Declutter: December 02 tables and 50 items

Just a quick declutter update: The tabletops have remained clear!


And, I've surpassed the goal of "selling or donating 50 items:"


This is sew sewper, dewds :)

Declutter: December 01 computer armoire

As part of my overall mission to live simply and sustainably, one of my ongoing 43Things is to get rid of stuff. For almost a year, I've been removing items pretty consistently and have been really good at not bringing in anything. I've kept a donation bag in the closet to catch clothes that I no longer like or haven't worn, and a bag on the porch for miscellaneous household items. Recently though, I decided that I needed an opportunity to do a big purge instead of this slow and steady drib and drab removal of stuff.

MotheringDotCommune has a Mindful Home Management forum under which a Decluttering, Organizing and Simplifying topic exists. I've been watching the group's monthly de-clutter challenge and decided to join in for December. Yay!

I'm linking this months challenge with one of my 43things goals, "get rid of stuff." I just love it when things connect like that Our goals for this month are:

• Keep coffee table clutter-free for the month.
• Keep dining table clutter-free for the month.
• Clean out and organize armoire/computer desk; designate places for the stuff that keeps cluttering the coffee and dining tables
• Finish dressing room organization (hang up vision boards, purge clothing) and trim work (crown molding, quarter-inch round molding, caulking, painting).
• Donate or sell 50 items.

This is our first de-clutter challenge, and it’s hard to know where to draw the line. I don’t want to overestimate our ability, but at the same time, it is a “challenge,” right

Also, the clutter around the house is due in large part to organizational issues. We wanted to take a holistic approach and actually solve the problem, opposed to just the symptom. I’m thinking that it’s unreasonable to say “keep the tables clutter-free” without addressing the issues of why the tables are cluttered. The stuff has to go somewhere, right?

Okay… here we go Clutter be gone!

So far, I've been kicking ass. I worked from home on Tuesday and was able to take care of the computer armoire. It was actually a real nice balance going back and forth between the physical work of cleaning out, and my work work at the laptop on the dining room table. Here's a shot of the desk around 10am:


And then around 1pm:


I threw away an entire trash bag full of old papers and other nonsense and marked a few items to donate.

We've also done some work in the dressing room, I put a large box in the living room for donations and marked a bag for items to sell on Ebay. Though, I'm starting to wonder if I should just save everything for a spring yard sale instead. Giving away so much stuff seems a bit irresponsible financially-speaking, but listing everything on Ebay seems a little unreasonable. I'm open to any suggestions and opinions :)

So far, so good. It feels really great and to have this task complete and I'm absolutely motivated to get onto the next task!

OLS dinner 2007 10

Ta da! One Local Summer 2007 has been successfully completed!


One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 10

• Homemade whole wheat pizza (McGeary Organics/Annville Flouring Mill - 94 miles) with tomatoes, onion, yellow and red bell peppers, garlic (all from Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles), basil (Bux-Mont Hydroponics - 5 miles), white sweet corn (Lancaster - 84 miles) and cherry bomb hot peppers (our garden - 0 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: yeast, olive oil, salt
• Red and yellow watermelon (Blooming Glen) and peach (New Jersey - 40 miles) fruit salad.
  
• Proprietors Reserve red wine (Chaddsford Winery - 48 miles)

I absolutely considered going all out with several recipes for the last meal, but thought this simple meal was much more representative of the spirit of OLS. Simplicity in making big changes with little effort. Simplicity too, in finding joy in small things; like cutting open a watermelon and discovering buttercup-yellow flesh instead of the expected pink.

Hm. Actually, now that I think about it, this dinner wasn't exactly simple. I'd never made pizza dough before. Not that it was complex, but there's a little bit of a learning curve to work into the math there :)

And that's what OLS has been for me these past ten weeks: doing things that I never before had an excuse to do. Making pizza dough and tortillas, going to the Skippack farmers' market and discovering artichokes, finding several local vegan protein sources - shit, me just purchasing flour to bake was an unthinkable prospect before this summer. I mean, really... I look at this and am just plain surprised with myself:

As much as I love to cook, and love local foods, I can truly say that never would've made a pizza from scratch had is not been for the challenge of OLS. Nor would I have considered using corn as a topping. But! These were all good decisions!

Thank you, Liz! You are amazing and inspiring and fun.

With the the picture-taking, planning, deadlines and posting, I'm happy to have a short break from these meals each week , but I'm sure local-specific meals will maintain a somewhat regular appearance here until OLS 2008. I'm interested to see what I can some up with say, in February. Stay tuned!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

OLS dinner 2007 09

This week's One Local Summer meal has been brought to you by the letter S: scrumptious squashed and stuffed spicy seitan!


