The Bean Pickers

They do need the occasional reminder to be gentle with the plants, but otherwise I have found picking beans with the kids to be a very relaxing and almost meditative activity.

Planting Beans

Jude has grown into an incredible garden helper. 

Applesauce

Today $20.00 in seconds became four gallons of applesauce. What's even cooler is that Jude and I got to spend some time together in the kitchen. His knife skills (for a kid who doesn't turn three for another month) are impressive.

Making bread and a brief word about simple food

We have some special guests coming for dinner tomorrow. They know more about food than I could ever hope to learn myself. It can be intimidating to cook for intelligent pallets; however it is also quite exciting. I love to cook, but my dishes are very simply. I grew up with over seasoned food. Now, when I look at Van Gogh's The Potato Eaters my stomach begins to rumble and mouth begins to water. It's all about the (good) ingredients.

On the menu tomorrow we will be having a simple beef stew and brown yeast bread. Jude likes to help in the kitchen, so we have to account for that when timing the meal. Rather than complicate things tomorrow, we decided to bake the bread today. I'm amazed at how good he is in the kitchen and he's not quite three.

The Potato Harvest

Since we've been together, Meg and I have had only one good potato harvest. The rest have all been crap.

However,

this year was not too bad. I give credit for our success to Jude. This was the first season that he has been old/able enough to help from beginning to end. He took part in the planting, hilling, and harvesting.

Our literary influence this year was Two Old Potatoes and Me.

Little Chores

Jude is over 19 months old and his curiosities in the garden are becoming less destructive. Earlier in the season he could dig and fling dirt and that was about it. Now his fine motor skills are becoming more complex, which is allowing him to help with things like cleaning garlic. The 15-20 minutes we spent on this chore was an absolute joy. Granted, his attention span didn't allow for the full hour we needed to complete the job, but that only meant we had something to do together the next morning, and the next.

The Blueberry Blues

 Jude (aka Blueberry) just figured out the harmonica. He now plays for not only us, but also out the office window for all our neighbors to enjoy.

Out and about

Blog? What blog?

Hot. Busy. Baby. Etc.

Blueberry

On Tuesday Meg gave birth to our son, Jude (aka Blueberry). He was born at home and everything went  well. For anyone out there thinking about home birth, or knows someone who is, we strongly recommend it. But this post isn't about home births, it's about Meg and...

Jude.

When I find the words to truly express how cool this is—that is words other than love, love, love, love, love—I'll be sure to share.

In the meantime, stay warm, and have a fantastic holiday season.