30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge - Day 19

I had to finish this challenge by being thankful for garden bugs, most especially for my blog's namesake, the bee. I've been fortunate to see several different varieties of bees in my little garden. Love these little pollinators!

I'm thankful for the good, bad, and ugly bugs (bad bugs are sometimes a food source for the good ones). I have learned a lot about gardening and a little about entomology by observing these little creatures.

Finally, Thank You, Cat, for leading this fun challenge! I really enjoyed joining you and other members of the garden blogging community in reflecting on the little (and big) things to be grateful for. I think it's become a habit now--I often catch myself thinking, "I'm thankful for this..." :)

{Throughout November I linked up with The Whimsical Gardener's 30 Day Challenge to post about something you're thankful for every day. My posts are under the tag giving thanks}.

30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge - Days 17 - 18

I hope everyone had a relaxing, delicious, happy Thanksgiving! I avoided the madness of retail stores and spent a lot of time reading. Today I'm thankful for the excellent public library system where I live. I take the Metro to work and have a 30-45 minute commute each way. That gives me a lot of time to read. And I do it old school--actual books, no electronic readers for me. Not that I wouldn't mind one, but I stare at a computer screen all day, so it's nice to give my eyes a break.

I love a good mystery, but lately I've been reading a lot of historical fiction about English kings and queens (favorite authors include Philippa Gregory, Robin Maxwell, and Anne Easter Smith). I read non-fiction too--right now I'm working through a stack of books on gardening and food (pictured above).

{both photos via Mount Vernon website}

I'm also very thankful for modern conveniences. Over the holiday weekend we went to Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home. It's a great place for both history buffs and gardeners to visit because Washington was a farmer (you know, when he wasn't leading armies or running the country).  I'm so grateful for modern conveniences like electricity, indoor plumbing(!), refrigeration, washing machines, and coffee makers. I'm thankful I can garden because I want to, not because my family's livelihood depends on our harvest. If you're ever in the DC area, I recommend a trip into Alexandria to visit the Mt. Vernon estate. 

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What do you like to read? Leave me any recommendations in the comment section--I'm always looking for something new and interesting to read!


{I'm linking up with The Whimsical Gardener's 30 Day Challenge to post about something you're thankful for every day.}

30 Day Challenge -- Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate! Today I am thankful for all of the above, and tomorrow I'll be thankful for antacids.

{image via Pinterest}

{I'm linking up with The Whimsical Gardener's 30 Day Challenge to post about something you're thankful for every day.}

Late November Harvests

I spent the weekend cleaning up our balcony container garden and took pictures of what's left. Our peppers are still going strong! Despite temperatures in the 40s, the plants look good and the peppers are ripening on the vine. We did bring all the plants in, though, and we'll probably give a couple of the plants away. 

We still have a few tomatillos on the vine, and we harvested the very last handful of green beans and literally, a handful of cherry tomatoes. So sad to see tomato season over with but thankful that it lasted this long.

Dark Days of Winter Eat Local Challenge

I'm doing another challenge! When I first read about Urban Hennery's Dark Days of Winter Eat Local Challenge (that's a mouthful!),  I was intrigued.  Now that I'm in my second year of kitchen gardening, I've become much more aware of the food that is on my plate--where it comes from, how it tastes, the costs and benefits of eating what I eat (monetary, economic and environmental impact, and health, among others). I thought this would be a good way to spend the dreary winter months, since my garden is pretty much shut down until next spring.

From the host's original post:
Dates
The challenge runs from Sunday, November 27th, 2011 to Saturday, March 31st, 2012.


What’s the Challenge?
Cook one meal each week featuring SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients, write about it on your blog and email your happy recapper a link to your post. 


What does local mean?
Traditionally, local food challenges call for a 100 mile radius. Winter time is more difficult in many climates, especially if you’re new to eating locally, so my default winter definition is 150 miles. You can choose to make your radius smaller or slightly larger as you need. Typical exceptions to the local requirement are oils, coffee, chocolate and spices. If you’re making fewer or more exceptions, please note that on your first post.
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On the surface this seems easy--one meal a week can't be that bad right? {Ask me again in February when I'm desperate and eat a handful of snow and call that my local meal of the week. }

What Will Be Easy

• I'm fortunate that I live in an area with many farmers' markets, and even the grocery store chains in my neighborhood have sections where they sell local foods, so I think it will be easy to find locally-grown food.
• Best of all, I live near one of the best farmers' markets I've ever been to--the Old Town Alexandria Farmers' Market. It's supposedly one of the oldest markets in the country and open every Saturday year-round (score!)
• I have access to products from local dairies, so getting things like organically-produced milk and especially eggs will be very easy.
• I have some locally-raised (northern VA) grass-fed beef stored in my freezer from a recent trip to the Old Town farmers' market, plus a few veggies from my garden and the farmers' market to get started.
• Northern Virginia has some of the best wineries around, for those days when I just want a liquid lunch {kidding, sort of}

What Will Be Hard

• I'm a horrible cook.
• Planning ahead--I need to stock up on meats to get through the winter. Last year around this time, my meat guy at the farmers' market ran out (one of his freezers broke down). I need to get down there next Saturday and get more to stock my own freezer.
• Side dishes--if I plan right, meat and eggs will be easy to get, but side dishes and condiments will present more of a challenge. I'll have to be more thoughtful about how I balance, season, and prepare my meals.

my weekend farmers' market purchase

For me, planning ahead will be key, and I don't want to set myself up for failure, so I will likely wait until the weekend to make my local meal of the week because I know I won't be able to make good choices after a long, stressful day at the office.

