​Potpourri
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Stop right there, don't think homemade potpourri is anything like the chemical laden store bought over fragranced stuff. Making your own is not kitschy; it is a good way to have on-going odor absorption and a light fragrance in areas such as bathrooms and kitchens. Making it is simple. Choose your container, add your base items, and then enhance with a few drops of essential oils. You can stick with base dried herbs, flowers, and spices, but things like pinecones and pine branches also hold oils nicely and add bulk. Be sure not to buy the pre-scented chemically treated pinecones from the craft store. You can find untreated pinecones from online suppliers, or if you collect your own, be sure to clean thoroughly and place in your oven on the lowest setting for an hour or so to dry and de-pest before using.

I dry herbs from my gardens all summer long, so I always have plenty of dried fragrant herbs and flowers to use in sachets, teas, and potpourri. I grow things like bee balm, anise hyssop, lemon verbena, lemon balm, different kinds of mint, rosemary, lavender, and more. I dry them in my dehydrator all summer long and store in airtight containers in my herb cabinet. I also like to dry citrus peels and rounds for use in tea, and those items also work well in sachets. 

I made sachets with herbs from my garden for holiday gifts, but made sure to make a few for our own house. They are tucked into the master closet, the mud room by all the shoes and boots, and in the front coat closet. They help keep things smelling fresh. I may insert them into my pre-teen sons boots once or twice too. Ahem. 

 
Turmeric has been used traditionally not only as a flavorful spice/seasoning, but also for its health benefits. Turmeric contains curcumin, which has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The addition of ginger gives this drink a warm spicy flavor, and is good for digestion and also an anti-inflammatory.  I consciously add anti-inflammatory foods to my diet as much as I can to help support anti-inflammatory processes in my body, and having a drink with both ginger and turmeric is an added bonus. The taste is rich and creamy with a hint of a musky chai-like undertone. It is delicious.  This rich golden milk is great during seasonal transitions when it can go from warm to cold in one day or when you get inside after a cold day in the snow, and a steaming mug of spicy milk tastes and feels wonderful. 

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​I love using turmeric and ginger as much as I can, and this drink is so delicious and rich and spicy. I do like coffee (we roast our own beans) and I love herbal tea (I grow and dry my own herbs all summer long to make herbal tea blends), but I also like having a hot drink that has a different flavor in my winter mug rotation!

Curcumin!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12676044
http://cms.herbalgram.org/expandedE/Turmericroot.html?ts=1450805564&signature=ac9639920279f278fee0cd0a5d3c813e
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Most of us are not lucky enough to live where citrus grows locally.  And while eating close to the source is ideal, in this day and age not everything we consume will be from the corner farm.  Salt, pepper, olive oil, coffee, tea…we can make conscious decisions to support fair trade and organic for as much as we can, while still working towards finding local for those things which are available. So for me, citrus is a part of our winter and holiday experience, no matter our climate. I love that sharp blast of citrus as my fingers break the peel on these dark, gloomy days of winter. 

​Citrus in winter is like the sun - fleeting, delicious, and memorable. One way to balance our distance with citrus is to use everything. Waste nothing. When we find it in season in the winter, use it all, enjoy it all. We use the peels and candy them, make garland, and dry for tea blends. 

This recipe is simple to make, but quite a show stopper dessert. It is made in a spiced, fragrant syrup, but it isn't overly sweet. It is nice because it can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for a day or so before serving, so it is perfect for the holiday table. 

​ Citrus is a winter treat, to be enjoyed on these dark winter days.  We boost our mood as well as our vitamins (A, B-6, C, folate), fiber, and minerals (potassium, calcium, iron).  By using the whole fruit, we don’t waste a thing, and get the most from these sunny, fragrant orbs. Yum.

​Most DIY bath/body/personal care recipes out there are she focused. While scent has no gender, generally products made for men have more of an earthy, musky fragrance. This aftershave can be used by anyone, but it is particularly great as a facial toner and aftershave. This contains none of the alcohol, preservatives, or artificial fragrance of store bought brands. Instead, this is a refreshing mix that can help soothe and tone freshly shaved skin, soften and moisturize, and also leave a wonderful fragrance behind that is natural, earthy, and not overpowering. My husband loves how this makes his skin feel soft and yet supple (with no overdrying) and that the aroma is warm and musky without being overpowering. I even sneak a spray of it on my scarf sometimes because I love the smell. 

