Lavender and Roses

Long time, no write! I would like to say it is because I have been busy traveling the globe or doing exciting things, but unfortunately, that is not the reason. I haven't even really been doing anything cool close to home- I had been busy with work, and then once work was out for the summer, I have been lazily reading. You can read my book reviews if you want on my other blog. :)

I have lately found myself in love with roses and lavender. Two flowers/plants I never would have imagined myself to like, much less love. Too girly, too victorian, too fussy and old. I have always been drawn to the bold happy flowers like sunflowers, daisies, black-eyed susans, and even dandelions. But not roses or lavender. But somehow they have been the basis of my landscaping in the front of our home. And I love it. I have spent the past few days reading about roses, researching new and different roses to buy and plant in our yard, front and back. I am about to order this one, I think it will look fabulous in between two lavender plants. I have this vision of sitting out on my front porch in the evening with Billy and a glass of wine, on my newly painted red 1950s Scallop Chairs, enveloped in the scent of roses and lavender, the evening's cool breeze keeping us not too warm, enjoying the moonlight and stars. In reality, it will probably be muggy and humid and buggy. But we can all dream, right?

I have been reading The Bucolic Plague, which is a fabulous book!! After reading it, I have resolved to try to incorporate more heirloom vegetables in my garden next year. Chrissy has heirloom tomatoes, a Black Krim variety, this summer, and I am looking forward to seeing them, and hopefully trying one. Hint, hint. I am impatiently waiting for our harvests to come in - I can't wait to eat fresh tomatoes, peppers, and all the other goodies we have planted. I have all my canning supplies on hand too, so that I can save and "put up" jams, veggies, salsa, and tomatoes for winter. I am also looking forward to the traditional, yearly blueberry picking I do with my friend Jennifer and her son. That is always fun and the blueberries are so fresh and amazing. It looks like it is going to be a great summer so far!

Marching in

"March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb."

I think aside from October and November, March is one of my favorite months. It is a month of hope and new beginnings; it is a month that stands on the border of winter and spring.

It is a very green month in my mind as well - I start thinking about my garden, since now is about the time my Uncle will be starting seeds, and will be heading out to his greenhouse to start our plants. I am excited to see every year what he will grow. I told him I want to photograph the whole process this year, from seed to finish, and I should be starting this pretty soon. I bought some seed as well, to have him start for me; I chose Detroit Dark Red Beets and Spinach. I hope I can fit everything in my garden! Last year we expanded the garden site, and Billy built a fence, which did not keep Penny out by the way, and I don't think Billy would like it if I asked to expand the garden even further this year. I am hoping for the usual suspects in a backyard garden, tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, red peppers, green peppers, banana peppers, cucumbers - my mouth is watering just thinking of all these fresh vegetables straight from my own garden. I always want to plant pumpkins, but they are such space hogs! I might try to sneak some in behind the garage though..

However, the best things I receive in my little uncle-grown garden kit are the sunflowers. Not practical, unless you are a bird or squirrel, but I love these giant yellow flowers of happiness. Last year mine were trampled as seedlings by a certain English Setter, so I have to figure out where to plant them this year to keep them safe. I also ordered a Blue Girl hybrid tea rose bush that I am going to plant in the front yard - I love the coloring in this picture! Every year I add to our perennials, but I like to do that by wandering around my favorite nursery and farm market, Kurtzhals' Farms, and picking out whatever calls to me that day. I currently have peonies and roses, many types of lavender (which I am addicted to planting for some reason), and Billy picked out lamb's ear a few years ago, which every year comes back bigger. The birds love it too, stealing soft and silky leaves for their nests, and in the fall after it has gone to seed, they eat it.

I have to totally redo the herb garden this year - I always plant it next to the house, and I love when Penny rolls in the herbs, because she comes back in smelling like thyme, rosemary, oregano. I probably shouldn't like it, since this is why I have to replant and fix the bed, but who can resist a sun warmed dog smelling like herbs? I am going to be smart this year, and plant extra in pots.

What about you? Do any of you garden? What do you like to plant? I am always looking for new additions!

Looking for good, honest food

I have been a vegetarian for more years than I remember. I have always had an off and on flirtation with vegetarianism my whole life- when I was kid, I hated red meat, and would not eat hamburgers or steak too often. I would eat chicken, and bacon, but that was almost the extent of my meat consumption. When I got older, a freshman in high school, I read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, and that caused me to become a vegetarian, for a short while anyway. It was hard to do on my own at that age, since I was dependent on my parent's choices most of the time, and being a vegetarian at that point in time was not as wide spread as it is now becoming. I danced around it again in college, but then finally made the leap for good when I moved out of my house and into my own place. Billy is not a vegetarian; but he does not eat meat at home very often, as I will not purchase it or make it. If he chooses to make it for himself, that is one thing, but when I make dinner it is meatless.

