Lettuce Eat

Good news and bad news from our backyard....Good news first? Sure. Hooray for backyard salads! It worked! We have been able to add a spring salad to many of our dinners this season. We took pictures of our first, because we were pretty excited.

"let's pretend to eat it...wait. sam. sam. pretend, sam. sam, pretend!!"

(ps: as I am posting these, he is asking to see this picture b/c he wants to "see his moustache")

I was surprised at how the lettuce took off during the spring. We planted 4 baby romaine plants, and they grew up in a hurry. The red lettuce did, too. The chard, not so much, but there is still hope for those little guys.

Ready for the bad news? Can you tell from the picture above? This weekend, I noticed that the romaine looked a litte funny, different than it usually does. I figured it out and was super sad to see that they were bolting. Boooooo. It happens really quickly. The middle starts to shoot up and I have read it affects the flavor. So, harvest time, aka, save what I can in a mad panic!

Here, they are on their way to bolting. I was suspicious.

Yep, done, only a short time later

I knew it was a cooler-weather crop, but I couldn't help but think of all of cherry tomatoes that we will grow this summer that would have been perfect with it. Ok, so next year, note to self, look into season extending. If I would have been on top of it, I could have probably covered these little buddies up to shade them from the heat. Silver lining? Room for more! What should I plant? I have some plans for continuing some heat-loving greens...stay tuned!

Tomato CRAZY!!!!

I need an intervention! Someone, please help! I cannot stop adding tomato plants to our garden. I think I am absolutely missing the part of my brain that says enough is enough, when it comes to tomato varieties. This year, I am trying many heirloom tomatoes including the Old German and Box Car Willie. I could not pass up growing Tigerella, a red and orange stripped tomato, Cherokee Purple, or Pineapple tomatoes (a tropical-tasting pink and yellow variety). I didn't even know they exsisted before this year, so of course, I need to check this out. I can't help but think of the phrase curiosity killed the cat. But, in this case, I'm pretty sure curiosity is going to bury us in tomatoes!

Last year, we grew Sweet 100s, a red cherry tomato. They were so fun to pick and eat that I made sure we had some this year. All season, I have been in mad pursuit of Sungold tomatoes. We bought a pint, of these sweet, orange lil' ones, at the farmers' market last year. The person selling them gave us a sample and told the kids that they were "candy tomatoes". We all thought they were tasty and finished the pint that weekend. I knew we had to have them in our backyard, but I had not been able to find them aannywhere! Today, we were at Whole Foods, of course stopping at their vegetable plants outside, and Emma shouted, "MOM! SUN TOMATOES!!!" She spotted them!!! Then she looked around at the others, and said, "Here's a big boy." Gotcha! That girl can read. For some reason, it is her biggest secret, something that she hides. Not today! Not when tomato crazy is spilling over. It must be contagious!

So, I think that is going to be our last tomato addition to our gardens. I'm out of room. I wonder if there is a support group for this kind of thing.

Our Graduate

Emma has been reading a lot lately. She is so interested in learning new things. Well, after all, she has a degree (as pictured above). Anyway, she said this to me earlier this week:

Emma: Mom, what's that thing, you know, that looks like a 9 without a hole in it?

Me: I have no idea what you are talking about. Let's see. Oh, that's a comma.

Into the Mouths of Babes

Broccoli update! We chose broccoli as a new experiment this year. We've been able to harvest them and eat them for 2 dinners this spring, so far. I waited a little too long to harvest because I was being greedy. I thought maybe they would grow a little bigger, but, huh, learn something new everyday. Instead, every little bud of their classic 'tree like' appearance turns into mini yellow flowers. Cute! I did not know that.

I also learned about a new pest. Cabbage worms. The little jerks eat holes in all of the leaves and I've heard rumors about the adults, white butterflies, laying eggs in the roots, killing the plant. So far, the most organic way I have found to to get rid of these suckers is to hunt them down and smash them. I saw a white butterfly over by the broccoli today. For the first time in my life, I thought about killing a butterfly. It's a sad day, but seriously, stay away from my broccoli! Some gardeners suggest using row covers, and I also read that some people cover their broccoli heads with pantyhoes. I've decided against buying my vegetables undergarments/outfitting them like thieves and will stick to the smashing method.

do you like seefood?

