Fast food -- Slow food

One of my favorite books is Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle. In one chapter, she talks about the convenience of home canned tomatoes. It's a fair amount of work in late August, but pulling out a mason jar of locally grown tomatoes in the midst of a busy winter day sure makes dinner time quick and simple. That idea has stuck with me. What is convenience?

While our family tries to eat healthy (Oberweis Milk, organic produce, whole grains, etc.) I also enjoy a fast food burger sometimes. In fact, our local Burger King has $1 Double Cheeseburgers right now, which are my favorite. I have to fight off not pulling in every time I drive past! But, eating healthy and eating local is very important to me. I enjoy fixing dinner for my family and lunch for whichever neighborhood kids are over at the time. But I don't want to spend all day in the kitchen. I want the convenience of fast food with the ethics of slow food!

But, how to do it? Some of it is pretty easy. On Thursdays when we get our share in from Angelic Organics, I clean and prep the vegetables. This makes them easy to grab for quick snacks, plus they are in my mind as I plan our meals for the week.

I'm trying to also keep a few quick and simple recipes ready to go on the days when time has gotten away from me. Recipes that can include whatever local, seasonal ingredients that I have on hand. Last week, I had organic strawberries,Phil's eggs, some tomatoes and cucumbers in olive oil, and summer squash. So, I threw together an easy quiche, a salad and the strawberries. It took about 10 minutes to put together, and then 45 minutes to bake. The perfect amount of time to enjoy a glass of wine while I read! The quiche is perfect because it's so forgiving and you can add whatever you want. Include meat if you have it, or make it vegetarian. You can also double the recipe to make 2, and then you have an easy breakfast ready to go.


The easy quiche recipe is from an old friend of my mom's. I've changed it up, but basically it's:

4 eggs, 1/2 cup of Bisquick, 1 cup of milk, 1 onion, 1/2 cup of cheese. Mix together.
Add whatever seasonal ingredients you want. I added summer squash.
Season with salt and pepper.
Pour into an oiled quiche pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Slice and serve.

The pay's not great, but the benefits are priceless.

Wednesday morning started early for me. The alarm rang at 4:30 am. I already had my clothes set out, ready to go. I tried to be as quiet as possible, so the rest of the family could sleep.

By 5:00 am I had my cappuccino, peanut butter and jelly sandwich and 2 kashi bars in the car and ready to go.

My morning commute takes about an hour. I watch the sun come up, enjoy the river view, navigate the construction in Rockford and finally turn down a bumpy country road. This morning, I was greeted by a beautiful deer and a lone turkey.

I arrived at work by 6 am, pulled on my rubber boots, winter coat and gardening gloves and joined the rest of the crew in the barn.

There were about 14 of us, waiting to hear what the day would hold. We were assigned harvesting kale first, and then red and white turnips. It was my first time for both, so I worked with a more seasoned harvester. We knifed through the kale, tossing aside yellowed leaves. And we talked. Turns out, my partner spent some time in Urbana also. In fact, she worked as an aide in the High School with Autism students. We knew some of the same students, and enjoyed some of the same places in Urbana...especially my beloved Common Ground Food Coop.

After our 20 minute breakfast break (quickly downing one kashi bar and one pbj) we headed out to harvest the turnips. It was a blast. The turnips practically jumped into our arms! They sit just barely covered in their beds, ripe for the pickin. We were told to harvest 16 crates and it took us about 10 minutes to do that. It felt good to pull, pack, load, pull, pack, load, pull, pack, load. Quick, immediate gratification.

Then, the washing. Oh, so that's why the harvest is so quick. It takes forever to clean the darn things! First, unload the crates (that we just packed) onto the tables. Then, look for aphids. A few patches were really infested, but most we free of the little bugs. Next, pull off yellowed or unsightly leaves. Finally, pack them back into the crates.

Step 2: to the water table. Unpack the crates and place the turnips into the water basin for a quick soak. Then, Mary puts them through the wringer. Literally. She puts them through a brush apparatus that really cleans them up, then they fall into an even bigger tub of water where we pulled them out and, you guessed it, packed them into the crates.

