The Kitchen Garden 2013: New & Improved

Cherry Belle Radish
just starting to sprout!

Two weeks ago, we did our first spring planting of the kitchen garden. Since we weren't out of danger of frost at the time (nor are we as I write this), we put in only those things that could withstand a light frost. Tiny, yet hearty plants such as Winterbor Kale, Diplomat Broccoli, Champion Collards and Summer Cabbage found their way into The Maplewood's good earth. In addition to these plants, we also sowed several types of lettuce and greens seeds (including Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach, Shanghai Green Bok Choy, Astro Arugula, Belle Isle Cress & Aerostar Crisphead Lettuce) along with a few choice roots (Cherry Belle Radish, Purple Top Globe Beets & Napoli Carrots), Cascadia Snap Peas and a favourite in our house . .. Korridor Kholrabi.

Quite the garden is already underway. In fact, we already have many sprouts coming up! Of note is the Cherry Belle Radish, which has fulfilled it's promise to be a quick germinator. If we play our cards right, we could be harvesting these sweet lil' babies all throughout spring, summer and even into fall.

As I was reviewing the crops from previous years and reminiscing of harvests past, I came across some old photos of our very first kitchen garden at The Maplewood. In just a few short years, it really has come a long way, evolving into quite the urban agricultural undertaking. Just look at how it's grown (errr. . literally!). Almost triple in size from the original strip that was planted a few years back. 

It's hard to tell from the photo (above, right), but the garden has been organized into sections to allow for constant planting throughout the season. I'm using an online Garden Planner tool to help with the coordination effort. Below is a snapshot of how the garden has been laid out, for the full season, using the Garden Planner program. I'd say about 60% of these plants/seeds are in! And as plants are picked or exhausted, we'll be re-sowing and rotating crops, to ensure a continual harvest throughout the season. 

In a few weeks tomato, pepper and tomatillo plants will be going in, so stay tuned! I'll be updating as the garden grows. . ..

Confessions of a Dieter

Most of my friends and family know that I am in the midst of a hardcore diet*. With four weeks behind me, the scale is telling me that I've lost 9 lbs. I am pleased as punch, since my target weight loss rate is 2 lbs per week. I am slightly ahead of the game!

(*When I say “hardcore”, I mean that I view this as a challenge and am therefore pursuing it with acute attention and deliberation. When I say “diet”, I am referring to a controlled and planned manner of eating, in which the daily intake of calories is monitored and limited.)

Basically, I am calorie counting, which I openly acknowledge has its flaws. But I am naturally a fairly healthy vegetarian eater, drawn to mainly vegetables, fruits and whole grains. So, personally, I'm not too concerned, but those with a penchant for junk food might want to proceed with caution I would imagine. But what do I know? I mean, after all, I have never been on "a diet" before this one. Never, ever! In fact, other than the occasional visit to the doctor's office, I had never stepped on a scale before this venture. (Darren actually had to give me a tutorial on how to use our digital scale before my first weight-in.)

With a BMI that has always been just too high, it's been preying on my mind that perhaps my usual maintenance routine of keeping a somewhat active lifestyle, just wasn't going to be enough to bring the numbers down to where they ought to be. Darren and I both decided it was time to shed some real pounds, so we started this diet together four weeks ago. Having a diet partner has made all the difference in the world! I might go so far as to say that in many ways, this is a bonding experience for us. We not only share in the daily experiences of dieting and cheer each other on as the pounds come off, but together, we also look for new healthy recipe ideas, then plan and cook our strategic lo-cal meals. It really has been surprisingly fun.

We are utilizing the iPhone app "Lose It!" to track out daily calories and weight loss. The app generates your weight loss plan and daily calorie allowance based on your gender, weight, height and goals. Right now, she's giving me around 1,100 calories a day, but this gets a bit lower every week when I record a new weight. I suppose fewer calories are required to sustain less body mass, so this will be a continuing trend that I will have to contend with.

I find the whole idea of a controlled calorie intake interesting. Especially relative to my own behavior and reaction to it. In my mind, the bottom line, and the reason so many people dislike diets, is because it is a loss of freedom to do (eat) whatever we please. My personal confession, as unhealthy of a behavior as this may be, is that I seem to be a calorie hoarder. Although I am never hungry and I don't think I've ever eaten all my allotted calories in a given day, my measly 1,100 calories just doesn't seem enough in my mind. I continue to reserve quite a few calories over the course of the day, so that I am left with a nice little buffer at the end... just in case.

Humans are such curious creatures.

