Safe Seeds

There is so much controversy surrounding seeds and Monsanto. GMO, organic or not, just a huge monopoly on seeds. Its really crazy how gardening has gotten to political. To garden is a political move. For health, for saving money and being thrifty, against big business, pesticides, mega farms and the hurtful environmental practices of them. Even if you aren't meaning a political statement it is there. One huge thing I believe in is growing from my own seeds. I know what variety I am growing, the soil it was grown in, and what company produced the seeds. Here is a list of safe seed companies to buy from according to the council for responsible genetics. But this list is not perfect and even some of the more popular seed companies on here have been under fire for not being as pure as they claim. One company I used sent me seeds I was excited to use, until I saw the seeds are copyrighted and I cannot legally save the seeds if I want. So buyer beware. There is still shady behaviors from the so-called good guys. To me this is totally against nature, morally how can someone own a seed? Can you own an oak tree? Maybe if that oak is on your property, but you can't claim all oaks are yours. I am hoping to save as many seeds as I can this year to be more independent and self-sufficient in my gardening. No buyer beware when I own the seeds. 13 more days until spring, counting down to a thaw so I can get in some dirt and start prepping

Thinking Spring

I am counting down the days to spring. Not just because I am sick of winter, this is true. But also this long winter has left me with extra time to read about gardening and I am getting excited to start planting. Last season was horrible. It was cold and frost warnings in May and then too much rain and not enough sun gave me a lack luster crop. This year I attended a Rutgers Masters Gardner Lecture. If they offer such lectures I highly suggest them. The lecture was specific to my location, not just New Jersey, but our North Jersey clay soil and what to do to get the most from our garden. I learned a lot and some things I have been doing wrong, well maybe not wrong, but not right either. Its too early to even start seedlings yet. I've started onions, my first time growing them, because they say 10-12 weeks. This week I will be planting eggplant and peppers so they are also slow starters and need a decent head start. My list this year is long and I'm hoping to yield some amazing fruit and veggies. Nothing like getting your hands in the dirt and feeling the sun on your back. Now if this snow will just melt I can get to cleaning up the garden and dreaming off tomato sandwiches, stuffed peppers, cucumber salads, fresh beans and eggplant parm. Oh zucchini bread, carrot and salad. Winter produce is the pits. Summer I can't wait!

The Winter that Killed Moms

I've seen that post heading used several times this winter. Its been long, cold and snowy, which has kept up inside way too much. Normal I am not one to hide inside due to poor weather, but when the snow comes up to your hips (and I'm 5'7) with a layer of ice mixed in its not the best or safest idea to take a 2 year old or 4 year old out to play. We've had some rough days, filled with more tv than I prefere. I also struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder which makes it hard to motivate myself some days. Even worse with the ice there have been multiple stretches when we haven't left the house for several days in a row due to poor road conditions. So yes this has almost been to winter that killed mom. I've haven't been as nice and patient as I usually am, more yelling and more just feeling blah. We have been watching more tv and I've let go a little of that. At its worse its been almost 3 hours a day. But this was because I was shoveling snow outside for over an hour and tv is the only sure way I know they won't kill each other while I'm outside working. I've tried to think spring some days. We cut up this seasons seed catalogs and made collages of our favorite fruits, veggies and flowers. We've practiced our letters and made books. Liv drew a picture then wrote a sentence about the picture. They were basic like "the elephant is eating" and she needed help with the spelling and harder letters, but what an amazing practice for writing that was so much fun. We've had dance parties, baked Pinkilicious cupcakes, muffins, cookies. No wonder why my pants are tight! Playdates are rare since its hard to leave the house, but when we can I get out and try to get to a friends. This winter isn't over yet, and another Arctic air storm is moving in. This winter might still kill me yet, but I'm hoping to come out on top. Spring is almost here, but if winter doesn't end soon, I might go mad.

