Lyn

Lake Farmpark

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »

Aug 242011

On Monday, we decided to go to Lake Farmpark. We are members there courtesy of a gift membership that we received. We sometimes forget about it. Monday had perfect weather and we had a great time.

Once we arrived and checked in, we felt like we had the place to ourselves. We arrived just after 9AM and there were just a couple of cars in the parking lot. We quickly realized that there was an ice cream exhibit. It was basically a play room with stations about the ice cream making process. There was a mock freezer, a wooden ice cream truck (big enough for kids to sit in and load/unload), flavor station, mixing station etc. There was even a model of a dairy farm. It was great and the kids could have stayed there and played all day. Lucky for us, the exhibit is there through September 5th so we can go back and see it again.

Nick got to take his first pony ride. It was $4, but we were on “staycation” and thought it was worth the splurge. Thanks, Uncle Nate! Sally got on the pony and wasn’t so sure about it. She didn’t take a ride.

We took a trip up to the plant science building on the wagon. Any time a tractor is involved, everyone has a great time. Nick was fascinated by a garden train. It was the first time we noticed it. It was outside the café and dairy building in the courtyard area.

I think the highlight for our niece and her mom Jen was milking the cow. Sally and Nick tried it too. The milk from the cows goes to a local creamery for cheese.

We had also never been to The Grain Place. Since I am thinking about getting a grinder, I was especially interested in the process. Since our group of 7 was the whole audience, we had a choice between the grain talk or The Big Red Hen story. We chose the story since we had three kids with us.

It was lots of fun and everyone got to take turns adding parts to the story board. Bethany did a great job with the story and the kids. Here’s our niece trying her hand at grinding wheat. We also stopped a the cheese making demo. Here’s Sally pressing the cheese with Nick watching patiently.

Nick enjoyed time with his cousin, aunt and uncle. We really like the Tomato Works building. I enjoyed this giant garden tool.

Everyone enjoyed the animals and the weather. We finished up our morning with a packed lunch at the pavilion near where we parked. Except for a hole in my shorts from a nail in the picnic table, we enjoyed a great lunch before heading home.

Geauga Family Farms–week 11

CSA No Responses »

Aug 232011

Wow, we had pick up #11 today for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. We had 14 different items!

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Green bell peppers, onions

Hot pepper, yellow squash

Pickling cucumbers, peaches

Yellow beans, basil

Beets, watermelon

Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes

Eggplant, cabbage

We didn’t do too badly last week, but we had company this weekend and I feel a little bit behind. It’s really because of peach and tomato picking, not the CSA items. I finally canned the tomatoes yesterday and I’m finishing the peaches now.

With this week’s CSA items, I see some coleslaw in our future since we got cabbage today and we are getting apples on Thursday. I’ll make some pasta sauce with the tomatoes, basil, eggplant and squash and we’ll have that with pasta for a meal. I’ll probably add that hot pepper too.

I’ll also be making some more pickles. I think we ate all of the ones from the last batch, so that’s timely.

I think this week is easy, especially since we don’t have any meals out planned.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »

Aug 222011

My brother and sister in law and niece came into town Saturday evening. We met up with them for dinner at Red Robin since it was near their hotel and kid friendly. Yesterday, we decided to go to the Rock Hall. We took the RTA from Green Road down to the lake and it worked out really well.

We were only allowed photos in the lobby. The security was definitely watching and telling people to put cameras away. So, we don’t have any photos from inside. We were surprised with the size of the museum. We were also impressed with the number of interactive musical exhibits and costume displays. I thought the kids might get bored, but they loved the music and spent lots of time with headphones on listening and dancing. We packed a lunch and ate in the café area. We stayed from 10AM when they opened until just after 1PM. If your are a resident of the area, you get a $4 discount per ID.

After our visit to the museum, we headed back to catch the train. While we waited, a commercial train passed. It was loaded with Humvees. An entire train of them. They kept coming and coming and coming. It was a once in a lifetime sighting!

By the time we boarded, Nick was really tired. He fell asleep using Aunt Jen’s purse as a pillow.

Sally fell asleep too.

