Bounty

I love this time of year. The garden is bursting with goodness, it's salsa season, there are barbecues and potlucks to go to, and we've been having loads of thunderstorms at night, but warm days. The whole season speaks of growth and abundance.

Yesterday's garden basket: ingredients for salsa! (and a branch of cherry tomatoes that I broke off. I'm clumsy. They are now ripening by the kitchen window). 

Guacamole in our lava rock mortar. YUM.

 Tonight's garden basket

Which turned into a stone-ground pesto...

...add some pasta...

Dinner!

More potatoes.

 Another batch of rabbits were butchered today (sorry, the terrible lighting makes this look far more gory than it is in reality).

Tonight's task: shelling the Alderman peas. 

This is the time of year when it is insane to go on vacation, because the garden gets ahead of us! Up next on our list: picking the green beans (which have gone totally apesh*t in the last couple days of mild heat), blanching and freezing the peas and beans, and harvesting the garlic! (I pulled up one bulb today, it's looking very good). 

It's been a busy week! Since getting back from the Spokane area, we spent the last two days celebrating Matt's birthday, first with family on Wednesday night, and then with friends at our house last night. I surprised Matt at his Wednesday party with an ice cream roll-up cake (which I had snuck off to his mom's to make in secret the night before), Jessa and Elliot gave him an ice cream maker (!!!), his dad gave him a massively generous gift of high-quality tools, and he also received The River Cottage Meat Book, Back to Basics, and a couple other very useful books that we're both excited about. At our barbecue last night, there were oodles of small sweet children running around, old friends and new (several young urban farmers that Matt met recently), an impromptu jam session, a fire in the brick fire place, and a lighting storm that created an amazing atmosphere as the sun went down. It's been a nice few days, but I'm glad the weekend is here now, for us to catch up with things!

One down, one to go.

I did it. I survived my first year of graduate school.

It was great, it really was. It was fun, and I learned SO much, I met so many people I admire and who share my interests. It was a great 9 months. And it was hard as hell at times. But I did it. One more of these and I'll have my Masters degree in Public Health.

But. This last quarter was really, really hard. That may have been apparent in my lack of blogging! The schoolwork itself was challenging, but in a good way. It was my schedule and the fact that I barely saw Matt and had next to no time for either him or myself, or for our home, that made it difficult. The combination of my work schedule, internship schedule, and class schedule meant that I was gone from home five days a week from before 9 AM, and not home till after 10 PM two days a week, with a not-quite-so-late class on another day. So apart from weekends, the only real time I had to do homework was between 6 and 9 AM. I didn't get much sleep. I didn't see much of my non-school friends. I barely cooked. I washed dishes maybe twice in the past three months, and didn't do laundry once. Matt did all the washing up and laundry, most of the cooking, and kept the animals alive and the gardens watered. He was incredibly supportive, and I couldn't have done it without him, but he was also busy with all of his volunteer gardening work, and experiencing plenty of stress too. So we let some things slide, and I am really looking forward to getting them back.

Since March, we have used the dishwasher far more than usual, eaten out way too much, run out of groceries on a regular basis, stopped menu planning, and spent almost all of our little free time watching movies. I bought coffee way more often than I would like, although I think I at least cancelled out the additional cost by riding my bike much more regularly, and therefore not paying for bus tickets. We did manage to keep up with our routine of baking bread every week, and got the gardens planted and kept almost everything alive.

Maybe this goes without saying, but Matt and I are always both happier, healthier, and more productive when we get to spend more time together. It sucked so much that the time I needed to spend on school--something I also love and am committed to--took me away from Matt, who should be my priority. We were prepared for it, but that didn't stop it from being hard, when we only saw each other for a couple hours every day, and during the precious hours when I was at home, I had to be studying. We talked on the phone a lot more than usual, catching up with each other while I was walking across campus to class or from my internship back to school. But we are both so ready to actually spend time together. Back in January, we made a New Year's resolution to get out of town for a long hike once a month, and we weren't able to make good on that. Hiking together and cooking together have always been two constants of our relationship, and both of those things have disappeared over the last few months.

