blue, blue berries: two recipes

We ended last week by completing our last class of summer swim lessons on Friday and by celebrating with a trip to our favorite orchard for some blueberry picking.

Nothing says well done like giving children the chance to be pulled by tractor to the top of a steep hill covered with blueberry bushes for as far as the eye can see and turned loose to frolic, pick and eat until everyone's mouths and fingertips are stained the bluest of blues.

There are only a few things one needs to make for a successful blueberry picking experience:
A large tractor to tow you up the hill to reach the best bushes. Sunglasses and/or hats to keep the sun from blinding you while you try to choose the plumpest, darkest-blue blueberries. Sturdy pails attached by rope to even the youngest berry picker's neck. A small pocket to hold car keys. A camera ready at any given moment to capture little blueberry picking moments. A little room in your belly for eating berries straight from the bush. Good company.

All of the above were experienced in abundance on Friday afternoon.

There is one other must when it comes to blueberry picking: a good plan to use up all the blueberries you spent the afternoon picking. We picked nearly twelve pounds. We needed more than one plan!

Here are my two favorite ways to use blueberries. I cannot tell you how many times I have made both of these recipes and the results are great every time.

****************************************************************

Blueberry Pancakes

1 cup flour
2 t baking powder
1 T sugar
1 T coconut oil (melted)
1 egg
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Mix dry ingredients in bowl and whisk together. Add melted coconut oil, egg and milk and whisk by hand until well blended. Allow to sit for 2-3 minutes. Spoon batter onto hot griddle that has been greased with coconut oil. When bubbles appear, drops blueberries one-by-one onto each pancakes and allow to set for another minute. Flip pancake and cook other side. Add butter and maple syrup.

Enjoy large amounts of these with your children and spouse. Be sure to make children say please before asking for another pancake. The gluttony needs to at least be set off with some really good manners.

************************************************************

Blueberry Crisp

1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/2 butter, softened
4 cups blueberries
pinch of cornstarch

Mix brown sugar, flour, oats, spices and butter until well-blended and crumbly. Add blueberries to baking dish and sprinkle with cornstarch. Mix a bit. Add topping by crumbling until every square inch of berry is covered by crisp topping.

Bake at 375' for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy with real vanilla ice cream. Be sure to place napkin on lap and avoid wearing white while eating this dessert. Those blueberries do stain and who has time for stain removal when there are so many blueberries to be eaten?

********************************************************************************

fruits of our labor

For those of you not living in New England, I'm sure you've heard by now that the weather has been a bit unseasonable around here for the last month or so. It's like a dark cloud of gloom filled with booming thunder and chilly rain has settled above us and get its kicks by floating right over our neighborhood, town and state right at about the time when our children are getting their sandals on to go play outside. The meaning of the phrase raining on your parade has been deeply understood around here lately.

It's been a bit dissapointing to realize that June, my all-time favorite month of the year, was literally and figuratively a wash this year. Even Nicolas, our newly-turned six year old, has expressed his thoughts on this bizarre stretch of cloudy, wet weather recently:

Nicolas: "Mom, why has it been raining so much lately?"
All-Wise Mother (Me): "I don't know Nicolas, that's just the what we've been sent these days."
Nicolas: "What? Does God think I'm a vampire or something (a statement made in regards to the dark, gloomy weather)!!

But I have moved on and am loving this new phase of sun and warmth that we have been given. It feels so good to have my face in the sun. So in honor of the sun's return, I wanted to post a little garden update. I think that our humble little raised beds have fared rather well despite the lack of sun and the overabundance of rain. Here is a little before-and-after look:

before: seeds planted, vegetables being mapped out and lots of fingers getting crossed

after: lots of green, healthy plants and an overwhelming sigh of relief

side note: so much more lettuce and baby greens than we ever expected which translates into daily salads and lots of lettuce for stuffing into summer sandwiches!

I'm happy with our little garden and so proud of all of the hard work and patience that went into our little edible backyard project. The fruit of our labor has been very tasty and satisfying.

six

We have had nothing but celebrations going on around here for the last several days. You see, this is the sort of thing that happens when one of your children turns SIX YEARS OLD!

Nicolas asked for a friend party this year in addition to our traditional family party. I was happy to oblige and when I asked him what theme he wanted (my kids know better than to name any commercialized movie, character or figure when asked about themes, call me mean if you will), he simply stated that he wanted a boys-will-be-boys party complete with mud, water, dirt-n-worms cake, tug-o-war, goody bags and lots of mud (did I mention that element already?).

