Roasted Beets with Feta

Remember those beets you just read about? Well, I just tried the best beet recipe ever!

I've been making borscht (Easter European beet soup) for a while now, but since we have two rows of beets I figure I need to branch out and find some other ways to make them. Well, here's the next regular in Tim's recipe rotation:

Roasted Beets with Feta from allrecipes.com

I would have taken a picture to show you, but no sooner had I taken the first bite then I gobbled it all down. Even if you don't think you like beets, do yourself a favor and track some down and make this recipe. You will change your mind about beets! And if you already love them, then this will make you drool.

Grace

Many years ago, I brought a kitten home (yes, I did it then too). I was on a retreat (8 or so years ago) and found a kitten who was orphaned. I brought it home and convinced my mom to let us keep it. At some point we had to get rid of her, so my sister/cousin agreed to take her. She has had her ever since but now she is going to college and unable to keep her. We agreed to try and add her to our family. She has been here since last Tuesday and has met everyone for a minute. We have kept her in our room to try and help her and everyone else adjust. She is very sweet and we hope it works out, especially with Agnes, because she like to chase cats. We'll let you know how it goes...

Harvest

I have realized that if someone only read our blog, it would appear that we planted a lot of seeds but haven't gotten any food. It has been really neat to get vegetables from our backyard. Here are some pictures of our harvests so far:

Beets

Cabbage

Carrot - the rest of these are still growing

Collard greens - Tim's favorite garden treat

1 of the 3 strawberries we have grown - my favorite garden treat

Potatoes - most of these are still growing as well

Butterleaf lettuce - we have gotten SO much of this!

A Death in the Zoo

After a long battle with fungus, one of the Guys died this week. We at the Zoo are sad for our own loss, and especially for the other Guy, but in reality he had been suffering from this chronic illness for about a year now, so I believe he is better off now.

We don't know much about his life before joining us at the Zoo, but we believe him to have been around 10 years old! All we know is that many years ago Mark & Ashley, some fellow animal loving friends from Atlanta, saved him and a few other Guys from a neglected pond in their apartment complex. When Mark and Ashley moved from Atlanta to Kansas, they were concerned about the long trip, so they moved the two remaining Guys into our apartment and we have cared for them ever since. After discussing it with the Guys, we all agreed that at such an old age it would be better for them to move to KC with us rather than to start over with another family, so they made the move with us and seemed no worse for the wear. The Guy is survived by his longtime friend and companion, the other Guy.

We have enjoyed many years of entertainment, companionship, and conversation. Guy, you will be missed.

Job possibility

So, you all know that my current job is only a one year thing. I'm thinking of joining Octagon Global Recruiting after this. Looks interesting. I'm waiting to hear from a recruiter now.

Busy, Busy

We have been doing lots of projects around and outside the house lately. I was excited to buy our house and have a yard but it has been so much better than I even imagined. I really enjoy fixing up our yard and our house. We are having a party on Saturday to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary and housewarming. This is the first party we have thrown since we moved and y'all know how we get about parties. We have been working really hard (and having lot of fun) this week to get some projects off our list. Here are some we have been working on:

We built a fire pit in our side yard - now we just need firewood...

This is a farther away picture - we hung a hammock in the trees on the left side of the yard. I will get a better picture of it soon.

Tim got an electric trimmer and has been meticulously trimming the yard ever since - it looks awesome!

Tim also planted some tomato and pepper plants. We still have beans, watermelons, pumpkins, corn and other warm season vegetables to plant.

I hope to post more pictures soon of all of the other projects we have been working on.

Red Potatoes

This is what they looked like when we planted them

One great thing about the cool season vegetables (everything we have planted so far) is that we can plant them once more in the fall. Hopefully we will have potatoes to eat all winter!

They are really pretty plants that will have flowers on them. The potatoes are ready when
all of the green dies. I really want to pull one up now and see what is growing but
I have resisted the urge. If something happens and we don't end up with
potatoes, it's nice to know that we can try again in the fall.

Garden Update

I know it has been a long time since we posted (sorry!) but after you see the pictures below, I think you will see why.

