Last summer I spend a few days at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky for my (now) brother-in-law's bachelor "party." While I was there I gathered some pods from a large Kentucky coffeetree that grew in the courtyard and shaded a raised porch that overlooked the grounds. The monks use the seeds from the pods to make rosaries. Pioneers evidently used them to make (very poor) coffee--hence the name. I thought I would try to germinate a few and grow myself a holy tree in my backyard.
Jeremy and I have been visited lately by furry creatures. Unfortunately, I discovered this upon opening our main food cupboard and finding many of the bags and boxes chewed through, forcing me to throw away many items.
We keep on telling ourselves that we should put out traps, but as much as we want the mice to find another house to bother, we have a hard time killing them. They've eaten our food, peeked out at us around corners, and left little signs of their presence in our home.
So, while we wait for our specially ordered "Haveaheart" mouse trap, that allows you to catch them and release them somewhere else, I've had to come up with some solutions. I put all my grains, flours, nuts and beans in glass mason jars, making them chew-proof. When I was all done, I realized, even more than preventing the mice, this was a great way to store all my dry goods. I can find them easily, they stay fresh, and I can store more this way. Aren't these lovely?
Several people have been asking about my green smoothie recipe (although my smoothies tend to be more purplish than green). There is nothing better than starting my day with a cup of this delicious goodness. I feel literally zinging with health when I drink one.
one or two handfuls of spinach or kale (kale is a bit rougher consistency)
one banana
one grapefruit (or ¼ cup fresh orange juice)
small handful of frozen berries (I get a mixed blend)
about ⅓ cup plain yogurt
a tad bit of maple syrup to taste
Blend together and enjoy!
Modifications: add a tablespoon of almond butter for protein
add a tablespoon of ground flax seeds
I tried out this new recipe today and made gingerbread pancakes from rice flour, oats and flaxseed when some of our neighbors came over for breakfast. I was super excited about how they turned out-- very light but still hearty.
I've decided that breakfast is my absolutely most favorite meal to share with others. I love greeting the first part of the day communally and I love looking around as we come awake with each sip of coffee.
In our effort to live more simply, more green, and more healthfully, I can easily become overwhelmed with how far away we are from the ideal. It's a constant negotiating act: balancing time and money with our convictions to live in a the most holistic manner. I've decided to give myself permission to take baby steps, slowly changing little by little as resources and time allow.
Here are some recent changes I've made and then a few that I'm tackling next.
Recent steps already taken:
1)Buy bulk of produce from local sources
2)Stopped heating or microwaving plastics/switched to metal water bottles
3)Choose only meat, dairy and eggs from local farms and/or is free range
4)Started a compost pile
5)Reduced my dependency on coffee
Next steps:
1)Bulk up on more green foods: broccoli, kale, spinach, cabbage etc. (green smoothies, yay!)
2)Drink significantly more water (at least 8 cups)
3)Become consistent in cooking whole local chickens and making/freezing chicken stock
4)Start a vegetable garden this spring (I'm so excited about buying seeds!)
5)Soak and boil dried beans rather than using out of a can
I would love to hear other thoughts about small changes-- what are the baby steps you are making?
I have completely my first successful knitting project!! Behold the humble beginnings of my journey into craftiness. After several starts over the last year, it's finally happened.
This article appeared in my desktop RSS feed this morning, and it prompted me to consider what sort of language I use when speaking of my wife and myself. The article comes from a science news website, and reports on a study at U.C. Berkeley that indicates that couples who use the language of "we-ness" resolve conflicts better, behave more positively towards each other, and suffer less stress than couples who use more individualistic language. This is perhaps not terribly surprising, but it gave me pause for introspection.
I think overall Jenny and I score pretty well on the "we-ness" test. Certainly when it comes to our interests and aesthetic sensibilities, and perhaps to a slightly lesser extent our hobbies (our creative energies tend to work themselves out in somewhat different ways), we speak with enthusiasm of what "we" enjoy and appreciate and do. But I have to struggle at times with my own deep-seated tendency towards individualism. Usually this appears as an unawareness that my actions and behavior around other people reflects on Jenny as well as myself. I am not a terribly social being, and especially when I'm tired I sometimes seclude myself from others in a social gathering, keep my head down, and wait it out. I'm also the king of the one-word, conversation-ending response. And while I may be perfectly content with my reputation for being a wallflower, Jenny is not such a fan of being the woman with the moody husband staring glumly from the corner. Often she tries to draw me into whatever conversation she is engaged in, introducing me with that "we" language the article speaks of, only to have me act as if whatever coupley thing she said of us was an utterly alien thought to me. I am more of an individualist than I like to admit, and it is at moments like these that my individualist tendencies spring to the fore. I want to hang on to a sense of myself apart from the "we-ness" of our marriage. And I don't think this desire for individuality is entirely bad; marriage is between persons, not clones. But knowing when to be "we" and when to be "you and I" is a tricky business, a dance of individuality and communion.
Learning the dance takes time, and that is why we chose to name this chronicle of our mutual life "Our Vegetable Love"--because we want our love to grow with the slow, inexorable strength of ordinary plants that break stones and buckle sidewalks.
"In 1875, a Massachusetts farmer, curious about the growing power of expanding apples, melons and squashes, harnessed a squash to a weight-lifting device which had a dial like a grocer's scale to indicate the pressure exerted by the expanding fruit. As the days passed, he kept piling on counterbalancing weight; he could hardly believe his eyes when he saw his vegetables quietly exerting a lifting force of 5 thousand pounds per square inch."
~Rutherford Platt, The Great American Forest
"My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow."
~Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"
Welcome to our site. We are Jenny Sullivan and Jeremy Downey, soon to be wed. We hope to make of this a journal of sorts of our life together. For now, the site will function largely as an informational resource for our upcoming wedding.