dry. Depending upon the consistency of your buttermilk (we get a kind that is super thick), you may have to tinker with a bit of milk or flour until they are perfect.

Ok so I know not all of you own cooking scales - I think you can find equivalents out there on the intertubes pretty easily. However: we lovelovelove our scale. We use it constantly, and avoid so many dishes by doing so. This is the one we have, not pricey and it has been humming along for years now.

Oscar hanging with Aunty Diets last week. Kid was absolutely mad for her. Mad, I tell you. He is still asking about her. She and I baked and made art and walked and generally did not do much while doing quite a lot. The Squish has been loving our guests. My very oldest girl and her boy were also just here, and he was pretty darn psyched about that (more on what they brought for him later).

Be well out there. Catch you in 2012.

Wrap wrap wrap

2011-12-16T11:44:00.001-05:00

Gah! Blerg! So busy! End of semester! Everyone just got a little sick but we all got better real fast! It is super bizarrely warm here! The straw mulch we bought it full of seeds and I am mad as hell about it! Yah, can you tell it's the last day of classes here? And that my BFF is headed this way for a visit as I type this? And that I just performed some serious ass kicking on stuff in my office that I'd been strategically avoiding all semester? Darn that feels good.

I have been so completely suckface about taking photos, there is no excuse, but I am putting up two that my mom took at the wedding we went to in DC. How hilarious is a toddler in a dress jacket?

People at this wedding that I had not seen since I was a girl kept thinking that I was my mom. So funny.

What can I say? Oscar is talkingtalkingtalking. Gone are the days when we can keep track of what he knows. Today he dunked his spoon in my tea and pronounced "Dipping!" Who taught him that? He is crazy about helping, I tell you: a request for help will pretty much avert any meltdown. He helps us unload the dishwasher, puts things in the recycling, can be coaxed into moving clothes from the washer to the dryer, and will generally just about burst with joy if you ask him to put anything away. In fact 'away' and 'back' are two of the busiest words around our house.

We have been cranking out holiday goodies like crazy. With one exception (ok, and a few babies), we committed to giving only food this year. Our holiday toasted-sesame-chocolate-almonds are insane, but the peppermint bark came out a little squishy. Sorry folks, get prepared to lick your fingers.

Did I tell the intertubes that we are going to Puerto Rico? Can I get a wtf on US spellcheckers everywhere having a problem with that word? Anyway, yes, headed on our biggest adventure yet, coming soon. But first, some eat, drink, and merriment with a couple of rounds of guests.

Enjoy out there, enjoy.

Luxuries

2011-12-05T14:42:00.003-05:00

Oooooo boy, we had family in town and it was grand. B and I had a date and even got around to playing some tunes. Our uke player has excellent rhythm but kind of has trouble sitting still for longer than five minutes. Right.

Also, there is a Christmas tree at our house. Makes my day about fifty times a day.

Face

2011-11-17T14:33:00.002-05:00

This little boy:

Is obsessed with the moon. For a while it was parked outside his window right at bedtime, and he has been looking for it every night (and many mornings) since. "Moon? Moon? Moon?"

Has been experimenting with volume. Boy's got some pipes.

Is extremely into drawing, or sometimes just watching us draw. We love these crayons. He's almost as psyched to put them away as he is to get them out.

Has been eating like a starving horse. We are talking massive quantities of beans and grains and veggies and eggs and pasta. Massive.

Is so tall that half of his shirts are crop tops. I secretly love easy tummy access for smooching and tickling.

Still loves a good dance party and will request it with a "Boogie??!??" - an ask nearly impossible to refuse.

May you boogie soon.

Backpack

2011-11-15T15:45:00.002-05:00

I bought myself a backpack. An extremely neat gal in Oregon made it for me. Waxed canvas, sam browne buttons with leather catches. What's not to like? I have talked B's ear off about how much I love it and how much stuff I can fit into it and how I can wave my hands around when I walk to work since they are not holding fifty things. I feel lucky to own this.

The Reds

2011-11-11T09:09:00.002-05:00

The reds this year are knocking me off my feet. Heart-stopping, mouth-watering, brain-massaging, glorious. I love where we live.

The Small Boy

2011-11-09T15:03:00.003-05:00

I love this photograph beyond measure. My small human, how you grow.

Oscar loves this striped shirt so much that he refuses to wear a sweater over it. Not like he really "wears" it either. He either stretches it over his head or behind his neck...

...or over his face entirely. You can't hear it through this blogathingy, but he is giggling madly under there.

We Are Already Spelling Things

2011-11-01T09:23:00.002-04:00

Ok, I am getting daily emails from people (you know who you are, people) who are "tired of looking at a handful of beans." Sorry, sorry. They are really good beans! And we've been muscling through a hard couple of weeks in the sleep department. I think things are on the mend though, and we feel pretty ready for the evil time change.

Aside from our sleep woes, things have been really great at Chez Stewart Harvey. We enjoyed the phujeezus out of my oldest friend's wedding, we planted three pounds of garlic, we got visits from two uncles, one aunt, and Oscar's main squeeze, we turned three bushels of apples into applesauce, and Oscar's vocabulary and interest in doing stuff is growing daily. Little Mister turned the crank on the applesauce peeler for at least a bushel of those apples and he his happiest standing on a chair in the kitchen with some sort of task (ideally water related, ahem). He's started to put things away ("'way!") - books, shoes, jammies, etc., and we've reached the point where we have to spell the word 'walk' because when he hears it he heads over to the door, grabs his shoes and jacket and begins to holler "walk! walk! walk!" Yah, even if it's five minutes before bedtime, the kid lives for being outside. On that note - any tips in the toddler glove department? We need to gear up for the cold. Maybe we'll just have him wear that tiger suit, it's got mittens and a hat! (Aside to my mother: ok, he is stinking cute in that suit but you swore it and I'm putting it here for proof: no more prefab costumes! Starting next year I will officially be a Really Bad Mom if I don't make my kid's costume. Mothering ethics, I tell you.)

Cute, right? At some point yesterday he just walked into my office in this getup and deadpanned "rawr." As he stood looking at me I could hear B busting a gut around the corner. Good times.

Eye of the Goat

2011-10-12T16:27:00.002-04:00

We have been making such delicious food from this cookbook with these beans. The kid will eat pretty much anything with beans ("BEANS!!!") - so beans it is. Some of the recipes sound a little weird (beans in tomato sauce?) but we have yet to be disappointed.

We head to DC soon to see my oldest friend get hitched. We'll get to see my mom and Johnny and a couple of really old family friends. Can't wait. I want to eat Ethiopian food and sleep while the grandparents play with the baby. Aim high, young mother! Snort.

Fall Days

2011-10-05T10:14:00.002-04:00

We are back with the molars. Numbers three and four have finally poked their craggy peaks through, and not without some cost in the sleep department. We are also determined to push the sleep back, both for my sanity and in light of the upcoming Evil Time Change. Wish us luck, it's all a little crazy sometimes.

Oscar loves this broom. Yesterday he walked all the way down the street with it, my tiny street sweeper. I know Maria Montessori would want me to get him one his own size, but would be as hilarious? I think not.

The photos above and below were taken right after his nap. His face is so open just after he wakes and at times I think it's the best window into what he might look like as adult. Kills me.

Fall

2011-09-26T09:42:00.003-04:00

Doesn't he look like a tiny little boxer?

Fall fall fall. It is raining acorns where we live, nights are cool, the butternuts are curing, and the red enameled soup pot is pretty much always full of soup or applesauce. We are outside whenever possible, more and more walks instead of strolls, although you gotta plan for Mister Meander and Mister Social. Our guy wants to sniff every flower (oh the theatrical sniffing that goes on!) and visit every human, dog, and cat we see. He will say "bye-bye" for about 15 minutes if you're game.

Molar number three appears to be taking a break and I would like to personally thank it because I got to sleep in until 6:40. I think I got over eight hours of continuous sleep!

Oscar is giving kisses these days. Pucker up and wait for it, it is the sweetest little wet smooch. He is talking like crazy: mama, dada, bubble, apple, flower, water, shoes, socks, dog, kitty, cracker, BEANS (for some reason he always shouts this word), baby, BB (as in Gramma BB), walk, diaper, pepper, banana, wow, uh-oh, poop, pee, on and on. Obviously half of these words are soundly mangled, but you get the idea. B and I realized that we would have to decide what his first word was since so many arrived all at once and the verdict was: bubble. May you blow one, bathe with one, or otherwise enjoy one soon.

Catch Up

2011-09-23T10:43:00.002-04:00

Holy shit, it takes me so long to get here sometimes. How about just a highlight since last we spoke? Right then, my mum and Granny came to visit us. I don't feel inclined to emote in this space very much any more, so just hear me when I say that this is a very big deal, all four generations of this line sitting at our dining room table eating barley soup together. It was so awesome that quite frankly I've been in a sour little funk since they left. Maybe when they hear that they will come back? I would like that a lot, and so would a certain little boy who was also rather blue when he realized that his doting Gramma B and Granny were gone for good.

2011-09-12T09:59:00.002-04:00

Arghlemurph. You win some you lose some. It's Monday, and I'm tired and suffering from an annoyed, distracted feeling that when focused upon reveals to be largely irritation with the extremely bad haircut I got on Friday. I am generally pretty laid back about hairs - I have a lot of them and good grief they are just hairs, but this haircut is so far from what I requested that I'm having trouble making peace with the 6000 layers flying around. I think they want attention and hair goo and a blow dryer. Not happening.

Also, the kid has kissed the six o'clock wake up goodbye. We're telling ourselves that it has to do with molars, but I'm not sure that it makes reading 4:58 on the clock any more pleasant. I confess that I harbor some guilt over this situation. The kid goes to bed like a champ and then sleeps all night without a peep and then I want to hassle him over an hour or forty-five minutes? Plus as a working mom there are kind of two sides of this situation. One: holy shit go back to sleep I am tired and have to go to work in three hours. Or two: Good morning, I am so psyched that you are awake because now we can hang out for three! whole! hours! before I have to go to work and miss seeing your shining little face. He is so freakin' fun in the morning. All the words come out and he is snuggly and funny and pretty much the brightest thing ever. Anyway, I think I would be doing better accessing number two if it weren't for the looming reality of The Evil Time Change. When I am Queen there will be no stinkin' time change and I will be the patron saint of those with small children and farm animals.

Still no camera, so you get a photo that has probably already been on here once: basil. This weekend we made the last of the pesto for the winter and put up our first batch of applesauce. Warm applesauce, yes please. I love fall.

Monday Again

2011-09-05T09:35:00.002-04:00

Let me say it here so that I don't forget: it is Monday and I feel rested. Our weekend was unplanned and I had only one sort of to-do written on the whole two days. I took long morning walks with Oscar both days, something I enjoy so much. We identify plants (Oscar: "Fwowah!") and he climbs all over certain spots and he walks a lot and we visit certain neighborhood dogs (Oscar: "Doooooaaaa....wah wah wah grrrrrr!") and cats (Oscar: "Tit-ty...mrow mrow mrow!"). His language is pretty much an endless source of hilarity, as it is unpredictable what he will take a go at saying. I think 'pepper' is my favorite so far. He is so cool.

We did something evil to our camera while in Maine, so some photos from that trip will have to stand in here again. Hope all the Mondays are great out there.

Monday

2011-08-29T08:36:00.004-04:00

Good Grief, time is in fifth gear around here. The baby is making molars, work is beginning-of-the-semester insane, B is busy with music students again, and fall is tripping over itself to get here. Oi.

I am reading this, while also reading this and parts of this. I am completely effing obsessed with watching this, I think I have watched it about 50 times now. Which led me down an extremely captivating rabbit hole of Dylan trivia as well as footage of things like Dylan and Johnny Cash singing together. Go there.

This is us three years ago playing tunes at an extremely awesome wedding just a few weeks after our own extremely awesome wedding. Thanks for the photo, J & S!

This is us in Maine this summer. Thanks for bringing us instruments, P & J!

We Land

2011-08-16T14:08:00.002-04:00

We are home from Maine. I am refreshed and completely frazzled at the same time. Fall is in the air here and I wore socks today for the first time in months. I'll try not to swamp this space with baby pictures, but I am warning you that there was a great deal of cuteness happening last week.

Northward

2011-08-05T10:23:00.003-04:00

We fly to Maine tomorrow for a week on a pond with B's family. I am so swamped at work that I kind of can't believe I'm checking out for a week. Or decide if this is the best time ever for a vacation or pure insanity. We'll find out.

This video that my mom took of Oscar has been keeping us in stitches. He laughed like that all afternoon and then never again.

Boys

2011-08-04T09:08:00.003-04:00

An awesome visit was had.

A lot of good talking.

Many amazing meals were made and eaten.

And the boy is officially walking. In less than a week we went from counting steps (2! 6! 10!) to measuring distance ("Across the room!" "Across the room, turned around, and halfway back!"). Does this make my baby a toddler? I guess so.

Be well out there.

Captain Osh

2011-07-25T10:24:00.002-04:00

Kid took his first step yesterday. How I will miss it when he stops crawling; there is just something inexplicably delightful about a baby hauling ass on all fours. Fortunately for me I think there's still a little time.

Wheat & Teal

2011-07-21T10:58:00.005-04:00

It is really hot right now. Like the first real days of summer, even late summer, are here. We are much more active than we might normally be during a heat wave - the kid is happiest with lots of time outside, so outside we go and hot we are. The boy is pure joy these days. He is signing like bananas: milk, water, eat, down, all done, more, bath, toothbrush, hot, cold. This morning he signed for water while standing in front of the washing machine as it filled, the first time he's used it to mean something other than water for himself, and I felt his brain grow as I signed back: yes, water. Yesterday he showed me a spider gliding down from the ceiling, and as I held it in front of him so he could check it out he looked at me questioningly and signed for eat. Good thought, little man, but no spider eating this morning. We harvested and are curing an official riches of onions. Really, really big, beautiful onions. Where will they go? Our small pantry closet is now occupied by two small refrigerators for B's bagel making. We will figure something out. In a few days my uncle comes to visit, I am really happy about that. And in less than three weeks we head to Maine for a week with B's family and time with my girl there. Excited. Lastly, I love my blue shoes. Stay cool out there.

