so much kale

Our little garden beds have been overflowing with kale for months now. It is pretty much no credit to myself. I have done nothing special or secret, but have simply planted my tiny little heirloom seeds in soil and watched them GROW!

I have preserved a bunch of kale by blanching, chopping and freezing it. This has been so simple and I  know I'll thank myself this fall and winter when I'm dreaming about dinner plans and craving our favorite sausage, kale and potato soup (yes, with lots of cream and spices too!).

But today I took a different approach to putting by our kale... kale chips.

I used this recipe, but there are dozens out there, and it all came together so very easily.

Kale, coconut oil, sea salt and a hot oven. Pretty basic and I even got to use my hands to mix it all together (a true mark of a tasty meal!).

From the garden.

To the mixing bowl.

 Drizzled with coconut oil. Sprinkled with sea salt.

To the baking sheet (I filled three large baking sheets this morning... for now!).

To the bowl.

That simple.

A Morning Full of Cherries

Last night as I prepared for bed, I set my mind on getting up early before the heat of the day set in to visit my favorite orchard for some berry picking. In a perfect world, my children and I would visit the orchard on a weekly basis and pick the fruits that would be enjoyed that week. There would be no need for the 'middle man' (the grocery store) and my kitchen would be a throwback to something out of the 1930s, complete with berry pies cooling on the windowsill, a perfect pantry whose shelves were lined with canned fruits and a cupboard full of sweet homemade jams.

In my current world however, picking fresh fruit every few weeks is the ideal. This summer to date, we have enjoyed picking our way through a sticky sweet stawberry field in June and today we were blessed to have the opportunity to bask in the glory of the 'final pick' of cherries for the season.

Since my middle boys are enjoying some time with there grandparents up north this week, I am 'traveling light' with my bookends, Sophia and Luca, over the next few days. Despite nearly a decade separating these two children, both were cheerful and eager to venture out in the heat of the early day to help their determined and energetic mother pick cherries.

We were given advice from the farmer tending this particular orchard on where to find the trees with with the most abundant fruit and even invited to 'sample' the different varieties of cherries! It seemed we were the only harvesters in the orchard and we reveled in the solitude and privacy of this sweet, rosy world.

In the end we left the fragrant orchard with over six pounds of luscious Bing and Ranier cherries. I secretly felt guilty for having left with the last of the cherries for the summer from this peaceful, fertile little hill, but it didn't stop me from enjoying hand fulls along the ride home.

liquid gold

As the years go by, and my life experience adds up... along with a few simple homesteading skills, my list of items that are considered liquid gold continues to expand!

Tonight I will add beef stock to my already crowded list of breastmilk, maple syrup, coconut oil, cod liver oil and red wine.

After nearly two days of simmering, tonight I added four quarts of rich, velvety homemade beef stock to my freezer to use in the future for soups and stews. It felt a bit odd to be thinking about stock on a steamy August afternoon, but I knew that my efforts would not be in vain.

It seems that every so often I am encouraged to revisit our nutrition philosophies and recommit to looking at the big picture when it comes to feeding our family. Pondering the never-ending surplus of sugar and flour at literally every turn. Feeling guilt-ridden about the over-indulgence of desserts had by my children this summer. Thinking about nourishing meals that do not require ceaseless snacking in between.

These realizations have been the catalyst needed to stay the course and get back in to the rhythm of making good, deliberate choices about what, where and how we are eating together as a family. Being sure to tend my garden even when I don't feel like getting out in the heat, lining up my children once again for that spoonful of cod liver oil, saying no to the endless requests for sweets and treats even if it is met with tears and sulking!

What is going on in your kitchen these days?
What do you consider to be liquid gold!?

kale harvest

It has been raining here all day and soup is on the menu for dinner tonight. Tasting our first kale tonight from our garden in one of my favorite soup recipes- sausage, kale and potato soup (with plenty of cream and herbs). A welcome bit of weather to cool down our house so we can eat something warm and comforting in the middle of this super hot summer here!

summer begins

Yesterday marked the last day of 'formal academics' for my children and the beginning of a very sunny, wet and tasty 'summer vacation'.

