Co-op & New Garden Blog

I am going to begin posting my "garden posts" over to the garden co-op blog, Partners in Dirt.  I hope you'll follow along as we blog about how we formed the co-op, who's involved & how we grow it (pun intended) into a bigger, better thing altogether!  Our dream is one day start a Community Garden....

Join me there! ;)

The Garden Update

Goodness how things have changed!  I planted tomatoes before the trip, and while I was away, Tami & Terrie (good garden fairies) came over & planted some cucumber & other seedlings in that same box. (See above)  So that was fun to come home to! ;)

Since being home, I've been VERY busy trying implement the rest of the plan.   I had to fill & seed the Right box & we are still working on the watering & timer set up...for now we have to do it manually each evening...ugh...

Today I working on building mounds in front of the smaller boxes along my wall.   It was a beautiful morning!  But man was I sweaty!  The idea is that lots more things can be grown outside the boxes too!  So I built some tiers, so we'll have lots of 'edge space' for things like strawberries...and then taller things like onion & chives will be behind them - cool huh!?

 

This is the left box, when it was first built & Joe attached it to the wall!  Then he lined it with landscaping paper so my precious dirt (hey, I had to PAY for it!) wouldn't sneak out the cracks...

The same Left box after being filled with dirt & grapes!

Today, after I made the tiered mounds... I'll be planting onion, chives & strawberries on them!  Oh, and notice the beautiful trellis?  My wonderful Joe borrowed a friend's truck to bring those home from work where he discovered them in the dumpster!  FREE!

Isn't that AWESOME???

Ok, one more brag about my JoeBacon, he is going to let me (that sounds so wrong somehow!  I bring home the bacon too, you know! ;)  But we are trying to be more careful about where our money goes & get a handle on our debt, etc... so in light of that) he is OK with me spending money on: an electric grain mill & a super cool dehrydrator!!  I know, you're all got them already, but this is HUGE for me!  I'm so excited!  I was gonna say nanny nanny boo boo, but being the mature grown up woman that I am, I will graciously accept your congratulations.

** grin **

Azure Standard

Ok, so last month was our first GO with Azure & I think I can speak for Tami when I say we are in love!  *smile*

Here's a few snaps of our loot:

Tami is dividing up the grains (we shared Soft White Wheat, Hard Red, Kamut, Spelt, Oat Groats & Rye

We Split a 25 lb tub of Raw Honey (my leftover 32 oz Agave Nectar jugs worked out great for that!)

We split a box of pears, Tami took hers home & the Chu Babies devoured them in short order.  I made about 2 gazillion batches of jam. ;)

This was my share of grains!

We also split a 10 Doz. box of Fertile Eggs three ways (with Terri), they are huge & wonderful!  After a month, Tami only needed to buy another dozen form TJ's before our next order, Terri still had plenty  & I had just run out.  This month just Tami & I split, so 5 dozen each!  Woo hoo!

As I said, this was January, so we've ordered again, Tami bakes bread 2-3 times a week, so she was thrilled to get a 50 lb. bag of Red Wheat for like $30!  She's also kept up using Soft White for all her baked goods like cakes & cookies, etc... with a noticeably finer texture!  Awesome! 

Meal Plan, Schmeal Schplan!

Ok, so if anyone actually cares, this week's attempt at a 'meal plan' was a pretty dismal failure!

Here's how my week actually played out:

Monday:  Pork Chops (pan fried w/some sort of reduction sauce), Salad  & Couscous with Pine nuts & Goat Cheese

Prep: Make Yogurt (crockpot), store dried sprouted grains, make Ginger Pear Marmalade, make bread

Monday was perfect, I added Roasted Scorn Quash to the meal AND still did everything else I set out to do!  Yay!  We're off to a good start...;)

Tuesday (Book Club at 7:30): Leftover Sweet & Sour Cabbage Soup with homemade bread/butter & roasted Acorn Squash

Ummm, let's eat out tonight....We used to eat out every Tuesday because it ensured that we made it to Book Club.  It used to be: Joe picks up Kanan, they come get me, we mosey on down that same freeway, try a new place each week & then make it to book club on time & without all the 'wasted time & gas' of going home first (home is pretty far out of the way).  Then I instituted a 'No Meals Out" for the month of January & we somehow made 'going home' first just work.  We'd go home, I'd make a simple meal, we'd still go to Book Club.  (Imagine that!)

