I love arugula! Seriously. I think it is the most desirable thing growing in our garden. This morning I took a little taste of one of the leaves, and was very pleased. I can’t wait for wilted arugula!
Here is a picture of one of the tomato plants with a backdrop of the delicious arugula and kale! Can you tell I love leafy greens?
As Spring has sprung, food has been on my mind quite often. With gardens popping up everywhere–including our yard–and with the Farmers Market opening day fast approaching, I can’t help but let food consume my thoughts. In our garden we have all the early spring stuff already planted–broccoli, carrots, spinach, arugula, kale, cauliflower, beans, peas, onions, and lettuce–and tonight we will add in some tomato and red pepper starts around the border. I. can’t. wait. for. tomatoes. seriously. Last night my lovely grandmother, who gardened most of her life, gave me a lot of things to make our gardening endeavor quite inexpensive. Thank you, Grandma! I’ve now got everything I need to can all of our produce at the end of the season, except the know how. So, learning about canning is something on my list of things to do this summer.
More food references: watching Food Inc. on PBS last night. Wow. I knew about the crazy industry treating animals in ways I can hardly think about without tearing up, but seeing this film and being reminded of it was something I was in need of. Seeing these poor animals and farmers being brought into this horrible machine of get-the-most-food-by-any-means-necessary-for-big-profit totally sickens me. And seriously, I want to cry thinking about it. So, I try not to, but I do act on my feelings. We already have cut meat out of our household, but we do eat it when we are out. Now? After watching this film and seeing not only the horrible treatment of the animals, but these messed up, money hungry, and also GIGANTIC companies running the “food show”, I really want no part of it. I want nothing to do with a company that treats animals this way. I want nothing to do with a company that treats their employees this way. (I’m referring to the companies rallying Mexican immigrants to the U.S. to work for them, and then turning a blind eye when these fine folks are getting arrested for illegally being in our country! Infuriating!) And, I really want nothing to do with a company selling this crap they call “food” to consumers. So? No meat for me. I don’t even want to buy anything in a box after seeing this movie! Veggies all around for me!
Oh, and one more thing! Check out the Eating Locally page I added to another website I write for with great ways to eat local and organic food. (For the Lafayette/West Lafayette folk, of course!)
John and I just got back from the local screening of No Impact Man. The main idea of it was something we, of course, have pondered before. We, as a family, are becoming increasingly more conscious of our impact on the environment. It’s nice to watch movies like this one to light the fire for inspiration to keep moving forward with our goals. John and I both liked the fact that the family doing this “no impact for a year” project had a well thought out plan for things to eliminate from their lifestyle. They also took into account that giving up all these normal daily conveniences was going to be hard, to say the least. So, the family went through cycles of elimination. They started with letting go of a few things, left some time to get used to the lack of whatever it was, and then moved onto the next goal on the list. This is something we plan to do. We’ve already made strides to begin this, but I think that now we are going to be a bit more aggressive with making these changes for our family. I have a brief list of ideas that John will most likely add to and organize for us later. But, the idea is to look all of the ways we could lessen our impact, and then slowly work towards checking off all items on the list. Some things may work out, somethings may lead to even bigger goals. Who knows where we will end with this, but I am really excited to be more proactive about limiting our impact on the environment. So, here is the list I have so far:
1. Reduce Waste
2. Less Electricity Use
3. Store Rain Water
4. Catch water in sinks and use for clothes washing and toilets
5. Buy only used clothing (Not very hard for thrifters like us!) or any other necessity
6. Can or Freeze vegetables from garden
7. Ride our bikes more often
8. Make safe household cleaners/personal hygeine products
Hey y’all, my slings are now being sold at Blue Monday! Go check out their Etsy shop or their brick & mortar downtown on Main Street. They have lovely stuff made from crafters all over Lafayette.
This is what happens to little boys that skip their naps. Check out this guy fading into black bean induced sleep.
