Seven Things Meme

Joyce at tallgrassworship has tagged me for a meme. At least this one doesn't expect me to make something. I'm much too chicken to sign up for those.

Here are the rules:

Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird.

Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog

Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here goes:

1. My first career was as an archaeologist. It was great fun: I traveled all around the state, sleeping in crummy motels, eating bad food but having the opportunity to work with wonderful people and be outside all day playing in the dirt- and get paid for it!

2. I HATE malted milk balls. I never thought I would say that about anything that is covered with chocolate, but there it is. I think it's a texture thing. It's like eating chocolate covered chalk. The only other things I don't eat are hot dogs or bologna. Again, a texture thing- they're too slimy. Other than those 3 things- I'm game for just about anything.

3. My college roommate introduced my husband and I. But first, she warned me about what a horrible person he was.

4. I have been to 49 out of 50 states. Somehow, I have always managed to miss Louisiana. I'm going to have to make a point of going there sometime.

5. I  got lost in the woods with the pastor's son when we were 7 or 8.  We were out hunting mushrooms and got separated from the adults.  We eventually found our way back to civilization by following the sound of cows mooing.  I knew that one our our neighbors had cows and it would lead us close to home. 

6. I have 3 out of 4 of my wisdom teeth (the other was missing). See, I knew I had a big mouth!!

7. Ok, I mentioned this one on Joyce's site. But, I sort and eat my M&M's (and anything else small and colorful) by color before I eat them. And I always eat the colors in the same order. Yellow is always first and red or purple (depending on the candy) is last. I've done this since I was little.

And now, on to the tags.  I realize that not everyone likes participating in memes.  If you don't want to play along, I'm not offended. So now, in no particular order, I tag

Mangochild at Living In A Local Zone

Hickchick at A Small Life

Barb at The Big Red Barn

LisaZ at The Zahn Zone

Gina at Cauldron Ridge Farm

Kris at Quilted Simple

Meadowlark at just wandering through...

She's so talented

My daughter has posted a wonderful poem on her site.  Who knew she was so talented (why, her Mom of course)!!

No great surprise

While browsing the news today on my lunch break I stumbled across this article on CNN.  It seems that 'they' have discovered that happy cows produce more milk. And that the more personal contact that cows have with people, for example, if the farmer knows them and calls them by name, the happier they are.  I really didn't think it would take a bunch of scientists to figure that one out.  But at least now those people who treat their animals well, with a personal touch and with love, will have some vindication.  More evidence for me to be careful about my food choices. 

Scary Stuff

I was just reading around and I was reading Robbyn's post about Mercury being found in High Fructose Corn Syrup.  She was citing this article from the Washington Post. It talks about a study where Mercury was found in a frighteningly large percentage of products containing HFCS (something like 1 of 3 products randomly pulled from shelves).   Evidently there is something about the process of making it that contaminates it with Mercury.  I'm not entirely up on the process of making HFCS but I know it is a multi step process.  

This makes me even more determined to eliminate processed foods from our diet. I just need to find a good substitute for granola bars (or learn to make my own).  They are one of the few processed foods that we still buy since they are handy, portable snacks for the children.  I need to look around at ingredient labels and see where else it is hiding (I know it's in the syrup they eat on waffles).  At least I know we eat FAR less HFCS than the average American consumer

SEEDS!!

Mostly peas and beans

My first order of seeds arrived today!  Well, most of it.  They will ship my blue potatoes when it's time to plant them. This is my order from the Vermont Bean Seed Company.  Oddly enough they are based in Wisconsin.   They specialize in beans and have many heritage varieties.  From them I got: Peas (Lincoln), bush beans (green, purple and yellow varieties), Scarlet Runner beans, Christmas Lima beans, Bloody Butcher corn (an heritage variety- can be eaten as sweet corn or allowed to dry for flour) and a blend of hybrid broccoli.  I'm not a fan of hybrids but this is my first time growing broccoli and this is a mix of early, mid and late season varieties so it will keep producing over a period of time without replanting.

They also included 3 packets of free seeds.  They are 'experimental' varieties.  I guess they are ones they are trying out to see if they want to carry them- Other than having sweet corn, peas and green bush beans I have no idea what they are. But FREE is always OK in my book.

Experimental seeds!

I also got an email that another of my orders shipped today so it should be arriving soon as well.  It is the one with my heirloom peppers and eggplant seeds.  It also has another variety of potatoes (fingerlings) that won't ship until it's time to plant them. 

While I waited for I11 to have his teeth pulled I sat with my calendar and planned my planting dates for things.  I think I've finally gotten it worked out.  I'm a bit confused with the broccoli, though.  I've been doing my research and can't figure out if it's better to start the seeds inside and transplant, or to direct sow.  Somewhere I read that the yields are better if you direct sow and that the plants are hardier.  But it seems to me that transplanting would allow a better jump on the season.  I don't know: like I said, broccoli is a new experience for me.  But it is something that we eat a lot of (the children all love it) so I thought I'd better figure it out and try to freeze some.  We're also planting more peas this year.  I usually just plant enough for us to eat fresh while they last. This year I hope to store some.  The same thing with green beans.

