Today was some laundry, Freshfiled Farms for some produce, Publix to get the odds and ends I can’t get at Freshfield, write an article about it, do some church work, play with kid… I’m just about wiped out.

But I have the organic produce coming Thursday so I had to clean the fridge so tomorrow I can start cooking up what I got today to make space for the incoming.

Before it wasn’t too bad, but it needed some straightening.

After is neater and I have empty drawers for incoming.

Adapted this to be vegetarian from a recipe I found in Taste of Home: Picnic, Potlucks, and Barbecues.

Paul and I liked it but Julia did not care for the onions. I have to remember to leave those out for her.

INGREDIENTS

Filling:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 package Boca burger Crumbles (about 12 oz)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 (15 oz) can of tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbs mustard
• salt and pepper to taste

Topping:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups Biscuit/baking mix
• 1 tbs sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS

Prehat oven to 400 deg.

Add olive oil to skillet and sautee onions and peppers.  Add Boca crumbles and heat through.

Meanwhile in a bowl mix tomato sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, salt and pepper to taste.  Add to filling ingredients and blend.  Pour into 9×13 inch pan. Sprinkle with cheese if using.

In separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, and biscuit/baking mix.  Pour over filling.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 25 min.

I didn’t have sesame seeds but it turned out nicely anyway.

I love summer.  Julia’s out of preschool and we’re spending a lot of time together.  The first few weeks were hard because we both had to get used to the new schedule, new routine, and being so tight again.  Now that we’re hitting our groove it’s a lot less frustrating.

She’s experimenting with new art supplies — tortillons, charcoal pencils, water color pencils…

I’m experimenting with new recipes and shutting down my garden before I have landscapers come in to regrade and put in mulched paths.

ZUCCHINNI BAKE

We did this recipe together for a quiche-like bake because I was trying to use up some organic zucchinni and organic yellow crookneck  squash. I think it is her first non-dessert recipe she executed with supervision. I found it at allrecipes.com and just use halfsies instead of all zucchinni.

Julia grated the squashes since she can’t use a sharp knife yet.  We skipped the onion because she insisted that it would make us cry. (She’s going through this anti-onion period.)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup biscuit baking mix
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/4 cup grated onion
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 zucchini, thinly sliced (Or grated!)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8×8 inch baking pan.
   
2. In a large bowl, combine baking mix, cheese, garlic powder, seasoning salt, oregano, salt, pepper and parsley. Stir in onion, eggs and oil; stir well. Stir in zucchini. Pour batter into prepared pan.
   
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

PHOTOS

Here’s Julia cooking standing on a stool.  I was also making 5 entrees and sides for a mom with a new baby so we were having a good time wrecking the kitchen!

This is what the batter looked like.  We liked it so much grated, I don’t think I’ll get around to trying this with sliced squashes.

Julia pouring the batter into the 8×8 glass dish.

It took a long meditative period to get the batter smoothed just so…

Fresh out of the oven after baking 30 min at 350 deg.

Janis Joplin sings

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.

This morning I got to sleep in a bit and Julia woke me up wreathed in smiles. We got up and eventually turned up at church to work at the thrift store for a while. Everyone was very kind to Julia since she doesn’t get to come as much now that she’s a preschooler.

Before we went we popped int he yard t harvest more of the strawberries and peppers.  They are coming in nicely.

Julia wanted to take some in to Ms Jean and Ms Amy. I think they each got 6 berries and 2 peppers.

After church we went to the bookstore for a light lunch and to poke around.  Julia has learned to read simple books. It’s weird because we weren’t especially pushing it — just letting it come at her own time.

We got back home and I did some calls and then we watched Fairy Tale Theatre’s “Three Little Pigs.”  I took a nap and got dinner together, got her bathed, and now I’m sitting back reflecting why today felt so much better than yesterday.

For once, we didn’t have a hectic morning. That helped set the tone for a more patient day.

I was ok doing less today because she was home and I had to be attentive.  I know I’m a driven personality and I kick out a lot any given day but I always want to be doing MORE.  I have to learn to to just be more ok with LESS.

