Celery Salad

so, what to do with 12 lbs of rescued celery? Well of course you could make stock and soup, but why not make this amazing marinate celery salad? I got this recipe from my favorite cook book, "How To Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bitman. This book is packed with awesome recipes that any regular cook can execute. so yummy!

Chinese Marinated Celery
1 pound celery stalks
1 tsp salt
4 tsp sugar
3 tbsp dark sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice or cider vinegar
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp chili oil ( optional)

1. cut celery into 2 inch lengths. mix with the salt and 1 tsp of the sugar and set aside for 10 minutes while you whisk together the remaining ingredients.

2. Rinse, drain, and pat the celery dry, then toss with the dressing. Let stand in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to a day. Serve chilled!

Your Trash - My Treasure

so if you read my husband's blog, this is old news and he writes better than I. If you haven't here's the deal. Tried to swing by the farmer's market on my home yesterday only to find all the vendors packing up. I hate it when that happens! SO I stayed to chat with a few friends when I here my name from across the lot. I wandered over to find that one of the farmers had tossed a GIGANTIC bag of produce in the dumpster. Now normally i am not a dumpster diver however, I have a lot of animals to feed here on the farm! SO I dragged it all home with the help of my wagon and the 11 yr old and started to process it all.


It soon turned into a very pleasant family affair. Sorting through 40lbs of strawberries and getting them ready for processing. So far we have made some excellent strawberry popsicles, breakfast smoothies and a lovely strawberry coulis over ginger ice cream. Quite tasty!

We also managed to score about 12lbs of celery, 20 lbs of kale and some random red cabbage and zucchini. So far I made tortilla soup with the rest of the veg and my favorite Chinese style marinated celery salad. I will post the salad recipe tomorrow.

what is black & fluffy

and oh so cute?????

well, bunnies of course.......

but baby rabbits take it a step further don't they?

they are getting so big now. Eyes are all open and they are hopping about.
No names yet as every single one is jet black!

bite size bunnies

so as you can tell we are pretty rabbit focused around here right now.

Here is the reason why.
That black lumpy pile is composed of four ever so soft and furry baby rabbits.
They are just over a week old now, so we feel a little more confident that they will survive

for this little guy it was not a sure thing. I found him pushed out of his nest the morning after he had been born. It had been raining all night and he was completely chilled and soaked. He was still moving though, so I snatched him up and put him in my shirt. It took about 2 hours but next to my skin he was able to warm up again. I was worried that mama rabbit might not let him back into the nest or nurse him. Never fear he was welcomed back into that warm little pile and is thriving!

rabbits, rabbits everywhere

baby cocoa bunny set

and not a bite to eat. That is because this delightful little lot is crafted in soap not chocolate. They are a bit shy and very quiet. They eat nothing and clean up messes rather than make them. What more could you ask for right? They will be a lovely addition to those Easter baskets.

mama cocoa soap bunny

Wild in the city

One of the challenges of raising children in the city, is how to give them a connection to nature.

A place to run about and squeal with delight at an unusual mushroom discovery,

or a meadow filled with scurrying ground squirrels bounding away into the brush.

To revel under the canopy of the great old oak tree, it's long arms stretching down to the ground.

the chance to follow a magical path where ever it might lead.

This week it led us to Caspers Wilderness Park . The Children learned which plants they might harvest for a lovely green herb tea and how to eat red ants. I have to tell you red ants have an incredible crunch with with a very sweet finish!

My family has been blessed with a unique opportunity, the Earthroots Field School.
Every week we meet in a new location out in the "wild". Who knew that all of these places were so close to home. So many opportunities to explore. So I thought that I would share them with you every friday. Each week I will post photos and the location from that weeks adventure. If you live in Southern California, this is an invaluable resource!

Orcas should be free

I can't take credit for this article. It was written by two young homeschooled children who did their homework. I think it says it all.

Why you shouldn’t go to Sea World.

• In all of recorded history, no Orca has ever attacked a human in the
wild
• There are currently 42 orcas known being held captive worldwide; Sea
World (USA) holds 21 orcas, 50% of the world captive total.
• At least 136 orcas have been taken into captivity from the wild since
1961. Of these, over 90% are now dead.
• In the wild, male orcas’ normal lifespan is 35 – 60 years.
• The median survival time for the 40 orcas born in captivity to have
survived over 12 months (both dead and currently alive) is 8 years.
• 152 orcas have died in captivity (captive and wild born)
• Shamu Stadium, one of the biggest, is only 10.7 meters deep; Orcas
are used to diving 60 meters in the wild.
• Orcas home ranges can be from 500 to 900 miles long
• Orcas often range up to 100 miles a day, and thousands of miles a year
• Captive Orcas are separated from their family members and mothers are
taken away from babies
• In the wild, orcas live in closely bonded groups, often spanning 4
generations
• Orcas have highly developed brains; captive Orcas are forced to
perform demeaning tricks for human entertainment
• Orcas’ use of dialects and the passing of other learned behaviors
across generations has been described as a form of culture
• 60% to 90% Orcas in captivity develop dorsal fin collapse
• Orcas have possibly the most sophisticated sound receptors in the
natural world, but are forced to perform among screaming crowds and
fireworks
• Orcas can communicate with pods hundreds of miles away. Their calls
just bounce back to them off the concrete walls of their enclosures.
• Each time you go to Sea World, you’re supporting the imprisonment of
magnificent, intelligent, wild creatures.

PLEASE DON’T GO TO SEA WORLD

Still Life at 3

my 3 yr old, well really almost four now, loves to play with our camera. He is very careful with it and it is always fun to see what catches his eye. Periodically he takes the most beautiful pictures. I think this shot of our kitchen is one of those. The early morning light makes it all look so nice.

I like to see his view of the world.

RAIN, Rain, rain

fava bean flowers smell so sweet

Chard and Kale

Lettuce!

so happy you are here! just a few quick shots of the winter/spring garden before the rain caught up with me. The greens are so happy with all this nice cool, wet weather and so am I. Even the sun shiny days have been cool and full of a fresh breeze. So Lovely!

Recent Aqusition

don't you just love this Hoodie! My family is really drawn to trees. I recently aquired this beautiful piece from my etsy neighbor, Contre Le Jour in a trade. Thank you so much. This hoodie is going to be worn to pieces. Please go and check out the rest of her shop.
Give her a heart, show some love!

I love a hand made, barter filled world!

KNIT

It isn't everyday that you get to answer the age old question of " So, what did you do this weekend?" with, "well, I spent my day knitting in a gallery with eight foot knitting needles!" . I can't begin to tell you how fun this was. Not only are the needles that huge, they have a duck call inside of them. As you move them around the duck call is triggered. The sound is like one of those mow cow toys that you flip over to hear the sound.

In addition to having fun with giant sticks, I have the great pleasure of teaching the young and old how to finger knit! Now that was a cool weekend!