sweet cellular moments

// my niece alaina after climbing pulpit rock in pa with her dad

// my grandmom, smiling at my mom because jeopardy and the wheel were coming on=)

// kati in the plantain weeds, doing better each day with walks in her harness

// my lil pals evie and jt in all their muddy glory

just wanted to document and share these sweet moments captured via cell phone.
happy friday eve!
=)

pea art and garlic harvest

this weekend was just what i needed. i played in the garden, then played with my food.=)

                                                   tall telephone shelling peas

                                                           sugar snap peas

                                             garden broccoli and peas with quinoa

our garlic was really early this year - two weeks earlier than last summer, and they were early then! we picked all 45 bulbs and put them in the basement to dry.





garlic has become one of my favorite things to grow. it's basically maintenance free and easy to plant. the organic cloves from the grocery store have always done the trick. just break up the bulbs and plant individual cloves pointed side up, four to six inches apart, a few inches deep, within two weeks of the average first frost (early fall around here). you got all that?=) for those lacking garden space, garlic can also be grown in containers!

some thoughts...

this week was trying. i babysat. it was rainy, humid and gloomy (with spurts of sun). we lounged around and the kids wanted to watch a horrible little show called fairly oddparents repeatedly. (though i had to laugh when jay leno's superhero character said, "i put the man in mandible!"=).

at least this week the ruby gloom theme song didn't torture my brain.

i'd rather they not watch tv at all so we craft, paint, and play games, but with 1-6 year olds, that doesn't last more than 20 minutes. (yes, the one-year old paints. beautifully.) so what do you do with the other 500 minutes? lots and lots of thumb wrestling, tickle tirades and staring contests.=)

i had to practically carry them outdoors to play in the sprinkler (mrs. wiggles), where we stumbled upon another animal their cat oscar got a hold of.=( i kind of feel responsible because oscar started getting out on my watch. but what do you do when an animal is begging to be let outside?

we're dealing with it with kati. we let her out once to see if she'd stay with us, but she strayed. we've tried a harness from a local pet store and it fit terribly. she did ok with it and even walked with me around the block the first time it was on, but you could tell she felt uncomfortable.

so now we're waiting for a jacket type of harness to arrive in the mail. we think she'll do better with that, and we're hoping if we walk her and play with her enough, the urge to go outside and kill animals won't be so strong.

this week was supposed to be the week i eat healthier. yeah right. though i did sprout some alfalfa and make raw nut tuna and nori snacks. gotta focus on the positive.=)

so i think i'm starting to feel a smidge of how stay-at-home mom's feel. i can't explain it, but it's just a draining feeling. children, though adorable, sweet bundles of joy, can really suck the life out of you! they can't help it, but sometimes it's just too much for one adult to handle all day alone. especially when you're watching five at a time.

i think villages where mothers all sit around and breast-feed and help out with each other's chidren really have the right idea. those children may not have nice sneakers and nintendo games, but i bet they feel rich with love from their mommies.

what the heck are we rushing for in our society anyway? the finish line? which is what - retirement? death? i do not do well on a go-go-go schedule. i need time to breathe it all in. i'm not talking holidays or vacations. i just want regular days at home where i do laundry, play in the garden, and contemplate the meaning of it all. is that too much to ask?=)

for those who say "you have to work", oh, know that i sure do work. i despise cleaning, so that's hard work, and gardening is no joke. i work on my health, my relationships, and keeping my cat happy and healthy, and most tryingly, i work on my bitchy miserable self (the side of kelli i try my best to shelter you from, poor john knows her best these days) and that takes more energy than anything! whose to say paid work is more important? how did we ever fall victim to that mentality?

this weekend i will rest. and clean. and play with kati. sunday is the american vegan society's garden party. i'll be volunteering in the bookroom. come and visit if you're in the area!

i want to sincerely thank you for reading my ramblings. it's nice to connect with people from all over the globe. makes my world feel sweet and cozy.=)

have a wonderful weekend! the sun's starting to come out. i hope it shines on you as well!=)

may community garden

recently john sent me an article on how community plots are popping up all over the garden state. if you're looking for community gardens in your area, you could search this site. ours didn't show up, so you may also want to ask around or call your town whatever. (not sure who to call, sorry!)

how ours works is we are given two free plots under the agreement to keep it planted, neat, and organic. the use of non-organic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides is prohibited. compost is provided at the start of each season and even some free plants are donated every now and then. it's a wonderful thing to be a part of and i feel really blessed to have one so close-by.

the picture above shows our two plots. (the one below is from june of last year.)

in what was before the gourd's bed i'm trying the three sisters method with multi-color sweet corn, pole beans and squash.

last year the jordans grew amazing corn stalks in their plot. they also grew brussel sprouts, which i will be trying for fall. the jordans take extra produce from the garden to local food banks. you can tell from their sign they're a sweet bunch!

mick and miguel, the self-proclaimed community garden "water fairies", take time to make their plots look so pretty. they make me feel like a real slacker in that department, but john says he'll make us a sign soon. maybe i'll take random knick-knacks off the shelf and stick 'em in the dirt!=)

the reynold's are growing some huge-ass broccoli! seems like the trick is to give them adequate space, like one per 2 by 2 foot space. now i know for next time.

their broccoli is nearly double the size of mine! it's hard not to compare your plants to the others in the garden. especially when the two things you wish you had the most of are growing poorly for you and flourishing the next plot over!

i'm not sure whose spot it is, but they better get to harvesting that spinach and lettuce before i do...(or maybe i did pick some already. muahahahaha!=) what? it helps them grow better! really!