A New Recipe and a Rain Storm

May 31, 2008 - PM - Two posts in one day! You'd think I had nothing else to do... but you would be wrong. I just wanted to share something very specific this evening. Joe and I had a bit of relaxing morning and I decided to try a new pancakes recipe. I found it in a magazine we got called 'Clean Eating' which I highly recommend. So here's the recipe -



Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 1/4 cups milk
1 large egg
1 tbsp canola oil
1 cup whole wheat baking flour
1 tsp low-sodium baking powder



Instructions:
In a medium bowl, mix oats with milk; let stand 5 minutes. Add egg and oil, then mix. Add dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Cook on hot, nonstick skillet until golden brown. Flip and cook until other side is golden. Optional - Add 1/4 cup fresh blueberries to batter before cooking.


This recipe is totally healthy and absolutely delicious. Plus the oats make them much more firm and easy to flip. So you should try it out.


During and after breakfast we did some reading and then headed over to the house. On the way over, we hashed out some new ideas about flooring, but ended up reconfirming that we are going to shoot for 4" thick concrete floors. Kelly thinks we'll be able to engineer it with wood despite the weight, and it will help immensely with heat retention from the solar windows. When we got to the house, we were only there a few minutes before it started to pour rain -

So we headed back home. We did more reading and discussed the house plans and whatnot. I worked some more on my latest project, which is getting our business and house expenditures all set up in Quicken so we can track what we spend and where.


Dinner was garlic shrimp with cilantro and lime juice over rice, and we cooked and ate while listening to a massive thunder and lightening storm. The weather report called for scattered thunder all day - and all day I waited. We love storms - but finally around 5:30 they hit and hit hard.

The plants seem to have survived the wind and rain pretty well, although the chickens always look a little bit mangled after a rain. I think they're too busy taking advantage of all the worms on the surface to worry about getting a little wet.


Our day ended with some research and lengthy discussion about our roof design. For the passive solar, we need an overhang that will shield the sun in the summer, but let the sun in during the winter. Our calculations lead us to believe that 2.5' would be recommended. We're going to go with 2' since we like to be warm and we can do some extra shading with blinds and trees if necessary. One decision closer to finishing the plans.

It's a Boy

May 31, 2008 - First of all, I would just like to say that I totally called this one. But I woke up this morning to the very distinct, absolutely unmistakable sound of a rooster crowing. My first thought was - "who else has chickens?" But as I peered outside the window looking out onto OUR chickens, a strange pride came over me - it was OUR chicken, yes, the white one that actually ACTS like a boy - turns out he IS a boy! How cool! Of course I immediately woke Joe so that he too could appreciate the man that our little baby chicken has become. Except his response was - "oh no." Perhaps it's about time to move these girls and guy over to the new property now? After all, our neighbors may not be like us and appreciate the free alarm clock that is the sound of a rooster at 6:30 in the morning. Or if he becomes really ornery as he matures, we weren't kidding about eating him. We've always said that if we had any nasty roosters, they'd go straight into the oven. Only time will tell his fate...

And all this before 7 am. Should be an interesting day!

Kill the Slugs!

May 29, 2008 - It's been three days since we planted all of our babies into the ground. All was well until this morning when I went outside bright and early to water - this is what I found:

SOMETHING is eating our lettuce before us. And that's just not cool. Now, we had some suspicions that something was up the other day, as some of our beans are doing well, and others are basically dead.

Happy bean plant -

Very sad bean plant -

After a little investigation, Joe decided that it is probably slugs. We also realized that this is happening in one of the only beds that the chickens did not get allowed in for the free buffet before we planted. AND this is one of the only beds that has not been mulched. So we quickly put some pine needles around the plants, hoping that would deter the pests. If there is more damage tomorrow, I'm going to have to take more drastic measures - sand, or eggshells, or beer - there are apparently many ways to deal with slugs.