Life has been busy with one special event or another. Just got done with a benefit performance of Rocky Horror over at church. That was a blast!

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 Rigby nantes1 snake2 strawberry1 strawberry2 strawberry3 strawberry4 onions2 onions1 strawberry5 strawberry6 strawberry71 http://livingthe7th.org/2008/10/23/first-ancestor-feast/ http://livingthe7th.org/2008/10/23/first-ancestor-feast/#comments Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:33:21 +0000 Cat http://whiteplate.wordpress.com/?p=328 ]]>

So I jsut got done helping to put on an Ancestor’s Feast dining experience and ritual at church. It was both fun, weird, and interesting.

The fun part was messing around with decor, cooking, recipes… really all of it. I didn’t even mind the clean up. Later I have to take the money from Mr. Skull tip jar to buy stuff for the food bank, and even that is kind of fun… trying to make the donated money buy as much food as possible to help out those in need.

The weird part was trying to write a ritual by committee for mass consumption when I haven’t ever written a ritual before!

Each section had a person in charge of it — for instance Kym had the choir covered, Steve had the dance part, Peter had the opening and closing… Mary really helped me pull the overall thing together and she and I bridged the gaps.

The interesting part was no knowing how it was going to fly… with 30 people attending and it being a mostly even split between the pagans/non-pagans — I think it went quite well for a first run. We’ll try it again next year and see how it goes.

Here’s how the altar looked — or as much of it as I could squeeze into the frame.  All the attendees brought mementos or photos of the ancetor(s) they were honoring at the feast:

Here’s the two pollera dresses I brought to represent my paternal grandmother.  My aunt sent them for my daughter, and I wore similar when I was her age.  I wore the gold necklace that is part of the pollera ensemble rather than putting that on the altar.  It’s almost 100 years old and I didn’t want to lose it!

Child’s version of a fancy pollera de luz:

Child’s version of a pollera montuna:

Here’s the center of the steps with more of the wishes to Ancestor’s with candles:

My kid, fooling around:

]]> http://livingthe7th.org/2008/10/23/first-ancestor-feast/feed/ 0 Cat Rigby feast_pumpkin_bowl feast_altar feast_altar_step2 feast_altar_step6 feast_altar_step4 feast_door http://livingthe7th.org/2008/09/15/balance/ http://livingthe7th.org/2008/09/15/balance/#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:35:15 +0000 Cat http://whiteplate.wordpress.com/?p=327 ]]>

What a short summer break that was. I blinked and it was gone. Now I’m knee deep in teaching, events, and God knows what else.

But I’m getting a better grip on finding the balance in growing my village.

For instance, I have my regular spouse of course. And he’s a huge helpmate to me in many ways.

I have a “work husband” for the eco-justice stuff who truly is a phenomenal guy, a “house wife” who swaps housekeeping days with me so we’re both a little better off, and I became “the computer wife” to my friend who swaps me computer help for massages.

Child is going to be trying out daycare just 2 days a week so she can keep playing with her VPK friends, and free me up for volunteer and house work that I can do better wihtout a sidekick. My parents are lending a hand there as well.

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!

Pioneering filmmaker and doula trainer, Debra Pascali-Bonaro, brings to the screen the ultimate challenge to our cultural myths by inviting viewers to see first hand the glorious emotional, spiritual, and physical heights attainable through the miracle of birth.

This documentary reveals that birth is something a woman can enjoy, rather than endure. “Orgasmic Birth” intersperses expert commentary with stunning moments of women in the ecstatic release of childbirth.

Witness the power of birth through the lives of 11 families.

You will never think about birth the same way again!

WHEN:

• September 14, 2008 at 7 PM

WHERE:

• University of Central Florida, Health and Public Administration Building Room 119

WHO:

• Presented in cooperation with UCF Women’s Studies and Florida School of Holistic Living

WHY:

• To benefit Global Maternal/Child Health Association – a nonprofit public benefit charitable foundation.

HOW TO HELP:

Would you like to help promote the “Orgasmic Birth” screening at UCF on Sept 14th? Download the PDF flier and pass it along to friends!

• orgasmicbirth