One of these mornings
Youre gonna rise, rise up singing,
Youre gonna spread your wings,
Child, and take, take to the sky,
Lord, the sky.

in “Summertime.”

That’s close to how I’ve been feeling lately.  Like my sap is rising, or like I’m gathering energy and ready to soar.  It’s a good feeling, especially after how tired I was over winter and spring.

And how hectic adjusting to preschool was.  Julia took to it like a duck to water, but I was having a hard time dealing with it. I think starting Grade K will be easier.  For one thing it lasts longer than three hours so I won’t feel like I have only enough time to get her there, come back to eat breakfast, and then go back to fetch her!

The garden produced well this season. I’m going to extend it over summer so I will have another two beds for September planting.  Also getting the paths graded and mulched.

When I did the “Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice” service there was a reading that I really liked.

“Litany of Gratitude”
by Max Coots, Minister Emeritus, UU Church, Canton, NY

“The harvest will be an attitude, not a time of year.
And maybe I’ll be wise enough to feel a sort of litany of gratitude:

For seeds – that, like memories and minds, keep in themselves the recollection of what they were and the power to become something more than they are. . .

For soil – that accumulation of lives piled up by death that gives new life. . .

For the justice of the earth – that gave me about as many weeds and wilt and scab and bugs as vegetables but, in the end, gave me enough for what I need. . .

For hands – those miracles on the ends of my arms that let me tend my vegetables and pull my weeds, and for mind enough to know the difference between the two. . .

For calluses – life’s defense against that softness that makes survival difficult. . .

For the ability to work and the will to work and the work to do, and the time to do it in. . .

And, finally, for that sense of kinship to it all, that singleness, that unity that is the basis of faith. . . .”

That also reflects some of what I’ve been feeling lately. Even as I harvest the literal fruits of my garden labor, in my head I’m harvesting what I’m grateful for.

YESTERDAY

Yesterday and today we put in some garden work. We’d started do last month but got derailed, but I think we’re definitely going now. The momentum is carrying us along.

Yesterday we were weeding all the beds and watering, checking plants after the cold snap. Most did ok, some might have to go.

We got the Nantes carrot tape out and planted them in the two squares that were empty in the sweet onion plot.

The exciting part was when I took the cardboard off the plot I had wanted to use for strawberries and found a little black racer snake sleeping. He woke up and glared.

It was close to sunset so I decided to call it a day and go in to make dinner. Julia’s nerves had gotten rattled anyway so she was definitely done.

TODAY

Today while she was at preschool I picked up 16 Sequoia Strawberry plants. I keep telling myself to get organized to start them myself because they’d be way cheaper! But I’m not always that organized.

When I opened the trunk to show her the surprise in the parking lot, she lit up and claimed first dibs on all strawberries. I told her no because last year I only did 8 plants and I hardly got any. So I got extras so I could eat some too. After lunch we planted some flower seeds (petunia and marigold) in the windowbox starters and took a rest.

Then in the afternoon we went out. I raked over the snake bed to make sure he’d gone and we settled into to work. Pulled out all the grass from the edges, dug out all the soil into Rubbermaid totes, and lay fresh cardboard down to suppress any grass or weeds from popping up. It seems to last about a year so turning the garden beds over isn’t much trouble when it’s 4×4 plots at a time. Put all the dirt back and assembled the new grids Paul made. Will have to saw about an inch off one end because the beds are not exactly square.

Julia planted most of them herself all around the bed. I only had to help with the back middle 4 because those she had a hard time reaching.

Most of the plants have blooms. Some have fruit. Probably been in the pot too long but can’t be choosy when you procrastinate and have to go with transplants!

Julia is giving them organic plant food out of the bag in the plastic tub.

One side of the 4×8 bed is pretty much sweet onions and the other is strawberries. Here is a better view of the sweet onions in the foreground.

This is what they were like almost 6 weeks ago when I first put in the onion starters. They’ve come along well.

Julia working her way around the bed.

I just rip them off but she wanted to use scissors to get the plastic labels off the peat pots.

Our little 4 x 4 ft strawberry patch all planted. I hope they are sweet and juicy!

We showed off to Daddy when he got home and then made him put up the bean trellis.

I was trying to do it with Julia but she’s too short to hold her end up high enough so we had to wait for him. We planted purple beans.

I think we are either going to put more carrots down in front of it or more strawberries. Julia is campaigning for the berries, of course.

