It's a Small World...

The title of my last post was, "Final Snow Days" and while the snow is long behind us apparently spring/fall has continued to cling to the area. We've been hounded by rain, wind and cold temperatures with a few small hints of summer. Despite this my garden is growing and we are striding into the harvesting and preserving season. We've picked the first few summer peas and strawberries from our own garden patch, but in order to put up enough of what we need for the winter I am supplementing from our local market. Today Nick and I prepared 10 pints of strawberries (from the market) for freezing - just need to bag them; from our garden we harvested a big container of lettuce, a small container of peas, some handfuls of strawberries and 4 trays full of oregano for the dehydrator. The roses are blooming, squash are growing, potatoes re-sprouted, carrots and parsley almost ready for seed saving and life abounds on our little space.

We have been talking more and more about trying to sell our place to buy property and begin farming, but the cards seem stacked against us. For now we will be content in our small space and keep putting in as much edible landscape as possible. We'll be putting in fruit trees and blueberry bushes this summer and installing Mason Bee boxes for pollination. If you want to know more about Mason Bees, here's a good spot to visit: http://www.crownbees.com/.


There's been so much going on since my last post:

• Finished first year of grad school

• Worked on a biodynamic farm as an intern for ten weeks (Jubilee Farm) and could not have been happier!  Also realized how much more I need to learn about farming!!

Jubilee Farm - Online Slideshow Maker

• Jack turned five years old.  We had a dog bed custom made for him from Unique Kreations for Dogs & Kats.  An awesome lady at Redmond Farmer's Market does all of the work by hand from reclaimed fabric/textiles/foam from furniture and textile companies in the area.

 

• Redmond Farmers market season began

2012 Farmers Market - Online Slideshow Maker

• Put in and began harvesting from our garden

2012 Garden - Online Slideshow Maker

• Attended volunteer training for 3 weeks of summer camp and research through the awesome partnership of Oxbow Farm and Wilderness Awareness School
• Attended the Jubilee Farm May day festival and Oxbow Farm's Sowdown

Jubilee May Day Festival - Online Slideshow Maker

Oxbow Sowdown - Online Slideshow Maker

• Worked and studied at Dog Mountain Farm for a class on tourism - I was looking at agritourism specifically.  Awesome place - you should totally check it out!!

Dog Mountain Farm - Online Slideshow Maker

• Went to an awesome exhibit at the Burke Museum called "Hungry Planet".  Check out the book here: What the World Eats and here: What the World Eats Part 2

• Attended a class by Seattle Tilth on growing our own fungi

Fungi is Fun - Online Slideshow Maker

• Took a road trip to California and up the coast for spring break.  It was so much fun to spend time with Paul and Bear, visit favorite haunts and check out some new spots!

2012 Spring Break - Online Slideshow Maker

I'm sure I've forgotten something, but I'll save that for a later post!  Hope to hear from and see many of you this summer; I know I'm not great about responding to e-mails right now, but think of you often and appreciate your love and support.

Here's to sunshine, summer treats and good eats!!

Final Snow Days

The snow started melting on Thursday night, then it started raining and created an epic slushy mess on the side roads. Here is the snowfall we had in about 6 hours on Thursday when the last flakes fell...


Friday night Nick and I took the Jeep out and did a little 4-Wheelin' City Style. It was epic fun!!




Sad that the snow is melting, happy for the improvement of our water table and thrilled to not be shoveling the driveway every day!

Winter Wonderland

If you haven't seen the news or heard from friends/family living in the Pacific NW we are being slammed by an epic snowstorm - IT...IS...AWESOME!!!! I love driving in the snow, being outside in the snow, watching Jack in the snow and laughing at Nick being a kid. Thought I'd share some pictures of some of the epicness going on around here.

Winter Storm - slide show

Here are some more from today and it's still coming down!

Winter Storm 2 - slide show

Enjoy the white stuff!!

What If...

Christmas - the Old English dictionary defines it as "Christ's Mass". However, as I drive through the traffic each day, listen to horns honking, hear how much people spend on gifts ($1,200 from one of my co-workers), watch the impatience, read the signs of those standing on street corners and become more distraught over the commercialization of Christmas I have begun to wonder how much Christ occupies the season of Christmas.

Yes, I am a Christian and I believe that Christ exists, but somehow when we begin to shop for Christmas in June, put up Christmas trees in November and spend money we do not have on things people do not need I have begun to wonder how much "Christ" is still part of the celebration of "Christmas". I have been thinking...

What If...