Lines

2011-07-18T15:25:00.002-04:00

Smitten

2011-07-15T14:43:00.003-04:00

Another vacation highlight: Oscar was completely taken with cousin Adam. You can see why. Osh climbed all over him like a tiny determined mountain climber (or WWF wrestler), and Adam just observed it all with great calm and grace. Even the nose pinching...

Two beautiful boys. Come visit us soon Adam, we promise not to let Oscar pull your nose off!

Breakfast on Vacation

2011-07-14T10:30:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite things about visiting my parents is sitting in their beautiful kitchen in the morning. This year they grew some amazing sunflowers just outside the windows and tiny goldfinches got rowdy over the floral real estate. Oscar was smitten with the ceiling fan in there, along with ferreting out my mother's water bottles and sprout growing containers. How great is that bib? It was mine when I was a kid, I know I can't possibly remember using it yet I was so excited when I saw it. I love the last photo of my mom and Osh - she calls him her little piece of gristle and squishes him up just like that. He *is* such a lean bean. At our last checkup he had not gained one bit of weight in two months but grew almost four inches. I am working hard on not worrying about this and am encouraged by a recent expansion in his interest in eating things other than my boobs.

On another note: I am so incredibly lazy sometimes. It has bugged me for years that beautiful photos still look like hell on this blogathingy, so yesterday I finally took the 30 minutes required to figure this out. This was the post that finally got me, that first photo has those delicious water drops and they went missing the first time I uploaded them. Happy now.

Farm and camping photos tomorrow...

Spoons

2011-07-13T16:26:00.004-04:00

There is one girl out there who understands what a fistful of spoons I am holding in this photo. Love you, Spring Chicken...

Landed

2011-07-13T09:43:00.003-04:00

A vacation was had. It was grand. The kid took it all in stride: long hot hours in the car, new faces, new places, new sleeping arrangements, camping. We are tired but feel great, and I am beyond happy to be sleeping in my quiet country bedroom again. I think this baby has turned me into a light sleeper, dang it. Some photos of our adventures soon.

On the Road

2011-07-05T10:50:00.001-04:00

Happy Late Fourths. We spent ours driving north through the mountains. It was our first big road trip in a long time, and I'm thrilled beyond measure to report that the babs rocked it. The same journey last year was a special circle of hell, as B says. The grandparents are now doting like mad, everyone slept through the night, and my husband is sleeping on the couch at 10:50 in the morning, which is pretty much a sure sign of vacation. Next up: camping - wish us luck.

Pusher Man

2011-07-01T07:53:00.004-04:00

This little cart of blocks was a birthday present from B's mom. It came at just the right time - he's been pushing chairs and laundry baskets and B's baking boxes around for a while now, but none of those can hit the road. He is so delighted by it, and we're astonished at how far he'll go before plopping down to eat rocks.

Blurry Mama

2011-06-30T10:09:00.001-04:00

I have been really happy in braids lately...

Wooden Toys

2011-06-29T14:47:00.001-04:00

These were mine when I was a kiddo.

Zig Zag

2011-06-27T15:20:00.001-04:00

Bee Balm

2011-06-24T09:30:00.001-04:00

Muppet flowers...

One

2011-06-23T14:57:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday, Oscar Stewart Harvey, boy of ours. Thanks for this magical year.

This Time Last Year

2011-06-22T10:08:00.013-04:00

June 22nd was Oscar's due date. Back then he was still being called 'Busy' because he was such a fireball in there. That morning I posted this, and then a few hours later we started having a baby. I don't think I ever said much here about how this guy arrived. A year later it is a collection of crystal clear moments that start with me telling B that I couldn't get comfortable lying down and end with me holding Oscar and B in a tangled embrace while throwing up my one free arm and shouting "woo hoo!" to the entire room. Oscar was a natural birth, fast and hard, something like nine hours total and three of those were spent pushing. As it turns out pushing a ten pound baby out is not easy, frankly it was extremely hard and here is some very funny proof. Our midwife was amazing, B was unflappable and adoring and just the right amount of encouraging, and I mostly felt strong and ready and if not relaxed then very, very calm.

I know his birthday is officially tomorrow, but in as much as his birthdays will always be a time when I remember what it was like to birth him, today is my birth day. I love you baby boy, and I love you B.

Summer & Three Years

2011-06-22T10:03:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was our third wedding anniversary. I love being married to this guy.

There Will Be Boogers

2011-06-15T10:20:00.003-04:00

There's a new camera at our house. The babs is too fast and our house too deficient in light for our old point and shoot. I realized that I had stopped taking photographs because of this, and I missed it very much. Right out of the box and in super low light it rocked my socks. Excited.

Shoes, No Socks

2011-06-03T14:44:00.003-04:00

Happy summer feet.

What a great week.

We all got better.

My husband had a birthday on Monday and we enjoyed the phujeezus out of his day.

It got unbearably hot so we went swimming many times and now it's a tiny bit cooler and wow that's nice.

We planted eggplants and peppers.

Oscar has started signing for milk. Oh my, what a thing to be talked to, to have him look straight at me and make this request. At first I wanted to nurse him whenever he made the sign so that he knew I knew, but then he started goofing with me a little so I learned the sign for later. When I sign it he laughs. He is a mischievous little guy, my imp.

We're having a bánh mì meets barbeque extravaganza supper with some great people this weekend. I am going to be pickling things and baking a cake and B is going to be baking baguettes.

I owe you all a recipe for sweet vermouth, we made some flipping tasty stuff. We're still tinkering with the dry vermouth but we'll get there.

Have great weekends out there.

Swimmer Babs

2011-05-24T20:14:00.008-04:00

We are making excellent headway on the summer list. Our house is a 15 minute walk from the river, and B has spent the spring scouting the best places to lounge and swim. The kid is bananas for the whole scene - he chased floating leaves, scrambled up and back down a sand bank, and squealed with delight upon being plunged into the chilly water. We all came home tired and Osh slept for two hours. Might have to be an afternoon tradition... This morning there was sand in his bed and I felt summer squeeze my hand.

Yah, can you tell there are eight (8!) teeth in that smiling mouth???

Icky Goo Icky Goo Icky Goo Goo Goo

2011-05-23T14:18:00.003-04:00

We here in this family have been sick. I ran point, getting sick first and longest and worst. B was right behind me just by actually getting sick at all (the man usually just observes from the sidelines). And Osh drafted off of us both and got away with an adorably hoarse voice and a minimal amount of snot: rockstar. Suffice to say that the semester ended ages ago but it wasn't until this weekend that we got some of our spring on and got around to enjoying ourselves.

Yesterday we returned to our old home and picked several gallons of sun warmed strawberries. Funny, it is easier to do that when you are not eight months pregnant. We planted more goodies in our garden down the hill, some things that say we're staying like sage and silver thyme. And in perhaps our favorite mark of spring, we made a sour cherry rhubarb brown betty. Unfortunately we left our own rhubarb plants behind, but the boys are quite chummy with the garden manager here so rhubarb was procured in exchange for a promised delivery of brown betty. Today we made good on the deal and left reminded of how nice it is to trade rather than pay. How exciting is it to give someone five dollars? Exactly. But it is durn exciting to deliver a warm pyrex baker's dish of fruity goodness to a guy who has spent all morning working hard.

The babs is growing like a weed - every day he looks longer to me. He has twice come upon me unexpectedly and issued a quiet "Mama!" and so I endeavor to surprise him when possible but usually am received with more of an "ba-ba-ba-be-be-ya-ya" sort of greeting. We have also abandoned feeding the child pureed things with a spoon. He tolerated it and then hated it, and we were right there with him. Now we give him what we're eating and enjoy the mess. Let me say right now that it is insanely hilarious and awesome to watch the kid pick up individual french lentils and eat them. The seriousness of the task was only slightly undermined by our giggles.

The plant identification project continues. We are getting into the things I have been looking at for my entire life: sorrels and plantains and hop clovers and vetches and hedge nettles. A few days ago I sat at a red light and identified a goodly number of the plants around me: pleasing. I am hopeful that there will be time to walk my family farm with my Granny and a flower book this summer. She is from whence my plant love sprung, and there is always a part of me that is thinking of her when I examine a leaf to see if it is toothed or run my fingers down the index to find the six-regular-parts-opposite-leaves-entire section. (Gran, I had a dream that you painted your kitchen deep lilac with black trim.)

Stay well out there, this late May bug is a meanie.

Departments

2011-05-07T15:38:00.004-04:00

Will the end of Spring semester always kick my ass? Probably. Fine. Whatever. Such a thing only sweetens the days of summer, right? This summer I am gunning for the following:

Swimming with my boys, both in our river and in the pool.
Camping. Hopefully with this gal and her boys.
Picking berries.
More camping and more swimming and seeing my family in West Virginia.
A week in Maine on a beautiful lake with lots of time for this girl.
Doing some more plant identification (see below).
Playing more music.
Reading novels again.
Knocking out a few more squares on my stagnated quilt project.

Right, I should probably stop there. This month has been a bit about recognizing and honoring my own capacity. When work chews my head off I quickly find that my own expectations for myself really need to adjust. Like I need to take it down to: sleep, bathe, eat, love on the kid, love on the husband. I am not used to paring things down so there can be some crankiness when it's called for. Growing up now.

With that said, my gorgeous mother was just here and B and I were able to knock out some work in all three of our gardens. Yup, three. We went to our old house and did some cleanup yard work there. The place is absolutely bursting with flowers and rhubarb and strawberries and asparagus and herbs and and and. I said to B that our garden there is acting like a really good haircut - sucker is growing out nicely. Then we visited our community garden plot that is bursting with a huge crop of onions. Soon we will plant squash and basil down there. And then we planted our new garden up on the hill beside us. We put in tomatoes, a funky italian chard, kale, carrots, lettuces, beets, arugula, cilantro, dill, parsley, and bok choy. Mom kept the baby from eating the seed packets and B and I dug and seeded and boy it feels damn good. I was reminded that a good garden really only needs a few huge pushes of work and then you just visit it a lot and do a little weeding and picking and watering and planting. Oscar loves visiting that garden - today he cried when we left because he did not want to let go of that hose. No sir.

In the kid department. The squish is amazing these days. The long arm of the Osh can reach many, many things. Computer mouse? No problem. Things right off the dining room table? Sure thing! After ten months of trying to teach him the sign for milk I am still not sure what he thinks about it. However, this is a kid who pretty much only eats because every few hours I poke my boobs in his face. Make the sign for bath and he'll crawl right into the bathroom and stand expectantly beside the bathtub. The first time he did it was pretty stinking exciting. He is also quite game for a good old fashion tossing of the ball back and forth. And if you leave the ball out somewhere and later holler "Gimme the ball!" (family: you must holler this just like Mikey does when he is quarterback for a game of touch football) the little genius will crawl off and get the ball. We have yet to tire of this.

In the plant identification department. Now that we live in the middle of many hundreds of acres of forest and field, B and I want to know our plants. In college I screeched my bike to a halt in front of a flower that blew my mind with its geometry and color. I wanted to know what it was so I took a botany class. I loved plonking down in the weeds with my id book and counting petals and examining leaves and the flower that nearly made me wreck my bike turned out to be a columbine. When I asked my professor what it meant to be a botanist she told me I would end up outside counting plants a lot. At the time that sounded terrible so I subsequently marked being a botanist off my list. Not only was that a lousy answer, had I asked it about five years later even that answer would have sounded awesome. Hey wait, I am getting off on my we-all-go-to-college-too-soon track. What I meant to say is that we own a wildflower guide and we're putting it through the paces. It is ridiculously fun. Our first specimen turned out to be a Daisy Fleabane. Then a Bulbous Buttercup. Then Multiflora Rose (it's fun to use the guide to id ones you already know). Then Prickly Lettuce. Then Hairy Beardtongue. I mean: the names alone! I can't wait to teach Oscar - I am not even a little boy and how I love saying 'Hairy Beardtongue.' Right.

In the home concoction department. This morning B and I made vermouth. Dry vermouth, to be more specific. We have been getting somewhat adventurous in the cocktail department of late, what with our homemade limoncellos and limecellos and trying various weird boozes. Anyway, I never gave vermouth much thought but as it turns out we both like vermouth quite a lot. If you've only ever had sweet vermouth in a Manhattan or dry vermouth in a Martini, it might seem weird to consider it a base ingredient, but give it a shot (in fact one of our favorite cocktails, The Duplex, is just equal parts sweet and dry vermouth and bitters). We've tried enough different kinds to be able to say that there's a lot of variation between brands and we like a dry vermouth that is pretty herbaceous. So after hunting around for wormwood and quinine and some other weird ingredients, we now have what we've realized is an effing lifetime supply of ingredients used in making both vermouth and bitters (the next project). So like two witches we measured all of our ingredients and simmered and strained and now we're letting it settle in a little bit before giving it the full review. A first sniff and taste was pretty exciting.

And that, people, is probably more than any of you wanted to know. Enjoy the weekends out there, try a Duplex for me.

Sway

2011-04-22T09:38:00.001-04:00

Well then, in the regaining balance department:

Yes, I always garden in those shoes...

On Wednesday a friend (Hi Sloan!) hooked us up with the perfect place to buy garden starts. I'll admit that this was part of my gardening funk. I hate buying starts. Planting seeds is not only my favorite thing to do, but we went from growing mealy tomatoes and puny peppers to bounty in both departments just by starting our own and treating them right in their infancy. You just don't know whether that gorgeous pepper plant in the store has been tortured by chilly temperatures at night for weeks! But you'll know in three months when your peppers suck. ANYWAY. When I called this place and the guy talked to me for 15 minutes about a particular kind of Italian Chard he grows, I knew we had a winner. So starts were bought, starts were planted.

I love that you can see B in the background of this one.

This chunk of garden is new and very near our house. We put a bug in the ear of one of our neighbors, and since she's the landscape gal she basically just sent a student over with a tractor and a tiller thingamummy and wham - garden. I was honestly a little speechless when I saw it. Like, oh, this must be how farmers get shit done. Well some farmers anyway. Fine by me, as neither of us had any intention of cutting in a new garden anytime soon. Soil is a little sandy but I was worried that it was going to be red clay so I'm relieved.

