Natural Attachment

May 15, 2010

Spring at Last, Spring at Last

Finally, Spring is in full effect here in the ‘burgh.

We’ll be having Pancakes at Midnight tomorrow night to kind of kick things off, if you will.

I’ve got seedlings who need to get into the ground.

We’re working on getting some poorly placed and unsightly bushes removed to make way for some blueberry bushes and a nice little sitting area, complete with bench.

We are stashing money to attend the Northeast Unschooling Conference. My in-laws might actually be joining us this year — will be great for them.

We’ve completely rearranged the first and basement floors of our house to suit our needs better. The flow of the house is SO much better now. The second floor is going to have its time at well, but not quite yet.

I’ve been contemplating what needs to be done out in our backyard to start to set up a permaculture garden and forest (to incorporate the small white pine forest that we already have).

I am becoming more and more in love with the concept of yardsharing. I have some lovely friends who might be game for sharing yard space and or having produce swaps.

We signed up for a different CSA this year. Instead of going through Kretschmann’s Farm, we’ll be going through Penn’s Corner Farm Alliance. We just wanted to try something different this year and save a little money in the process. I’m sure I’ll be doing my best to take and post pictures of our weekly shares.

I am going to try to start having unschooling park dates again, but over at Brighton Heights Park and not up in Sewickley. This park is just up the hill on Benton Avenue from our house on Parviss Street. It just got too difficult to organize transportation to make it to Sewickley once a week, among other reasons for me stopping the meet-ups last year.

Elijah has been using WarioWare D.I.Y. to make a bunch of microgames. He’s becoming quite the game designer between D.I.Y. on his DS and Little Big Planet level editor for PSP.

Elijah has also found a love for the periodic table of elements…I hung one up and he’s been looking at and studying it ever since!

I’ll be selling some of my handmade goodies and clothing at a neighbourhood flea market on Saturday, June 5th.

Our street (3800 block of Parviss Street, 15212) will be having it’s street-wide yard sale on Saturday, June 26th.

We’ll be hosting the 2nd Annual Ice Cream Social Warfare at our home again this Summer on Sunday, June 27th and we hope to see you there!

Back in April, we went to Oklahoma City, OK to visit friends and family that we haven’t seen in almost 5 years. It was nice to see people, but I don’t miss the place at all…I’m quite at home here in the ‘burgh.

There’s more. There’s always more :-)

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September 24, 2009

Catching Up: CSA

Filed under: Grub,Photographs,Pittsburghian — Tags: , , , , , , , — michele james-parham @ 8:01 pm

I apologize for being seriously behind with posting about our CSA, but life happens, right. Due to lack of motivation, you won’t be getting a list of crate contents like you usually do…just enjoy looking at yummy veggies.

13th CSA: we didn’t get a 13th, because we were out of town and as a result, you get no picture!

14th CSA:

bounty

bounty

salsa!

salsa!

15th CSA:

yum-o

yum-o

beautiful green zebras

beautiful green zebras

16th CSA:  This was a hectic week and I went grocery shopping on the same day…there just wasn’t time (nor did I have the energy) to unpack it all out on the table for pictures. Sorry.

17th CSA:

Ive been needing some extra greens

I've been needing some extra greens

Twins, I say! Twins!

Twins, I say! Twins!

mellow yellow

mellow yellow

And there you have it folks. You are visually caught up with what we’ve been eating from the farm. Yay!

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August 24, 2009

12th CSA of 2009

Filed under: Grub,Photographs,Pittsburghian — Tags: , , , , , , , — michele james-parham @ 4:02 pm
Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Apples

Apples

You should of seen the salsa we made!

You should of seen the salsa we made!

What is all that:

12 Various Tomatoes
1 Green Bell Pepper
2 Heads Garlic
Sm. bunch Green Onions
5 Apples
Med. bunch Basil
Lg. head Red Leaf Lettuce
Lg. head Arrowhead Cabbage
.5 lb Carrots
(not pictured, but donated) 8 ears Corn
(not pictured, but donated) Med. bunch of Rainbow Chard

There will not be a 13th CSA, because we will be out of town in Massachusettes for the Northeast Unschooling Conference. When we get back, we’ll be picking up the 14th CSA…just a note, so that you all don’t think I forgot how to count! Oh, and in case you wonder what will happen to our crate of goodness while we are gone…this time, Hoi Polloi will pick it up and use it to make nummy food for you — go eat it or at least have a cup of coffee!

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August 14, 2009

Backyard Gardening

Filed under: Grub,Life,Photographs,Pittsburghian — Tags: , , , , , , — michele james-parham @ 2:04 pm

Well, it’s been not quite a month since the last update on my little fledgling of a garden. Where I once had tomato plants, I now have tomato trees!

yay, were huge, but we dont have any tomatoes...

yay, we're huge, but we don't have any tomatoes...

Im getting big and I might just make a zucchini after all

I'm getting big and I might just make a zucchini after all

the slugs have eaten almost all my leaves, but I have this one lone pepper for you, but you might need to pick it soon, because it threatens to topple me over

the slugs have eaten almost all my leaves, but I have this one lone pepper for you, but you might need to pick it soon, because it threatens to topple me over

sorry Im so small, but tomorrow youll see both my flowers open and a bee flitting about both of them -- I promise to make you a baby acorn squash

sorry I'm so small, but tomorrow you'll see both my flowers open and a bee flitting about both of them -- I promise to make you a baby acorn squash

Sorry, about the quality of these pictures, but it was raining & I was shaking. The guys who were not pictured are still there, except for the Lime Basil, which was used for some pesto. The slugs have decimated my pepper plants. In fact, I picked about half a dozen off in order to not get them in the photographs!

This year I have two things working against me with the garden (besides the slugs)…I didn’t get seedlings into the ground until about one month AFTER I should have, but I didn’t want to worry about things being trampled when we had our huge ice cream, jazz, waterballoon & champagen party. The second thing is that I haven’t seen that many bees. This is mainly due to the fact that I don’t have a lot growing this year in the garden or the yard. But, with a little luck, when we get back from the Northeast Unschooling Conference, we’ll have some baby tomatoes & maybe a zucchini or two.

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11th CSA of 2009

Filed under: Grub,Photographs,Pittsburghian — Tags: , , , , , , , , — michele james-parham @ 1:20 pm
Green Beans

Green Beans

Romaine, Parsley, Chard, Oh My!

Romaine, Parsley, Chard, Oh My!

Look at the Baby Watermelon!

Look at the Baby Watermelon!

What we got here:

Lg. head Romaine Lettuce
Med. bunch Rainbow Chard
Sm. bunch Parsley
4 Tomatoes
1 Yellow Onion
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Sm. Watermelon
2 Cucumbers
.5lbs Carrots
1lb Green Beans
3 Beets w/ Greens

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August 10, 2009

10th CSA of 2009

Filed under: Grub,Photographs,Pittsburghian — Tags: , , , , , , , — michele james-parham @ 1:03 pm
BLUEBERRIES!!!!!!

BLUEBERRIES!!!!!!

yellow wax or banana pepper

yellow wax or banana pepper

more fennel, really?

more fennel, really?

what we got this past Thursday:

1 giant Fennel Bulb
1head Red Leaf Lettuce
Sm. bunch Basil
8 ears Corn
Pint Blueberries (we LOVE berries around here, so berries are always celebrated)
1 Green Bell Pepper & 1 Yellow Wax (or maybe Banana) Pepper
3 Zucchini & 1 Yellow Squash
2 Cucumbers
Carrots
4 of the first Tomatoes of the season

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