For My Gouls and Goblins

I didn't think I would like being a Nursery leader as much as I do but I really look forward to church every Sunday to spend time with my little bunch of kiddos. With it being the Sunday before Halloween I wanted to give my kids a little treat. I thought I had plenty of clear cellophane treat bags, but it turns out I only had 4, and on average we have about 8-9 kids. It was about 10:30 and we have church at 12:30. I thought about just using sandwich bags, but that seemed cheap. I remembered some Halloween theme fabric I had in my stash and I ran upstairs and whipped out 12 treat bags, filled them with goodies and tied with a pretty bow. Took about 30 minutes in all. I love that serger, it made quick work of these baggies.

The kids were off the wall CRAZY this Sunday, usually they're a pretty mellow bunch. I'm sure it was a result of the Trunk or Treat we had the night before. I didn't feel bad at all sending them home with a little more sugar. Hehe.

Bedknobs and Brandons

A couple days ago Brandon wakes me for morning prayer as usual...

B: Do you remember me trying to take the bed knob off the bed last night?
M: uhh no, I was sleeping pretty deeply. What do you mean?
B: I had this dream that I needed to take the bed knob off of the bed and I half woke up stretched across the bed unscrewing the bed knob. It was almost off so I just finished taking it off and put it on my night stand and went back to sleep. I had trouble turning off my alarm because the bed knob was in the way and I thought, oh I  guess that wasn't a dream.
M: BAAHHAHAHAHAHHA!!!! Why did you need to take off the bed knob?!
B: I don't know!

Brandon has been known to sit up in bed and spout gibberish or even get out of the bed and stand at the side of it before getting back in, but nothing I know of this cognitive. The bed knob he took off in his sleep was the one at my foot, he certainly had easier and closer choices, but it makes it even funnier to imagine him stretched caddy corner struggling to unscrew the bed knob in his sleep. I wonder if any of his dream revolved around that old movie "Bed Knobs and Broom Sticks" maybe he was trying to get us to fly somewhere. hehehehehehe.

Check out minute 6:14 to get to the real bedknob action.

The Truth About Moms

The old saying "Moms have eyes in the back of their heads." came to mind a couple of days ago. I think perhaps that phrase was coined because it's easier for kids to understand that's how moms know what they are up to all the time. In reality, the phrase should be "Moms have supersonic hearing and impeccable sound recognition." As I have become a more experienced mom I have learned the sound every drawer in my kitchen makes, the sound of every item in the drawer and cabinet. The sound of all cabinets in the bathroom, the creak of any bed in the house, the distinct squeak profile of every door, and the sound of basically any toy or object clattering with any other toy or object or person in the house.

There have been many times I'm folding laundry in the utility room and I call upstairs to Zoey to stop throwing books off of Ian's book shelf and put the rocker ottoman back where it belongs. Other occurances include: to let Ian out of the closet, put all her jammies back in their drawer, and stop banging legos on the TV stand. Without even being in view of her I know she stops and wonders how the heck I know exactly what she is up to. The other saying, "It's not what you hear, it's what you don't that you should be worried about" is also true.  Typically when I realize there is an absence of sound I'll drop whatever I'm doing and brace myself for the worst when I go and find the kids. Nine times out of ten they'll be getting into trouble, like smearing three whole tubes of chapstick all over their faces, but sometimes they're being really sweet, like reading books to each other.

I'm constantly amazed at the new things that being a mom has taught me. They are lessons and skills you can't be taught any other way.

Bugs in my Shortcake!

I've been RREEEAAALLLY super excited this Halloween to make costumes for the kids. I finally got Zoey to settle on a "Strawberry Shortcake Princess" and since Ian couldn't really tell me what he wanted to be, I decided for him, a Stinkbug, because that's what I call him.

For Zoey I used Simplicty pattern 2073 and New Look 6880. They're both the same company so merging the two to integrate the sleeves only required some minor adjustments. When I saw the costume pattern I totally fell in love with it, it was the boning in the skirt. I just love that poofy flared look and I knew it would really suit Zoey. After I bought the pattern I scoured the internet for hours and hours looking for the right fabric and it just wasn't out there. Finally days later I came up with a solution, sequins! I wanted it all to be as shiny and sparkly as possible because she was a princess too, not just strawberry shortcake. It took 4 tries to find the right color pink satin. Thankfully it was cheap at 3 dollars or less a yard. I glued on the sequins because it was less work that way but Ian has since ripped many of them off so I reinforced by sewing them on and gluing. It was not as easy as I thought it would be to arrange all those dots evenly on the dress because of the shape of the fabric I couldn't just measure and mark and have everything square. So it's not perfect, but at a glance I bet you can't tell many of them are off.

