New Plans

So, by the magic of craigslist, we have found what will hopefully be our new home. Nothing is set in stone yet, as it's for sale by owner, and we have a house to sell (quickly!), but we plan to sign a contract tomorrow night that would give us right of first refusal.
I'll post more details later when things have progressed more, but for now, keep your fingers crossed that all goes well, and that someone wants to come and love our current house as much as we have (it's a great home, we just need the country--for the goats, you know).



If you're wondering about the old stone house... of course, it's still there. It's beautiful. We just couldn't figure out how to ever swing the price tag, so I casually kept looking--still thinking, "Oh, we'll move in a year or so," and this gem popped up.

When one rehab-ready door closes...

Garden

I'm teaching a full load this summer, and last week I was directing/counseling a leadership camp at Mo-Val, so I've neglected this blog AND my garden. It's been so terribly hot and humid, I would just look out my window at the overgrown lettuce and think, "No. Not today."
I had today off, so I tackled the beast. I'm battling squash beetles on my zucchini/squash (they're not too invasive yet, but the base of one zucchini plant is looking gnarly). I just used Safe-brand insect killer (sulphur and soap organic combination). My tomatoes are insane--last year, they flopped, so I think I crowded them this year, not thinking they would go anywhere. Wrong. And when I thinned my okra seedlings, the strongest ones just happened to be thisclose to the tomato plants. They're co-mingling fine for now, but my gosh they're close. Things like that offend my obsessive-compulsive sensibilities.

Photo time. First up are photos of our compost pile (exciting!). It's turned into quite a jungle back there, which is kind of fun to watch. Aside from the weeds, though, there is a huge patch of volunteer tomatoes (the entirety of the front of the picture).

Now to the garden proper--lots of green baby veggies popping out, and herbs are overflowing.


Excellent reads of the summer:
Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson
Birds of America, by Lorrie Moore
"Interpreter of Maladies," by Jhumpa Lahiri
"Goosberries," by Anton Chekhov
and I'm about to start Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi

The House

So we went to see the inside of The House with our realtor last Friday. I'll refrain from posting pictures--that feels like it might jinx the situation--but trust me when I say that every square inch of the place is covered in wood paneling and/or shag carpeting. Otherwise, I was really surprised at the condition of the inside--it seems very livable, and although there's no A/C, the limestone keeps it cool inside. (I lived the first half of my life without air conditioning, I think we could survive this.) The cellar is in good shape, the attic could be re-done for more living space, the plumbing looks up-to-date, there's a cool old stove in the kitchen, and there are two fireplaces.

Finding The One in real estate is not unlike finding The One, romantically speaking. You can feel as passionately about your love as you want, but unless he or she loves you back, it's not going to work. So here we are. Basically, if the seller (remember, this place has been on the market for five years) will only accept a traditional payment-in-full from a bank, it's not going to happen. Period. However, if he's tired of holding on to it, or can be seduced by this nice young couple that wants so badly to refurbish his family homestead, and will split acreage and consider creative financing--well, it can't hurt to dream, right? We'll see.

In other news, my hydrangea is blooming!

Cheap Fun

This summer is going to be all about pinching pennies around here. Last Saturday, Chris and Danielle came over to share in some cheap entertainment--board games and dinner that consisted only of things we grew/made/already had on-hand.

First, the board games. We cracked open a new one--Puerto Rico. It took about an hour and a half to read the directions (including a few stern "Leigh"s from Chris because my mind easily wanders) and it sounded ridiculously complicated. However, once we got the hang of things, it's an awesome game. Others to check out include Carcassonne (I love this one), Ticket to Ride, and Settlers of Catan.

For dinner, we did a small salad bar.

I have tons of lettuce and radishes in the garden...














Danielle made homemade salad dressings...
(creamy Italian, poppyseed, and Greek)














(eggs from farmers market, bacon from the Kellmann--my parents'--farm)




Nom nom nom. I also made some biscuits from some TJ's baking mix, Herbs de Provence, and shredded cheese. Easy, delicious, and cost no extra money.

Garden!

I got plenty of disapproving looks when I announced I was going to build something out of cinder blocks, and people (namely Andy and my parents) were surprised at how well it turned out. See? I always know exactly what I'm doing. (OK, I was surprised, too.)

The straw-mulched areas are squash and pickling cucumbers (left) and zucchini and slicing cucumbers (right). These guys need room.










Tomatoes! Last year's tomato crop was pitiful, so here's hoping this goes well. A friend started some great-looking plants--I have Mortgage Lifter and Brandywine--in his basement, and shared four with me (I exchanged some of my pickles for the goods). The little guys in the front are Romas.







Radishes are so quick and easy.
The French eat their radishes right--on a slice of crusy white bread spread with good butter, sprinkled with salt.
well.









There is a great deal of salad in our future.

















I love the way beans sprout--it's incredible, visually, to see the plant breaking free from the seed that was planted just a week ago.

Food, Glorious Food

A couple of good spicy recipes... (I will share most recipes in the same manner that I cook them--no solid measures. This might or might not annoy you.)

Brazilian Shrimp Stew
I found this recipe in Bust magazine a couple of years ago, and it's since been one of the very few recipes that I repeat on a semi-regular basis (I tend to get bored, and prefer to try new things when I cook).

Saute one chopped onion and one diced bell pepper (I leave this out sometimes) in olive oil. Add a can of diced tomatoes (with juice) and simmer. Add some cayenne, fresh cilantro (bonus points if you grew it), salt and pepper. Add a can of coconut milk. Stir and simmer for a while, and then add a heap of minced garlic and shrimp (I use about a pound or two of frozen peeled shrimp). Simmer on the stove until the shrimp are fully cooked and the stew is a bit thick.
Serve over rice, if you want, and garnish with peanuts or coconut.