Fall is in Full Swing

The leaves are red, yellow and falling down on our heads every time we are outside, walking, playing or just enjoying the sights. The sound of crunching leaves, the smell of the autumn air, burning wood and the morning frosty dew. I just love fall. So far we've baked pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pancakes (best thing ever!), pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins. We collected leaves, glued them in our nature book and identified what trees they came from. We drew each leaves and colored them. We painted trees with falling leaves, painted and carved pumpkins. Gone on a few gnome walks and walks in our own yard. We made a leave pile and jumped in it. We climbed trees. We played in the park and on the playground as much as possible before it gets too cold. We danced in the rain, splashed in puddles and felt the rain drops on our hands. We trick or treated. We collected pine cones and made bird feeders. We collected nuts and acorns. The weather this fall has been a well deserved blessing and I'm so glad I've taken the time to enjoy as much time out and about in it. And I hope to continue til we need winter coats and gloves, but then I still hope I can make it out to enjoy the seasons and outdoors.

Indian Summer

With the horrible, rainy, cool summer we have its such a blessing to have this extended summer going well into Fall. This week it is going to reach in the 80s and I have no complaints. We have been enjoying as much time as possible outside in the warm sun. The leaves have slowly started to fall and some are changing, but it is still mostly green here. The best part about this warm sunny weather is its giving my peppers a chance to grow. I finally have a few green ones ready to harvest. But I'm holding out a bit til they turn red. I also have some yellow ones almost ready to be harvested. They should be ready at the end of the week. This excites me even more since its an old variety an elderly man gave to my dad. He brought the peppers all the way from Hungary. I will do my best to try to save the seeds and pass on Nick's Peppers for more seasons to come.

Summer is Ending

Summer is almost over, school starts soon and we are trying to finish up all the summer fun we had plan. My husband took off the week so we can take some daytrips. The zoo, the beach, the park and summer fun in our own backyard. Also the girls joint birthday party. But alas, we are home, day 2 and home. Its Murphy's Law in my house and of course something on my car broke. The expensive problem is something my husband can fix, but again, he notices more problems and needs more parts so the quick fix is now into its second day. So I played soccer in yard, frisbee and cleaned for the girls party. Summer memories are what you make of them. No beach this year, but Liv learned how to catch a ball, hit a ball with a bat and Eve can kick a soccer ball. I'd say even with all the problems, horrible weather and things breaking at home it was a pretty nice summer and ending on a nice at home note.

Tis the Season

I have been very busy for the past few months. I live very near the ground zero of Sandy, my husband has been help so its been just me and the girls. But the house is all decorated, we cut our own 100% naturally grown tree. Today we made bird treats to give to some friends (I will post the recipe if they turn out okay, still drying)

We also made gingerbread men. I've been busy knitting nice warm headbands for the girls. I do enjoy this season and am so excited for Christmas day, I don't think I've been this excited since I was a child. Hearing my little Liv talk about Christmas, Jesus and God and seeing the light in her eyes is amazing, and makes me feel I must be doing something right. Merry Christmas

Harvest Party

This week I am hosting a little harvest party at our home for Liv and her friends. I thought it would be a nice simple way to enjoy some time outdoors, which soon will be limited. We are painting pumpkins and doing apple star prints. For the star prints you simple cut the apple in half, horizontal, and in the middle is a little star. Simply dip them in paint and make the prints on paper. We are also doing bird feeder with peanut butter and seeds on a pine cone. All of this will be done in the backyard with plenty of time to run around and enjoy the fall weather. I'm also hoping to make a leaf pile for the kids to jump in.

We are serving homemade pumpkin bread and apple cider. I'm hoping to make this a little autumn tradition in our home. How do you celebrate the fall season?