• Families ate Christmas dinner together, around a table, with the TV off
• Rather than eating a huge Christmas dinner you served dinner to someone who was only able to eat once a day
• The $1,200 spent on Christmas was donated to an organization working to make a difference in the world
• Barbara Walters' 10 most fascinating people of 2011 did not feature the Kardashian's, celebrities or any other person regaled in the headlines; but rather focused on the people working to pay their bills every month, provide an education for their children, those doing the jobs the rest of us are not willing to do
• We stopped watching reality TV shows and started living in the real world
• Rather than interacting with technology we interacted with our friends and loved ones surrounding us
• We said we were sorry, accepted responsibility and forgave
• Rather than send out cards we called those people
• Instead of wrapping gifts we planted a tree

Whether you believe in Christ or not, there is still meaning surrounding this time of year and I wonder what the world would look like if we simply embraced the meaning.

Fall/Winter or Flinter Season

We had our first, and so far only, snow fall in November and it stuck around for quite a bit. Jack enjoyed his customary snowball catching and then puking cycle and enjoyed leaping around catching snowflakes.



Nick and I went to Walla Walla for Thanksgiving and enjoyed time with family and friends. We ate way too much amazing food, froze to death in the arid, winter environment that is WW in November and even worked on some homework. It is so nice having my grandparents from Alaska living near my parents now and having the ability to spend holidays with them is really special. I took a few shots of their new home, with the new big trees and the iconic moose antlers.



Nick and I have kind of distanced ourselves from the Christmas insanity this year, but we did enjoy walking around Country Village - a quaint, festively decorated, chicken/duck occupied, adorable hangout. We also attended a wonderful celebration of a GI doctor I work with and his years of service at Seattle Children's. It was so much fun to dress up and hang out with friends and co-workers!


No matter how or what holiday season you are celebrating, we want to wish you a fabulous one!!

Long Time Coming...

I know, I know - I haven't blogged since September; however, I have a pretty good excuse! I thought I'd just show some glimpses of what has been happening over the last few months since I started school...

I started my Masters degree at the end of September and have hardly had a chance to lift my head out of the books except to go to work and try and spend time with Nick. This first quarter was the hardest thing I've ever done!! I'm learning so much and with this program being completely different from nursing I feel as though I'm learning a new language - I'm being challenged in my thinking, my beliefs, how I view the world and engage with everything around me. I am looking forward to next quarter and taking my first elective (Environmental Politics) that is geared towards the goals I hope to accomplish with this degree; next quarter I'll also be spending some time out at Jubilee Farm with Erick and Wendy!! I thought I'd share a few photos of some of the study stations I've been occupying this quarter (the carolers were a "bonus" at one of our group project work sessions!):


One of the crazy things at the UW Bothell Campus is the nightly bird horror show. It's like being on the set of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. We're not sure where the crows come from or why they choose to cover nearly every surface each night at UWB, but it is quite the freak show!!


The big event that happened during this quarter was that I sold my lovely Jeep and bought a gorgeous 2012 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI. I could not be happier!! This car embraces everything Nick and I are trying to do with being green, saving fuel and creating a healthier environment. The kicker - I have bought 3.5 tanks of diesel after putting almost 1,800 miles on this baby. So thrilled!!



Nick and I were so privileged to attend a book release for this really amazing lady that I met at work one day! Her name is Erika Klimecky and she spent a month traveling the Everest Highway with a group of musicians raising money and awareness for the 7 Summits Foundation. This lady has inspired me so much and you should check out her website here and her husband, Chris', music here. You can also see Clint McCune's work through Soul Food Books here. This is such a great group of people!



I think those are the main highlights of the quarter, but stay tuned for more great things to come!!

Cycle the WAVE

A year ago, while sitting at a restaurant with my girlfriend, Connie, she told me about a cycling ride that she wanted to participate in and asked if I would be interested in riding as well. I completed some research and decided that it would be a fun ride with a great cause. Cycle the WAVE (Women Against Violence Everywhere) is a local ride that helps raise awareness and funds for the fight against domestic violence. It is a ride for women only and has 4 mileage breakouts to choose from. There are some sweet swag bags, beautiful jerseys, fun t-shirts and lots of wonderful volunteers to help out on the big day.

Sometime in June I decided to start training for this ride and over the last few months have completed the following:

• 485.8 miles training


• 44.55 hours in the saddle


• 2 falls - one a Charlie Chaplin moment, the second left me with some severe road rash, bruises and scars


• Two flats


• Greater confidence in road riding


All culminating in:

• One day


• 6:09:31 finishing time


• 3 flats


• 61.5 miles


• 4 liters nutrition consumed


• 4,177 feet elevation gain


• Title obtained: Burly Girl!!

Not sure if I'll do this ride again; there were quite a few things I did not appreciate about the ride. If I did do it again I would only do the Middle Sister ride (42 miles) and I would ask my mom to accompany me! There was a definite sense of satisfaction that I completed one of the hardest things in my life, but still some feelings of frustration and definitely some sore muscles. Nick was so sweet and was at every rest stop to help trade out my nutrition bottles, provide his coat to keep me warm, check my bike and cheer me on. I would not have been able to finish this ride without his support - thanks babe!!