water garden at Lewis Ginter

The water garden at Lewis Ginter opened a few weekends ago and I think we were among this year's first visitors.  I can't help but to buy the boys coordinating outfits, swimsuits included.  Rash-guards offer great spf protection, and these little swimmers came from Hanna Andersson. (I just checked and they're on sale right now for only 16 bucks!)

Swim diapers are required in the water garden, and while we gave up cloth shortly after Merritt was born, I still have a huge and awesome stash.  Did you know that a cloth diaper with the insert removed = swim diaper?  It's true.

The water play area is on the cozy side, but there is good visibility and the environment is well situated for independent play--I enjoyed sitting on the sidelines observing the kids in action and doling out snacks.

If you're local, have you been to the water garden yet?

Agriberry Farm, community supported agriculture

We bought a full season share of a berry CSA that runs from early May thru mid September. Every week we can look forward to 6 "units" of strawberries and other fruit and complementary veggies like sugar snap peas, asparagus, blueberries, cherries, red raspberries, black raspberries, blackberries, plums apples, purple raspberries, peaches, melons, and rhubarb.  Units can vary from a pound, 1/2 pint, pint, quart, peck or 3-5 fruits, depending on the type of fruit and harvest conditions.

Two years ago we bought a share of a veggie CSA, and every week I blogged about the produce we received in our share and many of the recipes that we tried. Some of my favorite posts are here (the video of Roscoe eating snow peas is classic), here, here, and here.  For our produce last year we relied on a small garden and the farmer's market every Sunday. This year we're planning a combination of family garden, csa, and farmer's market. I'm excited!

At the indoor farmer's market at St. Stephen's church on Wednesday, AgriBerry was selling the season's first strawberries!  We also picked up three heirloom tomato seedlings (brandywine, brandywine yellow, and black crimson) and 4 sun sugar cherry tomato seedlings (and some incredible looking sausage) from Frog Bottom Farm.

If you're in the area and want to join AgriBerry Farm's csa check out the details and the application here--Anne said they need more people to pick up at the Monument Avenue Farmer's Market Saturdays from 8:30 -11:30.  Maybe we'll see you there!

Thriving on Winter's Bounty

Winter Squash Lasagna

It's wintertime even though this second week of warm and breezy weather might have me believing otherwise.  But, it's definitely December and while eating seasonally in the Spring and Summer was easy peasy, and the Fall wasn't too bad either, learning how to cook (and eat) the leaves and roots of winter is not quite as joyful. At least not at first glance.  What to do with all of the spinach, beets, carrots, parsnips, winter squash, potatoes, and sweet potatoes!

I have an extensive collection of cookbooks, but lately I've been relying on two in particular.  The Winter Harvest Cookbook has shown me that the winter dinner table can still be diverse and satisfying--exciting even!  Tonight we ate a traditional farmer's skillet supper of bacon, potatoes, and kale--we added eggs to the mix for a hearty, warm, and filling meal.

Last night I baked a winter squash lasagna with crimini mushrooms, butternut squash, and romano and mozzarella cheeses.  Red wine, garlic, tomato sauce and a from scratch bechamel sauce made for a complex flavor combination.  Roscoe finished his plate clean and Merritt was close behind him.  I was pleasantly surprised, and happy to cook squash beyond my old standby of caramelizing it. (note: if you've never made Ina Garten's recipe for caramelized butternut squash, you must.  It is fantastic--but wow, it is also possible to use butternut squash in other ways too!)

The recipe for Winter Squash Lasagna can be found online here. Gingered beets and brussels sprouts, cabbage with coconut, and chestnut risotto are just a few of the recipes that are going to save me this winter--i just know it!

The other book that I keep returning to is called Simply in Season.  What I love most about this book is the way that it's organized. Corresponding to the four seasons, there are four sections and within each section is a list of the seasonal produce that you might expect to find at that time of year.  Every page offers a new recipe and the seasonal ingredients used in each one are highlighted from the larger list found in the margin, which means you can search by ingredient with a quick flip through the pages.  It has a great reference section in the front too. Root vegetable crumble (with cashews!), stuffed beets, and golden carrot salad are up next.

I also want to check out the kid version, Simply in Season for Children.