Schools In

I have decided not to send my daughter to preschool this year for many reason. One of the reasons is a this young age I feel children should be close to their parents often, and I can do most of the stuff at home for free. Preschool is so expensive in my state I don't know how everyone even affords it. I've been working on a light curriculum for her to have some structured learning. Its part seasonal, part Waldorf style, part Montessori and part modern preschool. It took me a lot of work, even though its only a very basic curriculum, since I feel at this age a few hours a week tops, is plenty. I decided to share my curriculum for free for the rest of this year. I will be posting some of what we will be doing for that week, book ideas, stories, art, crafts, nature, science and more. Take out what you like, add what you like, enjoy Week 1: Discuss the Harvest season, find stories about the harvest from the library. While collecting from the garden explain that we are harvesting. Make some fresh zucchini bread with zucchini from the garden. Involve the child in preserving some of the produce. Art, using water colors paint with red alone (this is based on the Waldorf idea) explain the color red. Point out on a calender that the month has changed from August to September Outdoors practice walking while balancing. Week 2: Squirrels: collect nuts outside and leave them out for squirrels. Read Squirrel Says Thank you and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin Art: make a tree using their hand print at the trunk and then finger prints all around as leaves. For snack make trail mix with nuts Week 3: Celebrate Michaelmas, find stories about Michaelmas and read George and the Dragon. Bake apple bread, shaped like a dragon and slay the bread Build a castle with blocks. Make a dragon out of clay or beeswax Discuss the changing of the seasons Read I Know when its Autumn

Week 4: Go apple picking "Apple picking apple picking on a Fall day, take one down and bit away yum yum yum Make applesauce with some of the apples. Cut an apple in half and make star printings Discuss the different colors apples come in, red, green, yellow. Read some books on Apples or Johnny Appleseed.

Around the Garden

Since become a SAHM and/or "radical" homemaker I have added some hobbies or other homemaking skills to my repertoire, knitting, crocheting, baking, canning and my most recent obsession, gardening. I used to garden with my parents as a child, my father owns a nursery and my mother always had a fondness for Jersey fresh produce. But this is my first garden on my own. My 2 almost 3 year old daughter helps a lot, which is why carrots are sprouting up every where. She helps me water and loves to help me harvest. She is not so big on tasting them, but I hope she will eventually cave. We so far have been enjoying cucumbers, zucchini and a few cherry tomatoes. We also have blueberry bushes that we eat as they ripen. We just can't seem to wait for a bunch, they are just too fresh and good. What I love most about this hobby is how it brings people together, people talking and bonding over food and gardening. When I knit, cook, bake or can I am limited to who I can talk with this about. Only 1 of my friends crochets, none knit, no one cans and a few bake, but not like I do. They like the back of the box or fancy food dye sugar filled cakes while I enjoy fresh breads, muffins and the occasional cake from scratch.

But with my garden I feel there is something for everyone. I greatly enjoy talking with my father about the types of plants, which grow best, which taste the best and what plants are best for which part of the season. He enjoys some of the odd plants I found, my cooking them and my organic methods which he isn't too familiar with. I also enjoy asking my mom for old favorite recipes that she would use with all the fresh produce. I think she also enjoys my new skill of canning and I know she loves trying them. My children also love trying, especially the baby. Liv is a little more picky but I get her to eat those veggies in many ways she doesn't even know. My husband also has fond memories of his mother's garden and actually enjoys helping me take care of mine. It is the only hobby that we really enjoy together other then hiking and just being out in nature. The season is just starting up by me and I am enjoying read every cook book and preserve book I can find. I went way overboard and need to preserve as much as a can to not waste it. I also love talking gardening with people, people of all ages enjoy gardening so I find young friends, old neighbors and more are more then willing to talk you up and give some great advice. Most of all I just enjoy sharing my produce or cooked and baked good with my friends and family. I feel this garden has brought me a little closer to natures, closer to creating my own homestead, close to my past and homemakers of the past and closer to being a healthier, greener and self-sufficient family.

