ack! where does the time go?

Looks like summer is getting away from me... 3 weeks since my last post?!?!

Well, I'll forgive myself if you will. Between the heat and Able-Bodied Boy's relentless traveling and a just-flop-when-I-get-home mentality... well, you understand. Of course, I forget my camera when I go off and do exciting things, but here's a bit of what we've been up to... mostly food, mind you ;)

beet hummus really is bright pink. and pretty damn tasty!

Last week's haul: shallots, beets, tomatoes, zucchini, celery, escarole.... see those beautiful heirlooms? remember that my csa grafted them?

Also, the dozen ears of corn we're starting to get each week. That's a lot of corn!

A blurry shot of my latest frittata... garden swiss chard and basil topped with csa tomato

This week's haul from the CSA: flowers, tomatillos, onions, shallots, hot peppers, swiss chard, and a metric ton of tomatoes

Step One in the great Cleaner Replacement Program... Shower Spray!

Mac just loves exploring everything about our house :)

Is your head spinning just as much this summer?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


  

csa & foodie updates

So, no photos of the haul from last week or this week. But plenty of other photo goodness (in as much as my photos are "good").

Last week, we got spring greens, escarole, carrots, cucumbers, kale, summer squash, celery, and flowers. I also picked chamomile and epazote.
This week, carrots, cucumber, beets, summer squash, green beans, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and cabbage.

Also, the chickens have upped their production... so we've been eating a lot of fresh, wholesome food :)

Notice how the egg yolks differ greatly in color and size? This particular week, Mac had been staying up late to chase beetles and lightening bugs, while Ginger went to bed early. Funny how the diet can affect the eggs so much, eh?

Homemade Flax Seed Bread, topped with Blueberry Butter, Sauteed Swiss Chard with Sausage spices, and Scrambled Eggs. Sorry, it was too good not to take a bite before photos :)

Stewed Escarole with Feta, topped with Poached Eggs. The only ingredients with unknown source are the olive oil and feta cheese.

The Ladies apparently want onto the deck for a nice dip in the hot tub. Chicken Stew, anyone?

Kale, Tomato, and Garlic Scape Frittata. The only ingredients with unknown source are the butter and mozzarella cheese.

We also managed to avert the first opportunity to buy chemical cleaners since Able-Bodied Boy's support of the Natural Cleaner Replacement Program (which I will start to detail at some point). I gawked at him in the store, but admitted I hadn't looked into any replacements yet. But he agreed to avoid the purchase, and researched that a vinegar-water solution would do the trick. Go Able-Bodied Boy! (I can take no credit, besides being a nag.)


I'm staying in the A/C, cooking up our yummy eats. How are you keeping cool this summer?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


PS. i'm getting really tired of eating eggs. might need to start baking. zucchini bread!!!

more broken parts

The intermittent crying and swollen hand deserve a release. So I'll write from the head and hand and heart.

I waited so long for this. Patiently and impatiently. Watching others with envy, sharing in their joys and laughing with them at the quirks. Seeing my family have their own joys, my own favorites, the moments of jumping and scolding and teaching and playing. Everyone being together. Watching them and telling the stories.

Finally. finally. There are rays of hope. A willingness to accept and seek and find this all for my own. Expectations are so high and yet seems to be met. There is love and happiness and life and energy and purpose and focus. So much wonderment.

Except, my dog bites my friends.

I don't have much to give. I don't have money, or much in the way of time these days. My creative juices flow intermittently and time & money get in the way of even that. Free time is spent with friends and family and loved ones. Energy is spent on sharing life experiences and stories and joys and upsets. Food and drink and life and home.

Sharing. All I want to do is share her. Share the way she gets itchy and snorty and spins in circles on her butt, rolls around in the grass, chases rabbits and follows the chickens in hopes that she can share the treats we give them but not her. Share her favorite hiding spots and the way she chews up the blanket that Alicia's mom made for me, leaving beautiful bits of teal and purple lying around.

I want her to sit with me while life and friends and fun happens. My most anxious times when there are so many people around and I need a purpose that doesn't involve wearing myself out. Except she's anxious too and doesn't know what to do. So she snaps.

No one believes us. Or they think "dogs love me" and it'll all be ok. She's cute. She looks friendly and happy. But we don't know her limits, her triggers. All we can say is leave her be. That coming up to sniff your hand is not an invitation to pet her. That men and her paws are very sticky subjects for her. I want to just say these things and have everyone understand and give her berth and make that the answer. But it doesn't work that way and I can't push off the responsibility.

I feel sad that I can't share her, have to cause her more anxiety by shutting her away.  I look at my swollen, marked hand and wonder if someone else wouldn't say she should be taken away. I think of my family of dog-owners and still feel like the dream that I had - and they shared for me - is unfulfilled, and that those I love the most are also part of that group of strangers that need to beware. I look at my lack of ambition and drive and commitment to do anything really challenging in my life and wonder if I lack what it will take to see her through and maybe teach her another way of handling her stresses.

But most of all, I feel guilty that so many friends have been hurt. Because that, no matter what, is my fault. My responsibility. And I don't think I really know what that means... for me, for them, for her....

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl