Here’s the minimum list for this upcoming year’s garden:

Plants

Raspberry, Heritage – 5 plants
Blueberry, Pink Lemonade – 2 plants
Blueberry, Bluejay – 2 plants
Raspberry, Caroline – 5 plants
Blueberry, Top Hat – 2 plants

Seeds

Gourmet Organic Arugula
Bean, Trionfo Violetto
Cabbage, Kalibos
Carrot, Touchon
Broccoli Raab
Kale, Lacinato
Kohlrabi, Gigante
Lettuce, ButterCrunch
Lettuce, Winter Marvel
Lettuce, Yugoslavian Red
Lettuce, Red Grenoble
Lettuce, Green Salad Bowl
Lettuce, Red Salad Bowl
Pumpkin, Casper
Golden Giant Amaranth
Dragon Tongue Bush Bean
Saint-Esprit à Oeil Rouge Bush Bean
Ianto’s Fava Bean
Cherokee Trail of Tears Pole Bean
Scarlet Runner Bean
Envy Soya Beans
Chioggia (Bassano) Beet
Romanesco Italia Broccoli
Brunswick Cabbage
Amarillo Carrot
Atomic Red Carrot
Cosmic Purple Carrot
Lunar White Carrot
Purple of Sicily Cauliflower
Tendercrisp Celery
Chinese Yellow Cucumber
Applegreen Eggplant
Astrakom Eggplant
Edirne Purple Striped Eggplant
Japanese White Egg Eggplant
Thai Yellow Egg Eggplant
Di Firenze Fennel
Anaheim Pepper
Black Hungarian Pepper
Cayenne Long Thin Pepper
Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper
Jalapeno- Craig’s Grande
Leutschauer Paprika
Little Gem Lettuce
Bonanza (luffa/sponge)
Kiwano – African Horned Cucumber
Boule d’Or Melon
Ground Cherry
Strawberry Spinach
Wonderberry
Bronze D’ Amposta Onion
Noordhollandse Bloedrode Onion
Stuttgarter Onion
Lincoln Garden Pea
Sugar Snap Pea
Rat’s Tail Radish
Saxa 2 Radish
Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach
Bush Buttercup Squash
Butternut Waltham Squash
Galeux D Eysines Pumpkin
Table Queen Bush Squash
Thai “Kang Kob” Pumpkin
Costata Romanesco Squash
Lemon Squash
White Scallop Squash
Yellow Scallop Squash
Albino Bullnose Pepper
California Wonder Pepper
Golden Cal Wonder Pepper
Quadrato D’asti Rosso Pepper
Tomatillo Verde
Yellow Riesentraube Grape Tomato
Amana Orange Tomato
Brandywine Tomato
Costoluto Genovese Tomato
Amish Paste Tomato
San Marzano Lungo No. 2 Tomato
Fox Cherry Turnip
Boule D’or Turnip
Purple Top White Globe
Ali Baba Watermelon
Marketmore 76 Cucumber
Giant Musselburgh Leek
Hollow Crown Parsnip
Wilhelmsburg Rutabaga

Already Have

Unknown raspberry varieties
Mint
Concord Grapes
Strawberries
Asparagus
Green Purslane
Oregano Vulgare
Lavender
Common THyme
Russian Taragon
Broad Leaf Sage
Summer Savory
Yarrow
Borage
Genovese Basil
Licorice Basil
Lemon Basil
Slo Bolt Cilantro
Cinnamon Basil
Thai Basil
Marsh Mallow
Sunflower
Parisienne Carrot
Hardy Hibiscus
Echinacea Purpurea
Rue
Several perennial flowers unlisted

Need to get/decide on

Potatoes
Garlic
Mushrooms
Pollinator Garden Flowers (many)
Shallots
Rhubarb

About half these are plant varieties that are new to me – it should be an interesting year. The other half I plant nearly every year. Some of these seeds are absolutely doomed to fail. But, I thought I’d try anyway since I might be surprised. Yet, I still have this feeling that I’m going to hit July and realize I completely forgot about something.

