Lately... a photoless update...

I thought the week we left for California was one of the busiest to date. Boy, was I wrong. I don’t think our feet have touched the ground since we’ve been home. Lots of commitments and joyful busyness. I thought I’d let you in on a few of the things we’ve been up to.

Zestos, Inc.
Zestos, Inc. is a new non-profit organization that seeks to meet the basic needs of people in our community with food, clothing, shelter and prayer. Eric and I have joined with friends to make this organization a reality. Our friends Rod and Jayne, have had the vision of a place like this for years and we all have a big part to play, it seems as if our roles were divinely laid out for us.

We have a prayer meeting tonight (Thursday, July 30th) at 6:30 p.m. at Alton Reformed Church, this will be about 45 minutes. If you have time and are in the area, come pray with us!

I created the blog and a facebook page. If you want more information you can see this article, that was put out by the N’West Iowa REVIEW. If you wnt to ask specific questions post them on our facebook wall or email ZestosInc[at]gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you.

The Garden
So I’d love to say that we’ve been out there more than once in the last three weeks, but that would be fibbing. However, we have lots of produce coming in, onions, potatoes, beans, carrots, dragon carrots, peas. Tomatoes that are just aching to turn ripe. Sunflowers that are taller than the house (ok so not really but they are HUGE!).


Weddings, Weddings.
We flew to one (in CA) and had the most lovely weekend. What sweet friends these two have been!

And we had one this weekend which I shot pictures at the reception, lots of photo editing in my spare time!

Plus... we’re helping out at wedding in August, lots of planning/meetings involved. But it should be fun!

Goats Milk.
I believe that I scalded the milk while making yogurt, and when it was finished, the ‘yogurt’ looked like runny cottage cheese, and no one really ate it. Better luck next week...

Farmer’s Market.
However this has been my best season yet, I will no longer be baking for the Market. It cuts hours out of my already busy life and though it is a hobby and creative outlet for me, I think that it’s more than I can sanely accomplish.

I am going to start to post some of my tried and true Farmer’s Market recipes (some are already posted). So that you can enjoy them on your own!

New Puppy.
Lucy is a sweet girl and she’s been such a wonderful addition to our family. But she is a puppy, lots of training not to bite, pee in the house, jump.... Funny, we’re trying to get Truman to not pee in the toilet, not bite, and not jump on the bed.

Ring Around The Rosie

This weekend we had the lovely opportunity to visit the lakes with lots of lovely little people.

Who swam, danced, sang and swung in a hammock together.



This boy thinks he's so 'coo-wool' in daddy's shades.




And one uber-sweet shot of Ben jumping off the dock.

Raw Milk and Choo-Choo Trains

I am terribly excited today. Not only did I get to hang out with Emily last night: walk, talk, drink tea and youtube ‘depth of field’. I marvel at our same geekiness. It makes me happy! We took a field trip too...

A friend of ours has show goats. They are beautiful, mod-grey colored animals (I contemplated matching their PMS color-- I might still do that). Emily and I were just taken with their beauty. I've never said anything like, "what a beautiful goat you have." Have you??

The goats are incredibly sweet and are well taken care of.

And these goats get milked everyday. And what is done with this raw milk? Fed to the cat, the dog and then the rest goes to water their yard. Seriously. It’s just dumped. Which is fine, because they didn’t have a use for it.

ME? After I gently pasteurize it this evening... I’m going to make it into yogurt, ice cream and with next weeks batch of milk, I’ll make it into farmer cheese. O my. I’m excited. I will report back here with any goat milk related projects or the PMS for their coats color (:

Next milking season, I’m thinking homemade goats milk soap sounds amazing!

And next time I'm out at their farm, I'll try to have the pictures do them justice.
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On a birthday note: Truman is enjoying all of his birthday gifts, including his Elmo shirt which he lives in, I peeled it off of him last night. And his “pee-whoa” case. Wendy scored a sesame street pillow case at the thrift store and now it’s making one boy very happy. She used it as a bag for his birthday gifts. So ingenious!


Grandma P and Grandpa Carlos got Truman a train which came in the mail yesterday. He went to bed only after, Eric promised and crossed his heart that it would still be there in the morning. And this morning, we were almost late to work since we played a little too long with the train in our jammies.

