Getting the Good Stuff

When my Dad was here earlier last year, he wanted to know what the 'CSA Shares Available' sign meant at the farm near my in-laws' house. We looked up CSA Shares on Wikipedia when we got home, and we found out that it meant this:

Community-supported agriculture (in Canada Community Shared Agriculture) (CSA) is a socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. CSAs usually consist of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit in a vegetable box scheme, sometimes including dairy products and meat. (from Wikipedia)

Andrew and I thought this would be something we would like to do. We do eat a lot of fresh vegetables - my in-laws have a large garden, and we have a mini one ourselves with tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and herbs - but there is a lot of stuff that we just have never tried to grow. We went into Highland Orchards today to ask about their CSA Shares Program, and found out it costs $165 for the quarter (March - June), and we could pick up a small bag each week (it was more for the large bag). They showed us what was in the small bag - and let me assure you, it wasn't small. It was the size of a grocery bag, and this week's bag had potatoes, apples, kale, spaghetti squash, and some herbs. We signed up for the small bag - although we think that for the summer quarter we may upgrade to the large bag because there are many more things harvested in the summer.



"Don't we look well fed?"



These chickens are eating more colourful vegetables than most people I know!

I really like the idea of CSA bag - the farms (they have two locations - one in DE and the other in PA) use organic methods, and you are getting what is grown on the farms. I like that I will be getting what is in season and what I cook will largely be dictated by what is in season. And top of that, I am sure we will be trying things I have never had before - like the kale that is in this week's bag. Can anyone tell me how you cook kale?

Lucky Girl

Willow and I were on our own for dinner tonight, so we went to one of Willow's favourite places - Lucky's Coffee Shop on Concord Pike. It's a diner, but it has some cute touches like a disco ball in the little room that leads to the bathrooms, an egg-shaped Mork chair, and Willow's favorite place to eat - the long counter with the chairs she can spin round and round in.

WiP It Wednesday

As of right now, my WiPs consists of 3 pairs of socks (all of them about halfway through the second sock) and the barely started Mi Escuelita cardigan for Willow (which I really need to get cracking on or it will end up being a sweater for Dharma in a few years rather than for Willow!) - in any case, it doesn't make for exciting WiP blogposting.

The new Knitty came out this past week, and the only pattern I'm chomping at the bit to make is La Gitana - but I would much much rather do this in the round rather than as separate pieces. I'm kinding hoping that someone on Rav will take the initiative and start modifying it that way so I can follow their modifications...

Mathilda Update

I've been informed that I haven't been posting sufficient Mathilda updates...

Mattie is doing fine - I'm amazed at how big she has become, especially since she was only about 7 pounds when my in-laws adopted her in December (I believe she rounds out at about 35 pounds now). She is a boisterous dog, and I am amazed at how agile and acrobatic she is. If you are sitting down, she dives up into your lap or behind you on the seat as if she were a much smaller dog. We still have an in-roads with her and Willow - Mattie is determined to prove she is dominant to Willow, and Willow - unfortunately - is letting her. If anyone has any ideas on how to help a 7 year old stand up to a pushy dog, please let us know!

My New Toy

Isn't she pretty?



She's not very big - that is a standard size paperback novel (and a very good one if you are in looking for a good book to read) and tissue box.



It was hard to find something else to help you gauge size - how about my expired Dunkin Donuts card?



I love it! One of the reasons my blogging has been sparse of late is it isn't easy for me to get on the computer at home. Andrew and I are both frequent computer users, and unfortunately for me, when he is working on his Masters degree his computer needs trump mine just about every time. My new netbook is an Asus Eee PC in garnet red... and yes, I wrote this blog post from it!

Philadelphia Flower Show Recap: Part 2

Probably one of the things I liked best about this year's flower show is how many entrants went off the beaten path - and had exhibits that weren't just pretty displays of flowers.  And there were some pretty neat things - like this Marie Antoinette wig with its own little garden:



I loved the colours in this snazzy garden hat:



But probably one of the coolest things we saw at the Philadelphia Flower Show was the jewelry made out of plants. Made from grass, twigs, berries, seeds, and flowers - and then glued together and painted to look like real jewels. Don't believe me? Look at this:



And then behind each bit of jewelry was a list of what was used to make up the piece:



A very Siamese looking crown:



Something delicate for a young princess:



And the older dowager (see the gardening basket in the center?):



This tiara to me looked straight out of "Lord of the Rings":



And then there was the vegetable gardening! I don't know if I have ever seen this at the flower show - it was an exhibit on urban and small-space gardening. I love how the cucumbers are set up on a tripod, are growing up, and then the vegetables dangle down. I am definitely trying this in my garden this year:



And this?



