Crack Those Nuts

Battle of the mascots

vs.

Fight On!

 vs  

Just how good are these banana bars?  I told Caroline she'd get a banana bar if she tried the sauteed beet greens I made for lunch (w. fish sticks).

She tried them...

She liked them...

..."a little."  

Seriously, they were better than I thought they would be.  I just sauteed them like I would spinach leaves- in olive oil, a minced garlic clove, and I didn't have lemon juice, so I splashed some lime juice in the pan instead.  It was surprisingly good...esp. if you like greens.  I'm saving the beet juice (from boiling the beet roots---those were yummy!) to add to what I call nursing home prep drinks.... where you throw in veggies, fruits, whatever and drink it up...Yum?!  So, when I loose all of my teeth and, as my brother predicted, "am an old lady who repeats the same stories over and over again" (which is happening already!), I'll be chugging my veggie puree like a pro.  Ha!  Honestly, I enjoy a green smoothie nearly every morning and that's the extent of my puree so far, but I do plan on using this beet juice...hmmm.  Spaghetti sauce?  Brownies?  Just not in my beloved banana bars---you don't mess with perfection!

Notes from the Garden

This year our garden was an experiment.  We haven't planted beyond some potted plants since we've lived in New England, and felt like it was past time to figure this veggie garden thing out.  So, we plotted, planned, planted, and tended our little garden.  Sure enough, some things grew, some didn't, and we'll give this another shot next spring.  Don't laugh as you read all that we tried to grow in our 4x6 garden....we're learning:)

Notes from this years' garden:

• Zucchini needs more sun than ours got.  They are supposed to be super easy to grow, and our plant was big, but nearly fruitless.  We'll plant zuke in a better spot next year.  This plant needs a lot of space to grow.  Ours was growing onto our driveway before I chopped it back, made space in the garden, and moved it...we'll see if the few little zukes growing will perk up.
  
• Grape tomatoes grew like gang busters.  Love 'em!  We'll plant those again next year.
  
• Romas did nearly as well as grape tomatoes.
  
• Celebrity tomatoes took the longest to ripen, but they did well in a pot.
  
• Cucumbers did great and need a lot of space to sprawl.
• Beets did well.  We'll plant a lot more of them next year.  The leaves are so pretty & edible too (I'll probably be the only one to try them).  We'll always plant beets in flower beds like the gardens at the Joseph Smith Memorial.
  
• Green beans grew well with netting around the Roma tomato cages.
• Green onions grew well and we somehow ended up with two harvests...early July and in early September.
• Sugar snap peas will need to be planted earlier.  None of them grew.  I'm hoping timing was the problem!
• Broccolli didn't do well, but we'll try again.  I think it needed more space and more sun.
• Ditto on the romaine.  What did grow was small and it got eaten up fast by whatever critter visited our garden periodically. (I spotted a chipmunk there today)
• All of our herbs grew well in planters.  Arugula was a new try and it grew beautifully.  Parsley, sage, cilantro did really well.
• Next year we need to plant a bigger garden!

We planted our garden to the left of our front door.  We handed out tomatoes to visitors and sent the kids to offer some to neighbors.  I like having a practical pretty space right at the entrance.  We planted marigolds and red petunias around the border, but the zucchini overshadowed the flowers at one end and those flowers didn't live long.  I love, love, love mixing herbs and veggies in with flowers.  We had pretty purple Sweet-Pea flowers climbing up one side of our garden and Cosmos in front of the tomatoes.  The Cosmos grew to be 4'+ tall.  We'll play with the layout next year, but repeating that idea of veggies & flowers being friends.  I may be the only one to eat Swiss chard, but it's going in the ground next to the snapdragons!

Before we started our garden, I spoke with several friends who have successful gardens in our area.  It's been fun collaborating with friends who were gardening at home this summer too.  I am thankful that we have good examples around us to learn from.  Additional resources I found helpful which I plan on using again....

