Independence Days - Rain, rain, go away

Oh my, it has been raining and raining and raining here. We've had almost 3.5 inches of rain in the last 4 days. An inch here, an inch there, half an inch the next time around. And they're forecasting more rain for the rest of the week. Ugh. The garden is so muddy I can't get in. At least I've got some straw down in a few of the rows since I'm going to have peas to pick very soon. I just hope that the beans I finally got planted will sprout and not rot in the ground.

But, it's Monday and that means it's time for my usual Independence Days update.

1. Plant something- Three types of beans (green, purple and yellow wax) and a few more sunflowers. Got the supports around the tomatoes and got half of them mulched with newspapers and grass clippings. I hope the other half will be OK. I'm worried about blight again this year and am hoping that the mulch will keep the soil from splashing up onto the plants in the rain.

2. Harvest something- Hmm, our HUGE chinese cabbage, broccoli, greens, some herbs, a few early peas eaten out in the garden, a couple of green onions, red currants and STRAWBERRIES! We're getting no more than half a dozen at a time but they are so tasty!!

3. Preserve something- Nope.

4. Waste not- Working to eat through all the produce starting to come in. The usual four R's. One area where we had a downfall this week was on driving. Our trip to Minneapolis and back used more gas than we usually do in three weeks. It is kind of funny. We drove up, stayed for an hour and drove back. Sheesh. Next time we will stay longer though.

5. Want not- Hmm, picked up a barrel at the cheese factory and stopped at the Amish bulk store to stock up on whole wheat flour, couscous, chickpeas and a few other items. Even though I hate to buy packaged food, we have picked up several 12 packs of ramen noodles when they had them on a really good sale this week ($2 for 12 pks). I13 likes to cook ramens and veggies for lunch and it is something that he can and will cook unsupervised. I also used a pack to make a crunchy mix-in for an oriental slaw with my chinese cabbage. V really loved it so I'm sure it will find it's way back to our table soon. I've still got half a cabbage in the fridge and two more in the garden!

6. Build Community- not much this week other than stopping at the cheese factory for local cheese and cheese curds and the Amish bulk store. I'm kind of excited though, there is a potluck dinner coming up on Saturday sponsored by Backyard Abundance- they're calling it "Cultivating Community". It's being hosted by one of the women from my permaculture class. It will be nice to get back with that group of people.

7. Eat the food- Let's see- a fabulous oriental inspired cabbage slaw (shredded chinese cabbage, sesame oil, soy sauce, cider vinegar with a topping of toasted crushed ramens, slivered almonds and sesame seeds), local beef from the freezer, Spanish rice with our own tomatoes, Mmm.

Now, I'm feeling the need to call my baby girl to see how her first day of school went far away from home.