Check out that awesome dirt goatee.

The kid was in heaven. He ate dirt and tried to chase a cat and roughed up a few lettuce plants. Good times.

Hope the weekends are swell out there. We're in for more summer masquerading as spring, which is to say some hot. Yo spring! Don't rush it ok?

Tilt

2011-04-20T11:17:00.000-04:00

Midweek. Take a breath.

Some silence on this line as spring unfolds here. Oscar is almost 10 months old and I have finally been struggling with how to find time for myself again. Every day will fill itself up to the brim if I let it, with what I cannot even always say. Last night B went to yoga, the baby went to sleep, and I read uninterrupted for almost two hours. There was a nagging voice in my head that pestered me to work on my quilt or play the fiddle or do the dishes and finally I shut her up and came to terms with the fact that right now lying in a quiet house reading is actually getting something done.

The photo above is from this time last year - Busy was all tucked in there and we were planting the beginning of our summer garden. I think we will pull off some sort of garden for this summer, but I have to say that I feel the least myself when it comes to this. I'm just tired, darn it. When I was pregnant and hungry at weird times I used to say that Busy was eating all of my groceries. Sometimes this still feels like the case, 'cause this kid has one durn big battery. Good thing all my groceries are going to such a cute little monkey. I guess the skin I'm in just feels a little strange these days; I am used to mentally cleaning house by tearing into a chicken coop that needs to be cleaned or digging two foot holes for tomatoes or planting a huge bed of strawberry plants in a morning and, well, right now I think I might just need to lie in the grass or on the couch or in the hammock and do just about nothing at all. Note the horizontality of all these suggestions...

May you all lounge on the couch with great gusto soon.

Whirl

2011-04-06T16:19:00.003-04:00

Hooooooooooooly shit, it's been busy around here. Work, bake, babs, hike, see friends, play music, sleeeeeep. Yes, sleep. If memory serves, and yes it does, I have said this once already but: Osh is sleeping through the night. Like goodnight at 7:30, see you at 6:30. We were almost there but then the gymnastics hit - scooting, crawling, standing. And good grief did our Montessori-no-crib-mattress-on-the-floor setup suddenly not work and before I knew it was back in Osh's room three or four times a night. For eight months it completely rocked our socks to not use a crib - being able to nurse Oscar without the whole pickup/putdown fancy dance was awesome. But yeah, our squish is strong and determined and completely unafraid of scaling and sliding down four feet of pillows. So. Really awesome neighbors loaned us an extremely handsome crib, we threw him in there and prepared for a rough transition found ourselves pleasantly surprised with multiple! full! nights! of! sleep! Well, actually, the boys got that. Me, what with the end of Oscar's pregnancy and the last nine months, I am fully trained to lurk the halls of our home whether there is an awake baby or not. So we're all doing some sleep training around here.

Beyond that we are just letting spring rock our socks. We live in the mountains, yes indeedy, and this move has plonked us right in the middle of one beautiful valley. We are keeping up with the season's changes on a bigger scale as we hike along our river and creeks and ridge lines. Japanese maples, dogwoods, cherry trees, redbuds, magnolias - from stark winter contrasts we've slowly eased into new greens and the family of pink. Good stuff. I'm pleased to say that the last time we visited our garden plot I was much nicer to it. Our onions are growing away, soon to be joined by more demonstrative vegetables.

Today the babs finally pulled a large piece of furniture down upon himself. He made a face sort of like the one above, but much, much louder. He was extremely brave while B and I nearly hugged him to death and felt badly about not removing the offending item sooner. Earlier in the day he slithered into the bathtub, fortunately with a remarkable grace. So far we've done a pretty good job of making the whole house available to him - all lower levels have rotating toys and books and there's no room off limits. We've just been a little taken off guard by how quickly he's gotten the standing and sidling and reaching thing going. Where on earth will the houseplants go????

Download

2011-03-25T23:15:00.001-04:00

Holy shit it's Friday. I always think that the week after a break should be mellow but I am always wrong. Update the file, lady. Fortunately we have a Grandmother headed our way as I type this so these tired parents can hopefully sneak away this weekend.

In the random category:

I did not listen to a lot of children's music growing up. I can really only remember one album that I listened to with a sort of obsessive glee that I associate with fans of that genre. Anyway, I went and listened to this album and while I remembered every single word of the whole thing, I was shocked to find that the hammered dulcimer features prominently in quite a number of the songs. I join many other old-time musicians in making hearty fun of this instrument, is this my comeuppance? Because seriously, I still love these songs to absolute bits. Right.

The other day I put a box over my head and was completely and utterly swamped with memories of playing in homemade cardboard structures with my best friend. Like for a minute I was exactly five years old and Rachel and I were giggling wildly through one of the windows (me probably hassling the mom nearby for snacks, jeezopete I was always wanting snacks as a kid). Who knew the smell of cardboard was so potent? Go put a box over your head, you'll see.

I have been doing fancy hairdos wearing lip colors lately. Spring fever? A bathroom with nice lighting? A kid who loveslovesloves to stand up by the tub and throw every item within reach into said tub?

Speaking of the kid, yesterday he sidled from the tub to the toilet. Yo, sidling is not easy! Also, today the boys came to work to visit and the little man waved goodbye. At first I thought it was an accident but then he did it again. And again. And then finally he waved with both hands as if taking pity on his slow mother. Ok smartypants, I get it.

Lastly, we have been here lately. It's so good that it hurts. Also, I have found that on the second time around the second season is not nearly as painful. What is painful is reading about some very sad post Twin Peaks careers. Does Kyle MacLachlan really have a blog about his dogs or is Wikipedia just messing with me? Either way: sad.

Ok lovelies. Have great weekends.

Nine Months

2011-03-23T13:37:00.006-04:00

Nine months ago-ish.

Oscar Stewart Harvey is nine months old today. This feels so significant to me - as he has grown these many months it repeatedly boggled my mind to know that he'd been a part of me longer than not. Now he's a boy of the world. And my how he's grown. The latest tricks include pulling himself to standing on anything that will sit still and going from crawling to sitting. It is a complete shock to come around a corner and find him standing in front of the washing machine or some such. We call him The Inspector - he's so curious and so determined and pretty much pats everything down to check it out. He's also started snuggling, which I love love love. Busy turned out to be a pretty telling nickname for this little guy.

Oscar saying, "When I came out I was this big!" No kidding, Mister Ten Pounder...

It's been hard not to worry lately. My friend's illness, Japan, work stress, a baby whose fifth tooth seemed to finally knock our brave teether for a loop, etc. The spring has also, unsurprisingly, brought about quite a wave of longing for our garden. Last week we planted onions in our community garden plot, a seriously over-cover-cropped plot of fairly compacted soil, and the first ten minutes of spading found me almost angry at this poor little bed for not being in the state that we left our own garden. Argh. So I dug around rudely for a while until things sorted themselves out. I think I was partially angry because I recognize that right now I/we don't have the time or energy to recreate what we did yet a part of my mental upkeep has always involved spending a lot of time in the dirt. We're still cooking on the guerrilla garden down the hill though, so there's hope.

All for now but more later. Be well out there.

Break

2011-03-09T19:46:00.003-05:00

The Wednesday before spring break is feeling very much like itself. We're tired around here. After weeks of speedy belly crawling Oscar has gotten his knees under him and what they say in parenting books about motor skills and sleep is true. I remind myself from whence we came, but there have been some mornings around here when everything in my body aches for more sleep as I walk up the steps to work. B's head hit the pillow at 7:53 this evening; keeping up with the squish during the day when said squish has been up at night is no joke. It is a joy to watch Oscar move in new ways though, no doubt.

Some extremely lousy news on the health front for a coworker has left me sad and uncertain. I don't have a lot of experience with death or dying or illness. I am 34 years old and can say that there has only been one death in my world of loved ones. I see that I am fortunate to be able to say that I am still surprised by tragedy, yet I think it is this same circumstance that causes me, upon orbiting into loss, to look wildly to my husband and child and family and realize with panic that such a thing could call on any one of us.

Stay well out there.

Big Boy Shoes

2011-03-03T11:09:00.005-05:00

Oh man, I am sorry to make all of you (hi mom!) look at that Bean Boot for so long. We got busy. My lovely parents came to visit and my mom nearly hugged Oscar to death and Johnny enchanted him with ear massaging guitar chords and general grandfatherly goofiness. B and I went on a hot date and a hike with just the two of us. Good times.

Yesterday B put lace up shoes on Oscar and for some reason it nearly killed me with the little boy-ness of it all. He is such a long narrow bean, sometimes I feel like he could practically just up and walk away from me. Not yet, mister, not yet.

Tidbits

2011-02-18T10:51:00.006-05:00

Ok, we interrupt this baby channel to talk about another subject: footwear. It's February and yesterday it was almost 70, but I have finally found my winter boots. I really wanted something a lot easier to get on and off but in the end the Maine-y-ness and the waxed canvas won my heart. Just thought you all should know.

Also in the tidbit category: I had yet another popcorn breakthrough a few days ago that I can hardly keep from leafleting about. Crack the lid. Yup. Awhile ago I noticed that our popcorn was chewy if we left it sitting with the lid still on after it was popped. Roll footage of me thinking deeply here. So the next time I made popcorn after a good layer of popped kernels were afoot, I finished the job with the lid cracked. All kinds of steam came out! Steam that would otherwise be de-crunching your popcorn! Then we ate the best bowl of popcorn ever known to us. Try not to fall off your chairs out there, ok?

Right. This made me feel more garden sadness. You know that-there celery is knockout, and if you don't believe that celery can be knockout then we can't be friends.

This, on the other hand, freakin' made my day. I was immediately called to remember a certain photo of me at about age five, wearing nothing but too-big high heels and a long string of pearls. In the middle of a health food store. Not that any of you would need to see the updated version, but seriously.

Our mail has been stolen lately. Mail that we have sent to other people has been getting stolen too. This makes me wave my arms around and wail. So if any of you sent us something awesome and we didn't say anything about it, now you know why. Grr.

The world has discovered B's bagels. Game on, man can crank out a serious spread of these suckers. It's all very exciting, what with roiling pots of malted water and the oven cranked to the limit.

Speaking of my man, he started a bottle of homemade limoncello for me for Valentine's Day. Hello meyer lemons, I love you. I have wanted to do this for years and never gotten around to it. Sometimes I think that's the theme of our marriage: I have wanted to do that for years so let's try it right now together. This place has been a lot about the babs lately but behind/underneath/around all of that is my adoration and appreciation and general could-not-would-not-do-this-without-you-ness that I feel for my husband. Also? He is hilarious.

Ok, I think that's enough for one sitting. As you were.

Slippy Willie

2011-02-14T08:49:00.006-05:00

Happy Monday out there. Busy weekend, wherein the boy reminded us that, really? It's not that fun to keep him up past his bedtime. Got it.

So I sucked it up a few days ago and ordered onion slips. We are heading into the months when I think we will finally really miss our old house, which is to say: our garden. This time last year we were starting flats of seeds, including about six dozen onions that went on to grow like champs (they were a short day long storage type that I cannot find as a slip, grr). I had just about talked B into believing that we should go get all of our seed starting lights and whatnot from the old house but then he actually thought about it and told me I was crazy. Right. Onion slips it is. We have a community garden plot here that is about a fifth of the size of our old garden. Since it's unlikely that we'll be down there seven times a day we've decided to grow three things that do well for us without a lot of attention: onions, butternuts, and basil. We meant to do garlic too but the move slowed us down and then winter decided to go for it so that was that. We're going to try trellising our butternuts this year. I will miss the seed starting the most, I think. My own private call to religion seems to surface every year when those seeds pop up. Like yeah, it's science, but it's mysterious in a way that makes me feel crazy joyful. Also, it usually makes me hop around.

Right then, Willie, where have you been all of my life? I completely skipped Willie. Ben nearly ate his tongue when I told him this and now we're on a real bender. This album is so stinkin' good, and any Emmylou Harris fan should go here immediately. I do love me some Emmylou.

The kid is so badass these days. He is belly crawling all over the place and nothing makes him light up brighter than when you get down on the floor with him and hide around a corner. Seeing those big blues slowly peer around a door frame is so happy making. Tooth number three is in attendance, and number four is right on its heels - kid is gonna have a snaggly gap tooth smile in no time. Also, we played music at a party this weekend (for a 100 year old gal no less!) and the squish just sat right beside us waiving his arms wildly and collecting admirers. I was so proud of him.

My bff gave me this brooch for my birthday, a Cathy Cullis piece. I love her, and by that I mean all the hers aforementioned: my bff, Cathy, and the woman in the brooch.

Happy Monday, and Happy Valentine's Day out there.

Dear Mom...

2011-02-02T19:21:00.004-05:00

...thanks for the socks - B and I are floating on cushy woolen pads and our tootsies are warm again. The baby would especially like to thank you for the box they arrived in.

Love,

Us

Up

2011-01-31T19:19:00.003-05:00

B gave me a kite for my birthday. I haven't flown a kite in about 25 years. My mom and I used to make kites and walk them up the street to the high school to fly them. I can still remember her incredibly precise measurements and folds - I get teased about being a perfectionist because I am a librarian but really I'm a hack compared to her. Anyway, they are really fond memories; the anticipation building in the walk to the field and the triumph of getting the kite aloft, all of it suffused in the somewhat pleasantly melancholic mood that strong wind still makes me feel.

We didn't make this kite but it was still loads of fun to hike up the mountain here and launch it into the wind. Sunday wasn't very windy but she still climbed right up there. I like just holding it and feeling it tug on my arms. B likes to run around. Osh likes it best when we run around while holding him - kid seriously busts a gut laughing if you run down a hill with him.

Also, I love this.

Well That's Good

2011-01-30T10:45:00.007-05:00

Thursday night the kid started sleeping through the night. Just like that. I was so incredulous that I spent most of the night awake wondering what the hell was going on. Also, my boobs were a little startled by the turn of events although they are slowly getting the message. I can feel sleep flooding into the craggy underslept parts of my brain and boy it is good. B and I just finally decided that Osh was ready to work it out on his own and the little guy did not disappoint. How we love our bean, our string bean really - 28.5 inches long by latest measurements.

