little woman

We signed up for Farmhouse Delivery which makes a weekly delivery of seasonal, local produce each Thursday. You have the option of adding on local meat (n/a), dairy, eggs and other products (local honey, flour, homemade bread, dough, etc.) so it is actually more of a local grocery delivery.

We got our first bushel today: mustard greens, butter lettuce, okra, cucumbers, tomatoes, peaches, egg plants, squash, corn and figs. And next week we are getting a gallon of local milk! I haven’t ever cooked with figs or mustard greens before. And I can’t wait to see if these Hill Country peaches give my Parker County peaches a run for their money.

And we have now harvested garlic, onions and many (many) tomatoes from the garden. We have a few red and yellow cherry tomato plants doing really well. My only full sized tomato plant that made it is a hollow tomato that acts more like a bell pepper.

Onions and garlic… yum yum!

And very soon we will be knee deep in pesto!!

Happy farming!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I loved this banner image from Food Network so I borrowed it. I found a good recipe for a vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie and a very tasty Guiness & Onion soup recipe I might try tonight!

Haven’t been very good about posting lately… We have been somewhat busy with wedding stuff and I don’t want to bore ppl with all of that. But I figured our recent trip to the coast and St. Patrick’s Day would be a good excuse!

Just got back from our annual trip to beachingtown Port Aransas, TX with Paul’s family. They go every year around this time. This is my 3rd year and it is always very relaxing and a lot of fun. Will, my soon-to-be-official nephew, had his first experience with the ocean so that was pretty exciting… for all of us.

HAPPY BABE!

It was Blue’s first time and he was also a happy pup!

Other than walking or running down the beach and a few times head-on into the cold waves, I got some reading in and we watched the first season of Castle. We also visited the Aquarium in Corpus and the National Seashore.

We take turns making dinner each night. This year we made lasagne rolls and pine nut cookies with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Everyone made yummy foods and each night couldn’t be beat.

National Geographic is having a Peeps In Places pictures contest so we took some Peeps pics… I think this was my favorite of mine.

I know Abbie, Anne and Paul got some good (probably better) ones, too! As usual, it is good to be home.

I want to watch a good Irish movie tonight… The Quiet Man, Secret of Roan Inish, Bloody Sunday, Boondock Saints, Waking Ned Devine, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, Angela’s Ashes, Wind That Shakes the Barley, Finian’s Rainbow… if you have any suggestions, please send them!

I just attended the coolest Sustainable Landscaping class on the hydrologic cycle at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center! There are a series of classes called Go Native U that I have written about before. We talked all about rain gardens, the most effective way to collect rainwater, collecting and using greywater and so much more.

She showed us this website that will calculate the amount of water you are likely to collect, how much you are likely to need and, therefore how much you will have left over per month for the first two years of rainwater harvesting.

I am looking into getting the AQUS system that catches greywater from your bathroom sink and uses it to flush the toilet. It is only about $300.There is also a hose-like apparatus to put on the bottom of your gutters to take the rain water anywhere you like in your yard.

I feel like Paul and I make a big concious effort to help the environment… In almost every decision so far on the house (and there are millions more to come) we have taken into consideration how it will affect the environment. I know that we are contributing to sprawl (bleh bleh bleh) but I hope we can offset that by being extremely concientious.

Aside from all the above awesomeness, I got to walk around the Wildflower Center and take amazing pictures!

I love coneflower!

It seems like everyone I know is pregnant… co-workers, friends, etc. And I am always on the lookout for products that aren’t evil (that is what we call them… or DangerDanger products. Ya know, products that could make you grow a third arm if you use them too often) and I like to reflect that in my gift giving. I also know that a lot of you are just as concerned (and I might even be shopping for something for your little one!!)

I just ran across this website and thought I would share… Green Baby Gift Box. There are a lot of gift ideas for the environmentally conscious parents and soon-to-be wee ones. Also it is just a really cute website

However, I am told that it is better to get stuff that they will really need and use on a regular basis… like… diapers!