One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 09

• Pattypan squash (DelVal College - 12 miles), stuffed a sauteéd mixture of the squash, seitan (Ray's Seitan - 37 miles), onion, red frying peppers, carrots, garlic (all from Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) and jalapeño (our garden - 0 miles). I spiced it up the hot sauce Jason made last week with peppers from Blooming Glen and our garden. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, sage, thyme, black pepper
• Boiled red potatoes (Blooming Glen) with with vegan buttery spread (Earth Balance - 117 miles).
• Fresh, raw heirloom tomato slices and cucumber half-circles (Blooming Glen).
• Whirlwind Witbier (Victory Brewing Company - 45 miles).

I was planning on not featuring the same beer or wine twice at any of these OLS meals, but this Whirlwind Whitbier is awesome. We had a few bottles left over from last week and instead of going out to pick up something new, we stuck with it. At this point, the I'm confident saying that it's my favorite Victory brew. I love white beers like Blue Moon and Hoegaarden, and Victory does a fine interpretation with this spicy cardamom and citrus blend. I didn't even know that Victory made a white beer - another unexpected benefit of OLS this year - and I think it's becoming my favorite local beer overall.

Ok, now to the food!

I'm overflowing with produce to the point that I'm storing some of our CSA and garden bounty on the dining room table. It looks pretty and takes care of a centerpiece, but I discovered an added benefit, as well. Because they're always in view, all week, I've been considering how to use the peppers, onion, garlic and potatoes in my meal. And when I saw some gorgeous pattypan squash at DelVal, I immediately put them in the context of that bowl on the table.



From the recipes I found online, patty pan squash seems to be traditionally stuffed with sausage, so I incorporated some sausage-y spices like pepper and sage into the seitan mixture I put together for our vegan dinner. I upped the hotness a bit more by using Jason's pepper sauce. I decided to serve the squash with very simple veggies that would cool all that spice. It was a great meal, and two squash fit perfectly into the toaster oven. Hooray for no super hot kitchen or preheating a giant stove!


Only one more week of OLS. I can't believe it!

OLS dinner 2007 08

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 08

• Homemade whole wheat flour tortilla tower (McGeary Organics/Annville Flouring Mill - 94 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: baking soda, salt, canola oil.
• First layer is lettuce (Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) and marinated and baked tempeh (Cricklewood Soyfoods - 28 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: tamari, liquid smoke.
• Second layer is sauteed yellow squash brought home from Rhode Island (Fisherman's farmers market - o miles), red pepper (Blooming Glen) and onion (Lancaster - 83 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, cumin.
• Third layer is sauteed corn, green bell peppers (both from Blooming Glen) and onion (Lancaster). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, cumin.
• Topped with raw tomatoes (Blooming Glen and our garden - 0 miles).
  
• And drizzled with Jason's homemade hot sauce (peppers from Blooming Glen and our garden). Nonlocal ingredients used: vinegar, cumin.
• A chilled salad of raw lettuce, blanched string beans, raw onion (all from Blooming Glen) and raw tomatoes (from Blooming Glen and our garden).
• Watermelon (Blooming Glen).
• Whirlwind Witbier (Victory Brewing Company - 45 miles).
  

This was by far the most time-consuming, though absolutely the most delicious, OLS meal I've done. From the time I started mixing the batter for the tortillas until we sat down to eat, over four hours passed. Because we've been away, I had lots of random veggies both from RI and from the crop share to use up. It felt good to be in the kitchen after a couple weeks away from home, though I can't say I was thrilled to be spending such a large part of my Saturday cooking one meal.

I was trying to come up with a clever way to utilize the variety of produce when I started making the tortillas. This time, I borrowed my dad's pasta maker to roll them out. It worked beautifully, creating rectangular, uniform pieces of dough that I quickly realized would lend themselves wonderfully to a tortilla tower theme - perfect for incorporating my many vegetables!

While I diced and chopped and stir fried and rolled, Jase decided to try his hand at homemade hot sauce. I must say, it was super-nice hanging out and creating this week's meal together.


My next OLS meal will for sure be much lower maintenance. Cereal is sounding very good right about now :)

OLS dinner 2007 07

Brought to you by... Rhode Island!