Talk to Me

Have you tried any of these seeds/plants? What did you think? What am I missing?Similar Posts:

• First of the Season by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• HELP! Need to plant more! by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Gardening Challenge by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)

I’d hoped that I’d get a lot more posts up this past week and this week, but I have to be realistic. While it is important to me to talk with you all and feel connected, I’ve got to prioritize my family first and this little kid needs me. I hope to write this week about things that are going on, but I make absolutely no promises.

It’s actually been kind of relaxing. Reading books and watching movies together, playing with toys together, and I’ve poured over seed catalogs. It’s time to get my order in. So far, I’ve got 134 varieties selected and I’m only to letter “R”. Does that actually surprise anyone? Any suggestions on how I can winnow down the list?Similar Posts:

• Grand Plans Go Unfinished by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Changes at EmSun by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Where do you get your warmth? by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)

Similar Posts:

• The Lettuce Project – 2 by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
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This book was selected by Charleston Treasures to be included in The Kitchen Reader book club for January 2012.

The Soul of a Chef
Michael Ruhlman
Published by Penguin Group
Released on July 31, 2001
978-0-14-100189-0

The Soul of a Chef is a three-part discussion of Mr. Ruhlman’s attempt to discover what embodies the soul of a chef. He wonders about and wanders throughout the heart and soul of a chef and settles on three qualities: innate talent, personality, and a quest for perfection.

The first part of the book covers what sounds like a very strenuous and near-impossible-to-pass Certified Master Chef (CMC) exam given by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). This ten day grueling exam covers the fundamentals of cooking, but in such a way that even the tiniest mistake can make you fail. Mr. Ruhlman observes seven chefs and the judges as they work together to finish the process.

I found this section to be rather dry and somewhat boring; more like a documentary without a soul than a description of a prestigious – in some circles – test. Mr. Ruhlman launched into in-depth discussions about the menus or cooking methods which did not have a lot of pizzazz. I didn’t even really want to finish reading the section until about page 100 when I was just so frustrated because I just wanted to know who passed the test! We found out on page 115 and I just felt immense relief that the section was over.

The second part of the book covers the (then) rising star of Michael Symon who is now known as Iron Chef Michael Symon. Ruhlman describes Symon at two different stages of his restaurant career – when he was working for someone else and when he opened Lola with his then girlfriend. Escapades abound and Ruhlman writes about a couple of times where Symon had to put on his best for critics and magazines. However, Ruhlman advises us readers that Symon puts out the same quality every night and doesn’t do anything special for those critics and reviewers.

This was a very interesting read. If I could have skipped the entire first section (which really focused on whether or not a chef was innate) and instead read the second section (which focused on how the personality of a chef differs and exuberance is better than militant), I would have. I loved this section for its descriptive language, quick pace, and great story. Instead of a documentary, this was a story.

The third part of the book covers the story of Thomas Keller, owner of French Laundry. Ruhlman discusses how Keller got to the point where he became the owner of the restaurant, which was rather a bumbling tale of not an actual lot of success as one would typically measure it. He pointed out the characteristics Keller displays and how those translate into the restaurant business. He mulls over the philosophy of a good cook – he believes that it is about striving for perfection in all things. Cleanliness, precise, ordered. This section was a bit longer than I would have liked it and rambled. However, there were a lot of good quotable moments and lessons to be learned.

While I can’t say that it was the most entertaining book I’ve read in recent times, it was a good solid read – it is a time-consuming read that requires a thoughtful mind and patience. If you have the time and interest, you may enjoy this book. My recommendation is to skip the first section if you can.

Thank you, Mr. Ruhlman.

I give this book a 4 out of 5.

Disclaimer and Affiliate Links

• [Amazon] The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection
• [IndieBound] The Soul of a Chef

Disclosure of Material Connection: I purchased The Soul of a Chef with my money. The opinions I have expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Similar Posts:

• Review of County Line by Bill Cameron [Tyrus Books] by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Giveaway and Review of Nocturne by Syrie James [Vanguard Press] by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Review: Bone Soup by Cambria Evans by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)

A Facebook remix:

As kids we don’t understand that when we are heartbroken, our parents are twice as heartbroken. I had the chance to experience that this weekend when my son entered into the local pinewood derby. He’d spent hours dreaming and planning and designing – thinking about his ideal car. He and Aaron worked on it, although Aaron mainly let Nate run the show, and Nate was really excited. His face when his car didn’t even make it across the finish line in all four heats?

