Astrid's fun day

     Fresh off a sleepover and pizza making with one of her favorite friends, Astrid met up with another favorite gymnastics buddy and headed off to the new Discovery Adventure Park.  Secured with a harness and work gloves they headed up many, many feet into the air to fly like birds and balance like squirrels up in the trees.

All by herself.  No fear!

Can't wait to take Gwen!

Astrid and E!

She came home after about three hours;  invigorated, excited and TIRED!  They had a great time and we are so happy she was invited to join on such a special trip!

Pneumonia and Soup

     It's been a while since I wrote a post.  I have a bunch swirling around in my head but with the laundry, messy house and all the other stuff, it's been a while since I took the time and energy to write anything.  I can also blame it on the fact that today I officially feel 95% better, for the first time, than I did a couple weeks ago when I was diagnosed with full blown pneumonia!  Holy Shit.  I've never been that sick.
     Anyway- today I am writing a few recipes for a wedding gift cookbook my food co-op is collaborating on for one of it's members daughter's and I am including this recipe I just made up.  I like to eat what we crave and today it was pumpkin.  Hmm.  How can I make that into a fast recipe that doesn't require a lot of dish washing and can be done in half hour since the kids are hungry.

• Dish tally:  cutting board, knife, one pot, soup ladle, soup bowls and spoons.

Red Lentil, Red Tomato, Red Onion & Orange Pumpkin Soup

     I based this off a friend from Turkeys lentil soup.  It’s a great base that I use all the time to create new recipes. Thanks Addie!  This is one I whipped up today, 10/11/12, for lunch.  The kids are all eating it now so it must taste good.  This soup is loaded with vitamin A, C, iron and protein.  

Measurements are all approximate.

1/2 red onion, chopped

2 large cloves of garlic, chopped

3 Tbsp olive oil

Saute above ingredients in a medium sized soup pot over medium heat for about 5 minutes.  

Add the following and stir to combine and simmer until lentils are tender- about 25 minutes.

1 can organic pumpkin

1 can organic diced plain tomatoes

2 cups red lentils (they are actually orange and very cute)  Check out the nutritional info here.

about 1.5 tsp cumin

water to fill all but three inches of the pot

Once lentils are tender, add about 1/4 Earth Balance buttery spread and salt to taste and serve.

Enjoy.

I'm also including this in the book.  It's another relatively quick and nutritious dinner.

Any Veggie Casserole

I often make this with just broccoli or green beans for a side dish and serve with rice.  We also really like it with carrots, cauliflower and potato, okra, squash, and sometimes with chopped raw kale mixed in.

1/4 cup Earth Balance buttery spread

1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cups vegan soup broth or mushroom soup (like Imagine Foods)

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1/2 t garlic powder

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup nutritional yeast 

2-3 cups chopped, lightly steamed veggies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a sauce pan, melt the Earth Balance over low heat.  Add the flour and whisk until it forms a roux. Add the veggie broth, soy sauce, garlic powder and whisk continually for 1-2 minutes until sauce is thick and bubbly.  Add olive oil and nutritional yeast.  Whip again until smooth.  

Put steamed veggies in a 9X9 glass casserole and cover with sauce.  Stir gently to combine.  Bake for 30-45 minutes until top begins to brown slightly.  Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes and serve.

Yum.

Steph

Getting Older

Having a day where I'm noticing how my kids are growing like weeds, their faces are changing and they are looking more like big kids and less like the babies I'm accustomed to.  sigh.

My Gardens

I could be a gardener.  If I had all the time in the world I could spend hours babying my plants, weeding even the tinyest of weeds so they don’t steal away any precious nutrients from my veggies and herbs and flowers.  I’d pluck off the bugs and worms that eat the leaves, one at a time.  I choose to spend my time doing other things and as such my garden takes on a more wild theme.  You can tell time was spent planting each seed and making sure they were watered early on, but as the summer goes on my gardens take on a mind of their own.  I love my gardens.  This year I planted kale, tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, chives, onions, okra, cucumbers, beets, lettuces, spinach, peppers, cabbage, carrots, soy beans, yard long beans, mouse melons, and probably a few other things that I have forgotten or have succumbed to lack of weeding or bugs.  Somewhere on this computer there are lots more pictures, but they are alluding me now.

