High Summer Treats

Now is the time of year when farming is really rewarding. Think tomatoes and basil, fresh salsa, cucumbers made into refrigerator pickles or just sprinkled with salt. Yum. This weekend we had a community work day on the farm, for pot-luck most of the dishes came right from the field, fresh basil pesto, grape tomatoes and sliced cucumbers, sliced heirloom tomatoes and so much more.

Today though it was all about watermelon. We didn’t contribute a watermelon to this weekend’s festivities because we weren’t sure if they were ready. So today we gave it a try. It wasn’t at peak but still sweet and oh so fresh. We tried a muskmelon next and that was much better.

I should have got a picture of the look on the children’s face as they waited to see what the inside looked like then danced around singing a made up song about watermelon.

Also on today’s agenda was sweet corn. The children wanted to help pick but some of those stalks were pretty tough so they satisfied themselves with sampling. We grew white (instead of bi-color) sweet corn at my mother’s request and were blown away. It was awesome, eaten raw, right in the field.

Our CSA customers will get a nice treat this week.

So happy eating, get out and enjoy the summers bounty! Feel free to share some of your favorites also.

A trip to the Midwife

I was talking with another homebirthing mom friend of mine. She was talking about how she was switching from disposable feminine pads to cloth. She said, “I already cloth diaper my children it just seems to make sense,” then she went on to admit that she felt she was really turning into something–“a crunchy hippie.” No matter what you think about hippies personally the term is normally either very negative, as in anti-conformist threat to society, or positve, in touch with the earth, then there is everything in between. The homebirth, homeschool movement used to be the realm of the fringe cultures now according to the home birth consultant at the Minnesota Department of Health they are getting 20 requests for birth certificates from homebirths a week. My midwife says the numbers for homebirths in Minnesota are up to 5%.

This afternoon I had a prenatal appointment. For those of you who don’t have any idea how an appointment like this would go let me explain (it will probably vary by midwife). I go to my midwife’s, Jane Kirby, home downtown. She normally has tea ready and a play area for the children just to the side of where we meet. Her apprentice, Tracy LaPointe, is always there with a hug and a cheerful expression. We sit down and get comfortable and talk about how things are going. Not necessarily just with the pregnancy or medically but she wants to know if I am doing too much, am i eating enough, am I happy with my life or are there things I am stressing about? And so on. It’s a very calm, relaxing experience. The children come with and enjoy playing.

Or having a snack.

When it gets time to measure the tummy and listen to the heartbeat they love being involved.

Sometimes the girls hold the lifesize models of growing babies. 

Jane our midwife checking the heartbeat.

Our appointments are normally about an hour then with hugs all around it is home again until next month, though soon I will be meeting with them more often. They are always available for questions and if I want to meet more often.

I have a lot of respect for moms who have homebirths with their first babies. I think most of us try the traditional route first before seeking alternatives. I have been so pleased with this alternative I could never imagine going back.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Yesterday we finally had a break in the heat and I decided I couldn’t delay baking and preserving any more. We had some early tomatoes, not enough to give to customers but enough to do up a batch of tomato sauce. This is my all time favorite tomato sauce recipe but I should be clear, I don’t can this, I freeze it to make sure it is completely safe. Tomatoes are best canned without additives due to their acidity level though Animal Vegetable Miracle has a pretty great one that is safe to can. I did up 7 quarts of this last year but because I was using ground spices the end product was brown which the children didn’t really dig. I like it anyway and will probably do a few more this year.

Here’s the recipe for Roasted Tomato Sauce

8 cups tomatoes coarsely chopped
1 cup onions
4 cloves garlic whole
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup olive oil

Mix together in shallow baking pan, and roast at 450 degrees for 35-40 minutes. As it cools mash with potato masher or fork and add 1/3 cup basil.

My goal is 12 freezer quarts of this sauce. Last year I only did 4 and it was such a treat eating it in winter. It tastes like summer! Actually this picture is from a winter dinner when I was really craving summer.

I also did up 4 quart bags (about 1 serving each) of pesto and baked some Good Brown Bread. It was a pretty sucessful day.

My Couch Potatoes

This weekend I was talking with another blogger friend, Organic Sister. She and her husband and 10 year old son live a life of unschooling, traveling the country in a vintage Winnebago, looking for a place to lay down roots but also having a great time in the pursuit. While I can’t imagine only having one child, or living out of a Winnebago or traveling the country I found some unique similarities in our philosophy on life and I found myself drawn to the concept of unschooling (though I am not sure it will look the same for a family of multiple aged children). Anyway I called her because I needed help. I found myself getting more and more short tempered of late and I knew the atmosphere in the home was being affected.

Help Tara!

We went over the specifics of our schedule and daily life in the Doeun home and I realized (upon further reflection) that I was still adding things to our already jammed schedule trying to “do everything.” Tara gently reminded me that I just can’t “do everything,” some things have to give. I was familiar with the concept in the area of housekeeping. New mothers are often given the advice not to worry so much about cluttered tables and dirty dishes but in our case there was more going on.

