Preschool?

While the questions about when Joseph would be starting school initially slowed down when we moved to Tennessee, they are starting up again now that he is a (tall?) four-year old. I have no interest in starting "formal academics" this fall--or probably next fall, honestly. But I have been thinking yet again if the start of a new school year shouldn't be a time for me to try yet again to add a little more structure to our daily life.

This is the game where you dig a giant hole and put all the dirt from it down your shirt

I've learned that when I fail to make changes I want to make it is often partially because they are way way too big. Some people thrive on that kind of immediate and dramatic challenge -- not throwing anything away for a whole year! not eating anything grown more than three houses away for a whole year! not wearing pants for a whole year! -- but I am emphatically not one of them. Tiny, tiny, impossibly small baby steps all the way. So I'm keeping my plans as small and as simple as possible, focusing on growth in virtue, living the liturgical year and reading the thousand good books.

What, you've never played that game? You are missing out

Carrot and Beet Slaw

Looking for things to do with beets besides pickling them, I snagged this recipe for a carrot-beet salad from a friend's pinterest board. We liked it okay - I think the vague association with mayonnaise prevents Bob from really enjoying any slaw-type thing - except for Lucy, who LOVED IT.

It sure was pretty.

Herb Garden

The folks who lived in this house previously had a lovely herb garden out front. Which we have let get horrifically weedy.

There are FOUR types of mint out there threatening to take over, and Bob hates mint, so I think it all just needs to go. If it will go.

The cilantro and curly parsley survived the mild winter and are going to seed. The flat parsley didn't make it, alas.

I added some sage and dill earlier this spring.

There are also several volunteer tomatoes and some kind of red Romaine lettuce. And lavender, which is lovely, and fennel. But it is all out of control. I need a plan!

Supper Notebook

Margo's supper notebook changed my life.

I've always geeked out over meal planning, but keeping an annotated list of what we actually ended up eating immediately appealed to my historically-inclined brain. This, I realized, could be the basis for planning based on something! On trends and patterns that would reveal themselves once documented!

Since then, I have extended the principle to other areas, and journaling has become one of my most basic tools for household organization. I decided to start this blog as a part of that approach. An abstract plan for the future is one thing. But to know what you've actually done or not managed to do? That is a source of understanding.

Why Garden

Every gardening book you read seems to proclaim the glory of a homegrown tomato as the reason to grow your own vegetables. Fair enough. But, heavens, why didn't anyone tell me how good a fresh carrot smells?

Four!

Birthday boy requested a chocolate AND vanilla cake

From the Library

An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

by Tamar Adler

I like this so much that I bought it, despite my current self-imposed ban on cookbook purchases. But anyway, it really is less a cookbook than a guide to thinking about food with limits, a way of cooking and eating that acknowledges necessity and is guided by it, rather than whim or will. If Wendell Berry wrote a cookbook, it would surely look something like this. This piece gives a great feel for what Adler is up to.

Cover Crops

With our spring garden petering out, I've been thinking about cover crops to put in their place. Harvey Ussery, of course, has a great overview of cover crops, but I've also gone back through Anna's archives to read about her experience with cover crops.

Last salad

I don't know yet whether I am going to want to replant these areas come fall. We have plenty of space that is going unused elsewhere this year, so why not focus on improving the former spring garden for next year? In any case, buckwheat can buy me some time while I decide.

Practical Life

Joseph helped me with the laundry.

Managing the Chicken Run

At first, I was bummed about keeping our chickens confined to a static run. Aren't the only happy chickens free-range chickens? The Matron of Husbandry has a compelling argument against that notion, and I've been revisiting some of her writing on chicken husbandry.

Confined chickens require more active management - bringing green things to them since they are not out on pasture and dealing with more manure in a concentrated space. But the later is also an advantage, as all that confined manure will eventually make it to the garden rather than being scattered randomly about the yard.

A Little Night Music

A bachelor mockingbird with nothing better to do likes to sing outside our bedroom window at 2 am.

It actually bears a striking resemblance to what I used to hear at 2 am.

Still, I'll take the mockingbird.

Silicon Muffin Cups

99¢ at Goodwill

I try to keep a pretty minimalist kitchen, so I wasn't sure about these, but they are amazing. No more scrubbing muffin tins or having paper liners bake into our muffins. And we eat a lot of muffins.

These are whole wheat banana coconut; the recipe is Bittman's.

Spring Garden

Successes: Red Sail, Black Seeded Simpson, Salad Bowl, Cascadia Bush snap peas, Cherry Belle radishes, Red Giant mustard greens

Fails: Regiment spinach (again!), Super Sugar Snap (due to poor placement on the sunniest, warmest side of the trellis?)

Initial thoughts for next year: Plant English peas instead of so many snap peas. Not an efficient crop, but we loved the ones we got from the farmer's market. Lots more radishes.

Can't Believe I've Never Thought of This Before

Friday night on my way to bed, I stopped in the kitchen to soak the flour for our Saturday morning pancakes. Argh! I opened the cabinet only to discover that my quart-sized liquid measuring cup was in the running dishwasher! But, above the empty spot on the shelf sat a row of Mason jars, helpfully marked in ounces and cups on the side. 

From the Library

Johnny Cash - Ultimate Gospel

Joseph loves this almost as he loves Johnny Cash's children's album. I can't hear "Far Side Banks of Jordan" without tearing up.

Haircut

I already needed a haircut when we moved in early February. Settling in, there has always been more pressing things to take care of - my hair's not going anywhere. But, it had reached a truly annoying length and degree of split-ended-ness.

So, I decided to try trimming it myself, at least to hold me over until I have a chance for a real hair cut. It's long enough, that I figured I had room for error.

Initially, I just trimmed a bit all the way around. It came out even enough, but I didn't really like how it looked all one length. So I tried the method described here to add some layers. Yesterday, I wasn't so sure, but after sleeping on it and brushing it out this morning, I'm pleased enough to call it a success. 

This is not the best picture of my hair, but it was the cutest picture of Lucy.

From the Library

Swamp Angel

by Anne Isaacs

illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

We checked this out after attending the Tall Tale Circus show at the library. I could study Paul Zelinsky's illustrations for much longer than the kids will let me, and this tall tale is set here in Tennessee. Delightful!

First No Hitter in Mets History

Bob cried like a big, dumb homo.

Worth Doing Badly

We moved here at the beginning of February, which allowed for only very abbreviated garden planning. My main goal for this growing season is not to be intimidated or overwhelmed into doing nothing! So I ordered a bunch of seeds, many of which will not get planted, and came up with a simple planting calendar, which I have mostly ignored.

This is not actually the garden. I was going to plant something here,
but the kids enjoy messing around in it so much we have left it as a weedy dirt patch.

Whenever I have a few spare minutes, I haphazardly plant a few seeds of whatever I'd most like to eat at that moment. No way to run a "real" garden, but it's worked surprisingly well as an educational experience for me, the complete garden newbie. I'm even telling myself that if I had planned better and been more organized, I just would have planted far more than I could keep up with. This non-method has meant that we've been able to stay on top of weeding. And this winter, there should be plenty of time for a fancy garden plan that actually pays attention to plant location and crop rotation and the like.