 
It isn't always easy to find handmade and homemade gift ideas for the men in your life - and this recipe makes a great gift!
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​I have been working with some of my sunset photos for some projects, and decided to make a few desktop images each month for free download. Just for fun. :) I have posted the sunset above with a November calendar overlay using a few sizes for the most common HD screen ratio as well as a common laptop ratio. Should work for most desktop image sizes! I also posted a square image for your tablet or phone lockscreen.  Click here for a page where you can download any of them. Enjoy!

A favorite staple in our fall CSA share each week is sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are a fantastic fall and winter food. They are packed with vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, B vitamins, potassium, fiber, and more. They are healthy, delicious, and can be dressed hundreds of ways. They can be baked, boiled, added to stews, stuffed, and used in savory or sweet dishes.

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A simple yet delicious way to enjoy sweet potatoes is baked with a filling in the middle. This recipe is simple and the taste is warming and rich.  I often bake a bunch of sweet potatoes at once over the weekend, and then keep them in the refrigerator for daily lunches. It is easy to re-heat and top with whatever you like. Perfect "fast food" ~ yum.

Sweet potatoes are great for autumn and winter potlucks. Try setting up a create-your-own-sweet potato bar. Roast the sweet potatoes and serve them next to an assortment of toppings and let everyone make their own.
 
I use sweet potatoes a few times a week in fall and then worry I won't have enough to last all winter long. I know we have a few more fall CSA shares before our season is over, so I plan to stock up!

This is the time of year for apple orchards, cool autumn days, and falling leaves. It is also the time for simmering pots of cider on the stove, infused with spices to warm the body and make the whole house smell amazing.

We are lucky to live near many apple orchards  - the closest is just 4.5 miles away. Just about every weekend from late September until November we are picking up gallons of freshly pressed cider and bushels of apples to make and bake with. As it gets dark earlier and earlier, we tuck in more in the evenings and play board games, cards, and even poker together. It is a family ritual to have a cup of steaming cider while we play and I make this almost daily. 

Cider in the fall is one of those family rituals that makes the season feel complete to us. The house fills with the amazing aroma of apples, cinnamon, and other spices. It warms us after an evening walk on a chilly night. It simply means fall is here. Enjoy!

Another season has arrived, another autumn with Tend Magazine. Saying Time Flies may seem glib, but it is true. This issue has a lot about home, finding your sense of place, celebrating autumn, and gathering all fall has to offer and storing it for winter. 

My section, of course, is all about food and herbs. Elke found a few game experts who wow us with their recipes for partridge, rabbit, and pheasant. Learn all about mushrooms! Kirsten shares how to ferment mushrooms, and I show you how to grow your own, preserve them, and cook with them! Debbie shares her recipe for elderberry syrup, which is perfect for this time of year. Kim tells us many ways to preserve the autumn harvest - she even shares her secret "Kim"chi recipe. There is also a homemade granola 101, and blending your own tub teas. And that is just my section! Throughout the magazine there are articles about building an off-grid village, going off grid, creating a home. There is autumn reading, and of course there are patterns. Make a tweed cowl, build an indoor campfire craft with the littles, and make some felt stuffies. 124 pages of great things to take us into autumn. 
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​I love our contributors. Have I told you that recently? Everyone is so passionate about what they do, what they make, and they love to share with others. We are lucky to have so many creative, dynamic writers/makers/doers. They are fabulous!

A chilly refreshing healing spray feels SO good on hot skin. While it is best to not get burned, sometimes in the summer we get a little too much sun or just feel overheated (not to mention hormonal overheated) and this refreshing herbal spray can help provide quick relief.


Optional :: Try reducing the distilled water to  2.5 ounces, and adding .5 ounces of a good quality organic witch hazel in the recipe.  I prefer alcohol-free spray, but the really good quality witch hazel can give additional relief for those times you have too much sun.

One of the hardest things about leaving our old (way too small) house was leaving the garden. But we split and collected transplants of several things that could be worked in April, and thought they would be happy enough in pots until they can go in ground. For a full greenhouse of seedlings, we searched for a community garden plot near the new home so we could plant in ground right away, even as the new house had to wait for grading and driveway and landscaping before we could plant a single thing. I was so thrilled to find an organic community garden just  2 miles from home. We reserved our plot when we were still packing boxes at the old house. We went on weekends to hand till and weed and prep before we even moved. In the early days we didn't know anything about the new garden. The people, the soil, the weeds, the sun, the animals. We just knew we needed a plot since we would not have any garden beds until who knows when. 