pardon our manners, but mom said we could, (for the photo op, of course)

I am hoping that this is not the end of the broccoli, generally a spring crop. One of the main reasons I tried growing broccoli this year was because of an annual summer trip. Since forever ago, we have hung out with dear, dear friends in Litchfield. Last year, I noticed a broccoli plant with little shoots all over it, in August! It looked like they were exactly ready to join a veggie tray. Mr. D and Jess, my gardening idols, invited me to taste them. They were so crazy delicious that I absolutely had to stop myself from pulling up a lawn chair and eating the whole plant. I decided to attempt to grow some this year at home, as not to have such a ridiculous reaction at the lake. So, here's hopin' for side shoots!!! I'll keep you posted!

We've got WORMS!!! Happy Mother's Day to me!!!

This has been a long time coming! I've been thinking of making this purchase for over a year now. Previously, questions and thoughts like "is this ridiculous?", "maybe this is just a step too far," and "am I really going to buy a pound of red wigglers?" have held me back. But this year, it all came together. Single parenthood due to a week long work trip + golf trip + Mother's Day = vermicomposter!!! That was all the justification I needed!

So, currently, in my garage, in a small plastic get up, lives over 1000 red wiggler worms. They have the job of eating all of our organic waste and producing what is supposed to be incredible compost to take our veggie garden to a whole new level! Wahoo! The package arrived sans worms and we started to assemble the trays. Everyday, we checked for the wiggly tenants in the mail. Finally, they arrived and the move-in party began. Popcicles, Blue Moon, RedBridge and a visit from our friend, Jen turned this into quite the backyard event.

I roped Steve into leading the set up. It is a Mother's Day present after all. Anyway, the steps were somewhat complicated and required someone capable of concentrating, aka someone not as excited about the wormies. Enter Steve.

regretting you married me? naaahh.

We followed the instructions for setting up the bedding, a combination of soaked coir, good soil, and shredded newpaper. We added the worms, food waste, and topped it off with damp newspaper and tada.....vermicomposting!

Why compost with worms? According to the 16 pg instruction manual, it is a really efficient way to transform our food and junkmail trash into garden gold!!! Yep, they eat junk mail too! Everyone always asks about the smell. And so far, it has been odor free. Except for when we had them outside. I thought that we had found a good spot for them. They were not so happy about that random 90 degree day, so now they live in the garage and are odor free! I've heard legend of people even keeping their vermicomposters in their kitchen. Ours are definitely not making their way inside, though.

So, welcome to our new wormies. Get to work!!!!

Happy Graduation!!

Emma graduates from preschool this week. Even though it's a little funny to mark the 2nd year of 3 years of pre-K, it seems like a good time to take a moment and write down all the wonderful things about our sweet girl. The cliche that 'they grow up so fast' is becoming very real to us. I want to make sure I remember every second (except, fat chance that is going to happen, considering I can barely remember what happened this morning). Anywho...here are some random things I want her to know I know.

Dear Emma,

Happy Graduation Day! You are 4 and already brilliant! You are my joy and amaze me everyday. You can read, but like to keep that a secret. You have recently developed this little, coy smile that tells me when you are trying to be tricky or comes out when you are a little embarrassed. You can be shy in social situations and you take your time to assess the situation. You seem to be a natural leader. You make sure everyone knows the rules. You seem to have a flair for testing limits. You are a fantastic big sister. Even though you need reminders to be patient with your brother, you have been known to comfort him when he is sad and make sure that he has all of the snugglies he needs at bed time. You like to teach him things, good and not so good.

You have an incredible memory. You enjoy rhyming and changing the lyrics in songs to be a little silly. You love painting. You also like playing games with others. UNO and Pictureka are big hits right now. You are very loving and snuggling is one of your favorite things. You love to help in the garden and draw pictures. You adore our cats. Your favorite foods are steak and corn on the cob. You are tough cookie and rarely complain about anything. You are also sensitive and take things to heart.

You are very interested in learning to rollerskate, even though you have had to put it on hold because of the recent collarbone incident. You adore your Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and treasure your relationships with them. Your friendships with others are very important to you. Birthday parties, or future birthdays, actually, anything birthday related is a huge deal and manages to be worked into at least one conversation per day. You smile with your entire face these days. We are so happy you are a part of our lives!

Happy Graduation, Girlie!!!