P, the shoes are a big hit...

We had grandparents in town this weekend so a date was had. Awesome. We went to see this film and absolutely loved it. Loved it despite fingers getting chopped off even. The language was absolutely hysterical. Thanks for the date GG and Grampa T!

Sadly, the new book, while better than the last really bad book, is not my thing. I can only handle so many ending paragraphs that take you through the last 50 years of someone's life. Just like that! Uh, I read books to understand the that. Anyway.

Figgy buckwheat tea cakes, possibly my favorite thing B makes theses days. May you be eating something equally yummy this fine Sunday morning.

Weekend of Good

2011-01-23T10:34:00.005-05:00

Haircut. Housewarming party with over half a dozen kids tearing around our tiny house while adults eat almost 100 waffles made by my husband. Hike. A chuckling baby (different from a giggling baby) who is putting himself to sleep like a champ (seven months today, cripes). New tune. A book that already appears much better than the absolutely appalling one I had to muscle through for my book group. A phone date with my BFF and a hilarious video chat with my parents. Right now the husband is baking the house into a swirl of good smells, the babs is napping, and I'm about to cut fabric for this quilt that I've got a mind to make. Good, good, good.

Have great weeks out there.

Still With the Baking

2011-01-16T20:31:00.004-05:00

Yeah, ok, so most people have put their last sheet of cookies in the oven for at least a few months, we are still baking around here. B gave me this book for my birthday. It's been said before, but this is a gorgeous book. I eyeballed a lot of these recipes when they were put up online last year, but I'm glad to have them in hand. Although there are goofy number of jam filled affairs, choice ingredients like dates, figs, and sesame seeds show up and make me happy. The cookie in my palm up there is technically referred to as a Speculaa, but we have renamed them Spicy Delicious Cookies (we like Spicy Delicious Things), because sorry, the given name reminds me of a speculum. Righty-o. Anyway, these immediately joined my short list of kickass cookie recipes. They are powerfully spicy, perfectly crisp and chewy, and not too sweet. With notable exceptions (Uncle Gonzo, I am talking to you) I disapprove of mailing cookies around, but I actually think these taste better with age so they might be a good candidate for the postal delivery. They are also a snap to make:

Sift together:
3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon clove
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground anise seed
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

Beat together:
1 cup butter (two sticks)
1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar (add a slosh of molasses if you don't have this)
3 tablespoons rum, whiskey, or milk

Gradually add the flour mixture until well combined. Turn onto counter and knead lightly to gather together. Roll into rectangle 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick. Cut into shapes. (Here the recipe says to press blanched almonds into the dough. I have this thing with blanched almonds: I think they are gross. We tried these with regular almonds and pretty much decided that we prefer these nut-free. Do your thing.) Brush lightly with egg whites, bake at 375 for 10 minutes (or 12-15 if you want a totally crunch cookie). They'll set up quite a bit after you take them off of the cookie sheets.

In other news worth reporting: this kid is raring to go in the locomotion department. So far only backwards (see baby under the couch). It is so awesome to watch him figure this stuff out. Not as awesome to stumble into his room at four in the morning to find him pissed about trying to crawl, but whatevah, he's gotta get him time in when it suits.

Smooches about you all.

Birthday Girl

2011-01-06T14:19:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I turned 34. I liked 33 a lot, but I'm game for this number too. I have always thought that birthdays were really more about the mamas who birthed those babies, and now I really think that. I call my mom on my birthday, and Oscar, you better call me on yours. Speaking of Oscar, he gave me a birthday present that pretty much eclipsed all the other extremely awesome things that happened yesterday: one, he slept for six hours straight without a peep that night and two, he put himself down for a nap all by his little self. I know I have readers who are probably like, bfd, but I know I also have readers who get just exactly how priceless it is to be able to put your kid in the bed and leave him there for a snooze. I danced a jig in the livingroom that nearly left me wounded, I was that excited. We have been hanging in there as cheerfully as possible, but the last two months or so have been a real ride in the sleep department. Moving, teeth, new motor skills, who knows. So, you know, thanks for the sleep, kid, you made your mama greet the day with serious zeal.

Fresh faced family after a kicking hike. Oh the faces we make to get this kid to smile at the camera.

Hello New Year

2011-01-01T20:52:00.004-05:00

Dear 2010: we are a little sorry to see you go, because frankly, you rocked our socks. Thanks for that.

We rang in the new year with our customary epic hike and palate rocking Indonesian coconut beef situation (cinnamon sticks, star anise, cardamom pods above - they join awesome things like lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves and oh hell, the yum). I finished sewing curtains for Osh's new room and B made cocktails that knocked us out well before midnight. I never felt an obligation to power through the new year even before I had a kid, thankyouverymuch.

Profiles to the west on the Swannanoa River.

Baby still learning about size ratio stuff = awesome.

Happy New Year, lovely people. May this one treat you right.

Christmas Wish

2010-12-30T13:37:00.005-05:00

Ok so now that we live out in the middle of a bunch of boonies I really wanted a white Christmas. I woke up around 6 that morning and found everything just as green and brown as ever, sniffed a little with disappointment and went back to bed (courtesy of my mama, who accepted the very early delivery of one very wide awake little boy every morning of her visit here). By 8 there were countable inches blanketing the world outside and I was one happy girl.

Really it's just been so relaxed here; my mama arrived, we played with the baby and made food, she got snowed in with us so we made more food and took long hikes in the muffled snowscape. It was great. I can't squeak loud enough about how happy making it has been to have access to the outdoors that doesn't require a car. Although B and I would usually walk around our neighborhood when it snowed, mucking through gritty plowed heaps of snow cannot hold a candle to the meditation of moving through a fresh ten inches of snow in the woods. Puts the space in your brain that everyone needs after making it through most of a December.

Christmas with this little guy was a hoot. His presence prompted the mailing of packages from all over creation; such thoughtful lovely gifts from such awesome people, all, to his delight, wrapped! While many items were returned to later with interest, I can definitely tell you that in the moment it's all about the paper. Crumpling it, waving it, eating it, banging it. Jolly, very jolly, to watch a round little guy wave pieces of tissue paper about. Thanks for all the mail, you people, we missed every single one of you!

Stuffed fruit basket from Auntie Bets, Uncle Mark, and Cousin Gordon: you should see this baby take a go at that pear. Woah.

Six Months

2010-12-23T11:21:00.003-05:00

Osh is six months old today. Insert here the stuff about time flying and awesomeness. I like my kid so much. These days he is sitting up, growing teeth (two emerged about two weeks ago), and babbling with a seriousness that slays me; he's big into ba-ba-ba and ma-ma-ma.

Merry Christmases out there.

Landing

2010-12-07T19:11:00.005-05:00

Well that was hard. Seriously. And I don't even mean in an emotional way, although there was some of that too. I mean hard in the particular way I remember swimming the 200 meter butterfly was hard: you'd start out all graceful and full of energy but in the back of your mind you'd know that by the time you hit the eighth lap your form would look like shit and you'd be cursing your coach for making you swim that race in the first place and then by the time you hit the wall you were fuck-all dead tired beyond caring. B and I are a sort of annoyingly can-do duo of enthusiasm when it comes to things like moving, but people: I think that the birth of our first child has taken a gear out of our drive. To say that we were whupped by the time we packed our stuff, moved our stuff, cleaned the old place, and then unpacked aforementioned stuff would be an extreme understatement.

Am I allowed to say that leaving our urban farm was both wrenching and really easy? I have always moved a lot. I find it painful and laborious, and frankly there are few spaces sadder to me than the very moment when everything you own is in a truck and there you are barreling down some highway, but nonetheless the process is a longstanding part of my own efforts to jack myself out of the ruts of life's inevitable inertia trajectories. B and I were stunningly happy in that house. I got to do a lot of things there that had previously only existed on my wish list and now I know what B and I can do to a big patch of grass and a very dingy little box. Our physical life there has been a big part of my identity for the last many years; I am a very good librarian, but I think it's my way with plants that makes me the more useful human. It's really weird to me that we're not growing anything right now, but we've already got our eye on some grass down the road, and I'll be honest and say that in this fourteen (14!) degree weather I'm actually kind of relieved to not be out there hooping and unhooping our greens.

And where we are now? People, it is worth it. I walk through the woods to work. The boys visit regularly and I head home for lunch tickles and hikes and tunes with the husband. My kid's backyard is now hundreds of acres of forest, farmland, and pasture. We live 30 yards from another baby whose age is still measured in months. We live 35 yards away from two kicking musicians who also love food. It was a huge decision for us and I think we did ok.

So, you know, there might be an absence of vegetable photographs here for a while, but I know they'll be back eventually. We mostly chew on the baby these days anyway. He, in turn, chews on everything:

Smooches on you all.

High Flying

2010-11-22T09:47:00.002-05:00

We are right here in the thick of it, of half packed boxes and lack of sleep and to-do lists that make me suck in my breath, but then there's that little guy up there shining with practically unbearable amounts of joy; he makes me feel like we can do anything.

Catch you from our new zip code in a matter of days.

Hello November

2010-11-03T20:06:00.011-04:00

Browned Butter Pecan Teacakes with Chocolate Bits

Well where the hell did October go anyway? I am starting to get "where-are-you" emails from people I don't even know so I thought I'd better resurface and confirm that we are still kicking over here.

Last month was so rad. I finished the first book to speak of since we had a baby and boy howdy was it a good one. Our little family picked up and flew our way to Boston for a really special wedding. This was Osh's fourth wedding since he was born and he rocked the party and then slept through the party as it is a baby's right to do. While there we gunned it up to Portland and he met some super important people. The leaves changed. The garden greens grew into waving clusters of cabbages and broccoli and kale. We decided to move. B's baking ventures went from a dabble to something of a real business. The first frost came so we picked all the flowers and enjoyed bright bouquets for days. Halloween came and despite my disbelief that my own mother would send me a premade costume (she was a hardcore "we make our costumes" kind of mum) once we dressed the little guy up he was shockingly hilarious.

Yah, did you catch that in there? We're moving. It's so crazy and unexpected that I can't even really motivate myself to explain it. All you need to know is that now I'll get to see my boys for lunch. And snacks. And hikes. And any other old time during the day that I like. Stay tuned.

Fall Clean Up

2010-10-09T22:25:00.004-04:00

10:30 and the boys are sleeping. Aside from our trip to Savannah last weekend and a friend's wedding a few weeks back, I have worked every Saturday of the semester so I keep thinking today is Sunday... I celebrated with a nap (crazy lady) and now I'm up when I should be sleeping.

My parents were just here and B and I used our free babysitting time to clean out the last of the summer garden. Picked the last squash, peppers, eggplant, and...lemongrass! We are goofy excited to have finally grown our own stalks of this stuff. I potted up a tiny plant some three years ago, but it wasn't until B learned that we could plant this outside that it really took off. It's huge now, and on Thursday we cut a huge handful for dinner this week. Lemmongrass Chicken Curry here we come.

The kid turned over for the first time this Thursday. My mom gets all the credit for this one - she just kept helping him turn over and then, boom, he did it. And since then he's done it about a gazillion more times. It's so weird to leave him on his back and come back and find him scooching around on his stomach. Shot across the bow - this kid is going to hit the gas pedal in no time.

Buns

2010-10-05T14:36:00.002-04:00

Wouldja look at that sticky bun? Ain't it gorgeous? My husband made that. I have mentioned a few times that B has been heading into Real Baker Land. It started with bread, then bagels, then some scones and muffins and cookies, and now some absolutely kickass sticky buns. Like, I am extremely picky about yeasted sweets, and these absolutely knock it out of the park. He has started selling goodies at our local markets, the brick and mortar kind and just today he is headed to his first farmer's market. I am so excited for him. First, the stuff he is bringing is so absolutely unique and yummy and totally organic. Second, he will have the cutest baby in the world with him as the ultimate prop. After work I am headed straight there and I can hardly wait to see them doing their thing. I am secretly hoping that he doesn't sell all those buns so that I get to eat one.

We are actually just back from a work trip to Savannah. We had a fantastic time there - the weather was amazing, we found excellent food, and Osh was a traveling champ. We got to stay in a hotel so of course we all went swimming multiple times; jeepers swimming with the baby is so totally fun. We also went on our first Real Date since June 23, 2010. GG and Grampa T took the baby and B and I went out for a stunning dinner and walk. It was so great! I did have the extreme misfortune of putting my neck so far out of whack that B actually asked me all the questions you ask someone if you think they might be having a heart attack. For real. Thus my last night there and the drive home were pretty much the definition of hell, but they are over now and my chiropractor is slowly putting me back together (seriously - do not pass me on the left, I can't really do a head check for you). I tell you, this baby having thing does some crazy stuff to a body.

There are about 900 other things to say about the garden, the chickens, some crazy big changes possibly coming up, our trip to Boston/Portland soon, my mom and my John coming to visit tomorrow, the amazing book I'm readying, the fact that my husband started reading Tolstoy right when we had Oscar, how it's really FALL now and my baby looks so stinkin' cute in a coat that I could die, and more, but that goofy list will have to suffice.

Smooches on cheeks to you all.

Repeat

2010-09-24T12:08:00.005-04:00

Oi! I have never been so busy in my life. Swear. I book it through work like an athlete these days, literally fueling up and making sure I stay hydrated. Effing madness. I crash into my days off with Osh with such gratitude. This morning I snuggled and tickled and munched on the boy, talked to my best friend, talked to my mom, did two loads of laundry, and am now catching up with bills and whatever while the squish naps.

I have been really bad about pointing our camera at anything other than the kid. There's good stuff in the garden - beautifully lush fall greens, speckled lettuces, blooming peas, tall beets... There are even billowing orange cosmos and melt in your mouth peach dahlias. You'll just have to believe me this year, the baby cheeks are too much competition.

Happy Weekends out there.

Septembers

2010-09-14T11:52:00.003-04:00

Do I say this every year? That I can't believe it's September? That despite my fervent wishes for Summer to break, I am still surprised when Fall starts nipping at the door? Probably.