The new house had come together so suddenly  that every seedling already started was planned for the old house.  I had flats and flats of plants which were primarily for part sun, dense rich soil, and high moisture - we had worked so long on the old garden to get the soil to produce so heavily in a small space. We planted anyway. We discovered early on that the new soil was dense and compact. Not very high in nitrogen. And the weeds!!! The first month or two we went to the community garden the weeds were the conversation starters. Every person would stop, introduce themselves, and talk about the weeds. Last year they almost gave up. Last year they did give up. The weeds and thistles explained all of the interesting contraptions in other plots, the haybales, the large sheets of plastic, and the expensive raised beds. We re-worked half of the plot to cover it in weed barrier and added as much compost as we could. As things came in very yellow, people would stop to chat and tell us all about how this used to be a pond bed, then corn fields, and then just grass and weeds. About the river. About the deer whose tracks we found in all of the holes torn into the weed barrier. 

As things were tweaked and supplemented and new things planted, people would stop to chat about different plants and ask what is this, what is that. Gardeners at the next plot over would sit and weed and chat while we watered. We weeded the paths, added more mulch, filled out our sheets for garden hours. We found a turtle nest in the compost and another gardener got a marker while we found a plot marker and string to rope it off so nobody would dig there. Everyone has avoided that spot since then, and the turtle eggs are carefully covered back up after any rain. For months there were spots with stakes and neon pink tape to protect the killdeer nests that were nestled in along the paths. 

There will be a picnic for the garden, and I donated a book for a raffle - and a lovely lady came by to the house to pick it up. She has now come over to the plot to chat every time we are there. And we talked about all of the great recipes in the local cookbook and the chefs that created them (she knows most of them). Every time we go to the garden (2-3 times per week) there are many people there. It is never empty. And it is always friendly. There are hellos and compliments and chat about the weather. There are those who know each other well now who heckle each other loudly in good humor over who has the most weeds, or who has the biggest tomatoes. We may not have met the people way over on the other far corner yet. But I assure you they have waved and yelled hi on their way down their path. 

This new town we live in is pretty much a suburb of Madison. But it is tucked off on its own a bit and so it has a small town feel. 10,000 people live here. And people are friendly. We have had a community garden before. But it just wasn't a community. I have realized over the past few months that is what this new garden plot is. It is a community. It is our community that we will now be a part of for years to come. Our new house has 3 times the yard size, and we will have room for many integrated plantings, fruiting bushes, canes and trees. But I am now certain that we will keep this community garden plot. Because it is a community garden. And this is our community.

This is the time of year when we all have a lot of veggie scraps. Peels, ends, stems, and stalks. Before you compost those perfectly fresh scraps, think about making fresh veggie stock. It is a great way to use all of the healthy fresh ends and peels and pieces. The stock can then be used for making everything from soups and stews to casseroles or even used as the pasta/rice/grains water. By using scaps, you are saving a lot of usable food from the garbage bin or compost pile and turning it into liquid nutrients for the whole family.

The easiest way to make fresh vegetable stock is to save all of your kitchen scraps as you meal prep throughout the week and store them in a jar or bag in the fridge until you are ready to use (or the freezer if not using within a few days). I tend to prep all of our CSA box on Wednesdays along with community garden picks from Tuesday, so that everything is ready to use for the rest of the week.  I can easily fill a whole pot with stems, peels, and ends every Wednesday from June to November. 

Veggies that are good for stock making include onion ends, scallion bits, carrot skins and tops, celery bottoms, beet greens, pea pods, swiss chard stalks, green bean tips, zucchini peels and ends, and all stems from herbs like parsley, thyme, sage, savory, rosemary, or basil. Skip the stronger cruciferous veggies, as they can add an unpleasant aroma to stock (cabbage,  broccoli, cauliflower,  brussel sprouts). I use kale stems just fine though. The key is to use fresh scraps - nothing bad or moldy - your stock will taste like what you put in it. 

So fill a 3-4 quart stockpot with your leftover veggies and herbs. Add a bay leaf or two, a few peppercorns, a teaspoon or so of pickling spices (coriander, cumin, dill, clove), and 2-3 cloves of garlic. I also like a little dried chili pepper.

