Because I'm lame, I only ended up with a half share this week, but this is a list of what I would have had, had I not screwed up. A lot more this week in the purple end of things (which in this case includes red), and next week should be even more. Kind of a sucky week for me to screw up, especially since my own basil plant died of neglect. It was also a bad week for it because we busted ass over the weekend to use up all the leftover veggies. Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

• 2 bunches Red Onions (+tops)
• 2 bunches Celery
• 4 Summer Squash
• 4 Cucumbers
• 6 Asian Eggplant
• 2 bunches Basil
• 2 lbs Purple Potatoes
• 6 Green Peppers
  =~19#

Another minimal week on the preservation front. My drying plans didn't happen and we ended up cooking the cabbage. But there were many red spring onions and assorted new potatoes that were turned into caramelized onion mashed potatoes. Most of that went to a potluck and the rest I froze in muffin tins for portioned sides come winter.

( Not quite cupcakes... )

Phew. Tuesday evening we made another big batch of red curry (though mostly using the remains of last week's share) and I did another shredded salad using all the new golden beets, the last of the kohlrabi, and some of the carrots. I also finally put Greens and Peanut Stew on frog_food!

Not much else to report. It's been too hot to be productive in the kitchen, but hopefully I'll get more done once things cool down a bit. I've got all sorts of dehydrating plans!

• 2 bunches Golden Beets (+greens)
• 4 lbs New Potatoes
• 4 Cousa Squash
• 6 Cucumbers (well-hung)
• 2 bunches Red Spring Onions (+tops)
• 2 bunches Kale
• 1 lb Roma Beans
• 2 bunches Carrots (orange)
  =28#

So much numiness! Except for the mizuna, anyway. Anyone want some mizuna? Also, while the parsley is excellent parsley, I'm not sure I can really use all of it. I guess I can make parsley pesto. Haven't done that in a while. But in the meantime, if you could use some parsley, let me know. Everythig else, though? Wow! Especially those peas. Haven't cooked one yet because they're so great to just munch on raw.

Meanwhile, does anyone have a mega stash of plastic shopping bags that you'd like to see go to good use? The downside of reusables…

• 2 heads Cauliflower
• 2 bunches Beets+Greens
• 2 bunches Carrots
• 2 bunches Curly Parsley
• 2 bunches Mizuna
• 2 bunches Collards
• 2 heads Cabbage
• 1 lb Sugar Snap Peas
  =~24#

Last night I had two goals: use up a bunch of the beet backlog (without roasting and at least some raw) and make a non-lettuce salad since we didn't get any. So I did a beet soup with most of the red beets (turned out great and is meant to be served cold, which is convenient this week) and made a shredded salad using the yellow beets, orange carrots and (white) kohlrabi. More beet than carrot, though in the same range, and somewhat less kohlrabi. I mixed up a dressing using dijon mustard, olive oil, sherry vinegar, and a bit of s&p. The result was FANTASTIC and I plan to make it again real soon. (It was in part inspired by a salad I came up with a few years back. No apples in the house right now, so I figured the kohlrabi would sort of do that job.)

This weekend out in the Berkshires, DD and I somehow managed to prep a no-stress five-piece dinner for 7 adults (plus one baby and one dog) consisting of green salad with fresh figs, Veganomicon chickpea nuggets, stuffed shells, broccoli with slivered almonds, and garlic bread. Plus his mom made a fabulous cake and brought ice cream, so all around, quite a meal!

On the preservation front, I've got some kimchi going which is probably ready to go into the fridge.

And of course I'm behind already… This was last week. The only motion on the preservation front was using the cabbage to make sauerkraut. (The kale was marinated, of course.) Previously-preserved items used included tomato sauce on pizza, and, as planned, strawberry mash and blackberries in nummy frozen concoctions in the woods.

• 2 bunches Chiogga Beets (with greens)
• 2 heads Cabbage
• 2 bunches Red Russian Kale
• 2 bunches Fava Tendrils
• 2 bunches Parsley
• 2 heads Romaine Lettuce
• 2 bunches Chard
• 2 bunches Carrots
  = ~20.5#

Farm share started last week! Yay! This year we are back with only Parker. I think it's a much better value than Red Fire. RF sometimes has a little more variety, but the amounts are often too small to be useful, plus it's cheaper for me to just buy that stuff at the farmers market if I want it.

• 2 bunches Beets (with greens)
• 2 bunches Cilantro
• 2 bunches Swiss Chard
• 2 bunches Kohlrabi (with greens)
• 2 heads Red Leaf Lettuce
• 2 heads Romaine Lettuce
• 2 bunches (4 heads) Broccoli
• 2 bunches Collards
  = 25 lbs(!)

For some items, it's great to have enough to really do a proper dish with it, but for other items, even a little bit can be too much. (*cough*cilantro*cough*) Anyone want cilantro? Either these or in the future?

Did a nummy saute using the beet and kohlrabi greens, along with some Chinese fake-meat and barbecue sauce and it was so good. Then last night, thanks to M. being over to hold J. so that I could cook while DD finished work, we had stuffed shells! It was my first time making them and I put together a plan based on a mix of recipes I'd seen. I used all the chard, plus a quart of the roasted tomato sauce I made last season (best f'in sauce ever!), as well as basil from the porch. It was SO GOOD!