We had the pleasure of being hosted by some new friends as guests for lunch and had a chance to experience the pleasure of watching some new ducklings settle into their new home. They are just as fluffy and yellow as I have imagined them to be!

The children picked some fresh sorrel from to garden to add to our potato and bacon soup. The lemony sorrel went so perfectly with the smoky bacon and comforting potatoes... certainly left us all feeling satisfied. With freshly baked sourdough bread and some slices cheese on the side it made an amazingly delicious meal.

We were able to take home some books to borrow as well. Summer reading is such an exciting prospect to me. I'm not sure that my children feel as enthusiastically about it as I do, but nevertheless there is some amazing, rich, inspiring reading material to keep us occupied over the next few weeks.

Today, Luca and I went to the farmers market and left with some delicious and nourishing items. One item did not quite make it out of the market... Luca devoured the ham, cheese and sundried tomato pastry on the spot!


We then headed spontaneously to a local strawberry field and picked our first quart of strawberries this summer. I gave the 'baby' berried to Luca to eat and kept the best berries to take home. We both left satisfied.

Summer indeed is upon us!

opening day

Last Sunday was the opening day of our favorite summer farmers market. There are no words to describe how excited I get over the opportunity to see, smell, taste and purchase fresh, locally grown and made foods!

In addition to fruits, vegetables, meats, farmstead cheese, pies, cookies, tarts, pasta sauce, brick oven pizza, kettle corn, maple syrup, honey, and ethnic foods, there are also many artisans selling jewelry, knit items, paintings and yarn.
It is certainly one of my favorite events of the week and I just love 'eating my way through' the market!

six months

Luca is six months old now. So much has changed over the last few months. Our baby is thriving to say the least. I am enjoying each and every day because I finally have the proper perspective on infancy and know that these days go by so very fast.


Luca is crawling. He is sitting. He has two teeth and is currently working on a few more. Our baby loves to keep up with his older siblings during the day and stay close by his mama at night tucked safely under her 'wing'. He naps well during the day yet despises his crib at night. He endured his first cut tonight after toppling over into the corner wall in our kitchen.

He is eating a bit of food. So far he has enjoyed bananas, raspberries, apples, pears and oranges. Also eggs, avacado with olive oil and sea salt and a bit of mashed bean. Then there was the dot of sauteed spinach and onion, the pleasure of sucking on a cucumber with sea salt, the gobs of baked sweet potato with pastured butter and the bits of sharp cheddar cheese tonight while we all ate our black bean and chicken chili.

Oh, and he sips water very successfully from a small glass after his 'meals'.

As you can see I am not following a typical 'intro to solids' diet with our baby that starts with rice cereal and then leads into fruits, vegetables and eventually proteins. I am feeling really confident that as long as he is eating whole foods that he will continue to thrive.

I have been careful to follow his lead and to feed more when he 'asks' and to stop when he turns his head or keeps his mouth closed. None of this 'just one more bite' stuff. My goal is not to fill his belly so that he will sleep longer at night. Nor is it to make the steady climb to the eventual eats-more-food-than-he-nurses stage so that I will have a bit more freedom during this stage. My purpose is to continue nourishing him as his needs change and grow so that he can become all that he needs to be.

This week I plan on starting him on cod liver oil and really focusing on some good proteins like egg yolk, some (really local) venison and his first taste of turkey this Thursday.

With that said, I think that this will make an excellent Christmas gift for our baby!

pesto

So we made the pesto sauce last Saturday after gathering our ingredients during the previous days. I used the recipe found in The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. This is one of the best cookbooks and food guides to follow for anyone who is serious about eating whole, natural, simple, locally-grown, seasonal, fresh foods. I really hope to someday be able to have the experience of dining at her restaurant- Chez Panisse and really would love to create an Edible Schoolyard of my own someday here at home.

Here is Alice Waters' recipe...