If you have a lot of only one type of veggie, add a carrot, a stalk or two of celery, and an onion. 
 
Fill with enough water to cover the veggies/herbs (don't worry if you have a few stalks sticking out, it will cook down). 

Bring just to a gentle simmer on medium (not a hard boil), reduce heat, and simmer on low for 1-2 hours.

Strain all of the stock to remove vegetables, herbs, and spices. 

 Pour the liquid into sterilized canning jars or freezer jars. Let them cool to room temperature first, and then freeze immediately or store in the fridge if you will be using within a week or two. 

Makes approximately 2 quarts/2 litres.

Of course you can save chicken bones and make chicken stock too. I find that with all of the garden and CSA bounty my husband and I eat a lot of vegan meals in the summer. The boys have a lot of poultry since there are mammal meat and dairy allergies in the house, but there is only so much bird a girl can take (and I love summer bounty!). So for me, having fresh vegetable stock which can be used for cooking anything and everything is so convenient and really adds great flavor to everything. This veggie stock + the vegetable bouillon I make is a great base staple for just about any recipe. 

So don't toss the scraps! Make veggie stock!

In late April, we moved from the far side of our city to a small outlying town on the far opposite side of our metro area. We moved from one green built home to another, but the landscape couldn't be more different for moving only 19 miles. We moved from a 1536 square foot home on a lot that was under 3000 square feet (including driveway, sidewalks, etc.). We moved to a bit larger home (better suits our work at home/homeschooling/kids moving closer to teens) with the total lot size more than three times the size of our last home. Our square footage is still less than "average", but after living in such a small space for so long, it feels huge to us. A big part of the change though really is the landscape. 

The views are amazing. We are atop a hill and surrounded by fields on 3 sides. The birds swoop and sing. The grasses and wildflowers sway in the breeze. The storms roll through and we can see rain from dozens of miles away. The lightning! At night it is quiet and the moon and stars are so so clear. The sunsets are stunning. 

It is a great feeling to move from the bottom of a hill where neighbors walking by would wave at us through the windows to a panorama of rolling hills, swaying grasses and wildflowers, distant silos, and so much quiet. I stand outside every single night looking at that sky. We open windows wide at night and peer through our telescope to see moon, stars, and even birds landing on thistles far across a field. 

We were waiting for our base landscaping grass to establish before we started working on our new permaculture beds and plantings. I am happy we had time to sit here and feel the winds, see how much sun we get, and observe the wildlife. It will help us create a more balanced garden for this environment. And now I also know that we need a place to lay down and look at the stars. 

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In this house, we love making our own beverages. We make infused water, shrubs, syrups, switchels, and teas. My husband even roasts his own coffee beans. I drink a lot of water, but having a variety of beverages is nice - so many flavors! Every summer I find myself making this blend of juniper, ginger, sage, and lime. This combination is tangy, sweet, and earthy. Very different, and *very* good. 

My husband spent some time as a child in Germany, and so grew up on a little bit of syrup or fruit juice in a glass topped with seltzer water. These days we have a soda stream. We make all of our own syrups, but the little machine is a great fast way to fizz our own filtered water and use it to make drinks. This drink syrup is a base. You make the syrup, store it in the fridge, and when you want a drink, you make it right then. It is very easy. You simply add some ice to a glass, add a few tablespoons of the drink base (to taste), and top with seltzer water. It is cold, fizzy, and flavorful. DIY soda! And all homemade. Delicious! 

{Try making a cocktail version using syrup, gin, and seltzer!}

Making your own drink syrup is very quick and easy, and homemade sodas taste fantastic!


{{Juniper berries are the seed cone produced by juniper. When dried they have a fresh green piney aroma and flavor. Juniper berries are used a lot in scandinavian and european cuisine to flavor meats and fermented veggies - and juniper berries are the main flavor in gin.  You can find dried juniper berries in the spices or dried herb section of most grocery stores. Online they can be found at places like iherb, Williams-Sonoma, Mountain Rose Herbs, Penzeys Spices, etc. }}

Long ago I found a recipe for bouillon in the River Cottage Preserves Handbook. A lightbulb went off, and I have been making my own version of veggie bouillon ever since. By blending all of the freshest herbs and vegetables in peak summer and preserving them with salt, you save that crisp fresh flavor which is fantastic in winter when making soups and stews.