I like September. It's a month of anniversaries for me. In two days it will be three years since B proposed to me in the garden. A few days ago it was a year since I first picked up a fiddle and started scratching out bowing patterns. And in a week and change it will have been a year since we started making Oscar. Marriage, music, baby; riches of fall.

Happy September out there.

Buried with Baby

2010-09-07T16:48:00.000-04:00

Kids, I am still buried. Buried in trying to be completely present when I am home with my guy(s) and buried up to my neck in classes and committees and projects when I am at work. I know I owe a lot of very awesome people phone calls: hang in there with me, I am thinking of you.

From the Frying Pan, Heather

Take It to the Floor

2010-09-01T11:31:00.003-04:00

I ain't got no photo, I ain't got no recipe, link, or book to recommend. But I got a laughing baby.

Yup, yesterday at 6:30 in the evening the kid giggled. Like a real giggle, throaty and scale climbing and magical. B and I looked at each other in wide eyed shock and then we both fell over on the floor laughing. When we wiped our eyes and sat back up, the kid did it a second time, which laid us out on the floor all over again. I nearly cried for real at that point. There is nothing, and I do mean nothing, like a baby laughing at his papa acting like a wild boar/rabid pig/generally insane growly beast.

When I left for work today I quashed feelings of sadness knowing that I was probably going to miss more giggling, and a half an hour ago I picked up the phone and heard nothing but snorts and responding giggles in my ear. Love those boys.

May you encounter a wild boar at your house soon.

What Grew

2010-08-27T13:51:00.005-04:00

Happy Weekend lovely people. I just enjoyed the phejezus out of two days at home with the kiddo. Work today and then a family day tomorrow, yay. As I write this Osh is most certainly being snuggled up by B's mom. Completely and totally fun to watch this guy charm a gal who has thus far just seen him in the sleepy newborn phase.

The kid is still a great napper, so days at home are a pretty delightful balance of playing or reading or walking with him and then kicking into Get Shit Done mode once his lids meet. I've been pickling red onions from the garden:

We've been baking with buckwheat:

So far we absolutely love this baking book. These are a slightly sandy (in a good way) buckwheat sugar cookie, rolled in poppyseeds. Perfect for tea time. The figgy buckwheat scones from the same book have been made multiple times and are so stinkin' good, I know they'll get made again and I will take a photo if they don't all jump immediately into my mouth. People who know how I feel about baked goods already know that I consider the fig to be one of the most underutilized yummy things in the world, ever, and buckwheat is just darn good.

We've been roasting squash:

And poblanos:

The garden saw some spectacular successes and a few failures this summer. We managed to really rock the storage crops; we grew well over a bushel of onions, an enormous bag of garlic, and about 150 pounds of winter squash. We also grew the first slicer tomato that really met our expectations (Paul Robeson, if you're curious) and finally met a paste tomato that kicked down the storm of tasty tomatoes we were longing for last year (Orange Banana Paste). In our misses, the beans needed a taller trellis, more diligent pest removal, and we needed at least two more rounds of plantings - no dilly beans this year. The sweet peppers had a hard go of it all around - late seeding and an outbreak of bacterial wilt left us with lots of red peppers but not the onslaught that we like. And then a few things just got away from us - the basil, for one, leaving our pesto stores slimmer than last year, and the cukes; many pounds of perfect pickling cukes eventually rotted in the fridge while we gazed at the baby. We also could have harvested our cabbages and carrots many weeks earlier but at least we ate those. All in all, considering the extreme heat, the dry spell, and the baby (who rocked his doc appointment last Thursday at 15 pounds, 25.5 inches thankyouverymuch), we are pretty happy. At this point we're pretty much down to eggplants and peppers for summer veggies; most of the beds are sown with peas and brassicas and carrots and beets. Welcome, fall, we're ready for you.

There and Back

2010-08-25T12:11:00.005-04:00

Holy shit people, time has wings over here. Since we last talked, work ate my head, we traveled to West Virginia for the family reunion, and then work ate my head again. Can you guess which part was my favorite? Right. I actually have to go try to get some of my head back, so I leave you with just a small selections of the many faces of Osh. This kid's face is so expressive, we can (and do) watch him for hours at a time. Face TV.

Be well out there...

Harvest

2010-08-11T08:08:00.011-04:00

Good grief the days are flying by. Work gets crazier, Osh gets bigger, the garden spills baskets of tomatoes and peppers and squash into our kitchen. It's still hot as hell but in the dead of night I can feel fall lurking in the shadows. In the wee dark morning hours I stand in the kitchen, drinking water and soaking up the sound of the katydids, my favorite hallmark of summer. Not long for them now.

My mum has been to visit, and I cannot say here how completely awesome it is to see your mom fall in love with your kid. They snuggled and rolled on the floor and he shined his gazillion watt smile her way and she was a goner.

We do not dress this guy very often, it's so friggin' hot that he's either naked or just barely, but one afternoon a chilly breeze rolled through and we played dress up...

That swirl. Effing. Kills me.

Who wouldn't be? The guy is so cool. Yesterday when I came home from work I flopped on the floor and read my book to him and he talked and smiled and wiggled himself to sleep and my heart nearly burst just watching his little (big) hands clutch and unclutch a piece of my shirt. We spend pretty much zero time trying to get him to sleep, he just has a loose routine and conks out regularly throughout the day. Nights have fallen into a steady pattern - snacks at 1 and 4 please, some crib time in the early early morning so that he can snort and snuffle as he pleases and we can sleep. Yesterday during the wiggling and smiling I found myself, really for the first time, thinking, "Oh god, he won't do this forever" and I had to try not to squeeze him too hard in my moment of panic and crazy desire to freeze time. That toothless baby smile will live in my brain forever as a piece in my collection of things that mean love.

Ya know, usual caveat about my camera making everything look like poo...

I have been baking like a freak. Fresh fig and honey cream galette, from my go-to fruit book. Brown butter peach bars (fucking labor intensive and dial back the sugar, but yum). Breastfeeding will do that to you I guess.

Speaking of breasts, can I just take a moment here to lament that my boobs are preventing me from wearing about 95% of my clothing? I feel that I was very patient with the sartorial sacrifices of pregnancy. I bought and wore two pair of pants for the entirety of the my-old-clothes-don't-fit stages (and they were identical). Two! For something like six months! You all know that I am a complete clothes whore, so let's hear it for my spartan success in this department. So, you know, I was mildly excited to open up the closet and don something from my life-as-a-skinny-girl. Forget it! Waists zip up with little protest, but good luck stuffing these gals into anything tailored. Even t-shirts feel a little shocking, after years of having boobs that were pretty much an afterthought. I look in the mirror and find myself thinking "Mmm, chesty." (Yes, I am a dirty old man about even my own rack.) ANYWAY. It will be cardigan weather soon enough, surely those will still fit?

May your favorite clothes fit today.

Monday

2010-08-01T15:52:00.006-04:00

This was Osh's face when I told him that I had to go to work this morning. Yup, you heard me: work. I am not going to lie and say that I skipped out the door, but as I pulled out of the driveway I was swamped by a deep appreciation for the fact that I wasn't leaving my baby with a stranger. Or a stranger with twelve other kids to care for. I realize that lots and lots of amazing people provide childcare to folks who need it and that those people quickly cease to be strangers. But on this cloudy Monday morning I am so glad that he is at home with his Papa. Who I have already emailed and talked to on the phone about eleven times and I've not even had lunch yet. So far we are all peachy. I wouldn't say that I missed my job, but it feels good to be back. I saw one of my favorite people right when I got out of my car, and I took it to be a good omen. Plus, it sure is lovely out here and these few remaining weeks without the insanity of students is time that flies quickly.

This is a leek-tomato-gruyere galette. Someday I will own the camera that makes my food look as good as it tastes, but until then just take my word for it: this thing rocked. Just roll out your favorite savory crust, cook some leeks in some butter with salt and pepper, grate some gruyere, and slice some heirlooms. Bake it, hang on to that hat.

B and I had another weekend of Busy with Busy. We picked another six gallons of blueberries, made peach sauce, made strawberry sauce, made a huge batch of amazing tomato sauce from all the mountains of tomatoes in our garden. Goodies for colder months. Osh hangs in his new little seat, either taking in every little detail or fast asleep. We got such an awesome baby, I mean it. During the day this is pretty much how we go: eat, hang out for a while smiling and laughing and wiggling and cooing, get a little fussy for a second, take a nap. Repeat. Repeat. Sometimes repeat again. Go to bed. Eat a few times, maybe, make it until five in the morning, turn into a gremlin for two hours. Begin again. Gremlin? Yup. Gremlin time is when he's kind of asleep, but kind of awake. He's noisy. Like snorty kind of noisy. It's hilarious, but really, really hard to sleep with. And he is awake enough to need some comforting. We take turns, it's not so bad. The hard part is remembering to take a nap when he naps. There's so much at our house to do! It will be easier when fall comes. I am looking forward to snuggly snoozing in cooler weather, yes I am.

Midweek News

2010-07-28T15:03:00.013-04:00

Our internet connection has been outstandingly craptastic lately, so getting here has been a bit of a challenge. Not to worry, this little family is keeping busy while taking it slow, if that's possible.

On the keeping busy front: we pulled out all the carrots and beets and beans and greens and flowers and sowed the majority of seeds for the winter garden. Made a tomato pie (note: use more tomatoes than she calls for, less cheese and salt), green enchiladas from CI (we are drowning in tomatillos), and we're still cranking on batches of pesto. Put up a half bushel of peaches, staring down the other half a bushel on the kitchen floor. Picked five gallons of blueberries (Osh's first berrying!) with plans to pick again this weekend (the berries are sooooo good this year!). Played a wedding in Tennessee for a friend, drove back over the mountains way too late for all of us, B and I talking deliriously of all things under the sun as though we had just met.

Uncle Shark, discussing the eating of Oscar with Oscar himself.

On the slow and sweet front, Osh has recently received visits from Grandpa T and GG (Grandma Gail), Grand Uncle Shark, and his Grampa Whis is motoring south as I type this. We pretty much sit around and make people agree that his little butts are the cutest thing on the planet. Seriously, there is nothing like baby tush. We have been lucking into family naps and good nights of sleep, and Oscar has been smiling like to break our hearts. I told my mom that I hoped the charm of his smile wears off a little because right now I'd give him the world if he smiled and asked. "What, you want to eat 8 chocolate bars for dinner? You got it." We have even been getting lovely afternoon and evening storms, the kind where the wind just sweeps away the 90+ degree weather and (for a moment) leaves everything cool and clean. Life is so fab, who needs the stinkin' internet when you can watch a baby listen to a storm roll through?

Seriously.

Smooches from the homefront.

Gerunds

2010-07-21T13:07:00.008-04:00

I am in no way a grammar girl, but I have been fond of the gerund since realizing that it got me out of more difficult verb conjugations while learning Spanish on the fly in Colombia when I was 19. Holy hell, wtf is up with that sentence? I am just going to leave it there so that it can annoy me later.

Anyway, here are today's gerunds: pickling, catching, picking, playing.

With the pickling: we went to visit one of our favorite friends and musicians and he sent us home with a huge bag of okra and a bunch of beautiful corn. He has what is practically a farm in his backyard since he charmed his neighbors into letting him take over their backyards too. Anyway, we don't know what the hell to do with okra so we pickled it. I had forgotten how gorgeous okra blossoms are, and the plants are like long legged school girls.

With the catching: I don't believe I have bitched about it here, but we have had one chicken who has been escaping almost daily for months now, and then a few weeks ago she showed her trick to a gal pal and we've had two chickens escaping sometimes three times a day! Maddening. B and I have walked the perimeter of our fence about 600 times each, looking for places they could slip under. B thought they might be getting over, but I felt certain that was not the case. Anyway, we finally chose a day for the stakeout. B headed out there first and spent an hour playing fiddle tunes while watching: no luck. I then headed out with a banjo and a bottle of mosquito repellent and about 35 minutes later B heard me screech from the backyard. Turns out there was one tiny three inch strand of the fence that had torn, and those clever hens were slipping through. After months and months of this, it was a mighty fine feeling and we have not had to chase a hen since. If I'd known it was only going to take an hour and a half I would have done it sooner, righty-o.

Also with the catching: we are doing an extremely laid back version of EC with Osh, and I caught my first pee! Also resulting in something of a screech. We got a baby who hates to hang out in a wet diaper (smart baby), and I am down with the whole suggestion that training babies to be ok hanging out in a soiled diaper just makes for more work later. We'll see how it goes, sometimes it pisses him off to get held over a sink (smart baby).

With the picking: yesterday we picked about a third of a bushel of plums and cooked up some plum sauce. We are especially excited about this since last year a frost took out all the plums so we went without this fruit for the year. Someone has finally moved into the house where this magic tree grows, but I screwed up my courage and rang the dang doorbell and a very awkward teenager ran back and forth between me and my nervous request and some adult in the house and now we just need to go back and give them some sauce so that next year they'll say yes again.

With the playing: yes, this is how you practice the fiddle with a one-month kid. He is sacked out but not so sacked out that he wouldn't notice if he was no longer On Your Person. I think the only thing I was nervous about when we got ready to have babies was music. Getting enough music in my life has been a tooth and nail kind of thing. B can ignore his fiddle for months and pick it up and sound awesome. Not me. I have to practice and I have to keep thinking about it or it slides out of my head and onto my pillow at night. So far so good, I ate a whole new fiddle tune since Osh arrived. D tunes bite my ass. And yes, my hair looks very lame in this photo, I need a haircut like never before.

Tomorrow B goes back to work. He's going back a few days a week, and soon I'll go back a few days a week. Osh will have one of us all to himself for quite some time this way. We feel really lucky that we can do this together, I think it will be a good balance for all of us.

It's time to plant the fall garden, I can hardly believe it. Oscar will probably EAT some of these vegetables, how completely insane is that? We are planting the usual plus brussel sprouts this year. Yum.

Eat your greens.

Family

2010-07-20T13:39:00.002-04:00

This is what we do a lot of: lying around on plush surfaces laughing and smooching baby tummy. Good times.

Keep cool out there.