Green Thumb

Spring is well on its way and I have been playing in the thawed and warmed dirt. This past weekend I spent a lot of time planting flowers and working on my garden. This is the first garden I have grown by myself. My first "grow-up" garden. My dad always had a garden and I would help him, but this one is all my own. My husband built the structure for me, to keep the deer out, but the rest is all me. I used the compost I've been working on for fertilizer. My goal is to have an organic garden. I also used to organic mulch to help with weed control. I planted several variety of tomatoes, peppers, onions, peas, cucumbers, carrots, eggplant, watermelon, 2 blueberry bushes and some herbs.

Liv helped me plant the carrots, so I am starting to see them sprouting up all sorts of spots in my garden. But that's okay, my garden is not meant for beauty or order but to help feed my family and to help teach Liv about where food comes from. I'm also hoping that it will help her eat some vegetables. Tonight we had pierogies, she looked at the green peppers I sauteed with them and she said "yuck, I don't like this" She refused to even try it. I'm hoping once she sees then growing in our garden and gets to pick them right from the plant she might be more likely to try them. I find I am becoming obsessed with my garden. I have such pride in my garden and keep thinking how many wonderful meals I can make from my garden. I even checked out Balls Canning book from the library to preserve some of my harvest. I have very quickly understood why people enjoy gardening. The dirt in my fingers, digging in the earth, the physical labor, being out in the spring sun. I also love learning a new skill. Since being a SAHM I miss the intellectual stimulation from work or school.Gardening, at least for now, has seemed to fill that gap in my life. Even thought my dad gardened and even owns a garden supply store, there is so much I need to learn. First is learning how to garden organic, which is something my dad never did. But all learning how to do it myself. I usually just helped him plant, would water and then pick the harvest. But there is so much more. Crop rotations, how to fight infestation, staking and cages, planting, spacing, even learning what types of varieties there are. I really did not know that tomatoes come in a whole rainbow of colors, not just red. I'm also excited to learn more ways to cook and to save and preserve my harvest. And to taste fresh picked fruit and veggies, straight from the ground or vines. I feel very much like a homesteader or a housewife from the early 1900s, which I love. People with out gardens have no idea what they are missing.

For the Birds

Over the winter I sat down and tried to make up a preschool syllabus for Liv. I am not sure if she will ever attend preschool so I wanted to start homeschooling at home. But after working on it for a few months I stopped. Liv is 2 1/2, which around where I live is probably the average age kids go in to preschool. I am not a huge fan of this, especially if it is an academic preschool. I don't think young children are made to sit around and be taught at. They need to experience life, learn with their hands and hearts. So I've been doing an unschooling approach for preschool so far. I just try to "teach" Liv things she is showing interest in. Recently it has been birds.

She was asking me what type of bird that was one day. Luckily I knew it was a blue jay, but there was so much I didn't know so I though what a perfect way to teach her about natures, categorizing, her colors and so many other skills that I probably don't realize. So the first thing I did was go to the library and get a bunch of books about birds, bird watching and how to attract birds to your yard. Blue jays are blue, cardinals are red, Baltimore orioles are orange and black. We spot these birds in our backyard almost daily and I go over their colors with her. We put out different feeders and seeds for different birds. She is learning which birds eat seeds, and how other like suet. We watch robins in our lawn pulling worms all day. Today we sat in our bathroom and spied on a cardinal singing for a mate. In addition to learning bird calls and how they attract each other she is learning how to be quiet and patient while watching these birds. Teaching a 2 year old to whisper and be still is hard, but when the motivation is watching a beautiful bird she does much better. Sometimes we listen to bird calls in the car. She loves it. She is learning all different types of birds, about the seasons, where they live, what they eat, what songs the sing, how baby birds come to be, about migration and so much more. So of this goes over her little head, but I know she is absorbing so much from just watching the birds and looking at the books with me. This also keeps us outdoors. We will go out and fill the bird feeders every couple of days so she is gaining a sense of responsibility too. This is just one thing I have been doing with her, but right now it takes a large part of our "schooling" since the birds are flocking to our yard and we often just stop and sit to watch them. She really enjoys looking through the bird books too. I love watching her get all excited about learning and wanting to know more. I hope this helps instill a life long love of learning. We are also working on a garden, but it is very early in the season for to be taking up too much time of our day. We have a nice weekly routine of activities but when ever we have nothing to do or a empty spot in our day I go to my some of my unschooling ideas to keep us occupied in a fun way.