Sound repetitious? Yeah, it was a bit. My legs got a little tired standing on the concrete floor. But, it was also very peaceful. At times, the wind was really cold so I pulled up my hood. In the midst of all that activity, I was alone with my thoughts. Off to one side, 2 young women were sharing jokes, silly jokes. But I also heard one talking about leaving on Tuesday for San Francisco where she'll be working at a women's shelter. The other spent a year in Norway working on a farm. Interesting people.

I also spent time talking with our young intern from Sweden. Interesting kid. Has been in Waldorf schools his whole life. The other intern is from a Chicago suburb, studying geography at SIU. Our conversation touched on the organic farming movement, where lingonnberries grow, raw foods, whole foods, and finding balance in life.

By 1pm, I was in the car heading home. Tired, dirty and hungry. But invigorated, purified and filled.

Father's Day, Part 2

So, on Father's Day proper we set off for Lowden Park to finally hike up to the Laredo Taft statue of the Eternal Indian (popularly known as Blackhawk) that stands on the bluff overlooking the Rock River. It's a short distance from our home, but we've only seen it from across the river. Today, finally, we'd walk up and see it. It was a hot, humid day. The paths were a bit muddy from a recent shower. But, we walked down to the river using the approximately 175 stairs leading down. Once down, the daughter decided that she'd rather hike up using one of the trails. I was really not all that excited about hiking through the muddy paths, but the husband was all for it. So, off the two went. The daughter chattered the whole way back up. Some particularly wonderful quotes that the husband shared with me (and all his facebook friends) are:

"I've always wanted to live a life of adventure. Now I know what that is all about."

"I'll take the shortcut. In deciding between the long-cut and the shortcut, I think it's always better to take the shortcut."

"Is that poison ivy? I would rather not go through poison ivy to attain my goals."

A Father's Day to Remember...

What a great idea! We saw that the Phantom Regiment (a world class Drum and Bugle Corp from Rockford) was going to be performing last night. We both love the pageantry of Marching Bands and Drum and Bugle Corps, though we disagree on our rating of his Beloved Illini Marching Band.

So, we set off for a nice evening out. Now, we were in the midst of severe thunderstorm warnings, but we've had them for days, and have barely had any rain. The storms just keep missing us.

So, over to the Boylan High School to pick up the tickets. Sky is still clear.
Grab a quick dinner at a Chinese Buffet. Sky is clouding up but the storm will pass. Right?
Enter the parking lot. The rain begins.
And then, it starts "bucketing down" as Neil Gaiman would say.
It buckets and buckets. Lightening, thunder, the whole works.

But, it's still about an hour until the show starts. All around us in the parking lot, folks are just cozying up in their cars to wait out the storm. I have my book. he dozes, and the girl chatters and climbs and colors and chatters. They man in the car beside us flosses his teeth. To each his own.

Bucket after bucket after bucket after bucket.

We look at each other. "maybe we should have eaten dinner first and then purchased the tickets, " he says. Yeah, hindsight is 20/20.

We brought rain ponchos with us. But, this is beyond rain ponchos.

The girl is getting restless, he is getting irritated. I'm enjoying my book.

And then, he becomes the husband and father that I love so much. He turns to the girl and says, "I'll race you around the car!" Her eyes light up. And they are out the door only to return in about 10 second drenched. Giggling, laughing, and in a world all their own.

Only you, man of my dreams, could have done it. The tickets weren't refunded, we went home wet and disappointed. And yet, you made it a night to remember. A night of laughter and play.

It's been this way all of our life together. We've faced real and profound sadness along the way...family tragedies, profound disappointments, sudden and surprising loss of job. Right now we're saddled with 2 mortgages as our home in Urbana sits on the market.

And yet, it's been the best years of my life. And you've made it so, we've made it so. We have been fully present for all that life has offered us. We have been fully alive for the sorrow and joy, for the laughter and all the tears.

I love you with all my heart, all my life, all that I have.

I thought it was 2009!

We try to live an eco-conscious life. We recycle, compost, purchase locally, use CFL's, etc. If our home in Urbana ever sells, we'd love to replace our Honda with a Hybrid, or one of the little cars that gets really great gas mileage.

