Well then. It looks like I lost a week, though really, this past week was so full of living that I didn’t have the chance to write. My parents were in town from Pennsylvania, and then my brother flew up to spend part of his leave with us before riding back with them at the end of the week. It’s been almost a year since we’ve seen him, and saying how “nice” it was to have him here really doesn’t suffice.

Our days were so filled with just being that I didn’t even take many photos, except of Sweebee and Beans. I’m still uncertain about sharing their images here in this space, so for now, you get the few snaps I managed to capture.

– At the bottom of our driveway is a small antique shop. It had a little sign in the window that it was closed for the season, and I hadn’t seen anyone there until early last week when a lovely petite woman started dragging things out onto the porch. Her name is Barbara and she’s also from Pennsylvania. Oddly enough, she’s from a town not twenty minutes from where I grew up. She and her husband winter down there, and spend the summers here. We’ve talked several times now, and Swee smiles and waves when we see her. I’m looking forward to her shop opening next week, and seeing what treasures she has inside. Barbara has been spending a lot of time sorting out the garden in front of the shop, and yesterday, she filled in the spaces with herbs and tomatoes. I love the way she’s mixed edible and ornamental. She walked me through our own wild space out front (which is dreadfully in need of attention) as there are many plants I’m unfamiliar with, and then sent me back up the drive with some parsley seedlings.

– Our first small harvest! I didn’t use markers when I planted the greens in this box, and it seems that my memory failed me. I thought I put the rocket arugula in the center, and that it hadn’t sprouted, but was pleasantly surprised to see and taste that we do indeed have a small crop. I love arugula. The peppery bite is wonderful in salads, and I’ve got a recipe for chicken salad with arugula that I’m looking forward to trying.

– My mother-in-law is a wonderful gift giver, with a tendency to pick things up in her travels with what at first glance appears to be no rhyme or reason, but in the end makes up a box of little treasures. For their birthdays, along with some other goodies, she sent the girls all the fixings to make s’mores. We’ve roasted marshmallows with Swee before, but never gone whole hog like this. She wasn’t too sure about the total combination, but enjoyed the process. At one point, I realized we had opened more than one chocolate bar, and discovered that she had absconded with the contents of both wrappers, sequestering herself in her playhouse with the spoils.

– I’ve been stretching my muscles in the kitchen since we’ve all been back together, and I think everyone enjoyed the results this past week. For so long, it was just me, a toddler who wasn’t guaranteed to eat, and a breastfed baby who ate mostly Cheerios, bananas and mush. Cooking for five adults and two little ones who have recently found their appetites was a lot of fun. I have a couple of yummy recipes to share over the next few days.

– We had a storm cloud make itself comfortable right over our town today, and it rained steadily without ceasing. This little guy took shelter under the overhang right outside our backdoor. I can’t ever remember seeing a hummingbird before living here, and they have visited us close to a dozen times in the last month. I’d like to get the feeder sterilized and filled so that I can see more of them. If anyone has tips or recipes to share, I’d love the guidance!

Hope you all have a wonderful, sunny week!

We had kind of a rough week here, sleep-wise. Beans has felt the need to be up and at ’em around 5am almost every day. She refuses to be nursed back to sleep, or even to snuggle in the big bed while mama dozes. Sometimes she wakes her big sister with her caterwauling, and then all hell breaks loose and I’m still bleary eyed and bumping into things. On one of these mornings, Beansie outdid herself and we all saw the clock turn to 4:30am, meaning she was toast and down for a nap by 7:30, and I had to keep Swee happy.

Enter Rainbow Fish. My sister-in-law sent a beautiful birthday package for the girls from Germany and included a copy of Rainbow Fish and the Whale, which was immediately put into heavy reading rotation around here. While surfing Pinterest, I saw this project and thought, we could do that!

The tutorial called for you to stamp fish scales along the outline with the curved end of a piece of celery. It was a cute little activity, and it held Swee’s interest for about an hour, which was excellent. Definitely tape the corners of your paper down if you try this one. Our completed fish does not look like the sample. In fact, you can’t even tell there’s an outline of a fish under all the paint that Swee applied, but no matter. She is exceedingly pleased with it, and with the fact that I promptly hung it up in the kitchen for all to admire. We discussed the story while she was painting, and she asked some really thoughtful questions about why the fish were unkind to the whale. It led to a good talk about how we should treat people, and how we would want to be treated. Overall, it was a great way to spend an (early) hour with my big girl.

