Everyday Life for Four Seasons

When we rejoined our CSA this year, I made a promise to myself to try everything we received. We did, with the exception of the fennel and the cauliflower (it took me so long to be in the mood for both of those vegetables, and by the time I was in the mood, they were past their prime, bigtime). Last week we got celeriac. In the past, we threw it out. Not this year! Tonight I braised it with turnips, onions and sweet potatoes (all from the farm). It wasn't bad. I'm not a fan of celery or the celery flavor, so it's not something I would seek out, but I will use it if it's given to me again. I can see how it would be good in soup.


This morning we picked apples at a local orchard and we decided to try some new varietals. Wow, apples in New York are just heavenly! We tried and loved Shamrock and Ambrosia apples for eating. Shamrocks are so sweet and all around delightful. We also picked some Macouns, Empires and Pinovas. Pinovas you say? They're spicy and tasted just right in the salad we had with lunch after we got home. All in all we have 5 big bags of apples ready to be turned into snacks, applesauce, muffins and assorted desserts. Yum!


This afternoon 'A' took my camera and shot this one (above) of 'H'.


... some family Candyland before dinner...

and just when we were ready to sit down to eat, our doorbell rang. We've been ghosted! Our neighbor left us a bag of treats with a ghost to hang on our door and a note explaining that we have two days to ghost another neighbor. I'm excited! I get to ghost two neighbors. Hmmm... this gives me something to think about (as if I need something else to think about!).

To follow up on yesterday's post about the yarn, we use yarn for play and for sewing projects, too. 'A' has been experimenting with sewing with yarn. It all started when we visited Old Sturbridge Village a few weeks ago and one of the interpreters told me that girls would start to hand sew when they reached 4 years old. It makes sense to me - at 4, she's able to understand the concept of sewing and she's coordinated enough to do it. Ahhh... 4 year olds, how I love them. They can do so much!

'A's Grandma Shelly knitted a square that she uses with a tapestry needle and a ball of soft yarn. Today, for the first time, she set out to "make a pattern." And she did... she make a nice, big 'A'!



We had the chance to visit the Round Lake Library today to pick up some books I had requested (gems, they are: EcoCraft: Recycle, Recraft, Restyle by Susan Wasinger and Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon). The girls love that library because it's super-cozy (small) and the librarians are so nice and accessible. They like to walk up to the desk and ask for help finding books. Today the librarian took them away to another floor while I waited, and I was so proud of them for wanting the books, asking for help, and going without me to find their treasures.

Do we experiment with yarn? Yeah, we sure do! I took it away after 'H' got it wrapped around her neck. Fun to play with, but only under supervision.

Two weeks left of picking up our vegetables at the farm. I'm savoring the trips there and I don't want it to end. In some ways, it's not like much will change at our house - we'll be getting our produce from Kilpatrick Farm, and if you stop by for dinner at some point this winter I'll serve you local fare just as I would now. But I'll be missing the trips to the farm with the girls. It's become a delicious part of our weekly routine, a trip that is welcomed by all.

I guess the optimist in me should kick in at this point and say, "won't it be exciting to go back next summer and reaquaint ourselves with it all over again?"

Sometimes the optimist "me" moves along too quickly and doesn't take time to savor the bittersweet feelings that mark passages of time.

Invariably our kitchen table becomes a showcase for all that Mother Nature has to offer each season. Right now our display includes green, red and yellow leaves, milk weed pods, and a bowl full of acorns, birch bark and pinecones.

'A' just informed me that I've spent a lot of time at home with her and 'H' and now it's my turn to go to work and Jeff's turn to stay home with them. I bet if he stayed home the house would look like this more often:


Today is sewing day. 'A' wants to be a princess for Halloween and I'm making her a very cute dress to wear. I sat down to start putting it together today and while I worked, the girls worked on their own sewing and cutting projects. 'A' suggested to 'H' that she make a mobile for Aunt Emily's baby (Emily isn't pregnant and probably won't be for a while, but hey, why not plan ahead?), so 'H' got to work on cutting up the paper pieces.

