The Beet Goes On…

“One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, “What if I had never seen this before? What if I would never see it again?”"

- Rachel Carson

The very fact that I can write this post means that we survived our first week. The angst and lost-sleep proved to be more worry than fact and I have to say, we did quite well. I will, however, admit the following things (please allow a moment for my quasi-confession):

• I may have purchased two cups of coffee this week. The first, out of sheer habit. The second, sheer defiance.
• I may have accepted many gifts of easter chocolates from various co-workers (which has now resulted in the rule of “We-Welcome- Gifts-Because-It-Would-Be-Rude-To-Say-No”.
• I may have gone without lunch a few days this week because I failed to prepare my own lunch, however, everyone else in my house did just fine.

Okay, I feel better. But seriously, we did great. Our delicious kick-off Chowder Fest was followed by Easter Weekend with the in-law family. Again, following our rule “When-at-someone-elses-home-partake-in-whatever-meal-is-served (because-it-would-be-rude-to-pass-up-the-famous-chocolate-cake), we eased into the diet, though the main course of Ham was purchased locally from Farmer’s Gate Market (and it was delicious!).

Sunday night, Nate and I engaged our inner-middle-eastern and baked pita-pockets (recipe to follow) for lunches. I’ve never had so much fun staring through the window of the stove squealing “Mine’s puffing up more than yours!”

Successful Lunch #1: Homemade Pita & Egg Salad with Spinich…all from Maine

Nate has mastered a bread recipe that is to die-for (and right after I stop playing catch-up with the blog, I’ll post both the Pita and Bread recipes) and we’ve enjoyed both a blueberry loaf and a dill-loaf.  We’ve also made pizza dough and dinner rolls and my next attempt will be english muffins (though I’ve been told they work best with on a counter top griddle ,which I don’t have).

Dinners have been delightful and for good and for better, we’ve cornered the market on locating greens (ps, why did no one TELL me about the Portland Winter Farmer’s Market?!) Last week was the last Winter Market, which we made it to and this past Saturday was the first Portland Outdoor Market of the Season. We’ve found some great new Maine-made items from these:

Swallowtail Farms, Coopers Mills, Maine.
Not only does it LOOK amazing but it tastes even better (Feta & mozzarella this week!)

WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR & ROLLED OATS  from Aurora Mills

Tomatoes/Basil/Green’s/Pesto
Olivia’s Garden, New Gloucester Maine

Kennebunk’s Farmer’s Market opens next weekend (!!), May 7, 2011 and we just can’t wait. Be sure to visit downtown for a day-filled with fun, as they will also be celebrating May Day that Saturday.

Last but not least, we spent the day working on the garden (okay, Nate spent the day. Roxy and I attempted to assist but eating dirt proved to be more fun than planting, so we bailed a little earlier). Today’s work was well worth it (with a sunburn to prove) as we got in the first round of greens- lettuces, swiss chard and kale- onions, brussels, broccoli, carrots, peas, radishes and strawberries. Bring it on, summer. Bring. It. On.

Oh, and PS. We’ve been working the math, and as it stands, we’re spending about $1.50 on each of our homemade loaves of bread. Local, mostly organic and fresh. Eat your heart out (for $5 bucks less).

The Green Minute

Aside from being the best little school there ever was, the local elementary school that girls attend is committed to engaging in and creating opportunities for “Going Green”. From an outdoor learning center and solar panels to reusable silverware at lunch, each month the school highlights a “Green” fact or activity. On April 29th, our family was invited to share our Maine-Food Project with the school. We worked together to create a script (they wrote 90% of it) and the girls read the whole thing. It was too cute not to share!

FINLEY: On Earth Day- April 22, 2011, our Family started our year-long project of eating food only grown from Maine. For one year, we will eat and cook ONLY with things from Maine- Hamburgers and Hotdogs to Spaghetti and meatballs Everything we eat will use only Maine ingredients!

 PARKER: Our Family thinks this project of eating locally and “going green” is important for many reasons and for the Green Minute today, we wanted to share with you a little bit about this project!

 FINLEY: Eating locally helps us to know where our meat and food comes from. We can pick farmers that treat their animals and the Earth with respect. The Earth is a very special place and we worry that if we don’t think about what and how much we use from it, there won’t be enough for our children’s children.

Eating locally saves energy, fuel and money and helps reduce and prevent pollution.

Eating locally helps kids and parents try to eat new and healthy foods like broccoli, carrots and zucchini.

 PARKER:As a family, we are learning to make bread, pasta, ice cream and yogurt and we will be learning how to can & freeze food for the winter.

We will work together to create and keep a garden full of veggies and herbs that will feed us through the summer and beyond.

We will learn to forage- from fishing to hunting for mushrooms. We will go to Farmers Markets and local farms and meet the people who work there to produce and grow the food we eat. We will take field trips to farms and local companies will share our experiences and what we learn with everyone on our blog!

 FINLEY: Here are some interesting facts we have learned.

Did you know that most bananas travel almost 2,000 miles just to get from the tree it grew on to our table? To do this, they must be picked before they are ripe and flown and driven across the country using lots of gasoline, which hurts the earth

 PARKER: Have you ever wondered where your dinner comes from? The meat and vegetables on your plate come from someone’s garden or farm but do you know where? Have you ever met your farmer? In Maine there are over 8,000 farms with 582 of them certified as organic.

 FINLEY: Did you know there are over 60 farmers markets in Maine 7 right here in York County! Kennebunk’s Market opens on Saturday May 7, 2011!

What can you do to help the earth by going green and eating locally?

Know where you food comes from. Ask someone how far your food has traveled!

 PARKER: Eat locally. Buy food from local farms and support them through CSA’s or Community Supported Agriculture- groups that work together to make food easy to buy. Visit the Kennebunk Farmer’s Market on May 7^th and every Saturday through the Summer.

My favorite part of our project so far is our family working together to make dinner and learn how to do different things.

 FINLEY: My favorite thing so far is learning how to make bread and ice cream

By eating locally you can help the Earth. Go Green and Eat food from Maine! It tastes great and makes a big difference!

…Now, if we could just start that school-grown garden!