Hope you are all well and have a lovely weekend. Next week I will be back to regular posting.

I am home.

Really, we actually are home. I've been absent from here, because getting back into town at 3 a.m. on Monday morning and getting up for work at 6:30 makes for an interesting week, but I don't have to tell you that. 

This week has had lots of ups and downs but let's focus on the lovely thing of Truman's 2nd Birthday. He's a big boy now, you know....

Grandmommy and Izzo posed for pictures. The kids were in their bathing suits for 90% of their waking hours-- which of course they loved. 

Pricilla (Eric's Mom) got carrot cake and it was so delicious. The big frosting balloons on the cake were devoured with forks by children before the cake was even cut. 

When anyone sings Happy Birthday directly at him he hides his face until it's over. He's a shy guy. Sitting with Auntie Jayme helped, a little.

These are some of my beloveds. Cousins, Sisters and Sister-Friends. Ahhh such a good weekend! 

Crafting with Kids

A post about prayer flags on the crafty crow got me thinking about kids and crafts.

This craft has a real purpose, to put a visual representation of a prayer on a piece of cloth and hang it in the wind, much like a Tibetan prayer flag. A tangible way for kids to experience what prayer is. And this gives a great opportunity to open the conversation or just field questions about prayer.

Family collaborative collage is another great activity, to get dirty laugh together and foster communication too.

Flower printing would be a great way to get your little people thinking about nature, botany, environmental science. You could explain all the parts of a flower. That would be so fun! Or make a flower/leaf identification chart for their room, after nature walks, see what you have in your basket!

The family and I are off for an extremely quick trip to California (28 hours to be exact). Until then, I'd love to hear some crafts that you're working on right now!

From our facebook page here are a few comments people made when asked about their childhood summers:

"1) lemonade stand 2) slip and slide 3) pitching the tent in the back yard and camping out at home or just using it during the day to play in"

"sprinklers/hose in the yard or making Popsicles/ice cubes with treasures in them."

"Making forts in the back yard - they usually involved the sprinkler at some point, bike riding, playing in the sand box, filling the sand box up with water and pretending it was a pool...ooo filling the canoe up with water an pretending it was a pool...We loved to swim...LOL!"

Photo from future craft collective.

Wednesday's Walk: A Joyful Spring Day

I orignally posted this in March of 2008, when Truman was but a babe and he his turning TWO on Saturday. Ah, I don't know how time flies so fast. I want to remember this, it is such a precious memory.

Today was the kind of day that you file into memory. One of those happy days, where the sunshines a midst the melting snow.

We bundle up, pack up and on our way out of the garage. Izzo says "Hello Sun, what a bright sunny day." Now I know that this is partly from a Barney episode... but the sentiment was all too fitting.

We walked down the street to the park with her singing all the way. And waving to every person, dog or tree. Truman was sitting in the front of the stroller cooing and taking the day in.
It was gorgeous.

Truman had his first baby swing experience and loved it!


We pick up "Grandma Bonnie" along the way. She ran around after Izzo while Truman and I lagged behind.



Swinging together!


Isabel was just exstatic that she could be back in the park. On the way home she kept saying, "no mud puddles!"

My Green Space: Blooming Branches

Hello friends, when I met Candi in college, I knew we'd get along.
Our deep love of tea, nature and um... homestar runner.
I asked her to join us here today-- for the first ever, My GreenSpace--
to share a bit about her life journey.
Thank you Candi for stopping by today!

I grew up and have lived in small towns in the Midwest US most of my life. The lives of people in this part of the country are intricately connected to the land. It took moving to the heart of Berlin, Germany, to realize just how connected I am to creation.

I didn't find a park or a mountain, a wide open prairie, or a vast ocean. Instead I noticed a tree in the wee beginning stages of forming buds, and closely observed the transition from barren branches to the unfurling of bright green leaves over the course of three months.

I love the changing of the seasons. The changes take place all around us, more often than not unbeknownst to us. These huge changes happen quite slowly, while our busy lives move so quickly that we do not notice the transitions until we're experiencing the extremes: sub-zero temperatures and snowfall of winter, dead leaves on the ground in autumn, sweltering humidity of summer, and blooming flowers of spring. I enjoyed taking a couple of minutes every few days just to wonder at the creativity of God, how bumps on branches turned into buds, and eventually unfurled as green leaves.