I have lots of herbs which always do well and thankfully Nick enjoys gardening, too, so we do get a harvest.  He likes to dry them and I love when he hangs them from the 160 year old beams in the house.  Makes me wonder what this house was like back then.  If the people that lived here hung their herbs to dry here, too.  Imagine the smell of drying oregano, sage, lemon balm and mint.  He's recently added a few more plants to the herb garden.   The herbs are great because many of them return each year.

The kids love to snack in the garden and it delights me to know that they are eating healthy organic foods that are as fresh as they can be.

Our Russian Red Kale that the bugs like as much as we do.

Grampa shooting off vinegar and baking soda rockets with the garden in the background.

the big garden in the spring

this is an okra flower!!

my garlic harvest this year

Nicky helping pull radishes

Huckleberry Hill Co-op and panthers

     We will be starting a new home school venture this fall called the Huckleberry Hill Co-op.  It is a a conglomeration of like-minded people who all have a passion for caring for the Earth, and the things on it.  Each child will have a project.  Isn't that awesome? Not that they will have a project, but that that is all of the direction they will have to begin.  Not a lot of direction, (it does have to help the Earth), but that there are no boundaries.  They can do anything and will have a group of smart, creative kids and their Moms to guide, teach and help them learn the skills they need to succeed in what ever it is they want.  Shouldn't life always be like that?  The sky is the limit.  They will share and hour long lunch break and during the second part of the day at this beautiful farm, the kids will work as a team to create a documentary about type 2 diabetes.  Yeah, that's all.

     I have been periodically asking the girls throughout the summer what their main project will be, not so they can cement their ideas so early, but so they can think about different ideas until one cements itself in their minds.  Gwen has been rolling the idea of fair trade chocolate around.  Sounds delicious!
 
   Astrid has hopped around from pet sitting to guinea pig agility to a recurring mention of panthers.  Today when I asked again, Astrid said without a doubt that her project was going to be about saving panthers and then looked at me like I was nuts for asking her this question, yet again.  Okay then.

     So we talked about what she can do, how a 7 year old kid could help and what was going on that caused the panthers to need her help.  After discussing urban sprawl, habitat loss and conflicting preditors, we decided to check out Otter John's website.  He is an animal activist and show person who we are lucky enough to see every year while we are visiting Florida, as part of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas Festival in Everglades City.  She composed, and I typed an email to Otter John, as follows:

Dear Otter John,

    My name is Astrid and I am seven years old.  I saw you three times in Everglades City and I liked looking at all of the animals you brought.  The panther, Harley, was beautiful.

    I am a homeschooler and I am doing this co-op where I have to do a project to help the world.  I chose to help panthers because they are an endangered species and people are building houses where they live.  They have to cut down trees to make the areas to build the houses and it is killing lots of animals that the panthers need to eat to survive.  The animals that they need are disappearing and the panthers are getting hit by cars because people need roads to get to their houses.

     I wanted to know how I could help save the panthers.  I live in Connecticut but we visit Everglades City in the winter and that is when I saw you show all of your really cool animals at the playground.

     Sincerely,

          Astrid

Once the email was sent we moved on to research a little more about the Florida Panther.  Among other interesting facts like the common and scientific names, food, appearance and habitat, we learned that there are only 100 panthers left in the wild in Florida.  100 panthers.  Astrid's eyes grew red as did her face and as she sat there 12 inches from me I could feel the heat from her face as she smiled her Astrid "I'm going to smile because other wise I will cry and I must be strong face".  She became animated and giggly in face, but in her eyes I saw hurt and fury.  She said she felt the way she feels when she learns things like that people eat guinea pigs in Peru.  There was a tear in her left eye but she managed to keep it from trailing down her cheek somehow.  I know I had tears in my eyes.   I just can't wait to see where she goes with this, my passionate little animal lover.  
                                      

 Fri. August 31, 2012.  Otter John wrote back!!!  

Hey Astrid,

Sorry about the delay, I'm still trying to figure out how to use my email on this iPhone... Hahaha...


