what ned did yesterday

♥

some james taylor for all of us

my very favorite james taylor album.

sit back & soak him up.

one morning in may... swoon...
{with linda ronstadt}
{also here}

maybe why he's on my mind today

{also here}

♥

p.s. i'll be back here soon.

earthly delights csa week 13

our share

plums

carrots

rainbow chard

jalapeño peppers

tomatoes

antohi romanian peppers

gernika peppers

eggplant

tomatillos

summer squash

ailsa craig onion

magic garlic

beans

cucumbers {lots of lemon cukes!}

genovese basil

melons

------------------------

our hearts are breaking for casey & her family.

her mother, julie, passed away on august 9th.

read all about her awesomeness here.

♥

camping trip

turns out,

camping with 22 teenagers is

so. much. fun.

if these student council kids

maintain their government roles,

we are in good {and hilarious} hands.

big thanks to melissa stephenson,
the new student council advisor,
for making this trip happen!

♥

p.s.

after we got home, marian said,

"having you there 

wasn't as bad as i thought it would be."

love you too, honey.

earthly delights csa week 5

our share

sugar snap peas

snow peas

garlic scapes

kale bouquet

chinese cabbage

rainbow chard

lamb's quarters

chocolate mint

fennel

vanilla ice turnips

the garlic scapes have been appearing in our

garlic mashed potatoes... so delicious.

in my bowl, i piled on the lamb's quarters.

they are delicious with butter & garlic!

{those tiny green circles are the scapes}

check our our csa farm right here.

♥

earthly delights csa week 4

our share

sugar snap peas

snow peas

garlic scapes

drunken woman frizzy headed lettuce

hakurei turnips

mustard bouquet

kale bouquet

chinese cabbage

italian parsley

lamb's quarters

rhubarb

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

curious about garlic scapes?

here's what casey has to say about them:

the incredible flowering tops of our Magic Garlic plants. 

Hard neck varieties of garlic send up a "flower", 

which actually turns into a tiny bulb of garlic, 

suspended in the air on a curly, whimsical stem. 

Though it would likely be impossible to grow 

a decent-sized garlic bulb from the tiny bulb it makes,

you can certainly eat them before they've fully ripened, 

as chefs and savvy cooks the world over have discovered. 

To eat scapes, 

you can either chop them finely and saute them

like you would garlic (adding fantastic flavor to any dish),

or you can keep the flower part whole

and saute it alone or with other veggies.

It's kinda like a big, garlic-flavored asparagus stem...

in fact, the two make perfect grilling companions!

♥

earthly delights csa week 3

our share

pablo lettuce

forellenschluss lettuce

hakurei turnips

easter egg radishes

mizuna

mustard green bouquet

rainbow chard

bok choi

green garlic

basil

oregano

here's a close-up of the beautiful blush

on those bok choi stems

{click to enlarge the picture for the full effect}

last week,

anastasia asked why i call it our "share."

in case you were wondering, here's why:

as members of earthly delights farm csa

{csa = community supported agriculture}

we pay in advance for 18 weeks of produce.

this enables our farmer {casey}

to focus more on growing & less on selling,

since her produce is "sold"

even before she has grown it.

each week,

beginning in may and ending in september, 

we go to the farm with our

bags & baskets ready to collect our 

weekly share of the harvest.

our pick-up day is a fun time to visit the farm

and get to know the other csa members.

this is a great way to support our local farmer

{we love her!}

and eat delicious, locally grown food.

each year, casey has a small group of interns

who help her on the farm.

it's an amazing opportunity

that attracts the finest of folks.

read more about the internship program here.

learn more about the farm here.

♥

earthly delights csa week 2

our share

arugula

mizuna

pea shoots

drunken woman frizzy headed lettuce

red lettuce

mustard greens bunch

turnips

bok choi

radishes

green garlic

rainbow kale bouquet

♥

happy

she won!

that's madame president

in the baby pajamas with a blue lolly

nancy, rachel, marian & ned this afternoon,

making a film for french class.

nice that things are back to normal, non?