I started the morning with two very grown up girls and I am so proud of them! I heard 'A' get out of bed this morning but didn't see her for a bit. She came downstairs completely dressed in a shirt and skirt and tights that all kind of matched - same color scheme, if not the same pattern. She took it upon herself to get up and get dressed for the day. We sat down to breakfast and in the middle of eating, 'H' got down from her chair (her big kid chair - we got rid of her booster seat over the weekend) and said, "I be right back." A minute later she was in the bathroom, taking care of business all by herself. I was so proud! My approach to potty training her is pretty much "hands off." She has enough role models around, and when she's ready, she'll figure out how it all works.

Today's events are a reminder that my girls are so old and so young all at the same time. I guess that's true of all of us.

This year, to help us deal with the cold winter (and to help me ease into late fall and winter in a better mood....), we've decided to have a pellet stove installed in our home. We currently have forced air heat powered by a gas furnace, and we have a wood fireplace in our family room. The fireplace is situated so that the heat doesn't radiate very far, so unfortunately we don't get as much use out of it as we would like. As far as the forced air heat goes, in order to keep our gas bill at a reasonable level, we have two settings: cold during the day and colder at night. It would be nice to feel warm during the winter, instead of chilled to the bone.

We should have our stove up and running soon, and hopefully then we won't wake up to the sight of this (above) anymore - the room temperature is so low today that it doesn't register on the thermometer. Warmth, come to us soon!

We spent the afternoon at a "new" farm today. Last week at our farmer's market one of the vendors gave out an invitation to visit their farm today. We forgot all about it until this afternoon, and were wavering on whether or not to go (the farm is an hour away). But when we looked on the website (www.kilpatrickfamilyfarm.com) we saw that they offer fall and winter CSA shares with pick-up at the farmer's market and we decided to check them out to see if we would want to join for these next two seasons.


I'm so happy we went. For some reason that is yet unknown to me, I get so much satisfaction from meeting the people who grow the food we eat. They do all the work, all the planning and planting, the coaxing and weeding, the picking and packing. Meet Michael:


He's young, and he started the farm a few years ago with his brother. It's not a multi-generational family operation, which surprised us because the farm is doing well and seems to be older than a few years. He uses all organic farming methods and his ways of coaxing the best out of Mother Nature are impressive.


Organic farmers inevitably get around to showing you their soil...


After we saw the veggies and the bee hives, we went to visit the animals. When Jeff and I saw the movable chicken coop, we instantly recognized it as something modeled after Joel Salatin's Eggmobile. It's a way to move the chickens around the field to give them fresh pasture. The cow (singular), goats and sheep are also moved around the same field. Movable fencing keeps them contained.


All in all, it was a great day.

I have the life I always thought I would have.

Library today. We took home some good books, including a few rhyming storybooks and a few decorating books about fireplace mantels. We've been reading and watching a lot of Madeline lately and 'A' likes how it rhymes, so much so that she is practicing speaking in rhymes, and it's really cute. As for the fireplace books, those are for me, to give me some inspiration for our mantel.

We got a nice big head of napa cabbage at the farm this week so I'm making up an Asian-inspired dinner tonight. Rice noodles with tofu and vegetables, wontons stuffed with cabbage and veggies, and a cabbage, carrot and zucchini salad. Gosh that's a lot of cabbage!

Today is probably one of our last 60 degree days this year. I'm still savoring it... this afternoon the girls enjoyed popsicles and water play outside before coming in (soaking wet) to cut up some puzzles from the empty popsicle box. We've got Lucinda Williams on the radio and Indian food in the works for dinner. Life couldn't be better.


'H' slept in her all-grown-up bed last night for the first time (thank you Grandma and Grandpa again!) and she loves it. She's such a big girl in some ways. And best of all - I don't want to say this too loudly or too proudly because I don't want to jinx it - she's sleeping all night long now. What, you say, she didn't learn to sleep through the night after the infant stage? Sadly, no. This is a child who wakes 2, sometimes 3 times every night. We never let her "self soothe" (a fancy phrase for letting her cry) because she just can't get there on her own. I figured she would eventually start sleeping all night at some point, I just didn't know when. Now I think I know when.

So you can see, life is not only good today, it's extra good. I'm sleeping great after four and a half years of "nighttime parenting".

The girls are watching a movie about Madeline at the Louvre. I am loving it for a few reasons: I have an enormous soft spot for Paris, because I did my year abroad in college there; and because I love art. Now that 'A' is 4 years old, it's time to start her formal art history schooling. We're lucky to have an art gem so close to us - the Hyde Collection - and we'll start there.


Windy today!