Bird Nest

Sarsaparilla and Lemon Balm

I'm pretty big on holding back with my kids.  I figure they have their whole lives to find out about the world around them, including such things as sugar drinks.  But I just couldn't resist introducing Jbird to the world of root beer.  Of course, drinks like this will still only be for special occasions in our household - but still, he was pretty impressed with his "Sassparilla".  We had just encountered it in a book and when I saw it on the menu, I thought it sounded perfect.  Thankfully, he didn't ask for one this morning when we woke up for breakfast.

We've been heavy in our spring gardening.  We planted three more blueberry bushes (small ones) in our front garden - which means we will have five blueberry bushes out there.  I love having real food out front, and even better to have it mixed in with the garden flowers.  We filled out another garden box and are replacing and filling some gaps in the original garden design.  I've spent the entire week crashing through the garden books selecting just the right perennials.  And of course, multiple trips to the largest nurseries in town.  And now that the garden has just exploded in new green growth, I see I have my hands full weeding and cleaning out all of the errant visitors that came uninvited.  That, and it looks like the Lemon Balm went to seed and exploded in the entire garden.  I can see those little lemon balm seedlings laughing at me in my dreams.

Happy Spring days to everyone.  It finally feels like Mrs. Thaw has finished her work and Spring is here for good.

Planting Seeds

We've had busy spring days - starting with a sweet visit from Grandma Gail (Rooster's Mom.)  While squishing the two carseats in the back of our car to make room for all of us to do some weekend explorations, I was privy to some adorable hand holding.  Not that we didn't move the carseats back apart after the visit - for although the hand holding was cute, the other poking and waking was not so cute. 

Portlanders seem pretty intent on gardening.  I spend most of our daily walks admiring the gardens we see.  And from the looks of our front garden, one might assume an avid gardener lives in our house.  But really, not so much - we just lucked out and bought a house from one of those gardeners.  I've counted my lucky stars that most of the garden survived the first year of us taking care of it.  And now that we are well into Spring, we've done most of the cleaning already; weeding and mulching and trimming. 

 

And we've now built two more planting boxes - in a nod to the idea of "Food, Not Lawns".  We're also trying out some of the Square Foot Garden ideas, and already, I can tell we will be overwhelmed with the harvest, assuming it actually sprouts from the seeds.  This is the first year we've ever just put seed in the dirt, so I have to say, it's an element of trust for me to assume they will sprout.  I figure between what we gather from our garden this year, and the CSA we take part in, we'll probably still be composting a good part of our weekly veggie bounties.  Sadly.  My goal is to get more of it into our bellies of course.

Jbird is only partially paying attention to the planting process.  Occasionally he will help me drop seeds, or water the seedlings, but more often he'd rather dig in just the spot I've asked him not to, or move only the rocks I've asked him to leave alone.  We are devoting a third of one of our boxes to his dirt play - but just watch, that's the one spot he'll leave alone all summer long.  Naturally.

Sparrow, he's not much help in the garden this year.  He'd much rather lay around inside sucking his toes and fingers.

Fresh Food and First Quilt

Here are some of the things we have growing in our garden:

And here is the bounty we picked up from our weekly farm delivery:

But before canning blueberry jam - I finally finished my first quilt!  I cut corners and cheated - but it's done, and it came out great.  I have so many projects planned and all I know is that my free time is limited with our new baby coming in the fall. 

Our Farm Bounty

In our quest to eat local organic food and to truly understand what seasonal food looks like, we have joined a CSA.  We are participating in the Winter Green Farm seasonal CSA progam and today was the first delivery.  J.bird and I went to pick up our produce, and here's what we came back with:

Bok Choi, carrots, lettuce, spinach, walla walla onion and strawberries.  All organic, local, sustainable, and biodynamic!  Most of all delicious.

I plan to document our bounty every week - and we'll see how much of it we fail to eat.  I'm afraid some may go to our composter if we aren't good about eating fresh cooked meals at home.  A good challenge to have, nonetheless.

We Are What We Eat

I finally finished this great booklet that was included in my first order from Polyface Farms.  (Unfortunately, since we are moving from the area, we won't be able to continue ordering from this amazing  local farm - but eager to find other local  sources when we land in Seattle.  I've been lucky to find two farm food programs in Virginia, including raw milk...)

It's an extremely readable little book and truly inspiring.  It's reminding me that it's not enough to buy organic food.  We all know that slowly the organic food industry is being tainted by industrial food corporations.

Joel Salatin delivers a diatribe against industrial food systems and illustrates how your food purchases impact our world.  His writing leaves you with the feeling that you can make changes and have an impact on food systems in America and energizes you on this path.  His plan is to push you towards finding farm friendly food - to supporting local farmers, via farmers markets and CSA programs.  To get past just buying organic twinkies.  Sometimes his words are a little overheated - often feels like he might be raising his voice or getting a little raw on the edges - but overall you can just taste his passion.

"None of us is completely consistent.  While this book deals with the optimum, all of us live in the real world of compromises....But exceptions are not habits.  And if the ideas...became habits while the mainline habits of our culture became exceptions, it would fundementally change our world."

The book covers some really interesting ground: Trustworthy Farmers vs. Industry /Multinational Company Farmers, Appropriate Farm Sizing and Scale, Polycultured Farming (as opposed to single product farming), Fertile and Live Soil, Genetic Engineering, East/West Farm Philosophies, Being Connected to Farmer, Seasonal Food Choices, Hazards of Cheap Food, Farm Regulation and Food Safety, Globalism, etc.

Recently on NPR, Michael Pollen's new book was featured - and he talks about Polyface and Joel Salatin.  It's a great feature if you get a chance to listen.  Pollen's book will be in my to-be-read pile...

Meanwhile - get thee to the Farmers Market - or sign up for a CSA.  Find a way to buy directly from a farmer and support local food!