If you eat seasonally, how do you cope with the bounty that winter offers?

Treehouse camping

We made family history this weekend with our first camping trip. We stayed at a cool little campground in Maryland, just off the Appalachian Trail.  

The Treehouse Camp offers a range of accommodations. With two little guys in tow and chilly October air in the forecast, we chose the more refined cottages.  We had a wood stove to stay warm, and bunk beds with mattresses to sleep on.  

When we arrived Friday afternoon, the weather was cool and windy so we went for a long walk and then cooked dinner together outside on our one-burner coleman stove.  I made bread and applesauce the day before, and we cooked up griller sausages and buttered broccoli. At night we built a roaring fire and soaked up the heat over adult conversation. 

The rain started late Friday night and didn't let up.  There were no hikes, or outdoor play, beyond the slippery jaunt down the hill and back again from our cottage to my parents' across the way.  Instead, we made art, colored, played with puzzles, made believe, napped, cooked and ate, and caught up with each other as we tended the kids, trading them back and forth. 

We had our battles with the wood-burning stove--too cold, then too hot, then cold again--keeping the fire stoked through the night was a challenge, and keeping the kids comfortable was ongoing.  Last night Roscoe and Merritt started out bundled in layers, and by 3 am I had them stripped down to their diapers, only to turn around and layer them up again in time for breakfast. Grandma and Grandpa were good sports keeping up with our early rise and kid-centered routines.  

sad to leave the fun for bed

 marshmallows at breakfast

I grew up tent camping throughout California and Arizona. I like the contrast of waking up in the morning all warm and snuggled inside my sleeping bag, feeling the sharp cold of the early air with just my face and loathing the thought of climbing out of the thermal heat and into a dewy tent. Campfires, s'mores.  Comfy clothes, and trees and dirt, and peeing in the woods.  Showers under a night sky, or no showers for three days. Breakfast and dinner fireside.  It's all good to me, and I really look forward to continuing the tradition with our kids as they grow older.

Rappahannock Central

For my birthday this year (in August), I was craving good food and fresh air--not unlike every other day of the year, it seems.

We took a day trip to Sperryville, Va. to check out Rappahannock Central, a restored apple packing house that now serves as a food co-op, an arts collective, and a cafe.

It was a quiet Saturday morning and we arrived before they officially opened so we made ourselves at home in an area designed just for the little ones.

When Cafe Indigo opened we were seated overlooking the Copper Fox Distillery. We shared a really satisfying lunch from locally procured goods--I had ginger carrot soup and a farm cheddar, apple, and arugula sandwich. Neapolitan ice cream was on the menu for dessert and we each had a scoop. Soo good.

Afterward we moseyed through the small industrial-barn styled studios and art gallery.

At last, we spent some time in the farm store where I happily picked out two chickens, lamb sausage, honey, white wine vinegar, eggs, and a phenomenal tapenade, from Everona Dairy, made with olives and nutty goat cheese. There was plenty more that I could have (and wanted to) toss into my bag, but I tried to save some of my enthusiasm for Sunday's farmer's market the following morning.

Do you seek out local food in your area? If you're curious to see what you have nearby, you can search www.localharvest.org for CSAs, farmer's markets, restaurants, and more.

Who wants to join me?

August 13th is Can-It-Forward Day.

We've taken up the locavore scene in our area and it seems that eating seasonally goes hand in hand with knowing how to put up food for the winter.

We buy our meat from a farmer who owns Walnut Hill Farm at Elm Springs in Falmouth, Va. Every Sunday, under his tent at the farmer's market, I pick Jeff's brain on topics that range from the seasonality of chicken, to harvest routines, and even the feasibility of buying half of a cow for our freezer. Jeff is a kind man, and doesn't seem to mind my naivete. This past weekend when I mentioned an interest in learning how to can food he generously offered to teach me how to do it. A canning 101 class, you could say. And he told me to bring a friend or two to make it legit.

If you're curious about what canning is all about, and want to learn from a seasoned pro, AND you're up for a field trip to a farm to get your canning on, let me know. We're meeting up in the early morning of August 15th. I'm bringing boxes of peaches, tomatoes, and string beans (and whatever else I can find at the farmer's market on the 14th), along with a few crates of canning jars. I'm inviting you to do the same.

