Sticky…Gooey…Nutty

Some days…!  Some days are just a bit tricky.  Everyone is out of sync and the “machine” has to be rethreaded again and again and again.  This is not to say that the day is a tragedy.  Just a whole lot of short burst of wonderful intermittent with consistent set backs and struggles.  Just one of those days that each mother knows … oh so well…!  All day, from breakfast to bedtime we threaded and rethreaded the machine…trying new things and beginning again from a new angle.  Several fresh starts brought us outside where the fall air, open spaces, and natures goodness everywhere have proven magical time and time again.  It didn’t save the day for us this day…but it saved many many moments!! 

We worked on cleaning up the garden for fall which was bittersweet actually.  It’s hard not to feel a bit sad toppling such enormous sunflowers and pulling down all those twisty bean plants.  The birds have been feasting on the seeds from the huge sunflower heads but the few (thousand) that weren’t eaten we pulled out and spread out in the “long grass” at the edge of the yard.  We felt a bit like The Lupin Lady…though the little miss decided we should be called the sunflower girls.  With any luck there will be a stand of gorgeous sunny blooms next summer. 

Nature adventures out of doors and a bit of nature brought back in always does so much good.  No matter how many times the process must be repeated! 

Baking is one of our other trusted refreshers.  Ha!  What began as an attempt to make something healthy and delicious (granola bars) for my husband to eat while he’s traveling in the next few days ended up in a sticky gooey nutty mess.  Despite the unorganized, unintentional stickiness it is filled with nutty goodness and all sorts of wholesome bits.  Very much like our day.           

{this moment}

This moment the end of summer bounty is being thoroughly enjoyed.  With dreams of roasted potatoes and squash, and the savors of fall produce creeping into our busy little minds.  Oh the bounty of the earth! 

 

Eating Like Kings

In this season of abundance we have been finding great joy in seeing just how much we can base each meal in food grown here in our own earth. It has been an experiment of wonderful satisfaction and fulfillment…not to mention excellent nutrition! And we have been eating like kings! The kind of kings that grow, pick, and prepare their own food…but kings nonetheless!

Each day we venture out into the garden to tend and harvest. In this late August time it is becoming quite the jungle. More than once a little one has found themselves hopelessly trapped by the prickly vines of an extremely overzealous squash patch. (Check out that squash craziness below!)

As I plan my meals for the day my mental calculations are not of what I have in the cupboards to work with…but what I have ripe in the garden to work with…and we go from there. (During the school year I like to plan out my meals for the week, but in the summertime I find us living much more day to day…it is a refreshing break, and makes us all the more ready for the weekly meal plans that come back in the fall!) With the overwhelming abundance in the garden right now there is no end to the delicious meal possibilities. Lately we have been thoroughly enjoying a meal of corn on the cob, swiss chard salad, and tomato and pesto sandwiches. We are not vegetarians, though we eat very little meat, and this one of our favorite all-veggie meals of the summer.

In this heat the swiss chard needs to be picked quite young before it “bolts” and turns bitter (and yucky!). Though the most common way to eat swiss chard is cooked in some way we find we love it best fresh in a salad. For this salad I tore up the swiss chard in bite size pieces, added chopped cucumbers and tomatoes and a bit basil on top. (I believe that I am in serious danger of becoming hopelessly addicted to basil…it simply intoxicatingly fragrant and savory…oh sweet basil!) I served the salad in a favorite pie plate with poppy seed dressing. This poppy seed dressing is one I discovered and tried on a whim earlier this summer. It’s genius. Absolutely delicious and super easy to make.

Poppy Seed Dressing

Mix together in a blender:

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon onion (grated)

Add the following ingredients while the blender is running:

1 cup vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Makes about 2 cups.

Tomato sandwiches are something I look forward to all year….thoroughly enjoy all during tomato season…then look forward to again the following year! Don’t be alarmed if you are a bit apprehensive of a tomato sandwich. My own husband hadn’t tried one (I think mainly out of bewilderment and fear!) until this summer. He eats them all the time now!