We actually have vegetables growing! Here is the garden as of yesterday. I am going to post more posts with pictures of each vegetable.

We have also been planting some fruit trees and bushes. We have planted 2 apple trees (red and yellow), 6 raspberry plants, and 16 strawberry plants all in the front yard. Here are some pictures of those:

Strawberries in the front of the house


This is what the strawberry plants looked like when we got them


This is what they look like now. They will get flowers on them later but we have to pinch them off so the nutrients go the roots and fruit instead of the flowers. We should get some strawberries this year but it will be much less than next year. I will be pleased with just 1 strawberry - okay maybe 3 so that Tim, Susie and I can get our own.


This one of the apple trees. I should have taken a picture before Tim pruned. It looked much larger the other day. It has to be pruned once each year - looks kinda sad now.


These are the raspberry plants - yum! The tall cane on the left is all that there was when we got them. The green is all new!

Tim used old tires to build our compost pile. To turn the pile, we simply move each layer.

Free Water! Tim also set up a rain barrel to catch the rainwater. Thanks to Cherith Brook for giving us the barrels. Now we just have to wait for it to rain...


This is the last bed that we hand tilled - now we get to pull all of the weeds and roots out of it.

We have lots more beds to till to get the warm season seeds in the ground. We plan to go all the way across the yard with beds. It is hard work but we are REALLY enjoying it!

Another picture of the beds. I'll post pictures of the vegetables soon!

Parker Farms and Free Mulch

Tim, Susan and I went with Stephanie and Madeline to the KC Food Circle's "Local Food Expo" on Saturday. There were lots of CSAs and other local farmers there. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture which generally means that you make a commitment to support a farmer throughout the year or growing season and they in turn give you a share of the harvest. We were part of one in Atlanta last summer and it was a really neat experience. I really enjoyed building a relationship with the people growing our food. It is also enables the farmers to maintain a more steady stream of income. They all work very differently - some you spend time at the farm and some you don't, some do only produce and others do more, some you pay by the week and others you pay all up front, etc, etc - find the one that works for you.

We hope to grow enough this year that we won't need to buy any or very little produce this summer - we'll see. We did however decide to join the CSA at Parker Farms that is solely meat (beef, chicken, lamb, hog and eggs). They are a family in Richmond, Missouri that raises everything organic and free-range themselves. We are splitting a share with Matthew, Stephanie and Madeline which should give us all a healthy amount of meat. I am really looking forward to knowing exactly where my meat came from and getting to go out to the farm a couple of times. We'll let you know how it goes!

While we were there, Tim sat in on a workshop by Food Not Lawns and learned a lot. One of the resources that they informed everyone about was free mulch offered by the city at the leaf and brush drop off site. We had been looking at mulch and weighing the impact that it has on the earth but finally a free, local, completely recycled option! We were still skeptical but sure enough when we showed up, this is what we found:


We put a tarp in the back of our car and loaded it up - we even came back a second time for more. I will post updated pictures of the garden this week.

The Honse Garden

We have been spending lots of time in the garden lately - tilling, raking, weeding, de-rocking and finally planting. We have wanted to grow our own food for many years now and finally get to do it. I am really enjoying working in the dirt and am excited about fresh produce from the backyard. We also hope to can and freeze this summer - we'll let you know how it goes. I promise to post more often about the garden and other things we are up to!

Here is a picture of Tim using the tiller from Cherith Brook:


Here is what it looked like after we tilled it:


Here is what it looked like at the end of today - we have come a long way:


We joined the Kansas City Community Gardens and would recommend getting involved with them (if you live in KC). We also ordered 2 apple trees, strawberry and raspberry plants through them that will come in April.

Crops We Have Planted So Far:
Broccoli (2 kinds)
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Beets
Turnips
Romaine Lettuce
Spinach
Potatoes
Onions
Collard Greens

One of the Seed Potatoes We Planted


Broccoli and Cabbage Plants


Tim's Sister, Susan, (also our new roommate) has been a huge help in the garden


Can you believe those will become carrots!?!


I didn't want y'all to think that I just take pictures and don't do any actual work in the garden