Right now we're aiming to use up everything in the freezer and get a fresh start, so have been eating a fair bit of tomato sauce since I froze it rather than canning to both avoid having to adulterate its awesomeness by acidulation as well as skip boiling any flavor out. I finally canned the strawberry mash I'd prepared last year from almost two gallons of fruit, yielding a whole bunch of Strawberry Balsamic Black Pepper Jam, plus some extra mash that I'm thinking may come to Baitcon. Also canned a big batch of whole berry cranberry sauce. The ton of blackberries will be getting blended to oblivion (cuz damn, I hate those seeds) for use in something frozen at Baitcon and also roll-ups.

Other preserved items that we've used lately have included arugula walnut pesto on pizza along with rehydrated dried tomatoes and eggplant, frozen peppers in various dishes, frozen squash in greens-peanut stew, and various powders and herbs to flavor dishes.

Urban homesteading FTW!

[Feel free to pass it along in whatever form you prefer.]

As y'all know, I'm due any day now (or maybe not for a few weeks) and as such, have become aware of all sorts of things about which I previously had no real clue. While many of these relate to tmi bodily functions, there's also some useless stuff, such as pertussis, aka whooping cough.

Recently, the immunization guidelines for pertussis were updated and the upshot is that, unless you've had a kid recently or had it specifically called to your attention for some reason like working in healthcare or with kids, odds are good you are not up to date on your booster. (Or maybe you have a better PCP than I do. I just found out I'm out of date on the entire Tdap set by pretty much any measure, and given that I'd been seeing the same doctor for over 10 years, they were perfectly aware of that and should have told me I was due for a booster. But it seems that sort of proactivity is not very common.) I will get my booster immediately post-partum (which has become pretty standard in the wake of the resurgence).

Anyway, there are a bunch of new babies coming in the relatively near future, pertussis has become a much bigger issue than it's been in a while, and babies are particularly vulnerable. I've seen many recommendations that parents not allow anyone to even hold their baby who isn't up to date on their immunizations. I don't know that we'll go that far, but we are making sure that all the grandparents get theirs and I respectfully request that you consider it for yourself for the sake of the community. I know there are mixed feelings about vaccinations for children for various reasons, but shots for adults are a different matter, right?

If you want to know, you should be able to call your PCP and find out your status. Note that it used to be common to get a Td (tetanus, diphtheria) booster without the pertussis part, so even if you've had a tetanus shot recently, you may not be current.

I know several parents who've had to deal with the pain of their baby catching this (always from an adult, btw, not another kid), and while luckily they all survived, it is a serious medical ordeal in an infant that is best avoided.

Thanks.

PS: Respectful disagreement and debate is, as always, welcome.

--

And for the sake of an update: Today's checkup (38w3d) was even less eventful than the last. I wasn't offered an internal (she only mentioned it in the context of "We could do this if you want, but it won't really provide anything useful" so it didn't seem worth taking clothes off for) and situation remains at everything is good to go whenever it happens. Tadpole is chillin' out upside-down with periodic rolls side-to-side. Cop a feel if I see you tonight. ;)

Something to make you smile, no matter how crappy a day it might be. (And if it's already a good day, even better.)

Introducing Arvo, my new puppy-in-law! We Skyped last night, and he was totally sweet. I can't wait to meet him in person.

I don't often make New Year's Resolutions(tm), but I was looking back on the past few years' NYE/NYD entries and found that one year ago I posted and said, one of my goals for 2010 is to work on finally dealing and hopefully healing.

So yeah, I think I get some serious achievement points on that one! Now I'm all warm and fuzzy. :]

And in the interest of more manifesting, in 2011, my goals include creating a fabulous home with DD for us and our wonderful baby and nourishing our relationship in all the great ways we can come up with.

I already recapped the big stuff for the year in my birthday post a month ago and my list of places slept [naps don't count] is no more interesting than anyone else's, but I sorta whoa'ed at the number of places in Massachusetts that showed up, so I'll just share those, because it amused me:

Alford, Cambridge, Chicopee, Great Barrington, Lenox, Medford, Somerville, Winthrop

We still don't know what we're doing tonight (or if we're going out at all), so maybe see some of you and maybe not, but either way, have a wonderful evening and much joy and good things in the coming year!


[If you don't recognize the Subject line, you own it to yourself to listen to the song asap.]

The following donation groupons may interest folks:

$10 for $25 worth of aid to public school projects at DonorsChoose.org! (or $20 for $50 or $40 for $100)

$15 for $25 Worth of Microloan Credit to Help Global Entrepreneurs on Kiva.org!

If I did it properly, those should be referral links, so if any of y'all are new users and buy these groupons, I'll use any credit I get to buy more of them. Which means your $10 would actually get $50 of donor credit. Woo! (If the referral thing doesn't automatically work, my groupon email is jude-group AT peace DOT net)

Or a prime, anyway. Being a perfect square had its ups and down but turned out pretty darn well in the end.

Among the major accomplishments: I ran the Boston Marathon, got pregnant, and married my soulmate & long-time love of my life (luckily the same person). Yay!

Other highlights that I can think of right now include another successful One-Acts and Big Broadcast, running great events at Arisia (including the final Summit), attending (& staffing) PiCon for the first time, lots of fun games nights and potlucks, tons of bicycle time including great rides with SCUL, and fabulous camping weekends like Firefly and Baitcon. Not to mention the wonderful time spent with friends, but of course, y'all are the reason all the of above were as great a they were. (Feel free to chime in if I'm neglecting to mention anything I ought to.)

Since DD had to go to work today (Boo!), we've headed back west for the weekend after a fabulous Thanksgiving dinners and I'm on my own for much of the day, but as it's customarily acceptable to observe this most holy day of Judeism for an entire month from the actual day on Nov 26 through to Dec 25, we'll figure something out later. (Not that I would object to heaps of love and goodness any time of year, of course. :)

I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!