It was a quiet train ride back to Green Road after a stimulating Rock Hall visit. I call it a successful outing.

U-Pick Tour–Patterson Fruit Farm, Chesterland Ohio–Peaches Take Two!

Adventures with Nick and Sally, U-Pick No Responses »

Aug 212011

Yesterday morning, we went back to Patterson’s Fruit Farm to pick more peaches. It was the same set up as last week.

Nick really wanted to wear this long sleeved shirt. I didn’t think it was worth arguing about it, but I packed a short sleeve shirt just in case he decided he was hot. Both Sally and Nick enjoyed a couple of peaches right off the trees.

We ran into some friends and they took a group shot of us.

Here’s Maria, Paula and Mandi. Today was the first day that I met Mandy and Maria, but Paula and I went picking raspberries a few weeks back. We ended up picking another full bushel of peaches.

I wish that peach season was longer, but I’m so glad that we have pick your own available near by. Peaches are super easy to pick and Patterson’s is only 20 minutes from our house in Mayfield Heights. Since I canned some and made jam last week, I think I’ll be able to can this week’s bounty. I have a peach post planned for this week to help document what I’ve learned about processing my crop.

U-Pick Tour–Friend’s House, South Euclid Ohio–cucumbers

Adventures with Nick and Sally, U-Pick 1 Response »

Aug 202011

Yesterday, the kids and I ran a ton of errands. We went to 8 different places before nap time. I was glad that myself and the kids were in a great mood all morning. Toward the end of our trip, we stopped at a friend’s house to pick cucumbers and visit.

I never realized that cucumbers look a lot like squash when they grow. They also have little prickles on them. Nick checked out the cucumber patch.

It was fun to find them under the big leaves.

We ended up getting 9 of them. I think I’m going to make pickles and/or relish even though these aren’t pickling cucumbers. I read that the texture will be a bit different, but they should work just fine.

Our next public picking was for peaches this morning. I’ll have more about that tomorrow.

U-Pick Tour–Rainbow Farms, Madison Ohio–tomatoes

Adventures with Nick and Sally, U-Pick, Uncategorized No Responses »

Aug 192011

Yesterday, we went tomato picking. We went back to Rainbow Farms since they were the first ones in the area to open u-pick tomatoes for the 2011 season. We last visited Rainbow Farms for blackberry picking. Other farms will have tomatoes soon, they are just waiting for more ripening.

We met our friends for picking and it works out well. One of us stays outside with the kids and the other goes into the market. That makes for a lot less unloading and reloading of children since we have 5 between us. For tomatoes, you stop by the shed for 1/2 bushel sized baskets and head to the field.

Since our last visit, everything had great signs. It was so easy to find. For future reference, there is a bathroom with running water in this barn. That turned out to be a good thing for us.

Seems that Nick and Sally liked the dirt more than tomatoes.

At some point, Sally was eating the dirt – yuck! She also ate a tomato or two.

The tomatoes at Rainbow are field grown on the ground. It was picked over, but we managed to pick quite a few tomatoes. I ended up with 2 of the 1/2 bushel baskets – so 1 bushel of tomatoes.

You leave the baskets and transfer the tomatoes to containers that you bring from home or misc. boxes that can be found at the shed. Since we had just picked peaches on Saturday, I had great boxes to use for bringing home my tomatoes.

Each 1/2 bushel was $9. So, I paid $18 for the tomatoes. I’m currently simmering some tomato sauce in the crockpot. I’m going to can all of them, but I am unsure if it will be crushed tomatoes, sauce, paste or a combo. This is my first time with tomatoes, so I’m still in the intimidated stage. It won’t take long to figure out my process.

We’ll probably try out another farm or two for tomatoes while they are still in season. Hmmm… I think I need to buy more canning jars, lids and rings. It’s not even apple season yet!