When you think of bouillon you probably imagine a hard dry cube - but this is more of a thick paste. You use it like you use a cube though, by stirring a spoonful into your recipe when making soups, broth, stews, or even pasta. This is very salty as bouillon should be, and the salt is what preserves the green vibrant flavors – a little goes a long way. 

I call my version garden bouillon because I use many things found in my garden. I like to make several batches over the summer so that I have enough to last all winter. Keep a jar in the fridge for using now, and freeze the rest. This has a high level of salt so it will never freeze quite solid, so you can still spoon out some even fresh from the freezer. I like to freeze in 1 cup jars so that I can pull one out at a time throughout the year. 

A food processor is the best tool for the job.

I will make a few more batches as the summer goes along, using what I have fresh and in season. This is a great way to preserve the fresh, vibrant summer flavors, to use long into the winter!

I've been absent here for quite awhile. While I have been busily working on and contributing to Tend Magazine, I have been more quiet here and about our daily life. To be honest, the past year+ has been tough on us, as we went from specialist to specialist for my oldest son - hoping to finally find out what has been making him so sick. For years and years he has had all of these symptoms that are not explained by his severe food allergies. And of course every annual check-up he had never coincided with a time that he had an episode so nobody knew what I was talking about - until last spring. So we trekked from endocrinologist to gastroenterologist to immunologist to gastroenterologist to autonomic nervous system specialist and back. Last October we had a lucky hit when an allergist ran a test he has never seen a positive for - and it came back positive. That helped get us referred to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and in April we visited Mayo for four days for more tests. And we got answers. My 12 year old was diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) which explains so, so much. So we have been head down driving forward with this for so long, and now we are coming out of the laser focus into the reality of managing things for him day to day. And in the midst of all of this, I was diagnosed with more than one autoimmune disease. I am aware the stress of all of the severe food allergies and health stuff that has been going on with my son has contributed to my own health, no matter how organic and healthy I eat. I laughed when I was told to eliminate stress  - any food allergy parent knows it all requires 24/7 attention and diligence. But we pulled our family even closer together, tightened our focus on reducing exposure to A's allergies and triggers in his daily life, and have been managing this all as we go, enjoying life and yes, thriving.

And I find myself here now in July of 2015. !?!?! We moved into a beautiful new green built home two months ago. We still live in the Madison area, just in a small outlying town atop a hill with views of rolling hills, fields, and prairie grasses as far as the eyes can see. We have more space, more light, more quiet. We have a community garden plot in our new town. We have an art space with giant windows in the basement. We have room to create an apartment downstairs for my sons as they get older. We have a brand new (very large!!!) yard and garden to start from scratch. We have new small towns to visit, trails to wander, and country roads to explore, windows down and music blasting. 

We are working with the specialists at Mayo to learn everything we need to know to help my son feel better -  we have seen some improvement for him already -  and we will continue to work on figuring it out and tweaking our life. And while I've been gardening, cooking, writing, photographing, and creating, it has been more confined to Instagram and Tend Magazine  - but as we get into our new home, our new town, our new routines, and our new normal, I'm feeling like sharing more again, so I think it is time to return to this space. Here is to a fantastic second half of 2015. xo

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"I'd made it this far and refused to 
give up because all my life
I had always finished the race."
-Louis Zamperini
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More on MCAS:
CNN feature on MCAS
Mast Cell Disease 
MCAS @ National Institute of Health
MCAD

Kirsten shows you how you can make delicious fermented snacks from revived ferments you already have your fridge!

Kimberly has some amazing recipes using dandelions (dandelion mint chimichurri!!!) ! These dandelion recipes are delicious and healthy, giving that punch of flavor and vibrancy from the garden after a long winter. 

Debbie has an easy to make DIY homemade deodorant - without the chemicals of the store bought brands.

Evie has a trio of custards which just scream spring.

And I have contributed many recipes for DIY natural home cleaning products (room spray, diy dryer sheets, tub scrub, counter cleaner, carpet fresh and MORE),  cleaning and refreshing indoor air after a long winter, and using scraps to make liquid gold.

And that is just my section! This issue is 182 pages (more like a book!) of spring goodness and healthy home from many awesome contributors (like Heather, Debbie, Joanna, Laura, and even an interview with Teri!). We have new contributors and guest spots every issue, and so I look forward to the magazine as much as anyone! ;)

Tend Magazine is a digital magazine which you can download to your computer and/or device and read at your leisure, as well as refer back to whenever you want to try a recipe or pattern!