He sat there like a stone, silently allowing tears to stream down his face. My son is not normally a quiet crier. He will let you know when you’ve done something wrong. He’s sensitive to sounds, textures, and too much visual stimulus. He’s got buttloads of anxiety to the point that after meeting a doctor three minutes earlier, she was already asking if I wanted to medicate him. It was excruciating to sit there and watch as the tears just slid down and he didn’t move and didn’t make a sound.

By the end, we’d convinced him that he had four more shots to make a better car. He has four more pinewood derbys.

This was a very good learning experience for him. He’s not normally able to control emotions or frustration. This was definitely frustrating for him – watching weeks of work culminate in a car that couldn’t even make it to the end. He had been so anxious prior to the event, asking what he was supposed to do if he lost, and saying that he’d better not lose because he would not be happy. That’s code for he would be uncontrollably upset.

He wasn’t. He held in the noise and let out some tears. But he was dejected. He was devastated.

We could have designed the car for him so that it had a better chance at winning, but we let him design it. Learning to handle disappointment is such an important part of childhood…

…But man, it hurts us both. My heart is sad, even as I laugh, knowing that he won’t remember in a few months how devastated he was.

This is on its way.
Similar Posts:

• Story of a Feeder Fish, Part 2 by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Great Migrations by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Shadow Update by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)

Yesterday I talked about what was covered in the class given by Deb Walser on raised bed and square foot gardening. Today I’m going to talk about what I specifically learned and how I’m going to apply that for next year.

You might want to grab a cup of coffee. This is a long one with lots of resources.

First, an introduction to my garden:

My Raised Beds – Cinder Block

One of the very first years that I grew anything in my raised beds. The piping is gone, now, and the compost bin is near that back wall of the garage.

There is now a compost bin where the wheelbarrow is resting and eventually a cold frame will go in where the windows are.

I built my raised beds early in 2008. They are constructed out of cinder block layered two high. My six beds are each about three feet wide by eight feet long on the inside dimensions. They are four feet wide and nine feet four inches long if you include the cinderblocks. I constructed my six beds by laying out hardware cloth onto the ground and then covering it with a double or triple layer of newspaper and cardboard. I dumped in pure compost from a local free source. That’s how I began.

I attempted to layer plastic over thin PVC pipe (see above pictures), but I found that as the sun warmed it up and plants grew up to the pipe, it flexed. That has been removed.

My beds are now a mixture of the original compost, compost that I make in my bin from food and plant material, worm castings, and rabbit manure (composted). I haven’t done anything special with them (such as covering them) in years, but I did fill all the holes left by the cinder block with more of the compost and I use it to companion plant and put herbs. Every year it gets compacted and I just stab the hole vigorously (with PASSION) with my long thin gardening tool and the plant is good to go for the year.

When I selected my beds, I chose the one part in the yard where I could feasibly put them. They are behind the garage and out-of-the-way of the multitudes of playing children. The chain-link fence is on the north-east side: we selected a chain-link instead of solid fence to control shadows. There are shadows from the garage, but if we put the raised beds on the other side of the yard, they would have been incredibly awkward and shadowed by our solid fence, neighbor’s garage, and the hill itself. See here:

Standing at the pergola-topped gate, the garage door to my right, and looking into the yard. The raised beds are hidden behind the garage to the right of the photo.

Despite not having 100% full sun every day, we have had amazing success growing everything we’ve tried – including eggplants, jalapenos, and more. Remember – full sun really just means six or more hours of direct light. It’s very difficult to get full sun in my yard given that my town is full of trees and I live on the north side of a steeply sloping paha.

I left for vacation and my tomatoes went wild. In the foreground are about ten tomato plants. In the background growing on the fence you can see Scarlet Runner beans.