So. This summer, I will only be working 24 hours a week, and it looks like Matt will be working part time too. I have one quick summer class over the last two weekends of June (which I'm not even counting as school, because it seems so different from the craziness of the school year), but besides that, the only other demands on my time will be the weddings and reunions that Matt and I will go to together this summer. Mostly, I am looking forward to being at home, puttering around in the garden, looking after the chickens and the bunnies, picking up the knitting and sewing projects that were abandoned months ago, re-discovering my guitar, actually blogging regularly, reading for leisure, having time to go to yoga classes, and cooking and hiking with my partner. And, sometimes, just laying on a blanket in the sun in the backyard for hours at a time, doing nothing whatsoever.

Around Here

Around here, I am heading into the final few weeks of the quarter, and summer vacation is so close I can almost taste it. I really love my program, and all of my classes, but it is really hard to focus on schoolwork when so much is happening outside! This is one of my favorite times of year in Portland, when everything is green green green, rhododendrons and iris and roses are blooming everywhere you look, and we wake up to birdsong every morning and the air just smells so flowery and fresh. We've had a two-week stretch of absolutely beautiful warm weather, and this morning it is still warm, but gray and drizzly.

I am taking a little break from the usual pile of homework--right now in addition to my regular weekly heap of readings, I am writing a plan to use community organizing to improve opportunities for physical activity for older adults in East Portland- an area of town that has very poor infrastructure and resources and has generally been neglected by the city. For our Mass Communication & Health class, my friend Laura and I are putting together a media advocacy campaign aiming to get the city to change zoning laws to restrict fast food restaurants near schools, with an accompanying anti-fast food social marketing campaign targeting school-aged kids. This is the kind of stuff I want to do in my career, so it's really exciting, even if it means many hours spent inside rather than outside.

Since the weekends are the only chance I get to spend some time in the garden, I put in a couple hours yesterday, weeding and planting and watering- but really, by now the big rush of spring planting is over and it's mostly just maintenance until we start putting in the fall crops. I am so proud of our garden, it's where I've been putting all my time that isn't focused on school (or Matt, he's a priority :), and while I am missing things like cooking and sewing and knitting SO much, it's nice to see how much my efforts in the garden have paid off. I have done most of the planting, and Matt has been working hard doing most of the maintenance while I'm away at school, and has been taking care of the community garden and the animals too.

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)

This bed contains onions, green onions, a tomato, carrots, spinach, lettuce, and Alderman (Tall Telephone) peas. I love the yarn trellis Matt built- I think it looks like a suspension bridge. I gave this bed a thorough, and much-needed, weeding yesterday- now the wee carrots won't have to duke it out with a million little invaders.

From now on, I am only ever planting out brassicas with floating row covers over them- that month spent under cover means that we're going to be eating our own broccoli by the first of June! (The broccolis out front that weren't covered are small and stunted, and have tiny heads on them but are essentially bolting). 

The garlic is super tall and thriving. We should be seeing scapes sometime soon. The only real issue with this bed is convincing the peas planted along the back that they should use the fence as a trellis, not the garlic!

We have tomatoes! This is the first tomato I planted out, probably earlier than I should have- it's a Green Zebra, I believe, and is putting on fruit and flowering away!

Kale. Glorious, glorious kale. 

We've trained our marionberry all over the fence, and it's going apesh*t. It was a two foot tall cane when we planted it less than a year ago.

We've planted nasturtiums around the trunks of the fruit trees, they are excellent companions to apples and pears- aphids love nasturtiums, so ideally they'll go there instead of to the trees.

Little parsnips working their way up in one of the beds at the side of the house. They were getting really shaded by our overly enthusiastic rhubarb, so yesterday I cut the plants down to half their size, and they're still big!

Like the rest of the garden, the peppers are thriving. This bed also contains basil, cilantro, and a new planting of lettuce (you'll notice I have marigolds dispersed throughout the garden- they are the workhorse of all companion plants, to quote Carla Emery, and do a fantastic job of keeping the soil healthy and attracting the slugs away from the veggies).

