SWEET SURRENDER

Save the last cinnamon roll for Silas

The raw cinnamon rolls I made turned out really well, so I thought I would share them here.  Silas slept over at a friend's house last night, so he missed out on them for breakfast, but we saved one for him to try because we thought they were so tasty, we hoped he would like them too.  (On a side note, our friends are going to be moving soon and they are clearing out stuff, so when I dropped Silas off yesterday, I was gifted with some hemp seeds, a ton of sesame seeds, and a ton of flax seeds.   I thought that was sweet!)

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It is really amazing what you can do with some sprouted grains, dried fruit and a dehydrator!  Aimee made these rolls last summer and gave me the recipe, but I am not sure where she got it from.  I think maybe it is out of the book Rawesome. 

Cinnamon Rolls

1 cup buckwheat sprouted

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup dates soaked 20 minutes

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/8 tsp salt

Process in food processor, shape dough into 2" rounds on dehydrator trays.  I have just a round dehydrator (I think it is called American Harvest) and I used the mesh screen trays for these rolls.   Dehydrate for 12 hours at 105 degrees, flipping half way through.

Frosting

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup dates soaked 20 minutes

1/4 cup pines nuts

1/2 tsp vanilla

Process until smooth

I think the key to sprouting buckwheat is not to over sprout it.  I have over sprouted it before and it turns bitter, so with these, as soon as a tail appeared off the grain, I stopped rinsing.  After a couple of hours, I could tell that the tails were getting longer, so I put them in the fridge to slow down the sprouting.  It was several hours later, but as soon as I could, I made the roll dough.  I think because I made sure to use it right away and not let them over sprout, I was successful with the process (in my past experience, the buckwheat will continue to sprout in the fridge).  The rolls were very good and there was no bitterness at all, which gave me hopes for other recipes calling for sprouted buckwheat.

The frosting is good too, but I keep thinking of a cream cheese frosting I made out of Alissa Cohen's book that I made for a raw carrot cake last summer.  I think it might be good on these rolls, so I might have to experiment. 

I think Silas liked them too!  Hurrah. 

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In other news,  this less than normal amount of produce week has been a very interesting experience indeed.  For one thing, I feel like the Life Force Energy is slowing being sucked from my being.  It's so crazy!  I feel more tired and lethargic than normal.  I am so happy to be witnessing this in my body.  It is such a stark contrast to how I have been feeling the past several months.  Also, I feel super dehydrated and keep drinking water.  I think it is because I am losing so much water from my food. 

I don't mean to complain, because we have PLENTY of food.  I am so glad I just read the book Living More with Less.  It puts it in perspective for me for sure.  There are people starving who would love all the food we are eating right now.  I am glad I am getting to experiment with raw desserts.  I hope to make some Essene bread next week.  These cinnamon rolls and such would be very satisfying if they were combined with my normal intake of food.  I think if I wasn't having this experience I would be putting off the desire to sprout, etc, so hopefully I will be able to continue these things with juicing and smoothies and get even further into my raw diet. 

I was talking to Aimee today and she was telling me a story about a person who didn't pick up their CSA share (her husband grows food for their local csa with a partner), but the person didn't call to say they would be a no-show.  So they had all this wonderful produce, some of which was wasted and Aimee thought of me and how I would LOVE that produce right now!  Too bad we live 5 hours from each other!  Maybe that will change some day.  So, I think we are going to use some mesculun that Steve harvested today and blend it with some frozen fruit we have for a green smoothie right now.  I am jonesin'! 

Oh, we decided that after we are through this spree of cleaning out the cupboards, that we were are going to up the ante on our raw consumption.  In The Raw Food Detox, Natalia Rose has a test to establish where you should begin in your transition to eating raw foods (how many cooked things vs. raw) just to keep your level of detoxification at a level your body can handle.  Steve and I scored at a level 3, but we are ready to move it up to level 2 which is when you eat cooked foods just a couple of times per week.  I am looking forward to the summer and the abundance of fresh foods and to seeing what changes this shift will bring for us.  But, I am sure I will be writing more about it later. 

Until then, Peace on your journeys!  

     

A little help with links for Typepad Folks

For those of you who post with typepad and have been having trouble with their new set up and linking, I thought I would type out some quick directions. To add a link into your posts, click on the tab that says HTML.  After you do that, find the word that you want to link and highlight it with your mouse.  Following that, click on the link button.  At that point, that little box will appear at the top of your screen where you can enter the url (just like old times).  After you click o.k. on that, click back on the Rich Text tab and the word should now be a link in your post.  Hope that helps! 

I have been tagged

Yarrow over at Yarrow of Witchwood has tagged me.   Here is how it works.

~Link to the person who tagged you
~Mention the rules in your blog
~Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours
~Tag a new set of six following bloggers by linking them

So here are some unspectacular quirks about me......

1. I really like drinking out of mason jars the best.  We have regular drinking glasses and nice tea mugs, but my water lives in a quart mason jar, my morning juice is usually poured into a mason jar, and when I drink hot tea, I like a pint size mason jar (unless its herbal-like raspberry nettle and then I like the quart size). 

2. I actually like to craft sometimes and when I first started this blog, it was because I was reading a lot of crafting blogs.  I had no idea that my blog would be mostly food related mixed with lots of randomness.

3. In regards to crafting, I like to knit.  Each person in my family now owns a winter hat made by me.  My sister has one too.  I like knitting hats because I am the world's slowest knitter and even if I only knit a few rows here and there, I can finish a hat in a few month's time.  (if I was a fast knitter, I could maybe whip one out in a day or two).

4. I am in the habit of flossing my teeth every day and I skin brush every day too- I even take my skin brush when I travel.

5. I like listening to audio books a lot.  Right now I am listening to the Wal-mart Effect.  Before that, I was listening to Remember Me.  I usually listen to fiction and read non-fiction.  I think it is really, really fun to listen to audio books and sew.  Maybe when my kids are older, I will be able to make a quilt or something while doing that.  Silas and I also listen to a lot of audio books together.

6. I am feeling pretty pleased with myself for figuring out how to link on typepad's new posting set-up.  It was not what I would call easy peasy  (I have an agreement with myself that I am not a technical person)and it will come in handy in tagging others.

I am not sure if I know 6 bloggers to tag, but here it goes...

I tag Aimee at Must Keep Knitting.  She would be one of those fast type knitters that I referred to in point 3.  She is an old, dear friend of mine and has really shown me that by reading someone's blog, you get only one really small piece of who they are.  She has not posted in quite some time, so maybe this will get her started again (hint,hint).

Next will be Kristin.  Kristin and I had the honor of experiencing our Advanced Birthing From Within training together in New Mexico.  She is about to give birth to her third baby at any time, so maybe this will help keep her mind off of it.

Heather at Beauty That Moves. 

Kelly at Raw in Montana.  She is doing a cool ytt training right now at a place that serves all raw cuisine.  Awesome!

Sara from Happy Foody, but she has three blogs, so I will choose this one. I am really inspired by her (and I have seen several people mention her blogs in their posts) and I love reading through her archives.  So, I am sure many people would enjoy getting to know her a little better as well. 

LIFE'S LESSONS

Life has thrown me a challenge and I am embracing it fully and learning from it as well.  We did our budget last Friday night and found we had been seriously overspending in the grocery department.  After allotting the money we had left on things we deemed necessary, we found that we could only budget $20 for the next two weeks for food (I found an extra $10 to add to that as well)!  I was able to do almost a full day of juicing this week, but I think next week's juicy Monday will have to be a water fast (oh my, I have only ever done one of those for a day).  Anyhow, what is going to be drastically different for us is that we are used to consuming tons of produce and for the next week and a half things will be limited.  I miss my daily juice already and green smoothies too :(.  However, I do have some juicing carrots left- yeehaw.  This is a really great experience for me.  For one thing, I have been trying to use up all of the dry goods we have in the pantry (I have had a couple of posts about this) as we transition to what might be a raw foods diet or high raw anyway.  And I am doing a great job.  I have whittled away the brown rice, the basmati rice, the quinoa, the black beans and pinto beans (down to a half gallon jar), and we only have half a bucket of oats left.  So, I am feeling good about this.  We still have quite a few garbanzos, but we have a few recipes that we like that will help us get through them.  Anyhow, I am really looking forward to decluttering the pantry and here is an opportunity for us to do so.  I also have tons of sea veggies, nuts and dried fruits and sprouting materials.  So, we actually will be eating several raw foods still, but of the more heavy variety.  Currently, I have flax seeds soaking for flax crackers, buckwheat soaking for buckwheaties and raw cinnamon rolls!, unhulled buckwheat soaking for buckwheat greens, and alfalfa seeds beginning to sprout.  I have been wanting to try sprouting my own buckwheat greens for months now, so now I am finally doing it out of desperation for fresh foods, so I am so thankful for this opportunity.   Oh, I also started a batch of kombucha tonight as well.