Pesto 1 bunch basil, to yield about 1 lightly packed cup 1 garlic clove, peeled salt 1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

I used raw pine nuts instead of lightly toasted and pecorino romano cheese instead of Parmesan. I also used some amazing olive oil that I bought at a food co-op nearby that was poured fresh out a big vat of golden olive oil stamped 'from GREECE'. This had to have made a difference in the taste. It was so, so good and didn't taste anything like the bottled oil from the supermarket.

Lately I have had a pair of four-year old hands that have been very eager to help out in the kitchen. Saturday was no exception. He thought that just in case there were some who wouldn't like the pesto sauce that he would prepare a bowl of pasta with just butter and romano. I wonder just who he could have been referring to.

It was a very simple meal served with loads of cherry tomatoes from my sister's garden. Sometimes I wonder why the dinner hour can be so intimidating when meal time can really be so very simple.






After all, simple food is an art and in my opinion one that is often sadly lost in the midst of a culture of fast food and complicated recipes.

Yet another area of life to simplify!

real food

As a lifelong learner and seeker of the best ideas and principles of nutrition, parenting, nurturing and family life, I feel that I have found one of those nuggets of gold in the realm of health, feeding babies and children and pregnancy as of late.

Mike and I found Underground Wellness last year and have spent many a night listening to the interviews on this program after hours (meaning, after the children are asleep). We don't have television service and just love a form of media that actually enhances your life rather than robs you of precious time and creativity!

This week featured Nina Planck, author of Real Food and Real Food for Mother and Baby. The interview was amazingly informative, to the point and really brought the truth to light about what we are to feed ourselves as we are preparing to conceive a child, while we are pregnant and what to feed mother and baby after the birth and during breastfeeding.

Nina pretty much follows the principles and findings of Weston Price. If you are at all familiar with this amazing man than you know that his advice is pretty much contrary to what you are going to hear from your OB or mainstream dietetics.

The interview touches on...

• good nutrition during the three trimesters

• exposes the myth of eating low-fat and vegetarian/vegan lifestyles
  

• stresses the importance of high-quality proteins and fats (especially during pregnancy and more specifically during the third trimester)

• encourages traditional foods, especially fish and butter

• avoiding soy

• how to manage swelling during pregnancy (eat enough protein!)

• and keeping your baby close during the first few months to meet the needs of cluster feedings and establish breastfeeding

Her website also offers handouts on Eating for Two and Baby's First Foods.

It was inspiring to hear this advice to give me that little extra nudge to eat right and care for myself during the third trimester. The end is in sight and I want to do what I can to build this baby to his full potential!

Some daily habits that I have already established during my pregnancy include...

• taking a high quality fish oil supplement daily
• using pastured butter, coconut oil and organic extra virgin olive oil as my fats
• taking a prenatal vitamin derived from whole foods (not synthetic)
• drinking only water and seltzer as beverages (no juice or soda) and some teas and (yes, I'm back to enjoying that morning cup) coffee
  
• avoiding all artificial sweeteners (like the plague!)
• continuing with avoidance of corn syrup, food dyes and MSG
• aiming for 75-100 grams of protein daily
• avoiding refined sugar and grains (to the best of my ability)
• listening to my body's cues about sleep (this may include naps or early bedtimes)

Enjoy the resource! I have posted it on my sidebar for your viewing and listening pleasure!

** I have been getting questions on which prenatal vitamin I take. It is the Raw Prenatal made by Garden of Life.

how a trip to the winter farmers market...

made my weekend complete! Sophia and I headed off to our local winter farmers market this afternoon and came home with a bounty of locally grown, wholesome, beautiful food.

My head is already filled with all of the great uses and recipes that these foods with be used in during the week- chili, pesto pasta, frittata with fresh cheese, roasted rosemary potatoes.

The market was hustling and bustling and filled with every type of vendor from cheesemakers to felted wool artisans and bakers. After strolling around once to taste and see, we took another sweep through and filled our bags with our favorites.

