Joining a CSA

Well, when we made our move we knew it was going to be a huge adjustment in terms of the produce available to us in our new home in PA. In order to help ease the transition, we tried to sign up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) but found out the CSA we wanted to join was already full in April. We asked to join the waitlist and much to my joy, we got an e-mail last week saying that we could start that Friday. I said yes and sent in our check and we received our very first box. Along with that box we got an e-mail saying there was a huge surplus of basil and peaches and so if we wanted additional half bushel boxes of those we could have them for almost nothing. So, being starved for fresh, organic produce I said yes to both. Our normal box was great. Full of lots of veggies and fruits to last us through the week and the other two boxes were huge. If you were ever wondering what a half bushel of basil looks like, here it is.

Days and many batches of pesto later I must say I am so happy to have our freezer full of such delicious goodness. We will be eating pesto and peaches all through the winter now! And the most exciting thing about the whole thing was how easy it was to have H participate. He made most of the pesto himself, with a little help from us. He was super focused on his work and so proud of all the pesto he made for our family.

H's recipe for pesto:

1. Two cloves of garlic, chopped in the food processor

2. Add:
A full food processor bowl full of basil leaves
One pinch of salt
Two hand fulls of pine nuts (keep in mind these are two year old size hands and the nuts can be any kind of nuts)
Somewhere around a half cup of olive oil

3. Process all of these ingredients to your hearts content.

At this point we froze our pesto in our old baby food trays, otherwise we would have added in Parmesan cheese and 1-2T of butter and hand mixed it before pouring it over whatever we were serving.






For any of you out there wondering what a CSA is, I highly recommend learning a little more about the ones available in your area. If you love produce and would like to support local farmers, it might be a really fun thing to try!

Orange you glad...

H and J celebrate our bounty.

One of the amazing things about our little home is the abundance of fruit in the backyard. We have an orange tree, lemon tree, fig tree, pear tree, apple tree, apricot tree, cherry tree, and a quince tree. I love the fact that H can go out in the backyard and pick an orange and eat it. I did not grow up in a climate where that was possible and so it seems completely magical to me. H really enjoyed the time he got to spend with J this August. Much time was spent enjoying the wonderful outdoors in our yard, neigborhood, and city.

Let the celebration begin!

Today marks the one year anniversary of my due date and it is also the day that we had H's one year birthday celebration at the Nido! After watching all of his friend's turn one it is finally H's turn!

The celebration was wonderful complete with balloon fun, singing, and cupcakes. I had only heard tell of H's cupcake eating skills and so today I got to see them in action. That boy is amazing! He managed to finish off an entire cupcake by cramming it into his mouth in about a minute and a half! All of his other friends were politely licking frosting and biting their cupcakes daintily. Not H, he went full throttle and then began reaching for the cupcake of the person next to him.

This was just the beginning of our celebration of H's first year and our first year as parents. We look forward to the coming festivities!

Shelling beans

H's dad is a big fan of fava beans and was thrilled to find them at the store this weekend. So, H got his first lesson in shelling beans. Although J showed him a traditional way to shell, H was more interested in an alternative approach that involved chewing the beans out of their shell.

 

 

First Contact

Hendrick is very cautious when making first contact with an unknown object. He gingerly extends one finger as he reaches out to touch the new thing (think ET). Generally he will either immediately pull his finger back or he will hold his finger on the object and poke the item a few times before deciding what he should do with it. In this case the decision was that the item was safe and to be consumed. We spend a lot of time exploring new items at the Farmer's Market on Tuesday afternoons. It is one of the highlights of H's week.

(Thank you to Kate for the wonderful pictures! These were taken of Hendrick eating his first cupcake at a birthday party for one of his friends at school.)

Happy Halloween!

H experienced his first Halloween today and although he will not remember it, we had lots of fun. The day started with a Halloween hike up in Tilden. H was planning to wear his skeleton costume but peed in it before we had a chance to hit the trail. Then we spent the afternoon moving around and playing (and doing laundry) while Daddy worked at the office. (H is really moving around these days. Imagine a large inchworm...) Then after we picked up Daddy at work we got down to the real Halloween fun. H got to "carve" his first pumpkin this evening. It was a lot of fun to watch him squeezing the guts and trying to eat everything in sight.

Seeing how much fun we were having, our neighbor came out to say hello and offered us the rare treat of taking a family photo. 

Then a fun Halloween flying session with Daddy.

And to cap off the evening, H went trick or treating for the first time and he knew just what to do.

Trying to figure it all out...

 

 In keeping with the Montessori method, Hendrick is learning how to drink from a glass that is just his size. He finishes off each meal with a little glass of water. It is beyond cute. I love watching as he tries to figure out how to drink out of a cup. It generally involves a lot of water on his bib and a lot of "nursing" the cup as opposed to drinking. My favorite is when his thumb gets in the way and so he just starts sucking it. Then he realizes what is going on and tries to fix it.

Avocado!

The most recent new food for Hendrick was avocado. We selected some absolutely beautiful avocados at Berkeley Bowl this Sunday and went home, made a lovely puree and then Hendrick got his first mouthful for dinner. I appreciate his complete trust in us. He greeted the new food with an open mouth and great enthusiasm. Once the avocado was in a look of confusion crossed his face. "What is this?" Jason and I were wondering if this was going to be the first food Hendrick didn't like. Not so. After swallowing his first bite he finished off the bowl like a champ.

Food glorious food!

Hendrick has been watching us eat meals for weeks now and finally he got his turn to try some food. We figured he has two teeth and a keen interest in what we are eating so why not give him a taste. It started with a little watermelon. He found that very interesting. Soon I got paranoid about Hendrick managing to break off a chunk of watermelon and choke so we moved on to rice cereal.

Hendrick eats his rice cereal at a little table and chair just his size. (We are very thankful to Kate for giving us her daughter's weaning table. Hendrick loves it!) His meal is around dinner time because that is the time when my milk production is the lowest right now so it seemed a natural
time to introduce solids.

The first meal was a huge success! Hendrick loves food!



After a few weeks of rice cereal we have moved onto sweet potatoes. Once we have passed the 4-7 day waiting period (to make sure he has no allergic reaction) Hendrick will get to try bananas and then avocados. Jason and I have decided that we are going to try to make most if not all of Hendrick's food at home. So, we are employing the freeze food cube method. We make a batch of baby food and freeze it in cubes to be thawed when Hendrick is ready to eat. So far things are going well. I can't wait to see what his reaction is to the different foods he will get to try over the next several months.