For a quick tour of the rest of the garden, we'll start with the peas. We still have only a very few peas thanks to our troubles early on. But what we do have are finally taking off. We're using branches as stakes - sort of inline with our whole environmentally friendly goals.

The zucchini is looking a little bit yellow. I mean, for someone whose never grown zucchini, I guess I really wouldn't know if it's supposed to be a yellowish green or not, but I'm guessing not. Hopefully the fertilizer I put on these guys this evening will help them out. The bed their in is probably the least fertile, as we didn't have any compost left and it's never been a garden before. So, we'll see what happens -

Happy beet plant! These are planted in the garden that my dad used to grow veggies in with lots of compost for years. So it's probably pretty good dirt.

Not sure if the cucumbers are happy or unhappy. They probably aren't getting enough sun because they are the closest to the giant pine tree in the backyard, which throws some shade on it the middle of the day. I'm hoping as we get more toward the longest day of the year the sun will hit a touch more and make the difference. May be wishful thinking. But as you can see, we used black plastic for mulch on these, and it seems to be working so far.

The tomatoes seem to be doing quite well - this is one of the brandywines and we need to come up with some sort of trellis system for these guys too. Something clever of course, because we can't do anything the normal way...

And that's the garden tour for today - we get to take it every morning and every morning there's something new to see, whether it's new sprouts, new leaves, or just holes in the lettuce. It's all signs of life, which is all exciting.

Planting Complete! (for now anyway)

May 26, 2008 - It was another beautiful day today and it could not have been more perfect for finishing up our planting. We spent the first few hours of the day watering all our transplants from yesterday and planting the rest of the tomatoes, peppers, and cabbages in whatever spots we could find. This is the largest bed, which we finished yesterday. It's full of tomatoes, peppers, basil, cucumbers, and eggplants. You can't quite see the plants in the picture, but it'll make a great 'before' pic once they've all grown up -

We also noticed last night that the corn has sprouted! It's been so interesting just to watch as everything first comes up and to notice how different all the vegetables look in their first few days.

For lunch, we decided to cook up some greens - these were some radishes that I had left over from my first sowing - for some reason a few of them never really formed the actual radish root, which I don't understand, I will have to look that up. But as I've said before, the greens taste great, so we ate these and some mature arugala leaves.

After lunch, we were out of fencing and not out of plants to put in the ground, so we had to make a quick trip to Williams Lumber. Came home and fenced in our last bed which we planted with zuccini, delicata squash, butternut squash, and cantaloupe. This is going to be one wild bed in a few months!

So at that point, everything we grew from seed was officially in the ground! (Except for a few more basil plants I have that are still too tiny for transplating). It's a huge relief to have it done, but now a new phase of work begins. We'll be out there watering before work every morning, crossing our fingers that nothing dries out while we're gone. Hopefully there won't be too much weeding since we mulched almost everything. Plus, we're really not done planting. We still want to plant some sunflowers, more peas and beans, and I've got a whole section of a tilled bed reserved for some more lettuces. So my digging days this season are far from over!

Satisfied with the garden for the time being, I spent some time talking with Kelly about our house plans. We are currently working out what materials we will use, and ironing out the dimensions of the walls and floors, attic and basement heights, things like that. We still have a bunch of research to do before we make final decisions...

Then it was off to Home Depot for Joe and I. We spent another good long while in the electrical aisle, where Joe continues his education while I stand around (or often dance around), taking random pictures for fun -

Now the lumber aisle is far more exciting for me - look at all that wood! I just learned today that a 2' by 6' doesn't actually measure 2" or 6". How bazaar...

So back home I made some dinner - a spinach and feta cheese frittata - with eggs and fresh herbs from the backyard. Mmmmm, good.

And so ends a beautiful, productive, Memorial Day weekend. We are both exhausted and refreshed, and ummm - dirty. Good thing we like dirt. :)

A Birthday Weekend

May 25, 2008 - My sister-in-law was smart enough to remind me a few weeks ago to try not to go crazy trying to get things done in May - because in my family, there is no May. My grandmother, my sister, my sister-in-law, and I all have our birthdays in May, plus you throw in Memorial Day and there isn't a weekend without a party to attend. Very much the case this weekend.

