Can't Even Begin to 'Splain, or Even Sum Up, But I'll Try, In No Particular Order

Okay, a lot has been going on this week. At the forefront has been KitMama's family settling in and all of our mutual adjustment-ing, which, really, hasn't been all that much. For the sake of everyone's sanity, we've decided to trim back our weekly Tuesday Night Homeschool Family Film/Game/Dinner gatherings to twice a month. This past Tuesday was Classic Moms Book Club Discussion/Movie night, and since we were all (supposedly) reading Tom Jones, we decided on British fare. S came up with a nice menu, and I learned how to make pasties. That would be "pasties" as in "nasty", not "pasties" as in "tasty". No twirling was involved. On Wednesday, we got our first sprouts in the greenhouse. And the asparagus and strawberry plants I ordered were delivered.

Bugger!!! My perennial planter wasn't ready, and I realized I need a much bigger planter than I had planned on. So, started clearing space for a Much Bigger Planter.

Meanwhile, the sprouts in the greenhouse kept sprouting.

On Saturday I finished moving the Clay Buster soil amendment to the Perennial planter and mixing it in. David picked up a load of topsoil, which I moved to the planter, and commenced planting the asparagus and strawberries.

The asparagus roots look sort of like space aliens sitting on their mounds waiting to be covered in soil.

Strawberries came in a bundle, which I stuck in the fridge til planting time.

Strawberry Space Aliens waiting for top soil.

After tucking everyone in with lots of good (boughten) top soil in the Perennial Planter, I realized I was going to need a LOT more space for asparagus and strawberries. So, off the to front of the house to find more space.

And, here it is. Next to the existing strawberry patch, we've got a lovely bed full of Mostly Weeds. Off with their heads! Or, more appropriately, Off with their roots!

Oh, and the sprouts kept on sprouting.

And the kids played all day.

And Baghera joined me in the garden.

And the kids planted their OWN garden.

I didn't get the entire bed prepped before pooping out, but we had friends coming for dinner and I needed to get cleaned up and semi-presentable before they were expected. And I discovered the perfect serving glass for Iced White Wine At The End Of A Long Gardening Day...a small Ball jar with a lid to keep the bugs out. Perfect for sitting on the back deck admiring your day's handiwork.

Jeff made a FABULOUS vegitarian pasta thingy that we all ate way too much of, but it was worth every bite! I fell asleep on the couch during darts.

Sooooooo, TODAY. David left for NY and his Rush concert...oh, yeah, and a business meeting tomorrow ;) I managed to finish prepping the second asparagus bed and plant the rest of them before heading off for a birthday party at 2:00. BTW, it was neigh on a miracle that Kitmama and I managed to get all six kids up, dressed, fed and out the door in time to be ONLY 20 min late for the party. And, it was a nice excuse for me NOT to spend the entire day busting by keester in the yard.

In the meantime, last year's strawberries have been growing like gangbusters.

Last year's orgeano and chives are very happy.

And we have volunteer peas.

And the sprouts just keep on sprouting.

But, I have to say, the BEST part of today was coming home from the party and seeing that the aspargaus I busted my behind planting yesterday, has already begun putting out shoots! WOW! Awesome!

And, believe it or not, the asparagus I finished planting at 12:30 today already had new shoots! How awesome is that?!?

Finally, poking around the yard, I found this year's first iris. Lovely!

Up for tomorrow....more sod-busting to get another strawberry bed ready for planting.

So much to do...so little time...

30 Day Vegan - Day Six

I started out Saturday by baking Rise and Shine Breakfast Bread from the 30 Day Vegan workshop. Everyone LOVED it, and it really does make a great breakfast. Here's William's serving:

No, I didn't let him eat the whole 90+ carb serving; I had him cut it in half.
.
Then, out to the yarden for some more prep work.

Dumb dog ate my new gardening gloves.

.

I got the first load of material loaded into the tumbling composter, part of our multi-family composting endeavor.

Bin for collecting; tumbler for composting (hopefully quickly).

.

Margaret and I both had problems with the tumbler staying too wet and not composting properly. Since we can pretty much count on rain and dampness year round, I wanted a way to keep my "dry" material as dry as possible. I found an old wood pallet in the storage shed and put a batch of dried leaves on that. Hopefully up off the ground it will stay fairly dry, and be able to dry out a bit after a rain. Maybe I'll keep a small bit of plastic sheeting on hand for rainy days...

I then spend a bit of time working mushroom compost and soil conditioner into the upper planters. I ended up with enough excess soil to start filling one of the lower planters.

.

By then it was time to take the boys up to their friend's house for his birthday party. The usual "challenging" fare...pizza, homemade cake, and ice cream. I got William dosed for the pizza, and set up an estimated dose for the cake and ice cream before heading off to the grocery store for this week's shopping.

.

There were a few more items this week that I didn't find, including sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds. The checker suggested that perhaps these were "seasonal" items. I find it a bizzare state of things that "seasonal" has come to mean "available for specific holidays" such as Christmas, Easter, Labor Day and SuperBowl, rather than to mean "this is when it is harvested". I got more jars (one case of quart, one case of small jeweled), and remember now why I don't do grocery shopping on the weekends; there are more people there, more meanderers, and the shelves have been picked over and aren't fully stocked. I'll have to plan the next couple of Fridays to print my recipes, make my list, and get to the store by mid-day on Friday.

.

By the time I'd unloaded everything and put away, the boys were back from their party. Since they'd consumed decidedly non-vegan food for their "dinner", I cooked just for David and I. My first run-in with tofu was in the form of Family Friendly Pad Thai.

It was most definitely yummy, though I found it a bit on the sweet side for my taste. I'd been curious about the peanut dressing thing (this one made with tahini and maple syrup), and I really liked it. I couldn't really taste or notice the tofu, which is probably a good thing. It did fry up nicely and I think "held" the fresh garlic flavor for the dish. David loved it, too.
.
Since my order from Johnny's Selected Seeds arrived earlier in the day, I sat down to start seriously planning out the garden, and to create a master list of "what to do when".

.

The kids wanted to watch a movie all together, and I made up some popcorn using coconut oil. We have an air popper, which is supposed to make popcorn "healthier" by eliminating the fat, but I find the popcorn ends up way to bland, and the salt doesn't stick. The coconut oil lent a great, subtle flavor, and helped the salt stick. Very nice!

.

So, up for today: Get some more work done in the garden (mostly prepare the ground for the beneficial's welcome garden), putter in the yard a bit, finish up the garden planning, and maybe do some baking. I'm looking forward to trying that Pad Thai sauce in a veggie wrap for lunch!