Today, we made a fun Father’s Day craft – I’ll share early next week!

I re-learned a valuable lesson this week: make a list, and check it twice.

We have been attending story hour in Farmington on Wednesday mornings. The other moms are beyond friendly, and Swee really seems to like the boys and girls that attend. She participates in the activities and songs, which she never did in Baltimore, so it’s totally worth the 25 minute drive into town. I decided to combine our errands into one trip, so after leaving the library, we had a snack and drove over to get our oil changed. From there, we hit the grocery store for the requested purple sprinkles and Swee’s chosen birthday dinner of mac and cheese and strawberries. We snagged the cart shaped like a car, they were in fabulous spirits, and I basically felt like Supermom.

I finally made it to the kitchen around 9pm to get started on her cake: chocolate with purple frosting and purple sprinkles. This birthday, I had a plan to make it all from scratch (minus the sprinkles). The oven was preheated and supplies were everywhere when I realized I didn’t have enough sugar. Figuring I’d just hit the country store for it in the morning, I creamed the butter for the icing only to find that I was also almost out of powdered sugar. Seriously. So back to Farmington I went, at 9pm. As silly as it sounds, this was my first trip out alone after dark, and I was a little nervous, but it was fine and the icing got made. The cake had to wait til morning.

I used an old family favorite for the cake. My mom has been making Wacky Cake since we were little. It’s a dense, moist cake that I truly prefer without icing. It has no eggs or dairy, which makes it a good choice for some who suffer from food allergies, and I’m sure it could be adapted for gluten-free flour. Now, this is *not* clean eating, but it is a fabulous treat. I made traditional buttercream icing, and tinted it to “Concord Grape” according to this chart.

Overall, I think Swee had a really nice day. She was over the moon when she opened her new Tinkerbell fishing rod and pink tackle box. She and J actually just left in the truck for their first fishing day, rod tossed over her shoulder like a pro. I told him I felt like I should have downloaded the Trace Adkins song for the occasion. This mama teared up a little, seeing them off.

Wacky Cake

3 C flour

2 C sugar

1/2 C cocoa

1 t salt

2 t baking soda

1 T vanilla extract

2/3 C vegetable oil

2 C water

Mix all ingredients together in an ungreased 9×13″ pan. The mixture will be thin, so don’t over-beat (I prefer to use a bowl and then transfer the mixture). Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes. 

– You’ll notice that there was no garden update on Thursday, and that is because when I went out to check on things, there was no change. None. Nothing looked bigger. No seeds had sprouted. I was totally convinced I’d have to tear it all out and start over. Last night I went out to water, and lo and behold, we have growth. If gardening teaches me anything, I hope it will be patience. I will post an update this Thursday.

– At Swee’s request, we took our dinner outside on Friday night. The black flies had retreated, and there was a beautiful breeze. Chicken and baked potatoes on the grill; strawberries; carrots and cucumbers with “spicy white dippy,” otherwise known as ranch dressing. I carried it all out on a vintage tray and snapped some pictures because it was just a really pretty table. I later realized that the SD card was not even in the camera, but still in the laptop from my last upload. Oops.

– Today we drove down to Portland for the Old Port Festival. We made it in time for the parade, which was such an interesting experience. I’ve never attended a parade quite like this one. The morning was lovely, and we found a shady bench for lunch and people watching. It sort of deteriorated from there as the sun got stronger and the crowds got thicker, but we got a taste of the town and decided we will plan to go back down on a weekday to poke around.

– Heading into a new week with high temps all under 80* on the ten-day forecast. My parents will be joining us next weekend for a bit, and the girls are incredibly excited. And we will be celebrating a third birthday this week! I have a request to fulfill for a chocolate cake with purple icing and purple sprinkles…

Failure. Make that two. Two failures in one week.

