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