This is a sandwich that is definitely open to interpretation and personal variations…but this is how we like them. Lightly toast two slices of homemade bread….like this one. (You don’t have to use homemade bread but if you’re choosing a store bread be sure it has some substance…this sandwich will not work with a “wonder bread” type loaf.) So… on one of your lightly toasted bread slices spread a bit of mayonnaise and on the other a layer of fresh basil pesto. Place a ~3/4 inch slice of tomato on the bread, sprinkle with salt, cover with the other slice of bread, and enjoy! I love it when the tomatoes get so huge that the slice extends past the edges of the bread! Tomato season is heavenly! Pesto on the tomato sandwiches is a new development this year as we tried pesto on just about anything it is just so delicious. (Previously we just spread mayo on both slices of bread.)

Fresh pesto can be made with a very wide variety of greens and nuts. Though fresh basil and pine nuts is the most common, I also love mint and almonds. And to be honest I most often use walnuts in place of pine nuts in basil pesto as it is what I commonly have on hand. Pesto is very much a “to taste” sort of recipe and can be adjusted in infinite ways to suite your tastes. This is the basic recipe that I use. I actually don’t have a food processor so use a blender…which is much harder and more tedious. I dream of food processor pesto making!

Pesto

2 cups basil (or any green…packed)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup nuts (chopped very fine if you’re using a blender!)

3 medium garlic cloves

salt & pepper to taste

Combine basis and pine nuts in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts pulse them a few times on their own before adding the basil.) Add the garlic and pulse a few more times.

Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes approx. 1 cup.

***

Though I love so many times of year and what the bring…I do believe that I love this “harvest” season best of all. Today’s harvest season adventure…picking a wild abundance of tomatoes and canning them up as juice, soup, and stewed tomatoes. Ah…the joys of the earth.

moments

I’ve stepped out of this space for a bit adventuring with family.  It was a  wonderful “slowing down” time as most of our moments were spent in the still and isolated (cell-phone and internet free) hill towns of western Mass.  Though I believe our life is quite still and calm, lived mainly at home all together and so much in tune with the rhythms of the earth, I was wonderfully surprised with just how much stillness I was missing…and just how good it felt to simply be.  Though I will bring you up to date little by little with our adventures today I simply bring you a few moments from our days. 

A beautiful drive made even more beautiful by a sleeping babe and the entrancing stories told by Natasha.

Ahh sweet stillness.  And what could possibly beat an Auntie who will sit forever and look look at and throw rocks into the water with you?!?!

 

Now we are back.  The laundry is running.  Children are happily reacquainting themselves with their favorite playthings.  And they are here.  Baskets and bushels and tubs and bowls of fruits and vegetables are everywhere.  Though I am immensely grateful for the produce grown by our hands and the hands of those we love that is currently filling the kitchen I am a bit daunted by the task that these hands will be facing in the next 48 hours.  Ah…sweet harvest season…welcome back.   

Jungle Fever!

No one here has jungle fever…thankfully! But what a jungle the garden has become!!! Yikes!

{this moment} I would like to bring you a few of our favorite spots and favorite things in this special place of ours.

Lately in this space we have been devouring the very last of a very large amount of string beans, and welcoming the very beginning of an insanely huge amount of cherry tomatoes! We do so love to mark the time with the coming and going of vegetables!

‘Nothin like a man in a bean teepee with his little ones!!!

It is truly incredible how massive a plant can grow from so small a seed, planted by so small of hands. There is nothing like larger than life sunflowers to create a playspace full of magic and wonder. They truly are a children’s flower!

The seesaw is more often used as an balance board than a seesaw…!

For me…right now…I am loving the last romp in the yard and garden before bedtime. When our whole family is together and often finding ourselves hunting for bits of juicy red goodness, sliding, running, and balancing…together…peaceful and happy. When the light is amazing and everywhere things come to life in a new way. When moments and memories are captured in hearts and cameras. It is a beautiful time. Oh such a beautiful time.