6 months is enough

My newborn is no longer a newborn anymore.

In way you look at it 6 months is way out of the newborn stage, yet in many ways I feel I have been slacking like I'm still dealing with a newborn. I still take naps most days (with Ev) my excuse has been well she is not sleeping through the night. I am often in sweats, partly because I still need to lose some weight so I have a limited amount of clothes. Our routine is lacking, the tv is on more then I like, meals are done on the fly and I just feel like a general slacker. I decided 6 months is enough. Today Eve is 7 months so for about 2 weeks I've changed things up and am slowly starting to get back into a routine. I'm not jumping in head first, I'm slowing adding things back into our days and week to get us motivated, keep us happy and productive. The first thing I have done is eliminated my morning tv time. It just started the day off wrong. When Eve was waking several time I needed to sit and watch some morning news, that would role into some tv time for Liv then aroun 930 10 our day would start. We were still in our pjs and got nothing done. I've got Eve sleeping better and am trying to go to bed earlier so now its breakfast then right upstairs to get dressed. Some days I will let myself be in sweats, but I'm trying to limit that too. Its not possible 100% since I still don't fit in lots of my clothes, but I'm getting there. 10 more lbs and some toning and I will be at pre-baby weight. That is another reason why I wanted to get back into a routine. To fit in exercise time. On nice mornings I get everyone dressed and we go out for a walk while Eve naps in the Ergo. For our week we are now doing: Monday-market, grocery shopping in the morning afternoon-free Tuesday-storytime in the morning at a local library, then park afterwards if nice afternoons-free Wednesday-laundry day, outdoors garden day Thursday- cleaning day/errand day Friday-playdate, park day Sat-free Sunday-church I am trying to incorporate some more activities in our day so we don't depend on the tv anymore. I would love to get tv time back down to 1/2hour. Some days we are as high as 2 hours, most closer to 1. Right now Liv is loving birds so its taking up lots of our time. We bird watch, listen to bird calls in the car, identify birds from books, make sure there is food for them and try to listen to bird calls while outside. I'm trying to get some of myself back. Dressing nice, doing my hair or make up daily, knitting or reading in the evenings, yoga and pilates some nights to help get back in shape. I think 6 months is enough time and time to move on out of being all about the new baby. Spring is here so its the perfect time to refresh and get back to living life the way we enjoy.

Home Pre-school

To help get a little more routine to our days and rhythm in our life I am planning to start doing a little home preschooling come March.
Liv will be 2 1/2, which around here is a common age to start pre-school. Personally I feel this is too young, but I don't feel some more structure and lose learning and playing is the same as actually going to pre-school.
I've been having a little bit of a hard time getting a nice routine with our days since Eve has been born. I am planning on starting the New Year with getting back into some more structure then come March do one day a week like a pre-school, or more accurately called a play school. Liv is too young for real schooling, but not too young for story-times, crafts and other types of play.
Thursday will most likely become our pre-school day.
Keep an eye out for my curriculum for her. I will be doing things to help learn letters, colors and shapes, using stories and other activities.
I think March is a great time for us to start since it will be Spring so I can use lots of seasonal things to bring in our home and play time.
I really enjoy the Waldorf philosphy so I'm hoping to use some of that in my pre-school for Liv.
I've been collecting ideas and started a binder for my ideas.
The binder is divided by months since I plan to teach along with the seasons and holidays. I'm going to put all sorts of appropriate activities in my binder for children up to 5 years old, but will only use age appropriate stuff. This way I won't lose any ideas that are great for older children, and I can reuse lots of fun seasonal stuff that is great for all ages.
Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving

Even though I have a baby who will only sleep with momma I am thankful, just for the fact that she is healthy and happy when she is near me. The one thing I learned from Liv is "this too shall pass" so I try not to stress and just live in the moment.
I am getting excited to have Thanksgiving as my mom's. Liv has been my little baking partner so she will help me bake pumpkin cheesecake this year. I love doing this with her. My mom would get frustrated with my sister or me in the kitchen and never taught us how to cook or bake. The most we did was decorate cookies. I am thankful that I can remember being shooed out of the kitchen and hating it. So I am thankful that I can change this and try to let Liv help out as much as she can. I hope she has wonderful memories of us spending time in the kitchen baking and cooking.
Life can be hard, but I am just so thankful this year for two beautiful girls that I love dearly. And that I will get to spend the day with my family.

This Thanksgiving I am just so thankful for all the blessings of this year.

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Rhythm with a New baby

I am expecting a new baby to enter my life any day now, official due date is Friday.
I have completely slacked on a lot of our routine that has been set up for the days and week since I have become so hugely pregnant.
It hurts to bend, to sweep, to stand for a while and wash dishes, to change sheets, I could go on and on. With my first pregnancy I had some back aches, but this time it starts to hurt much more quickly. I don't think carry my toddler helps, but as anyone with a 2 year old knows this can often not be avoided.
I have decided to get myself back on the flylady wagon to help with my cleaning.
I had some a nice routine with out using Flylady, but my house was never as clean as I would prefer so I hope this will help.
Since I can't do too much now I have been working on starting a control journal for myself.
I have kept some of out weekly rhythm and plan to keep things a simple and peaceful as I can.
I hate the word schedule and can not standing being over scheduled. I know too many moms who even with very young children, have become their chauffeurs. I did not become a mom, and a SAHM to be my child's chauffeur. I enjoy doing simple things with my child, staying at home or local and just doing things with the seasons. My new routine still allows for this.
I am not even going to attempt to keep up with most of the cleaning parts till I am a little settled with the new baby. Cleaning can wait.
But I have made sure to include days for specific activities for Liv. I don't want her to get lost in the shuffle of a new baby.
I have also been working on creating my own seasonal book. I read so many books on seasonal activities but haven't found one that works 100% for me.
I started with Fall since it is coming up soon. I am slowly adding actives, ideas, crafts, poems and stories that I have found in some many other resources, or just ones I love from my own childhood. The poems and story part is the biggest thing right now for me. We have so many great books with lovely seasonal poems, perfect for rainy days, but not one is organized in the seasons so finding the right stories can be a chore.
When I am done I will have all of this right at my finger tips.

For now with out the cleaning part our new weekly rhythm will look something like this
Sunday-Church
Monday- Market and Music day for Liv
Tuesday- Park day or other outdoor activity
Wednesday- Wash (laundry) Library or playdates for Liv
Thursday- Baking day
Friday- Craft day or Playdate

These activities for Liv, for the most part are to be done in the afternoon, except the playdates since they are usually in the morning. I belong to a mothers group and there are playdates once or twice a month. This is the perfect amount for us. They also sometimes do group seasonal actives, like apple picking.
In the morning I like to try to get outside and play in our own yard, or go for walks.
Now that Liv is 2 she likes to try more things and I would like to expose her to more. Crafts is something I think she will love. She has already taken to baking. My grandmother even bought her her own little apron.
I am thinking of getting a nice chalk board to write our daily activities on.
These types of things help me from going crazy staying at home all day. It can get lonely and where I live doesn't help. So if I wake up and know that I have at least something to do for part of the day I have something to look forward to and feel more accomplished

then sitting wondering what it next?