Click here to use code QALV21 for 20% off of the Spring 2015 issue of Tend - for one week only!

Be sure to head over to the Tend Magazine website to see all of the sneak peeks Debbie has posted - and a few freebie recipes will be posted over the next few weeks as well! 

And here is a 20% discount code for you which is good until December 22:  

DCWIN20 

VISIT Tend Magazine>> {Tend Magazine Winter 2014}
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Happy Winter!

Top to bottom:: blueberries (over 20# this week), blueberries in the dehydrator for granola all winter long, blueberry-coconut water sorbet with orange blossom water, smoothies (peaches, blueberries, cherries, banana, spirulina, coconut water), gathering herbs to dry from the garden, spiralized cucumbers for making miso fermented pickles, tomato season has arrived, gluten free/dairy free blueberry upside down cake (a blueberry adapted version of this recipe), and blueberry mostarda. 

Blueberries is my theme for the week. Ha! We try to get things in season in bulk whenever we can, and then preserve enough in many ways to last the winter, of course. This week we froze a lot, dried a lot, made cake, mostarda, and a few other things. I try to freeze and dry enough fruit to last us all winter. We make smoothies all the time, plus dried fruit is amazing in homemade granola/granola bars. As for the mostarda, well, none of us really likes jam or jelly. Too sweet. We don't eat bread. So no need to make it. But, mostarda is amazing. I make tweaked versions of mostarda. Usually it is big whole fruit which is sweet and twangy and savory all at once. I like it more like a compote mustard texture. It has the flavor of the fruit, a lot of mustard seeds, the richness of the vinegar (in this I used raspberry balsamic), and isn't too sweet. I usually make several kinds to last us through winter - blueberry, peach, white currant. 

Tomato season is here finally as well. Time to dry a bunch, roast a lot, make salsa to freeze (I like the freshness of frozen salsa more than canned), and later, sauce. We don't use that much sauce these days, so I prefer drying and salsa the most. Cucumbers are here too. This is another one we use differently. We are not huge fans of pickles. Just regular pickles. We make a few bags of freezer pickles every year, plus a few jars of lacto fermented garlic pickles, but overall I like relishes and unusual flavors better. This week I made miso fermented refrigerator pickles. Almost ready to crack them open for a taste!

Door County Cherries should be in soon, so I will have more fruit after this batch. And we will be up to our noses in tomatoes. 


How about you? What has been happening in your kitchen this week?


Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty that Moves for all of the Blog Hop-ees.

August!!! My favorite thing about August is usually that September is not far behind. I love fall the most of all. But I must give August some credit where it is due, as it is also the month where all of the bigger storage and preserving fruit and veggies really start arriving!

CSA Week 9:: salad mix, green beans, peppers, carrots, fresh garlic, summer squash, torpedo onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, cilantro, melon, blueberries. 

U-Pick:: flowers, parsley, thyme, sage, mint, peppers.

Capturing my love of whole foods, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the center of my home. 

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top to bottom:: indigo apple tomato, white currant harvest, tomatoes ripening on the windowsill (chipmunk thwarting), collecting seeds for drying (dill, coriander, mustard), brining lovage seeds to make pickles, turkey taco salad with fresh salsa, stock making from all the veggie and herb tops/stems this week, lovage seeds drying, everything salad.

We traveled a bit last weekend so I spent many mealtimes cooking in the tiny hotel kitchen. In my experience, the closer to a big city you get, the more non-functional the "full kitchen" is (no matter how expensive), so we always take enough options so that we can feed my allergy boy no matter how simple the tools. I also always plot the nearest food co-op/Whole Foods types of places too, so we were within 10 miles of two WF's and were able to grab a few extra things for him that could be heated in the microwave, as the "full kitchen" didn't contain an oven or a toaster. Traveling in a more congested area can be tough food-wise also, as we base our hotel requirements on specifications that dictate where we can stay and it usually isn't close to the things we are traveling to see. That can mean the hotel is not easy to get to for lunch or snacks mid-day, so we always pack a full cooler with ice packs plus a wide variety of snacks and drinks so that we are still OK if we don't really want to do a 40 minute drive to get 15 miles back to the hotel. That means we can also just stop and eat anywhere, and so we snacked in the foyer of Fermilab (very cool), had lunch outside a beautiful nature center, and had a close at hand palate cleanser after my boy tasted every single balsamic vinegar and olive oil in the gourmet food store and max'd out his taste buds. {He selected a great aged raspberry balsamic, honey-ginger balsamic, a vivid green intense peppery spanish olive oil, and a fantastic olive oil which was pressed with blood orange rind -- yum!!!}

