Boys will be Boys

It is becoming increasingly obvious that I am living in a house full of little boys - and the ring leader is the really big boy they call Daddy.

Yesterday I asked Doug to get home first so I could go to the store on the way home.  He was 'home alone' with them less than 90 minutes.  The amount of dirt and grunge that managed to adhere to these boys in that time was shocking.

Clearly, in the world of little boys more dirt = more fun.

Vine Ripe Farm CSA : Week 2

Green garlic and Olive Oil Pasta

Another green week from our CSA!  I took Gabe with me this week to pick up our share at the farm.  He thought it was very cool.  So this week our share  includes:

• 2 bags of washed mixed lettuce
• 1 bunch of red kale
• 1 bunch of green garlic (a different variety than last week)
• 1 bag of arugula
• 1 large bunch of rainbow chard

So obviously salads will be on tap again at our house!  With the holiday weekend still up in the air I haven;t had a chance to menu plan for the upcoming week - but I know we will have salads with grilled stuff and I'll get to take salads for lunch, too.  We have figured out that one bag of the lettuce makes 4-5 large dinner sized salads.  The kids eat it, too - just in much smaller amounts.  So I know we'll have salad for dinner twice - and probably a side salad at least once.

I am thinking I'll use the arugula in a pasta with blue cheese and walnuts (obviously Gabe can't have this), most likely.

I used this recipe: Sauteed Rainbow Chard as a starting point for our chard adventure.  I changes it up a little - we did not have pine nuts, so I used toasted pecans instead.  I also started the saute with some finely diced onion and pancetta diced up really small - then followed the recipe from there.  We also decided to put the Parmesan cheese into a nice bowl of polenta instead of on top.  So we swerved the sauteed greens over top the polenta and called it dinner.

Four Eyes

I wish I had better pictures of this - but at lease I have a fuzzy picture!  We were tucking the boys into bed and Grayson asked my why I always had my glasses on.  I told him because they helped me see better.  A few minutes later he had pulled some little googly eyes off something in the room and stuck them to help face - and was giggling up a storm.  He said - look I have FOUR EYES so I can see better!!  He clearly knew this was funny.

I don't have pictures of the silliness that followed, but it involved him taking them and sticking them to me so I could see better, too.  (Laughing hysterically the entire time.)

Week One : Vine Ripe Farm CSA

As the first week of our CSA membership comes to a close and I am thinking about how excited I am about what I might get tomorrow when I pick up my Week 2 share, I realize I really should have taken pictures of what I got and what I made!  (Lesson learned, I'll be sure to do it this week.)

So, sans photos - Here is how week one 'looked'

Filling for Enchiladas

• 1 bag of loose leaf lettuce (it made 4 big dinner salads)
• 1 head of red leaf lettuce
• 1 bunch of Russian kale
• 1 large bunch of chives
• 1 bag of spinach
• 1 small bunch of green garlic
• 1 medium 'head?' of pac choi 

From this share we have enjoyed:

• 4 large (Applebee's copycat) oriental chicken style salads (meal size) (2 dinners, and left overs the next day)
• 3 medium lunch sized Greek salads
• Dinner veggie and herb fritatta (Grayson's request!)
• 2 dinners + lunch leftovers for 1 - Korean Vegetable Pancakes (packed full of chives and grilled pac choi)
• Saute of kale, Italian sausage, and gnocchi  (we made a few small changes, but this is a great starting point recipe)(enough for dinner and left overs)

We haven't used thee green garlic yet, but I am thinking it will go on the grill this weekend along side some steaks.

Walk in the Backyard

Top of the hill

Wow - I haven't posted in a long time!  It has been a crazy spring and I havent had a moment to even begin to sit down and write.  In fact, this is going to be quick!  Just a few pictures of our stroll through the backyard at the Hupp House as slowly work at getting things under control.

Path to the Bee Hives

Goat's Beard

We are mostly working on cutting down dead wood, thinning the massive amount of prickly pear, and getting rid of the trash trees that have over taken what were clearly once nice flower beds and groves of trees and wild flowers.  

We are leaving most of the land "natural", so the sea of native grass is being left to seed (in the top picture.)  This has resulted in pretty patches of purple and even occasional odd flowers - like the yellow Goat's Beard, which is actually a biannual.  (Though Gabe picked it before it could seed - so we may not see it again!)

Boys in a Box

Just playing in the box...

New Bees - hard at work!

Doug's bees arrived a few weeks ago and he got them set up in two hives behind the Hupp House.  Now he is obsessively checking them to make sure they are OK and working to their potential.  One hive seems pretty laid back, while the other is apparently a "mad hive" and really aggressive every time he goes in.  

Both hives are laying new combs and making new bees - so it looks good so far.  The brand new combs are the lightest color ones.

Bees Hard at Work!!