One thing Steve and I both notice is how tired we feel now that we have upped our consumption of cooked foods and downed the consumption of living juices, green smoothies and a great deal of fresh fruits and salads.  It makes us grateful to experience this stark contrast and makes us realize we are on a good path with our eating habits.

Thank goodness that we have a humble garden!

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We harvested some radishes today and I made a really delicious miso soup with the radish, radish tops, a teeny amount of mustard and kale out of our mesculun mix growing, and some shredded carrots and chopped garlic.  We had it on top of brown rice and with sunflower seeds and it felt very good and nourishing.

The radish tops were so yummy that I think I may try juicing a some radish tops with carrots for a small glass of juice tomorrow. 

And actually, we do have money that we could spend on groceries because we got our economy booster incentive from the government.  However, we are so excited because we will be able to use that money to buy new windows and maybe even doors for our home!  Our windows are really old and need replaced badly.  Not only will it help conserve energy in the winter, it is something that we feel needs to be done before we can move on from this house.  (There are several advantages to staying put where we are and we would be fine with that, but a part of us still has that country land dream, so maybe that opportunity will present itself sooner now that we will be getting windows-I guess that is another post entirely though).  So anyway, going without juice for a couple of weeks and using up the food that I want to use up is worth the sacrifice if we get new windows out of the deal.  We are so grateful for all the GIFTS that God has given to us and we are trying to use it all wisely. 

I  

     

2 Favorite Raw Salads

I am Nourished because I eat the wakame salad out of Cafe Gratitude's I Am Grateful recipe book and that is what is called.  I have to say that I LOVE this book.  I am constantly affirming myself with the recipes- I AM WHOLE, I AM ALIVE, I AM SUCCULENT, I AM NOURISHED, I AM ENROLLED, I AM PLEASED, I AM GREAT, I AM WHOLEHEARTED, I AM FUN, I AM FOCUSED, I AM GIVING, I AM DAZZLING, I AM GENEROUS, I AM FIERY.....there is a whole book of them.  It's great!  Every single recipe, I love and I can't wait to try many, many more.

Anyhow, one of the recipes I have been making frequently and enjoying tremendously is I am Nourished, so I am sharing the recipe here with you.

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YOU ARE NOURISHED

1 ounce Wakame (presoak for 1 hour in fresh water, by the way, wakame is a mild sea veggie.  The brand I like is called Emerald Cove and they make one that is "ready to use" which means it is precut and CONVENIENT for this recipe.  If you didn't have ready to use, I would cut it with kitchen shears while dry and then soak. Or you could soak it and then cut it with a knife).

2 Tbsp nama shoyu ( I use tamari as I can not eat wheat)

2 Tbsp agave nectar

1 TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp finely chopped garlic

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

1 tsp finely chopped jalapeno

pinch of white pepper

Drain wakame and julienne as fine as possible (unless of course, you have it already cut).  Assemble all other ingredients and toss together with the wakame.  Let the seaweed marinate for at least an hour. 

I have found this salad to taste even better when it sits for a couple of days- although it is very good right away.  It lasts for several days in the fridge.  If it is only you who will be eating it, I would recommend halving the recipe. 

I also really love the shaved beet salad out of Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet.

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Shaved Beet Salad

1/2 small beet, peeled (I usually use a whole beet and don't peel)

3 TBSP Lemon Herb Dressing (I just coat the beets with the dressing w/o measuring)- see below for recipe

2 cups arugula or mesculun (I prefer the arugula, we just ate it on fresh,local, organic, tender arugula and it was delicious, I am so happy for fresh produce!)