2009 Version Strawberry Shortcake. She has a show on The Hub.

Once the dress was all put together I just couldn't figure out the right head accessory. I kept coming back to a tiara for the princess effect but I couldn't figure out how to tailor it to what I wanted. As I was browsing around the internet for ideas I came across this Strawberry Fairy Hat and decided that style was the perfect accessory. So it kinda fits in the fairy category than princess, but I figured I was taking creative liberties on the Strawberry Shortcake character anyway I might as well do what I thought fit the style of the dress best. It took me three pattern drafts and mock up hats before I got the flare, ripple and crown all fitting and looking just right. The last thing left was to make the strawberry stem and leaves. That also took several drafts and tries to get it right. The green satin I bought was "costume" satin. Read: low quality and ravels easily. The rest of the satin for the dress was made with "special occasion" fabric, it was much more cooperative to sew with. With a butane lighter to melt the edges I was able to make it work. I decided to skip the glue for the hat and just sew all the sequins on.

The pattern did include tights but I decided to just purchase some from www.welovecolors.com. To let me have time to focus on Ian's costume. And so, I give you the Strawberry Shortcake Princess Fairy in all her glory!

I'm so happy with how her costume turned out that I'm entering it in two contests. One from Simplicity and one from We Love Colors. WLCs has a people's choice prize so head over to their page and Like Zoey's picture! The Simplicty contest is much more hard core, if you make the first cut you have to send them the costume for examination! I'd be really lucky to make the first cut, I'd be going up against some of the most talented sewers! Although, I did use a bit of creativity in altering the pattern and the inside of the dress is crazy neat thanks to my serger!

Totals for Zoey's Costume:
Pattern: $1
Fabric (3/4 yard pink, 1/2 yard white, 1/4 yard green): $4
Notions (thread, glue, sequins, zipper, boning, etc): $13
Tights: $9
Total: $27

Now what about Ian? I call him Stink bug because 1. His poop stinks 2. He can't ever stay out of the garden, just like the stink bugs this summer wouldn't get out of my tomatoes! I decided to go with the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug because those were the variety eating up my plants and they seemed less boring looking than the green ones. I originally wanted to just go find a hoodie and pants for Ian's outfit but after much searching, I could not find anything I liked reasonably priced. Then I remembered some fabric I had that my mom had given me two years ago to use for Brandon's Jedi costume, but I wound up not using it then, glad I still had it, it was just right for Ian's costume!

 I used Simplicty pattern 5316 without alterations (other than shortening the legs and cinching in the waist band because my kids are tiny). My first time putting in a separating zipper and I think it worked out pretty great. Then I just sewed some pipe cleaners to the hoodie for his antennae. I twisted two colors together that gave it just the right verigation. Though it is hard to tell the fabric is also sorta stripy in tan and cream. While in reality the bug's underside is more solid cream colored, it seemed to make more sense overall to have it just be brownish. The shell is where I dedicated the most work to Ian's costume. Yes, sewing the hoodie and pants took time, but only a couple hours overall. I spent that and more on the shell.

Since stink bugs don't really have very curved shells, I wanted it to be mostly flat but with some dimension. I glued together about 20 layers of newspaper on the hood of Brandon's car to get some slight curvature. I used this great paper mache paste recipe. I like it better than raw flour and water, it's smooth and seems to dry stronger. It's best used warm, once it cools it gets kinda chunky jelly like. I loved the way it came out but after searching more pictures, it needed way more dimension. I cut out a shield shape and then added another 10 layers of paper mache with some extra padding to bring it out more. It ended up rehydrating the bottom layers and they lost their shape. I guess it didn't really matter in the end.

I originally planned to paint the shell myself and I was really dreading this part. My artistic skills are basically nil when it comes to drawing, painting, coloring, or using any kind of medium in that range. After looking over lots and lots of pictures, the task seemed even more daunting because of all the variation in colors and pattern in the shell and wings. Then I had the great idea to blow up a picture of an actual stink bug and paper mache it to the form I made! Bingo! I found a high resolution picture, blew it up a little, shaped it to fit the shell I had made and paper mached it on. Perfection! I painted the back of the shell plan gray and then attached two straps I made from leftover fabric. I'm actually still struggling with this part, the straps work, but as long as Ian doesn't do anything toddler like, ie: run, fall, twist, or otherwise struggle in the thing or the straps break away from the paper mache. I've tried hot glue and heavy duty staples to keep the straps attached but it just isn't strong enough. I'm thinking I'll probably have to drill some holes and thread the straps in so it's holding to more than just the surface layer of paper.