One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 07

• Kalamata loaf (Fisherman's farmers market - 0 miles) with vegan buttery spread brought from PA (Earth Balance - 117 miles).
• Stir fry of onion, zucchini and yellow squash (Alternative Food Co-op - 5 miles) and string beans (Fisherman's farmers market - 0 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.
• Seitan brought from PA (Ray's Seitan in Philadelphia - 37 miles) stir fried with onion and garlic scapes (Alternative Food Co-op - 5 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.
• Blueberries and blackberries (Fisherman's farmers market).
• Boiled corn (Hodgkin's Farm - 18 miles) with Earth Balance.
  
• Trinity IPA (Trinity Beer Company - 34 miles) and Newport Storm Summer Ale and Rhode Island Blueberry Ale (Coastal Extreme Brewing Company - 24 miles).
  

Lucky for me, our campground has a weekly farmers' market. I visited both Sundays that we were there and, in addition to the above, I picked up flowers and basil. Another bonus is the great food co-op located just about five miles from the campground. Although I don't recall exactly what farms the zucchini, squash, onion, scapes, berries and bread came from, I know they were all from RI. When in Rhode Island, every place is a half-hour away - definitely local ;)

This is my favorite OLS meal so far. Probably because it was gobbled up while in front of the campfire.

OLS dinner 2007 06

Dewds, I baked.

Sorta.

Look, homemade flour tortillas!

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 06

• Whole wheat flour tortillas (McGeary Organics/Annville Flouring Mill - 94 miles), a layer of lettuce (Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) stuffed with a tofu scrambler made from tofu (Fresh Tofu - 25 miles), red frying peppers, onion, purple spring onions (Blooming Glen) several varieties of tomatoes (from Blooming Glen, and our garden - 0 miles), jalepeno peppers (our garden) and mushrooms (West Grove, PA - 60 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: Cumin, paprika, tumeric, salt, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, olive oil.
  
• A chilled salad of blanched Romano string beans, orange cherry tomatoes (Blooming Glen) and a julienned chocolate pepper (our garden) splashed with a bit of vinegar. Nonlocal ingredients used: vinegar.
• Boiled sweet corn (Blooming Glen) with vegan buttery spread (Earth Balance - 117 miles).
• Strawberries for dessert (Blooming Glen).
• Christian W. Klay Jumonville Glen Red wine (brought home from our Falling water trip - 0 miles).

Meredith turned me onto Annville Flouring Mill right before the start of OLS, and I contacted them right away. It's taken several weeks, but I finally received my package of organic whole wheat pastry flour from them. Oh, and that would be fifty pounds of organic whole wheat pastry flour. They would have mailed me a two-pound bag earlier, but I kind of thought that conflicted with the whole eat local thing, so while I waited for the big bag, I found some people with which to share. I ended up with ten pounds and this was my first shot using the flour.

As a rule, I don't bake. It's too specific and I'm distracted too easily. I also don't like being told what to do and certainly don't like feeling incompetent; baking does both of those things to me. Although I'm pretty comfortable knowing what substitutions are viable while following a cooking recipe (for instance, I have a ridiculous amount of squash in the fridge - something that I could substitute if I were using a recipe that called for eggplant), I'm all thumbs when it comes to baking.

Besides that, I can never remember which is which: baking soda or baking powder?

My definition of baking includes anything that requires flour and/or baking powder. (Or is it soda?). Tortillas contain both of those things and so, even though we eat them pretty often, I never even considered making them. That is until, of course, OLS.

My ugly tortillas are from this recipe. They tasted pretty good, but a were maybe a little too thick and a bit floury. I'm thinking that I may have over-floured the counter while I was rolling them out. They were sticking to the rolling pin (that I had to borrow from my dad), and I figured a little flour on the counter is good, so more is better, right? Still, they weren't bad for my first try. Considering I still have at least 9 1/2 pound of flour left, I'm sure I'll have another opportunity soon to perfect my recipe.

This meal also has about four different kinds of tomatoes. My favorite cherry tomatoes from Blooming Glen so far, are the green grape variety that I picked last week. They're perfectly acidic and so unique looking. I threw some in the scrambler along with some red cherry and regular tomatoes.

We also got to finally pick the chocolate pepper from our garden. This signifies the end of our experiment: it tasted like pepper, not chocolate. Just in case you were wondering.

So, that's it. Number six, can you believe it? Only four dinners left. Speaking of which...

I realize that this makes two OLS posts in a row! I had to get this week's meal done today because we're leaving for Rhode Island midweek. I do plan on scouring some local RI goodness while I'm there, but if anyone has a scoop (specifically where to find tofu, seitan, tempeh and/or bread), please let me know. I will post the meals I come up with when I get back in the middle of the month.

