After reading the fabulous book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover I was inspired to “put up” some food for the winter.  Today M and I washed, snapped, blanched and froze about 12 lbs of local green beans I bought at the farmer’s market.  It actually didn’t take us long at all (one hour) and even after the whining about being asked to help M got into it and enjoyed it.  I love that we live in a community that is so supportive of local agriculture.  I also bought about 25 lbs of tomatoes to make sauce.  That undertaking will happen tomorrow.  I hope to make applesauce in the next few weeks as well.  There is something so satisfying about preparing for the barren months of winter by taking what summer has to offer right now and freezing it in time.

Sometimes I am so overwhelmed by what I need to express I can’t blog without this pounding in my heart, you know the one you get when you feel like you need to stand up and share something with a large group and you aren’t sure how it will be received. My goal is to write something at least twice a week. I have several friends who have much busier lives than I and who seem to have a constant flow of new pictures, ideas and thoughts that they have successfully blogged about. I’m going to Target.

A while back I made the startling discovery that the chocolate I love so dearly was most likely being harvested by one of 12,000 trafficked children who labor on the cocoa farms of Cote D’Ivoire, Africa.  According to my research, both Nestle and Hershey have been know to turn a blind eye to the business of child labor.  I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat another Hershey Kiss again.  But guess what, there is hope for those of us who cannot imagine a life without chocolate.  There is a free printable guide to ensure that your chocolate is is traffick free.   www.stopthetraffik.org/chocolatecampaign

  So… a few things We’ve done lately to “greenify”:

My husband purchased a “Gold Cone” coffee filter so we don’t have to use the paper filters any more.

I put our names on the catalog and junk mail removal list.

I got a “Diva Cup”, if you don’t know what it is look it up, you’ll be so glad you didn’t have ask someone.

I purchased the kids both their own Sigg bottle.  My goal is to not buy any drinks in containers this summer other than what we put in the bottle.

To do list:

Get clothes line so I can hang my clothes out to dry this summer

 

So we went to visit another church yesterday evening to take a class they were offering.  We took along our two little chitlins.  Before we deposited them each in thier class I took my five year old daughter to the bathroom.  We did our business and began washing our hands, the facility had those automatic water sinks and she was pleasantly surprised that the water just came on when she moved her hands under the faucet.  She said, “So does God do that?” 

Earlier that day I had to run some errands and took along my two year old who was quite accommodating for being forced to sit in a stroller.  I promised him some hot chocolate if he was patient and didn’t whine.  So we finally got to the establishment where I procured his beverage.  After taking a very long, loud slurp he said, “MMMmmm Hot chokit is dawicious.”