Bits and Pieces

2010-07-17T08:58:00.006-04:00

Osh in his stylish hat from Aunt Diets.

Too much to say to do much saying, if you know what I mean. We are sleeping well, napping great, and still enjoying the generosity of our amazing community of friends when it comes to eating. Seriously: the bring-food-to-the-new-family thing is the greatest. Left to our own devices we would be running on tortillas and eggs, with celery and avocados for good measure.

Osh is an absolute array of faces these days. I love watching him wake up more than anything. He stretches and squinches and yawns and makes a noise like a baby lion (he gets that from me) and I just sit there trying not to laugh out loud so that he'll take longer to wake.

The garden is starting to spit out tomatoes and peppers and tomatillos, and we're in keep-up-with-the-cukes mode so some pickles were made. It's time to get a handle on the grove of basil out there and past time to do something with a bunch of big beautiful cabbages. Right. Just as soon as I go stare at the baby some more...

Two Weeks

2010-07-08T18:07:00.014-04:00

This pose is so B that it hurts

Time is flying around here but we are doing our best to enjoy the hell out of every moment we can hang on to. Our friends have been loving on us with pans of delicious food and super fun visits (Hi Lucy!) and we got lucky and had a little family time with one of B's cousins and his awesome girlfriend-soon-to-be-wife, en route to Texas. It makes my heart swell to see this little guy snuggled up by folks we love. Oscar rocked the scale at the Baby Doc's this morning; he gained a pound in nine days, thankyouverymuch, and grew one and three-quarters of an inch. Long and strong, that's my boy.

A few things from these parts:

A strawberry rhubarb pie was made from ingredients we squirreled away in the freezer. I used this recipe and was not happy: I hate being able to tell when there is tapioca in a pie. I will try again next year.

Boozy Cherries, a treat made in the Waiting for Oscar days. Just brandy, sugar, and cherries: more than the sum of the parts, a sneaky treat on ice cream or just spooned out of the jar on a hot afternoon.

Crafty Papa: making a black and white mobile was on our list of things to do before Oscar arrived, and well, he was on time and we were not. So B has been stealing moments here and there to make a papercut mobile, and I must say: he knocked it out of the park. B does not tend to do art projects unless I ask him to (see our stunning wedding invitation), but once he gets rolling he's a house of talent. I am so psyched that having a kid will get him drawing and painting and building things. There are nine discs like this, and I'll try to get a shot of the finished mobile once we hang it; it's so cool and Osh loves it.

Dahlias are on. It's hot and dry here; the garden is hurting. We have a lot of empty space now that most of the alliums are out, and while there was talk of more carrots and another bed of beans, we sowed a cover crop and called it a day. We'll be lucky to deal with what's already growing out there...

More soon - may you all be dealing well with what's already growing out there.

Happy Fourth

2010-07-04T10:27:00.001-04:00

Happy Fourths of July out there.

Alliums and Grand Mums

2010-07-01T16:18:00.012-04:00

Goodness gracious, me oh my, we are in heaven over here, just moving through our days at whatever pace Oscar sets. It is more fun and sweet and hilarious than I could ever capture here. This face just slays us in so many different ways.

There were specific requests for some Gramma B photos, and here is a cute one. My mama just left yesterday - she cooked and cleaned and snuggled and laundered and loved on all three of us just so and we will never forget these first sweet Oscar days with her. Thanks, Mama, we miss you already.

The garden grows on, and we're doing what we can to keep up with it. We head out with Busy in the bassinet and putter as long as he's game. We just harvested most of the alliums - onions and garlic galore! They are lovely, and the garage is full of racks of things curing for the winter. Lots of beans and beets and, well, see for yourself:

Happy days here, and may they be there also.

Now We Are Three

2010-06-26T22:31:00.003-04:00

Oscar Stewart Harvey, born at 1:11 am on June 23rd.

We are smitten, to say the very least.

All for now, but much more later.

(With thanks to Robert for these lovely photographs.)

No Busy Yet

2010-06-22T10:53:00.007-04:00

Hi Intertubes. We are still a family of two over here. Today is Busy's official due date, but so far it's been a day like any other. I told him this morning that his mama is a librarian: she does not trend toward the Overdue. Ah well. Our checkup yesterday was tip-tip - we have three centimeters for free, things are quite effaced in there, and she thinks my kitchen floor scrubbing put this guy in the right spot. We have the coolest midwives, I tell you, it's a really pleasure to visit them and get the pep talk.

Yesterday was our second wedding anniversary, can you believe that? We read our vows to each other again, and so many of them were even more powerful when passed over the top of this little guy nestled between us. We are so lucky. I said to B at one point, "I didn't even really realize how awesome you were when I married you." Does that make sense? Like I was completely, madly, totally in love with him, but being married to him turned out to be so much more profound than I could have ever anticipated. Somewhere in my vows I said "I can’t tell you how many times I have stopped and thought to myself, 'This is my life,'" and that remains truer and truer as time passes. This here right now is so absorbing and meaningful and funny and right and romantic and sparkly and yes, sometimes hard, but we are both just Right Here. In the pocket, as they say when the rhythm instruments are rocking the tune. Ain't no other place I'd rather be than right here with this guy.

Righty-o. In fermentation news: kefir. My gal pal delivered some kefir grains to us last week, and since then we have been brewing up magical kefirs of strawberry, black raspberry, peach, and blueberry (yes, we are clearing the freezer of last summer's fruit). It is so stinkin' easy. You slop some milk in the jar with the grains, leave it on the counter, and strain it anywhere from 12-24 hours later, depending upon how hot it is in your kitchen and how sour and spritzy you like your kefir. Take grains in strainer, put back in original jar, repeat. It's yummy plain, but we are loving it with fruit but not too sweet. When we made up our first batch I looked at B and said "Should we be allowed to have this?" Like, having it on tap is a little dangerous.

I am still working it in the garden, much to the consternation of some - a lady from down the street pulled up this weekend and said "What are you still doing here?" I did not really know what to say to that so I did not say much. Last week was all about renovating the strawberry bed. Basically you whack back the plants to practically nothing, rake out the mulch, fertilize and spread compost, re-mulch with fresh pine needles, and water. Lots of bending and squatting, and I know that's where I am getting these free centimeters from. The plants look a little molested, but supposedly this is the secret to many more years of gallons of berries. Plus we really needed to thin in there, and there wasn't any way to see what the hell was going on when they were all leafy.

Other than that, just pruning, bug squishing, reseeding, and eating. We sliced into our first cucumber just this morning, yum. Lots of cool cabbage slaws with homegrown carrots and cilantro and such. The squash plot is absolutely insane. We did a much better job this year of hardening off our starts, and the squash in particular are expressing their gratitude with what is officially a crazy number of baby squash. They are awfully cute out there.

Anyhoo. Send vibes for the real awfully cute to get here soon.

Pinch It

2010-06-16T10:11:00.003-04:00

Ok, I have been informed by several people that by not posting on Monday they were sure that Busy must have arrived. Sorry to disappoint - he's still planning his entrance. We're doing great, all of us. I will confess that I am hotter than I have ever been before in my entire life, and this girl has seen both the Central Valley of California in summer as well as a few blisteringly hot months in South America. Seriously, it's like I might burst into flames at any moment. B laughs at me because I literally start shedding clothing from my body between the car and the front door. Nudity is my friend in this battle. I am busting out all the tricks: wet towels, lots of ice, cool showers, refuge under the ceiling fan. Turns out a large wet towel can work miracles, don't laugh. Anyway, when we first got pregnant I swear that every other woman who asked about my due date told me that June was a great time to have a kid, and I thought they were being polite. I get it now, I do, and they are right. Anyway, other than roasting, all is well. Busy needs to do a little shifting in there to help his mama avoid back labor, so my midwife has ordered me to clean the floors on my hands and knees. Right.

So that basil up there. It took us one summer of bolt-y overly strong basil to learn to pinch. I suppose if you live somewhere with super mild slow springs, you might not have to contend with this, but here, when 90 degree weather hits in May and June, you must pinch. And even if bolting is not an issue for you, pinching will give you big bushy plants that are sturdy and full. Basically, you pinch the two leaves at growing tip off (EARLY - like not the first true leaves of the plant, but also not long after those), the plant responds by sending up two shoots where there was once just one, then in a little while you pinch the growing tips off of those two shoots, and the plant responds by sending up four shoots where there were once just two. You get the idea. We really have to keep up with this, and at the beginning you end up with awkward amounts of basil (although soon enough you end up with enough to start packing away pesto for the winter). In these earlier days we throw it in salads, stick it in grilled cheeses, put it in bun or spring rolls, etc. But we just finally got around to making the Thai Chicken with Basil from the January Cook's Illustrated, and it will both use up your basil pinchings and make your day. It's awesome, although I'm warning you that you put raw chicken in the food processor, which is definitely a little gross. Hang in there, it's worth it.

I was about to type up the recipe, but looky, here it is. Go forth and pinch happily.

Keeping Busy Waiting for Busy

2010-06-11T09:13:00.005-04:00

We pick this every morning...

...for our breakfast (homemade granola under there).

Hoo-boy, this last little bit of being patient is turning out to test my resolve to not rush this little guy. It has not helped that work has turned from end-of-semester insanity to mellow-summer-slowness. The hectic pace was wearing me out but I swear that sometimes I was so busy that I would literally forget that I was pregnant for a moment. Now, well, let's just say that it's on my mind and I realized earlier this week that if work wasn't going to distract me then I needed to make my own arrangements. B and I have been slaying weekend to-do lists like crazy in an effort to get Everything Done, but I pretty much finished up and realized that this is probably the worst time in the world to be knocking around the house feeling a little aimless.

So. First the books. I was slogging through this here book, which came highly recommended by a few people but I was HATING it. Like I had to talk out loud to B about hating it while reading, it was annoying me that much. Something about the long strings of sentence fragments reminded me way too much of a high school poetry reading. So I traded it in for some favorite fiction from my adolescence: Le Guin, McCaffrey, Bradley, L'Engle (interesting aside: I cannot, at this moment, think of very many favorite childhood authors who are male). I am already buried in this book and it is just what the doctor ordered. Of course, ladies die during childbirth in this world all the time, but whatever. I figure if I kill this pile of books I will bust out the Laura Ingalls Wilder and the L.M. Montgomery, and no, I'm not joking.

Second, the crafty. B really likes this mobile, but I'll be durned if I'm going to pay $62 for it. So we now have the stuff to make a mobile to hang over the changing dresser, probably black and white to start with and then we'll change it out for something brighter. Also, more curtains. I know, is it wise to sew while I'm with child? You know how I get. But it's the LAST set of curtains for the entire house, I know I can do it without getting too mental.

Third, the food. I have really not been into cooking lately at all. The heat, my feet, and the fact that our garden is bursting with fresh veggies have all conspired to put us on the front porch glider with an enormous salad on many, many nights. We do all the greens and carrots and peas and whatever's ready in the garden, with cheese, apples, salami, quinoa, and sometimes hard boiled eggs. It's so stinkin' good. But whatever, I need projects here, so yesterday I busted out one of these with our first gorgeous head of cauliflower from the garden. Oh man, it was soooooooo good. Note that I subbed sour cream for mascarpone, some edam and swiss for the gruyere, some milk for the cream, and all was well.

Fourth, the fruit. I canned jam! This was my first canning adventure, and I learned about 40 things all at once, generally in the "ok, so I wouldn't do it this way again" kind of way. Of course I had to go use extremely cute jars that are kind of fussy to work with, but only one of them didn't seal properly so I was not too sad (note: unlike standard canning lids, these are bpa free). I did not get the note that said "skim foam off of jam before filling jars" so my jam was all foamy on top and that did make me sad so I shook the hell out of them and now they are not foamy but rather just a little messy looking. Trust me, it's an improvement. I used Pomona's Pectin so I was able to cut way back on the sugar (with thanks to Sloan for the pectin delivery). I am still more of a sauce girl, but I figured I would go to some sort of strawberry hell if I did not make a few batches of jam from the 15 gallons of berries we picked. I don't know if I am a canner at heart, I continue to worry that I might kill or sicken someone. Maybe that goes away with practice??

So yeah. I am also learning more new tunes and we are sucked into a television show that I really never thought I'd watch. It ain't no Buffy, but it has its moments.

That's the plan over here. Keep busy. Try to nap a lot, since sleep while the sun is down has been super elusive lately. Jump up and down, keep an eye on the ripening plums up the street. Make a lot of dates, go see some World Cup games. Tell Busy about forty times a day that we're super excited to meet him.

Have good weekends out there.

Now I'm Ready

2010-06-07T13:18:00.007-04:00

Can you tell from this photo what this weekend was all about?

Here are a few more hints:

Yup, cherries. This is the time of year when we stuff a ladder into our tiny car and scavenge the town for cherries. Until we finish, I am pretty much consumed with a mild panic that we might not get enough. What's enough? I can't really say, but it has to be enough for a goodly number of pies, crisps, cobblers, and now some brown betties. We are now in the safe zone, and basically now I am ready to have this baby. I kid you not, I had a talk with him and told him that his mama needed to put away the cherries before he could arrive. Fortunately fruit is early this year; these cherries are almost two weeks earlier than the last several years. How handy.

I definitely freak out over putting up other kinds of fruit, but not like I do with cherries. For one, you can't buy a fresh sour cherry around here; the best you can do are the mushy ones in a can. Two, in chatting with a similarly minded lady friend, I was reminded that sour cherries played a role in our annual family reunions for many years. There was a sour cherry tree on the family farm until it bit the dust, and every year we would pick that tree. Which honestly was completely thankless picking for an eight-year-old: sour cherries are not much of a hand fruit. But we'd give the cherries to my Gran and she'd disappear into the kitchen, and some hours later there would be this PIE. It was like magic: into the kitchen go these sour little things and out comes one hell of a pie. So I guess I still sort of think of cherries (and my Granny) as a pretty magical fruit (she's a fruit alright). I picked a couple of great sour trees out at work, and then we hit a pretty big tree that is kind of between a sour and a sweet cherry. Then we pitted cherries until my thumb nearly gave out, and then we picked our own strawberries and put those up and jeez with the fruit already, right?

