Ate / Ate / Ate

And so the day started with Malto Meal and maple syrup. We know one thing for sure..... baby is NOT allergic to this breakfast of champions. He ate about 4 baby bowls worth, all the while making mmmmmm, yummy noises and checking out other diners' bowls for alms. That boy LOVES the stuff!


After a quick wardrobe change for baby who was covered head to toe in warm cereal, we headed out to the magical and nutrient dense dwellings of our friends' veggie filled yard. These two are a major part of the leadership for the local chapter of Food Not Lawns. http://www.foodnotlawns.com/ The thriving edible landscape you see in their homey rental below was once just a blank and sterile lawn. Many seeds and a bunch of love later, the land has given up her fruits for all to enjoy.

Kids do their best not to giggle during our American Gothic shot as they prepare to pick green beans and other edibles.

They sent us home with this huge sunflower head that is full of yummy seeds. The head needs to dry out in the sun for a few more days and then the seeds will be ready to eat.

The kids get lessons in seed saving from the dynamic Marybeth. A dry method of carrot seed harvesting first and then a wet method of canteloupe seed saving next. We'll be planting those healthy seeds in the spring. What a great teacher she is! And a fantastic drummer!..... we went to see her band perform in a popular village square later in the evening. Those girls can JAM!

Child's play! This wise puppet reminds us that money doesn't grow on trees, but food still does!

With harvesting done we ventured in doors and out of the hot noon sun for some special smoothies and sliced canteloupe. Mary Beth whipped up some unbelievably good nettles (that's right..... fresh stinging nettles you can DRINK!) and deep garden greens smoothies while we enjoyed some fine banjo playing and mandolin moments in the parlor with Todd and the dog.

Eggplant, beets, garlic, butternut, zucchini, squash, oranges, grapefruit, green beans, fennel, tarragon, chard, carrots, tomato, new zealand spinach, tomatillo, sunflower and cucumber. All in a days work.

Deeply contented by the sense of community and nurture we enjoyed, we brought home, washed and made plans for some of the days finds. Recieve our warmest thanks and appreciation for your generosity, hospitality, and friendship. Every town should have a Todd and Mary Beth!

Now, what to cook for lunch and dinner?....

Regrettably, we would not be enjoying many of the fruits of our labor for lunch. We opened the biggest can of tuna known to man yesterday and we absolutely musn't allow it to go to waste. So it was tuna sandwiches with some chopped veggies for lunch. We did share a ripe juicy grapefruit or two, family style, from our noon harvest. Sooo juicy. Sooo good.

One beautiful and necessary summer ciesta later and it was time to prepare dinner. And what should be on the menu for tonight? Why what else? The poor man's crab cake! Yes dear ones, it was tuna all over again. However, when you add heat and fry it, it brings all sorts of neighbors out of their houses and down the lane. This was to be our second community meal of the day.

Some tuna, an egg, breadcrumbs and some fresh garden herbs in a pan with oil and little noses come sniffing round the corner. This cute neighbor friend asked," What is that? Are you making fish sticks?". "Nope.", said Aleli, "it's fish cakes". She stayed for dinner. And who should appear at our door moments later? The lovely and sweet neighbor, Sam with her sidekick Ezra...... and a dish of disappearing homemade pizza! This is that warm and funny neighbor we mentioned a few days ago who made us those scrumptious waffles for breakfast. James baked one of the butternut squash we picked in the yummiest way. Hey, it's an impromtu dinner party..... al fresco! The dollar would stretch.

Dressed for a sultry southern California evening we relax, enjoy the company and see what this "fish cake" jazz is all about. A few adjustments and next time they'll be just right. And, oooh yeah......... you bet your bippy there'll be a next time.......... plenty more tuna to go. Yikes.

The butternut squash was the hit of the night. Both James and mother nature know about food!

Fresh sunflowers and zinnia from Todd and Mary Beth's adorn our simple gathering.

Tomorrow is a big day! We will be "checking in". We'll give our weekly accounting of what we spent, what we learned, and our favorite moments. We'll be doing this every Saturday through the end of our experiment. Look for "check ins" on the 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th. But more importantly than that, a special little girl turns 6 tomorrow. Now how to do a birthday on a buck. We............... shall.................... see.........................

Those who don't remember the pasta are doomed to reheat it!

It was a veritable pasta-fest these last two days. Wednesday night we cooked a simple whole wheat pasta (1 lb for .99 cents @ Trader Joe's), some olive oil, half a can of kidney beans (about .30 cents worth) and some locally harvested summer veggies and herbs ( free from our garden and the public gardens). The only other cost, and the most important ingredient, GARLIC, was the last of our inexpensive supply. The kids keep claiming they don't like garlic... or tomatoes for that matter, but every single time we make pasta with garlic chopped rustically, more like a veggie than a spice, they absolutely devour it! Last night was no exception. We enjoyed free fresh fruits from the gardens and a small glass of organic grape juice lightly diluted to stretch (Newman's Own from Costco around .50cents worth).