PS: Here's an extra shot of AC and his sloppy plate. And sloppy hair. He started dredlock-ing it yesterday.

Eat your lettuce!

OLS dinner 2007 05

Barbecue!




















One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 05

• Grilled Summer squash, zucchini and onion (all from our Blooming Glen FarmCSA crop share - 5 miles) marinated in dressing and chopped purple and green basil (Blooming Glen) with grilled tempeh (Cricklewood Soyfoods - 28 miles) smothered in barbecue sauce (DelVal College - 12 miles), on a bed of steamed-then-sauteed beet greens, Swiss chard (Blooming Glen) and garlic (bought at the Skippack Farmers' Market from Jack's Farm - 24 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, and Italian dressing*.
  
• Chilled salad of blanched string beans and orange and red tomatoes (Blooming Glen).
• Sliced peaches (bought at Plumsteadville Natural Foods from a farm in Solebury - 23 miles) and strawberries (Blooming Glen).
• Butt Monkey Chiller Chimp Ale (Lion Brewery - 84 miles)

*I'm one of those people that always ends up with the leftovers. You know how at the end of a party or a picnic, when things are getting put away, packed up and tossed, and there are always those two or three things that could stay or go? The, "If you don't want it, I'll just throw it away" things? Yeah. That's how I got an industrial-sized bottle of Italian dressing. What can I say? My maternal instincts kick into high gear when I see food being thrown away :)

Barbecue was a One Local Summer dinner that I had stashed away in the back of my mind since I signed up for the challenge. It's something that I knew I would do eventually, but wanted to save for a busy week. Coming down from the Fallingwater trip has pretty much depleted all of my energy this week, so barbecue it was.

Earlier in the week, I went to Plumsteadville Natural Foods to stock up on local tofu, and at the last minute asked if they carried seitan; specifically, my local Ray's Seitan. I was happy to learn that they did, and when I went to pull it out of the freezer, I saw a row of an unfamiliar tempeh. Knowing that the owners of the store have a special interest in small, regional manufacturers, my heart skipped a beat as I picked up the package. Could it be local? Hell yeah - it was!




















And this is a perfect example of the frustration I have been experiencing in finding local vegan protein sources. Since last year, I've been scouring the internet looking for "tofu in Pennsylvania," "quinoa in Pennsylvania," "Tempeh in Pennsylvania," "amaranth in Pennsylvania," etc., etc., etc., and coming up with nothing. I've spent the last 12 months thinking that southeatern PA is just a dead zone in the way of local vegetable-based protein. It turns out, I'm all wrong. They're out there, but why are they so hard to find? Why aren't these companies listed on the buylocalpa.org website? Better yet, besides Fresh Tofu, why don't Ray's and Crinklewood Soyfoods have a website?

I mean, really. I gotta get on this. I'm going to go write some letters :)

OLS dinner 2007 04

Artichokes? In Pennsylvania? Really? And cute baby ones, to boot! Who knew?


One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 04

• The monster salad all started with a couple cute heads of baby romaine lettuce (bought at the Skippack Farmers' Market from Jack's Farm - 24 miles). I added shredded turnips, carrots and beets, sliced cucumbers and radishes (all from our Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles), slices of banana peppers and a cherry tomato (both from our garden - 0 miles). I made a quick dressing of olive oil, vinegar and mashed cherries to drizzle on top. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, vinegar.
  
• Still working on those red cherries (bought by kah for me at her CSA, Pennypack, who imported them from Lancaster, PA - 84 miles) and yellow cherries (bought at the Indian Valley Farmers' Market from Windy Spring Farm - 15 miles).
• Hop Devil IPA (Victory Brewing Company - 45 miles).
• Boiled corn and artichoke (Jacks' Farm), and baked tofu (Fresh Tofu - 25 miles) on a bed of steamed Swiss chard (Blooming Glen) lightly sautéed in garlic (Jack's Farm) and olive oil. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.

I'm still on the hunt for local protein in the form of beans, nuts and grains, so I decided to check out the Skippack Farmers' Market this weekend. Although I found no protein, I did find some goodies at the Jack's Farm booth, in the form of garlic, adorable artichokes and sweet-elicious corn. They each complemented my CSA share and garden veggies perfectly.


This week's meal started with a mission to consume much produce. We're leaving in a couple days for a mini holiday to see Falling Water and Kentuck Knob so I wanted to clean out the crisper drawers before we go. Once I saw the little heads of lettuce at the market, I decided that a salad would be the spotlight of our meal.