Chorizo Chili
This is in the Crock-Pot right now. I loosely based it on a recipe I found online. I plan to serve it over tortilla chips with some Mexican-blend cheese. Sunday nights normally call for comfort food, right? Tomorrow night I'll whip up something delightful from the veggies I got at the farmers market. But for tonight--comfort.

Brown a package of chorizo, and then set aside and drain (chorizo is the greasiest stuff ever). In the same pan, saute a chopped white onion, some diced jalapenos/green chilis, and chopped garlic. Then add a can of drained kidney beans, and mush them a bit. Then add a can of diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste. Add the chorizo back to the mix, and stir in some chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, and anything else spicy you have on hand. Stir thoroughly, and then put in Crock-Pot for a couple of hours.

The House

Four and a half years ago, I found this house online. I gasped, I loved it, I fantasized about it (but instead bought something at least a little bit in my price range). About a week ago, I accidentally found it again--it's still on the market. Granted, it's still on the market for a reason, but still. I smell destiny.

Within 24 hours of that chance mouse click, I'd spoken with our realtor, and she assured me it would be on the market for a while. Then, my mom ran into an old friend and while catching up randomly found out that dream house is her brother's property (it used to be their father's land/home). The smell of destiny, it's getting stronger.

Andy and I drove out to see it last Friday evening. The road to get there is unmarked, and as we drove back into the wild, a pair of turkeys trotted ahead of us, as if to say, "Come, we will take you to your homestead."

Anyway, we love it. Andy's much more practical than I am, but I think my unwavering "Anything is possible! Anything!" attitude might be rubbing off. If the acreage can be split, if the seller will let us rent-to-buy (as we fix it up) for a while or do seller-financing, if we strike it rich in the next year--there are many "ifs" on the table. Many. But at the end of the day, if we didn't have these dreams where would we be? Without what were, at the time, lofty and ridiculous goals/dreams, I know I wouldn't be married to my favorite person in the world, I wouldn't have the amazing job I do, we wouldn't have our current house, the list goes on.

Everything good has come from a dream and a risk.

Almost Finals Week...

I cannot believe the spring semester is almost over.

This week, I've conferenced papers with roughly 100 students (most in the last two days). I love this time of the semester, because for the most part students are caught up and I can see the strides they've made--I'm really excited about the quality of essays I've seen in first draft form. It's been an incredible first year of full-time teaching, and I can't wait to do it all again next year.

~L

Summer 2009 Garden

It's garden time. Last summer, I embarked upon a raised bed (still floating on the experience of being an organic farm-hand/supervisor the summer before). The garden went well, overall, and my cucumbers were prolific (I also learned how to can last summer).
I've branched out more this summer, and here's what's in the ground now:

Raised herb garden:
lemon balm
basil
cilantro
thyme
dill
mint
parsley
rosemary
lavender
oregano
sage

Garden:
slicing and pickling cucumbers
yellow squash
zucchini
bush beans
beets
jalapenos
green peppers
spinach
arugula/various lettuces
eggplant
okra
tomatoes: Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, and Roma


I grow organically, and anything I start from seed (most of the garden) is organic from start to finish. Hopefully this summer will be even better than last summer, and we'll enjoy many a delicious veggie-packed feast this summer. Photos to come...

Our Babies

A few years ago, Andy and I toyed around with the idea of getting a puppy--you know, that next logical step after marriage.
I was a newspaper editor at the time, and would sometimes get calls from the vet's office so I could take pictures of homeless animals up for adoption. I did just that one day, and 48 hours later we had Avy, an energetic, overly emotional yellow lab/Corgi mix.
About six months later, I was surfing on petfinder (always a dangerous activity), and found a black lab/Corgi mix who was at a pound in southern Missouri, and was about to be put to sleep. He'd never had a home, and had lived the year of his life under some person's porch. Thanks to the generosity of a rescue partner, we make the trek down there and adopted Rio--our aloof, skittish, contemplative little man.
We were a complete little family.
Or so we thought.
Roughly eight months after Rio's arrival, a strange little dog-like thing wandered into our yard behind the postman. The dog-like thing was creepy, half-shaven, and pranced his way around our backyard as I got him food and water for the day and called the police/vets to report a found dog. No owner came forward, and by the end of the day he'd escaped our yard. Three days later, he was back, covered in mud and drenched from the rain. We took him in, bathed him, made all of the phone calls, and nothing. And then, slowly, we fell in love. Zippo's hair grew in, and he gained weight, and quickly morphed into a beautiful little Sheltie. If one would cross a woodland fairy and a fox, Zippo would be the result--he's a dainty little furball.
We couldn't have asked for a better little canine menagerie.

So Here We Are

Andy and I have this wild notion that we are going to buy property with an old stone house on it. This place in the woods exists, yes, but it costs more than we ever could rationally afford. Right now we're in intense "how to make this happen" mode, which we are sure will lead to crazy ideas, excitement, success, or heartbreak.
We're on a mission to get out of town in about two years. So, here we are, chronicling our current homestead, and hopefully the move to a permanent homestead that doesn't involve being on a paved road.
We'll talk about our dogs, gardening, canning, cooking, our work, our friends, our writing, and ideas and hopes for the future.

Join us, as we take this journey down the road--a dirt road--of our life.