1 TBSP chopped raw walnuts (optional)

Slice the beets paper thin using a mandoline or sharp knife.  Place in a mixing bowl, add dressing and toss until evenly coated.  Marinate for 30 minutes at room temp (I have done it for as little as 10 min) or up to 12 hours in the fridge.  Arrange arugula on plate.  Remove beets from dressing and place on top of the greens along with the walnuts, if desired.  Drizzle with the remaining dressing left from marinating the beets.  Serve immediately.  You can store beets seperately in fridge if you have any left over.  Bring to room temp first before using.  I have also added fresh cherry tomatoes to this-YUM!  I have never tried it, but I think it would be good with raw goat cheese too. 

Lemon Herb dressing

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 TBSP fresh minced herbs (or 1/2 tbsp dry),(parsley,basil,dill,mint,tarragon, oregano) I really love it with tarragon!

1/2 tsp crushed garlic (1 clove)

1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp of salt

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Whisk all ingredients together.  Will store in glass jar in fridge for five days.  Must bring to room temp before using because olive oil hardens in fridge. 

ENJOY!!!

 

Juicy Mondays, Exercise and Turning the computer off!

There are several exciting new things happening in my day to day living.  The first thing is that over the past month I have been practicing what I call juicy Mondays.  This is a commitment that I made to myself when I did five days of juicing earlier this spring (I did post about it and was going to link it here, but typepad has updated a bit and now I can't get the link button to work!)  I'm happy I did a post about it though because after my trip to the farm, I had almost forgotten about my intention.  So, I am really glad I recorded my thoughts here and actually reread them.  I started straight away with it and what I have been doing is juicing all day plus one green smoothie.  It feels really great to give my digestive track a rest one day a week, so that my body can put its energies into other healing work.  I also find that it ensures a really light and good diet for the first half of the week at least.  Our meals get a little heavier toward the end of the week, but on the most part we are keeping all of our dietary principles, mostly raw or properly combined if cooked and if cooked, 98% of the time it will be vegan.  I have also been trying to drink a green smoothie each day as well, some days I may have a fruit smoothie or a salad instead.  I feel like we are eating healthier than ever.  We are becoming pretty sensitive to foods and our cravings are decreasing.  Even if we imagine eating something that is outside the norm for us, we most of the time can feel it making us lethargic, mucousy, bloated, and gassy before even eating it and thus, it ruins all appeal.  It is pretty interesting to observe.  Steve has started doing Green Smoothie Mondays which is helpful, because then I only have to come up with dinner for the boys. 

I don't have any pictures, but here are some of my favorite new recipes for Juicy Mondays

Green Smoothie (found online somewhere)

4-5 leaves kale

3 pears (I am pretty sure that I have only used 2 pears- at least once I did) 

handful of raspberries

about 1 cup of water

 

I AM SUCCULENT  ( a juice from Cafe Gratitude)

2 grapefruits

3 apples

2/3 of a celery heart (5-7 stalks)

a small wedge of fennel

This juice makes about a quart- it is so light and refreshing.  I think the sweetness of the apples is balanced by the grapefruit, but if you are super sensitive to sweets then maybe two apples would work better for you.

I don't drink this next one on Mondays, but it's one of my favorite fruit smoothies

HEAVEN IN A GLASS (from Kate Wood's Eat Smart Eat Raw)

1/2 frozen banana

1 mango

juice of three oranges

1/4 lemon (with skin if you like that)

1 medjool date pitted

1 tsp tahini

YUM!

Now that we have been spending so much time on our diet, we are branching out to other aspects of healthy living which in my world include things like proper rest, exercise, fresh air (sunshine and time spent outdoors) and time feeding spirit, and maintaining a healthy spine.