I realize if I wanted to be proportionally correct the shell would have to be much much bigger, but he's a reluctant toddler as it is, I was lucky to get him to wear this much. Overall, I am very pleased. Ian makes a great stinkbug!

I'm going to enter Ian's costume in the Simplicity contest as well since I did use one of their patterns, but I doubt his will place since there is no real creativity in it on the sewing front.

Totals for Ian's costume:
Pattern: $5
Fabric: Free
Notions: $6
Shell: lets just say $1 in the cost of flour and paper, and glue, even though I got the newspapers free and I already had everything else.
Total: $12

The best white bread ever!

Makes delicious loaves or soft perfect rolls. It's all about the gluten so make sure you knead it just right!


INGREDIENTS
1 envelope Active dry yeast (quick rise)
1/4 cup very warm water (tap hot)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup scalding hot milk (microwave 1.5 min)
1 egg –lightly beaten
4 cups of sifted bread flour
2 Tablespoons of melted butter for brushing rolls

DIRECTIONS
Sprinkle the yeast over very warm water in a large bowl.  (warm water should feel comfortably warm when dropped on wrist)  Stir until yeast dissolves.

Add sugar, the 1/4cup butter and salt to hot milk and stir until the sugar dissolves and butter is melted.  Cool mixture to 105 to 115 degrees.

Add milk mixture to yeast, then beat in egg.  Beat in 4 cups of flour, one cup at a time to form soft dough.  Use some flour to dust a pastry cloth.  Knead the dough lightly for 5 minutes, working in the remaining flour (use it for flouring your cloth and hands).

Place dough in a warm buttered bowl; turn greased side up.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 30-45 min.

Punch dough down and knead 4 to 5 minutes on a lightly floured pastry cloth.  Dough will be sticky, but use as little flour as possible for flouring your hands and the pastry cloth, otherwise the rolls will not be as feathery light as they should be.

Pinch off small chunks of dough and knead into round rolls, well organized gluten.  Place in neat rows, not quite touching, in a well-buttered 13x9x2 pan. Cover rolls and let rise in warm place until doubled, 30-45min.
Brush tops of rolls generously with melted butter, then bake in a 375' oven for 14-18 minutes or until nicely browned.

The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

We have a tradition of going to a pumpkin patch and picking out a pumpkin to represent each of us in the family. The past three years I've gone with the kid(s) to one near my parents home. It has nice little photo spots and they have activities for kids and such, though we've always gone too early in the morning for any of that. It's been great but they're only open until 5 so Brandon wasn't able to come with us. This year we decided to go to the local nursery to get a pumpkin so Brandon could come with us. It's not as much fun picking pumpkins there but it's nice to do it together as a family.

I like this one.

No, this one, no this one, no this one

The kids' pumpkins are chosen.

This one is nice

Can we have this one?

Brandon had to find the biggest one possible. He's disproportionate to the rest of the family

To also set the mood for the coming Halloween we've been watching lots of Halloween specials like The Great Pumpkin, Garfield's Halloween Adventure, and Winnie the Pooh Halloween specials. Zoey loves 'em. I still think the Garfield one is really scary so we only watched it once.

Treacherous Threes

You hear lots about the "Terrible Twos" and when Zoey started her rebelling and tantrums at around 2, I thought oh boy I'm in for it now. You never hear about the "Treacherous Threes." Well, I'm here to warn you, it gets worse!! Zoey has recently blossomed into a flaming ball of toddler mayhem. She rarely speaks without whining, if the answer is not exactly what she wants it to be, she throws herself into full of crying and panic mode which usually results in her coughing and hacking and spewing mucus from every orifice of her face. Maybe I could deal with all that if it wasn't for what happens when she's quiet...

The other day I was making cinnamon rolls and I open one of our locked cabinets to get some corn starch and she asks if she can have a marshmallow, since she saw the bag in that cabinet. I tell her she can have one and hand her the bag, thinking she'll take a couple and then put the back on the counter, because that the way we always dish out marshmallows. I go about making my cinnamon rolls and I stop about 10 minutes later because I realized she was being suspiciously quiet. She had parked herself on the couch and had polished off the whole bag of marshmallows.

