3/17/06 at 3:35pm

Dear Laurel-

How is it possible that you are 3 years old?  I am just sure that you are still my baby, however, I must concede that you are getting bigger.  Everyday you find new ways to capture my heart.

I love the way you put your hand on my arm when we are close, and the way you give me little pats on the back when we hug.  You are so willing to submit yourself to the ideas of other (older sisters) and yet, you have really carved out your own little place in this family.  We love your squishy buns and your dainty giggles. You do an incredibly accurate impression of Moto-Moto on Madagascar 2 ("I like 'em big, I like 'em chunky").  It thrills me that you'll eat salad without gobs of ranch, and snap peas, and hummus, and tofu shakes, and almost anything else that I put in front of you. Your long stories and detailed articulations amaze me for someone of your age. Sometimes I think that I could listen to you for hours.  The best mornings are the ones where you make your way to my bed before everyone else wakes up.  Sweetness is exchanging quiet whispers about dreams or the plans of the day with you. 

You are incredibly good and naming your babies.  "Annalina" and "Special Baby" are well taken care of.  You also have the amazing ability to chew 4 pieces of gum at once!  I've never known someone to have such an obsession over chapstick.  It is crazy the way you keep track of it all day long and hide it under your pillow at night. I can attest to the fact that you have some of the softest lips around.

I prayed for you from the moment I knew I was pregnant.  After Hannah (who had colic for 8 months) I pleaded with the Lord to give me a baby with a sweet spirit. As He always does- He provided. I'll never forget your birth. It was almost like I knew I was giving birth to a close companion, a special friend, a contented soul. 

Happy Birthday "Laurel Baby", I'll never stop calling you that.

**I know I've been missing for a while...I'll be back soon with updates on homeshooling, vegan eating and some sewing.  PROMISE!"

Vegan 'till 6pm

Mary Beth of Salt and Chocolate posted a link to a great podcast that I wanted to pass on.  Mark Bittman talks about his book Food Matters, and how he has Incorporated a vegan way of eating into his normally carnivorous life.  I listened to it and thought he had a refreshingly balanced approached to the subject.  I'm usually turned off a little bit by people with "loud soapboxes" so his personality appealed to me. He talks about eating less meat and other animal products to benefit both health and environment.  Anyways, Mary Beth is inviting others to join her in becoming vegan 'till 6pm.  Guess what?  I'm in!  My husband is a meat eater and as hard as I've tried, I just can't convince him to give it up. That is why this approach would work for us. It is more or less just a way of cutting back- way back- on animal products in our diet.

I'll share more as I get going, but I envision grains for breakfast, salads for lunch and then a normal dinner. Not too hard right? Just more plants! The hardest part for me will be giving up milk, cheese, yogurt and eggs.  I've long suspected that I have an intolerance or sensitivity to dairy but have never attempted to cut it out of my diet. (I take that back. Once I bought some goat's milk but when I tried to drink it, it smelled like a really stinky goat that I saw on my field trip to a farm in grade school.  I poured a $7 quart of it down the drain.)

 

**I also watched this last night.  I know, weird right?  A documentary on Saturday night!  If you enjoy that kind of thing, I thought it was very insightful.

Okay, this whole deal starts tomorrow for me-  Join in if you like!

Garden 2009

  

Planning for this year's garden is in full swing.  This will be the third year that we grow veggies in our back yard and we've got big ideas for that 15ftx 45ft plot of dirt.

 (The New Victory Garden- awesome book!)

 As much as I think that I would love taking on something like this..."Be realistic, be realistic, be realistic" is my mantra this year.  Last season I planted 4 cherry tomato plants!!??? After eating gobs of them ourselves and forcefully offering them to all of our friends and neighbors, we just couldn't consume all of them.  So, this year I am focusing on things that we like eating,in quantities that we enjoy, and that can be easily preserved.

The girls have been especially inspired.  I have been trying to find age appropriate ways of incorporating them into the planning.

After going through our favorite seed catalog (Bountiful Gardens- heirloom/non genetically modified seeds), we picked out our favorite veggies.  Each girl was allowed to pick one or two packets of seed for her very own tending.  For Hannah sunflowers are always a must.  She also wants to try some strawberries.

 

 Emma and I measured our garden space and then worked out how much room we would need to plant what we ordered.  She investigated which plants grow well together and created a little "vegetable friends and enemies" chart.  Then, I gave her some graph paper and asked her to create a map of our intended plans to scale.

 

It proved to be a great little math/science/nature study assignment.  She worked hard on it and enjoyed the detailed and spacial thinking that it required.

In the previous years we have just grown our vegetables in the ground.  However, our soil is very clay based and it has been hard to amend it for better draining.  So this year I have requested above ground beds.  My husband has also promised to a install drip irrigation system.  Last year I relied up on timed sprinklers or manual watering.  I'm finding lots of inspiration out there.

Here is what we hope to grow this year:

corn (I haven't had success in years past with non-gmo corn seeds, I'm going hybrid this year)

potatoes

zucchini

broccoli

cauliflower

cucumbers

snap peas

carrots

leeks

radishes

onions

tomatoes (roma, cherry, and large heirloom)

sweet bell peppers

strawberries

green beans

greens (butterhead lettuce, gourmet mix, chard)

squash (acorn, butternut, yellow crookneck)

The seeds are on their way and we are making room around the sunniest spaces indoors. The last frost date around here is about middle of May.  Planting day is coming soon!