O Bento Tree

Ryan's lunch: baby carrots; pickles; roasted almonds; Tofurky sandwich tree w/apple ornaments & soy cheese star; peanut butter sandwich crackers; mango gel cup on the side.

Snowy Day, not a Snow Day

Lots
of
snow
here
over
the
week-
end.
If it
had
landed
on
monday
I'll
bet
even
our
die
hard
town
would
have
declar-
ed a snow day. But it ended by sunday afternoon, and they're very efficient at plowing, so off to school! And welcome winter!

Ryan's lunch: roasted pumpkin seeds; mini banana blueberry muffin; steamed broccoli; mashed potato snowman w/black bean mouth & buttons; brown rice.

Friday was our second winter share pickup at our CSA. The bounty included 3 kinds of lettuce, spinach, baby greens mix, parsley, salad turnips, swiss chard, kale, carrots, parsnips, parsley root, celeriac, purple top turnips, beets, potatoes, shallots, red & yellow onions, leeks, popping corn, apples...and Brussels sprouts.

Now normally everyone says they don't like Brussels sprouts. But I cooked one stalk's worth anyways, and what do you know...Ryan was the only one who didn't want them, and Nate asked for THIRDS!

Sauteed Brussels

2 dozen Brussels Sprouts
2 T. Earth Balance
margarine
1/2 vegetable bouillon
cube (I like Rapunzel sea
salt & herbs variety)
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4-1/2 tsp. lemon juice
freshly ground pepper

Remove sprouts from
stalk, then remove one
layer of outer leaves.
Trim off any remaining
stem, then cut in half.

Melt Earth Balance in
saute pan over medium
heat. Add bouillon and a
little water if necessary
to keep bouillon from
burning as it melts with
the margarine.

Add sprouts, salt &
pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, adding lemon juice when sprouts begin to brown. When one side of sprouts are nicely browned, remove from heat and sprinkle with a little extra salt & pepper.

We served these with brown rice and a bowl of root vegetable soup, perfect after playing in the snow.

We decorated our tree and hung lights outside in time for the winter solstice. Dinner was a quick "picnic" before going to the Boy Scout Reservation's tree & light festival. We use their hiking trails a lot.
























Some of our favourite trees were a Lego ornament tree and one with recycled ornaments.

spring projects

Our house is small, but we
have an awesome yard. There's
this super cool tree with a kid-
sized doorway. I've finally
eradicated all the poison ivy within
the yard--knock on wood--and now
I have big plans. Through this
natural arch I'm going to make a
secret picnic spot, with a
fieldstone patio and this picnic
table. It's been out of stock since
I saw it online last summer, so
I'm impatiently waiting until the end of April when it's supposed to be available again. It will seat 8 kids, plenty of space for my 4 plus some friends. I'm hoping they can enjoy summer snacks and meals outdoors and give the grownups a little space at the big picnic table.

Some of my other ambitious projects will be a large stone sandbox, stepping logs, and of course landscaping for the lot. I'd like to connect our property to the rail trail with a japanese-style garden bridge, plant more berry bushes, and get a stone or wood bench. I'm going to try to find my own stone (like I did in Vermont when I built a stone garden wall, hauling rocks off the mountain 1 or 2 at a time), transplant my ever multiplying hosta, lilies, and lilac bush (that I planted when Ryan was a baby, now taller than me and requiring much pruning).

I'm taking it upon myself to maintain a section of the railtrail, starting with some pruning and poison ivy spraying. We've already made a path up to the school playground fence that the boys call the "war hill" despite my insistence on it being called something more benign like "adventure hill". I'd like to find a nice bench and trash receptacle for the nearby brook that can be enjoyed by any of the trail's denizens. Add the purple marten birdhouse that my mother-in-law donated, more digging to drain the swampy area near the brook, and continual purchases of mosquito dunks, and maybe we can survive without our maintenance-money-pit Mosquito Magnet.

My husband wants fruit trees--not sure where we can put them though. I've already abandoned our garden in anticipation of a new garage in its place (when we eventually have the money for such construction). Maybe I'll get some of those nifty spire apple trees that don't take up much space--we only have 1/2 an acre.

What are you doing to improve the outdoor space in your part of the world?