Sick

Got waylaid by the dreaded stomach bug. It's making rounds through the family, so I will need to take a day or two to get through it. I have a fridge full of awesome food coop stuff to get recipes for and no appetite! That's a sad combo. Back in a jiffy.

Rooster, you reprobate!

The first twenty minutes or so of my morning usually goes something like this: after rolling out of bed in the wee hours of the morn, putting a kettle on and sitting down to my email, I soak in the remaining silence.

But it hasn't been so silent here of late. Enter, Rooster. Cock-a-doodle-doo!

(Apologies for blurry picture, he's a mover and a shaker)

Eat your heart out, Marthas! Canning

Just a portion of the delicious things we've been up to!

We were busy, busy the past few weeks working on canning produce from our garden. Our apple trees are still very young, so we were thankful to have access to apples from my dad's house. He has 2 MacIntosh and 1 Jonathan tree. Despite a late freeze, his neighborhood was a pocket where the apple trees did extremely well. I'm sorry to say most of them went to waste despite my efforts to talk with the homeowners and get apples to those who would use them. *tear*

Wordless Wednesday: My Girls

Nina and Annie, 5 years and almost 1 year.

Oh, sisterly love!

Roasted Carrot and Fennel Soup (recipe)

I recently tried fennel bulb for the first time, thanks to my new-found love of our local food cooperative. But I wasn't exactly sure what to do with it! Enter- as always- my friend, Google.

Roasted Carrot and Fennel Soup with GF millet garlic toast and grapes.

Weekly Menu October 15

It's no secret that I like food. Love, food. Am very passionate about food! It's been an every evolving process over the past 5 years, starting with cans of ravioli. Oh, yes. We all have to start somewhere. I've felt strongly about chemical use and GMO's for some time and am now beginning to do better at locally sourced foods. My hope is that my weekly menu will continue to evolve and better reflect what is available to me locally, seasonally.

Currently, 'tis the season of squash and root vegetables- my favorites!

Grass-fed, local hamburger patty with homemade pickles and relish, some avocado and greens on a GF bun. Side of oven roasted sweet potato fries. We eat well at the Crazy Green House!

Moroccan Stuffed Squash (recipe)

I'm a sucker for a new recipe, and one that involves coconut milk. So when this gem was delivered to my inbox, you better believe I was all over it like... coconut milk on quinoa!

Moroccan Stuffed Squash

Are you drooling? 'Cause you should be. Look at all that deliciousness, tucked into it's own pretty bowl!

You Say Tomato...(dehydrating)

Despite the crazy hot temps this summer, we did manage to get a few tomatoes. The larger variety didn't do that great but the cherry ones really took off. I had hundreds of sweet little things! So when the first big freeze loomed I knew we had to grab everything out that we wanted to save.

What's a girl to do with a bazillion cherry tomatoes?

Google, baby!

I found a few different ideas and settled on dehydrating, since my mother in law had let us borrow her machine to do apple slices.(Now on my Christmas list!)

Such pretty little things, in a bowl or a pitcher or cut up on the tray.

Glider to Porch Swing- DIY Conversion

My pretty white swing (purchased on clearance, from Lowe's, 30$) went the way of the DoDo finally. I tried budgeting in for all of our yard stuff this year but didn't figure in the cost of a new swing. And I'm not about to wait until fall to try and score another clearance one. The pergola swing is My spot. My perch, if you will, by which I survey the yard, gardens, children and chickens. I *need* my swing!

My loving husband moved the glider we got off craigslist for free last year, to the spot where my swing was so I'd have a place to sit. (He knew I was agitated with out it, haha.)

And that gave me the brilliant idea- why not convert the glider(which I didn't really like)- to a porch swing?

Before the dismantling

Many Happy Returns!

I'm Alive.

the Big Girl and Moi.

Life got crazy so I took a break, but have been feeling the pull to write again and share things we're learning, so here we go! Back in the saddle. I can do this! What exactly will 'this' look like? Not entirely sure. We've gone gluten free and mostly dairy free. Learning more about nutrition, herbs, gardening and the like. Always trying more recipes! May or may not do reviews and giveaways. Or if I do, will hop in a hop and let someone else drive that train(haha).

Before when writing, I was somewhat careful to try and mask quite a bit of who I am and what I'm really all about, in part an effort not to make anyone feel disenfranchised, but also just because I wasn't brave enough. So here's me, shaking that off.

Hi, my name is Stacy. I'm 30 years old and live in the midwest. I come from a big family and have a really, really, really big extended family. With lots of opinions! I grew up attending both Lutheran and Latter Day Saints(Mormon) churches but currently do not attend any. I enjoy cooking, learning new things, making something out of nothing, gardening, reading, singing. I am against GMOs, question much of modern medicine and am fascinated by holistic practices. We choose to cloth diaper, sometimes use baby carriers, breastfeed as long as we can, do not vaccinate, do not circumcise and attend public school. I am for Marriage Equality. Some day I'd like a picture of my gardens to be in a magazine, to write and publish a book and learn to play the cello. We try to follow many attachment type parenting ideas but seem to fail more often than not. I am really concerned about our environment and our food system.

I have a lot to learn, and you are welcome to join me.