I have always enjoyed exercising, especially walking outdoors, but it has been harder incorporating as much as I would have liked during Rowan's first two years.  It is definitely something I need in my life though.  I feel so much happier and healthy when I am moving my body, sweating, getting my heart rate up, and feeling all of my muscles.  Yoga is one aspect of my exercise for sure, but some days I like a more quiet, meditative practice (like YIN yoga) which doesn't give me a cardiovascular workout.  So, I have been doing a work out dvd that is only 40 minutes long, but Rowan and Silas allow it to happen.  It isn't super hard and at some point I will have to upgrade, but I love it.  I think it is fun and it makes me a bit sore, but not so sore that I can't come back to it the next day (I have a dvd like that- I get so sore I have to take a day off!)  I also got to take a walk with my mp3 player by myself this weekend which was super awesome- somehow walks with a stroller and a dog and two kids don't get quite aerobic as I would like (and that is the usual story).  The coolest though was this weekend when I got to take a hot vinyasa yoga class.  I was out of town for the weekend (because I mentored a BFW class for an out of town couple), so I went to the yoga studio that I did my yoga teacher training at.  They don't offer hot yoga in my town, so this was a real treat!  The room was heated at 90 degrees and a humidifier was running.  The yoga is a real heat inducing and strengthening practice.  So combined with the heat  I was sweating so much, the whole back of my tank top was drenched and the next day I was pleasantly sore.  It was awesome. I think I may try to see if I can start teaching a class like this here in my home town.  The idea makes me feel real inspired.  We have a space heater that I may start using to heat up a bedroom so that I can do a practice like this at home every once in awhile.   Steve is also getting into exercising more and we are working on a yoga practice for him.  I am just really happy to somehow be finding a way to be creating space for this again in my life.  I feel like if I am going to be eating so well, cleaning my blood, it is really important to get my circulation flowing with exercise. 

The last thing I mentioned in this post title is turning the computer off.  This has been very liberating.  I have been turning it off three days a week.  I have to turn it completely off to make sure I stay off of it.  I think it is a good balance for me.  I seem to be getting more accomplished, but I also enjoy my computer time and I am inspired by it, so I didn't want to give it up completely.  I feel like I am really starting to use my computer time more wisely when I do allow myself to be on and I am finding that I am drawn to it less when it is on now.  One thing I discovered the first few days is that I really use the computer as a break during the day and a time to sit down, so when the computer is off, I have to make sure that I create those breaks for myself, so that has been a good awareness.

I need to get my camera back out because I have some new favorite recipes that I want to share and the yarrow is starting to bud, so it is getting closer to the time to make yarrow oil which I would like to document as it is the first step to making the yarrow sticks. 

So, there you have it!   Several days worth of thoughts, but as I don't write everyday, hopefully there is enough time to read it if there is an interest! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

Living My Yoga

I have been reading a book this year by Judith Hanson Lasater called A Year Of Living Your Yoga.  Yoga is a union.  A union of body, mind, and spirit.  This book gives daily reminders and bits of wisdom on how you can take that union that you experience on the yoga mat and bring it forth into other parts of your day so that you begin to live your yoga or live your union with God. 

The thought for one day in April was this...

"My practice is not limited by location but by intention."

"Living your yoga: You do not need a mat to practice yoga.  Today repeat this intention to yourself whenever you can: I can practice yoga right here, right now.  This intention will transform your day."

The day I read this, it really resonated with me and I made a mental note to share it here with you, so I hope it in some way it resonates for you as well.   For the longest time, I really did only practice yoga on my mat and once I got off of it, I was often living in the world of past or future except when I was gifted by Divine grace.  However, I feel that each day I am learning that I can choose to just be here in this moment, peaceful in all the subtle joy and beauty that life brings.  I am thankful for all the moments that have given me this awareness of slowing down.  Sometimes I can be in such a high vibrational place so easily and wonder how I am not always here.  Other times I am so in my head and I am holding my breath and tension in my body.  I am glad that now I am often conscious of when I am doing this and I am learning how to break out of that pattern.  I think the first step in breaking habitual patterns and responses is to be aware that they exist.  God has given me many resources in my life showing me how I can shed my layers and release my old agreements with myself to be set free into Love.  I am so thankful for this.

I will leave you with a picture of last summer's black eyed susans that grew in my garden.  I can't believe how much growth is already appearing on them in the spring and they have spread!  It seems to have all happened in a blink of an eye!

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Making Kombucha

I have a love affair that has been going on for quite some time with the bubbly brew called Kombucha.   For those of you who don't know, Kombucha is a fermented drink that has several health benefits.  It is made by combining black tea with sugar which on their own are not healthy.  But when you add a kombucha culture to the scene (which is a slimy, mushroomesque type substance) and let the whole mixture ferment at room temperature for about 10 days or so, a healthful beverage is created.  It is naturally carbonated which I love and there is the tiniest bit of alcohol due to the fermentation (less than 0.5%), so it gives me a feel good buzz.  It reminds my sister of apple cider vinegar.  I suppose you could think of it like that, but to me it is sweet and delicious especially when mixed with ginger juice, lemon and raspberry puree.  The drink is said to help normalize metabolic function, provide b12 vitamins, detoxify the liver and a few more things that I am not remembering right now. I love the kombucha that is bottled and sold at the health food store, but it sells for over three dollars a bottle and because I love to drink it frequently, I decided I needed to start making it from scratch.  I have been learning some things along the way, so I thought I would share them here. 