Anyway, I really appreciate the fact that you want to help the Florida Panther from becoming extinct... To be completely honest, you answered your own question. To save animals, we as a population must save their natural habitat. The thing is, we must save the habitat not only for the Panther, but for the Panthers prey as well. We need to save the habitat which will save all of the animals, the beautiful and the creepy. We need to save the trees, grass, rocks, and water. The best way that I know how to do that is by educating the public about the importance of saving  the planet. "awareness through experience"... To save the animals, we MUST save the planet. The way I like to think
that I do my part is by taking my animals to schools and special
events. When people see the animals up close, it really seems to touch their heart so that I can get my point across.  Anyway, hope that was helpful. Let me know if I can be anymore help. 
Thanks
OtterJohn

Sent from my iPhone

Pet-sitting and Gardening

Astrid is an entrepreneur.

She wants animal companions.  She is just like me as a kid.  I remember trying to hatch robin eggs I had found lying in the grass under a tree, nursing wayward bumble bees back to life when they came too close to the sprinkler, finding kittens in all sorts of places, that needed homes.  With us.  Hamsters, gerbils, fish, cats, parakeets...

But Astrid wants them all and all at once.  So we've compromised.  She pet sits.  It's a service she has been offering going on three years now and she has repeat clients.  We post ads in the home school lists and she finds animals through word-of-mouth.  We've had dogs, cats, lizards, birds, frogs, mice and lots of guinea pigs.  There may be a rat on the horizon.  She doesn't charge a fee, but accepts tips and gifts.   She may build a website soon to make it more official!

It's the perfect solution for a family that loves animals but doesn't want the long term commitment of  a life long companion animal.  The kids get to learn about and care for different species and then they go home!  Most of them, anyway.  Trixie started out as a client and is now a family member.

 

Titus

Trixie and Nutmeg

Snowball, Nutmeg and Trixie

Minnie and Ling Ling

Fannie and Freddie

Simone

Simone

Baby Bird

                                          and.... we have the garden.  More to come on that!

Ballet

Ballerina

Over the last four years, Gwen has been taking ballet classes.  She started at a little church basement and moved on to The Performing Arts Center of CT.  She loves the art;  her favorite thing being performances.  And performances are something not taken lightly at PACC, with weeks of rehearsals, beautiful costumes and wonderful choreography.  She is gearing up for her 5th year... fourth at PACC and is looking forward to it.

Here are some pictures through the years.

ten years can make changes!  G's first tutu at 2 months.

Being a fairy ballerina with A.  Age 4.

G with "Clara" from the Nutcracker

G and her BFF

2012 end of year recital

with Gramma

2012 recital

JULY!

Traditionally July has been my favorite month because it's my birthday month.  That started it all off when I was a kid.  What's better than a summer birthday party when you are a kid?  I grew up associating summer with birthday cake, (you know how strongly I feel about that), birthday gifts, no school, sprinklers, fire flies, sunshine, fireworks, late nights, summer night sounds and vacations with family...  Now that I'm an adult, my reasons have changed, and maybe even my choice of favorite month, but for the kids July is still magical.  It's only the 9th, but so far so good.   I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the 4 day swim lesson class I signed the kids up for at the beach was actually 12 days!  Wow, 12 days of packing for the beach.  In a row.  I was thrilled to learn that the kids will have a real opportunity to improve their swimming, but 12 days packing for the beach.  Not really my cup of tea.  

Minimalist beach packing list:

4 water bottles

snacks that won't get sandy for at least 3

3 towels

3 buckets with shovels

sunscreen that has to be put on BEFORE you go

beach chair for Mom

8 shoes in proper sizes and matching if possible

checking to see that all have eaten breakfast

tanks emptied BEFORE we get in the car (that's our code for potty)

bathing suits on- matching top and bottoms where possible

ponytail bands

swim vest for the boy

 I know it seems trivial and even ungrateful in idea.  I mean 12 mornings at the beach is pretty nice and we are lucky to be able to do it, but in real life, packing for the beach is crappy.  I won't buy one of those beach cart thingies I see the other Moms with.  I just won't do it.  Well, maybe.

So here are this week or three's pictures. 

Summer visit with pregnant Aunt Wendy and fireworks!

Sparklers on the beach.  Notice Nick has no shoes. 

Practicing gymnastics with Aunt Wendy.  She's a gymnastics coach!