In fact, sometimes I think we have too much success as shown by this photo taken after we’d been gone on vacation for a week and a half. The chain-link also doubles as a place to grow my Scarlet Runner beans (my FAVORITE so far). The beautiful red blossoms and the vigorous plant are amazing as a living way to separate my yard from my neighbors’.

15 Things I’m Doing Different This Gardening Year

Deb brought some ideas that were new to me to this class. I was very excited to ponder how I could apply them to my garden. Other ideas have popped into my head since then as a response to things I’ve seen in gardening magazines or around the blogosphere.

1. I want to paint the cinderblocks.

I’d like for them to match my pots that I use on my vertical garden fence. I know that paint is a silly thing to do, environmentally – and particularly on porous cinderblock, but the grey of the cinderblock does get me down and it isn’t very visually appealing. I also happen to have leftover paint.

Even more than just painting the blocks, I might place bits of tile and mirror on the cinder block. The tile and mirror would also match the project I’m considering on my fountain.

2. Utilize more square foot gardening techniques as per Deb’s lecture.

Here’s a picture from someone who has cinder block beds AND square foot gardening. Those people are obviously pretty awesome. One way in which I’ll incorporate square foot gardening is by purchasing chain-link fence tension bars to lay out into the grid (thanks, Deb!). I can write in permanent marker on them to denote what the crop is in the square and next year I can clean it off and paint over the words in preparation for the next year’s use. I’m also going to try to find some resource books to learn more about the technique. It sounds very promising.

3. Mix in some vermiculite into my compost.

Deb informed us that vermiculite, which is a natural mineral used as a soil conditioner and for soilless mediums, can also be purchased in the installation area of your big box stores for much, cheaper than in the gardening center. While I am a huge believer in shopping locally and supporting our local garden centers, that stuff can be expensive. Especially in the quantities I’d need. I will be adding some vermiculite to my compost mixture to improve aeration and drainage and to help retain some water.

4. Use scissors to thin.

When I direct-sow my seedlings, instead of pulling them out of the raised bed, I am going to cut the weak off at the soil. This way I don’t disturb their roots. I’ve had issues before with trying to pull them out (or volunteers) and accidentally yanking out other tender seedlings. We’ll see how well this method works – weeds will require more intense (imagine me flexing right now) efforts.

5. Interplanting.

While I do some interplanting, I certainly don’t do a lot. I would really like to research this. So far I’ve been more interested in companion planting which seems very similar but yet somewhat different. For companion planting I was referred to Carrots Love Tomatoes.

6. Go even MORE vertical. MOAR VERTICAL!

Right now we have a gorgeous pergola-topped gate that Aaron designed and built. It has a wonderful lattice on both sides of the gate. In addition, we have two pieces of lattice flanking our garage door. More Scarlet Runner will be grown here.

On the left you can see raspberries and blackberries - the blackberries have all been removed. In the center you see a vining flowering plant the hummingbirds love. To the right of that you can see the lattice and pergola-structure.

We also, as mentioned above, use the chain-link fence as a place to grow Scarlet Runner beans. However, I want to add even more vertical gardening space (now I’m chortling like Tim the Toolman Taylor). Deb mentioned using cattle panels as archways – check out Ben’s photo here of his cattle panel vertical gardening. If his gorgeous photo isn’t enough to tempt you, read Mother Earth New’s article about vertical gardening – that’s gardener pornography right there. Yes, I said it.

First we will use three cattle panels to go between the six raised beds on the north-south orientation. Go ahead, scroll up and look. Later, we can add another eight on the east-west orientation (two in each walkway). The cattle panels will butt up against the exterior of the cinder blocks and will also get staked into the ground.

7. Add a mirror.

Sounds simple, right? I was reading a really interesting blog by HolleyGarden at Dreaming of Roses about adding a mirror to the garden. I happen to have an oval-shaped mirror down in the basement. I fully intend to add some water-resistant paint to the wooden supports and set that sucker up in my garden. This really doesn’t impact my raised beds directly, but if I can pretty up that area, I will.