♥

sunday

okay.

we survived a stressful week and a busy weekend.

here's another random list.

the campaign

despite a few juvenile kids at her high school who seem to be lacking impulse control and common decency, marian has surrounded herself with a group of funny, smart, caring friends.  she is weathering the drama of this student council campaign with dignity.  this week was full of teachable moments & character building & being thankful for her true-blue friends.  we had a few of them over this weekend for pizza & button-making & tshirt spraying & just hanging out.  the election is tuesday & i will let you know the results on wednesday.  please keep sending your good vibes.

interesting challenges

i don't recommend doing any of these, but the girls had fun trying.  each one was a race.

cinnamon challenge: eat a tablespoon of cinnamon {they did this outside & this morning we found one of our spoons in the street - ahem}

lemon challenge: peel & eat a lemon.

minty gum challenge: put an entire pack of gum in your mouth & drink a big glass of ice water.

tiny ice cream cones

i found these at trader joe's.  they were a big hit this weekend.

cream cheese coffee cake

this weekend, i made TWO of these - one raspberry, one blueberry.  yum and yum.

using up everything in the pantry

this was one of those weeks where we held our breath until payday.  it meant that i got very creative with a few odd things i had on hand.  these two dishes were surprisingly delicious:

polenta with a little bit of every cheese we had.

barley + red lentils + a can of good tomatoes - this turned out like a very thick tomato sauce & it was so good with the polenta.

taxes

must get this prepared & sent off this week.

the beekeeper's quilt

i am just about ready to begin this quilt in earnest.  apologies in advance to my color-loving friends, but i have decided to make this all white.  the yarn i found is some homespun alpaca - soft & strong.

spring

today was the warmest day we've had - 72°F  {22°C}  windows open, birds singing.

{the birds were going NUTS - so trilly, so sing-songy, they sounded like pretend birds}

the warmth combined with the scent of daffodils & strawberries really made me feel like missy was sitting at my table.  she smells of sunshine, flowers, & fruit.

♥

the campaign, so far

marian has some really sweet friends.

they are supporting her in her campaign

for sophomore class president.

they have helped her put up posters.

they have fliers taped to their lockers

that say "i'm voting for marian."

unfortunately, there are other kids

who are not so supportive.

tuesday after school, marian hung her posters.

on wednesday, before school even started,

her photographs had been vandalized.

the vandals were caught & punished.

{hidden cameras caught them in the act.}

we worked with the school to replace the photos.

today, some kids asked marian

for her fliers to hang on their lockers.

after she handed them out,

the kids tore them up in front of her.

freshmen!

classmates!!

what the hell?!

honestly, it's hard enough to get up

and go to school each morning.

why do kids have to be so mean?

what are these kids learning in school?

i'm really hoping they have a

"golden rule" discussion tomorrow.

i am proud of marian.

i'm proud of her resiliency

and also her sensitivity.

she is honest about what hurts,

and she is really brave

to put herself out there like this.

♥

p.s.

one of marian's friends

came over tonight for dinner

to make her feel better, and to

remind her of what's really important.

★ marian for president ★

marian's posters are BiG.

like, 3 ft x 4 ft big.

today after school, she & her friends

hung ten giant posters and lots of fliers.

{thank you for helping, nancy, rachel, mackenzie, lauren, ashley, & sara!}

{thank you grandma, for the colored paper you gave us years ago!}

-------------------------------------------------------

here's a behind-the-scenes look

at the cardboard stencils

the stars were cut from cereal boxes

and spray painted gold

{all spray paint used was just what we had in our garage}

for this project, we used materials that

were recycled {cardboard boxes}

or things that we had on hand

{leftover spray paint & colored paper}.

the only things we bought were the photos.

-----------------------------------------------

there were lots of artistic imperfections

and happy accidents

that we thought were especially cool.

do they qualify as wabi-sabi?

----------------------------------------

 vote 

★ MARiAN ★

for president!

she has given so much of her time

to student council this year

as freshman class president.

she wants to continue 

as sophomore class president so much,

and i really hope she wins!

the election is tuesday, march 18.

i'll keep you posted.

♥