Candifer believes the greatest blessings of life are found in the simple things: the outdoors, a good book, true friends, a giant mug of tea, playing piano, painting, and the laughter of children. You will usually find her with mud between her toes, dirt under her fingernails, and a giant grin on her face. She currently resides in the great state of South Dakota!

Celebrate 200!

Believe it or not friends, today is my 200th post.

In honor of this glorious day, you now have an excuse to make a cake, drink a glass of wine, or whatever fits you fancy. I am going to go get legendary hot dogs and swim in a hotel pool with the kiddos-- ok it's to take Megan back to Omaha, but we can pretend can't we?

What has been your favorite post?

I'll share a list of our favorites tomorrow!

Empanadas and And List of Goodness

It’s been an empanada weekend.

I recounted my grandmother’s recipe for empanada filling to my twin sister yesterday. Swinging back and forth in a Sioux Falls park giving the ackward but delicious ingredients into my cell phone. "Beef, eggs (Do you know how to boil them?), carrots, onions, olives." Asking, “Are you going to use raisins?” She made a smashing batch of savory meat pies, and I had just made two sweet recipes.

Plum Apricot and Strawberry Rhubarb. O my they were good.

Just a basic filling, fruit, a sprinkle of corn starch, cinnamon, sugar. Stirred up. Made the dough from Baked, cut into 4 inch rounds, filled with fruit mixture, brushed with beaten eggs and finished with sugar. I baked them in a 350 oven till golden brown. It was my first attempt at the sweet variety, but I think they turned out very well. Next time I'm going to try a more flaky crust. Any suggestions?

They went really well at the Farmer’s Market (at which I called them turnovers— as to not confuse the locals, and spare me from explanations). I will be making these next week but in a tiny form. Bite sized loveliness.

Other things that were lovely this weekend:

Friday night watching old friends play new songs via live video feed.

A few glasses of wine with Megan.

Picnic of pizza and cheese-its at the park.

Naps in the afternoon.

Late night facials.

Movie watching.

Homemade sangria and fresh zucchini with pasta.

”nuggling” (snuggling) on the couch with Truman.

Riding bikes.

Walking Lucy.

Eric’s famous latte’s and eggs for Sunday morning breakfast.

Playing at the pool.

What is your list of goodness for today?

Standing on Benches

1. bench monday : red white and bike edition, 2. the bench my love built., 3. bench monday, backyard studio, 4. 234; Bench Monday*

I’m officially fascinated by Bench Monday. I think I will join this craze. Will you?

Last's Weeks Adventure... just in time for the weekend.

So, I’m running a tad behind on posting as last weekend’s images are now finally getting posted.

We took a little vacation to Omaha to pick up my sister, and while we were there we went camping, visited the Omaha Farmer’s Market and the Henry Doorly Zoo. All of which were amazing.

If you want to see more (a tad out of order), you can visit my flickr photostream.

But here is just a taste...

The kids down wanting to be down by the water.





What we bought at the Farmer’s Market:

Asparagus-- these stocks graced some Birthday focaccia, Roast Beef and Swiss pannins.


Cauliflower-- Roasted, steamed, fresh and now, some's frozen. It is wonderful!


Pickling Cukes-- Haven't used these yet, I'm a little intimidated.


O the flowers! (Did not buy, but loved none the less!)


Have a wonderful weekend, see you next week!

Becoming Strawberry Farmers?

On Tuesday, we visited Getting’s Garden in Sanborn, IA. It’s a gem in Northwest Iowa. Strawberries and raspberries, not imported from Mexico or trucked from Washington. But grown right here in our own back yard. It makes me happy.


This was our third attempt at visiting and we finally succeeded. The day was warm, and slightly overcast, we hopped on a tractor rigged with seats and a amusment-park-style seat belt bar and rode our way out to the fields to pick fresh strawberries.


Once we filled our basket, with much whining and tiredness (the children) we headed back to the tractor, stopped to snap a few pictures. The kiddos perked up under the shady tree, thank goodness.



My beautiful sister, Megan is here visiting us and we’re absolutely enjoying her. Its been wonderful to work next to her. Whether it’s laundry, dishes, picking strawberries, weeding the garden or walking the dog, it feels wonderful to do life with her.