I was trying to live the ideal (of mine) of no or little TV for my young children. That is now out the window. Granted they work and play hard in the morning out of doors and the girls at least often play all evening I knew I needed to allow some electronic entertainment into my home to buy me the peace and relaxation that I needed. I even upgraded our cable to include a variety of age apropriate channels so now at least I feel better about what they are watching (Hannah, Zack and Cody will have to wait until they are older).

Naps are now out. We do lie down and rest for about 1/2 hour after taking Proeun to work while we listen to a lullaby CD and Mavis gets a nap on the way home from the farm normally. Then I let the children get up to enjoy some electronic media and I take a solo nap or relax.

Dinners are sometimes boxed macaroni and cheese, though I do try to add at least carrot sticks and ranch dressing.

And Proeun I am sorry there may not be alot of pickles or canned tomatoes this year.

But finding the balance for our family is what it is all about–enjoying the children on a daily basis and making sure everyone feels important and nurtured, not an easy task to tackle.

So in the realm of the blog I am trying to stick with Monday, Wednesday and Friday posts with an occasionally Sunday thrown in. It is just one of those things I have to manage and balance.

Nesting At Ikea

Call it nesting, good planning, good housekeeping or just being fed up I am up for some big changes in our home. When we first moved into our home the home inspector recommended to us that any improvements that we wanted to make we should do before you move in because once you move in it gets harder and harder to get things done. Well we had no additional money to make improvements and our first baby coming soon–sooner then we thought. We moved in on Sunday and he was born on Tuesday at 35 weeks.

Anyway long story short we just cleaned a bit and moved in. No painting even.  Over the years we have made some small improvements like removing the nasty carpet to reveal the beautiful, original wood floors and some small changes to furniture. But I really would like to beautify a bit (a lot) more. So last night I begged my husband to take me to Ikea. I haven’t been then for around 2 years, but now I was ready to make some changes.

We had gone on-line and found a bed we liked for the children, metal bunkbed with a single bed up and double down. But unfortunately they didn’t have it in the store. I guess I will just have to go for another trip in a week or so. But we did get a step stool for the kitchen, an art easel (something Proeun has been wanting for a very long time) for the children, a set of stainless steel pots, a new children’s potty, placemates for the table and shelving for the children’s room.

So my current projects are culling, organizing and beautifying the children’s room and dining room. I am trying not to spend too much money at once and will supplement my Ikea finds, with things I already have and thrift store finds. For example I couldn’t find any good cloth tableclothes at Ikea, luckily I had some and realized when I got home the table from my grandmother we have is so beautiful underneath the protective pad maybe I won’t use a cloth at all, we’ll see.

Sunday Proeun took the children to the farm and I went through toys and clothes trying to get the overflowing room under control. Today I am planning to continue cleaning and hopefully it will stay nice until we are able to get the new bed and set things up.

Still on my to-do list in organizing the big bedroom yet again, living room and basement workroom. The porch still looks beautiful.

Baby Girl!? Doeun

Here is one of the first pictures of Baby Girl Doeun. We had decided this time around that we would have an ultrasound done. Two is still waiting for his baby brother and we wanted to know before the joyous event what to expect since last time he was a little disappointed and confused. We were still a little disappointed and confused as we had an ultrasound done at 17 weeks and it looked like a boy. But we thought it best to follow-up and surprise, it’s a girl.

Two handled it OK saying he loves baby girls (he will have a lot of experience with them). But Avril was in tears saying, “I wanted it to be a baby boy.” By the time we left though she was OK. Her baby doll has changed back to a girl (it was a boy for awhile). But I noticed her imaginary family has returned and there is a baby brother in that family.

Now we have to come up with a girl’s name. I don’t know why but these names are always the hardest for us. We have 3 boy’s names waiting to be used. Oh well, I am trying to tell myself God gives us what we need at the time. Apparently that is another girl.

The pump house pond

Where we farm there is a pump house near the road. The pump house is near one of the big walk-in coolers and washing and packing area, “the Pack Out” as we call it. Outside the pump house is a perpetual pond from over exuberent well water that just can’t wait to be put to use. Whenever we are near or around the pack out the children do put it to use.

On very hot days it is hard to keep the clothes on and the mud off.

Even Mavis enjoys playing in the water or just sitting and watching.

I have to remind myself when the children are crazy dirty and soaking wet and we still have boxes to deliver and food to cook and I told them not to get dirty that this is why we are doing what we are doing. So that our children will have clean water to play in, good food to eat, parents that are present though sometimes exasperated,

a close connection to wildlife, and the interest in it and so much more that I feel I lost as a child and hope to reclaim with my children. Every time he is near the pond Two looks for his friend the frog, (I am not sure how many of them there are or if the same unlucky frog is getting all the attention). Since Avril has discovered that she likes frogs as well there have been a few disagreements which sometimes leads me to say the strangest things like, “Don’t run with the frog.” Our farm manager overheard me today and said, “that’s something you don’t hear every day,” and I guess I hope to have more opportunity say that and similar crazy things for years to come.

