CSA: Fresh & Local

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In my mind, I'm a keen gardener with the ability to provide copious amounts of fresh produce to consume during the growing season. In reality, I'm a girl with big ideas and a black thumb. Having finally come to terms with the fact that I will never be the kind of urban homesteader who feed her family solely from the produce of her garden, I have decided to invest in a CSA program.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is perfect for people like me who want to enjoy fresh produce, but don't have the time/space/energy to grow their own food. We did it one summer before Turtle was born. It was a treat to go out to the farm to pick up our box of goodies each week. We wouldn't be picking up from a farm this time around, but there is an option to purchase a share of spring harvests. Assuming that I will be continuing with my OAMS effort, having weekly fresh produce will be an enormous treat.

I'm drooling already thinking about fresh asparagus. Maybe I should stop writing about farm fresh produce, and actually fill out the form to reserve our share!

Have you ever done CSA before?

Simple Pleasures: Candles

I got out of the habit of using candles around the house because of the bird and Turtle.  Now that we no longer have a bird & Turtle is old enough to leave lit candles alone, I'm bringing candles back into my life.

One ritual I read about in Simplicity Parenting was eating breakfast by the light of a candle.  I get up very early on workdays so that I have time and space to get myself ready for the day, and having a candle lit while I read blogs is absolutely delightful.  It is so peaceful to see the light flickering on the walls, to see the flames dance when the furnace turns on, to know that my loved ones are nearby.  It also means I'm not completely stumbling in the dark while I make my tea in the morning.

I've also started lighting a candle when we sit down for our evening meal.  Again, I feel like the candle makes the statement that this is a special time.  Turtle loves blowing out the candle when we are done!

Being the overcautious mommy that I am, watching kids blow out candles leaves me a little bit anxious.  So I scoured the stores yesterday and finally was able to bring this little lady home:

an angel candle snuffer!  Turtle loved learning to use it to put out the flames.  Are you a candleholic?

Seeking Simplicity

I read an amazing book at the beginning of the school year, Simplicity Parenting.  It was written by someone with a Waldorf background, but it ties in beautifully with what I am trying to accomplish with Montessori.  I was so inspired that I decided to redo Turtle's room (in the midst of preparing for her first friends-at-the-house birthday party).  It was elegant, it was beautiful, it worked, it was short-lived.  Because of course after the birthday party, we had more toys to accommodate, which I hadn't planned for when I redid her room.  Now we are back to chaos.

It seems to be a recurring pattern for me: seeking to streamline and simplify, but instead managing to over complicate. I do it at home.  I do it at work.

Recently my sister and I had a Christmas planning session & we decided that THIS year we WILL keep the celebration simple.  Simple menu, lots of time for outdoor fun, streamlined gift giving.  I shared the plan with DH.  He laughed.  Apparently there is some doubt in our ability to keep the menu simple. (I blame all the shiny holiday magazines that brazenly stare at me in the checkout lanes!)

Where does this longing for simplicity come from?  How do I stop the "you know what would be a great idea"  from getting in the way of reaching simplicity?  What is simple these days anyway (asks the woman who is blogging from her laptop)?

While you ponder these deep questions, I'm off to read another chapter of Little House in the Big Woods to Turtle  :)