We live so far away and have been on opposite schedules for years before I moved out— I’m kind of selfish, but I’m glad to have her all to myself (well I do have to share her with the fam) this week.


She’s funny and sweet, playful and serious, and just as excited about the zoo/park/puppy as the kids are. That makes me smile.

And above all love, love, loves us.

And we love, love, love her right back.

Plum and a Party

If you remember from way back, I talked about Booze Cake. It’s a family recipe that my grandma makes and it’s quite lovely. Though the recipe calls for a cake mix. Now I’m not partial to all the chemically goodness that comes in a dough-man-laden-blue-box.

The original recipe calls for cream sherry, but since I had half a bottle of Fuki Plum Wine from dinner the night before, I used it. Equally as delicious. Fuki Plum is a super-sweet, white wine. Totally not what I was expecting when I poured. I thought it’d be well... purple.


And the cake? It turned out moist, and a little crispy crust from the bundt pan, it’s crumbly in a yummy cake sort of way. Yikes I could eat the whole thing myself. But thank goodness it was mostly gobbled up by friends at Eric’s little garden party last night.

Eric's Party was delightful on so many levels. Good food, nice night, wonderful friends, behaving kids... the list goes on. What a happy birthday!

Plum Wine Cake
3 Cups of Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon Baking Soda
1/2 cup Non-Fat powdered milk
1 Package of Vanilla Pudding
3 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/4 Cups Fuki Plum Wine
5 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons shortening

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients together create a well and pour in all wet ingredients, fold in until no minimal lumps. Pour batter in a bundt pan (or two cake pans). Wet a spatula and spread cake batter semi even (it will flatten out on its own, but I like to make it even). Bake for 40-45 minutes (18-25 for 2 cake pans) or until a deep golden brown. It’s gets crusty and delicious.... Springs back when touched and comes out clean on a tooth pick.

For Plum Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Enough Fuki Plum Wine to moisten the sugar and make it all glazey... about a scant tablespoon.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday

P1014782, originally uploaded by TheYellowDoorPaperie.

The love of my life, is another year older today.

What a beautiful man he is and a sweet father.

This picture is from the weekend, which was lovely in so many ways.

Happy Birthday, sweet one.

Summer Music

Inspired by Mama Urchin and a group of ladies that put together a great summer mix, I put most of their suggestions on my play list. (Down at the bottom of the page-- you have to push play). Wonderful stuff ladies!

Ahhh mix tapes, remember those? A group of us growing up spent hours during the summers making elaborate mixtapes. Taping songs off the radio to start at just the right second to transfer over to another tape. To have just the right mix of songs. Lisa Loeb (who we used to follow around LA in high school/college), The Cranberries, Live, Green Day, Nirvana, Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers, Marcy’s playground, K’s Choice... The list just goes on.

So I ask the question, in dire need of some new summer music, who are you listening to?

So far a friend sent over: Tyler Reynolds

Missy (my twin), said Shawn Colvin (Live) album is really good too!

Lots of Little Things...

Good morning, friends.

This is what I would like to be doing all day... following my family to the park and taking pictures of them.

The air this morning is just beautiful. Truman, Lucy and I were up early, playing out in the front yard. They were running about in the grass and hydrangeas which are blooming and so lovely (a photo soon!)!

I’m proud of myself, I got all of my to do list accomplished for home yesterday. It wasn’t that long, but it did get done. Phew. That feels good!

After Truman went down for bed, I out and weed the garden.... and at the end of the night, a shared beer, a conversation that lasted pretty late. So sweet to have beautiful friends.

It was just a really fulfilling day, nothing remarkably special happened, but it was just summery sweet.

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Just a few little links and reviews for you today.

First off, I was invited by Simmer Down (a Food Lover’s Blog) to share my ideas about Hungry Monkey by Matthew Amster-Burton. It was a book club blogging style! If you’ve read the book hop on over and share you’re thoughts too.

Have you seen this? It’s by A Field Journal, how to make tea light vellum lanterns. I need to pick up a bunch of those battery operated tea lights— Can’t you just see these hanging from my apple tree in the summertime... I see a weekend project coming on.

I’ve recently added Reading My Tea Leaves to my reader, I love the photography and the sentiment. Her photos have color, texture, and her morning coffee— this is my kind of girl...