Spring. . .er Summer Cleaning

I am going to be lazy today and not attach any pictures, this will also save me some embarrassment since my topic today is cleaning. I tend naturally to be a clean and tidy person but I have also always tended to have a lot of stuff like a stack of books on the floor by my bed and an overflowing desk (this was in my teenage years when I had time to read a stack of books). When we first moved into our 900 square foot house I was all about the whole “not so big house” movement and I loved the closeness of all of us within earshot of each other all the time. However now with the 4th baby coming it is time to cull again. . . and dream about a 3rd bedroom. With 2 boys (the baby is supposedly a boy) and 2 girls it would be perfect right?

Anyway we won’t be adding on another bedroom anytime soon but it is time to cull. A trip to the thrift store–to drop off items–is scheduled for Wednesday. Until then we are working on culling and cleaning. Mondays we stay home from the farm and today’s task was to tackle the porch, which always seems to become the catch all of the house. Now I am breathing a huge sigh of relief. It makes such a difference if when you walk in your home you aren’t greeted with a mess.

I went through all our books yesterday taking out all the ones I wouldn’t want the kids reading or ones with questionable topics (even among kids books). Tomorrow I am going to tackle the kids room–toys and clothes. I have never taken toys to the thrift store when they knew about it before but I feel they are of an age to know we can’t keep everything and sometimes we have to make hard decisions. Luckily the family has stopped buying them so many toys.

Wednesday I will work on “the big bedroom” and deliver the goods.

Next Sunday and Monday are slated for the living room and basement workroom, oh and I need to reorganize the freezer today. So much to do but I am simply giddy that it is finally getting done and Proeun is totally on board. In 2 weeks it will be the garage. I know it sounds silly planning so far out but we don’t have much time to do it so this is our lot.

My Support

Yes I am going to be corny enough to write a blog post in praise of my husband. A sort of “Ode to Proeun” though that would be really corny so we won’t call it that.

A few years ago I was talking to an old acquaintance. We were getting caught up on each other’s lives and I was sharing the vision Proeun and I had of moving to the country, living more self-sufficiently and simply and enjoying our growing family. She said, “Wow Amy you are so lucky that you met your soul mate.” While I do feel that Proeun is my soul mate, it’s not that easy, really, marriage is work and hasn’t always been smooth but luckily the rough patches have bonded us together in ways only tough times can.

Honestly when we married I still thought I wanted a suburban or urban home, a career in publishing, 2 children and plenty of time for plays, book readings, museum trips and book stores. Slowly my vision changed and now I am so happy it did. It’s been ages since I have been to a book reading or museum (other then the Children’s Museum). The only plays I have been to were for work and honestly I really didn’t “get” the last one. Oh and I have been reading the same book for about 2 months now. But I couldn’t be happier, though I could be better rested but that is a different story.

Anyway this blog is not about me it’s about him. I could never do this without him. He is the back bone of our farming operation–helping plan the fields and the successions, managing pests and weeds, doing the majority of the harvesting and all the lifting. In an effort not to strain my already stretched abdomenal muscles I call him over to help me whenever I come across and obstacle more then 20 pounds. This often means leaving his task to help. But he does it cheerfully and willingly every time. He even supports me in some of my more “quirky” (at least to the mainstream) ideas like spending the morning harvesting mullein and yarrow to make medicinal oil while he dutifully weeded.

Oh and did I mention that after he does this for about 3-4 hours in the morning he goes to drive a city bus for 8 hours before coming home and being a great dad and then staying up late with me talking about plans and dreams for the future. OK now you know a little bit about why we are so tired. We have been trying to go to bed earlier really.

Anyway supermen do exist. One time I was telling my dad how much I appreciated Proeun and he said, “I hope you tell him that.” I do every day but I wanted to be public in my admiration as well. As I said we have had to work at our marriage, it has been a humbling experience and one for growth but the feeling that we are in this together, we are each other’s best friends and soul mate and that we can accomplish anything is something every marriage can have.

Basil Pesto

This is the week when things are really getting done (read preserved). My aunt had given me a couple shelving units which I finally set up. I organized and arranged my canning jars and realized I have plenty of quart and pint jars, but I do want to add some 1/2 pints to my collection more for gifts and the toiletries I am making.

Today on the preserving agenda is basil pesto. Though our basil plants are still not very big and sturdy yet we had to “top” them this week to encourage growth. Topping is pinching off the tops so that it will branch off in more directions. So I had a few leaves and made our first batch of basil pesto this morning. It is so easy.

Pesto Basil

1-2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup walnuts (toasted if you like)
1 bunch basil
Olive oil
Salt to taste

Put garlic cloves and walnuts in blender and grind to meal consistency. Pack in the basil and add a couple tablespoons olive oil. Turn on and drizzle more olive oil. Continue adding oil and packing (when you turn off the blender) until you have a thick paste consistency. Add salt last and stir.

I like to put this in quart size freezer bags and freeze flat for winter.

I still have more preserving to do and I realize I have to run to the store. I use a lot of oil olive oil and I am gathering herbs for my first herbal rememdy which i hope to use this winter–or not have to use. More on that later.