Thinnings for breakfast

The spinach has developed secondary leaves!

Can you see them?  They're more roundish than the original sprouts.

Spinach is growing!

The spinach is doing quite well!  During the few late-season snows we've had, I've been putting the lid that came with the tub on, and that seems to have helped the soil stay consistently moist, not too soggy nor too dry, nor too cold.  The short amount of sunlight is, I think, causing the sprouts to grow slower than they might otherwise, but I think they'll make it anyway.  I hope.

Spinach has sprouted!

I woke up this morning, knowing that it might snow tomorrow, and looked out the window to check on the spinach bed.  To my surprise, there were little green things sticking out all over!  I had to go out and get a closer look:

Close-ups taken from my phone almost always look bad.

Green stuff!  Hooray!  Now I just have to keep them alive through the weekend (lows in the low 30's), and we should be good to go!

The Next Morning...

Good news!  Although the temperatures were in the low teens overnight, my tub of dirt and seeds did not freeze all the way through.  There's frost on top, and a layer of frozen soil, but I can stick my finger down into loose, still-moist goodness.  Hooray!

Spring has sprung!

Last weekend was the Spring Equinox.  I had decided to plant spinach on my balcony, as it is both shade- and container-tolerant.  So I went to Home Depot to purchase containers, dirt, seeds, and tools.  I was surprised to find that, at least at my location, they did not stock large bags of potting soil, nor large containers of the type I wanted.  I decided to improvise; I bought a plastic tub of the type that is meant to store out-of-season clothing under the bed, and a set of power tools, including 18V drill/driver, 5.5" circular saw, flashlight, and dustbuster.  I used the drill to make some holes in the bottom of the tub (for drainage), but alas, I still had no dirt.  After a week of asking countrified friends if they had any dirt, the tub was still empty.

Today, after attending a baby shower in Chanhassen, I went to the Eden Prairie location of Menard's.  Their garden section is considerably more useful than HD's; not only did they have many different kinds of soil in large bags, they stocked gravel (to improve drainage), sand, watering cans, and other heavy duty materials and tools.  I have figured it out.  Home Depot is where suburbanites and urbanites go for their DIY needs; Menard's is where ruralites, farmers, and wanna-bes (like me) go.

I wish I could have taken pictures of the process, but my hands were rather dirty.  First, I took three trips to lug the gravel (very heavy) and two 2 cu. ft. bags of potting soil to my apartment.  Then I shoveled/swept the snow and most of the ice off the balcony.  I got the tub positioned and added the gravel, then a layer of soil.  When you use potting soil, you're not supposed to use it dry; you're supposed to get it thoroughly "moist", but not too wet.  I decided to use hot tap water, since it was pretty cold out, figuring that if the water started out hot, it would be less likely to freeze completely overnight.  I ended up doing three layers of soil, watering with hot water and mixing with the hand rake between each layer.  It felt amazing to dig my hands into that warm, moist earth.  My arms were black to the elbow by the time I was done.  Finally, I sprinkled the spinach seeds over the top and covered them with a little more soil.  I wish I had a big piece of Plexiglas to put over the top, to help it stay warm.  I hope they don't freeze.  Updates will be forthcoming!

After all that (plus getting up at 4:30am; long story), I was a little tired.  So I watched a documentary that I just happened to find at the library, The Farmer and the Horse, which Jenna happened to mention recently also.  It made me so excited!  All about farming with draft animals instead of tractors, in NJ, of all places.  Being originally from NJ myself, it was super cool to see the Howell Farm and even a shot of the Hopewell Borough train station and farmer's market.  Wow!  I highly recommend watching this if you can get it.  [Mom: I checked the MCL catalog, but apparently they don't have it.  Since it's about local farming, maybe you could suggest they buy a copy?]

T Week

The letter of the week in preschool is "T", so tomorrow we're having a tea party.  We will:

Taste Tea, Tootsie rolls, Twizzlers, and tentatively, Toast Triangles

clean up with Thomas the Train "Towels" (actually napkins, but who cares?)
Tack the Tail on the Tiger
Tape the Teeth on the Tyrannosaurus Rex
win Toothbrushes as prizes

Any other ideas?