By the front steps, two lemon cucumbers in a pot, and a hot pepper. 

I think we're going to have a bumper crop of berries this year. Last year we had tons, but we were just moving in and this whole section of the garden was massively overgrown. With all the pruning and fertilizing we've done, plus our very sunny spring, I think we might just get the mother lode this time around.

I wish I could take a photo that captures the entire front yard garden, but it's too big! This is just one side- potatoes, tomato, pepper, and along the roses at the back is a row of beets. 

The dogwood tree in our front yard is in full bloom right now- I love this peachy color! One of the really fun things about this time of year is that we had no idea what our trees would look like when they bloomed- we moved in in late June, so this is the first time we got to see the lilacs, apples, Asian pear, rhododendrons, and dogwood bloom! We also got surprise tulips and lilies.

 Look closely- Matt and Maggie are in the doorway.

 This is what our rhodies look like- beautiful, no? We had no idea what color they might be.

Another addition to our backyard- Matt built this fireplace out of bricks salvaged from a demolition site nearby! Looking forward to trying it out.

We've been eating a lot of rabbit! Someday I will write a post that is only about our rabbit experiences, but for now I will tell you that the entire second generation has been successfully butchered, both does have been bred again, and homegrown rabbit has proved itself damn tasty! (Tastewise, it is very similar to chicken, but there is a different quality to the meat- richer, maybe?). So far we have tried it braised with sage and rosemary, and also dredged in flour and fried. Both are delicious, but the frying is labor intensive (and not as healthy). Either way, though, it is incredibly satisfying to eat meat we raised from the very beginning.

This week is an anniversary- one year since Matt and I returned home from our Big New Zealand Adventure. It's hard to believe it's been a full year since then- and what a year! Full of tenuous or nonexistent employment, good friends, the stresses and joys of graduate school, our first forays into the world of urban homesteading, lots of eggs, the bunnies, and many ups and downs. We've been poor, but productive, and pretty darn happy overall. And it has been a year spent in this house that is more home to either of us than anywhere we have lived since leaving our childhood homes. We truly love our home here, and everything we have done with it. It is comfortable, just the right size, affordable, and we are lucky enough to have good neighbors, a really excellent landlord who lets us be in charge of everything on the property, and a roommate who we are extremely compatible with, and who came with a cat that keeps us constantly entertained. Back on the road in New Zealand, camping in a different place each night and enjoying the itinerant life, this is what we dreamed of in the back of our minds, and now we have it.

In just a few weeks, I will have time to do more than write one big post every weekend- I can't wait to be able to settle back into domestic tasks, read something that isn't a textbook, and build some new householding habits like soapmaking. Until then, my friends, thanks for reading my big long summaries of the week!

Back to School

In spite of, or maybe because of, a few curveballs that came our way this week, I have had a really good down to earth spring break. Somehow it managed to be everything that I needed, both mentally and practically: a new job, lots of time in the garden, good visits with friends, lots of big chores done, and lots of relaxing at home with Matt and by myself. Miraculously, I managed to achieve everything I set out to do on this break. What a wonderful feeling- that so rarely happens! I started to really miss school these last couple of days, and now I'm feeling prepared to dive back in to my new classes tomorrow.

I had a really nice weekend spent mostly at home, with a couple visits from good friends and their wee ones, and lots of time spent in the kitchen. I did lots of baking and cooking and freezing in preparation for what will be a very busy quarter, and now the freezer is full of cooked beans, cake, cookie dough, and still plenty of meat and fish. We have a menu plan set for the next three weeks and are stocked up on groceries.

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Jam drops made from this recipe on Gooseberry Jam's blog. Super easy and delicious recipe (and a beautiful blog!) Some with passionfruit jam from Hawaii, and some with homemade strawberry jam.

A fall treat in the spring! Pumpkin pie made with frozen squash puree.

The basement is clean and organized, as is the garret. The bathroom got a deep clean, Matt scrubbed out some mold we found in our closet, and I got a chance to do the kinds of small tasks that are easily put off and not pressing, but so nice once they are done:

 The "tupperware cupboard," before and after.