Spring is here and I made laundry soap! Yep, I’ve decided to go ahead and make my own laundry soap and household cleaners. I’ve known for a long time that it would be simple and affordable, but have just now made the effort to actually do it. Last week I attended a Permaculture meeting and left feeling completely inspired. Inspired enough to start making some changes to the way we do things around our house. So, we are taking small steps here and there to be less wasteful and more conscious of our impact on the environment. One step is the soap. I looked up an eco-friendly recipe online that seemed simple, and I went for it!
Ingredients:
Boom! Done.
Grating a bar of soap
Adding baking soda
Finished!
And, from the one load I’ve done with this soap, it seems to do a good job. I’ll have to report later on my first load of dirty diapers. That will be a true experiment!
Other things we are doing is starting a vegetable garden. My Step-Dad and Mom came over the other day and helped us till up our new garden area. It was so nice of them to come help! My Mom also brought over some ferns to help fill in our empty flower beds. Each year the beds get fuller and prettier, and I think this year after the ferns and hostas bloom, it’s going to be gorgeous! Anyway, back to the garden! It’s a fairly small garden (18′ x 10′), but it’s what fits in the area we chose. Yesterday, I was able to get all the rows made and the seeds and starts planted! I made the mistake of buying WAY too many seeds and starts, so I think we are going to till up another garden on the other side of the house. I still need room for peppers, tomatoes, and other things that aren’t ready to be planted, so another small garden would work out well. I am so excited! I’m learning things here and there about gardening, but really, this is just a big experiment. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot along the way.
the rows!
So, all and any advice would be great! We are doing this as organically as possible, so I’m going to be weeding all summer long. But, that’s fine! I’d rather be out in the yard with my kids anyway!
And next, John is building our compost bin tonight! I’ll post later about this project!
I know you may have already seen this post here, but I need to get anyone and everyone in the area excited about this meeting so they will come! It’s truly going to be a great meeting with tons of information and resources for eating nutritious locally grown food. So, I’ll give you the details one more time … And remember to invite friends and family!
CHOICES Natural Parenting Network is happy to be hosting a presentation about the many benefits of eating a whole, naturally grown and local diet.
Monday April 19th at 5:30pm in the
West Lafayette Public Library
Abby Abbott-Rider from Thistle Byre Farm will be giving an informational presentation on the subject of finding local food and their nutritional value. There will be a resource handout designed to help you find area farms, CSA’s, Farmer’s Markets and Community Gardens.
Please Join us, this is a FREE presentation open to the public!
I can’t tell you how happy I am about the season change! Spring is here and all is well with me. There are flowers everywhere, the weather is warm, and I can wear flip-flops every. single. day.
I’ve been taking lots of pictures, lately. It’s hard to resist with all the beauty around. Here are a few I’m pretty excited about.
Well, The Bloomington Handmade Market was great! I had a lot of fun and would definitely describe it as a success! The amount of people that showed up was amazing and fairly steady throughout the day. The sales were nice, the conversation was nice, the networking among other artists was nice, and the sincere compliments were also very nice. If they’ll have me, I’ll definitely vend at this market again. Loved it!
Thanks to all that came, I hope you enjoyed yourself!
Ok, so I’m going to post one last time about The Bloomington Handmade Market. It’s this Saturday April 3rd from 10am – 4pm. If you like contemporary artwork and/or unique and modern handmade goods, you really should go. Visit their website to get an idea of what you can find there. They’ve been holding interviews with each vendor, so you get a little of a background story on where the artist gets their inspiration and how they got started. My interview is here.
I’m glad I’ve had experience with craft shows, because I feel so much more prepared and relaxed about this one. Last year when I went to the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange (which, by the way, I will be at again this year!! I just got the approval to vend!!) I had no idea what I was getting into. I had most everything I needed, and the show went well, but I think this time things will be really smooth. I’ve been able to get all my sewing done, which is REALLY good because cramming to sew is not fun. I’ve got my tags on all the items, minus the slings. Friday while John is off of work he is going to take the boys out on a bike ride while I iron, tag, and nicely fold all my gorgeous slings! Other than that, everything is packed and ready to go. I don’t really have much to bring, so setting up should take no time at all. We did a practice run of setting up the table in our driveway last night. It looked really good. The neighbors were probably wondering what we were doing, though. Ha!
I hope see some of you there!