Whiling diligently working on the kids' Halloween costumes I had turned on some Max and Ruby for Zoey so she would give me a few minutes of peace to work. I notice she had come upstairs and went into the bathroom and closed the door. I thought "Finally! She's really getting this potty training thing." The minutes tick by and my suspicions are aroused. I go to check on her and she's standing on the vanity painting the mirror, the sink, and the medicine cabinet and anything else within reach with three tubes of toothpaste. I thought I should take a picture but I just rather calmly (I surprised myself, probably because I was sure she was up to no good before I even opened the door) cleaned it up and went about my day.

Then later the same day, I finally broke down and decided to upgrade my phone since the battery in my phone was giving out and it unpredictably would not receive calls or texts. We all trudged over to the Verizon store because Brandon loves getting new phones, so we had to take the kids with us. Brandon had Ian and was entertaining him with some electronics on one side of the store and I was doodling around with my options on the other side of the store with Zoey next to me. She promised me she would be good in the store, and I believed her. Never believe a 3 year old. Two minutes later Brandon calls me and tell me to look at Zoey. She had taken off her shoes and pants and was running in circles around the store. When she saw us both notice her, she started screeching like a banshee. Brandon is just standing there trying not to laugh and I am flabbergasted, I just stood there like I didn't know what to do. Needless to say once she was caught and reclothed, the kids and Brandon retreated to the van to watch some He Man while I finished my purchase.

I will certainly go crazy once Ian reaches 3 years old. He's barely containable as he is now.

I Should Blog About That

It's been days since I wrote a blog about something, it's not for lack of topics, but rather a lack of remembering my topics. Ever since I started this blog I go through the day and when I see or hear something or that something reminds me of something else I think, "I should blog about that." Then when I actually find the time to sit down and write a blog I can't for the life of me remember one of the things I tried to make a mental note to write about.  I'm just going to have to attribute that to Mom brain, which always remembers that the toddler needs to go take a potty break because it's been precisely 1.5 hours since said toddler last took one though never a glance was taken at the clock. Mom brain also remembers exactly how much of everything is left in the pantry and fridge. Mom brain can even remember a week's worth of events and appointments without writing anything down. Mom brain also knows where every "lost" shoe, wallet, keys, band-aids, etc are. However, mom brain cannot remember the list of amusing blog posts she wanted to make. Sorry folks, but here's a cute picture.

Evolution of Forever Young

 I am completely oblivious to many things, but I guess that's why I have a husband that is so observant and a brain that can store the most insignificant fact, only to recall it some months later and tie in some current event. I don't know how he manages that but can't remember that I just told him minutes ago that  we were out of milk when he pours a bowl of cereal to discover there's no milk.

While watching The Office a few nights ago Brandon makes the comment that the song Andy and his Dad are singing together is the same song that is on the Parenthood opening. I of course dispute this, they don't sound anything alike. So this launched into this huge thing that took about 45 minutes for us to track down all the variations and compare them. Apparently "Forever Young" has quite a rich history in variations. And just so you don't have to do all the tracking down, here's the history for you.

Bob Dylan - 1974 "Forever Young" - The Original

Alphaville - 1984 - "Forever Young" - New song sharing title and similar idea in different words.

Rod Stewart - 1988 - "Forever Young" - New song with similarities, he actually shared royalties with Dylan because of the songs were so close. Rod Stewart was my favorite artist for a long long long time. Love that raspy voice.

Jay Z /Mr Hudson - 2009 - "Forever Young" - Mostly a remix of the Alphaville song. Actually I'd say it's more of a mash up than a remix. I'm not much of an R&B/Rap kind of person but I can appreciate this version.

John Doe & Lucy Schwartz - 2010 - "Forever Young" - Here we come full circle, this is just a cover of the original Bob Dylan song. Though this video is from the original soundtrack for parenthood, it's not the way it is sung in the opening of the show so I included that one too, it's so nasally and annoying, what a way to butcher a good song.

Here's the office Andy Bernard's Brother and Dad version (skip to 1:50)


Andy Bernard and Dad duet


There you have it folks, May God bless and keep you always and do you really want to live forever? Forever Young! For the record, the Rod Stewart version will always be my favorite.