We've been interested in the Prius for a while. And, when the new commercial came out, I was intrigued with the way the "dancers" transform the scenery. I thought it was really cool.



But, the tag line? Man's wants and Nature's needs? Every time they say it, I can't believe it. Man's!? Are they really only selling this car to men? In our community in northern Illinois, I see many women driving the Prius. Are they not taking women's wants into consideration? Oh, wait, I get it. They (the men who wrote this ad) think that "man" refers to all of humanity.

Well, it doesn't. When you say "Man" I hear male, not female. And my 8 year old daughter also heard "man" meaning not her. She said, "how stupid! Don't they want women to buy their car also?"

So, Toyota, you just lost two customers. I'm thinking the Smart for 2 will be a better option for our family, since we have men's and women's wants to consider.

16 Things I Can't Live Without this Summer

I stole this idea from the blogger I love to hate...

1. Sleeping with the windows open on cool nights.

2. Laying in bed listening to the birds singing at 4:30 in the morning, knowing that I can go back to sleep for as long as I want.

3. Fresh, local, organic asparagus. (I love it so much I don't encourage my kids to even try it!)

4. Growing a garden.

5. Gardening with my daughter and husband.

6. Getting the neighbor kids interested in gardening.

7. Fixing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for all the neighborhood kids.

8. Our little town's Farmer's Market.

9. Our own garden tomatoes.

10. Making fresh salsa with our own home-grown ingredients.

11. Having a glass of wine on the deck, with old friends, or family, or new neighbors and friends.

12. Going to Turner Falls, OK!

13. Watching my daughter ride her bike.

14. Going to Weld Park.

15. Going to the Forest Preserve

16. Fresh, Local, Organic produce from Angelic Organics!

"My Mom is an organic farmer"

We're still meeting our neighbors, as our arrival in this small, northern Illinois town was rather rushed and chaotic. We got a job, bought a house, found out we didn't buy a house when it was sold to someone else, moved in to a church member's house while they were on vacation, put our belongings in storage, got the kids started in school, looked for another house, bought a house, moved in.

So, we're still meeting our neighbors. It's a great street in a great town. People of different ages, different color, different interests. The daughter described it like this, "it's like God has put a protective shield over our street so nothing bad can happen here." So there are parts of her theology that I hope grow and develop, but for now, as an 8 year old, I'm glad her neighborhood feels like that. Like a place where nothing bad can happen. She knows the kids, she knows lots of the adults, and she feels safe.

She really likes the parents across the street, and I really like the 2 boys who live there. The daughter just learned to ride her bike without training wheels, and they have the perfectly placed driveway for "turn-arounds" as she then races back up the street.

She especially like the mother across the street, and will ask if she can go play with the boys, or talk with the mom. As the mom is planting flowers, watering plants, putting more seed in the bird feeders, the daughter is right beside her chattering away.

I walked over to chat with the mom this weekend. As we got to know one another, she mentioned that the daughter told her that I was an organic farmer! Huh!? I do work as an educator at the Learning Center at Angelic Organics, and I did get to work on the farm crew last season. I started my garden over the weekend and put in heirloom tomatoes and organic peppers from Seed Savers Exchange, and heirloom lettuce from Earthbound Farms. But an organic farmer! I wish.
I'm barely a gardener. Truth be told, I don't really like to weed, I often forget to water, and soon the whole thing will just be alot of work.

I don't do it because I find a sense of peace as I work, or because I love the solitude. I do it because I want the children around me to know where food comes from, and that it doesn't come from the grocery store. I want them to see how kitchen scraps can become the rich, dark compost that will feed and nourish the soil. I want them to see how the rich, dark soil will feed and nourish first the seeds and then the plants. I want them to learn to enjoy the tastes of different vegetables that are still warm from the sun and wet from the dew. I want them to grow up nourished by these vegetables.

I'm no where close to being an Organic Farmer, and I'm not even sure I can call myself much of an organic gardener. But my daughter thinks I am. It's who she sees me as. It's who I want to be as she grows up.