Seriously, we ate a ton of vegetables. And drank a lot of beer. Mom would be proud - of the vegetable part, I mean :) If you just can't get enough, there are a few more photos of this week's meal on flick'r, including one of my beet-stained food processor. Holy magenta.

OLS dinner number four is done, the fridge is cleaned out and I had just enough leftovers for my lunch and dinner today. Sweet!

PS: Check out my fellow regional OLS participant's super creative veg*n OLS meals from week three and week two. How clever is that girl?!

OLS dinner 2007 03

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 03

• Fried green bell peppers (from our Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles), purple bell peppers (DelVal College - 12 miles), onion (also Blooming Glen), seitan (Ray's Seitan in Philadelphia - 37 miles) and a splash of DelVal's own barbecue sauce, atop a sliced heirloom tomato (Blooming Glen) and wrapped in a complet baguette (Baker's on Broad - 0 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.
• Fresh red cherries (bought by kah for me at her CSA, Pennypack, who imported them from Lancaster, PA - 84 miles) and yellow cherries (Windy Spring Farm - 15 miles).
• A cold salad made from raw red beets and very quickly steamed-then-cooled carrots, green string beans (all Blooming Glen) and yellow string beans (Windy Spring). Nonlocal ingredients used: vinegar.
• The classic in these parts, Yuengling Lager (Yuengling Brewery - 68 miles).
  

It's obscenely hot around here, and so I've been anticipating an easy sammich, raw side dishes and icy cold beer OLS dinner since Sunday. Bakers on Broad makes my favorite bread each Wednesday and Sunday. Complet is made from organic quinoa, spelt, amaranth, millet, brown rice, white flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, salt and vitamin C powder, making it nutritionally fulfilling, or complete. Those bakers. So clever. Especially the French ones.


I went in this morning to get my a loaf of complet and a baguette for my OLS hoagie-style sandwiches, and who knew? They had a complet baguette. Brilliant! Actually, as it turns out, the baguette was a bit heavy for how I used it. Next time, I'll hollow it out.


My favorite part of tonight's meal was a side of cool veggies. I steamed-for-just-a-minute, some green and yellow string beans and carrots, added raw beets (all julienned) and let everything cool in the fridge until it was time to eat. If this weren't my local meal, I probably would have added slivered almonds and a sesame oil dressing, but instead I simply sprinkled on a few drops of vinegar before eating. The result was chilly and crisp - a perfect compliment to the spicy sandwich. Also, it looked real pretty.


So, that's it - my number three meal is done! If you're interested in seeing what other people are cooking and creating, visit OneLocalSummer.blogspot. There, you can see the meal roundups each week, which are organized (mostly) by region:

• New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
• Mid-Atlantic (DE, NJ, NY, PA)
• South (AL, AR, DC, GA, FL, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV)
• Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, OK, SD, WI)
• West (AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY)
• International
• Latecomers

And be sure to check out the One Local Summer photograph pool at flick'r for photographs of OLS dinners, as well as farmers' market scores, garden bounties, pick-your-own trips and, of course, CSA shares.

Bon Appétit!

"I be up in the gym just working on my fitness."

Dewds.

I'm on my way out the door to go to the gym for my 120th visit.

Wo0T!

OLS dinner 2007 02

Did you hear? One Local Summer got so big, it needed its very own website. In its honor, I present to you, a very big OLS post this week ;)

Nyuhm, nyuhm!


One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 02

• Fresh blueberries (someone's front yard produce stand - 6 miles) and black raspberries (picked while on a bike ride through Lenape Park in Perkasie - 5 miles).
• Troegs DreamWeaver Wheat Ale (Troeg's Brewery - 95 miles).
• Steamed Swiss chard, beet greens and kohrabi greens, sautéed with scallions and shredded kohlrabi (all from our Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, pepper.
  
• Focaccia (Baker's on Broad - 0 miles), spread with pink pesto made from garlic scapes, purple basil (both from Blooming Glen) and cherries (bought by kah for me at her CSA, Pennypack, who imported them from Lancaster, PA - 84 miles), then layered with steamed then lightly sautéed purple kale, and with steamed then lightly sautéed summer squash and scallions, and sprinkled with chopped basil and parsley (all Blooming Glen). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt.
  
• Stir fried seitan (Ray's Seitan in Philadelphia - 37 miles), scallions, basil and parsley (from Blooming Glen, of course). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.