Fresh Fork CSA–week 12

CSA 2 Responses »

Aug 182011

Originally, we were going to be “on vacation” from week 12 of our Fresh Fork CSA. But, our plans changed and we were able to cancel our vacation and pick up our share. Next, I’ll need to place an extra order to use the funds from our week 10 vacation.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive this week:

Small CSA:

1 pint blackberries
1 quart yogurt
1 lb. nitrate free bacon from Berkshire hogs
Approx. 1.5 lbs.slicing tomatoes
1 head leaf lettuce
3 lbs. new potatoes, red norland or yukon gold variety
1 bunch swiss chard or 1 bunch chiogga beets (candy cane striped beets)
1 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes
Approx. 1.5 lbs. peaches

Here’s a group shot:

We picked 1 bushel of tomatoes today, so these will get added to that bounty for canning. This is a “fluffy” variety of lettuce and looks extra fresh. I can’t wait to have it on a salad tomorrow.

When I left for Mom’s Night Out, Nick was asking for more blackberries. I haven’t checked the fridge to see if they made it past dinner. This yogurt is turning into a family favorite. And, we had been having cottage cheese this week, so it’s nice to have more yogurt in the house. We’ve been sweetening it up with a bit of homemade jam. I also use it in my overnight oats.

I just finished processing my peaches from the peck that we picked on Saturday. I still have to make the jam with the peaches that I skinned this morning. These peaches will soften up in a day or two and be great as a snack or in my oatmeal. We are stocked with cherry tomatoes at the moment. We got a pint at our pick up on Tuesday and it’s one of the items that has survived in our garden. I’m not a fan of the texture of raw tomatoes, but Nick and my husband both like them. I just need to remember to serve them!

We haven’t really had potatoes much lately. I can’t decide between mashed potatoes to go with some Fresh Fork pork that is thawing in the fridge or German Potato Salad. We have some other beets in the fridge, so I will combine them and probably make our standard Harvard Beets. I think there was a choice between beets and Swiss Chard and I asked for beets so we could make a decent amount for a dinner side one night.

Lastly, we got bacon. So, this week was themed BLTs, but I’m not sure if they will appear on our menu or not. I did recently read about cooking bacon in the over on a rack and I just might have to try that with this bacon.

I think this is an easy week for us and that the items are easy to use and store. It’s a good thing because we have a few other items from Tuesday to use up and have a busy weekend coming up.

Cool Globes

Adventures with Nick and Sally 1 Response »

Aug 172011

Through September 11th, there is an interesting exhibit called Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet happening at the Greenspace on Wade Oval. We travel to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Cleveland Botanical Gardens frequently and we have enjoyed seeing the different globes. There are 18 in total and a few of them are pictured below. If you get a chance to take a walk around Wade Oval, it’s worth looking at the globes. There’s no admission charge.

Mother Earth	Rain Garden

New Orleans: Toward a New Paradigm	Spin Dry: Drawing a Line on Global Warming

Tall Grass	Share a Ride	Tree of Life

Recycled Evolution	Spread the Word

Plant It!	Green Roofs Save Energy

Non-Electric Play	A Plant-Based Diet

Happy Birthday Frank!

Uncategorized No Responses »

Aug 162011

My “little” brother Frank turns 21 today. Happy Birthday! You’re an awesome brother and I love you!
Frank was in town to visit over the weekend and we were glad to see him. Here are a few pictures from the last couple of years.

Cheers!

Geauga Family Farms–week 10

CSA No Responses »

Aug 162011

Today was the 10th pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. This week’s share was similar to last week’s share.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Cherry tomatoes, carrots

Lettuce and more lettuce

Watermelon, cantaloupe

Green bell peppers, broccli

Yellow squash, eggplant

Cucumber, zucchini (yes it looks funny, but it is a variety of zucchini)

HOT peppers, slicing tomatoes

Peaches, green beans

We got 3 different types of fruit. That is pretty odd for our CSA, but we love fruit. Most of the items this week will be easy to use. The fruit will disappear in a couple of days.

One pepper and the cucumber will go into salad along with the lettuce. We ate the broccoli for dinner tonight. The beans will make a great side dish to our meal tomorrow. Carrots, eggplant and squash feel like staples in our house, so we’ll be making a quiche or lasagna to use them up soon.

Then, there are the hot peppers. If there is one item that I wish we didn’t get, it would be the hot peppers. I just haven’t found a good use for them yet. But, I am determined. I’ll keep you all posted!

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