]]> http://livingthe7th.org/2009/02/26/snake-strawberries-onions-carrot-beans/feed/ 0 Cat nantes1 snake2 strawberry1 strawberry2 strawberry3 strawberry4 onions2 onions1 strawberry5 strawberry6 strawberry71 http://livingthe7th.org/2008/09/15/peace-film-festival-sept-17-20/ http://livingthe7th.org/2008/09/15/peace-film-festival-sept-17-20/#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:15:00 +0000 Cat http://whiteplate.wordpress.com/?p=324 ]]> This one not only comes across my desk, it runs around and stirs all the rest up in a flurry!

Mark your calendars for one of Orlando’s most significant cultural events, the Global Peace Film Festival, held September 17 – 21, 2008. This acclaimed series celebrates movies and documentaries that set out to make a difference in the world.

See the website for full information!

The Second Annual Kid’s Festival by the Simple Living Institute is coming on Sept. 20th! Here’s the scoop:

The Kids’ Festival is an event custom-made for children aged 5-12 to explore and engage in Simple Living-style activities including conservation and organic farming. This event will be held at the Econ Farm,which is a rustic outdoor setting, so come prepared for Florida weather. Activities will include a hydrology lesson/river swim, scavenger hunt, seed planting in the garden, and celebration and snacks at the end.

If you’d like to volunteer or help plan the event, drop them a line!

The whole room was filled with tables. We had boxes up at the stage and we were supposed to just grab books and rough sort them into categories. With that many people, we had it nailed in about two hours so somewhere in there I took a book break and wheelend out the drinks and snacks cart.

Sam made me laugh when he said, “Cat, you are such a good provider! Yay!” (Last time Sam and I were volunteering together he was really excited I’d showed up with bread and cheese to make toasted sandwiches. )

Volunteers usually work cheap. The main thing is to feed us a cookie or something.

ORLANDO ORGANICS

For a few years, I was getting my produce delivered from Orlando Organics. They have a big range for delivery. Unfortunately the driving routes changed and my house is no longer on it.

It is particularly good for those who prefer to just “eat through the basket” and plan the menu around what they got and just want to use it up. I especially liked that because I’m not very good at thinking ahead to what I want to eat. I find it easier to go from the “I have a mess of onions to use up. What can I make out of it?” side of things.

Website

Established in 2002. The website is clean, crisp, and easy to navigate. The member login area is pretty self-explanatory and you can make the changes you need without too much difficulty. If you lose your password you can request it at the website.

Membership Fee

One time $15 registration fee.

Ordering

You select the size “basket” you want from the website and can leave it permanently set to get that size weekly or every other week. This is useful for those who want regular delivery. You get it set up for the size you want and then don’t worry about it any more.

You can also log in to change basket sizes before the next delivery date if you need to, but I found the basket method especially good for people who don’t want to be logging on to websites a lot.

The front page of the website tells you what this week’s Harvest Blend Regular basket contains along with a link to the other basket options. I found the harvest blend regular basket adequate for my family of 2 adults and one baby/toddler for 1-2 weeks if supplemented with other produce bought elsewhere — usually fruit.

You can list your likes and dislikes in your membership preferences and they will try to exchange things in your basket so it suits your tastes.

Payment Method

Credit Card on file automatically billed for your order, though you have to call it in when first setting up your account.

Food

The food is fresh, nice, and best of all — delivered right to you! Here’s one Harvest Regular Basket order:

Everything is inside your cooler bag. At the next order you return the cooler bag and in really hot weather, they suggest you leave out a cooler with ice so they can put the food in that so it will keep til you get home. If you lose your bag, you do have to replace it or pay a replacement fee.

Customer Care

The website is set up to deal with most of my needs. On the rare occassion where I had to call in by phone, both Dave and Heather have been very attentive any time I ever had a question. They care about their business and promptly get back to you.

Notes

Your home may be outside the area of delivery. If you like to make your menu ahead of time and then get the groceries to fit it, the “basket” approach may not work for you. The newsletter archives with recipes are still available. The best thing I liked about it was the ease of use, and not having to think about my menus or produce selections so my family got variety. I just ate my way through the basket!

I would and do reccommend Orlando Organics to friends who seem to want the “basket” approach.

Related Links:

• Next time…Homegrown Coop!

Last weekend Julia and I took a quick minute to put out two trays.  Basil, yellow tomatoes, yellow peppers.  Labeled them with old plastic knives and Sharpie.  I have some room yet to consider some other seedlings and there are some things I want to direct sow.

It was just nice to spend some time doing garden stuff.  Been so busy with other things.

I have enough work going on tomorrow. I’m still beat from yesterday. And the trouble with being an active volunteer and being a SAHM is that your days blur together and you don’t really get a “weekend” like other people with a less fluid schedule do. Unless YOU put the brakes on and declare it so, you won’t get that “weekend” feel.

Well, it can’t be helped that I was working over the weekend. I had movie nite and coffee hour going on and I’m pleased that both went over nice, friendly, and low key.