On the note of prettying it up, I would like to dump a load of mulch in between all the beds. They are constructed, by accident, to where our reel motor can get between the beds, but it’s still a hassle I’d rather not have. Maybe some day I could grow a fragrant thyme in between the beds.

8. Make little seedling protection cages.

Every year I lose some of my seedlings to squirrels and birds. It seems inevitable that my cute wobbly little seedlings will become a scrumptious delicacy for the local wildlife. I feel like shooing them away and saying, “Look. I planted those grapes over there and I never harvest them. They’re ALL yours. Go eat those! Leave my sprouts alone!”

They never listen and the grape vine weeps.

This grape vine feels sad that the birds prefer the seedlings to its moist delicacies.

I’m going to make these cages out of hardware cloth. Great suggestion, Deb!

9. Create a cold frame and start my season earlier.

Deb had a slide that showed a piece of rigid plastic lying right on top of her raised bed. It let in the light, warmed up the dirt, and trapped the air. DUH! Why did I never think of this before? In addition, I could use passive solar techniques like black jugs filled with water. The cold frame can also be made of old windows or anything that will block the cold air and let the sun’s warmth and rays through (it does not need to be clear). I’ll be talking more about cold frames when I discuss another class from Not A Lot of Plot.

10. Create row covers and let my season go later.

We will be taking rigid PVC pipe (never let it be said we don’t learn from our mistakes) to construct a pentagon-ish shaped row cover that we will secure hardware cloth to and then layer plastic over and under. We’re hoping to ensure at least two inches of air cushion between the two layers of plastic. It gets really cold in Iowa and I’m hoping to keep the plants inside pretty warm!

One of the nice things about the cinderblock construction is that we can slid the PVC pipe right into a wooden 2″ by 4″ that is resting inside the cinderblock hole. Add in some clamp to keep the PVC from being lifted by the wind and blowing away, and we should be in business.

We’ll see how it works.

11. Succession planting.

I need to pay more attention to succession planting so I can maximize yield out of my beds. This will also, of course, be part of starting my season earlier and running it later. What would be really neat is if I could eventually get good enough that I could grow things – in the freezing cold Iowa weather – year round. Christmas Eve fresh and local spinach salad, anyone?

12. Interplanting edibles and ornamentals.

I know that this isn’t really part of my raised bed, but it sort of is. My raised beds are great and they produce TONS of food. But, I’m greedy. I want even more. This year I am going to make a concerted effort to start enough seedlings to pack my raised beds but ALSO pack my new ornamental bed next to my raised fence.

I made this bed in 2011. It will be a mix of ornamentals and edibles and will eventually wrap the entire yard.

13. Start ALL my own seedlings.

I have been a seed starter for years, but in the past two years I have been so busy with my former full-time job that I only half-heartedly tried. This year with my new indoor plant table/greenhouse, I’m going to be starting hundreds of seeds. I have lights, I have a fan, I have warming pads. Let’s rock this thing!

14. Build my new cold frames-slash-hot beds. Yes, give me your manure.

I’ll discuss this more in a future post.

15. Create a PVC-pipe hydroponic system.

I came across this article about vertical gardening a few days ago and had a brainstorm. The author discussed using PVC pipe to create a vertical hydroponic system by suspending the pipes nearly horizontal on chains. I sent it to my husband with a warning that it was ugly, but we have plans to pretty-it-up. (Thin copper sheeting wrapped around the PVC pipe?) This would be a great place to grow all my lettuces so that I have more room in my raised beds for other crops. It could be taken down, cleaned out, and stored over the winter. The plan is to have it on the south-west side of the garage hanging under the to-be-installed gutters which will feed into another rain barrel. Now I need to learn about how to set up a hydroponic system!

Talk With Me

Have you completed any similar projects? Are you inspired to make some changes in your yard or to put in a raised bed, vertical gardening space, or square foot garden? What do you think will work and what do you think won’t work?

If you’d like to read more about our yard here at EmSun, check out this past summer’s series. You might want to start with Our Plans for 2011.Similar Posts:

• Part I: Raised Bed Gardening/Square Foot Gardening at Not A Lot of Plot by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Busy like a bee. by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Plans. I’ve always got plans. by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)

A woodpecker resting on a tree at Indian Creek Nature Center.

