Photo of the Day.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words?

CSA Box This Week, Preserving the Harvest.

I brought home my bounty of veggies today from the farm, washed them, and took a photo. After putting the boys to bed I intended to post my weekly CSA info. BUT. I was sucked into Live From Abbey Road on Sundance - tonight one of the featured artists was Damien Rice (#1 | #2 | #3). I have enjoyed his music for awhile, but live performance is something else. I was blown away by his stark simplicity and his raw emotional complexity (and his singing partner - wow). Yes, diametrically opposing ideas. But the melancholy beauty took my breath away and I had to watch his segment repeatedly, and then had a deep and lively discussion with my left brained husband about creativity and calculus and how our brains work and the spark that sometimes occurs with musicians that makes something more than just another song and how while some people may feel and hear the tiny bits and fractions of music, others may feel and know numbers or concepts or math. Very interesting evening!

Hmmm, back into the CSA mindset and what was in our box this week? Ah, it is coming back to me! Wax beans, 3 types of peppers, a tomato, cilantro, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and garlic!

We have been preserving the harvest of everything we are not using weekly for our CSA (which is not much), and of course, our garden. I have had out the dehydrator this week and have made several batches of sun dried tomatoes, lots of dried herbs, and even dried peppers. That, combined with our homemade yogurt, bone broth, ice cream, and my new experiments with lactic fermentation make me feel like we are progressing with our food choices, and really taking more full advantage of what there is locally. And having the boys "help out" with picking, washing, and rotating the drying trays means they are interested and participating in all of this too (now if they would only eat it!)...we have even let a few of our herbs "go to seed" and have saved the seeds for later, or have re-planted. Fun stuff. From seed to seed, such as a melody to a song.

AAAAAAAAnd, this weekend we are going berry picking - YUM!

Photos of the Day...Discovery.

They found the fan for the air conditioner.

Painting with ice.

Today we did a fun hot weather project. It was very overcast and yet bright today, so my images are a bit off, but you will get the idea! :)

I took a ice tube tray and filled it shallowly with water. I added food coloring drops to make a range of shades, and then froze it.


We went outside (highly recommended) and placed water color paper on a non-staining table (find something to weigh the paper down). I broke each color up into chunks, and the boys placed the ice on their paper.

They let the cubes melt a little...


...and then they couldn't contain themselves any longer, and pushed around the ice, the liquid, and moved the paper around to get streaks and designs and all types of shapes.

Let the paint/water soak into the heavy paper and dry!

Dog days of summer.

I have been a little burned out the past few days. I think the heat does it to me every year. I am NOT a hot weather person! I sizzle by the end of the summer - particularly when it is so ridiculously hot and humid that you just want to curl up in your freezer - and so look forward to fall. With little people I think it is the same. They went from loving the hot sunny summer days just last week, to being a bit over the top with this heat and humidity that comes with the welcome rain. Being cooped up is some of it, perhaps, but even when we do go out to play they turn red, their hair soaks, and they become so cranky and belligerent with each other we just have to come back in, and the rest of the day is a challenge to keep everyone happy.

I had not originally planned to visit the Blooming Butterflies exhibit at our local conservatory on one of the hottest, most humid days of the year so far, but with a few twists and turns to our day, we ended up there this afternoon (during G's no longer napping black zone!), at the request of A.

The boys enjoyed seeing the butterflies, looking at the specimens section, and then we walked outside for a bit before retreating to a cooler, more air conditioned environment!

There were so many specimens on display - A loves that kind of stuff!

The gardens are so lush and full at this time of year, and A measured how tall the plants are now (well over his head) compared to how short they were just a few weeks ago.

No, I didn't coerce them into posing in the holes - they were doing it on their own - they are just hot and cranky!

The rain is so welcome here, and our garden loves it - and the hot humid days mean even more beans, tomatoes, corn, peppers, and even (gasp! finally!) eggplant. But at this time of year, I can almost feel fall coming, I look forward to it, and anxiously await it.