Back in a Few Days

I'm heading off on a getaway with just my girl! Emma & I are leaving the boys behind and headed to the beach. Grandparents are here to have adventures with Evan and Eli while Curt is at work.

The big question is whether or not our first big tomato will ripen while I'm gone. Murphy's Law says yes, but I'm holding out a little hope that it will be waiting for me to eat when I get back...

Becoming a Market Farm?

I created a listing for our farm on LocalHarvest.org! We have eggs coming on strong now and the tomatoes are about to burst forth in all their red, ripe glory (as predicted, this will happen during the only 4-day stretch I am out of town this summer), so I am going to need an outlet for all this abundance. We'll see what comes of it.

And thanks to a little encouragement from my sis, I am also checking in with the little produce market in town to see if I can sell some there.

It is a bit daunting to think of my gardening having a business side to it, but also exciting. I've always had entreprenurial ideas, but have never been so good at bringing it to fruition before...

Hey, I keep saying this is a learning year, right? I had no idea in how many ways!

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?