Besides observing my own behavior, I am also learning about the mechanics of dieting. Sure I watch and study the caloric values of the various foods I eat, but I am also researching how the body loses weight, when it loses weight and where the weight goes. I find the science and chemistry of it all so fascinating. Some might say I am obsessing. That is what I do.

Darren and I will be tracking our diet clear through August. I am committed to stick to it and eat within my Lose It! guidelines. We'll just have to wait and see what happens with my weight. I imagine it will keep going down, but i have been readings about plateaus, which I am ready to deal with, if and when the time comes. I do have some pretty lofty goals (somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 lb!), so if all keeps to this current trajectory, I will be continuing well past the end of summer.

Wow...9 lbs! That really was easy.

It's amazing what a huge motivator a little success can be.


*********************************************************

(On a side note, there is a friendly little wager in our house over who will lose the most percentage of body weight by our milestone date of August 31; whoever drops the most weight will be getting a brand new tattoo!)

Mother Mary & Local Radio

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not a religious person. But the notion of religion has always fascinated me. A couple years back I was listening to the local Christian radio station. It was right around Mother's Day and they were airing a segment on the blessed Virgin Mary; really, one of the most interesting pieces I've ever heard on radio. These ideas I was hearing about Mother Mary may be commonplace to the Christians, but they really got me to thinking.

Of course Mary embodies the potential good in all mothers, but there was more to what I was hearing than just that. Sure we all associate the motherly traits of compassion and selflessness with Mother Mary. Born to be a vessel for birth, Mary gave up herself and her inherently selfish being for the mere existence of her offspring, as all mothers do, to varying degrees. The Mother Mary comforts, she loves, she is the figure of eternal hope and mercy, and she is mother to all. But Mary not only represents the ideal earthly mother that we are all born through, she also represents the mother that exists in each and every one of us, regardless of age, religion or gender.

On this Mother's Day, as we pay reverence to our mothers, wherever they may be, let's not forget our Mother Mary. Let's be sure to celebrate her very qualities that are in some way, within each and every one of us: the mother, the non-mother, the woman, the man, the child, the Christian and even the Agnostic.

A Wedding Anniversary

Two years ago today, Darren and I stepped out into the cold Wyoming night and walked hand in hand across the Jackson Town Square to be married beneath a starlit sky.

Simply enchanting.

On this day, we are celebrating our anniversary on the east coast. We are skiing in Vermont. As I look out our icicle framed window and watch the snow slowly fall, I am transported back in time to Wyoming. It feels so much like the time of our wedding, at moments I am actually convinced we are 2,000 miles away! I have concluded that it is not merely a trickery of ice, snow and a ski gear littered hotel room that create this illusion. Rather, it is a trickery of the heart. The way my heart flutters when I see him, how we giggle like kids at the silliest of things, and how we love each other... just as we did two years ago. This is enough to transport me back to a different time and place.

It is crazy how much has changed in our lives since that magical evening on Jackson Town Square.

Even crazier is just how much has managed to stay the same.

Snow, Clothes & Baby Mayhem

I am sorely remiss in posting my Project 333, Phase 2 list. Although, I am happy to say. . . the venture is well underway! However, we have had quite a bit of hub-bub here in Connecticut as of late, with a very early, very destructive snow storm which seems to have thrown a wrench in many a-works. Additionally, I am contending with the general havoc of our household, thanks to one Mr. Otto Riot. He is fourteen months old now, and strategically poised to destroy. Need I say more?

So, the 33 is working well for me thus far. I would love to see this wardrobe carry me through the duration of the winter. I devised it as such, and really believe it might just make it. But I will have to revisit and rethink this notion, as we enter the down and dirty winter months.

More on my Phase 2 list to be posted soon.

Very soon!

Happy High School, Emma!

Emma started her first day of high school yesterday. Instead of taking the traditional high school route, she has opted for one of Hartford’s magnet schools. For Emma, it shall be the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts! I was a bit apprehensive about the prospect of Emma attending a school over an hour away from home. . .and for good reason. The transportation is a nightmare, and this decision ultimately affects our whole family, in varying degrees. But between you and me, I am slightly envious. When we visited the school for orientation last year, I was instantly hooked! What a great facility and what great programs. I would have loved to have attended this school at her age. And so the decision was made.