I was recently turned onto a local organic flour source, the Annville Flouring Mill in Lancaster, by Meredith (edge effect). I've ordered flour, but until it arrives, I'm happy to feature bread from my favorite bakers (Linda and Raphael from Bakers on Broad) who live and bake just a couple blocks away. The opened shop just about two years ago, and I've been visiting a few times a month to buy their amazing complet bread and olive rolls. Occasionally, we'll pick up some fun-to-decorate focaccia, too :)

I happened across kohlrabi patties on frugelmom's photo stream earlier this week and I plan to veganize her recipe in the future. I couldn't wait to try out her method of shredding kohlrabi, though. It was a great way to incorporate an additional texture and flavor into our usual steamed-stir-fried greens.

I split a share from our CSA with my sister and when we hooked up to break up the order, she mentioned a garlic scape pesto recipe she saw online. We talked a bit about it, and eying up the gorgeous purple basil we had just received and considering the remaining handful of garlic scapes from last week, I decided to make a spread for the focaccia. I processed all of the eight or nine garlic scapes, all four stems of purple basil and the last stem of green basil from last week's share with some olive oil. The result was fragrant, but extremely bitter. Ugh. Realizing that I used all of my garlic scapes and basil, I quickly became bitter myself.

I certainly couldn't toss the mixture; I had to find something sweet, local and currently in my kitchen, to add to the mix. I was frustrated, grumpy and pissy, banging around the kitchen, when Jason suggested adding a handful of the cherries I had out on the counter. Cherries? Cherries to pesto?! That would never... or would it?

Well... why not?


At like a million dollars a pint (or four, whatever), I couldn't imagine it was the smart thing to do. I already used my entire lot of scapes and basil and now felt like I was getting ready to toss $8 worth of cherries. "And the cherry season is so shooort," I whined.

Luckily, Jase tapped into his superhero patience and encouraged me to start with just a bit of chopped cherry and a teaspoon of the pesto. He's so smart, I know.

It was passable, so we pitted and processed abut 15 cherries into the pesto and spread it onto the focaccia. I added a layer of greens and scallions, then summer squash, and baked it all at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. The end result was way more than passable. It was divine. The high temperature really brought out the cherry sugars, accentuating the garlic and basil flavors. Also, I think that just by baking the scapes, their bitterness was subdued.

I'm glad I didn't just toss the pesto and give up. Something I don't know I would have done, had I not been preparing my weekly local meal. Losing the ingredients was just not an option - I mean, I only get so many garlic scapes a season! Plus, what would the farmers at Blooming Glen think if I just wasted that food?! Man.

Another OLS week down! A little more dramatic than last week, but still fun to prepare and so delicious to eat :)

OLS dinner 2007 01

I did it! I made my first One Local Summer dinner! W00t!

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 01

• Blueberry wine (Country Creek Winery - 6 miles) with fresh blueberries (someone's front yard produce stand - 6 miles) and chopped apple (DelVal College - 12 miles).
• Water and ice (from our tap - 0 miles) ;)
• Lightly sautéed spring onions, garlic scapes and fresh basil (all from our Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) mixed with steamed summer squash (Blooming Glen) and pattypan squash (DelVal College - 12 miles), and steamed, chopped collard greens, kale and Swiss chard (also from Blooming Glen). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, pepper.
• A cool cucumber salad includes cucumbers from Blooming Glen and our own garden, and spring onions and turnips from Blooming Glen. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, red pepper flakes.
• Baked tofu (Fresh Tofu - 25 miles) in a garlic scape and basil (from Blooming Glen) marinade. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, Bragg's liquid aminos.

One Local Summer (OLS) is an online project created by the fabulous Liz over at www.pocketfarm.com. OLS encourages each of us to get in touch with our inner locavore by preparing one dinner each week of the summer that is comprised of local ingredients. Each participant then blogs about her/his meal (or reports to L iz if s/he doesn’t have a blog), and submissions are tracked at Pocket Farm.

OLS is not a contest or a competition. Simply, it's a way to “explore your world and support local growers and start learning what's available in your local foodshed. One Local Summer is an easy way to gradually enter the world of eating locally."

So once a week, starting June 24 and ending the week of September 1, I will be preparing one dinner using as many local sources as possible. I first heard about OLS mid-season last year and was ready to join, but was quickly thwarted by the seemingly impossible task of finding locally-produced vegan protein sources. We’ve got lots of great, organic, free range, antibiotic- and hormone-free, grass-fed, pasture-raised, etc., etc., etc., sources of meat and dairy that are incredibly easy to get a hold of, but not so much in the way of grains, beans, seeds, legumes. Now, I'm not saying that they're not out there; they're just much more difficult to track down.

Since then, I managed to find a source of tofu, Fresh Tofu, located about 25 miles from my home. Once I located a retail place from which I could buy the tofu (Plumsteadville Natural Foods), I decided that I could give OLS a shot this year.