The kitchen linen drawer, before and after. 

It was nice to have more time to spend with the animals this week. Out in the garage, the wee bunnies are growing up quickly! Princess' two surviving kits are at the horrendously cute month-old stage right now, fat and round with fluffy, bear-like faces:

Duchess's brood of eight are getting much bigger, and their ears are getting longer.

While I'm looking forward to returning to school, the next couple of months are going to be pretty crazy for us. In addition to my new job (which I am very much enjoying, by the way), which is 24 hours per week, I will continue to work 10-12 hours per week at my internship, in addition to a full course load of evening classes. Unlike previous quarters, I have no back-to-back classes this term, but one class each of three nights per week. Wednesday and Thursday nights, I won't get home until about 10 PM. In a major shift from previous terms, I simply won't have any non-class time on weekdays to do school work, so homework will happen late at night, a lot on the weekends, and on my lunch break at work. It's going to be challenging, especially since Matt has the opportunity to work at an urban farm on Saturdays (in addition to still looking for a full-time job), which leaves us with very little time together. We're both confident we'll manage, and have set aside one night per week as a date night when we're not allowed to make other commitments or do homework. Also, we have the benefit of knowing that this hectic schedule is finite: both my classes and internship end in mid-June, and then I'll have three and a half months of just working part-time before school starts again.

These next two and a half months are going to be a practice in time management and maintaining mental health! I will definitely continue to blog, but I'm sure you'll notice that posts are fewer and further between. I hope you all are enjoying your spring (or fall, if you're in the southern hemisphere) and all that comes with it.

When Life Hands You Tomatoes...

Inside the human house this week, lots of green things are living under the lights, and some of them are not so wee anymore. 

The strawberries are going to a community garden that Matt is helping set up at a local low-income housing site. 

Tomatoes! And a few peppers- the Serranos have come up, but I've only managed one poor little Jalapeno so far, and not a single Hungarian Wax or Aci Sivri has sprouted yet. 

I transplanted my first planting of tomatoes into gallon pots last night. On that planting, I forgot to use the spray bottle to water until the seeds sprouted, but watered directly and washed all the seeds around. I now have a bunch of mystery tomatoes that came up in pots labeled as peppers. Oh well, we'll get a surprise later in the summer!

With space under the lights at a premium, a tray of marigolds, chamomile and yarrow is hardening off on the front stoop this week, to be planted out into the garden. Flowers!

These starts are taking a bit of a beating today, because a spring storm has moved in and wildly windy (in that wonderful spring way) and pouring rain. But it's warm (mid-50s, anyway)! We haven't had warm rain in so long- it feels so refreshing outside right now. All this rain should help everything we planted last weekend come up in a hurry. 

Our camellia burst into bloom this week, surprising us with both dark pink and light pink flowers!

I went to take a closer look, and discovered that the ones I thought were light pink are actually varigated- how pretty is that!?

My spring break hasn't been as relaxing or productive so far as I had hoped, but it's been very good practice in going with the flow. In addition to starting a new job, this week has been full of surprises, including a family emergency on Matt's side, and an unexpectedly urgent root canal on my end. I had a big long list of chores and activities I wanted to do on my break, but life has reminded me that in times of stress it is more important to sit still and read the new issue of Mother Earth News than to wash the giant stack of dishes or clean the garret. I've gotten a lot done this evening though, and after dinner Matt and I are going to tackle the one big job we agreed to accomplish together this week: organize the basement, which has descended into disarray over the last four or five months.

A Few Observations From the Week

As you may have noticed from my lack of posts in the past couple of weeks, school and my internship have been eating my life. I am almost around the bend (just in time for mid-terms...), but still have quite a pile of work hanging over my head. I miss blogging regularly, but having not cooked, crafted, or even been at home all week, it's hard to come up with subject matter and summon the brain power. This week, though, in between coping with Biostatistics, researching funders for my nonprofit grantwriting class, and carrying out an epidemiological assessment for my course in Health Promotion Program Planning, a few things have been reaffirmed for me:

1) Calculating intersecting probabilities makes we want to set things on fire.