But since we are in February & we are allowed to eat out this month, it sure was easy to just fall back into our old routine!  And, while we did order only water to drink, split an entree, K ate off the kids menu, and dinner for us all with tip was $30... not too bad...  but I still felt over full & wasteful...(hmmm....maybe I'm changing, after all?...)

Wednesday: Not home/eat out - Garden Co-Op Meeting with Tami & Terri - location TBA

Prep: Make Potato/Turnip Mash

Ok, so Joe's brother was in town for tonight only, so I got home, did dishes, started laundry, heated up the Cabbage Soup for myself...had a nice early evening alone, then went to my first ever Garden Co-op Meeting with Tami & Terri (my partners in crime, er "partners in dirt"!) LOL  We met at Starbucks & closed the place down!  So much to talk about & decide!!   Joe had dinner out with his brother at our fav little Mexican Hole-in-de-wall, Los Toros.  I was jealous so he brought home chips & their famous bean dip for me, awww!  So sweet!  I munched a bit before bed, and divvied up the rest for lunches.  That soup sure didn't stay with me!

Thursday: Shepard's Pie (from Sunday's leftover Chicken stew topped w/Mash & Salad

Prep: Thaw Ground Turkey & beans for Chili, move Kombucha bottles to fridge

Well, it was a really exceptionally rough day at work, so I really NEEDED to just go to bed straight away!  I did manage to heat up the rest of the Cabbage soup & serve a big bowl each with homemade toast, then we sat in front of the tube & vegged out all night!

Friday: Crockpot chili & cornbread

Hah!  I'm sure by now you've realized (IF you are not falling off your chair with sleepy boredom) that I never defrosted the meat!  I did, however quickly make the mashed potatoes & do the Shepherd's Pie.  Whilst that was cooking, I ground some Soft White Wheat berries & soaked them (in the hopes of making muffins or waffles on Sunday).  Dinner was yummy, even though it was a bit strange to have both pasta & barley, not to mention chicken! in a "Shepherd's Pie"! Talk about untraditional!  I did taste my Kombucha, but feel it need s bit more time, so I did not bottle yet, will do it Sunday. No salad with dinner!  We watched movie & went to bed early.

Saturday: Roast Chicken & root veggies & salad

Prep: Make stock

OK, well I do consider today a pretty productive day.  I started crockpot yogurt again, baked bread, made White Turkey Chili with Kale (based on this recipe), which we ate for dinner.  We made all our errands in one 2 hour trip!  Awesome what having deadlines can do!  In 2 hours, we did Lowes to buy chicken wire, landscaping paper, a couple plants & seedling trays; the Nursery to buy Organic dirt & inquire about large deliveries of dirt; the Soil place next to the Nursery to compare their prices (better!); Trader Joe's - I had 3 things on my list: onions, yogurt & cereal.  I walked out in less than 5 minutes with: onions, yogurt, 2 boxes of cereal & 2 packages of rice stick noodles.  NOT BAD!  (hmmm... maybe I'm changing, after all?....)

At 1pm we picked up our CSA Box & headed home.  I started the bread, added to the chili that was already started, pitched the yogurt, put bread in oven while Tami & Terri visited.  We all went outside & planned/talked some more while Joe worked on the Garden boxes.  After they left, I took bread out of the oven to cool, went thru my CSA box, finished up dinner, started my first tray of seedlings, & when we finally lost our light, we came in & ate.  Finally!  (never did have lunch - too busy!)  Now I'm posting this & then to bed for another big day Sunday!

Kanan & Austin showing alternate uses for the Garden Box they built for me last weekend....

Sunday: Recycle chicken into Tortilla Soup or tacos...? 

Well, since I never roasted the chicken, I can't very well do anything with the leftovers, can I?

I'm dragging my poor Joey to a Homestead Workshop this afternoon, so I imagine that I'll make muffins or waffles for breakie & then eat out for lunch or dinner, prolly not both...(what!?   one can hope!) ;)

Ok, well, I'm NO quitter!  ... so I think I'll keep trying.  I also think I am better under a bit of pressure, so I plan to make March a No Eating Out month again (with the exception of Kanan's birthday weekend, of course!).