I’m kind of nervous, but very excited about my participation. And really, now that the first meal is done, I'm feeling much less nervous. I’ll be tracking progress, photos and challenges here as the summer continues. Of course, I've also included this as one of my 43Things :P

Wish me luck! Or, better yet, go join and we’ll wish each other luck :D

Bye, stuff!

One of my 43 things is to "get rid of stuff."


It's an ongoing process.


And, I'm enjoying it :)

I have the shape of a mother

A few weeks ago, I submitted my photos and story to The Shape of a Mother, and they were posted a couple days ago. On my sister's birthday, a fact that I believe is an extra bonus :) If you haven't already, I encourage you to visit the site that Bonnie began with this in mind:

"It occurred to me that a post-pregnancy body is one of this society's greatest secrets; all we see of the female body is that which is airbrushed and perfect, and if we look any different, we hide it from the light of day in fear of being seen. That makes me want to cry. Sure we all talk about the sagging boobs and other parts, but no one ever sees them. Or if they do, it's in comical form, mocking the beauty that created and nourished our children.

"It is my dream, then, to create this website where women of all ages, shapes, sizes and nationalities can share images of their bodies so it will no longer be secret. So we can finally see what women really look like sans airbrushes and plastic surgery. I am asking for mothers to send in photos of bellies, bums, boobs or any other body part (even my lower legs and face show changes since my pregnancies!) to be posted on this website. The pictures can be anything you like from a simple snapshot to something professional. They can be as anonymous as you'd like, or you may choose to have your name and contact info posted with them."

That's right, a site full of pretty mommas. And you know what? You should *tewtally* participate in this awesome project. I've found incredible joy just perusing the essays and photographs, as I believe all moms, dads and non-parents will. It's a little bit of authenticity and beauty peeking out of the over-processed, over-thought, over-consumed, over-everything-ed static of our surroundings. Visit the site and I bet you'll immediately feel the urge to share the link. Yup, that's right, I betcha!

Personally, by making my own contribution I feel a little extra bit of sisterhood, calmness, self-awareness and love in my spirit. If you are a momma, I do hope you'll consider sending in your story :)

Mikaela

The first time I visited The Shape of a Mother, there were only a few submissions, and I thought, "I have to do this." It's taken me several months to *finally* do it, but here I am, thanks to all the amazing moms who’ve already posted :)

Before I really had the chance to even consider whether or not I wanted children, I became pregnant. We were high school sweethearts, together for almost four years and engaged. I was 18, he was 19, and we were living together, far away from home. I don’t remember much about being pregnant, other than *loving* it.

I’ve never in my life ever felt so beautiful than I did during those nine months. Even when I was working double shifts and throwing up in a trash can at my desk, I was absolutely joyous over my belly.

Being so young, my body weight and shape went right back to where I started almost immediately. However, the nearly 40 pounds I gained left me with many stretch marks; all over my tummy, on the tops of my thighs and on my breasts. I never had a stretch mark in my life before then and I thought they were just the wildest things.

I’ve always been self-conscience of my body, always very modest, and so these scars didn’t really change the way I dressed or undressed or displayed myself. I hadn’t owned a bathing suit in years, I never wore belly-bearing tops and I never undressed in front of my boyfriend. As much as my modesty has been a burden, I believe it also really helped me adjust to my new appearance. I’d always had a private, intimate relationship with my body – getting to know it with these unusual stretch marks wasn’t difficult.

I do love them. Seeing them, I am reminded of just how clueless I was ten years ago when I got pregnant. What were we thinking?! 2,500 miles away from home, barely making it on our own, living it up every weekend, no car, still kids ourselves… It’s amazing that we were allowed to have a child!

Like most mommas, I now know that I was intended to give birth to my son; I know the world was simply not complete without him. He is an amazing, thoughtful, creative, cuddly, nonstop, tackling, building, drawing, high-energy, high-impact, collection of skateboarding legs, basketball playing arms and long hair. He’s my monster. My number one man, my light, my heart and my soul. And every time I brush a hand across my stomach and feel one of my deep stretch marks, or catch a glimpse of them on my breasts, the edges of them poking out the top of my shirt, or notice them on my thighs when I change at the gym, I am reminded of him, and I feel proud and insanely touched by the fact that I am a mom. A mom – wow!