Conference Calls

I've been pretty excited to get back to work since my previous employer called me and asked me to come back for some future projects. I love programming, LOVE programming. I hate conference calls, HATE conference calls. Unfortunately to get to the fun programming part I have to endure many conference calls. "Requirement meetings," "System Improvement meetings," "Team Development meetings," "Feasibility meetings," "whatever the heck you wanna call this meetings." What they usually mean to me is sit on the phone for hours while several people two to three times my age decide if a dropdown should be labeled "Approver" or "Controller." All the while I'm thinking, ok you guys table that and talk about it later because the effort on my part is negligible. Then when it comes to real questions like, "Is is possible to select multiple status in the report'?" I say "yes, that's easy" and then they go on and talk about something so boring again.

I'm certain that desk toys were invented solely for the purpose of keeping yourself awake and somewhat amused during a conference call. I do not have enough desk toys! Thankfully though I don't have to endure too many long winded conference calls. It seems after 6 hours of conversing with people, you'd think I have a significantly sized to-do list. It really only tops at about 10 items, only one involving some significant work. But in the end, I get to meddle around in the code and that's where I'm happy.

Powdered Milk

Sunday morning I opened the fridge to fill the kids sippy cups with milk only to find there was just enough for two sippy cups worth. I decided I'd give each of the kids half a cup so they could have another half a cup at night, as usual. We've made many a late night trips to CVS to get milk for the next day. We go through two gallons a week, sometimes more. That's just the kids and Brandon, I only drink the occasional glass and sometimes with a bowl of cereal. Evening comes around and the kids are asking for milk only I discover that Brandon drank the last of the rations with his dinner. Great, now what? I was about to interest the kids in some Tang instead when I suddenly remembered the massive storage of powdered milk we have.

Now I grew up on this stuff. Powdered milk was all I knew until I was about 9 or 10 that I actually remember drinking store bought milk in a gallon jug. It was amaaaaazing! Whole milk totally blew me away, I had no idea milk was soooo good. We got 1% at school, no comparison. Powdered milk is not particularly tasty since it's skim milk, which isn't great even in original liquid form. It has a very processed semi sweet off taste. It never gets truly cold, even if you put it in the coldest part of the fridge. It's not too pleasant to drink plain, but it is fine in cereal or cooking when its off taste is somehow masked. 

I was pretty sure the kids would reject the milk in plain form, but we keep a giant tub of powdered Nesquick. The perfect mask. I shook up two sippy cups of powdered chocolate milk (with ice cubes for the best attempt at cold milk), and those kids drank it down like it wasn't any different from the real thing. 

I feel better all that powdered milk in my food storage might actually get some use.

Problem Solving

Yesterday afternoon as I was playing with the kids at Masten Park, the moon was very evident in the sky so I pointed it out to them and told them some facts about the moon. Ian now very enthusiastically points and exclaims "moon! moon!" it's really cute. He catches on really quick. Then I had the following conversation with Zoey:

Me: Do you think we could catch the moon?
Zoey: Yeah, we need a butterfly catcher!
Me: Ok, I guess we could use a really big one.
Zoey: Mickey Mouse can help!
Me: You mean a mouseketool?
Zoey: Yeah a mouseketool. Oh Toodles! Oh Toooodles!

Well I guess that's one way to get it done. She likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse a lot. A few minutes later she loses interest in the conversation and she's pulling herself around in the grass on her belly. "Look mom I'm swimming in the grass in my bathing suit!" Ahhh 3-year-olds...

Story of My Life

Look at this fun toy I found, I'll play with it and be happy.

Ian was playing with this so it must be fun, I'll make him let me play with it.

This abandoned shoe is as interesting as the scooter, I bet I can put it on.

Hey Ian, what's so fun over here?

I found a shoe, watch me put it on.

Ahh look at them playing so nicely.

I turn away for approximately 3.2 seconds. 

No! I'm wearing the shoe!

It's mine, give me the shoe Ian!

Noooo!!

Mom! MOOOOMMM!!! She took the shoe from me!!!!! WWAAHHHH

Hello thumb, I missed you those 3 minutes.

But really, sometimes there are a few quiet and cooperative happy moments between them. Generally when they are not aware the other is in their presence.