But today?

Today is for the home.

Julia and I slept in a bit, got ourselves together and put in a load of laundry. She’s off playing know while I take a journal break but we just got done harvesting my crazy herbs. The basil bushes are running rampant!

Julia held the bowl while I hacked it back. We got a large bowl or green sweet basil and a large bowl of the purple opal.

I’m not crazy about the purple opal. Gorgeous color, but it really didn’t do as well as the sweet basil in terms of growth and it seems to attract stink bugs. What’s that all about?

Last fall when we harvested basil, we pureed it in olive oil and preserved it that way. I don’t have time for that production today so we went simple and did bunch drying.

Julia played with the discards that I snipped off and she colelcted in smaller bowls at my feet. She said she was making a “bug house” from them.

Meanwhile I stipped lower leaves off stems, tied the bunches with yard, rinsed them, shook them and then just clipped them to my kitchen curtain rod. I dont’ think I will be eating any of the purple but Julia wanted it so I hung it to dry all the same. It looks pretty and smiles nice even though I don’t find stink bug nibbled basil something I want to eat when I have so much perfect green basil to get through first!

Paul was kind enough to do the mowing and weedeating on Saturday so this week I hope to put some time in prepping for the fall season planting in late August or early September. I know I have to start seeds either tonight or tomorrow. Where does the time fly?

All the tomatoes are old and dying off but I did get a nice crop form the yellows. Some are still ripening out there.

The Purple cherokee were a bust. Nice to look at, but too fussy for my style of guerilla gardening.

Julia’s African daisy is taking over her bed and sports a wicked looking spider. I figured out from this link that it is called an Argiope florida. It is not harmful to humans.

Her little plot has the final tomatoes coming.

And a nice little crop of jingle bell peppers. She harvested two already.

My eggplant is tall but I have to get rid of the old eggplants I didn’t pick to eat so the new ones can have more space and plant energy.

Lots to do.

My foyer looks nuts, and my car looks even wackier as I prepare to go make my second drop.

At any rate for those looking to help out with donated goods, donate some volunteer time, or looking for some fun thrifty shopping over the weekend, I invite you to check out the letter and the sale!

Hi Friends,

We are doing a Community Rummage Sale on July 19th to raise money for the co-op and the community garden…plus to help us all free up some physical space and pass along items we are no longer using.

I’m writing to you for two reasons:

1: We need the help of the community to gather items for the rummage sale to supplement what the school will already have. Clean out those closets and garages and bring your items to the school anytime from Wednesday July 16 to Friday July 18.

If you need to schedule a time to bring them outside of these days, let us know.

If it is a large item and you don’t have a way to deliver it to the school, let us know.

All donations will receive a receipt, as all donations are tax-deductible for their net value.
* P.S. – tell your friends, too! We’ve all got a few things lying around that we don’t need anymore!!

2: We need volunteers throughout Friday and Saturday to help us price, set up, and operate the rummage sale. It will be very low key, but extra hands on deck are very welcome! Friday we’ll be pricing and sorting 11 am to 7 pm. Saturday’s sale will set up around 9:30 am and will last until 4 pm (or until we’re sold out). Rain or shine – we will use the classroom if it is rainy that day.

If you can spare some of the junk taking up space in your home or office, turn it into treasure for the co-op and the community garden.
And, let us know if you can help us on July 18th or 19th!

Thanks and blessings,
Emily

But we did make it out to the 14th anniversray edition of the Black Cat Cafe on May 9th.

I brought my camera in hopes of trying to meet the challenge of taking pix in the strange lighting situation of a dark room with a bright stage while not disturbing or distracting the guests at the show.

Overall I was pleased with the results and it eventually made it up on the church website.

I was able to get Tom some pix of him in a tux so he could send it to his mom and I made Toni and Chip play smoochies for a while until I got a clear shot. Toni said she is tempted to use it for their holiday greeting card this year. The Black Catters are such a fun, friendly group of people!

Here is my collage copied over with cafe info:

The “Black Cat Cafe Coffeehouse” is a cozy, relaxed open mic night held at:

First Unitarian Church of Orlando.
1901 E. Robinson St.
Orlando, FL 32803

With fourteen years and still going strong, Black Cat is currently led by Chip Dockery. He and the other “Black Catters” open the Gore Hall doors on the 2nd Friday of each month from 7:30 PM to 11:30 PM.

It is an Orlando tradition dating back to one fateful “Friday the 13th” in May of 1994. Because we hold it on the Second Friday, some of the time it falls on a Friday the 13th. We like that, and that’s how it got its name!

Admission is just $2 and you get to kick back, relax, and enjoy plenty of local talent!