This is an exciting opportunity, and it's free! Leave a comment or send me an email at marblesrolling@gmail.com if you're interested and I'll share the details.

Diapering x2

We've been cloth diapering since Roscoe was two months old. Initially, we bought twelve Bum Genius one size AIOs and once we got the hang of it we added twelve more. It's been a relatively low maintenance investment, and the diapers are still in great condition. Only recently did Roscoe outgrow them. Yep, he wore the same 24 diapers for almost two years.

Abby's Lane opened a brick and mortar store nearby (it's awesome if you are local), and we went to the grand opening a few weekends ago. It made for a very pleasant Saturday afternoon because the farmer's market was in full swing, we ate lunch next door at a self proclaimed "breastfeeding friendly" restaurant , and we found a tot lot around the corner. Roscoe got to watch the trains coming and going from the VRE station, and we ordered extra thick strawberry milkshakes for the road. But, I digress.

I've never had the opportunity to shop for cloth diapers in person, but whew! It's so much better than shopping online. It's easy to be overwhelmed by the hundreds of cloth diapering options and permutations available. Even with everything laid out in front of me, and sound advice from well versed staff, I still spent almost two hours just browsing.

As it turns out, at Roscoe's age and with his sturdy build, he's really too big for most AIOs. Our options are limited to Bum Genius size extra large (pros: we know and love the brand, they come with one insert; cons: they cost 17.95 each, are available in white only, and have snap closures) or Happy Heinys size extra large (pros: they cost 15.95 and have velcro tab closures; cons: inserts are not included, and they are available in a variety of "off" colors). In the end, our decision to purchase Happy Heinys was based on the fact that we favor velcro over snaps.

With every intention to wash diapers every other day we bought twelve Happy Heinys in a variety of colors that Roscoe chose himself, and 12 BabyKicks inserts at 4.99 each (to be paired with the infant inserts from our original twenty four BGs). I've been really happy with their performance so far. We use disposables overnight and at nap time.

Armed with new information we also switched from Planet detergent to Tide ultra which elevates tremendously the chore of cloth diaper washing. Planet detergent did the job okay, but Tide just smells so good and, frankly, seems to do a better job.

As Roscoe grew up and out of his bum genius diapers, Merritt grew right into them. By the time I had the energy to even consider swaddling Merritt's bum in cloth, he had all but outgrown the entire newborn stash that I had assembled prior to his arrival. That was a disappointing realization, but the BGs on the smallest setting with the one size inserts fit him well. I do still struggle with the bulk of the BGs on such a small frame, but that's the way it goes, I guess, with diapers designed to fit babies 7 to 35 pounds. (As a side note, I really loved the fit of the BG size extra small AIOs, which he did get to wear quite a bit for at least a few weeks before they became too snug.)

This last one reminds of me of a similar picture of Roscoe, two months younger.

More Parks Please!

In my recent pursuit of quality local parks I struck gold when I discovered this brand new one "for future marines" and part of the National Marine Corps Museum. It has a tot lot, an obstacle course-inspired playground for older kids, and a swing set with baby seats. The location is heavily wooded, which offers a lot of shade, has a picnic area, and includes a fitness trail.

We've been several times already!

Tot Lot

Oh, hello.

Roscoe & Poppa

Roscoe & Momma

Prepare for a thrill!

Whooooeeee! (Roscoe's only slightly impressed)

A visit to the park is not complete without a parking lot diaper change.

Roscoe's thighs are contemplating the start of a mini version of mcfatty monday!

Warm weather treats

During a quick trip into the city last week, Roscoe and I finally got to sample the outrageous gelato offered at Dolcezza. I've passed by the tiny store front so many times, and on this particular day we found ourselves with time to spare before the rush hour frenzy began, so we decided to stop in.

The gelateria has an all-white interior with windows that open out right onto Wisconsin. Their menu is fantastic and changes weekly. The Argentinean gelato is handmade every morning with locally farmed ingredients, and the result is a dream that I haven't been able to get out of my head since.

If you're in the area, go. now. You'll be very happy you did.

Next time I visit, which will be soon, I promise to also try one of their signature churros. Golden pastries stacked high, filled with dulce de leche, cream, or chocolate. Oh my god. Yes!