Kids lend a helping hand. Youngins can be involved on almost all levels of food prep.

Here is the only evidence of James afternoon garden splurge. A juicy deep crimson colored heirloom tomato with cracked pepper, sea salt, an edible flower (high in vitamin C) and a sprig of fresh sweet basil, olive oil, and a splash of balsamic. This "Black Krim" variety we grow is super succulent and a rare delight... wish they were more prolific!

That, however, is yesterdays news. Today was another poignant reminder that we are in fact having an ADVENTURE with food. We know that food truly can be medicine. It has healing properties if you prescribe the right thing for what ails ya ......... but it can also take a more poisonous and sinister place in your system as we once again experienced this evening. For any individuals with food allergies I'm sure you understand the severity of this next bite. A couple months ago baby Juju had a serious allergic reaction to split pea soup. After a trip to the E.R. and a prescription for the wonderful, stupid and miraculous "Epipen Jr." (it's a love/ hate thing we have going on), we were left shaken but confident in our ability to keep split peas off the grocery list (it's not like every American kid has them in their lunchbox every day at school..... easy enough). We discovered today however, during our delicious, nutritious free lunch of lentil soup and baguette that it's time to 86 another legume! Stat! Farewell my yummy bean of the past. We loved you well little lentil. (weep, sob, sniff)

Baby with his first line of defense..... pre-measured children's liquid Benadryl.

Hives, scratching, puffy neck, rubbing pink swollen watery eyes are all signs that cropped up within seconds of his first few spoonfuls of the dreaded legume. The above photo is post Benadryl and he started showing signs of recovery. No Epipen Jr or E.R. trip today. Whew!

With baby back on his feet and parents by his side we searched the garden beds for basil for tonight's homemade pesto. While breaking bread we gave thanks for our health, baby's safety and the healing power of a shared meal.

National Night Out!

Thanks to a lotto ticket from Grandma and a Night Out celebration with our local police department we were able to have some free meals on Tuesday. The morning started out with oatmeal, eggs, and dry cereal snacking. We have been pricing some gallons of milk and have not yet milked the cow, hence the dry cereal snacking.

Lunch consisted of some smiley top ramen , frozen grapes, and egg salad sandwiches from an easy recipe. Boil eggs for 10 mins and then chill in refrigerator. Add some mayo & pepper to the chilled egg and spread on some toast. Bebe "JuJuBee" pulled the top off and ate it tartine style. Takes after his dad!

Also, a way to make ramen NOT disgusting if you have a couple more dimes to invest in it is to omit the seasoning packet, cook it in the pot with the water and some chopped bok choy, a splash of tamari sauce, a little sesame oil, some chicken or tofu if you're vegetarian and a little fresh ginger or garlic. It almost tastes like food even! Every college student should know that before leaving home.







Today we received a package from Grandma Frankie who lives in Oregon. There were four envelopes with puzzle pieces for the kids to work on a puzzle together.... each had a part of the whole picture. She also sent a winning California lotto ticket that was redeemable for a few tickets.( Actually, with a closer look at the ticket we realized it was a $12 winner.) We were asked to redeem the ticket and get one more for grandma, one for James, and one for Aleli. She was in the mood to play games through the mail.... very fun. At the gas station James stood in line behind a guy contemplating the purchase of a $4 pack of cigarettes. This gave him some time to think about purchasing his one ticket as instructed by grandma. Also, we were not obligated to use the winnings towards more tickets according to the California Lottery. Getting more tickets was hard to swallow while thinking about the 4 boxes of cereal we had back at "the ranch" with no milk. He could not leave the station without milk! There was a lotto dispensing machine (18 and older please) in the station. We got grandma her portion in tickets, and got a few for Aleli and James as grandma wanted. With $4 left James decided to get a gallon of milk at $3.99. The funny thing was that some of the lotto tickets available were promoting Real California Milk from happy cows. If you have ever driven up interstate 99 (way past Bakersfield) and seen the massive cows on cows on more cows on cow....em, stuff you would have to wonder how happy these animals really are. Leaving the gas station with a penny in change (what better to scratch the tickets with) James caught a glimpse of the current price for a gallon of gas = $3.99. That was the same price we paid for the gallon of milk. It made for an interesting conversation with one of the boys on the walk home. We had a laugh at home when James recounted the whole experience.

That evening we headed out doors for a free movie in the park sponsored by our local police department. On the menu, FREE IN -n- OUT BURGER! Today we give thanks to the COW. Enjoy the photos:

Green Bingo, 888, and one cow ticket for grandma. Milk, penny, and other tickets aquired happily for family.