Saturday was my sister-in-law Elizabeth's birthday. Not to be confused with my sister Elizabeth. Two Elizabeth's. Both birthdays this weekend. But sister-in-law Elizabeth first. This is the wife of my brother Stephen who is currently in Iraq. We miss him very much but he is doing well and is in touch often. And now that we're all caught up, let's move on...

Elizabeth and her daughter Lorelai (my other niece who is almost one year old!) were in Oneonta on Saturday, so my mother, my sister, Natalie, and I went there to her family's house for her birthday. It was a fun road trip for us Kipp girls and we had a really great time with Elizabeth's family. There was fried chicken, birthday cake, card games, plus the two babies got to play which was, as always, too cute.

Here's Elizabeth, clearly thrilled to see us and to make her blog debut:

And Lorelai - so cute. Do you think I could pull off tights like that? I just love the look...

And here's the ladies all out for a walk in the beautiful countryside of upstate NY -

Then, lucky old me came home to some SERIOUS yard progress made by Joe - He made several more beds in the backyard, and fenced in each of them. We were both so happy about it, we went and celebrated with sushi and sake! :) Check it out -

Then Sunday morning was the most perfect day. It was everything that I enjoy about what we are doing. We got up early, it was a warm, sunny morning, and we got to work planting. The sun felt amazing, the dirt was warm and perfect, and the morning was quiet and peaceful.

I planted rows of tomatoes and basil -

Joe planted squash and pumpkins-

And then we enjoyed a breakfast from our backyard - eggs with arugala on homemade bread. Yummmm -

Now if you've been paying attention, you will know that next we had to run over to Rhinebeck for the farmers' market - because it's SUNDAY!

It's the season for radishes and greens -

We have our own radishes, but we picked up some spinach, collard greens, and cilantro, as well as some pasta salad and pickles to bring to my sister's party later in the day. Then a quick coffee stop at Bread Alone -

And here's me, just cuz I'm a poser - but check out our new Farmers' Market bag - hopefully by the end of the season we'll have t-shirts too!

Then it was back to the house for more planting and lots of mulching. Fortunately my mother had to cut back a tree this winter so we have tons of mulch to keep the vegetables moist and weed-free. We were in a bit of a rush and didn't manage to finish planting everything before we had to run over to my sister's house (a bit late) for her birthday bash. It was a good time, with hamburgers, hot dogs, beer, and birthday cake -

Plus free tractor rides

And Joe balanced some rocks at Elizabeth's request -

Friends from out of town were here to visit which was great, and we ended the party with a beautiful bonfire - sorry, the camera was put away at that point. It was wonderful just to relax with good friends and family after a day of hard work.

Long Day

May 23, 2008 - Been a long day and there's not much time or energy for writing, but for a quick run down of today's accomplishments:


Phase one of the electricity project was completed - Joe and I learned that we enjoy mixing concrete together and I learned that my shoveling skills pale in comparison to Joe's. Must find time for some pushups. But this is what we built - a place for the electricity to go during construction -
Joe added yet another feature to the chicken coop - stilts:

Here's the chickens, cozied up at night on their new roost:

I dug several wheelbarrows full of compost into the new bed in preparation for Sundays planting. Chickens kept me company.

Here's a cool pic Joe took during the fun:

The beans are sprouting!!!!

Second trip to Northern Dutchess Botanical Garden completes the herb garden - new additions are cilantro, dill, mint, and rosemary:

And that about covers it for the day. Oh but we also went this morning to meet with a friend who built his own house several years ago and knows a lot about solar and radiant heating, which was very educational. And a milkshake break mid-afternoon kept our spirits up. All in all, the long holiday weekend is off to a good start!

Catch Up

May 20, 2008 - Over a week without Zen Acres updates! How have you all been coping? Ha, just kidding. But today definitely calls for a quick recap on last weeks events.

