Here, There and Everywhere! (Plus a garden update...)

First - a quick garden update. Things are exploding! Beans are up, and we got lots of garlic (Nick threw some leftover cloves in a couple of years ago, and we got quite a harvest!). Potatoes and beets are chugging along, and zucchini, squash and pumpkins all look good.

Whew! The past few weeks were packed with happenings. Nick and I wrapped up the end of the school year, and Brendan finished his time at his old daycare when they closed at the end of May.

Nick kicked off our family travels when he headed to New Mexico for an IB conference. Brendan and I had a fun few days at home without Dada, then headed off to Florida to visit Aunt Shirl. Brendan did great on the plane, and got a tour of the cockpit from the pilots when we landed. We spent a few days at Disney, seeing where Aunt Shirl works. Brendan spent most of the time just staring at everything - trying to take it all in. He loved Finding Nemo: The Musical, and It's a Small World was probably his favorite - he loved all of the colors and moving figures, and the music got him giggling and dancing! He met many of the characters during an afternoon at Epcot, and got to see Pooh and Tigger just before we left Magic Kingdom - he was very curious to reach out and touch Tigger's nose and paw. We also got to visit my cousins Melissa and Angie, and we got to meet Melissa and Amine's son Aiden! Brendan and Aiden had fun getting acquainted and playing. Brendan is about 7 months older, so he got to show Aiden some new tricks to try in the coming months.

A couple of weeks after getting back from Florida, we hit the road for our next trip. We drove out to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to spend some time with Nick's family. On our way there, we decided to break the drive into two days and stopped at Gettysburg. We took Brendan to the new visitor center (it's about 3 years old, but the first time that we had been there) and to the battlefield and National Cemetery. We did not do the entire tour (we'll leave him in suspense until next time), but did get to see and reflect a little bit.

We had a wonderful time at the beach. Our entire Kator family was there, as well as Nick's Gaspard relatives. There were 5 kids who were 4 or under there, so Brendan had a ball exploring a new place and playing with new people. The crashing of the waves on the beach puzzled him at first, but he enjoyed putting his feet in the waves and exploring the sand.

So, some general observations after all of this traveling. Packing for any number of days seems to require the same massive amount of stuff for a little one. Putting your son's bedtime cd in mp3 format on your cell phone can really help a hotel room feel like home. Sand looks good, but tastes pretty yucky. And the best part of being anywhere new - the airport, Florida, Gettysburg, Delaware - is seeing your son take everything in. Watching him study Tigger's paw, or a bottom drawer in the hotel room. Watching him take in ocean waves crashing near his feet. Watching him make sense of these new experiences, this ever-expanding world. Listening to his giggle in response to your laugh, a crawling race, or passing a dog on the street. Feeling his head rest on your shoulder after a long afternoon of play. It has all been wonderful. But the best part of the best part? It's not over.

What fun, what fun - someone we know just turned one! (And garden update)

This past Saturday was a very special day for our family as we celebrated Brendan's first birthday! We'd been planning a barbecue for a while (even though every time we talked about it, we described an indoor affair - not wanting to tempt Mother Nature). We were blessed with a nice warm day, and plenty of family and friends to help us celebrate. Brendan got to officially meet his godfather at the party as well.

Brendan loved playing with wrapping paper and boxes, and his Uncle-to-be Jesse enjoyed assembling his water table and cozy coupe. I made Brendan a pumpkin-apple cake (two of his favorite foods) with a little cream cheese frosting. He was a little tentative, but ended up enjoying it. He really wasn't sure what to make of the day (I don't blame him) but certainly liked the balloons and celebration.

In other toddler progress, we've finally heard Brendan's first word! He's been babbling for quite a while and using a couple of hand signs. Brendan and I were at a family gathering. Nick arrived late after the NDP graduation, and Brendan looked up, smiled, reached out his arms and clearly said "Da-Da!". We, of course, melted. No "Ma-ma" yet, but he reaches out to me with a smile at almost any opportunity, so I'll take that for now. Auntie Andrea has also taught him how to high-five. Last Sunday at church, I took him with me into the sacristy before Mass to check in with the readers. He gave each of the readers a high-five, but shied away from poor Father Dan! (A few minutes later out in the chapel, he did give Fr. Dan his high five, and wanted him to hold him as well!)

