Aug. 28, 2008 DNC

I can't seem to find the link anymore to this awesome picture but it was on the Seattle Times webite - unfortunately, not my picture.

This is what is taking over my kitchen!

Richard has become a very busy sourdough baker.

Sunflowers!

Little Farmers

This week Mina has been busy farming with Farmer Jayne at the Kelsey Creek Farm. Each morning is full of farm-related crafts, chores (sweeping out the chicken run, filling up buckets with shavings, collecting eggs, feeding the pig, etc) and baking with farm fresh ingredients (eggs, blackberries). Last year, the "little farmers" made "mud" which was her favourite. This year i think it was watermelon which they shared with the pig.


On Monday, Miles and i passed the time by checking out Wells Medina Nursery. He was happy to pick out plants and even happier to pull the cart around. Mamma was happy too.

Russian Childhood Cherry Cake

Last weekend, Mina and Rich did some "secret baking" and made me a special cake. They made a "Russian Childhood Cherry Cake" as recommended by a coworker. This was the first cake that Rich's coworker ever made by herself at the age of five. Mina also enjoyed this baking experience and we all enjoyed eating it. It was a really good, hearty-type cake, and the whipped cream didn't hurt either.

Cougar Mountain

Pictures from last Sunday's hike at Cougar Mountain. Mina picked out her hiking gear and received many a compliment. It was probably the longest family hike yet and a pretty one.

Biking to Issaquah Market

Last weekend we rode our bikes (Miles in trailer and Mina on trail-gator) to the Issaquah Farmer's Market. This was our biggest outing yet. It was great fun! My main goal was to pick up ingredients for a summer vege risotto! The kids have been loving seasonal risottos (ie, beet and summer squash). We've visited Pappardelle's Pasta at Pike's Place and it was fun to find them at the market. A friend had recommended their orzos, which we too recommend!
They were giving everyone free sunflowers!

Big Boy Haircut

We've been getting ready for school with new shoes and haircuts. This was the first major haircut for Miles.

Career Change

For about the last year, Mina has stated that she would like to be a kindergarten teacher. Last week, that shifted when she announced that she would now like to be a chef! She would like to work in a restaurant. Here she is trying out the new mixer and making a batch of The Herbfarm's lavender shortbread.

Mr. Miles also loves to help in the kitchen - but his current dream is to be a garbage truck driver!

Kindergarten Preview

A couple of weeks ago, Mina enjoyed a week of mornings at swim camp. She had a blast. For Miles and i, this time was a preview of our upcoming life- bike trailer included! :)

Dinner Date at Idylwood Beach Park

Local Bounty

... Homemade pesto (made from garden-fresh basil), first-of-the-season tomatoes, cheese fresh from the Farmer's Market and olives on top of Rich's sourdough whole wheat baquette (made with grains from Bluebird Farm). Want to come for dinner?

Oh, we enjoyed it with a bottle from a new favourite winery, Whidbey Island Winery.

Grow Your Inner Tomato at Seattle Tilth

I LOVE Seattle Tilth! Flip through these MSN Healthy Living videos to find a profile of Seattle Tilth. Stll waiting for your tomatoes? Check out this bummer Tilth announcement. It has been a very weird growing season here!

Lisa Taylor, who is seen in the above video, has been leading the kid's classes in Issaquah. She's awesome, and she plays the ukulele! Here is Lisa showing us how to make sun tea!


Miles waiting for the "Tea for Me and the Bees "class to start. Mina was at swim camp when the two of us went to this gardening class. It was pretty sweet 1:1 time. We even had a lunch date at PCC before picking up Miss Mina.

Happy Friday!

Busy bakers Mina and Miles making tonight's pizza dough!

Miles' First Summer Camp! Seattle Tilth!

It is raining on-and-off outside -restarting every time i try to head back outside. The weeds will just have to wait. The house is still quiet, so i'll blog about gardening instead.

The kids and i have been taking some great "summer camp" classes through the Seattle Tilth at the Pickering Barn. Similiar to the other classes that i have taken through the Tilth, these classes have been AWESOME! They have classes, for parent-tot as well as adults, going into fall. I've signed up for the bulk of them!

The FREE two hour classes are for children (and a parent) from ages 2-5. Our first class was all about "Fantastic Flowers" - this class included making/decorating seed packages, a sensory garden tour, stories with a snack, making art with the "rainbow" in the garden as well as a very helpful song on "two hand picking". The second class was "Getting Dirty!", where we helped turn over a bed, checked out the worm compost (aka worm poop), planted peas, planted spinach in a take-home pot, came home with a bunch of late summer seeds to plant, read more great books and sang some more fun gardening-related songs.

The gardens there are inspiring.

M&M with their pea plants and flower art.

Getting ready to check out the worm poop. Mina was quick to tell that we had a worm bin at home too, and she had no fear of searching through the worms and other friends. Miles was not so sure of all the critters and prefered Mamma to hold them for him.

This is the most elaborate rainbarrel hook-up that i've ever seen!

At the classes, they've read the following fun books:

Tops and Bottoms

Ten Seeds

Jamberry

Wonderful Worms

The Apple Tree

Camping Journal

I just finished blogging about the camping that we did back in June. I'm hoping to catch up on blogging before i get lost in the Olympics. If you want the last few entries to make a little more sense, go back to the earlier post or just keep scrolling down till you see the overalls again.

Good night!

Canoeing on Baker Lake

On our final day at Baker Lake, we rented a canoe for an hour. This was the first time that all four of us had been out on a canoe together. To keep Miles happy **and sitting**, we had to sing "Old MacDonald had a Farm" for about forty minutes of the hour long rental. It was pretty inspiring in terms of canoe trips down the road!

The boys who swam out to this driftwood were also a good distraction for Miles.

Of the whole trip, the best views of Mount Baker were from the canoe.

Popsicles for little people who did not flip the canoe, or fall out of it.

Shadow of the Sentinels

While in Mount Baker National Recreation Area, we took the nature walk along the Shadow of the Sentinels trail. Some of these trees are five hundred plus years old.

A dip to cool down after the walk...

Panamora Point, Baker Lake

Our campsite at Panorama Point, Mount Baker National Recreational Area.

The nightly entertainment, Ms. Piggy Dance and her dedicated sidekick, Copycat.

Naptime