more peas, please!

we have our first harvest! my snow peas that i planted much too late have produced! i am this way. i wait too long to sow the plants and then i frantically put the seeds in praying that something will happen. we have been having some bouts of cool weather here and there and i think that this has saved me. or my peas, that is. this picture is of moonpie's little hand picking the peas. she was so excited! buddy found some too and celebrated by pulling up an entire plant and then throwing the peas to the ground saying 'i don't want it'. to vindicate his almost 2 year old self, he went back later and ate them. dirt and all. i now have the challenge set before me of cooking a meal that will consist of exactly 8 snow peas...stir fry it is! (how creative)

funky fresh

tonight we had a dinner made with freshest ingredients possible. every thing we ate was touched by our csa farm. we had arugula pesto pasta with chicken and a salad that was entirely farm grown- lettuce, carrots, and black radishes. watching my little ones spoon wads of arugula into their mouths was just about the best thing i've seen all day! and then clamoring for more salad before bath time- are you kidding me?!? my kids will eat anything that they know comes from the farm. take the black radishes as a prime example. i think the trick to being able to successfully eat all the different kinds of vegetables given to us weekly is to think outside of the box. like arugula pesto, or like yesterday when we made a chocolate cake that contained 2 whole cups of beets! i've coined it 'beet by chocolate' cake, and i must say, it's really good (i'm not much of a chocolate person). my husband and daughter who LOVE chocolate really liked it too. so much so my husband even noted that it didn't even 'taste healthy'. this, by the way, is his way of complementing me. anyway you've got to try this, so on with the recipe:

2 cups cooked beets
1/2 cup applesauce
puree until smooth

1 1/2 cups agave nectar (original calls for sugar)
1/2 cup coconut oil (original doesn't specify which type of oil)
1/2 plain yogurt
3 eggs
combine in a large mixing bowl. beat for 2 minutes.

1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
add along with pureed beets; beat another 90 seconds

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (original calls for 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour + 1 cup whole wheat)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
sift into batter, mixing it in with a spoon but stirring only til blended

1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped nuts (stirred in)
pour into greased 9x13 pan. bake in preheated oven at 350' for 40-50 minutes.

that's it! so yummy! i have to add that i don't subscribe to the "hide their veggies" train of thought that is sweeping the nation. i believe a vital part of child raising is honesty. how do i raise vegetable eaters if i hide their veggies? moonpie was right alongside me for the entire process. she poured the beets in as though they were the eggs or flour. and she proudly called everyone she knew to tell them she was eating chocolate cake- with beets in it! (her uncle coco informed her that his friend ate a chocolate cake with tomatoes in it...she hasn't quite bought into that one yet.) oh yeah- this recipe is a slightly adapted version of 'surprise chocolate cake' found in 'simply in season' by mary beth lind and cathleen hockman-wert. this is a great cookbook (that belongs to amy! hope i don't accidentally keep it : ) )

CSA Day!

today was the first day of this season's csa pick-up! i'm such a fresh food nerd! i had been looking forward to today all month. we got arugula, lettuce, radishes, beets, and my favorite, carrots. they then let us go into the field and pick strawberries! buddy couldn't get enough! he was picking one after another and had juice streaming down his beautiful little face. moonpie found the carrots a row over to share with her brother. my farmer friend amy and i were talking about the joy of sharing fresh vegetables with our kids. how their early introduction to them allows them to really taste the sweetness. they're not polluted with all the refined salt and sugar yet that overpowers natural flavors. i am blessed to live in a community with so much local food all around us (we picked up raw milk and butter from a nearby dairy farmer too). the ability to share fresh food with others exemplifies the meaning of community to me.

check out my csa http://www.homesweetfarm.com/ or http://www.homesweetfarm.blogspot.com/

the flock thickens

The chicks are getting big. They are in the awkward tween stage right now. The turkens are more ugly than awkward, but the bantams continue to be perfectly beautiful. Thankfully they are outside enjoying sunshine and bugs. The funny thing about being in the city limits and on a very busy corner is the comments we get about our funny looking chicken coop and the legality of owning chickens in the city. Where we live we can have 20 birds! For the most part the chicks are doing well, however the weak link has been discovered. When I was out yesterday feeding I noticed one getting a lot of agressive 'attention' from the others. When he turned around I saw that his tail was covered in blood- and missing. We quickly separated him from the flock and set up a little chicken efficiency for him on the porch. It was so sad to me to see the brutality of these tiny creatures. They were relentless. What has been most interesting though is that he wants back in the coop with the other feather eating felons! The hard lesson for me is not viewing these creatures as pets. They are for food. Being a city-raised girl, I have never owned an animal for the sole purpose of it providing food. These lessons are going to be harder to learn than I originally thought.

sidenote: check out john's blog (link down below) to see the incredible tree house he built the kids.

such a lovely day...

Such a lovely day. We spent the morning out at "a day in the country". Moonpie got to ride a horse, sit on a longhorn and hold a bunny. Buddy thought about holding a bunny, but was more excited about riding a tractor. Now we are back home working in the micro-farm. It was D-day for some of my carrots. They are coming in, just too close together. I hate having to thin. I know the necessity in it, but come on- it's like Sophie's choice out there! Which to pull? Which to let flourish? After being the destroyer, I put some tomatoes in that my dad gave me a few days ago to balance things out. They were grown from seed by the dad of a childhood friend. He gave me 6 plants- all the same variety. In my small space I don't think I can do all six, but they are special...maybe I can pass them on to a neighbor. Joining a CSA last year has made me sentimental about plants. The effort and care that goes into each one makes our meals very meaningful. I have a link to localharvest below. Check it out and see if there is any local produce near you- it will fill up your belly and make your heart sing.

Check out the picture of Moonpie up there watering the mystery squash. This is the perfect picture of how not to compost. Yeah, the best indicator that you are not turning the pile enough is when plants start to grow in it. And then, as the above commentary reveals, I don't want to pull up the plant- so I don't. I'll just start a new compost pile...