Monday, June 29, 2009

Before I forget...

Today was a crazy day. I got lost taking Ravenna to her appointment for her birthday portraits (better late than never, right?) which I arrived 20 minutes late for so what was supposed to take an hour ended up taking twice that. Darn you Lancaster with your weird street names and illogical city planning!

When I arrived home with my grumpy toddler who refused to nap, I remembered that I was making the evening meal, and it was something that required a significant amount of prep time. Needless to say the rest of my afternoon and evening was spent in meal preparation. The food was good, but next time I will skip the lettuce wraps and just put it over brown rice. I also made a Napa Cabbage salad and a side of fresh pineapple.

The rest of the evening was a bit more relaxed. For Family Home Evening, Ravenna had the lesson, but was asleep, so I showed everyone the Baby Signing Time video so that we can all be on board with helping her learn signs. I really like the program; Jeff thinks that the narrators cheerfulness put Nettie to shame, if that is even possible. We finished with caramel popcorn and a game of 10,000.

Without further ado...CSA Week 4:

1 head of Napa Cabbage
1 head of green leaf lettuce
1/2 pint blueberries (oh so super delicious!)
1/2 pint black raspberries (ditto the above)
1 box of winter peas
1/3 lb. mix of collard greens and colorful swiss chard
2 red beets
3 HUGE green onions (these were like 3 feet tall, no joke)
1 head of bok choi
3 garlic scapes
1 beautiful head of broccoli

Quite a plentiful harvest this week and we have already gone through the onions, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli and the berries! Oh, and this last weekend we started our first harvest from our backyard garden: zucchini, and soon some cucumbers and in a few more weeks TOMATOES!!! I just love the summer.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Happy Fathers Day!


Andrew loves being a daddy

Yay for Father's Day! I can't believe that we are already working our way to the end of June and we have been in Pennsylvania for almost two weeks. Two rainy weeks, but they have still been full of fun. For Father's Day Andrew talked me into getting him a Nintendo Wii. "But why get a Wii when you have no job?" you might rightly be wondering. Well, all I can say for myself is that Andrew is so wonderful and has worked really hard so I think that he deserved to get something special.

Lest you think I have forgotten, CSA Week 3:

1 head of Green Leaf Lettuce (gorgeous!)
1 head of Red Bok Choi
1/2 lb. miscellaneous Greens (collard, kale etc.)
1 box of winter peas (these are so yummy!)
1 box strawberries
1 bunch of radishes
2 scallions
1/4 leaf lettuce mix
2 red beets

I may be forgetting something, but that seems to be all. We had an enjoyable time on the farm picking stawberries and peas and even made a friend. I tried out a recipe for greens this last week and it turned out nasty. Anyone have any suggestions?

Friday, June 12, 2009

We have arrived!

Actually, we arrived on VERY early in the morning on the 9th and we have been enjoying the spring here enormously. On Tuesday we went to the Central Market where we were able to pick up some lovely produce and some Whoopie pies! On our way back we stumbled upon an Amish farm where they were selling milk and free-range eggs. The prices were great, the farmers kind, and since it is just around the corner, we will be going back soon. I also got to inspect my the first harvest from my CSA and actually go to the farm to pick up my second order yesterday.

CSA Week 1:
1 lb. Lettuce mix
1 lb. spinach
2 garlic scapes
1 bunch of cilantro
2 boxes of strawberries

CSA Week 2:
1/2 lb. Lettuce mix
1/4 lb. Kale & Asian greens
2 beets
3 garlic scapes
1 bunch of cilantro
1 head of bok choi
2 boxes of strawberries
1 bunch of mint from the "pick your own" patch (we could also get chives)

We are rolling in strawberries right now both with the CSA and Nettie and Jeff's patch. We have 3 boxes in the fridge and a couple pounds in the freezer, plus I made strawberry pie and we had a strawberry spinach salad yesterday. I think I will make jam! The bok choi is already gone. I was so curious to try it that I sauteed some with peanut butter. Yum! Anyone have some great recipes for strawberries or greens?

Saturday, June 6, 2009

We're On Our Way!


Adios, Gillette! As you read this we are probably on our way across to U.S. all the way to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is a journey of faith and determination (we are traveling with a 13 month old, after all!). We are grateful for the time that we had in Gillette and the wonderful people that we met there, but we are looking forward to a different life on the East Coast.

Here is a fact that I found interesting: Andrew's grandparents also had a brief stint in Gillette over 50 years ago. They, too, were there for less than a year and were not sad to say goodbye. Perhaps not settling in Gillette is in the genes?