What's up, Doc?

The carrots are getting away from me! Both varieties I planted have done well. The 'Danver's Half-Long' germinated really well and I had more of those to begin with, but the 'Scarlet Nantes' variety is my favorite of the two for taste. It is the longer, slender one in the center of the basket, above.

The carrots are yet another reminder of all the things I am learning the hard way this year- apparently, you can't just leave the carrots in the ground and pull them when you want to... The ones in the picture are a good size, but many of the ones still in the garden are now huge! I'm afraid they aren't going to taste as good.

Since we don't have a root cellar yet and we're heading into our hottest time of year, I am going to try to can some of the carrots tomorrow. Wish me luck; another first, another learning experience!

P.S. Also accepting other carrot preservation suggestions and recipes!

First Cabbage

Behold the first cabbage I've ever grown! It looks a little nibbled here, but inside a couple of leaves it was perfectly unblemished. It was turned into a rather tasty salad thanks to my friend S.S.'s recipe for "Ensalada de las Promotores." It is very close to what Curt and I ate with almost every meal during our travels in Central America. Went very well with the enchiladas I made last night. The enchiladas that are on their way to becoming my signature dish- all three kids like it (miracle!), simple to put together, basic ingredients, adaptable to whatever filling I have on hand, easy to take to potlucks, and it freezes well. The only problem is that I want to eat it in vast quantities whenever it is near me.

But back to the cabbage... I didn't get very good germination, so I only have about 5 of these. Although I planted them all at the same time, the friendly cabbages were nice enough to sprout and grow at different rates, so it is almost like I purposefully planted them in succession. I might try my hand at homemade, fermented sauerkraut with the next one. Please comment if you have experience or suggestions with that. Actually, please comment anyway- it'd be nice to know if anyone is really reading my drivel!

Anticipation

I can hardly wait. Our garden is filled with oodles of beautiful, green tomatoes! We had a few of the cherry-type tomatoes ripen this week (all were 'Mexico Midget')- just enough to eat while standing in the garden. Yum.

It won't be long now until I am writing with tales of being overrun by tomatoes, but for now, it's all about eager anticipation.

Our Growing Garden

I snuck away from gardening and mommy tasks to update the blog header with a more seasonal photo. We are keeping busy with all the gardening and lots of friends and family visiting, but I still can't believe I haven't posted in almost a month!

I had a pretty good handle on gardening basics to start with, but boy have we learned a lot this year! This is our first full season of gardening here since last year we didn't even arrive until the end of May. Now that we have our methods and systems somewhat figured out, I hope to be a little more on target with our planting times next year. Got the corn and beans in really late, other things somewhat late.

We've been eating lots of fresh lettuce, chard, and spinach. Haven't kept up with the bounty of radishes, and are just beginning to enjoy our sugar snaps. Have savored a few new potatoes, nibbled at some tiny carrots and are anxiously awaiting the broccoli harvest. As 4yo Eli (who asked for lentils for his special birthday dinner) said last night, "Broccoli is like candy to me!"

Note: No, my other two children do not share this same perspective on food choices.

Painting

 

 

 

You mean you didn't read those?

Really? You didn't get to read all those brilliant blog entries I crafted? Those ones that were really witty, informative and charming? What?! Oh, yeah- they never made it out of my head...

One was written while mowing the grass. Another while weeding the tomatoes. Then there was that really nice poem while hilling up the potatoes. And I am particularly inspired while in the shower- the sound of the water blocks out all the chaos happening just outside the bathroom door.

But none of those are places or situations in which I can jot things down on paper, much less get something typed into cyberspace.

You'll just have to trust me that one of these days when I snag some free time, some more gems might just surface from this little brain of mine. Maybe.

Sorry you missed those other ones...

Cook. Feed People. Wash Dishes. Do Laundry. Weed Garden. Repeat.

That pretty much sums up what my life entails right now. Throw in 2 or 3 days a week of child care for a 4 month old, a bit of homeschooling and chauffering kids to activities and it isn't hard to see that when things are quiet around here, instead of blogging, I'm sleeping.

This weekend we added in a homeschoolers conference in Richmond, a visit to friends near Charlottesville, and a lovely 12 hour migraine for me yesterday. Needless to say, we've got some catching up to do on the cooking, dishes, laundry and weeding. I still fed people, but I think we need to catch up on vegetable intake.