Well, it was just the coolest cactus I had ever seen. I want one of these, but I have no clue what kind it is and it didn't have a sign saying what it was. So, if anyone knows, please let me know so I can try and get one. I haven't killed my Christmas cactus yet - maybe I would have luck with one of these as well.

Philadelphia Flower Show Recap: Part 1

I have been hestitating about posting my Philadelphia Flower Show pictures this year because, to be painfully honest, they were crap pictures. At the end of the day I had taken 158 pictures, and I was so excited to download them and see what I could put on the blog.  I downloaded them when we got home and was so disappointed in them I couldn't even look at them for a few days. I am not sure what happened - I had my camera set for indoor lighting (the show was in a big conference center and most exhibits had supplemental lighting), but anything more than 5 - 7 feet away turned out blurry.

Consider yourself forewarned... here are some of my pictures:



The theme of this year's show was 'Passport to the World' and participants covered all areas of the world and some made up places, too.









Yeah, whatever Mom. Take the picture.



This was just so weird I had to take a picture - the lilies were frozen in blocks of ice, and they were actively melting into a pool underneath.



One hell of a table setting



Orchids - the one thing I have no problem taking pictures of!



From the Thailand exhibit



Japan



The treehouse Willow wanted us to put in our backyard



Hyacinths



Tulips



And irises, oh my! Okay, I know that is not the typical shot of irises, but they were so clustered together that the effect from above was beautiful.



Mini-boxes - each of these scenes is built into a box that is only a foot square.



Papayas - I have to say, until that moment, I had no eartly clue how a papaya grows - now I know.

The pictures aren't all horrible - and I will post some more more tomorrow, but I was just expecting so much more. The show was fabulous and I was dazzled by all the colours and blooms and smells - it's just that I don't feel I captured it they way I wanted.

Sorry for the Drought!

My Auntie Daryth was visiting for the last week - and this was the only picture I managed to get of all of us together. I just wish I didn't have such a dumbass look on my face!

More pictures to come soon of the Philadelphia Flower Show and finished Olympic knitting.

Two Gold and Two Bronze Medals?

I passed this little beauty off to my friend, Shanetha, today:



I have to say I never looked this good at 39 weeks pregnant! Shanetha was worried that she wasn't going to make it through the weekend, but I told her she had to make it to work on Monday so I could give her the baby sweater I had knit for her impending little boy.

The Particulars:

Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby Sport
Pattern: Baby Raglan
Needles: Size US 2 and 4, 16" circulars and dpns

All in all, this sweater took me about 10 days to knit (interspersed with knitting my socks). I think if I was only working on this, I could finish it in 2-3 days. It is definitely the easiest baby sweater pattern I have ever used.

*********************************************

My medal count? Well, I have two complete finished objects -a baby blanket for Lauren (which I forgot to take a picture of before I gave it to her) and Shanetha's baby blanket. I have also finished two socks, but they are not a pair - rather, consecutive socks from different pairs. I'm counting that as two golds and two bronze medals!

All Is Not Lost!

While driving back from breakfast this morning Andrew was saying how beautiful it is to see the grass coming up in the melted patches of snow. In most areas there is still 12 - 18" of snow on the ground - but there are a few sunny areas where the snow is almost gone. We got home, walked up our driveway, and Andrew exclaimed, "Look - a bunch of green!"

The daffodils have started to come up! Snow, go away now, please.

Lenten Resolution

...and I have to say this will be a challenging one for me...

No chips - potato or tortilla.

I don't have a sweet tooth - I'm a salty crunchy girl all the way and I know it doesn't do my blood pressure any favours.  So, no chips...

How long until Easter?

February's Non-Fiction Book: Alexander Hamilton, American

Alexander Hamilton, American by Richard Brookhiser

Another book from my father-in-law's library.  Out of all of the Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton has always interested me the most - he was somewhat of a prodigy, came from inauspicious circumstances, and had a tragic end.  I can't wait to fill in the gaps in this knowledge.

(Shan guilted me into this post, small and sucky as it is...)

What Time Do The Opening Ceremonies Start?

I better declare my events soon!

I'm not joining the Knitting Olympics or Ravelympics (rav link) this year - as much as I want to, neither really falls into what I want to accomplish during the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

My goal for the Winter Olympics?

Finish stuff.