Relish

Cucumbers have arrived in all their glory and a quite a bit of relishing has been happening around here!  Relishing in the fresh crunchy goodness…relishing in the endless tasty salads and snacks…relishing in all the relish!!!  Batches have been stored away for use throughout the coming months (most likely years…there’s a lot!), and one special batch bottled up in funky little jars have been tucked away for holiday gifts.  Though the thought of mountains of snow, crisp cold air, and bare trees is hardly imaginable in the hazy heat, and abundant growth of late summer it is still oh so lovely to tuck things away in preparation.  What could be more lovely than a jar full of summers bounty to give to those we love in the depths of winters cold.  The squat little jars, a cheery bit of ribbon, and a little holiday note….and mouthwatering cucumber relish.  Ahhh…I do love Christmas!

In canning and preserving I rely heavily on the Ball Blue Book.  In fact…if I’m not reading directly from it step by step as I go…it’s just because I’ve already memorized their instructions!!!  It is so reassuring to have a resource that you know will just what you need each time you need it!  I have used their cucumber relish recipe for years and absolutely love it!  For the batch pictured I was out of sweet red peppers, but had an abundance of green bell peppers so used those.  Very very delicious!  I have included the relish recipe from the Ball Blue Book, with my own tips of course!)

 

Cucumber Relish                                                            Yield: about 6 pints

2 quarts chopped cucumbers (about 8 medium cukes!)

2 cups chopped sweet green peppers (about 4)

2 cups chopped sweet red peppers (about 4)

1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)

1 Tablespoon turmeric

1/2 cup salt

4 quarts cold water, divided

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 quart vinegar

2 sticks cinnamon

1 Tablespoon mustard seed

2 teaspoons whole allspice

2 teaspoons whole cloves

*I put all the vegetables through the meat grinder which cuts down on the chopping time significantly, and makes a great texture.*

Combine vegetables in a large bowl; sprinkle with turmeric.  Dissolve salt in 2 quarts cold water and pour over vegetables; let stand 3 to 4 hours.  Drain; cover vegetables with 2 quarts cold water and let stand 1 hour.  Drain thoroughly.  Combine sugar and vinegar in a large saucepot.  Tie spices in a spice bag; add to sugar mixture.  Bring to a boil; pour over vegetables.  Cover; let stand 12 to 18 hours.  Bring vegetables to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until hot throughout.  Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles.  Adjust two piece caps.  Process 10 minutes in a boiling water or steam canner. 

Enjoy!

Welcome!

Kahlil Gibran, the Lebanese poet, said,

“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair.”

To a child truer words have never been spoken. The earth, in all its wonders and delights, is pure magic to a child. It sparks the creative spirit and ignites the imagination in such a way that nothing can extinguish it. There is nothing that can replace free exploration and adventure, toes deep in sand and soil, hands filled with bits of nature, hair blowing and twisting in the breeze, and minds absolutely soaring.  Creative play. There is simply nothing that can replace it. The earth delights in it, children delight in it.

Inviting the bounty and beauty of nature into the outdoor play area my children already enjoy, for us, meant creating a garden specifically dedicated to their exploration and discovery.  The result has been incredible.  At this point in the summer our garden has begun to be a bit of a jungle…which is met each day with increasing delight.  Oh do I wish we could welcome you into our garden to romp and play with us. 

While I recognize that not all of you may have the space or inclination to create a children’s garden of this size, you can easily incorporate the living, breathing, magic of nature into your play spaces.  Potted plants and trees can come inside, window boxes on play houses or swingsets are delightful, clusters of potted flowers and vegetables can transform decks and patios, and even a few herbs and flowers along a hedge or yard fence create a haven for exploration and discovery. 

While I was planning and dreaming up our children’s garden I thoroughly enjoyed pouring over every Child’s Garden book I could find.  Here are two of my favorites…but there are oh so many more wonderful ones to devour!!  (The images are links, by the way!)

    

I wish you could all come and explore with us here, but for now…

           

The following two tomato plants were planted at the same time from the same six pack from the nursery.  One in the garden  whose soil had been heavily supplemented with compost and manure, and one into a pot with ordinary and rather poor topsoil.  The result has been a remarkable and spontaneaous lesson in soil quality and gardening.  The small one is pathetic it’s true…but the big one…holy hugeness!!!  And there’s two of those huge ones…yikes!

   

Wishing you happy summer days filled with the beauty and bounty of nature.