J is a picky eater. There is a whole litany of ingredients he won’t eat. If you ask him, he will tell you that he eats pretty much everything. Personally, I think it’s because I work hard to prepare meals he will enjoy. To-may-to:To-mah-to.

I will say that in the three weeks we’ve lived under the same roof again, he has wolfed down everything I’ve cooked, often with seconds and then leftovers for lunch. Homecooked meals were in short supply for him while we were apart and I haven’t heard any complaints, until last night.

We’ve been making a move to cleaner eating. Aside from Annie’s “little shell mac and cheese,” we’ve been trying really hard to make our meals from scratch. Meat prices are going up, so I thought I’d try a meatless protein last night. Enter Quinoa White Bean Burgers with Roasted Red Peppers. Now, this was not an experiment. I’ve made them before, and they got eaten. I even used red quinoa this time for color (and it was cheaper). However, the red peppers in the last attempt were…different. Tangy – maybe pickled? They gave the burgers some kick. I got regular peppers this time. B-O-R-I-N-G. Beansie housed her whole burger, which I appreciated. J choked one down for appearances, and Swee… Well I thought she was going to upchuck her “one bite” onto the table. Oh well. Failure #1.

Today, I thought I’d attempt some homemade fruit snacks. I based them off of this recipe, with a few tweaks. Because really, I can’t afford to spend $18 on grass-fed gelatine. This is where the pictures get ugly.

I boiled 1 1/2 C frozen berries with 1T maple syrup, blending them with the stick blender partway through. I mixed 2 packets Knox gelatine with 1/2 C cold water, and then blended that into the berries. Poured it into the silicone molds, and chilled for half an hour.

They taste fine. The bottoms, when I finally got them out of the silicon molds, were beautiful and shiny. But the edges are ragged, and the tops have a strange texture that caused Swee to spit them out without tasting them. Failure #2.

I hate wasting food. I can’t afford to financially, and the moral and environmental implications are too much for me. I understand that joining the Clean Plate Club isn’t healthy either, but I really strive for a middle ground. Unfortunately this aversion to waste usually kills kitchen creativity and lands me in a recipe rut. And I usually end up finishing off the less than palatable experiments myself.

How do you handle stuff like this?

We were beyond busy this weekend, and I realized tonight that I hardly took any pictures. Thankfully, we’ve just about finished everything we wanted to do to make this rental livable for our little family, and it should just be maintenance going forward.

– The washing machine in our kitchen was giving off a ghastly mildew odor, and when a cycle of hot bleach failed to fix the issue, we realized we’d have to go a little further. Handsome Fixer Man (HFM) completely dismantled the washing machine on Friday, and scrubbed the daylights out of it. I’m grateful that he spared me the job. It was pretty bad. And I’m even more grateful that the stench is gone and everything is fresh and clean now, inside and out.

– HFM also scraped and painted a door to fit the girls’ room, installed a mailbox, fixed a hole in the kitchen floor, and mowed and weed whacked the entire property. He also scored a wicked sunburn. I hung three loads of laundry out, and kept Sweebee and Beans safe, happy and fed.

– We haven’t had a dishwasher since we got married almost six years ago. That’s a lot of dishes done by hand, and my dishrags were showing their age – I’m too embarrassed to share a photo of their condition. I finally finished knitting my first replacement dishcloth! (I started it last spring before Beans was born, but to be fair, I packed it into a box and sent it, and the rest of my sewing and crafting supplies, to Maine with J. Because our house was sure to sell immediately, right?) The yarn specs got lost in transit, but it’s a 100% cotton from JoAnn Fabrics, knitted on size 8 bamboo needles. I followed this pattern, though you can clearly see I lost my place at some point. Thankfully, function takes precedence over form when it comes to dishcloths.

– Divine. Yes, truly. Some of the best chocolate I think I’ve had. I picked this up at the grocery store today as a little mama treat, and have enjoyed every single bit so far. It won’t last long, I’m afraid.

And like that, we head into another week. What do you all have on your plates?

I had hoped to post this last night, but the evening just seemed to get away from me. My plan is to follow along with Heather and Amanda, and post a garden update each Thursday. Coincidentally, their blogs are among the first I began reading so long ago as I became aware of this slower lifestyle, and I still visit almost daily. Their writing and overall presence are incredibly calming, and I so admire the lives they’re building for themselves and their families. Take a look, if you don’t already follow them.

