OLS

Wow, it has been a week since my last post! Sorry. Logan and I were out of town for 3 days and it seems that it has taken me 3 days to recover from the trip.

Here was our most recent all local meal. I'm really falling down on the challenge this summer, but I'm doing my best.

We had french toast on homemade honey wheat bread.

The honey, eggs, milk and maple syrup were all local. The wheat in the bread wasn't local.

What I've been up to

I've been doing a lot of crafting lately in an attempt to "get back to normal".

I learned to knit using needles. This is the first thing I knit with needles. I have a few other things I'm working on.




I've also been working hard on a cross stitch project. This is the biggest project I've ever finished! I think it is adorable.

I'm currently working on a cross-stitch chicken. And Logan wants me to knit him a chicken to go with the sheep I knit him for Christmas (using the loom).

Independence days

1. Harvest - I harvested tomatoes and basil. That is all.

2. Plant - yes! I actually planted some stuff this week! I transplanted 3 tomato plants to bigger pots and 1 brocolli. I also started some brocolli and cauliflower for fall harvest.

3. Preserve - no

4. Prep - I got the supplies to make a new, hopefully more effective solar cooker. I also got a fine mesh strainer to sift wheat after I grind it to hopefully get a finer flour to use for baking. And I got a good bread pan so that my bread making can improve.

5. Cook - it isn't really something new but I did make bread after my bread lesson. It turned out excellent! My bread lessons were very successful.

6. Manage your reserves - the freezer is now almost empty, we are doing well at working our way through everything.

7. Work on local food system - John's Farm Stand opened this week! John is an older man who lives 3 miles from me. He has a large garden in his backyard and sells produce every summer. He hadn't opened as of last Wednesday and I was getting worried. He finally opened and I visited him Saturday. I got corn, green beans and good conversation.

8. Compost - I added more shredded newspaper to the worm bin Saturday.

9. Learn - nothing new this week

10. Store something - nothing new this week

So thoughtful!

Twinville gave me this wonderful award! It is the share the love award for people who need a little extra love right now. I really appreciate it! These last 3 months have been really trying. I've vowed to not talk about the whole house thing until I can share good news. I'll just say that nothing has changed. We've had close to 50 showings and 5 second showings. Every one of our second showings bought a bigger, more expensive house. And that is the last I will say about the house until it sells. But do know that the extra love is very needed.

We went to Ocean City, MD today and had a great day playing in the ocean and eating junk food. I got a cool T shirt that I'll post a picture of soon. I also finished a cross-stitch project that is adorable and I'll post a picture of that soon too. This weekend, Logan and I will be going to Virginia Tech for a get together with my fraternity. We'll be staying in a dorm and Logan is really excited about it!

I'll do my Independence Days update tomorrow.

Blackberry picking

Logan and I went blackberry picking last week.

Here Logan is on the hay ride out to the field.
Logan takes blackberry picking very seriously.
Our haul for the day.
With our blackberries we made 5 jars of jam...

A blackberry crisp... And we have enough frozen for another crisp when my dad comes to visit in a few weeks.

Independence Day

1. Harvest - I harvested tomatoes and basil this week. They were both used in a pasta dish last night. Logan and I also picked blackberries this week.

2. Plant - no

3. Preserve - Made and canned blackberry jam.

4. Prep - No

5. Cook - nothing new

6. Manage your reserves - I didn't do my inventory of my food reserves this week

7. Work on local food system - Same stuff as usual

8. Compost - Same stuff as usual

9. Learn - I had bread baking lessons with a good friend of mine this week. I now know why my bread doesn't rise well.

10. Store something - I picked up some jelly jars off of freecycle and picked up more lids for jars. I also bought a cheap bottle of vodka for making tinctures someday. And I got a few jars of spagetti sauce that was on sale. Mark prefers store bought to my home made.

OLS

This isn't the best example of a local meal we've ever had but it is very typical of how we eat.

This week we had chicken and potatoes in red curry and blackberry crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

The breakdown:

Chicken - Locust Point Farm - 7 miles

Potatoes - Calvert Farm - 15 miles

Rice - Not local

Spices - Not local

Coconut milk - really not local

Blackberries - Linvilla Orchards - 35 miles

Vanilla Ice Cream - Trickling Springs Dairy - 100 miles

Oats - Not local

Sugar - Not local