Some of what we brought home today... raw milk from this farm, lemony pesto, dozens of pastured eggs from Araucana chickens, Brigid's Abbey cheese made with raw milk from this cheese shop, grass-fed beef, organic mesclun greens, three grain boule, fingerling potatoes and fresh rosemary.

Sophia also bought a bit of maple sugar candy- her favorite- with this last week's allowance. She is as weak as I am when it comes to sweets and homemade goodness!

Today's lunch was simple and started being dreamed into reality during the ride home from the market- fresh cheese, mesclun and pesto on sliced bread- all from the market, all locally grown.

Could an afternoon get any better?

farmer's market

I must admit that I did not (yet for another year in a row) plant a vegetable garden in my yard. Although in the past, this was because I just couldn't "pull it together" and get the job done, this year was quite deliberate.

We have a rather small backyard and typically every square inch of it is being used to dig up, swim on, make mud puddles in or skip through. The thought of planting a few tender vegetable plants in the midst of all this free play just seemed inconvenient.

But... we still have to eat. And so, I made a conscious decision to forgo the garden and instead opted to support my local farmer's market with the majority of my vegetable, dairy and beef purchases this summer.

Who wouldn't want to visit this wonderful little sunny spot on Saturday mornings? A spot where livestock farmers and berry farmers and bakers and soap makers all share the same wide open space. A spot where you could literally eat your way through as you walk from tent to tent.

I ventured there bravely yesterday morning with not only my three, but my sister's toddler as well. So there I was with four curious and hungry children needing enough tomatoes, milk, rhubarb and ground beef (this is the only place where I've yet to find local, grass-fed beef) to meet our needs for the upcoming week.

With the help of several gooey caramel pecan cinnamon buns I was able to fill my list and even managed to avoid any major unhappy moments on the part of the children.

It was an ideal Saturday morning (can you hear me sighing?).

strawberry bliss

Today is the first (official) day of summer!

And although our "summer" is already in full swing, it is always exciting to look a season from the start and imagine all the adventures that lie ahead.
The kids and I decided that we would start off the season with a morning of strawberry picking at a local farm. Every time we go picking it is always such a reality check about just how much work it takes to grow the food that we eat.

We had the easy part- picking. But as the sun beat down on our tired, bent-over backs and straw tickled our feet between the rows (this was a huge annoyance for one of my children), we realized just how much energy, time and patience goes into planting, growing, harvesting, storing and preparing food.
Needless to say, much to my disappointment, Sophia and Nicolas decided that they would never want to be farmers (this doesn't mean that their parents can never be though!!!!).

The picking was only part of the experience. We got straight to jam making as soon as we arrived home. We kept it simple and made freezer jam so that the kids could help out at each stage- washing, mashing, mixing, pouring and let's not forget, the most important step... tasting!

I have a dream of having a fully stocked pantry and freezer with all homemade food items. This is one tiny step into that direction of that enormously large dream.



**If you're interested in learning more about the extraordinary endeavor of growing, harvesting and living off of that food only, look into Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. This has been my favorite spring book and currently my favorite summer book also!!**

ripe

We spent the morning at a local berry farm picking blueberries that were SO ripe they practically dropped into your palm! Of course, more blueberries made their way into the mouths of the three smaller pickers that were in tow than did into their pails!

The scene was reminiscent of a story told in one of our favorite books, Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey.

“Little Sal picked three berries and dropped them in her little tin pail… kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk! She picked three more berries and ate them.”



Elias enjoyed his first time berry picking and actually seemed more interested in the bushes themselves than in eating the blueberries. Sophia got hot and found shade under a blueberry bush. And Nicolas was by my side really making a good effort to pick nice, big, blue blueberries. He was really my only “helper”!

I think we’ll make a blueberry pie with some of the berries. I made a blueberry crumb pie for the Fourth of July and it was a big hit. This time I’ll add vanilla ice cream on the side.

As for using up the rest of the berries… that won’t be a problem. I can already see the bottom of my crate after the kids devoured them this morning and then again this afternoon! I will never refuse a child who is asking for fruit!