To Summarize

Hello Internet! Have you missed me? Actually, don't answer that.

I've been away. There have been so many things that have happened, almost all of them good, but things, you know? They eat into the available time.

A few months ago we kicked off this new thing called having a social life! It's awesome! I highly recommend it.

As new parents, we alternated between a lot of We're-Too-Tired-For-This-Shit and Adorable-Family-Togetherness. We seem to have hit a sweet spot where we are more rested and can therefore stand an occasional night of revelry. Considering the hassle of finding a babysitter and then having to pay them, we've just been having game nights at our house after Mr. Man goes to bed. If you haven't already done so, get yourself some friends (preferably those without small children so they don't have to pay a babysitter either), some Cards Against Humanity, and some alcohol. Just resign yourself to the fact that alcohol + reduced sleep (you know you're still getting up absurdly early, damn kids!) will make you feel like crap. It's totally worth it...once in a while.

It finally happened! We met some baby friends! Parents who are similar to us and have kids near Mr. Man's age. And they are smart and believe in science and breastfeed/babywear/cloth diaper/hippy stuff just like us! We've had more playdates in the past month then all of Mr. Man's life. One of these playdates even included snowshoeing and a winter picnic under a stand of cedars. Pretty cool, right?! R and I are very stoked.

Of course, there were the holidays, which were a blast with a little guy who is so easily fascinated: lights! trees inside! toys! more lights! There was much revelry and spoiling of the toddler.

Mr. Man also talks now. Like, seriously, with words and often whole sentences. It is so fascinating to get insight into what your toddler is thinking about and remembers! He talks about things that happened days, even weeks ago. He asks for specific things (sometimes not so awesome as, I'm sure you know, toddlers are tyrants). He really likes being naked and talks about that way more than it actually happens. My favorite so far came about when we told him he was going to take a bath: Mama see, Daddy see, Mr. Man naked boy!*

*Obviously he said his real name and not Mr. Man. Don't want you to think I'd lie about something so important.

The baby monitor has become my new favorite thing. I love hearing him talk to himself before he falls asleep. Except when he's being a [insert obscenity] and decides to yell "Uh Oh!" or "Drink!" or "Book!" or other toddler sleep diversion technique. You don't need the monitor for that.

Also, Mission Lazy Pants is in full effect. In an effort to be more consistent about our exercise, R and I bought a chalk board for our room and are tracking our workouts. I also am tracking how much I walk the dog because I have been horribly neglectful. So far so good. We can sometimes get a good workout with wintery sports like snowboarding, sledding (Yes, that's exercise. Don't believe me? Go put on all your heaviest clothes and walk up a hill one million times while carrying 20+ wiggling pounds of toddler), and snowshoeing, though all the snow is heading to the wrong side of the country this year and mostly we've had rain. The rest of our workouts are at the gym.**

**Pro-tip, I only let myself read my new kindle book while working out.

OH, and I am trying to plan my garden. We've learned some things (like Aspens grow faster than you imagine and will shade your garden) about gardening in the last couple years. I'm going to try and use that knowledge for the power of Good, and Right, and Vegetables!

Okay, I realize that this is just a laundry list of things that have happened. Not nearly as entertaining as you deserve. I promise better quality, if not frequency, in the future. I just had to spit all this out on a page. Bits of life on a page, you know?

Freezing Food For The Winter

This summer, I mentioned that we took our first stab at gardening this year. The results were mixed. The weather wasn't good for certain vegetables, like broccoli, but was perfect for other things, like carrots.
Here is an example of our carrot harvest:

We have perfected the octocarrot! Sure to be a huge hit. 

Here's how our mutant carrots came to be: Late this past spring, our neighbor gave me tiny carrot starts (barely the width of a thread). I popped them into the ground because I was grateful for the neighborliness, rather than planting carrots from seed...which would have actually been easier and less time consuming. And, apparently, by accepting this kindness I angered the gardening spirits who viciously twisted our carrots into monstrous orange freaks. That, or the little root filaments got twisted when I popped them into the ground. But it's probably the spirit thing.

Anywho, we learned a lot this year. It was fun and the octocarrots were both delicious and amusing. Amusing because all but one carrot was a horrible mutation...which actually made the normal carrot stand out and you could tell that all the other carrots were whispering insults behind its sad, straight little back.

We learned that we should start our garden earlier this next year. Our peppers didn't have time to change color, so they are all green. Also, because of frost, many of the tomatoes had to be picked before they were ripe. They are currently wrapped in newspaper in a cardboard box in the garage...we were told this would allow them to ripen. We'll see. I may end up with a box of moldy, green tomatoes.

In addition to our own vegetables, we have continued to frequent the two local farmer's markets. That's where we got broccoli and red/orange peppers to make up for our own incompetence. Also, we super love the farmer's market. It's local produce (read: more fresh and therefore nutrient rich) and you get to support your local economy, not to mention meeting a lot of very cool people who will tell you the amusing names of their various crops. My personal favorite, the red onion known as the Red Zeppelin.

For the past couple of months we have been preparing food for the winter. Mostly, this involves cutting up the vegetables, blanching them, and then vacuum sealing them. Here's my favorite website on the topic: http://pickyourown.org/

Octocarrots look completely normal once you chop them into bits.

Servings of green beans and carrots, sealed up and ready for the freezer.

This works out really great during the winter. It saves time - all the cleaning and chopping is already done, and it provides summer/fall fresh vegetables. Much tastier and nutritious than the options you get in the produce aisle in December! We've actually gone uber-geek this year and made a spreadsheet of what we have and how much; very helpful for meal prep and for maintaining our nerd status.