And although the weather did not allow for as much outdoor time as we all would have liked, there were brief and momentary dry spots and dollops of sunshine that allowed these boys enough time to run, jump and tug their way through the yard in an effort to express their boyhood.

Needless to say, I loved every minute of it.

Nicolas has been blessed with some incredibly loyal and loving friends, all of whom I feel comfortable acting as mother-substitute during their two-hour long drop off party time. I love how each boy has their own unique likes and dislikes, their own way of expressing their friendship to my son and how they all came together as a group to play together peacefully during their time at our home.

Here's to all of Nicolas' friends and of course, to our darling six year old son..

homemade deodorant: check it off my list

So maybe not everyone would be as excited as I am to say that I have made my own deodorant. It's been on my mind for months now every since I read this post over at Angry Chicken. I knew that I just had to try my hand at melting shea and cocoa butters and mixing in some amazing essential oils to create my very own, aluminum-free, perfume-free underarm cream.

I took Amy's advice and held a I'm Not a Dirty Hippie Party and split the supplies with a friend. It has to be a good friend. You can't just invite anyone over to make jars of cream that you know full well will be used on your underarms. Plus, since the jars apparently last for months, you will be smelling exactly like your friend well into the Fall.

We had a lovely afternoon mixing and measuring while our five children ran around enjoying the cool breeze of yet another cloudy June day. The process was simple and involved lots of melting, stirring and sniffing (a highly scientific process that is used to gauge the perfect ratio of essential oils to butters). In the end, it was a perfect mixture of grapefruit, lavender and peppermint that gave our deodorant it's signature quality (this is my favorite blend of essential oils and I have been using it since last year to make my own room spray).

Today was day one of using my homemade deodorant and so far, so good. I will be sure to keep you all posted as to how it is holding up in a few weeks. That is for those of you who care enough to read about my thrilling experience with my homemade deodorant.

just me and my boys

I'm still softly singing all of the great songs that we had the chance to hear in person at the Elizabeth Mitchell show on Saturday. And still vividly remembering the original sketches, paintings and artwork of Eric Carle and Virginia Lee Burton that we got to see firsthand in the art galleries. And absolutely loving our I Am Your Little Bird t-shirts that we bought this past Saturday at the Eric Carle Museum.

It turned out to be a day with just me and my boys. I honestly think that I can count on one hand the times when it has been just me and my boys. It was really simple and sweet.

The day's events were in honor of Eric Carle's 80th birthday and The Very Hungry Caterpillar book's 40th anniversary. We had a chance to enjoy a little bit of this and a little bit of that and loved every minute of our time spent there.

Some highlights included The Very Hungry Caterpillar parade (complete with food models from the book on sticks- Nicolas really wanted to carry the pickle, but never had the chance to!!), a costume corner to dress-up where the boys had a chance to don some fabulous costumes and transform into Robin Hood and a knight, an opportunity to climb a few trees, a chance to have their faces transformed into animals with a little face paint and (have I mentioned this part yet?) a chance to hear Elizabeth Mitchell and her lovely band play and meet with her afterward for a little chat and photo.

The day turned out to be just how I imagined it to be- full of music, art and time spent with my boys. I'm so glad that I brought my camera...

a bit of art and folk music to start the summer off

It's Saturday. It's finally not raining outside. We have finished up our year of (formal) homeschooling and there are five people in this house who are ready for summer vacation and all that it holds.

First on the list? We are off to spend the day here for a bit of art, folk music and story time. I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I am to see Elizabeth Mitchell in person. Her music is sweet and folksy and it has been one of the soundtracks to our daily lives.

I promise to be back with photos and hopefully a story or two!

thirty-two

I am one of those rare adults who actually adores celebrating and being remembered on my birthday. And no matter what decade I am working my way through, this desire to accept, relish and remember the day I was born simply grows stronger.

Today I turned thirty-two. I think that I am just about the luckiest person on earth and believe that I am truly living the life that I envisioned for myself. This reality just about takes my breath away every day and I am humbled and grateful for all that I have been given.

I am truly content.

It seems that with each passing year I grow more comfortable in my own skin, feel more able to accept just who it was that I was created to be and feel the increased freedom and courage needed to let go of those ideals in life which hold no eternal significance or true purpose for me and instead aim to live out each day with deliberation and truth.

Today was an ideal day- an impromptu trip to the ocean for a day spent in warm sand, salty water and revitalizing ocean air with my favorite four people. We literally brought a ball to play with and the rest of the day was spent enjoying the elements and all of the gorgeous natural surroundings that the beach has to offer.

Could life get any better than this?

Needless to say, it was just about the most perfect way to spend celebrating the beginning of my thirty-second year on this earth.