Taunton-Find Gardening

Kids Gardening

Garden Guides

Edible Flowers

Earth Easy- organic gardening

Home Gardening (lesson in the LDS Priesthood Manual)

Container Gardening (FHE lesson)

We've probably got 3-4 more weeks of tomatoes and cukes, and then we'll be done for the season.  It's been fun, esp. with so much rain making it low maitenance, our childrens' helping hands in all phases of gardening, and yummy harvests.

You friends and family in CA are lucky to have such a long growing season.  Even with our relatively short harvest season, it's a worthwhile effort.

Happy Gardening!

Camp Joseph- A family tradition

Summers just don't seem complete without our family trek up to Camp Joseph in Sharon, VT. We spent the last 4 days there at our ward campout and had such a wonderful time.  

The town of Sharon is charming, and as we drove into the church historical site marking the birthplace of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, I felt, as I have on each previous trip, like I'm in a corner of heaven. It's sacred land and you don't need to be of any particular faith to feel the peace and note the beauty of the memorial site.

Camp Joseph is just a few minutes (or hours if you get lost--AB & Co!) from the memorial site. We love Camp Joseph! Our first trip to Camp Joseph was back in 1998, the year it was dedicated. There were no cabins back then. During our first ward campouts there, we helped build the small cabins that stand today. They are very small, each sleep 4 people (2 bunkbeds) and there's a small path in between the beds with a chair under a small window. There is maybe a foot or so of space at the foot of the beds as well...small space!  The campsite has a lodge, a pavillion, bathrooms with showers and electricity, and wide open spaces. It's been a constant for us each summer; the source of many fond memories. We've also gone in the fall when the foliage is breathtaking.

Some highlights of our '08 Labor Day weekend at Camp Joseph:

• Chasing butterflies
• Finding frogs, crickets, caterpillars, and critters
• The Joseph Smith movie at the Visitors Center (even Caroline named this as her favorite part of our trip)
• The landscaping at the JS Memorial site- they planted veggies w/ the flowers
• Gourmet grub: Camp Joseph shish-kabobs, chili dogs, grilled veggies (asparagus was A+), Santa Maria tri tip (from Trader Joe's), Leisl's foil dinner, Allison's chicken pot pie, Brian's roast, Sat's potluck, garden veggies, Macy's cookies (I need that recipe!)...
• Peaceful sunrises and capturing this sunset...
  
  
• Watching Wesley discover Camp Joseph for the first time (& trying to keep up with pal, G. Watching those chubby legs move as fast as they could down hill was too funny)
• Rolling down grassy hills- this never gets old
• The spectacular star-filled night sky...shooting stars, dancing & smoochin' under the stars
• Getting to know our ward family better- games, late nights, yummy shared meals, "prank war," campfires, inspirational meetings....

• Thomas' first night sleeping in his own hammock
• Gorgeous weather
• Sports for all
• Christening the boat- Yeah, the patch worked!
• Thomas' adventure getting home from the JSM- Lost....sort of.
• S'mores- classic & w/peanut butter cups instead of Hershey's chocolate....mmmm!
• Tree climbing- Grace fell from a 5' branch & landed on a root. She cried and complained her back hurt. I helped her to the hammock and within 5 minutes she was back in the tree. Grace.
• Simply being there.

I have to say that one thing that makes camping enjoyable for me is that Wayne loves it and loves putting everything together. We collaborate on the menu, we both shop, but Wayne does the food at camp, puts together all of the gear, and is my Joe Camper. Fun for him, fun for me. I also love being in a cabin- no worries about rain and we all sleep better than in a tent. A warm shower was a treat each morning. I had to crack up at Caroline...she was filthy everyday, but would complain if her flip-flops got dirty and would rinse them off at the water spout. 

Wes spent his waking hours exploring when he wasn't taking a good, long nap, Caroline says she found love, all of our kids had lots of play time with friends, and Christina and Thomas loved staying up 'til all hours of the night with pals.

We already are looking forward to our next trip to Sharon, VT....such a beautiful, wonderful, family tradition.