In addition to serving sizes of vegetables, we also vacuum seal soup mixes (all the vegetables for a soup - just add broth and spices) and sauce starters (usually diced, cooked tomatoes, onion, garlic, and spices) that I can just add meat or additional vegetables to and toss with pasta. This works out really well for quick meals.

I know what some of you are thinking - who wants to spend all that time prepping food now for later?? Well, the husband and I have a system. We pop in a movie (one we've seen enough that it won't be too distracting) or our favorite playlist, and we work together*. In two hours, we can get through a week's worth of vegetables. Totally worth it! 

*I know what you're thinking. How romantic can you get, right? 

Starting A Garden

As I mentioned in my last post, we have started our first garden this year. I'm giddy.

I should confess that my history with keeping plants alive is a bit sordid. Recently, I've been much better because I realized that I could, you know, look up what each plant needed rather than rely on guess work. Research to the rescue once again! With that in mind, I approached gardening with some mixed emotions. But (so far) things seem to be going well; see Exhibit A.

 Exhibit A: Two 4'x4' raised beds filled with (LIVING!) tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, kale, squash, pumpkin, carrots, and more. We went with 4'x4' beds because it allows you to reach the whole plot from outside the box.

Exhibit B: A planter filled with herbs and  a bowl of lettuce and arugula sprouts.

R and I built the beds out of cedar planks and posts. There are tons of websites that provide instructions on the best ways to do this.* Then we spent a week determining where we wanted the beds (based on sun/shade), and then carefully thought out where to place them in the yard = measuring to make sure the lawnmower could get between them, as well as the fence.

*I say ways, because each one seems just as good, though some are easier than others. We simply bought four 1'X8' planks (two for each bed), which we got cut in half at the home improvement place. We also bought two 4" square cedar posts and had each cut into 16" chunks. These we used in the corners to brace the planks and to bury in the ground for additional support.

We went the organic route with the soil, which we purchased at a home garden center. We relied on the people working there, and learned a lot, including bio solids = human waste. Yeah, that might be 'organic' but the last thing I want is people droppings. The whole point of organic is to avoid hormones and pesticides, and based on what people eat, plus medication, I don't think bio solids are likely to be very healthy. We decided to get our nitrogen from chicken poo. Mmm, because nothing rouses an appetite like chicken poo.

Most of the plants were purchased at our local farmer's market when they were just tiny things or were given to me; though I did get courageous and start a few things from seed, which turned out to be surprisingly easy. We could probably fit more plants in there but we thought we should start small and see how it goes this year. We didn't want to get carried away and then have WAY too much produce to eat/freeze. Also, I had no idea how big the different plants would eventually get and wanted to leave plenty of space.

It's been surprisingly rewarding since the actual harvest is still a long ways off. Just seeing things grow (and not die) has been a confidence booster a lot of fun. More importantly, for a modest investment (roughly $60 to make and fill the beds), we are going to be producing lots of food. Buying heirloom plants**, when possible, also means that we'll be able to plant the seeds our plants produce this year and grow them for free next year.

**Many plants have been cultivated in such a manner that they are effectively sterile. So forget what you learned in kindergarten about seeds. Also worth mentioning, there is a trade off. Heirloom plants often produce tastier varieties but are more prone to disease (the plants) and have shorter shelf lives (the fruit/vegetables).

Preparing for the winter

R and I have been spending a lot of our free time preparing to feed ourselves in the coming months. And yes, I do know that grocery stores are open all year long. In an attempt to stay as local as possible and get the highest nutrition content available, we are buying excess food at the farmer's markets and getting it ready to eat in the months ahead.

The primary weapon in our arsenal is a vacuum sealer. We clean, chop, and blanch vegetables and then seal portions and freeze them. We have the whole process down and together can now quickly get through several batches of veggies in a couple of hours. I am happily chortling to myself about how easy it will be to cook with these vegetables this winter; all I will have to do is thaw them out and dump them into whatever recipe I'm preparing. We also have vacuum seal steamer bags that work just like the expensive bags you get in the freezer section at your local grocery store. We'll be able to pop these straight into the microwave and have delicious, farmer's market veggies in January! I'm totally geeking out about it. Note: vacuum sealers and bags can be bought at many major retailors. We get our vacuum sealer bags from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

We are not winter food prep virgins. We found ourselves in the metaphorical back seat several summers ago with some tasty green beans. We are really going all out this year and have increased both quantity and diversity (I'll forgo a metaphorical representation of that one!).

As I've mentioned before, we are hoping to get pregnant in the next few months - me with the pregnant, him with the helping. Anyway, in true geek-tastic fashion, we want to make sure that I reduce pesticides from my diet as much as possible during and directly before the first trimester. Thus, the squirrel-like hoarding of food.

With fruit, we primarily use the dehydrator. Though we have frozen some berries and pie filling. Mmmm, rhubarb strawberry pie in February. I can already imagine it: me, inside slowly savoring the zingy flavor, staring out the window at the snow covered wonderland. Extra delicious.

Two books should be credited with amping up our commitment to supporting and eating local: The Omnivore's Dilemma and Plenty*. And, of course, our soul-sucking hippie** liberal commitment to our local economy and sticking-it-to-the-man avoidance of corporations. Gah! What's the world coming to?

*If you haven't yet, read these books. Reeeeeaaaaaadddd them.
**I still take showers. I love showers. I swear on all that is science.

Anyway, though it is a major time sink right now, and we spend all this time prepping food to only end up with nothing to eat for a meal that day, it has been a lot of fun. We both enjoy the farmer's markets immensely. We spend a lot of time working toward a shared goal. And it's a great way to constructively spend time together.

Just to amp up our geekiness, we are planning on taking an inventory of our food supply. We will also be making a way to track our inventory so we know what we have left once we start getting into the freezer this winter. Ahh, our geeky love will flourish in the light of our well organized food preparatory skills.