Gallon of GAS, Gallon of MILK: = $3.99

Here we have two wonderful community members who were selling ice cream to support some local non profits. They were also promoting the Shoes That Fit organization. http://www.shoesthatfit.org/ Unfortunately the $2 frozen snicker bar was off the budget. We plan to purchase a back pack and pair of shoes for a child in need after our experiment since we'll be saving some dough on food this month.

I Spy A&W Root Beer!

(Oh yes, and by the way, it turns out we are total liars. We said going into this that our great big pepsi sign in the background was the only soda, etc you were likely to see this month....... well, it turns out, that if you're hungry enough and people are just handing it out for free........ you just might drink it. Strange, but true.)

JuJuBee thinking: "wait this stuff is FREE" what?????

JuJuBee: "I have to tell someone about this"

"Hello....... Wimpy"?

"Get over here ASAP, Free burgers, I repeat Free burgers"!

Beans, beans the wonderful fruit

The word of the day is BEANS! Here are some images and moments from yesterday, August 4.


For both lunch and dinner we had two variations of leftover beans. Above is Aleli's reheat of the night before. James totally kicked it up a notch last night though by adding cheese and other savory ingredients, and by starting it all off with these awesome fried cinnamon/ sugar tortilla triangles.Mmmmmm, sooo good! Quite delectable! Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of his dinner. Aleli was feeling downright cranky, hungry, tired, covered in prickly pear thorns (ouwie!James fingers were a pin cushion too) and unphotogenic. No pictures, please. Word to the wise: Changing your diet overnight can also change your outlook! Alot!


Anyway, the three older kids and Aleli went romping through more public veggie gardens yesterday as well. Here are their finds and some pix to enjoy. Look for the teeny lizard that crawled onto the mustard greens sign in the pic with boy and blackberries. Adorable little reptile!

I gather!

Yesterday was an active day for all. I was so busy, climbing trees, dining with neighbors and gathering the fruits of the earth, that I didn't get a chance to post my two cents. It was a great relief to see my sweet love, James, up on his feet again and starting to eat! Produce could not have returned to the picture at a better time. Oooh, to have something ripe and fresh again that you can really savor with all your senses...... it was FRUIT and VEGGIE TIME. (I started the hunt for produce that afternoon in our own garden with the tomatoes, onion and edible flowers pictured to the left....that is a days worth this time of year)

Upon hearing of James illness, our wonderful neighbor, Sam, invited us to a waffle breakfast at her house with her adorable baby Ezra. I wasn't sure if it exactly fit the guidelines of our experiment but she comes from a background ( as do I ) where you bring food to the sick. So we accepted her generous and delicious offer. Homemade Belgian waffles covered in fresh fruit and syrup with a wonderfully nutritious acai drink (Mona Vie) to go with it. The food and company were deeply good! Thanks Sam!

The kids and I were only in the mood for light grazing around lunchtime, since our breakfast was closer to brunch. So we had bits of free restaurant baked goods and some yogurt. James came home from work ( yes, he WORKED the day after being that sick!! ) and went out to the store for all the goods shown below. A word about shopping bags. We use cloth shopping bags about 70% of the time. The other 30% we just plain forget to take them out of the trunk. A tip: after unloading your groceries, hang your cloth bags on the doorknob of the front/or garage door that leads to your car and you will always have bags in your car when you need them. Anyway, I think when James walked in the door with all those boxes of ..... em, cereal.... the kids made their peace with this whole experiment. They thought, they might be deprived or something throughout the coming weeks. What they didn't know is that they will probably never see this much sugar again in their childhoods! Either way, it was time to visit the organic gardens at the colleges.

We had soaked some pinto beans for our traditional beans and rice dinner, but I really wanted some peppers to go with it. Down in the garden, not far off from the chicken yard, I spotted some gorgeous figs. While in the belly of the fig tree, I also picked these grapes (pictured above in the canopy of fig leaves) that were positively dripping from the vine that danced in and out of the fence surrounding both the fig tree and the gardens themselves. There were so many earthly delights that begged to be enjoyed. We found a fertility statue amongst some squash, a few ripe raspberries we devoured along the pathways, a pumpkin patch wildly inter planted with edible flower and amaranth and herbs. Our ten year old HAD TO HAVE this one strawberry that was just an inch beyond reach. I was his anchor, and he got it. Sweet success!

Now what did I come here for again? Oh yeah. A pepper. And there it was, hiding safely under a swatch of tomato plants just under the giant sunflower by the gate. Who's a tasty little pepper? You are! Yes you are!


The days harvest included some purple basil, a fine zucchini, figs, grapes (we froze some for later.... mmmmmmm), bell pepper, jalapeno, green onion, strawberry, and nibbles here and there along the path like raspberries, chard and herbs. Getting lost in a garden is good for the soul! Maybe even as good as a morsel of fine chocolate. I'll take both, thanks!


My favorite moment of the day? When this tiny hand magically appeared in the finished photograph above! That little hand stayed in the bowl until most of those grapes were gone, gone, gone!

Live well,
{{{Aleli}}}