dirt

"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."

   - Margaret Atwood

And, boy, did they ever smell like dirt and get covered in dirt from the very tops of their heads to the tiniest cracks of their toes. But greater fun could not be had by two boys on one simple pile of dirt.

long weekend treat

Long weekends were made for sandwiches like these - sweet and gooey and completely over the top! We went on a wee bit of a long-weekend adventure yesterday - an adventure that took us north of town and right past Pine River Cheese. Of course we couldn't drive by without stopping. That would be just plain silly, if you ask me and my cheese monster Finn. And it didn't take him long  to pick out this unusual treat - chocolate cheese fudge. I have to admit, I wasn't so sure about this selection, but I trusted my young foodie's instincts and went with it. Of course the best thing one could ever do with such a cheese, besides eat it straight up, is to grill it. Oh yes, grilled chocolate cheese fudge sandwiches. There's nothing really left to say except, 'yum'!

this moment

Inspired by soulemama

annual farm visit

We visited Meeting Place Organic Farm this afternoon. It has become an annual Mother's Day weekend event for our family - a chance to tour the farm, expose the kids to farm culture, stock up on honey, maple syrup, apple butter, organic beef, and some new veggie plants for the garden, and enjoy a nice afternoon drive to the country.

early morning surprise

It took a few minutes for my sleepy brain to realize the distant whirring was coming from the kitchen downstairs. My eyes took more than a few moments to focus on the alarm clock that flashed 6:30 a.m. 'What?' I sleepily wondered. 'What is that?' 


"Someone is running the juicer," groaned George out loud, seemingly reading my mind and clearly not ready to be awoken from buzzing kitchen appliances so early in the morning. 


"Who the heck is juicing at this hour?" I grumbled, silently wondering if it was okay that one of our children was running a kitchen appliance without adult supervision. I rolled over and tried to rest my eyes for a few more minutes.


"Mommy! You can come downstairs now!" yelled Finn from the bottom of the stairs. "Really??" I whined a little under my breath, but he was so insistent and seemed pretty excited about something. I couldn't resist. I stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen where the kitchen table was set with a breakfast just for me! A little tear came to my eye when Finn showed me the oatmeal and cinnamon toast and freshly juiced apple and carrot he had so carefully prepared. Oh, and the card shown above that he made the night before sat next to my plate. 


"It's a mom breakfast," he beamed. I was speechless. This was so worth dragging my butt out of bed earlier than normal for. It was worth all the years of sleepless nights and of temper tantrums and teething and diapers and dirt and homework and losing oneself in all the messes of motherhood. This one single moment of love makes all of the day-to-day drudgery suddenly disappear from memory leaving me feeling nothing but the pure joy of being a mom to two incredible boys.


I was a bit too groggy to even think to take a picture of the amazing breakfast, but here is the other side of the card where Finn drew the breakfast he was planning on making.

a teeny tiny harvest

It's teeny tiny and round and red and fresh. It's perfect. It's going to get eaten in one crunchy bite. And it's probably the earliest thing we have ever harvested from our garden. It's April! Things are starting to happen in the garden!

who wants some chips?

"Who wants some chips?" I yelled. The relative quiet of our tiny house turned into a roaring stampede as those growing boys of mine ran from all corners to beat the other to the afternoon snack. They pushed each other out of the way trying to be the first to the kitchen. One of them almost didn't make it. Savage boys. They almost turned on me when they quickly realized I had deceived them into thinking I was serving up greasy, crunchy potato chips. "What???" one cried out as he looked down at a bowlful of dark green, crispy kale chips. I thought the other was going to literally cry. Did I feel guilty for misleading them? Maybe a little. But I knew these chips were so much better for their growing bodies. If I could actually get them into their bodies. My picky eater flat out refused. My more adventurous eater eventually gave in after I went on and on about how good they were. It took some coaxing, but he did it - he dug into the bowl and I soon found myself trying to fight him off before he devoured the entire thing!

Kale chips are super easy to make. Simply cut up a bunch of kale into bite-sized pieces and toss with olive oil. I drizzle a little tamari and sprinkle a few sesame seeds onto the kale and toss until coated. Spread onto baking sheet and bake at about 250F for about 10-15 minutes. Yum!