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Another Reason to Buy Local

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/08/honey-laundering/ Unsafe Honey Flooding American Super Markets

I have really gotten into the SLOW (seasonal, local, organic, whole) movement since reading Alice Waters book

It started for me as just a cook book to read from the library to get me and my family eating better, but the message stayed with me and has lead me to read many other books about the SLOW food movement and eating. I was a vegetarian for 10 years till I got pregnant the first time (cravings got the better of me, and a little anemia didn't help) so I am no stranger to animal rights, healthier food and sustainable foods, but recently I have been learning so much more.
We I read news articles like about about what horrible things get into our food it makes me more a more want to reach my dream of becoming a homesteader.
Hopefully one day I will be more of a homesteader and a radical homemaker then I am now.

Raspberry Preserves

Image via Wikipedia

I have become more of a homesteader and a better homemaker and what better way then to make your own jam. This way I know exactly what is in what we are eating, I love that. We have lots of local farms, some with pick your own, so I went out with Liv last week and picked as many raspberries as possible.
I tried to do the same with strawberries, but I missed a lot of the season so picking was slim and we just ate most of it. Hoping to make some yummy stuff with blueberries soon, they are now starting to get ripe up where I live.

I was totally surprised at how easy it was to make jam, and how yummy the results turned out.
Technically I made preserves, which is not as smooth as jam or jelly. But to make jam or jelly you need more supplies, and just in case I hated the process or got lazy (which tends to happened when you are 8 months pregnant in a hot hot summer) I wanted to start of easy.

How made Raspberry Preserves (yields 3 jars)
4 cups of raspberries, cleaned and picked over
3 cups sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Combine all ingredients and let them sit for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, till all the sugar is dissolved
Pour into a heavy sauce pan
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer till a candy thermometer reaches 220 degrees F
Remove from heat, skim off any foam.
Ladle into 3 1/2pint jelly jars that are sterile, allow 1/4inch headspace. Cap and seal
Process 10 min using boiling water method.
Remove and let cool.
Enjoy!

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Enjoying Summer's Bounty

Image via Wikipedia

One of the best things about living in the garden state is when our produce starts to come it.
Last week we went strawberry picking at a local farm.

I think Liv ate almost half our bounty on the walk back from the strawberry fields.
I wanted to freeze them, make jam and make a strawberry tart, but since we went late in the season and Liv ate most of them we just ate the rest of them up in their natural state. I have to say they are the best strawberries I have ever eaten. Nothing tastes better then fruit eating right of the vine.
We are going raspberry picking Thursday, and since they are more tart I know Liv won't eat as many so I will have enough left for some jam.
Blueberries are also coming in season so that will be out next adventure. I don't know how many of those I will get home. Blueberries are her favorite.
I just feel so blessed living in an area with so many great farms and markets that have so many fresh, local and organic produce.
SLOW food, Seasonal, local, organic, whole. There are so many benefits to eating this way as much as possible, for your health and the environment.
To find out what is in season in your area go here.

Lilacs in Bloom

Image via Wikipedia

When I grew up my mother alway brought fresh cut lilacs into our house from the 2 lilac bushes outside our home.
I am lucky enough to have 3 lilac bushes in our yard and all are now starting to bloom.
I have been cutting just a few at a time, since lilacs don't seem to last too long cut, and spreading them through out our home. This way I can keep cutting a few and bringing them in so my house will smell of lilacs for weeks.
The fresh bunch I cut today I placed right at the entrance of our home. We are having several visitors this week, so now when then walk our home the first smell they will notice will be the beautiful scent of lilacs. Not a candle fragrance or some artificial air freshener, but real fresh cut flowers from my yard.

I just love the scents of spring and welcome bringing them into my home, and then sharing them with my friends. Sense of smell with memories is strongly associated. When I smell lilacs I remember my childhood home growing up and my mom cutting bunches and bunches to fill up the home. I would not mind if my friends associate the smell of fresh lilacs with my spring home.