Deb Walser is a pretty well known master gardener in Linn County. While I couldn’t even begin to name all the various things she is involved in, she is probably most well recognized for being on the Expert Hour with 600 WMT with other master gardeners. My favorite? She’s a vermicomposter. You probably saw that coming.

Deb was giving the class on raised bed gardening during the event.

Raised Bed Gardening – The Class

Deb discussed a little about the master gardener program and about the challenges that gardeners face when they are attempting to create a traditional garden – all the plowing, the tools required, the watering needs, and the back aches. I can tell you from my experience, that is very reminiscent of traditional gardening. You start the year by tilling the garden and it never really gets easier.

Square foot gardening and raised bed gardening is nothing like that. Once the beds are in place, you will rarely have to put a full shovel into the dirt! (I amend my beds every year with a little more fresh compost, but I never have to root around). Deb referenced the book by Mel Bartholomew called All New Square Foot Gardening as she discussed the concepts. She discussed the benefits of square foot gardening (such as extending the season, better use of space, easy harvesting) as well as where and how to create your square foot garden and raised bed. Location, location, location! Then she discussed what you put into your raised bed.

Deb shared ideas for extending the season, interplanting to have more crop, and vertical gardening as well. On the topic of interplanting, she referenced the book Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte. Deb went over the water needs in a raised bed and harvesting information. She referenced PM 534 from Iowa State Extension for more information on harvesting in our area.

Learn More

Want to learn more about square foot or raised bed gardening? You can ask questions of me in the comments or you can attend the Winter Gardening Fair being held at Kirkwood. On Saturday, February 18th, the following class will be held:

Raised Bed/Square Foot Gardens—Wil Carew, LCMG
Get off the ground, save your back and start gardening closer to your hands and eyes. Wil leads this class to get you started with the benefits of raised beds, covering the principles, examples of beds, construction techniques, trellis/cloche use, and protecting crops from critters. Square foot gardening in a raised bed will increase your season, decrease weeding, and save time. Benton 322

Wil Carew is another compost-loving master gardener and I bet he’ll do a great job with this class.

Talk To Me

Do you have raised beds or do you use square foot gardening?

Tomorrow I will continue this mini-series with Part II: 15 things I’m Doing Next Year in My Raised BedSimilar Posts:

• Not A Lot of Plot – YEAH! by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Part II: 15 things I’m Doing This Next Season in My Raised Bed by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Garden Plans by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)

I received an e-mail yesterday and it set me to musing.

I firmly believe that humans are social creatures. Simultaneously, I reserve the right to decide that I don’t particularly feel like being social at any given moment.

I receive happiness when I’m helping other people, serving my community, and having a positive impact. It’s not a selfless act; in fact, it is all about self. While I’m nurturing others, I’m being nurtured. It’s symbiotic. It warms my heart and my attitude.

Growing up in Des Moines, I hardly knew my neighbors. I was rather anti-social – my mom had to encourage me to leave the house to visit friends. Part of this was because I had severe anxiety about going into any public situation. I discovered computers in 1995 or 1996 and then I was enveloped by the online world. I can remember celebrating my twelth birthday in a chat room for a group I’d created – A Piers Anthony fan club. It didn’t get any better from there and I continued to live my life mainly through a computer.

We moved to Mount Vernon, but I again hardly ventured outside. I wasn’t a huge fan of talking about myself (which people who know me will laugh, because I never shut up – this is from anxiety). The pinnacle of my depression occurred in late 2009. My husband said a few things to me – in comfort and as a wake up call – that really impacted how I viewed myself and my life. I started to venture forth a little more, putting myself out there.

I’m often surprised by my community and how it nurtures me. It’s a small town, but it’s such a connected one. There are fun festivals, cute and useful shops, great restaurants, a nice grocery store, and a small liberal arts college. Even better, there are kind and nurturing people. It took me awhile to want to poke my head out to find these people, but I have started to get to know them.