2) Doctor Who is the perfect antidote to an overworked brain robbed of energy.

3) There is a definite promise of spring in the air. February is always the time when that shift happens here, and this morning it is clear and sunny, and I spotted a patch of daffodil sprouts on my way to the bus stop.

4) I have a wonderful and capable partner who has been amazing at keeping our home organized and functioning and our chickens and rabbits alive and well while I've been swamped in homework and study groups. He's done all of that while job searching and helping a local community development agency set up a community garden at one of their housing sites. This week, he also had to undertake the grim task of dispatching a nest of baby rats while I was safely ensconced in a study lounge at school. I feel so lucky to have him.

With that, it's back to the books.

New Traditions and Cold Mornings

I did it-I survived my first quarter of graduate school! I finished finals on Thursday evening, and after a busy day yesterday, the feeling of freedom is just starting to sink in this morning. It's pretty great. I now have a full month off from school, which will be a wonderful break, although I did truly enjoy almost every aspect of school for those first three months.

I now have the time and energy to think more about the holidays and Christmas gifts, and get ready to head out of town for a week over Christmas. This is the first year Matt and I have really navigated the holidays as a couple, and it's an experience worth reflecting on. For the first two years of our relationship, we each went to our own family for the holidays, and last year we were down in New Zealand, so figuring out where and how to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas didn't prove much of an issue. This year, however, after 3 1/2 years together, it no longer makes sense (nor do we want) to spend the holidays apart. It's also the first year we've shared a home in the truest sense. And with Matt's family here in Portland and mine 450 miles away in eastern Washington (the state), and neither of them having had us around last year, we have had to figure out how to split our time while celebrating together. We both have pretty easygoing families, and it has worked out pretty smoothly so far, which is really encouraging. We spent Thanksgiving here, with Matt's family, and we're going to spend a full week over Christmas with my family in Newport and Cheney, WA. We'll get back to Portland on December 28th, and celebrate Christmas with Matt's family at New Year's. I actually kind of like it this way- it draws the holidays out and makes it like one big ongoing festival! And I'm really excited to go up to my parents' place in the winter- we haven't seen them since the beginning of September, and I haven't been up there during the snowy season in a few years, and Matt's never been there in winter. This is what it looked like a few years ago, during a particularly heavy winter:

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On the subject of combining and figuring out new holiday traditions as a couple, we've modified our Christmas tree slightly. We put it up last week, but I couldn't escape the feeling that something was missing. It was a little too dark, lacking something I couldn't identify. Then Matt suggested we get some tinsel to brighten it up and add some sparkle. I was skeptical, having never had tinsel on the tree growing up, but it's something that Matt always had as an integral memory of decorating the Christmas tree. So I stopped at the local thrift store yesterday and found a garland for super cheap, along with some little red, green and gold baubles. Matt did the honors, and our tree, now a combination of our childhood traditions, got exactly what it needed, and feels just right.

I also scored a perfect string of white LED lights to brighten up the dark side of the kitchen, and Matt strung them up.

 Now we're feeling exceptionally festive around here!

It's felt particularly wintery this past week, with a distinct lack of rain (usually December is one of our wettest months), but exceptionally cold, dry weather with very chilly nights. We've had frosts every night for a week, and finally a very hard frost two nights ago that did in everything that was still managing to grow in the garden. Time to till in the cover crops, I guess:

You can see the pock-marked soil where the frost has expanded it and then collapsed...

This morning there is a thick white frost on the south side of everything, including all the big sequoias on our street. It's so thick I can almost make believe it's snow!

When I went to let the chickens out this morning, their water was completely frozen over, with a solid centimeter of ice on it. Here's Lady Macbeth standing on top of it:

It's so good to be home and to not have to constantly think about school work or have it in the back of my mind that there is this other thing I have to be working on. Instead, I can relax (which I fully plan to do a lot of today), sew, read, clean, or just sit by the kitchen window and watch the chickens, one of my favorite pastimes.

Enjoying a winter snack of wheat and rye mash from the most recent batch of home brew. 

It doesn't get much better than this, does it?