I'm not kidding, people - I have a serious condition called startitis - I love starting new projects - and this isn't necessarily limited to knitting. As it stands right now, I have 3 pairs of socks on the needles, 3 cardigans, 2 blankets, 3 project bags, at least 1 hat... all in various stages of completion.  My plan for the duration of the Olympics is to finish as many of these projects as possible...

SO WHEN THE WINTER OLYMPICS ARE OVER I CAN START NEW STUFF!

MuWAHAHAHAHA!

Reason #242 Why I Love My Husband

#242: Even though he is pathologically afraid of heights, he got up on our sunroom roof this afternoon and shovelled about 1000 cubic feet of snow off the sunroom:



I saw Pam's Post about Kris having to shovel off their sunroom roof, and I started thinking... our sunroom doesn't have a flat roof, but it is pretty damn close - only maybe a 15 - 20 degree slope, and seeing as it is on the dark side of the house, that snow wasn't going to melt anytime soon.



And then I started seeing news stories about roofs collapsing - one of the Smithsonian warehouses, a shop down in Rehoboth, a firehall in Townsend, DE, a drugstore not far from us. The #delsnow twitter page kept posting warnings for people with flat roofs as well.



I told Andrew I would go out and do it - hell, I am only 5 feet tall on a good day with thick socks, so at the very least it would be easier for me to crawl through the bathroom window. Andrew, my very afraid of heights husband, wouldn't hear of it. "If I let you do this and you hurt yourself, I would never forgive myself. Worse yet, my father would never forgive me."



By Pam's math, 1 cubic foot of snow equals 20 pounds - so 2 feet deep X 20 feet wide X 25 long = 1000 cubic feet X 20 pounds = 20,000 pounds of snow. Boy, am I ever glad that is off the sunroom roof - that is my favourite room in this house!

This is a picture toward the end of the snowfall Wednesday night - you can see that our firepit is nearly completely covered.



Our neighbour's tree across the street - I was really expecting limbs to come down with this one:


Another tree in our neighbourhood that did have broken limbs:


Governor Markell lifted the travel ban about 3pm this afternoon, and I had to get out of the house.  The roads aren't in bad condition right now, but I think the most treacherous part out there right now is the immense mountains of snow piled up on the corners.  Forget about making a right turn on red right now - you will have absolutely no clue if something is coming down the road.  I also saw plenty of downed trees while driving around today.  DelDOT had trimmed the trees to the road so as not to impede drivers, but these property owners are going to have plenty to clean up once all this snow thaws.

Apparently Between Blizzards

Lamp outside my in-laws' garage



Icicles on a house in our neighbourhood

Willow had no school today, will have no school tomorrow - and at this point, I'm willing to bet no school come Wednesday or Thursday now due to the next impending blizzard. I never thought I would be saying 'next blizzard' here in Delaware, and certainly not less than a week after the first one!  We have 27" of snow on the ground right now, and the different meteorologists in the area are predicting anywhere from 8 - 20" with the next storm - and we only need a little over 9" to break the all-time snow record for this area.

Okay, I'm ready for it to be spring after this next storm.

I Won A Quilt!

Omigod! I woke up with the worst headache this morning (no, not a hangover - I made the mistake of drinking hot cocoa last night and then was on a caffeine surge until 1:30am), came downstairs, and my lovely husband had a breakfast burrito and coffee waiting for me. I commandeered the computer from him so I could check my email and blogs (I'm not very nice in the morning) - and I found out that I won Tara's quilt!

Woo-hoo! Go check it out - it's beautiful! I did a little dance around my kitchen singing, "I won a quilt, I won a quilt!" And my headache is gone!

Blizzard Update: 6:30pm

The snow stopped falling around 3:30pm, and all the neighbours headed outside to plow, blow or dig out their driveways. Andrew started at the back sunroom door and moved his way forward - knowing he would have to get through snow this deep:



And then get through the snow drifts that had climbed up our sunroom door:



This is what the hood of my car looked like after Andrew had cleared off some of the snow:



Willow wanted in on the clean up action, too - but I think it was more just playing with the broom, because I can't say a whole lot of snow was moved on her shift!



This was the drift that connected our two cars:



Willow and I played in the snow - at first she was trying to stay dry, but that quickly went along the wayside and she wanted me to throw her into the snowdrifts:



The driveway and sidewalk cleaner - and to give you a clue as to how much snow we had, Andrew is 6'1", and he is wearing work boots that probably bump him up another inch:



I say there was at least 27" - because my inseam is 27", and when I was in the snow, I was up to my parts that don't like to be cold!