Despite knowing that there are great organizations and people all around me, I am still sometimes surprised by all the opportunities to connect and nurture others. I’ve met wonderful people through my work at the Sun, through the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group, Mount Vernon Blue Zones Project, Twin City Bloomers, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, and just through everyday wandering and saying hello.

I’ve received the warmest welcomes – one from a woman whose name I don’t even know up at the Methodist church as I slid into the pew years ago with despair. I never went back, but I won’t forget the way she greeted me and asked me to sit with her with a smile and a warm hug. Another was from a lady sitting next to me at the beauty parlor as she shook my hand and asked about who I was.

I appreciate it all.

Image used with permission from Lori and Mike Cranston.

If you’re local and you do use their facilities and warm up with their cocoa, feel free to stop by my place and say hi. I’d love to meet you and make another social connection. After all, Blue Zones research has shown that one of the six ways to boost your happiness is to have a social life. I’m lucky that there are so many opportunities around me to boost that – and I’m lucky that I’ve finally crawled out of my shell to take part.

* As you can see in the photo above, the actual street gets closed down. There is still some traffic (for some reason, in this photo there is a truck on the street), but it is typically only the people who live there. There are cross-bars every other cross street to prevent through traffic. The kids sled and sled and sled and I get to watch it all from my front porch or from my windows.Similar Posts:

• Progress: New Website & Other Technological Advances by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• About Us by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Grand Plans Go Unfinished by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)

We’ve planned our menus weekly for years and I’ve begun posting them (again). I’m gathering inspiration from I’m an Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday.

Aaron planned our menu this week while I worked on gardening projects for Mount Vernon’s push to be a Blue Zones Community.

Monday

My favorite part of this meal was probably the sauce on the chicken. It was incredibly tasty and the chicken itself was very juicy. Delicious.

Tuesday

Wednesday

This was pretty good, but it was probably my least favorite of all the meals we had this week.

Thursday

You can see that I was busy working (see the hint of “Blue Zones Project” on the notepad?), but I can always take a break for something this delicious. The fish was flaky and moist, the sauce was amazing. Aaron also made some rice with peas and dished up some mandarin oranges. The only way it could have been better is if it was served with a crisp white wine. But, you know, I was working.

Friday

Saturday

When I found this delicious meal (really, it was better than we expected – it was AMAZING), I had hurriedly said, “Aaron, check out this hearty pork recipe!” He looked at me puzzled. A few days later, I figured out the problem when he told the kids what he was making.

“Whatcha cooking?” the toddler boy asked.
“Party pork,” Aaron answered.

Oops.

Sunday

Talk With Me

Is there anything on this menu that you think is delicious? What are you planning on eating this next week? What do you think we should eat next week?Similar Posts:

• Menu Plan Monday | Weekly Menu (January 16 – 22, 2012) by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Menu Plan Monday | Weekly Menu (December 12-18) by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)
• Menu Plan Monday | Weekly Menu (Sep 12 – 18) by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)

Today was a busy day for me. I accomplished quite a few things, but sadly writing something to EmSun was not one of those things. I feel encouraged, enthused, and hopeful about the work our community is doing to increase connections, resiliency, happiness, and health. I’m so proud to belong to this town of such amazing and creative people in such an amazing area. It’s not just Mount Vernon, either. It’s also Lisbon and the surrounding communities.

I met with students at Cornell College who are forging ahead to create a school garden with ties to the community and we talked for an hour and a half about their impact on the community and their goals. I have a feeling they’ll go quite far. I spoke with the president (or co-president, maybe) of our local gardening club about the programming for this year. I took photos of Heritage Hall and their over-a-century-old grafitti. I spoke with the library director there about her other passion – community theater.

Then I was lucky enough to meet up with some of the others who are working on the Blue Zones Project. It was nice, as always, to see how invested the citizens of our community are.

The photo above really has nothing to do with this post – I took it with the others of the bald eagles out by Indian Creek Nature Center. But, every time I look at that photo I feel at peace. And tonight, when I’m heading to bed with Hurt Machine in my hands (nothing like a murder mystery who-done-it to put you into a peaceful sleep), I’m there. Peaceful. Happy. Content. What a day.Similar Posts:

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