I knew this would be a tough decision- you get comments on it from everyone all the time- the same comments about "Well, I can't live without meat", and "Humans are supposed to eat meat," and so on. Most of the time it is from people who have very unhealthy eating habits, and won't even look at a vegetable or a piece of fruit at all, much less eat one. Which I don't understand either. But I feel good about my choice, although everyone feels they can comment on it all the time for some reason. I am not usually a preachy vegetarian either; I try to respect other people's choices, and wish they would do the same.

Eating today is not the same as eating 25 years ago; food is a major industry, and is not the image of pastoral wholesomeness as people may believe. I just watched the movie Food Inc, and while I would like to do more reading on the issues, most of the facts presented I have read before, in various places. Some of the things I learned were entirely new - such as the Monsanto Machine, that owns the patent on soybean seeds. That blew my mind - and left me feeling like there is nothing out there that I can eat anymore! Monsanto owning the patent on their genetically modified soybeans means that farmers can't save seeds from harvest to harvest; if one farmer does not use the Monsanto bean, but the neighboring farm does, and a breeze blows the Monsanto seed onto the first farmers land, he can be held responsible and prosecuted for using their seed without permission, essentially breaking their patent. 85% of the soybeans used in the US are these Monsanto beans, which are Round Up ready, meaning that they can be doused in Round Up, and they won't die. Which is disgusting as well. I had stopped drinking dairy because of the way cows are treated; now I feel I can't even drink soymilk, or consume soy products. I have been using Stonyfield Organic yogurt, which is an organic option, from grass fed cows, not corn fed. So at least I can continue eating this, which I eat every day! It astounds me that even the food we eat has become big business. I of course knew about all the growth hormones given to cows, about livestock being fed corn, when their digestive systems are not made to digest corn, forcing the farmers to give the animals chemicals to allow them to digest the corn, the inhumane treatment of all animals, the strange chickens that grow twice as large in half the time a normal chicken does- all reasons I stopped eating meat. But to learn that about soybeans has motivated me to go the extra step that I have been playing at, to commit to eating locally, seasonally, and organically.

The movie made a good point- they said that every time we shop for food, we are casting a vote. I want my vote to show that I want food grown naturally, without being chemically treated, or genetically modified. I want food I can trust. I felt sorry for the farmer, who seemed all but forced to comply with these big companies, or lose money or worse, their reputations.

I am going to seriously commit to shopping our farmers market, and making sure that I am buying locally grown food that is in season. I am going to start canning and storing food that I have canned- I want to know where my food comes from, and that it is natural, healthy, good for me, and not a science project.

You can read about the issues at http://www.foodincmovie.com/about-the-issues.php. To be fair, here is the link to Monsanto's rebuttal to the movie- http://www.monsanto.com/pdf/foodinc_media_notes.pdf. Do some research of your own too, don't just take these sites word for it; I am going to do some more reading, but I am sure that what I will learn will support my new commitment to wholesome, natural food, grown and marketed honestly.

Il bel far niente...

Il bel far niente means "the beauty of doing nothing" in Italian. That is where I am trying to find beauty this summer, in doing nothing. I am reading the book Eat Pray Love right now, and while I am slightly embarassed to admit that I am reading this, the author summed up what I am trying to accomplish in those four Italian words. The book really is not that bad; it is just not what I usually read, and the book seems a little too self-serving for me at times. At other times I whole-heartedly agree with things the author is saying.

I spent the past few days in my garden, not with a mission like usual, to get this done and that planted, but simply puttering around, enjoying the flowers, and the plants, the breeze and the sun. My garden this year is not as abundant, and my flowers not so riotous, but that is ok. I am trying to teach myself how to relax, little by little. Penny and Maggie certainly know how to relax, they are both currently napping in their spots- Maggie on the dining room chair, Penny on the couch. They do not have agendas or lists, they just live in the beauty of the moment, in the beauty of doing nothing. That the simple things are sometimes the best.

Yesterday I took Penny for a walk, eating a plum for my breakfast. It was a gorgeous day, a gorgeous moment, one of the pleasures of summer. Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables everywhere, so many my refrigerator is bursting with them. Chrissy and I went to a farmers market Sunday morning, and bought a few of everything it seems. But Billy and I will eat well this week, I am actually excited to make dinners when we have these sort of ingredients. Tonight is one of my nights for the pound, so I am making a simple dinner, but a good dinner. We are having Panzanella, or Italian Bread Salad, with a fruit salad of nectarine, peach and blueberry. The basil in the salad will be from my very own basil plants. My favorite recipe is from Tuscan Recipes, it is the perfect summer dish. We will drink the rest of my gypsy wine, and follow it up with a few truffles. Tomorrow night we will have ratatouille, because I love Aubergines. (My friend Erik always calls eggplants aubergines, I like the way it sounds so much better than eggplant. Which would you rather eat, an aubergine or an eggplant?) We will have the leftover crusty bread that I did not use in the Panzanella to eat with our ratatouille - I am looking forward to dinner the next couple of nights!

These are the simple things that make me happy this summer - fresh food, nice weather with gentle breezes, good books, sweet wines and red wines, nights by a fire, time with my husband, my family, my Penny and Maggie.