Now that I’ve had the time and experience to consider parenthood, I know that had I not become pregnant then, I never would have. Sustainability, economics, consumerism, politics and just plain fright play major roles in my decision to *not* have any more children. Thank goodness I was too young and stupid ten years ago to know any better! As difficult as being a very young, and eventually a single mom, has been, I feel like parenthood was the universe’s gift to me – the only way I could become a mother, was to let it happen before I could even think about it. Thank god it did :)

www.mdmintake.blogspot.com

Forever 4

You know how sometimes when you learn something and it's just so right and so perfect and so mind-blowing that you actually start making real changes, implementing what you've learned into your life? When something you've read or seen or heard actually changes your life because you couldn't possibly ignore it? When you open your brain to what's being said and allow it to affect you instead of considering it something that you "should" do or something that you'll "do later" or "get to eventually?"

I'm sure we've all experienced it when we've made big changes; maybe when we became a vegetarian, or moved from vegetarian to vegan, or left a sedentary lifestyle for daily gym visits, or maybe even converted to a different religion. Changes like that are incredible and at some point, you think "how did I ever not do this?" You feel good - you feel great! It's all so clear and obvious and right.

Time passes though, and it's possible that what was once so clear and obvious and right is just... a little less. Maybe you forget how much those teachings meant to you and before you know it, you're slipping and maybe picking up some old habits, using old excuses. Maybe you allow yourself to have junk food/meat/dairy "because it's a special occasion" or skip the gym a few times because you're just "so tired" or spend less time meditating/praying/chanting because you're "too busy." Maybe you even feel bad about about slipping and so you try to satisfy your feelings of inadequacy with your vice/s of choice - cigarettes, television, sex, gambling, dressing up like a chicken, or, ahem, drinking large quantities of red boxed wine.

Maybe you catch yourself and return to the lessons and re-read or re-study, and get back on track. Or maybe the excuses get so loud and the distractions so many, that you forget what you learned entirely, as if the lessons never existed and the change never happened.

That forgetting thing was so totally not what I wanted to have happen after I read The Four Agreements. I read it one afternoon about a year and a half ago - in less than three hours my life was changed.

And it felt good! As I started making changes over the next few weeks, I felt so amazing that I thought, "man, I've gotta get this tattooed on my forehead or something so I never forget how right this is." Of course, having a tattoo on one's forehead to serve as a reminder is kind of dumb. How often do you see your forehead? I knew that I wanted a tattoo symbolizing The Four Agreements somewhere on my body where I could refer to it often, someplace where it would serve as a daily visual reminder.

About a year after I read the book, I loaned it to L, and seven months later, this weekend, together we got those tattoos, thanks in part to 43 things kicking us in our asses. I love when shit comes together like it has for us over the last few weeks :)

So, "live the Four Agreements." That was the big plan for our tattoo. Kind of vague, yes? We went through some ideas, but really, had no clue what we wanted. Thankfully, we had a very talented artist and an insanely patient man on our side. Paul (from Gallery of Living Art at Fifth and Cannon in Lansdale) worked with us to come up with four brilliant designs using the elements we wanted:


The scoop on the design
The flower and bud design comes from the cover of the book (specifically, the lower right corner) and to us, shows growth, change and life. We found that the specific design of one fully bloomed flower and three buds was symbolic of the book's teachings: The flower represented the first agreement, "be impeccable with your word," the agreement on which all others hinge; without impeccability of one's word, agreements just can't be made. Additionally, agreement one is not only the most important agreement, but also the hardest to accomplish. The three flower buds then, represented each of the following agreements noted in the book, "don't take anything personally," "don't make assumptions," and "always do your best."

Perfect! So, we looked at Paul's art and choose a design that fit the placement we wanted (we placed our tattoos on the same forearm, but not exactly in the same spot).

Because L is the greatest best friend in the entire world EVER, she let me go first. I have one other small tattoo that I got 12 years ago. Piercing has always been my body modification practice of choice, and I was nervous about the thought of extended needle time.






















I shouldn't have worried. The experience was awesome and I can't wait to go back and get the next one (AC's name on the opposite arm). Also, it helped that L held my hand. Thanks, lady!




















More pics on my flick'r page: http://flickr.com/photos/mikaelamartin/sets/72157594518548057/

Of course, L blogged about this, too: http://frekur.blogspot.com/2007/02/its-hurty.html

My arm is a little swollen and itchy as hell, but I love my tattoo. In fact, I keep catching myself loving everything - I love my best friend, I love Paul, I love the Four Agreements, I love tattoos, I love change, I love all of it!

Except maybe the dog and cat hair that sticks to the bacitracin ointment that I have to keep on the tattoo. I don't really love that.

But everything else!

Everything else is fucking beautiful! :)