After our trip we have been playing catch up, so we have been collecting the first tomatoes (early so the chipmunk doesn't get them), harvesting seeds to dry and use for seasoning blends, collecting herbs for all of the pickles I am behind on, and filling the dehydrator daily to catch back up on all of my tea and culinary herbs for the winter. Playing a bit of catch up with the CSA share as well. I pulled out an extra table to stack all of my overflow of veggies I need to freeze/can/pickle/make. And with the hot sunshine returning, I am making a few rounds of coconut water sorbet and popsicles with the last of my strawberries, first of my red raspberries,  and the finally in season blueberries!  Yum. 

What have you been making?

Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty that Moves to see everyone in the blog hop!

We had a very busy week, with appointments for A and doing some weekend travel to visit Fermilab and other fun spots. CSA day always seems to reign me in no matter how busy we have been, and give me a sense of summer ticking away, pickup day by pickup day. 

CSA Week 8 (8!!!):: cilantro, cucumbers, zucchini, blueberries, green beans, onions, beets, carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, eggplant, lettuce, and garlic. I skipped the fennel, as it is not very popular in this house.

U-Pick:: hot peppers, oregano, parsley, mint, sage, thyme, and, of course, flowers. 

It is almost August! Time flies. In no time at all we will be overloaded with tomatoes and corn, and not long after winter squash and root vegetables. Week by week, ticking through summer. 

What is in season where you live?

Capturing my love of whole foods, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the center of my home. 

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top to bottom: dried peaches from the dehydrator, chicken enchiladas with sauce and daiya dairy free cheese, on the grill, chicken salad with the last of the pickled radish pods, tomato/cucumber/blueberry salad, green beans roasted with grilled spring onions and garlic scapes, grilled peaches with molasses and coconut manna, picking fresh herbs from the garden to dry for tea, garden white currants, peach bbq sauce done, ingredients, and a few pics from the CSA this week (all now packed into my fridge and coolers). 

One thing I love about this weekly blog hop is the recording of moments in the kitchen, because this time of year I often feel like I've been working non-stop and can't remember what I have made, or feel like I DIDN'T GET ANYTHING DONE. It is nice to have too many photos to post here, and have to sort and pick just a few. It makes me feel like I did make it through quite a bit of garden, CSA, or farmstand. That we ate well. Even though we had other appointments, or played at the park every evening, or went to the library more times than usual. That I'm *not quite* as behind as it always feels when the garden is going gangbusters. There is always more to do, more to dry, more to harvest, more canning, more freezing. The fridge is packed, the coolers are full, the counter has bowls of just picked something or other. Summer is abundant and full. I love seeing the freezer fill, the pantry packed, and the cycle repeating. xo 

Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty That Moves to see inside kitchens today!

I love when we move from lettuces and onions into the full onslaught of summer vegetables. Not just one type of flavor anymore, and the possibilities are endless. This week I see caponata, veggie skewers and tzatziki. PIckled fennel and spiralized carrots in a ginger glaze. And fresh herbs on everything. 

CSA Week 7: torpedo onions, cucumbers, lettuce, swiss chard, pepper, 2 tomatoes (first of the year!), garlic, fennel, green beans, carrots, zucchini, eggplant.

U-Pick: sage, thyme, mint, basil, dill, parsley, and of course u-pick flowers. This week I went for orange and deep plum colors together. Love it!

This week I had to water the garden (for the first time in months) as it dried out and heated up here. My flowers are all finally blooming, peas are still going strong, herbs are flowering and I've been harvesting and drying them. Squash are growing well (up my tree), tomatoes are big but just not ripe yet. Raspberries are starting to ripen, the blackberries are almost there as well, and my currants are very very ripe (I'm just thinking I might need a mumu with a full body net for mosquito protection after giving up a few days back). My first flying peas have been harvested, and the dwarf sunflowers are close! All good. 

What is in season where you live?