If I had a penny...

for every time Zoey locks me out of the house, I'd have at least a dime. Any normal person would panic in this situation, but it's usually just an annoyance for me. One of my requirements of our garage door opener is that we had a coded keypad entry. I highly recommend one if you don't have one. What's funny about the situation is that the reason I get locked out is because Zoey wants to come outside with me. The first thing she does is check the doorknob, and she can't pull hard enough on the door for it to open so she switches the deadbolt to lock and then tries the doorknob again. She still can't get the door open so she gives up. Hence I get locked out. Today I tried explaining to her through the door that she just needed to flip the deadbolt lock and she could come outside (I'd help her open the door). Bless her poor little soul, she just kept yanking and twisting at the door knob, the deadbolt completely oblivious to her. I finally gave up and entered the house through the garage. I dread the day she has the strength to open the door and the wisdom to understand the difference between a locked and unlocked deadbolt latch.

Emotional Gardening

There is something about gardening that is horribly addicting. When I started my first garden 3 years ago, I had visions of grandeur, this amazing flourishing garden producing pounds of vegetables and fruits at my will. I've since learned, you gotta keep your expectations low when you're starting out because even if you read all the books written, you have no idea how it works out until you put into practice. The variables are endless. Season one was mostly a bust, except for the gobs and gobs of eggplant. Yet I persisted to try again. Season 2 was quite a bit more fruitful and I gained a lot of confidence. I've now successfully gotten to grow three plantings each year. Right now I'm on the final planting of the year, the fall garden. My favorite things to eat are grown in the summer, but the fall/winter garden is the easiest to manage with the highest yield. If it's green and leafy or grows underground, it's a fall vegetable.

Mustards, Turnips, Radishes, and Peas

This year I'm growing:

• Collard Greens
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Kale
• Turnips
• Radishes
• Mustard Greens
• Peas
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower

There is a bit of an emotional cycle when you plant a garden. After the ground is prepared and you plant the seeds, you worry. Did I plant them deep enough? Are they too deep? Did I put enough seeds in each spot? What if they don't sprout? How do I know it's the plant I want and not a weed?

Peas

With luck a few days later you'll see tiny little plant emerging in evenly spaced clusters. Then you feel total exhilaration  There's just something about those new little lives beating what seems impossible odds to make it through the dirt and into the warm sun striving to be a big healthy plant. Now you feel exceptionally protective.

The tiny little plants are very fragile at this point, I'm sure this is when the kids dislike me most because I'm completely psyco about them getting too close to the garden and destroying the seedlings. After the first true leaves appear, you relax a little, but continue to check them every day and nurse them ensuring the soil is just moist enough and that they are being properly fed.

Ian tests my patience by poking at the garden with a stick.

After 6 or so true leaves appear, now it's just a waiting game. The plants, if cared for regularly, will survive and over time will produce the fruits they are intended to bear. This is the most boring phase because you don't notice the rate of growth so easily and the plants are strong enough to handle an accidental trample from a child or obnoxious dog. This is also the point where said children and dog lose interest in attacking the garden because you stop paying such close attention to it.

Radishes

For flowering plants, the next exciting phase is when you see all the blooms, they're beautiful and each one invokes a hope that it'll pollinate and become a fruit. All the potential is amazing! You'll scour the garden every day for pollinating bugs and carefully examine each blossom for signs of swelling indicating pollination. Once fruits are set and growing, you enter another boring phase of waiting for maturity. It usually seems like forever, but the wait is worth it. For non flowering plants, you don't get the gratification of seeing the flowers, but you can be more instantly gratified that once a leaf is big enough to use you can eat it right away. Non flowering plants typically mature faster, the leafy types, though the root types take a lot longer and it's really frustrating not knowing if they're ready until you pull them up, so if you plant roots, make sure you plant lots so you actually get to eat some at full maturity.

Turnips

It's essential that all first ripened fruits and mature harvests are eaten on the spot right from the plant early in the morning. The taste will totally blow your mind and all you can think is: I'm awesome, I GREW this and it's SO GOOD!! Take that mega mart! It's totally euphoric and empowering. It makes all that waiting and nurturing worth it.You'll continue to feel totally awesome as you harvest over the next several weeks, storing some, giving some away to friends and family, and eating the rest. You'll find your culinary creativity exceeds your expectations. 

Forest of Rosemary

The last emotional feeling is dread. It's a lot of work ripping out the spent plants and preparing the ground to start again on a new crop. But once you muster up the energy to get it done, the cycle can begin again. I guess that's why it's all so much fun.

Kale

Collard Greens

Look for future posts featuring my fall harvests and delicious recipes.