When we decided to pull the plug on Baltimore, whether the house had sold or not, I was so excited that we would arrive in Maine with time yet to get a garden in. I was hopeful that I would be able to plant directly in the ground, but that wasn’t meant to be in this yard. The earth is packed down hard, and seems to be of pretty poor quality.

Enter my “Handsome Fixer Man,” as Swee and I have taken to calling J. With his beloved Makita, and some salvaged lumber from our new basement, Memorial Day weekend ended with a new raised bed knocked together in the front yard, and a second plot staked out for later construction. I would much prefer to smother existing vegetation with cardboard and mulch, but in this case, I really wanted to get things moving and instead chose to turn the earth inside the box, sifting out the grass clumps. Sadly, I didn’t see a single worm.

During the nine months J lived up here without us, he got to be quite close with his roommate’s family. Jason’s mom, Ms. Linda, took him under her wing and watched out for him, and we are so fortunate to have their family close by. One unexpected perk of the relationship is an unlimited supply of horse manure. We were able to take the truck over and fill the bed with rich, black compost from a hill that’s been mellowing for several years (I was pleased to see that we even relocated some worms to our yard). Their little homestead is a fun place to visit. Swee called out to each horse by name as we bumped up the drive, and was just tickled when the chickens bobbed over to check her out.

I’m thrilled to have some veggies in the ground. I found the tomato and pepper seedlings at the grocery store, and at only $2.49 for each four-pack, I couldn’t pass them up. Two rows of carrots were direct seeded in the raised bed, while lettuce and arugula are planted in an adjacent box. The peas and onion seeds came from one of J’s coworkers, and are also in the raised bed. I decided to border the frame with zinnias, and am really looking forward to having them for cutting. The way the sun rises over the lake in front of us and then arcs over to the back of the house keeps this area of the yard in full-sun for most of the day. I’ll have to watch the moisture to make sure the soil doesn’t dry out.

I definitely want to get the second bed built this week, and have a lot more to plant. My mother-in-law is sending me her leftover seeds – zucchini and squash – so I need somewhere to put them. It’s a small start, but it’s a start. I’m looking forward to watching it all grow!

Our well water is drinkable.

I’m not sure that the word relieved accurately describes how I’m feeling after Friday morning’s tests. Believing that we were unable to use our tap water for more than dishes and laundry was a major source of my stress over the last few weeks. When J and his best friend moved into this house last September, it was with the understanding that the arsenic levels were high enough as to make the well unusable. They’ve been buying bottled water for nine months. Nine months. That’s a lot of bottled water.

With two very small children, I knew we couldn’t risk the well water having contaminants. Their little systems wouldn’t be able to handle it. However the idea of bottled water doesn’t sit well with me, both for the environmental implications, and the cost. We drink a lot of water, me in particular. We went through eight gallon jugs and two cases of individual bottles in the first ten days. Plus a fair bit of seltzer.

We debated buying a DIY testing kit, just to get an idea of what we were up against, but then I saw an ad in the Advertiser, one of those freebie community newspapers that comes with the mail, for free water testing. No obligation. You can’t beat free.

Steve from Aerus came this past Friday morning and spent about an hour in our kitchen, testing our water and explaining things to us. I didn’t take any photos, and it was a little bit of information overload, but the basic gist is that our water is fine. Hard, but fine. The arsenic levels are below a 5, on whatever scale is used, and that puts them below the safe level set by the state. Our TDI level is at 103, most likely because the water is hard and is corroding the older pipes, but no harmful substances are present to prevent us from using the tap water normally.

So I am no longer stressing about first world problems like boiling pasta, or making coffee, or freezing ice cubes. This whole experience really opens up some internal conversation about what it would be like to not have access to water, or to have to lug buckets and jugs for miles in order to bathe or cook. Even if the well had been undrinkable, I could still shower and wash dishes with it. Or wash the clothes in the washing machine I was previously complaining about.

Still. I am profoundly grateful for clean water.