Ok, vegetables then. We're on over here: broccoli, our first cauliflower, peas, carrots, and the usual cast of lettuces and greens and herbs. The fridge is just bursting, and the overwhelmed feeling I'm having is making me feel good about how much of our garden is dedicated to alliums and squash, oh patient storage crops. Last night we shredded some chicken and got to work making spring rolls. The ingredient list was as follows: peas, carrots, lettuce, mint, basil, cilantro, aforementioned chicken tossed in a basic Vietnamese dipping sauce (from this book, absolutely one of our favorites), and peanuts. We grew every single non-poultry non-nut item on that list, awesome. They taste amazing and we made a bunch for lunches this week.

Last, this week's bouquet: garlic scapes. We need to settle upon something besides chopping a few up in a salad. Maybe this? It sounds great, but at the same time soup is not really where my heart is right now.

May you be eating where your heart is at right now.

Volunteers and Birthday Presents

2010-06-03T11:14:00.010-04:00

First with the presents. B had an awesome birthday this year, with a proper party and a proper dessert and proper lusty singing from great friends and family. He also got some rocking presents, including a seriously top notch pair of pruners from my parents (he had been using lousy ones at work and it was getting to his hands) and a variety of baking stuff, you know, now that he's the Bagel Guy there were some essential gadgets he needed. But I'm here to tell you about the most last minute gifty I got for him, the one that he basically got because I refuse to pay for shipping on Amazon and so this got thrown in with something else. I mean, I didn't even wrap this one because it arrived after I got wrappy on everything else. Sorry little guy, had I known I would have done you better:

Behold the garlic press. We had both been so resistant to getting one of these - the garlic press of my childhood was laughable, with half of the clove squashing out the top and a small dribble of juice and pulp meandering out of the screen. Well clearly someone spent the last 25 years working that shit out, because this here gizmo is effing amazing. One, you don't even need to peel the clove. This is HUGE for us, since we get by mostly on our own garlic and fresher garlic is grumpy about giving up its skin. Two, I swear to you, what is left in the press is but the thinnest hull of skin; like a potato chip. The first time B used it he turned to me and said, among other things, "Woah. You really have to watch out for the velocity on this sucker." Like you could take someone out with what shoots out the other end. Which, as long as I'm getting geeky on this, is pretty much perfectly minced and uniform bits of garlic. We love this thing.

Right.

We continue to have just the most ass kicking weather a girl could ask for. A few days ago I threatened to get the sprinkler out, and wa-la, the next morning we woke to a gentle soaking rain. Now we are trading stormy afternoons with sunny mornings - a recipe for GROW. It's a little scary. This morning I picked more chard than would fit in a shopping bag, just because these particular leaves were beating up on my coreopsis, dahlias, and lavender:

Please someone give me some new ideas for chard. My body is craving fresh, so the dishes we normally throw this stuff in are kind of off the table. Note for the garden book: too many cooking greens.

Also in the garden: cauliflower! I completely forgot that we planted this and just thought that we had some slightly disabled broccoli growing out there, and then these cute little white heads started peeking out and it totally made my day. Mmm, roasted cauliflower with butter and cumin.

Cabbage, flax, borage, dill.

Last year *a lot* of cashed out flowers went into our compost, and the upshot is that now our garden is full of volunteers. Flax, poppy, marigold, cosmo, batchelor button, borage, and ton of dill and cilantro. Three years ago I couldn't have told you what a baby batchelor button looked like for love nor money, but that's what time will do for you. We are frequently accused of being Very Neat gardeners, but this year we're letting a lot of the flowers go for it and it's really pretty. We've had to move some stuff and I think in general the poppies are a no go (you were right Jenni) - they just get too honking big, but the flax is great since it's so tall and willowy and the marigolds are tucked in here at there. Between these flowers and the Exploding Raised Bed of Color, we have finally been seeing some beneficial insects. So awesome. In particular we have been seeing a lot of hoverflies or flowerflies. These guys munch aphids so you can imagine how psyched we are. I think I've linked to this book before, but we absolutely love this book for insect identification. I do wish there were more photos of eggs; turns out that last year I probably squished several pods of hoverfly eggs, damn it. Anyway, the cilantro: has anyone tried freezing chopped cilantro in ice cubes? How bothersome is it that cilantro has usually bolted its ass off well before your other salsa ingredients are ripe? Very.

Last, our one surviving blueberry bush is on. Fresh blueberries and strawberries in the hand, how extravagant is that???

June

2010-06-01T09:44:00.007-04:00

Hello, June. Will you be the month that ushers in our son? We hope so.

I am still trying to get our camera to do these delphiniums justice. This photo is the closest yet. What color of blue is this? It makes me so happy.

We have picked so many freakin' strawberries, it is no joking matter. I would say that between eating and freezing and strawberry sauce making, we have probably picked over 10 gallons and the party rages on. At one point B turned to me and said, "You know, of all the berries, strawberries are probably not the berry I would choose to be inundated with..." And I had to laugh because I had definitely been thinking the same thing. We both like strawberries, but neither of us have ever been one to freak out for them. Granted, I think this is largely a response to the fact that most strawberries out there for the buying taste pretty weak, and most of them are dripping in chemicals, and chances are pretty good that most of them have been picked by folks getting paid Not Enough and being protected from said chemicals Not Enough. I have really been thinking about these folks as I bend and squat and reach each night. I am bushed after an hour of picking in twilight temperatures, I kind of can't imagine doing it day after day in the hot sun. I will say that we are definitely more excited about our bounty after I simmered up our first batch of strawberry sauce. Just berries, sugar (not that much), lemon juice, and time. We've been rocking it on ice cream, waffles and yogurt, and I know in the gray days of January next year we will really feel lucky.

Lessee, this weekend was really lovely. It was B's birthday for real, we had a waffle party with friends in town from Philadelphia, and we went to a wedding where we got to play a ton of music and two step the night away to a favorite band. Yes, I am 37 weeks pregnant and I can still hoof it around the dance floor, thankyouforasking. I did enjoy the heck out of the wedding, but I pretty much had to be dancing or get an instrument into my hands in order to escape the seemingly nonstop stream of questions and Extremely Dumb Comments about being pregnant. I have been really patient with this kind of stuff so far, and I have not had any weird experiences with strangers putting hands upon me or anything, but I kind of snapped this weekend and at one point B literally had to maneuver me away from the woman who, no shit, said, "So you're really not that proud of your belly, are you?" after I indicated that no, I would not be making a plaster cast of my belly. Then there are the "Were you due yesterday?" people, the "There must be triplets in there" people, and then a very large cast of people who just like to state the obvious: "Wow, you're pregnant!" or some other such brilliant comment. What is it about pregnant women that make people feel the need to blurt out body commentary? I promise you that I really did notice this belly already. Let me also say that people have said some seriously amazing things to me, and in all fairness I did chat up some very cool women at this wedding who either managed to have an entire conversation with me about Something Else, or we had a really great conversation about birth and kids and whatnot. So I guess I am just venting here because I can, and because I have spent the last 48 hours thinking about whether it's discomfort that prompts complete strangers to respond to a pregnant woman by saying "You're huge!" Also, my BFF says that I am cheery all the time on here, and I just want to make sure that you all know that I'm truly a snarky pain in the rear.

Now you know.

What Nerve

2010-05-26T16:31:00.006-04:00

Front yard, May 2010

Front Yard, late 2007 or early 2008

Ok, this isn't an entirely fair comparison because one of these photos is from May and the other is hard to pinpoint exactly but was taken sometime between November and, uh, February several years ago, and you can see that we had already dug in our first three small beds. B found the older photo through google street maps, and when he pulled it up on our computer we both just sat there quite honestly feeling a little stunned (we don't have any before photos of our own because some meanie stole my laptop while we were off getting married). Yah, we dug up the entire effing yard, cheers. When we moved in there was one tiny bed in front of the porch, and today there are five garden beds, a strawberry bed, an asparagus bed, a raised bed, a flower bed, a shade bed, a cherry tree, a peach tree, two rain barrels, and NO GRASS. You couldn't have sold us that bill of work in one go, no way no how. Just looking at the old photo brings back sod rolling and compost shoveling and wood chip slinging. Really what looking at these photos does is swamp me with an insane amount of love for my husband. This grand patch of dirt is our romance, right there in the front yard. It's where he proposed to me, it's where we realized that we were two people who both really liked to knuckle down and bust ass, it's where we go to clear cluttered heads, it's where we work to turn the visions in two brains into one that honors both minds. We say it all the time: "I would never have pulled this off without you." For real.

May Flowers

2010-05-25T10:32:00.006-04:00

My camera in no way captures the blue of this delphinium. Looking at it will give you a brain massage.

Hoo-boy. Hello Tuesday, you're here again already? Fine, be that way.

Things of note: in one week this baby will be Full Term, which is to say 37 weeks cooked. Busy is packing it on in there, I can feel it. The last two times I've gone in for my midwife checkups, I have only gained small fractions of pounds yet my belly measures ever larger. Sometimes when I am hungry at a funny time and B is surprised I say to him "Busy is eating all my food," and I think it's true. People are still telling me that I do not look pregnant from behind, which absolutely kills me dead, but does indeed capture the fact that this baby is riding high and dead ahead.

My mum and uncle came to visit this weekend and it was so much stinkin' fun. We ate lovely things and had a really sweet early birthday party for B and there was chocolate and my mom and uncle did every dish that even just got a dirty look from someone and my uncle taught B and me how to fix a leaky faucet and there was a lot of laughing really hard and complete goofiness involving a tennis racquet and a headband and various imported cabbageworm moths and I made them both pick strawberries for me. We are really lucky lucky lucky to have such people love us, it fills me to the brim.

Speaking of strawberries, we are in it over here. They must be picked daily and we are hauling in over a gallon a day. Let me just say that we did not expect this. I thought we might get some fresh berries for our breakfasts and maybe one batch of jam if we were lucky. Instead, I am hauling my super pregnant body off the couch and out into the front yard every evening and trying not to squish Busy too hard while parting beautiful deep green leaves in search of that ripe red color. So far the birds or bunnies or squirrels or whatever have only thrown down a peck here and there, despite dire warnings from Givers of Unsolicited Advice (otherwise known as the people who walk their dogs around our neighborhood). The plants are very definitely too close together though, as there are minimal signs of gray mold here and there. We need to thin them, but damn, these plants just put out more daughter plants! They cannot be stopped, and if we pick every day we can keep on top of it for now; we'll deal with it LATER. Last night as we were picking B said that strawberries will always remind him of waiting for Busy, just like cherries always remind us of our wedding. We are a family that marks big events with fruit.

Regarding said fruit, are there any strawberry sauce or jam recipes out there that I need to know about? I have been shocked senseless at the ungodly amount of sugar in most recipes. B and I mostly put fruit into plain yogurt or onto pancakes and waffles, so something that comes out pretty sauce-like is preferred. Anyway, hit me with your favorites if you have them. For now we are just freezing the berries until we have some free time...right.

May you be full to the brim.

Up & Down

2010-05-17T15:26:00.005-04:00

May bouquet: peonies, coreopsis, batchelor's button, yarrow, dwarf iris

Well goodness, hello Monday. After a week of feeling like a pregnant rockstar, I woke up Saturday feeling a mite bit under the weather. That is really how these last two months have been, kind of up and then a little down. So we slowed it down - naps, a few projects, more naps, some music, miso soup, early to bed, lunch out...you get the idea. We managed to get a lot done and take it very easy. The garden is completely planted and I can't tell you how often we just sit and take it in. In fact, one of the loveliest things being pregnant has made me do is just sit right in the middle of the garden. I can only do so much bending and reaching, so I just plonk right down and do my thing, scooch along, repeat. From down there the garden just surrounds you; garlic waving above your head, stunning red cabbage leaves inches from your fingers. On Friday I grabbed Ben's hand and we just sat in the garden until it started to rain. Good stuff.

May harvest crops: lettuce, arugula, kale, chard, bok choy, broccoli rabe, rhubarb, spring onions, peas, strawberries

Hope the weekends were lovely out there.

Not Too Tired

2010-05-10T15:25:00.007-04:00

A Monday and I am not tired (insert little dance here). I tell you, I am not sure how one could make this happen again, but seriously putting your back out at about week 29, suffering miserably for several weeks, and then feeling put back together again at about week 33 sure does make this current phase of Really Pregnant seem a-ok. I'm just so grateful to be able to move around again, so what if it takes me three minutes and something of a sound show to get up off of the floor? I'm game.

Lessee. This weekend was lovely and windy. Windy is one of my least favorite weather conditions. I can't say why, I just do not like it. We had gusts up to 35 mph, so we are not talking about a breeze here. Anyway, we worked in the garden while hanging onto our hats. All of the starts have been planted except for the picky peppers (it's been chilly here at night), hopefully next weekend for them. The cuke trellises received some additional tinkering from B, the last of the potatoes went into their pots, and I spent the better part of an afternoon thinning the peach tree:

Ok, this photo has lousy depth of field, you'll have to believe me when I tell you that there are hundreds of peaches in there. Good grief. Thinning that tree was an exercise in focus; one branch at a time, no matter whether the branch just to your left is dripping with fruit, finish the one you're on, girl. I think fruit farming could break your heart. It's a lot of work and until you pack your glittering haul away there are about a billion things that could render your work for naught.

B got me a Mother's Day present even though I am not quite yet a mum. I got a nutmeg grater and some whole nutmegs - the man knows me so well. I love nutmeg. I have to be careful about refraining from putting it in everything. We had a sniff test between the freshly grated and the spice jar stuff and there was just no contest. Now I might really be dangerous. I think the nuts are so lovely:

OH! I can't believe I forgot: on Friday morning there was a rabbit digging trenches in our garden. I freaked out, chased the bunny around while growling, set some traps, went to work, did some reading, and now our yard has little cotton balls doused with fox urine hidden here and there. No sighting of Peter Rabbit since. May he be far from your garden too...

