A Mish-Mash Bouquet




For those that didn't get "The Official Announcement" on Facebook, I've been splitting my time quietly griping in my head (and griping out loud to Charlie), napping, and doing a little bit of tending to everything else as I can.  See, for some crazy reason we decided to add another little person to our family. So far it's about the size of a grape and I'm hoping my moodiness is no reflection on that of what to expect from kiddo #2.

Right now it's all a pretty interesting, queasy experience that I seem to have blocked from the first go-round. Through it all, and trying to keep up with the everyday, perhaps life can best be described as a mish- mash bouquet.


Tater Tot




I had grand expectations of a winter-long delicious Kennebec potato binge. We had 3 bins planted, and several 15 foot long rows in the ground. A few weeks ago Mabel and I emptied 2 bins and found about 3 potatoes. Several days ago we dug up the rows and found what you see here. One of the beauties of having M around while gardening?

Our sweet little tater tot is a cheerleader for even the smallest of bounties!

Pretty powders


Of the gardening (spin-off) activities I can do with Mabel is get her to help me grind dried goods up in the small coffee grinder. To keep her entertained, she needs to see what's happening and to know she's not just doing busy work. Powdering things up is an activity with immediate results, and she gets to do most of the actual work. So far we've done this twice: first pulverizing tomato peels into a seasoning something like tomato-bent paprika, the second was to turn homegrown (and dried) stevia into a powder. All-in-all it's a time consuming tasks and requires an extra bit of patience with the toddler since the powder ends up everywhere, but our time together making things and the pride on M's face when we're done make it that much better. Plus, look how pretty they are together!



Far more comforting


This is the inside wall of the block facade we had rebuilt in May. There have always been shelves there, but they were made from scrap wood and were, at best, 4 inches deep. After the wall was rebuilt and I was sure it could handle some weight, I asked Charlie to make some scrap wood shelves. He used all materials he had on hand, and a few hours later I had shelves for all the canning I'd been doing. It's not pretty, but it works, plus there's something far more comforting about having endless quarts of tomato sauce and vegetable juice than having a designer pantry.