Day 20: Progress Makes Perfect

Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. They probably get jet-lagged, just like people.

~Elizabeth Berry

 

We’ve made it to day 20 without much distress. I realized today that nearly all of the trees and flowers were beginning to bloom, which in turn reminded me that we were that much closer to an abundant garden. (Which in turn made me long for a day off to sit in the sun).

We’ve had great success at the Portland Farmer’s Market and have ventured up for the last 3 weeks. There seems to be a bigger selection of produce in Portland than at the Kennebunk Market, but we’re patiently (and anxiously waiting) for Kennebunk to kick into high gear. Neither of us like to travel to Portland (seems to defeat the purpose just a little bit) but when every meal depends on it, well, lets just say it’s a necessity at this point. Aside from one trip to Whole Foods to source local Maine-made foods (depressingly small showing), I have not stepped foot in a grocery store over these 20 days and I have to say, it feels REALLY good. I don’t know about you but grocery stores stress me out. Too many colors, too many smells, too many lights, too many people and two crazy kids wreaking havoc down the aisles combined with not enough time, not enough money, not enough patience… it always made me tired. Now, depending on the local produce from the farmers market farmers, Harris farm (milk/eggs/butter) and our own cooking resources is actually quite fulfilling.

The garden is taking off. Although a few things seem to have been hit a little bit, everything is growing and greening up. Our lettuces are all sprouting and our radishes are taking off.  We’re waiting to put the tomatoes in (9 heirloom varieties!) as well as the cucumbers, melons and squash. The garden is truly a work in progress and sometimes I feel like the we’re the blind leading the blind, but it’s a fun project and one that the whole family is in on. The girls take turns watering (and then we follow behind them touching up the spots they missed) and fighting over who gets to pull weeds (seriously girls, they’ll be plenty more where those came from).

 

 

 

 

We finally got our yogurt maker. Attempt number one produced a slimy and not so appealing      yogurt that Nate attempted to eat (only because he eats everything) and I dumped down the drain (bye-bye 16 ounces of milk). The second attempt, however turned out much better and I learned that when they say “boil the milk”, they mean “boil the milk”. A little raspberry jam from Pineland Farms and the yogurt was delicious. And after a little prepping that it wasn’t going to be like eating the 10 grams of sugar Go-Gurts (more than soda!), the girls enjoyed it two days in a row at school.

 

 

 

 We’ve gotten creative with dinners (it truly is a use-whats-available-mentality) and they’ve ended up being entirely delicious. Nothing crazy, but 100% Maine…

Bacon, Spinach, Tomato, Egg & Feta Salad

Homemade Pizza Crust with Pineland Farm Sauce and Cheese with  Tomatoes
& Basil from Olivia’s Garden

Potato Salad, Salad Greens and Bar-B-Q chicken breasts

Mini-Burgers with homemade Buns (!!!), Dill Pickle
& Salad Greens with cucumber, tomato and feta

When it comes to dinner, ain’t no one going hungry…

Homemade Pasta with our fancy new Cuisinart Machine (brilliant. you should get one.)
We will concede that we did use white flour on these (non-Maine) but only since it was our first go at it,
we were starving and the thought of it not working or breaking our new machine was enough to make me cry.

 

Finally, Nate (The King of all-things “lets-try-it-and-see-what-happens) decided he would learn how to make Dandelion Wine. Today. On his day off with the baby. Needless to say, thought I didn’t witness it first hand, I have no doubt it was an adventure.

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).