Farm Camp Finale

My Hello Kitty calendar
said that yesterday was
Keroppi's birthday. So that
was my theme for the boys'
final day of farm camp. I've
always thought Keroppi
was pretty cute. He's definitely
a secondary Sanrio character,
but he's got a simple sort of
charm. He's certainly the
outdoorsy type, and one of the
few cool boy characters in the
Sanrio universe.
Ryan & AJ's lunches: blueberries for Ryan, watermelon for AJ; ginger asparagus; Tofurky "flowers"; rice Keroppi w/soy cheese & nori eyes; cantaloupe flowers; roasted rosemary potatoes.
Maia... Ryan
























Nate... AJ

The boys were disappointed camp didn't last longer. And Nate is impatiently waiting until he is 4 so that he can go too. Of course next year Ryan will be almost 8 and too old.
Of course they can visit the farm any time. Ryan is tall enough for the single rope swing now.

They picked bouquets on
the last day to bring home.
The mix of flowers and
herbs is quite fragrant!

Farm camp activities included:
picking & washing carrots for
sharer pickup, worm hunts,
bug jars, drawings, picnics, reading, treasure hunts (with vegan cookies hidden!) & wool balls with bells inside (not a vegan project, I know, but still educational learning how to make a toy that used to be quite common, with wool brought by someone local with a small well-cared for group of sheep). Here are a few of their drawings:
Dinner was a muffin tin picnic:Row 1: Gerber peach puffs (don't ask me why, but I seem to buy these maybe once a year or so and the kids make it through half the container then get tired of them); watermelon slices; carrot sticks; blueberries.
Row 2: Nutz Over Chocolate Luna bar; fresh shelled peas; vegetable crackers & soy cheese; steamed broccoli.
Row 3: cucumber slices; cinnamon wheat toast; orange slices; peanuts & raisins.

Maia has begun to share the muffin tin meals too, which means I have to watch carefully to avoid her grabbing any choking hazards! Though I admit she's already had peanuts AND popcorn thanks to her very generous brothers. Oy!

Dada brought home 99 cent
vegan mini cupcakes from
Blue Shirt Cafe to celebrate
the sale of one of his businesses.
I can't count the number of
smoothies and wraps I ate
from there while pregnant
with Ryan!

Of course I had also baked a
plum raspberry crumble similar
to this recipe by Ina Garten,
with about a pint of black
raspberries from our bushes!

What was that?!

I don't watch the weather report obsessively, but I do check the forecast on Yahoo! every morning...and I didn't notice anything about WORST STORM EVER in my experience in New England this century. They did mention "possible thundershowers, severe at times". But no mention of torrential downpours, wind, marble sized hail, landslides, rivers of mud, boulders on the road, storm drains spraying water into the air, intermittent power, flooding, traffic light failure, manhole covers levitating off the road...

...Luckily farm camp ended before all that began.

Ryan
& AJ's
lunches:
honey-
dew
melon;
wakame
onigiri
(rice
triangle);
steamed
broccoli;
Good
Dog
"flowers"
with
edamame;
a veg
dumpling
for Ryan. AJ didn't want a dumpling. I asked what he wanted instead. He said, "Can't I have just one more piece of broccoli? You want me to stay healthy, don't you??" Too funny.

One benefit to using
reusable shopping bags
is the lack of suffocation
risk. Silly Maia.

It was ONLY raining
buckets when Maia
and I went shopping.

Maia's been learning
all sorts of new tricks...
like stairs. Time to keep
the baby gates closed at
all times now!

She's also mastered the
"laughing at you when
she knows she's doing
something she shouldn't"
pose...counting on her
cuteness to save her.

For the few who braved
the storm for farm share
pickup (or live close enough and are crazy, like me)...there was plenty of produce ready inside the farmstand tent: broccoli, cabbage, beets, lettuce, mixed baby greens, carrots, summer squash. But the rest of the "pick your own" will have to wait until another day this week when the fields aren't flooded or being struck by lightning...

Foraging for Farm Camp

I'm always amazed at how I can pull together a meal when I look in the fridge and feel like we're out of food. Some leftovers, berries from the bush, the last few pieces of bread, mother-in-law's rhubarb jam...voila!
Ryan & AJ's lunches: spicy baked tofu; shiitake mushrooms; berries (for Ryan) & raisins (for AJ); cucumber slices; carrot sticks; 1/2 pbj sandwich. They also shared some of the farm's daily Stone Soup, having contributed a can of kidney beans.
This was AJ's first time at "Farm Camp". The weather couldn't have been more perfect for him...overcast and 70.
I told him, "I'm glad you had such a great time at camp today."
And he said, "No, you mean, The Best Day Ever!"

An hour after they got home, I went back to the farm to pick up our weekly share: a couple heads of lettuce, mixed baby salad greens, beets & greens, cabbage, various summer squash, carrots, swiss chard, peas, peas shoots, garlic scapes, strawberries, and all manner of herbs.

Just as the strawberry season
comes to a close, the raspberry
season begins. I picked a pint
of black raspberries from our
bushes yesterday, and my
husband picked another pint
today...in addition to what goes
directly into the boys' mouths,
or Ryan's "iron chef" creations.