KinderCooking and much more

I'm going to need a vacation to recover from my vacation. I've worked hard these past two days- and so have the children (and V, I guess).

Look! Our first Litchi Tomatoes!!!

The Goth Garden produces!

The boys play on our remaining dirt pile.

We requested that they leave us a pile of dirt to use as fill around the property.

They also left us some gravel.

V gives a whole new meaning to "Iowa Dirt Farmer"

He is using the mower to break up the clods of clay to smooth the surface.

Weird but ingenious.

See my little shrubs in the background? Manchurian Apricots and bush cherries.

J16 has also been busy. Remember that I mentioned that we got a bunch of old folding chairs from my parents. She has been busy repainting a few.

From this...

... to this. Oh, the joy of spray paint.

Me, I've been busy planting my shrubs that have been languishing in pots since this spring, waiting for the septic installation. Yesterday I canned tomatoes. I lost quite a few that had split with the big rain and didn't get picked soon enough to be salvageable.

Tomatoes Galore!!

The children decided this one looks like Super Mario.

Not at all related to gardening. This is my indulgence from vacation.

A handmade pie plate from Silver Dollar City.

I haven't used it yet.

But, I spent lots of time in the kitchen, creating other yummy food. This week (August 1-7) is the Eat Local Challenge sponsored by our local Food Coop. The challenge is to have 80% of your food from local sources this week. We are only kind of participating since we were gone for 4 days. But we ate well while we were gone (except for lunches) as well as since we've been home. Yesterday it was homemade Baba Ganoush, cucumbers with local yogurt, pita bread (local source), fresh tomatoes from the garden and falafel.

Roasted eggplant from the garden for baba ganoush.

With local garlic and Tahini made in Missouri (fairly local)

J16 works to saute peppers and onions from the garden.

This evening we had burritos with local tortillas (West Liberty) and grass fed beef. J16 is using one of her new purchases. Since she will be a Junior in High School this fall, she is thinking ahead to college and announced a few weeks ago that she wants cast iron pans to take with her when she heads out on her own. We purchased some today from a local store while we were out getting school supplies. They will be included in the mix with my pans and used in the kitchen so they will get seasoned over the next two years. She is now the proud owner of two Lodge skillets- a 5 and a 10 inch.

We even had a local beer to go with dinner tonight.

Red Rambler Ale from Peace Tree Brewery, Knoxville, IA

Both J16 and I13 have been busy in the kitchen. I13 will be cooking tomorrow evening- with fresh local ingredients. And, I'll probably be doing something more with tomatoes... this time of year it never ends. I really want to make dill pickles but no one's dill seems to be doing well this year (mine was a bust as was Mom's). Maybe I can find some at the farmer's market. tomorrow.