Snowshoeing

Yesterday, rather spontaneously, I drove down to Cannon Falls to go snowshoeing.  A friend from church lives there, and has shoes she said I could borrow.  I happen to love that area, and am starting to get tired of suburbia.  Maybe I'll move there someday.

 

How's library school going?

Lots of people have asked me this recently, and I've been so busy and sick that I haven't been able to give a good answer.  But tonight's class made me realize some really neat things that I wanted to share.

Book Review: Jayber Crow

Jayber Crow: The Life Story of Jayber Crow, Barber, of the Port William Membership, as Written by Himself
by Wendell Berry

This was recommended to me by a good friend, upon hearing that I'd started reading fiction about farming and small-town life.  He cautioned me that it moves very slowly, and not to get impatient with it.

Maybe it's because I've got the flu, but I wasn't impatient with it for a minute.  It certainly does ramble along, not always logically or chronologically, but it keeps moving and is never boring.

It's the story of a man's life, from childhood outside the small town of Port William, orphaned twice, oppressively schooled at an orphanage and later a college, how he started his trade of barbering and was gradually pulled back by the gravity of his hometown.

There is a good portion of philosophy about God, life, and love, but it's never heavy-handed or proselytizing.  (Holy cow, I spelled that right on the first try!)  Mostly, it is conversational, like an old man telling of his life and what he learned.

I loved it.  It fit perfectly the kind of story I wanted to read just now.  Berry (or supposedly Crow) often describes the life of the river near his home, and the story is like that.  Sometimes slow, sometimes reflective, and sometimes flooded or wild.  Just like life, in his view.  Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the minutiae of daily life that I forget the whole, beautiful flow of it.

Spinach, Artichoke, and Roasted Red Pepper Dip

Today is the Superbowl; I have little interest in football, and probably won't watch any of it.  However, something about this time of year makes me crave delicious and unhealthy hot dips.  Today's is my own concoction of spinach, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, and, of course, cheese.

Ingredients:
Frozen spinach
1 can artichoke hearts
1 roasted red pepper
Mayonnaise
Cheese
Worcestershire sauce
Garlic salt

Preheat oven to 350.
Start by thawing the spinach.  I did this in the bowl I would later be mixing in, in the microwave for about two minutes.  Don't cover it, because you want all the water to evaporate off so it doesn't end up swimming in liquid.
While that's going, drain your can of artichokes and chop 'em up.  You can go very small or chunkier, however you like it.  Pull about one pepper out of the jar of roasted red peppers (or I suppose you could roast it yourself) and chop that up too.
Once the spinach is thawed, mix artichokes and red pepper in with it.  You could add some chopped onion or garlic right now too, if you felt like it.  I was tired of chopping, so I didn't.
Next, add as much mayonnaise as you need to get it to a dip-like consistency.  Remember, though, that the cheese (which we're about to add) will melt and get runny too, so don't overdo it on the mayonnaise.  You could also use cream cheese or sour cream here instead of mayo, and adjust your amounts accordingly.
Chop or grate up your cheese.  I used Havarti because it was in my fridge about to go bad, along with a little homemade cheese I had.  Parmesan is a popular choice, as is mozzarella or monterey jack.
Mix in some of the cheese with the mayo mixture-- I didn't measure, just do what feels right, or alternatively, use up all your cheese.  Save a large handful to sprinkle over the top.
Add in a couple shakes of Worcestershire sauce and some garlic salt, or other spices.  You could do cayenne pepper, that'd give it a nice kick.  Mix well, then spread into a baking dish.  Sprinkle leftover cheese on top.

At this point, it looks something like this:

Before baking.

Pop it in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until the cheese on top is fully melted.  Then turn on the broiler for about 5 minutes, watching to make sure it gets brown but not too brown.  Now it looks like this:

After baking.  YUM!

Let it cool (if you're patient; burn your mouth, if you're not), then dig in with tortilla chips, bread/toast slices, or a spoon.