We got the Bloody Butcher corn because V wants to plant several hills of 'Three Sisters' to see how it works.  We plan to use the Christmas Limas for that as well, as they are climbers.  I will probably plant butternut seeds that I saved for the third sister.  Supposedly the symbiosis of the three works quite well.  We've got enough room to try it.  If it worked for the Native Americans it should work for us.  

This will be a corn year in the field across from the garden- so I won't plan to try to save seeds from the corn (it's not an open pollinated variety) but at least we won't have to contend with as many bean beetles. When it is a field of soybeans they are fierce in the garden and hard to manage.  And we occasionally get overspray from the herbicide (they plant Round-up ready beans- GRRR!!) when it's beans.  Corn isn't as bad- they don't spray it.

I'm still waiting to hear from or receive my order from Totally Tomatoes.  They are the tomato equivalent of Vermont beans and I'm getting lots of heirloom tomatoes (open pollinated) and I plan to save seeds from them.

Oh, I can't wait till Spring!!!

Weekly meal plan

We've been planning out our meals for the week for a while now.  I know V in his article last week made it sound like it's a new thing but it isn't.  It's been going on for over a year.  It started out of desperation. With both of us working it was too tiring to come home and decide what to have for dinner.  We would never have anything thawed and ended up going to the grocery store multiple times a week.  I finally got fed up with it.  We took a dry erase board with magnets on the back that had been floating around and turned it into the menu board.  I sit down each weekend- usually Saturday, and plan out the weeks evening meals.  I generally take stock of what we have on hand, what needs used and what we have going on.  Certain nights need quick fixes because we have places to be (Tuesdays) and some nights can take longer because we don't eat until later (Mondays).  Here is this week's plan:

Monday- Meatless Monday- Veggie stir fry with tofu over rice- Happy New Year of the Ox!

Tuesday- Chili and cornbread (I11 can have chicken soup due to oral surgery earlier in the day)

Wednesday- Couscous with chicken and veggies (We use chicken sparingly- just to add flavor)

Thursday- Kniep (a family recipe- basically broth with egg dumplings in it)

Friday- Homemade pizza

By planning ahead I know what I need to get out to thaw or other prep work I need to do in advance.  For example, I put beans on to soak this morning before I left for work so I can par cook them tonight ready for the crockpot for chili tomorrow.  I can also plan to use leftovers later in the week as a new incarnation.  

My sanity is in much firmer a grasp since we started planning ahead.  It also saves me having to answer 'WHAT'S FOR DINNER?' 4 times each day (one for V and one for each child)!

Independence Days- week 8

Whew!  What a week.  Things have been a bit crazy around here.  Monday was a holiday but was probably busier than it would have been if I had been at work.  A co-worker left on vacation for a week and a half so I have been covering for her as well as doing my own work.  Today ended up being very strange.  I had planned to take the boys to get hair cuts but was distracted by our friend Jim calling in a crisis.  He ended up coming over for a few hours which sabotaged all plans for the afternoon.  He had gone out last night and thinks someone slipped something into his drink.  He only vaguely remembers being literally dumped on his doorstep and is covered in bruises and scrapes.  He is gay and thinks that some guys at the bar where he went last night roughed him up.  He was quite upset and still really confused but unwilling to go to the ER or  call the police.  So we calmed him down and as he said, let him spend time with "people who care a s**t" about him.  That was rather emotionally draining.

Today is my usual day to post on the independence days challenge.  I'm actually on time this week.  So here goes:

1. Plant something-  No.  But did get my seed orders in for the year.  I still have a few things to pick up locally but not much.

2. Harvest something- YES!!  We had lovely salads last night with some lettuce from the planter box in the basement.  

3. Preserve something-  No

4. Store something- Got unbleached flour to restock.  Made waffles for the freezer for the week for breakfasts.

5. Manage reserves- We're working our way through a banana squash from my Mom.  Used little end bits of chocolate chip packages to make chocolate chip waffles.  Used some of the last of the tomato sauce from the freezer.

6. Cook something new-  Used our dutch oven (actually a camp oven) to make pot roast and veggies for dinner-  YUM

7. Prep something- No

8. Reduce waste- Recycled, reused, composted and used cloth bags at the grocery as usual.  V salvaged a wooden drying rack out of a dumpster.

9. Learn a new skill- No- didn't get out the knitting at all this week.  Did re-read the manual for my ice cream maker that V's Mom got me for Christmas (it's an attachment for my KitchenAid mixer) since we hope to make sherbet soon.

10.  Work on community food security- Talked to another co-worker who asked me if we really got a side of beef after reading V's article in the paper.

11. Regenerate what is lost- was supportive to neighbor's family at funeral services for her last night.  I've been contemplating if I want to try to organize a neighborhood get together this spring.

12.  Behavior change- procrastinating:  I actually placed my seed orders this week and finally got around to cleaning and organizing my cookbook shelf.  Next project- the bathroom cabinet.  Maybe when I'm off Tuesday for I11's oral surgery.

I really do need to settle down with a calendar and set planting dates for seedlings.  I talked to Roger about bringing over the pick up in the spring to move compost to the garden.  It's another busy week and I'm scheduled to work on Saturday. Oh, Boy!!