First of all, let's take a look at the ingredients. 

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo BooksThe last batch I made, I experimented with using a blend of black tea and green tea and I really liked the flavor of that combination.  However, my new friend that I met at the Farm (and who has the kombucha making down pat) said that she uses Paul Newman Organics black tea, so I recently purchased some and will try that in my next batch.  I also thought that you had to use white sugar (notice that mine is at least locally grown :) ).  But my friend uses organic cane sugar, so I am also going to try using that in my next batch.  Let's get a closer look at that culture swimming around in the bowl, shall we?

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo BooksMmm, yummy!So, you bring filtered water to a boil and dissolve the sugar into it and then add the tea bags.  Depending on which directions you read, you will be told to steep the tea anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours (waiting for the tea to reach room temperature). Here are some directions that I found useful.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo BooksSo, you put the tea into a glass jar along with the culture and 1/2 a cup of the previous batch.  I cover the top with a coffee filter, but cheese cloth would work well.  Anything that allows air flow, but keeps contaminants out.  I use old sun tea jars, but I don't really like them because of the spout.   This site has gallon glass jars (scroll to the bottom of the page) that I hope to invest in soon.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo BooksSo, apparently I used paper towels in this picture.  After the concoction sits for 10-14 days, a second culture grows right on top of the first.  It's pretty cool and a wonderful way to share the goodness.  After the second culture has grown, you remove them (I put them into glass jars with 1/2 a cup of the current batch) and then you bottle the beverage and here is where things get really important.  Are you paying attention?  After bottling the brew, you allow it to sit on the counter for another 7-10 days.  This is where the good fizz happens and we need the fizz!  I have learned through experimenting though that you should not open the bottle until you want to drink it.  I opened a few bottles to check if they were fizzy and they were!  "Oh Yum!,"  I thought to myself only to discover that they were flat when I went to drink them.  Apparently opening them that one time let all the fizz loose.   I also learned from my farm friend that you should not allow any air space in the bottle and she recommends using bottles with rubber stoppers like those on this page.  So, I hope to invest in those soon.  Here is a picture of my last batch of kombucha bottled up in recycled Synergy bottles.  These bottles work great for holding green smoothies too.  (A tip I learned from Sara from Happy Foody but unfortunately the website is not coming up, so I can't link you to her, but she is one of my favorite blogs, so I will try to do it again at another time).

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo BooksSee the air space in my bottles, you don't want that.  Fill all the way to the top.  So, I am learning.  I have high hopes for my next batch that I hopefully will start soon.  Now,  I need to keep working on perfecting my kimchee and all will be well in my world of fermented foods! 

Happy Mama's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mamas out there. I honor you all for the beautiful work you do in raising earth conscious, whole hearted children. 

Here is a picture of my honeyman and boys mixing different mediums together (compost, leaf mold, manure, etc).  They did this earlier this spring in preparation for the planting of our seedlings.

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Steve has put so much effort into our garden this year and I am so excited about growing some of our own food.  Such a shift has occurred for us when instead of being discontent that we don't have land on some country plot we are grateful for the yard that we do have and the sunny spots that we do have and the possibility for at least a bit of home grown food.  When we think of our suburban plot as our urban homestead, our hearts are filled with joy.  I haven't had a chance to write much or photograph much about this spring's journey into gardening.   But currently we have onions, peas, potatoes, radish, daikon radish, lettuce mix, carrots, spinach, and beets planted outdoors and indoors we have tomatoes, basil, chard, kale (and maybe some other things) that have been transplanted and are waiting to be "hardened off" for their lives outdoors.  We have plans to try some other plantings as well and with much hope, a four season harvest  will manifest as well.   I bought some fresh asparagus at the farmer's market today and my mouth is beginning to water in anticipation of strawberries!  I am so happy for the beginnings of fresh, locally grown food once again. 

Anyhow, this picture reminds me of how happy I am to be a wife and mother.  I am so very blessed.