First of all, Joe and I each had busy weeks at our other jobs - me doing bookkeeping work and Joe on a construction job. So Monday through Thursday nothing really happened - except I did almost finish reading a book called 'Green from the Ground Up' which is giving us lots of ideas on green building materials. So much to think about!

Friday was a rainy day - you know I'm not a real farmer yet because I don't work outside in the rain. Joe was at work so I had a quiet day inside - paperwork, phone calls, visiting with my sister.

Which left Saturday as our only real work day for the week and with so much to do we were kind of all over the place. The most important thing we had to do in the garden was to start preparing a new home for all the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cukes, basil, etc. that are still in pots. So here's Joe tilling up, well, my mother's entire backyard. Yesss, we asked first. :) And as usual, the chickens followed close behind him, eating bugs as they went. Next weekend we have to till in some mulch, make rows, put up fencing, and then transplant. Big project.

Next we ran over to Home Depot and Lowe's - a trip we've been meaning to take for weeks now. We just wanted to take a look at everything available and measure things to get a better sense for a our drawings. We're also still in the process of figuring out what to do with our electricity, which needs to be moved to a temporary pole. So let Joe stand in the electricity aisle for an hour and he is, of course, well on his way to becoming a complete electricity wiz. There is nothing he can't learn - it's amazing. I, on the other hand, get tired feet, a hungry belly, and a bad attitude. Not one of my finer moments.

Then it was back home to work on the floor plans which need to be reworked again to allow for more windows on the south side of the house. The whole point of the passive solar is to have as much sun hitting our concrete floor in the winter as possible, keeping it warm. So we played with more ideas until it was time for bed. Then Sunday was our city day, which ended the week. And now for the pictoral update -

First, the vegetables - we continue to eat greens and radishes from our garden, which is such a pleasure. I sow more seeds every few weeks to make sure we'll have a continual supply through the summer. The first batch of arugala has gone to seed and has gotten quite bitter so we haven't been putting it in salad anymore. But I just read that with the really mature leaves you can cook them and they taste better. Same with radish greens - they are a bit fuzzy and weird to eat raw, but cook them with some butter and they're delicious! Waste not, want not. Here's a head of new lettuce - still too small to eat from, but so pretty.

The broccoli is really starting to get big. I'm thinking that soon it will be big enough that we can take the fencing off without the chickens attacking the plants. It'll be an interesting experiment anyway...

As I said earlier, the tomatoes, peppers, cukes, basil, etc, are still not in the ground. I've read that tomatoes shouldn't stay outside at night until temps are consistently above 50 degrees, which I think will be this coming weekend. So we're still bringing them in and out each day and they are growing REALLY well.

Here's the lastest home for the teenage birds - cool huh? It's like a chicken fort.
Although the chickens do spend more and more of their time these days running around the yard with the laying hens. Some are smarter than others and get out to play even when they're not supposed to. And then our city trip - the point of the trip was to see a play called Spring Awakening, which was really great. I'm a huge broadway fan, been to about 15 shows in NYC and London, but this was Joe's first one, so it was exciting. I think he liked it, although I don't know if he'd tell me if he didn't... but here's me in front of the theater.

Other than that all we did was walk around 3rd St to see my old neighborhood and reminisce a bit (this is where Joe and I spent our first months getting to know each other - hard to imagine now that we're living the country life). And then we just did a whole lot of eating -


First, Ukranian food at a street fair downtown -


Then, Thai food at The Republic in Union Square -



And finally, amazing sushi and seafood at Josie's East on 37th and 3rd Ave.


And we also thoroughly enjoyed the train ride each way - we've always enjoyed train rides together and this one was especially fun, both for the silly company -


and the views -
So that's it, you're all caught up and now I'll try to keep on schedule. Yesterday Joe and I both had to work, and this morning I have Natalie, who's sitting next to me playing with a wooden spoon as I type. But we've got a long list for this afternoon, so hopefully it'll be a good one. Later!