Thin It

2010-05-06T09:23:00.005-04:00

Hoo-boy. I did some reading about peach trees yesterday, and was informed in no uncertain terms that we needed to thin about 90% of the fruit on our little go getter. Yah, that is nine-zero percent. After it shocked my pants off, I could really see why - the tree is still quite petite but damn if each branch isn't just COVERED with baby peaches. I mean covered. If left alone we would not only get small hard peaches but I bet just about every branch would snap off by the time August rolled around. B and I took a look last night and did some preliminary thinning before realizing that it will likely take us a significant chunk of time to do the whole tree, and since we were having a date night we abandoned the tree to far less traumatic activities. Because seriously, tearing off these little fuzzy baby peaches is really hard. Hell, I already suck at thinning far less charming things - just look at these little guys. Soft as a rabbit's foot.

We will do it though, in the name of big fat juicy peaches, we will.

It's Not Tomorrow

2010-05-03T12:44:00.008-04:00

Shit howdy, I am beginning to think that we need a baby in order to learn how to laze around and relax. B and I repeatedly promised ourselves a do-nothing weekend, and instead we got more done than I can even really remember, from backyard haircuts to cucumber trellises to helping friends move. I'd like to pass it off as pre-Busy nesting, but I know better. Anyway. Let's just say that by Sunday night we were both so tired that I know for a fact that we went to bed before the four-year-old next door.

One of the last things on the weekend agenda was getting our cukes and beans in, and I am durn glad that we did because we got a beautiful deep rain early this morning. Perfect. These are the last things that we will direct seed, unless we throw some more beets or carrots into spots here and there. Two kinds of pole beans, pickling cukes, and japanese cukes. Yum. Last year we did not put our beans in until June 14th, or so says the garden journal. WTF? I think we were waiting for the real estate vacated by the peas. Anyway, the notation for last year's planting is followed a few weeks later by a scrawled "BEANS WAY TOO LATE." Got it. Other tidbits from last year: "Cukes planted way too close together" and something snide about building ourselves a cucumber trellis. We do great with cucumbers, but for the past two summers they have definitely not been given the climbing structure of their dreams, which meant that they beat up on each other and also that sometimes you'd think you'd just picked all the cucumbers and then you'd blink and there'd be 40 more that actually would have preferred to have been picked about a week ago. Until now! B is in charge of structural garden projects, and lemme just tell you that we now have some extremely awesome *reusable* pea and cucumber trellises, just plonk them in and plant your seeds. He also built a much smarter bean setup situation; last year our tripods were annoying as hell. Anyway. We'll put in our tomato, basil, squash, tomatillo, and eggplant starts this weekend, then pepper starts the next, and then: DONE. Everything in, just weed it, feed it, water it, eat it. Sometimes I wonder if we'll run out of the oomph to do this every year. On the other hand, I know that we do projects every year that are supposed to make the next year less work (for example this is the first season since we moved in that we have not dug out new beds). Also, I will probably not be pregnant every spring, which I am sure has contributed generously to the complicated calculation regarding how much durn work it is to put in and keep up with a not-even-huge fruit and veggie garden.

But speaking of huge:

Yo, the rhubarb is still frightening the small children. We are having Brown Betty again tonight, and then I'm gonna pick enough to freeze for a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie and then we'll let it go nuts for the summer. Attention neighbors: do not let your pets roam unsupervised near the rhubarb.

Also, I started a new book. So far I like it a lot, although the whole first section will definitely not cheer you up. Also, because I still suffer extreme moments of Buffy withdrawal, we are going here. The morality of this world is very interesting and satisfyingly ambiguous, but so far I think the acting is very, very bad. We're definitely in at this point, although let me just use this bully pulpit to say that two episodes per disc is very, very stingy. So there.

Also, I am still spending some quality time with the fiddle. It is the most comfortable instrument for me to play at this point - try playing a guitar sitting a foot away from your gut and you'll get an idea of the potential back pain involved (although I still do it). D tunes have been harder going than A tunes, but I am a determined pain in the ass and I practice.

Also, I need a new bra. I have not bought a bra in about 8 years, and I am in denial about it so I wear my old bras and they are so uncomfortable that I frequently tear them off in a mad fit right in the middle of my office. It's been at the bottom of my to-do list for months now. I need my BFF to come hold my hand - she has real assets, as we call them, and knows how these things are supposed to work. Until then, I will complain and deal with people staring at my nipples. Rad.

Busy at Night

2010-04-26T12:55:00.006-04:00

So. Like most pregnant ladies, I am up many times throughout the night. Sometimes I find myself moving through the darkness to the bathroom thinking "Goodness, I can't wait until I can sleep through the night again." And then I laugh because clearly my brain is forgetting that even when my bladder returns to normal, there will be a little guy in our house who will probably want to party several times a night. Busy is definitely a night guy, but even so, sometimes I'll wake up and he's very, very still. I will lie there for a while and if he doesn't move, I start thinking "Hey Busy. Busy. How's it going in there? Are you sleeping? Give me a little kick for yes." And I kid you not, I can wake this guy up in no time. Is that mean? It's my own private party trick. For you Firefly fans, sometimes I look down at my belly and think, "Also, I can wake you up with my brain." Awesome.

Ok, enough of that. More garden stuffs, from blooms to fruits and other perennial fun. Happy Monday out there.

Baby cherry.

Baby peaches.

Asparagus.

Strawberries. The same bed one year ago here (yes, there are strawberry plants in there).

Bloom

2010-04-23T12:01:00.002-04:00

Strawberries

Tulip

Lilies of the Valley

Sour Cherries

Piedmont Azalea

Blueberries

Yeah. Happy weekends out there.

Favorite Visitors, Profanity, Etc.

2010-04-20T14:34:00.010-04:00

Wednesday? Are you sure? Really? Jeez. Ok then.

We have been enjoying an awesome string of lady visitors. First, an evening with a cross-country trekker on her way to Maine. We had not hugged her since our wedding almost two years ago, so you can imagine that it was durn good to squish her some. Due to crazy calendars I had to work for most of her visit, but she and my man drank beers and cooked food and talked about life and things that grow and when I came home from work at 11 (righty-o, that is LATE for this family) they were both animatedly on the living room floor examining serrated arborist tools. Good times, and I only let her go because now that she and her girl live in Maine I will see them much more often.

Then that girl up there flew right into Asheville for a seriously awesome weekend. I have a feeling she might give me shit for putting that photo up there, but can you blame me? What a babe. Her mama took that photo at our wedding, and although you can't tell from her carefree smile, she is busting her ass in the hot morning sun helping get the farm where we were married ready to roll. This one is my oldest friend, someone I have known for over 30 years now. I know that and it still blows my mind. This is the woman who makes me laugh the hardest, that kind of hold-your-stomach-in-and-try-not-to-pee kind of laugh. Is that an old friend thing? It's definitely an awesome friend thing. We took it sloooooow for the weekend - ate some barbecue, went to the plant nursery, worked in the garden, yammered. Then she took off for Namibia because that is how she rolls.

Speaking of the garden, can I just high five the heck out of this spring? Aside from the few unnecessary days of 90+ degree weather, this spring has just sprung in the most delightful fashion. Which is to say: no Dogwood Winter frost/snow snap. The warm weather rushed the daffodils and tulips some, but oh - the trees. This is the year for redbuds and dogwoods. The latter are seriously blowing my mind - lacy white visions of loveliness, everywhere I look. The garden has been correspondingly pleased, with carrot seeds up in less than a week (last year they took almost three weeks) and bok choy ready to be eaten already. Our raised bed is full of dahlias and lupine and yarrow, and with Rachel's help we also planted in our shade garden underneath our bedroom window: Sweet Woodruff, a native Piedmont Azalea, Solomon's Seal, Ostrich Fern, Columbine, Nasturtium, and some lettuces and cilantro that will get some sun but hopefully not enough to make them bolt. It looks spare right now, but everything in there has a reputation for size, so I think by the end of the summer it should look mighty fine in there. We were hunting for a Cinnamon Fern, and I'll admit that the Trilliums really hollered at me at the nursery, but they were too dang pricey. Lastly, can we talk about the rhubarb? It is enormous. People stop and talk to us about it. Multiple people have made Little Shop of Horrors comparisons. We have been picking it in a restrained way even so, and yesterday we ended up with enough for a recipe we'd been eying from this lovely book.

Hello Rhubarb Cherry Brown Betty. I will not repeat them here, but good grief when I put the first bite of this in my mouth I uttered some seriously signature swears to convey just how awesome it was. As it turns out: rhubarb from your garden tastes better than the rhubarb from the store. Will I never come to just expect this?? And, while we're on the subject, how would you describe the taste of rhubarb? We came up with sour, spicy, earthy, and BRIGHT. If you can get your hands on rhubarb and cherries, make this make this make this. We used the cherries we picked and froze last year, mostly sour cherries but a few wild sweet cherries too. Note that we did not adjust the sugar content for the sour cherries, and we both thought it was a perfect amount of sweet, so with Bings we would probably dial the sugar back just a bit. Also, we thought this shortbread from this book was even better than the Cook's Illustrated shortbread, bonus.

Rhubarb Cherry Brown Betty

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, for pan
1 pound vanilla bean shortbread, crushed (approx 4 cups crushed, recipe to follow)
1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 cups rhubarb, trimmed and sliced 1/2 inch thick (about 1 1/2 pounds prepped)
2 cups (12 ounces) Bing cherries, fresh or frozen, pitted (we used mostly sour)
2 tablespoons kirsch or brandy (we used whiskey and almond extract)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter a 3-quart baking dish.

Rub the sugar and cinnamon together in a large bowl, then add the rhubarb and cherries and toss to combine. Stir in the liquor, then let sit for 15 minutes to draw some of the juices from the fruit (ours sat longer than this).

Evenly spread half of the crushed cookies in the prepared pan, then add the rhubarb mixture and all of its juices and gently spread it over the crumbs. Top with the remaining crushed cookies.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and, using the back of a large offset spatula or something similar, gently press down on the betty to ensure the rhubarb mixture is submerged in its juices. Bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Test the rhubarb with a paring knife to ensure that it is soft. Cool for 20 minutes before serving, topped with a dollop of whipped or ice cream.

Vanilla Bean Shortbread

This recipe makes 48 cookies, which is almost-but-not-quite three times the amount you'll need for the Betty. We halved it.

1/3 cup granulated sugar
Seeds scraped from half a vanilla bean
2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 cups unsifted confectioners sugar
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup rice flour

Stir the granulated sugar and vanilla bean seeds together in the bowl of an upright mixer with the paddle attachment, then add the butter, confectioners sugar, and salt. Mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until fully incorporated but not fluffy. Stir in the vanilla and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in the flours in two additions, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Fully incorporate the flour without over mixing.

Dump dough onto work surface, divide in two pieces, place each on a sheet of parchment paper and form into a log about 12 inches long. Shape, wrap, and chill for at least two hours or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice each log into rounds 1/2 inch thick and arrange on a baking sheet one inch apart. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown (note: this of course took way longer in our oven). Allow to cool, store in an airtight container. You can also freeze the unbaked logs, well wrapped, for up to two months.

Serious yum.

Three-quarters Baked

2010-04-13T11:29:00.004-04:00

That would be Busy. He is three-quarters baked up. We can hardly believe it - something like 10 weeks to go and then there will be another human in our house. He is not even here and he cracks us up already, like so:

B: "Maybe we should have a blueberry smoothie on the back porch while the sun is shining out there."
Busy: BIG KICK
Me: "We should probably do that."

Did you know that he can taste what I'm eating? Crazy.

Anyway. After some unfriendly 90 degree weather, we are back to a sweet spring. There have been a few threats of frost, but nothing has materialized, and we're hopeful that this year we'll get our first cherries and peaches. Also a first: rhubarb. Sweet Mary, our two plants just roared into life about four weeks ago and from round alien nubs sprang long stalks with leaves the size of a trashcan lid. They are HUGE. Kind of scary huge. Definitely "Heather, you once again planted things too close together huge." I will move them in a few years, I swear it. I find it kind of exciting to eat something that is partially poisonous, don't you? Anyway, we're only supposed to pick for two weeks this year, but even so I think we'll have plenty. We're eying a sour-cherry-rhubarb-brown-betty from this lovely book, because duh: the strawberries won't be on until late June! I intentionally got a later bearing variety because I didn't want yet another thing that we had to protect from late spring frosts, but the upshot is that our strawberry-rhubarb timing is a little off. My plan is to squirrel away some frozen strawberries so that next year we can pull those out right when the rhubarb is on. Although now that I type that I am remembering that you can also easily freeze rhubarb so this cheat can go both ways.

B has been cracking on house projects lately, including a set of shelves for the crappy little closet in Busy's room. Woo-hoo. I know I've said it before, but the man kills me in his painter clothes. How I love this guy. He's been painting in these pants for eons, and already I can look at them and find the color of our kitchen or bathroom - he's like a walking paint chip.

Anyway. All to say: life is very exciting around here. Hope yours is too.

Pregnant Lady Drinks

2010-04-08T09:28:00.003-04:00

It's Thursday, it's Thursday! B and I have a date tonight. We are going to eat here, and then going to dance our socks off to these fellows. B and I could two-step a hole in the floor listening to this band, I swear it.

Ok: pregnant lady beverages. With the 90 degree weather we've been getting here (seriously, it is kind of fucked up - we just hardened off and planted our lettuce starts and I swear their curled little centers are giving off the "I am thinking of bolting" vibe) I am seriously missing summer beer. B and I have never been big juice drinkers, and I'm sure you won't die of shock to learn that we don't drink soda or whatever you call that where you live. But man, I needed a cool treat kind of drink that wasn't full of sugar. During the winter I went through several tea phases: mint, vanilla hazelnut, mayan cocoa spice, and last and longest, rooibos tea. You gotta find it just straight up, none of this hibiscus-lemon-blueberry nonsense. Our bulk section hooked us up. Anyway, we take it with a small spoonful of honey and a glug of milk. Turns out, it tastes great the same way cold, yay. So that pitcher up there is full of sightly sweetened rooibos tea, add your own milk please.

Gran, how about that pitcher? My Granny has one just like this but slightly smaller and in green. These are vintage Finnish pitchers, as it turns out, and there are four sizes and four colors. I have a blue and a green, and someday I will stumble upon the yellow and brown, I just know it.