Happy 2015!

Welcome 2015!

It's been a rough few months as I adjust back to the 7-5 grind of a full time job after being unemployed for 7 months. Some ups and downs this year and I'm ready to move onto 2015.

Lessons I've learned from 2014:
* Write drunk, edit sober
* Love everyday
* You never know when something you love will be taken away (lost my dog in October to sudden cancer) :(
* Roll with the punches (skunking from July and lost my full time job)
* Look for the bright side ( got to spend lots of quality time with my son this summer due to being unemployed)

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Some goals I've decided to set for this year (which is surprisingly quite  a few.... how am I going to keep track of all these?):

* Publish 1 book (which really I'm pretty close to doing- if I can get over my fear of illustrating)
* Enter 2 writing contests ( I would love to win, but hey at least entering is awesome)
* Get in shape (not lose weight, but regain some strength I've lost over the years)
* Heal my shoulder (nasty little tendonitis.....)
* Be better at budget (actually build a savings account)
* Continue to go camping more
* Restart this blog (whoo hooo first step of accomplishing something!)
* Sell my photography (which I'm kinda close to, I have it exhibited in Columbus, Ohio and have a reservation at a local restaurant in July to hang my art.)
* Write everyday - this was inspired by a quote I saw..... " Tomorrow is the first blank page in a 365 page book. Write a good one." - Brad Paisley
* Look Forward (and don't look back at 2014)

*Simplify my life (building on wanting to become a minimalist)
          - My goal is to get rid of 15 things a week (originally it was going to be 15 a day, but that was proving impossible )

So here are the 15 (actually 23) things I'm getting rid of this week.  This is as I go through and clean my house. If you do the math, that's a minimum of 780 things this year I'll get rid of.  Every bit helps.

not a ton of stuff.... but every bit helps.

Why 15 you ask? Simple..... its 2015.

:)

So celebrate every day and spread love. Happy 2015.

Goodbye my beloved Magi.  Your time was too short.

CSA Today! 10-2-14

Another wonderful delivery today.  To bad I didn't get home til 730 to open it up.  :) It's been that kind of week. 

Fresh from the farm: Green Beans, Turnips, tomatoes, parsnip, mizuna,beets,  and eggplant!

From wholesale: grapes, oranges, pears and kiwi!

I really don't mind the organic wholesale at all.  It adds a little variety when Ohio has such a picky climate.  Really, where else can I get kiwi?

Plus it saves me a trip to the store for fruit!

I'm going to be selfish and keep those kiwi with me. I'll take them to work and not share with my son :)  (he doesn't care for them anyway).

CSA Today! 9-25-14

I apologize for missing last week.  I had a bad case of vertigo that sent me to bed early.

But back at it again!  Had a wonderful delivery today! 

Fresh From the farm: Pack Choi, Tomatoes, Beets, Turnips, peppers, yellow squash, and arugula!

From Wholesale:  Bananas, grapes and a wonderful cabbage! 

I can't wait to make soup! I love to make cabbage soup! OR even recently I tried some corned beef soup... I'm anxious to give it a try in my crock pot!

I love the veggies I've been getting, but I had so many tomatoes that I couldn't use them all up. I've tossed a few into my compost pile, and tons in the freezer!  I'll have a chance to make tomato sauce this winter.  

I'm glad to see some greens come back into season, and get some variety in the box!

I've never used turnips before, I'll have to think of something to do with them.

CSA Today! 9-11-14

So, I'm guilty.  Guilty of being lazy and letting some of my wonderful veggies go bad.  I've had to throw out 2 little boxes full of tomatoes, because I just couldn't get to them fast enough.  I have even more tomatoes in today's delivery though.  I should be able to use these up. I see more freezer tomato paste in the future. 

Not to mention something with bell peppers in it.

Fresh from the Farm: Tomatoes (LOADS of them), green peppers, gourd, banana peppers, fresh dill and some kind of small dark green melon (watermelon?)

From wholesale: some bananas, and apples!

I at least did manage to use up some zucchini this week!  

I also came up with an ingenious way to get rid of excess veggies!  I had a garage sale last week, and was able to get rid of 3 ziploc bags full of potatoes!  So managed to get rid of veggies I couldn't eat and make money off them at the same time!  I believe the buyer was going to make potato salad.  I should have done that with my tomatoes. :)

CSA Today! 9-4-14

Another week, chock full of activities.  And more wonderful veggies.

Fresh From the Farm:  Radishes, potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, green peppers, hot pepper?, corn and beets.

No wholesale: all fresh farm veggies

So all these wonderful veggies, I vow to use them this week. I feel so guilty about last week's veggies.  I let them sit around the house all week and didn't use them.  My tomatoes started to go bad, my cucumbers did go bad (they were sitting in the tomato juices). I should have used them up, but I was busy with beginning school stuff, and prepping for yet another garage sale, and sending out massive amounts of resume/job applications, in addition to kung fu, and cub scouts.  This is the Busy Beaver mom blog for a reason!

So I vow this week/weekend I'll actually use them. First step accomplished. I put them away instead of just sitting them on the counter. :)

Next step will be tomorrow night. I foresee a zucchini radish tomato saute with some rice or quinoa for dinner before cub scouts.

CSA Today! 8-28-14

Another Thursday, another delivery!

Fresh From the Farm:  Carrots, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes :), and purslane.  I'd heard of purslane, but didn't really know what it was.

From wholesale:  Bananas!  

I needed the bananas. They are a staple in my house.  One of my favorite ways to use overripe bananas is to blend them with a couple tablespoons of honey and then freeze it.  Great for a couple of bites of a sweet frozen treat without the extra calories of ice cream.

I've got to freeze all these carrots, but I forsee lots of yummy carrot soup this winter!

Evidently purslane is wonderful for you, full of omega 3 fatty acids, and vitamins.

I'll have to try it out!

CSA Today! 8-21-14

Another wonderful delivery from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscription with Fulton Farms!

A pint of Tomatoes to anyone who can guess how many tomatoes I now have!
Ha Ha Ha.... Anything to use up some of these tomatoes before they go bad.
We've been eating tomatoes with breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It's AWESOME that I have a son who loves to eat tomatoes raw. I also see more tomato sauce in my future. Maybe I need to start experimenting in making ketchup.

under all those veggies are more tomatoes!

Fresh from the farm:
Corn, carrots, beet, squash, green peppers, green beans, dill, tomatoes, potatoes

From Wholesale: Nothing!  My box was totally full of fresh local produce!

I've learned, that with veggies this fresh, they stay fresh longer than most grocery store vegetables.  However, fresh corn is better used sooner than later.  If I wait a week to eat the corn, it dries out ( I leave it out, not in the refrigerator.)  The pregnant squirrel in my yard loves me right now due to the corn I leave out for them!

My favorite way to prepare fresh sweet corn: shuck and clean the corn, then put the ears on a plate or other microwave friendly dish.  Microwave them for 1 minute per ear of corn. I usually only cook 1-2-3 ears at a time.  This leaves them slightly under cooked, so they are still plump and juicy, but piping hot.

I am definitely building up a freezer stash of carrots for carrot soup this winter!