Month: October 2013

Pumpkin Patch 2013

Since Alex was a baby, we’ve met up with the same friends and met at the same pumpkin patch every year.

The first year seems silly looking back because the kids were 3 months old. That trip was more for us parents, obviously. But now, those babies and their younger siblings can run around and really soak it all in. The Pumpkin Farm is a tiny pumpkin patch with a hayride, train ride, goats, chickens, and a bounce house so there is enough to keep the kids amused for at least an hour. This year, I was laughing at the scene of kids running around in every different direction while the parents were BEYOND ready to go home. I’m slowly understanding the value of putting your children on leashes. Doesn’t seems so inhumane anymore.

Alex was mostly interested in Lindsey (my friend’s niece). He followed her around like a lost puppy and talked about her for several days after that. He wants to have a “playdate” with her. I can’t take it. He has this weird fascination with pre-teen girls. Should I be worried?!

Miss Chloe loved the train ride. She’s started saying “Choo Choo” for trains and when Thomas is on TV. She also wanted to be in this raggedy old covered wagon. It was nothing short of a death trap so some one had to be right up on her the whole time or surely she’d find something awful like a rusty nail to chew on or plunge to the ground from the hole in the canvas covered top. Thank god my parents came along to hang too. Its always nice to have a little extra back up.

Henry was in charge of paying for pumpkins. So naturally I found him loading the car with two GIANT BALES OF HAY while another friend was helping him tie the trunk down. Wtf?!? He’s using the hay to grow potatoes. Yup. His car is going to have hay pieces stuck to the interior long enough for the next owner to enjoy, I swear. It was a hot mess. But, ya know what? Its a good hobby, so knock yourself out. Just don’t ask me to help you move the freakin’ hay.

Anyways, I didn’t get a ton of adorable kid pictures like I wanted to. I chose my sanity over a perfectly posed brother & sister picture. But these shots still capture the day.  This is still my all-time-favorite family tradition.  I’m not sure why I love it so much.  But I’m going to relish this stuff until the day my kids are too old for hay rides. There’s a chance teenagers like that stuff, right?

20131018-201550.jpg

20131018-201603.jpg

20131018-201625.jpg

20131018-201638.jpg

20131018-201651.jpg

DSC_0643

DSC_0652

DSC_0662

DSC_0668

DSC_0669

DSC_0678

DSC_0690

DSC_0696

DSC_0699

DSC_0707

DSC_0709 DSC_0715 DSC_0719 DSC_0726 DSC_0738 DSC_0742 DSC_0745 DSC_0747 DSC_0750 DSC_0754 DSC_0760 DSC_0768 DSC_0771 DSC_0776 DSC_0780

Garden Update (10/9)

Goodbye, summer garden! Hello, winter crops! Ha. I use “crops” loosely like I’m a farmer or something. First, I should note, that my backyard smells like manure.  Its a real treat.  Kind of takes me back to living in Sonoma County with all the dairies around.  While I was in San Diego for Mari’s bachelorette weekend, Henry decided to rip out all the half dead summer stuff and go nuts.  He bought a ton more vegetables, soil, chicken manure, and this rad planter box below.  That spot used to house an ugly bush that Henry also ripped out himself, and now the spot looks respectable again.  The planter box is super cute and I’m guessing was pretty easy to assemble. (Knowing my husband’s DIY skills plus two kids running around.)

20131009-204737.jpg

The new set up.

20131009-204744.jpg

An artichoke and the three pumpkin plants above that. I would have thought the pumpkins would have taken off by now, so we’re iffy on those guys right now.

20131009-204751.jpg

Rows of different lettuces.

20131009-204812.jpg

Our garlic has sprouted! So excited for this one. I want to plant 20 more.

20131009-204821.jpg

Red leaf lettuce.

20131009-204828.jpg

Mustard spinach. Isn’t it pretty? I’m almost tempted to put some into the flower beds as filler.20131009-204835.jpg

More lettuce and arugula. The far left row is toast. Apparently, romaine lettuce is hard to transplant. 20131009-204843.jpg

The tomatoes are hanging on. Looking tired though. I’m sure in the text few weeks, they’ll end up in the compost. We still have a few of the baby Sungolds growing. Chloe actually gobbles those up. She points at them and says, “Ball!”

20131009-204851.jpg

This guy is asparagus.  I had no idea their leaves looked so ferny. I thought these were carrots at first. I LOVE asparagus.

20131009-204857.jpg

At the base of the tee-pee are more beans. They should climb and cover the bamboo.

20131009-204903.jpg

And this picture is of the 4 Japanese pumpkins that randomly started growing in our garden this summer. They are a very white-washed orange color and about the size of a butternut squash. I’m thinking about displaying them on the porch and then cooking them up for some homemade pumpkin puree. I hear they are supposed to be kind of sweet. Next to it, is my basil crop.  I got about 4 packed cups of basil off the plant. I left a little bit on there  just to see if it would keep producing. I took that haul and made my all-time fave….PESTO.  Recipe here. Its exponentially better than store bought.

20131009-204910.jpg

Those 4 cups got us 7 servings of sauce and I can’t wait to slap it on some pasta! I froze them in the plastic containers I used to use for baby food. That should easily last us until next summer’s basil plant. I miss making baby food, actually. It used to be fun having an excuse to load up at the farmer’s market and get crackin’ in the kitchen. A batch of homemade apple sauce just might be in your future 🙂 Mmmmm. Hey, Fall…How you doin’?

September Clean Up – garage sale

We bit the bullet. There was a small window of opportunity (time) so we just went for it and spent the Saturday cleaning out closets, drawers, and the main obstacle… The garage. Henry almost talked us out of doing all that work when we figured most of the crap would need to be hauled away anyways. But I wanted to try. On Sunday, I whipped up a couple of neon signs to put on our cross street and the main road to our house. Let me just say that old people LOVE garage sales. They were rolling up at 9 a.m. sharp and ready to buy. It amazed me what other people will pay for. So random! I priced everything aggressively low just so I could move it out of our house which meant we sold quite a bit. We got to meet a bunch of our neighbors and we came up $100! Totally worth the effort in my opinion. I’m happy that the garage is a bit more tidy and another month starts off with less junk! Holler! What room should I do next? I’m kind of itching to re-design Alex’s room Stay tuned.

20131002-212120.jpg

20131002-212131.jpg

20131002-212141.jpg

20131002-212210.jpg