Fr. Ken at Sheil used to talk about time passing in long days and short years. That phrase came to mind many times in the past week. It is amazing how much Brendan has changed in such a short time. It's also amazing to me how hard it is to remember what life was like before he was part of our family, before we knew who he was. Don't get me wrong - I remember things like sleeping in on a weekend morning or being caught up on schoolwork!

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Also, in our garden, potatoes, carrots, beets, melons, beans, pumpkins, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes are all in the ground and growing. We've had lots of fresh lettuce and spinach salads with dinners, probably the equivalent of 8 or 9 bags of greens.

Saving by Gardening Update

Well, we're not even one week in to eating food from the garden, and we're already saving money. Our Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce and Danvers Spinach (both heirloom varieties) seeds cost $1.35 a packet, so we estimate that we paid about $3 for seeds and shipping. This week, we ate our first meal from the garden - we used spinach in an egg and cheese pie. We've also had delicious salads at dinner two other nights. I know it's not a completely scientific experiment (when there's food from the garden, we plan our meals around what's available rather than planning meals then shopping for ingredients at the store), but this week, we would have paid $2.49 a bag for organic lettuce, and another $2.49 for organic spinach. Plus, the only transport costs for our garden food are the steps out to the garden and back! Good (and yummy) deal!

Good Eats...

These posts are a bit overdue, but I figured I'd get this one in while Brendan takes an evening nap.

We expanded garden space again this year, both in our backyard plot and our larger space at the cottage in Canada. Granted, Nick has most of the know-how and does most of the work, but I'm a very willing taste-tester. One of our goals for the summer was to continue to try to eat more local and organic food. We've noticed we feel better physically eating food with less preservatives, and there's less of an environmental impact than getting fruit and veggies from an unknown farm a continent away.

One of the major ways we've done that is to make regular use of our farmers' market. Beginning in the spring, and continuing until fall, there's plenty of fresh produce at affordable prices.

This is also the second year that we've purchased beef in bulk from the market. We order in late winter/early spring, then put in an order for cuts a couple of months later, just before the steer goes to processing. We pay for 250 lbs at one time, but the price per pound is cheaper for better cuts than we could get at the regular grocery store. Plus, the animals are grass-fed, and don't get growth hormones, or any other antibiotics corn-fed cattle need to tolerate an unnatural diet. And to top it all off, we know the farmers who are raising these animals, so we know where our money is going, and that their animals are treated humanely. We also buy chicken and eggs from other farmers at the market.

We really made use of our garden, too. Nick began in spring with lettuce (two kinds), carrots, beans, beets and potatoes. Summer gave way to squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and more beans. He got in a fall lettuce planting as well. We use primarily heirloom seeds - varieties that are open pollenated, many of which have been grown for many, many years. There's more chance for disease or weird looking crops (like this single carrot we got), but the taste is so much better. We were able to get so much from our soil by giving it regular doses of compost. We got a closed bin at Costco a couple of years ago, and save leftover non-meat food scraps (apple peels and cores, eggshells, coffee grounds). Those go into the bin, the material gets aerated every once in a while, and the worms do their work, creating wonderfully nutritious fertilizer for our garden.

And we'll continue eating our produce well into the fall and winter. The tomatoes we canned last year took us into spring, and our pumpkins and squash will be Brendan food this winter! One of our favorite meals this fall was a potato boxty with carrot, pepper and pesto. The flour, olive oil and pine nuts for the pesto came from the store, but everything else was from our backyard - talk about eating local!

So... if you're interested:
The Maitland Family Farm (Charlie and Sarah are our souce for beef.)
Otto's Chicken - from Middleville, MI, they come to several farmers' markets, including ours on Saturdays.
Heirloom Seeds - our source for seeds