High-fives after completing a new swim skill. 

G's swim class.

A's swim class.

Little man at the library getting Superhero videos and books about saber-toothed tigers!

Gymnastics

First Meet

 

Last meet

 Astrid has spent many hours of her last year practicing, conditioning her little muscular body and learning and working toward perfecting skills for her first year of competitive gymnastics.  She's a level 4 and her team just won 1st place in their state division.  She's doing really well, scoring in the top few for her team.  Here's a video of her floor routine at the state meet. 
     It's been a wonderful experience for us, as a family to watch her progress.  She has grown leaps and bounds (ha.) through the hours of practice.  She's become such a confident, down to earth person who has learned very young that hard work pays off! 
     The girls started in a homeschool gymnastics class years ago.  I remember asking if Astrid could participate even though she wasn't 4 yet.  They asked how close she was to 4 and I think she was just shy of three!  They let her in anyway and the rest is history.  One of the owners of the gym noticed her baby muscle strength and fearlessness and eventually they invited her to join the Rising Star pre-team.  She spent a year there and then was invited to join the level 4 competitive team.  She absolutely loves it.  She's sad on the days she doesn't have gymnastics and spends more time on her hands then on her feet.  There are always footprints on the refrigerator.  They are at my eye level.
    This summer she is practicing 4 days a week and never tires of it.  It's wonderful to see her so passionate.  It a dream of mine to have each of my kids find their passion(s) through experience.  I don't care what it is that they fall in love with.  I just want them to experience the feeling of deep love for something, whether it be a sport, art, activity, whatever.  To have a child find it at such a young age is gratifying and makes my heart smile.

Jim Weiss, Tom Chapin, Arlo Guthrie, friends who like mud and babies and ants. AKA: What we did this week.

A fun week was had by all- except for poor Dad, who had to work through the summer's first heat wave.  He's a strong man and we all love and appreciate what he does for us.  I should tell him more.  I should tell him that when I walk past his trailer where all of his giant greasy, grass covered mowers live, the smell of the freshly cut grass reminds me of him and causes me to think of when we first met and how the day I first saw him he smelled of fresh winter night air.  I still remember what he wore and his smiling blue eyes as I shook his hand as we were introduced.  Hmm.  That's another post.  It was another week,  (one of my favorites).  This week,  our classes have ended, we've had more time at home and done some traditional looking school work- for us anyway, and had some cool, once in a lifetime kind of experiences.

Jim Weiss, our favorite story-teller.  He was as friendly in person as he seems on his recordings.

The caterpillar our neighbor brought us hatched into this beautiful butterfly we released.

One of our favorite family events of the year, fifth year going- Clearwater.  Always a great way to spend Father's Day.

We always spend some downtime in the Storytelling Grove.

Talked about art installations, happenings and peace.

Saw the kids' favorite performer.

Spent a really long time in the tent learning about the creatures found in the Hudson River.  Astrid spent about an hour at minimum right here.  We bought a book about fresh water animals without back bones, so we can continue our study in the stream behind the house.

Went on a boat ride.

and for a walk.

Saw Tom Chapin!

Nick found friends from our food co-op to wrestle with.

Hula- hooped and played with poi among a glorious back drop along the Hudson River.

Saw Arlo Guthrie.  :)  He didn't sing Alice's Restaurant. :(

Saw cool things and read them.

Found three baby chipping sparrows hopping around the garden.  They couldn't fly yet and the parents were feeding them throughout the day and next day.  They were not happy about the kids holding them, but recovered once we put them down.  We tried not to, but look at this one.  We couldn't resist.

Played in the stream and in the mud with friends on the hottest day of the year, yet.

And to finish of the week, studied the behavior of some ants, following their trail, finding the nest and food source (our bird feeder) and discovered what happens when you interrupt the trail with string, lemon juice, cinnamon, water and sugar water.

We also woke to a visit from the Solstice fairies on the first day of summer.  

As they always do, they stacked all of the toilet paper in the house and caused other general mischief.  They left a beautifully sprawling message written in yellow chalk on our antique wood living room floor explaining their connection with fireflies and leaving the kids each a necklace with which they can catch, observe and release some.  No pictures though, as it faded as fast as it appeared.

Wonder what next week will bring?