Maybe one of these days I'll get that post written about the routine of our days and weeks- our household rhythm, if you will. But first I need to figure out exactly what that is...

Update

All is well here. We are trying to get back to normal and catch up on the little things that got away from us the first few days this week.

The visit to the doctor was very helpful- he listened and asked questions, considered all the information from the hospital, and then he told me why he was not overly concerned and, most importantly, why. So for now, we think that this was a one-time event but we will stay alert to any indications that something else is going on.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming: off to weed the potatoes and the strawberry patch. After that, time to plant the tomato transplants. Oh, tomatoes, how I love thee. You did remember that I am obsessed with tomatoes, right?

Firehouse Tour Turned Hospital Visit...

We had a little more excitement in the past couple days than we bargained for.

We were touring the fire station down the street so Evan could finish his requirements for a Cub Scout badge. Without warning, Evan passed out and fell on the floor. We at first thought he had tripped, but then realized he was unconscious. He came to pretty quickly and the firefighter that was giving the tour slipped into his role as a first responder. His blood sugar was low- 48. (It was about 6:45pm- we hadn’t yet had dinner, but he had a normal breakfast and lunch and had also eaten a sandwich around 4pm.) The rescue squad arrived about that time and they gave him some oral glucose. They re-checked his sugar and it was back into the normal range. At that point he seemed to be feeling better and our plan was to take him home and call his doctor from there. Then he said he was feeling dizzy again and that his stomach hurt and the EMTs recommended we go ahead and take him into the ER. Evan and I rode in the ambulance and Curt went home to grab a few things and then met us there with Emma & Eli. They took blood, urine and ran a CT. They gave him some IV fluids then IV dextrose. He was feeling better, with a little stomach pain and queasiness off and on. Bloodwork showed that he was a little dehydrated, everything else was fine, but they wanted to admit him and keep him overnight.

They moved us to a room and we were settling in. The nurse went to hook his IV back up to the pump and needed to flush it with saline. I think it burned and Evan whimpered a bit. When I looked up at him he was very pale and I thought he looked like he needed to vomit. Then he had what we are calling, for lack of a better word, an “episode.” It happened so fast and was over very quickly, bit he had passed out again. I haven’t seen lots of people pass out, but whereas I imagine that your body just goes limp when you pass out, he pulled his arms up to his chest and his hands curled up. To me, and pardon my lack of medical terminology, it seemed mildly seizure-like. But what do I know? The nurse talked to the pediatrician on call about it over the phone, but no one seemed alarmed. Everything was normal from then on and they discharged him just before noon today. We have an appointment with his regular pediatrician first thing tomorrow. He has been completely normal all afternoon, and has his Cub Scout award ceremony tonight.

I'm suffering from sleep deprivation, so I hope this account is clear. And if anyone has any personal experience or other insight onto what could have been going on, I'd be happy to hear about it.We're hoping this was just a crazy, one-time thing, but if anything new comes up, I'll post an update.

The Rainy Season

I cannot believe how much it has been raining. We have had a couple weekends with all day sunshine and warmth, but it has rained almost every day for about a month now. Granted, some days it was just a sprinkle or a short-lived shower, but we have also had many with all-day rain.

I do my best to appreciate the water and utter no words of ingratitude- I know how good it is for the garden and trees, and remember the recent problems with drought. But this rain is really starting to wear on me!

There have been highlights- often when the sun is shining...

Saturday was Evan's bithday- his age and name now rhyme. We had rain in the morning but it cleared and we enjoyed heading into town and celebrating "National Tain Day" at a little local festival. The rain even held out for the birthday celebrations at home, but the wind kicked up late in the afternoon and we got some more sprinkles that night.

Sunday was our one-in-a-million day- no rain, clear sky. A lovely Mother's Day gift. We took advantage and spent most of it outside; we picnicked for both lunch and dinner! I got the front flower bed all weeded and a few more things put in the ground. I was thinking, "That wasn't so bad, why didn't I already do this?" I found renewed optimism and motivation for getting lots more gardening chores done this week.

And then I woke up to this morning. More rain. Pouring rain. And then I remembered why I haven't been getting all that weeding and planting done. That's still just an excuse, though. Must be time to remember one of my favorite sayings, "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." If only I still had those rain pants that I lost in Honduras 10 years ago. But that's another story.