corner view:: staple foods, wisconsin

This week the corner view is "staple foods". For me, that means ingredients. We try to eat local or organic foods as much as we can, and eat with the seasons. I know that our kitchen and staple foods is by no means average American, but it is good!


Staples for me means local maple syrup, milk picked up weekly from a farm, and aged cheddar from Wisconsin (my 6 year old cannot live without 4 year aged cheddar, he said!). I also always have kombu, miso, vanilla beans, sea salt, coconut milk, rice, olive oil, turbinado sugar, oats (to make homemade granola to go with freshly made yogurt!!! yum!!!), good vinegars, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, whey and rennet to make our own soft cheeses. If we have these things around, I can make just about anything with the fresh produce, meat and dairy we get each week!


I used dried beans a lot in the winter, but now that summer has arrived and our garden and CSA are in full swing, we will eat what is freshly picked each week instead! :)


A sprouter is a must have too, of course.


We love that we can find local wheat berries we grind into flour to make bread.


And it is so great to be able to buy honey from a friend who keeps bees. Most of the year we pick up eggs from a friend too - the yolks are so golden - like the sun!


A staple for me is home made kombucha. Yum. Some in the fridge, and some on the counter bubbling away!


We know we are lucky to live in a place with so much available within just a few miles of our city - fruit, vegetables, grains, honey, maple syrup, eggs, meat, milk, cheese...and supporting those farmers who sustain us is important to us. Not only for our health, our local economy, and our environment, but also for our sons...and making a few friends and getting some fresh farm air along the way is an extra bonus.

The boys also took their own picture - they said that we definitely must have honey, cheese, maple syrup, flour, and all that good stuff to make things like pancakes, waffles, bread, grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream...but they also have a few staples of their own:


It is a tad blurry - it is a challenge for two boys to take a picture with one camera at the same time!

To visit more staple foods from around the world::

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad, caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, virgina, april, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, dorit, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, desiree, di, travelingmama, aimee, sunnymama, amanda, ali, jenell, guusje, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, susi, jodi, lily, gillian, jeanette, athena, pienduzz, latisha, clairette, satsuki

Garden, Part 1.

If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.
-Vincent Van Gogh

I feel like I'm so behind on garden posts! I take so many pictures - I love seeing the minute changes early followed by the crazy burst of growth that comes with the heat. The garden is becoming a living jungle. We haven't had much rain, so I am spending a bit of time out watering as well as weeding, checking, picking, and succession planting. It really is beautiful.


I love taking photos not only because it is beautiful, but also to remember next year when planning, planting, and re-thinking of what worked and what didn't. Since I expand the beds each year, and I work mostly with landscape plantings (limited "bed" space), it is important to remember where everything is to help with rotating...and realizing when things just don't do so well together, or noting areas where there is now more or less sun, and where I need to make changes.


Right now I am loving it - there is so much more being grown in our tiny yard this year. Wonderberries, ground cherries, currants, raspberries, strawberries - so much wondrous fruit. The golden raspberries are just starting to ripen - but they never make it in the house and are eaten right off the cane. The strawberries are about done and the wonderberries are just starting to turn purple.


We tied twine from stakes in the ground up through our gazebo frame to give ourselves 10' of vertical space to grow pole and runner beans - and it is working great.


I did the same with the rain barrel - planting flowers and vining flowers and beans to grow up twine staked from ground to the top. Soon the rain barrel will be a blooming masterpiece. I'm loving the beds we added this spring - nice to have some hotter/sunnier spots dedicated to beans, strawberries, peppers, flowers, tomatillos and more.


Even our front and back porches are full - in back we're growing many types of herbs in pots as well as several tomato and pepper plants. In front we have grow bags of potatoes, hanging tomato planters, pots of herbs, peppers, tomatoes, and flowers. It is all growing so beautifully!


We have been enjoying a TON of greens and spring veggies - lettuces, arugula, mustard, chives, radishes, herbs, kohlrabi and peas. As those finish off, the tomatoes and peppers are showing off their bounty to come - can't wait for those to ripen over the next month or so. We can tell we are at the cusp of the summer harvest - I'm ready with my dehydrator, canning equipment, and seeds for more!

a day of goodbyes.

Today didn't go as planned. Our sweet kitty Dax (aka: Poopalicious) hasn't been eating for several days, and while she is 17 years old, we hoped there was something we could do. We found out that she had a whole set of big problems, including a large mass in her belly. She was having a hard time moving, couldn't eat, wouldn't drink, and her heart was racing.


We lost her today. We were all with her to the end, and said our goodbyes. It is so hard to go through these things with small kids (we went through this with Monkey almost exactly one year ago). I don't believe in lying, hiding it, making cute stories about kitty heaven, or going behind their backs and telling them later. We stick together as a family, and so while it was a rough day for all of us, we grieved together, supported each other, and are also relieved that she is no longer suffering. She was very loved.


We will miss her, our sweet kitty.

corner view:: music

I spent many years where music, performance, and art were "my life". Years of singing and playing in bands, recording studios, going to school for audio engineering and music business, exhibiting my paintings when I could, working with bands, going to see friends shows, performing in shows (twirling fire). I have an awesome back stage pass collection and tons of crazy stories. I even had some famous rock star roommates a bazillion years ago.


But these days I march to the beat of a different drummer. Well, WE do. In fact, we are the drummer. While our iPod is a permanent fixture with us at home or in the car and we are often singing along at the top of our lungs together as we travel down the highway, we prefer making our own music.


And that is the best music of all!

To visit the corner view around the world, visit Jane at Spain Daily.

Heat it up.

It hasn't felt like summer is almost here. We have had such a cold and gray spring - but over the past few days it finally started to heat up. We also started getting the crazy thunderstorms that make me feel that warm weather is finally here to stay.


When it gets HOT the boys want to get out to the beach. A favorite spot has a good amount of shade and is across the street from an ice cream shop. Perfect! Thursday afternoon we hit the beach a bit to watch the boats go by, get our toes in the sand and eat some popcicles before the storms hit (of course many beaches closed the very next day due to algae - go figure!).


Last night we had another round of storms - but of course wanted to go out for ice cream. We are lucky to be able to take a short drive out into the farmland and have ice cream right at a local creamery. The view was amazing - farms and storms as far as the eye could see.

And today? HOT! The boys wanted to get out in the yard and get wet! They dragged out a pool which has been in the darkest corner of the garage all winter, filled it up and let it warm up a bit before jumping in.


They splashed and played...ahhh, yes, it does feel like summer. The weekend is not over - we have friends coming for a solstice bbq tomorrow, and even more heat is on its way.


Summer, here we come!