With my little Emma starting high school, I can’t help but be sentimental. I, myself, am sick of hearing how quickly it all goes by, in regards to watching your children grow. But it really and truly does!  As if it was only yesterday, I can remember sneaking into Allgrove School, just to catch a glimpse of my little curly-haired munchkin on her very first day of kindergarten. There she was sitting in her little person-sized chair, with her big bright eyes fixed intently on the teacher. I broke the rules that day, but in return I received a priceless image, that I will hold with me always. Besides, Emma's kindergarten classroom was in fact the very same room I sat in as a new kindergartner, twenty two years earlier! Really, how could I resist?

With this new chapter in Emma's life just beginning, I have found myself waxing nostalgic about her younger years in general these days. And with baby Otto on the scene, I can't help but think that the nostalgia is only further fueled, dare I say "inevitable", given the physical likeness between Otto and the Emma of her youth. To those that have teenagers who will rarely hold hands, or give a giant bear hug, or splurge in a flurry of kisses, perhaps what I am about to say will sound a bit less odd. 

A bit.. . 

It has happened, on occasion, that when cuddling Otto, I look down to see my baby Emma! The unthinkable has happened and time has unwound itself 14 whole years, to reunite me with my baby girl. There she lays, snuggled up in my arms, as if it were 1997 all over again. I am able to hold her tiny hands once more, give her little body a full-on bear hug and splurge in a flurry of kisses right on her neck, until she breaks out in an unstoppable giggle. What a treat!

Well, the reality is, it truly does all go by so very fast. But sometimes, the spirit of a memory really can live forever. If you just know where to look.

A First Father's Day

Today was my husband's very first Father's Day! He and I don't typically get caught up in all the hoopla over holidays and such. Neither of us are card-givers, and we tend to veer away from being gift-givers as well.  That's just the way we are. Awful as that might sound to many people, this mentality alleviates us of many stresses, headaches and waste, allowing us to focus on what is truly important -- our family and each other.

Baby Otto with his Papa. 

So, without getting too sentimental about today's occasion, I did want to take a moment to remember his very first Father's Day, as a day that was indicative of the sweet and genuine person he is . . . spending time with all of us, whittling away at the never-ending list of baby duties, savoring a really good meal (or two), doing for others, being super silly (*maybe* this involved a garden hose turned on a passing car. . . ), going with the flow, enjoying the moment for what it is, repairing what's not right and getting his hands really dirty in the yard.

I love you, dear.

Heritage

I inherited my wedding band from my mother, who inherited it from my grandmother. It is quite a unique ring. I love it, in and of itself. I love it even more because it is a family heirloom. And I think I love it even more still, because of how it came into my possession.

Darren and I did not have a traditional wedding. Like many things in our life, it was rather unconventional. We eloped. To Wyoming. With him being an avid skiier, and me a snowboarder, the height of a killer ski season in Jackson Hole seemed like the perfect time and place to tie the knot. Before our wedding, I had not given much thought to what I would wear as a band. I just knew that flashy, simply was not me. I have never been a fan of sparkly jewelery, so diamonds were not even an option. As the date drew near, and I remained ringless, I was not in the least bit concerned. If I had no wedding ring at all, I would not be bothered. Whatever would happen, would happen.

Now understand that nobody knew about our plans to wed. Nobody! It was kept top secret, for a few reasons. . .mainly to keep things simple. My mother had been staying with us for a few days prior to our departure. She would be helping with Emma (12 years old at the time) while we were away. The morning before we were leaving for Wyoming, my mother approached me in the kitchen. She looked me square in the eyes and said that she didn't know why this was happening, but she had to give me my grandmother's wedding ring. I was stunned. She had worn this band along with her own grandmother's wedding band for years, but now here it was in my own hands! She told me that my grandmother had come to her in a dream the night before, and told her to give this wedding band to me. How about that?! This story still gives me goosebumps every time I tell it. And the rest is history...

I imagine this ring is at least 100 years old. Stamped only "14K" on the inside, it is mostly white gold, with a yellow gold edging, and the most darling star engraving trailing it's way around the entire ring. I've done a bit of research to try to track down information on the history of the style or this particular design. I haven't found much of anything. But it really doesn't matter. This ring has it's own history, and it is a history that I am a part of. I can remember, as a young girl, my grandmother wearing this band. She is standing at her kitchen counter, chopping onions for my tuna fish sandwich -- which is how I always used to eat them. She has a hanky tucked up the sleeve of her beige cardigan sweater -- that is where she always used to keep them. I get many compliments on my ring. It is very special afterall. But more importantly, I get many flashbacks from time to time, upon glancing at my hand. Little snipits of my life, a lifetime ago. This ring is a living piece of my personal history and my family's heritage. And it sits right here on my very own finger!