40 Days of Veggies

Ash Wednesday. Day one of Lent, a season for repentance, reflection, and - some would say - self deprivation in observance of the end of Jesus Christ's Life on Earth. He was challenged, tried, betrayed, and ultimately killed by those who had once worshipped him.

Many people take Lent as an opportunity to give something up, following the old tradition of throwing all the fat out of the house on what has become known as Fat Tuesday. Additionally, Fridays are usually days with no meat, or perhaps just fish. I have not always observed these traditions, and when I have it's been with mixed success. I'm not one for a month of somberness, so I often take Lent as an opportunity to do something to live my life in a healthier way, rather than as a time to focus solely on our lives as sinners.

Anyhoo...This year, the Beez have decided together to turn Lenten traditions on their head, giving up meat every day except Friday. (Typically, observers use Fridays as a day to give up meat, unless it's fish.) So yesterday, for Fat Tuesday, we did not eat donuts. Instead, we enjoyed a lovely quiche made with some pretty awesome prosciutto. We'll eat the leftovers on Friday this week.


Going vegetarian is not so hard for lunch. (Keep in mind that we are not giving up dairy in this experiment - one step at a time.) I had some leftover veggie minestrone from this weekend's adventures, so I had that with some Greek Yogurt. No problem - a pretty typical lunch for me. Dinner, on the other hand, presented our first challenge. Knowing that this new endeavor would require some planning, we had a pantry creation in mind - black bean and corn quesadillas. Easy, right? Not so much when your toddler has a meltdown and demands pancakes.

So, pancakes it was. No veggies on the plate, but also no meat. The meal was topped off with some lovely local maple syrup (or dip, as the Bean calls it) from MacNeal Orchards.

Hey, it's a start, right?  It'll only get better from here...

Girls Gone Crafty - A Weekend to Remember

 This past weekend, I went away by myself for the first time since Lily was born. Even better was the fact that this first journey away was with a group of "girls," rather than for work. Thanks to our one friend in common, Abbey of Knit & Wit, our group of five young women traveled West over the mountains to Autumn House Farm. We began as individuals who had never spent time together as a group, looking forward to a weekend of potential luxury, antique and yarn buying, and industrious productivity as we anticipated lounging by the fire in the farm house we were to stay in. We ended the weekend as friends, bonded together by an experience that was nothing we had expected and yet was so much better. It was the type of experience that happens rarely, and can pass you by if you don't hold onto and embrace it. It was the type of experience that you leave feeling changed. I know that I did. (And Abbey's reflections confirm that the same was true for her.) I entered the weekend with anticipation and admittedly a few shy nerves, and left feeling so confident - in this group of women, in my own values, in the promise of my family's future.

This is a story that I struggle to tell, because it's a story about discovery and knowing. And our guide on that journey was a lovely woman named Harriet. Harriet is a truly unique woman. She is an artisan, expert in the fiber arts. She is a lifelong farmer, and an encyclopedia on animal husbandry - she has been caring for sheep for many years, but before that kept cattle. She loves her husband, her children, her people. She is an historian - she tells colorful stories of the people and artifacts of her past. And she is a self-appointed role model, deliberately sharing her very strong core values and the ways of farming and self-reliance with any who would like to learn. Harriet cares deeply about the future generations that will come after her and inherit all of the rich beauty with which we have been entrusted as humans. This care colored all of the conversations we shared in with her.

So did we relax in luxury? Rustic relaxation is more like it...

So did we do any crafting? Absolutely!                                

Painted Bird Houses

Finished Duck Bib

Did we sit by the fire? Of course!

Tending the fire

Did we enjoy awesome food, wine, and company? Yes!

Vegan Minestrone

Did we get to meet the sheep? Oh yeah!

With a lovely lamb named Mouse

I have a feeling this past weekend is going to creep into more than a few future blog posts, as I share with you all that we did, saw, learned, and accomplished. One thing's for sure. I am SO glad that I went.

The five of us with Harriet and her dog, Cap

Feelin' like a (Germ) Killer

This morning I was horrified to find that sometime during the night last night, my poor Bean threw up big time. I felt so horrible for her. She was a mess. Her crib was a mess. And her menagerie of toys? Yep, that was a mess too.  I immediately snapped into Supermom, crisis containment mode. Bean went in the bathtub, bedclothes went in the washer, impacted fuzzy ones were put in a box and hidden in the closet for later attention...

...It's later now... 

Not long ago, as I described the Bean's menagerie of creatures in her crib, a friend asked me,"So how is it that you get to that point [of having a whole town worth of stuffed animals and toys in your one-year-old's crib]?" Well, I guess the simplest answer is that two people who happen to go by "Momma" and "Dada" cave every time another furry little friend is added to the fold. And so far, it's mostly been positive, even buying us extra time in bed on Saturday mornings, while the Bean plays with her beloved babies and kitties. The downside, which I now know firsthand, is that stuffed animals are magnets for everything gross that can possibly be emitted from a toddler. 

So what's a parent to do? (Especially one whose number one hated activity is throwing up). Well, thankfully there are all sorts of suggestions out here on the interwebs. Though many people had great suggestions, my favorite resource was a Real Simple article that gives detailed instructions for disinfecting all sorts of important and germ-collecting objects in your child's life. Which is how the Bean's babies have come to live in the freezer (germs will die in the cold environment). And even though I'm doing the right thing, this image somehow feels so wrong (thus I had to share it with you!).