Although the challenge considers 150 miles to be local, I'll try to keep it closer. From where I live, places in Pennsylvania are within 150 miles, but I'll try my best to support VA-based farmers.

In addition to oils, coffee, chocolate, and spices, as noted in the Challenge rules, I'm also going to allow myself the exceptions of rice, beans/legumes, and a certain Louisiana seasoning that we picked up on our last trip to New Orleans. That will give me flexibility.

I'm glad this starts after Thanksgiving! This will indeed be a challenge. Looking forward to it!

30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge - Days 14 - 15

Soooo thankful I don't have to rake all these leaves up.

Thankful for a new spider plant! One of my work friends is moving to Chicago and left her plant in my care. Sad to see my coffee buddy go, but thankful for good friends at the workplace. They make it easier to get through the stressful days.

{I'm linking up with The Whimsical Gardener's 30 Day Challenge to post about something you're thankful for every day. I'm not able to post every day, so sometimes I combine days.}

30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge - Days 11 - 13

I'm thankful for sunny November days...

...a freezer full of strawberries --still! (I've been making lots of smoothies)...

...and warm drinks on a cool day.

{I'm linking up with The Whimsical Gardener's 30 Day Challenge to post about something you're thankful for every day. I'm not able to post every day, so sometimes I combine days. All my posts related to this challenge are found under the giving thanks tag.}

30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge - Day 10

I'm thankful for quiet mornings when the only sound outside is water from the fish pond.

And I'm extremely thankful that our fish are still alive.

We had a scare over the weekend. Every fall we remove the UV filter so that the winter snow and ice don't damage it. We did that on Friday, but apparently something got knocked loose and all the water drained out of the pond. I didn't realize this until late Saturday afternoon when I happened to go outside. I saw a dry pond and the goldfish were all laying at the bottom, completely still. I didn't know how long they had been like that and figured they were dead. After screaming "Oh %$#!" more than a few times, I  started throwing buckets of water into the pond to refill it while my husband hooked up the garden hose and checked other settings. As the pond started filling with water, some of the fish started moving. By some miracle, THEY WERE ALL ALIVE! All five goldfish bounced back and started swimming around within minutes. We saw the biggest fish's mouth opening and closing rapidly, gasping for breath, poor thing. My husband added some chemicals to regulate the balance of the water, and we crossed our fingers that the stress of such a traumatic event wouldn't kill them either. On Sunday morning, the pond was still full of water (phew!) and all five fish were present and accounted for.  Maybe fish have nine lives too.

{I'm linking up with The Whimsical Gardener's 30 Day Challenge to post about something you're thankful for every day. All my posts related to this challenge are found under the giving thanks tag.}

30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge - Day 9

You know what, I'm thankful for the Internet. As nice as it is to get away from technology every now and then, I wouldn't be doing this challenge if not for the interwebs.

Since I began gardening, I've enjoyed connecting with other people all over the world who share this hobby. It's fun to see what people are growing and eating and where they travel. It's also a great time waster (hello, Pinterest), a great resource for things I'm interested in (such as veggie gardening, seeds and vegetable growing tips, and food), and a place to find obscure things that I absolutely can't live without (like the sandwich coasters above. Yes, I own them and use them at cook-outs. Classy, no?)

{I'm linking up with The Whimsical Gardener's 30 Day Challenge to post about something you're thankful for every day. I'm not able to post every day, so I'm combining days. All my posts related to this challenge are found under the giving thanks tag.}

30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge - Day 8

I probably should have posted about being thankful for family and friends sooner... :)

It goes without saying, but I am thankful for them, and thankful that many of them enjoy relaxing with a nice glass of wine.

I'm also thankful for you, my new friends in the blogging community. Thank you for stopping by my site and leaving comments and words of encouragement about my garden. And thank you for having blogs too, so I can see your beautiful pictures, get gardening tips, and get inspiration for things I want to try in my own garden!

{I'm linking up with The Whimsical Gardener's 30 Day Challenge to post about something you're thankful for every day. I'm not able to post every day, so sometimes I'm combining days. All my posts related to this challenge are found under the giving thanks tag.}

30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge - Days 6 - 7

Today I'm thankful for this year's good kitchen garden harvest. Over the weekend we picked the last pint of green beans, and we're still collecting bell and cherry peppers.

I'm also thankful for our highly productive pepper plants. I confess that they suffered a few days of neglect here and there, but they thrived anyway. It's a lesson that plants are often tougher than I think.

{I'm linking up with The Whimsical Gardener's 30 Day Challenge to post about something you're thankful for every day. I'm not able to post every day, so I'm combining days. All my posts related to this challenge are found under the giving thanks tag}

30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge - Days 2 - 5

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." - Albert Camus

Once again I'm linking up with The Whimsical Gardener's 30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge (albeit a few days behind, so I'm combining days).  I'm thankful that I live in a part of the country that experiences the four seasons. Autumn is my favorite season. As much as I love seeing color in my summer garden, nothing rivals the bright reds, yellows, and oranges of the changing leaves. I love the quote above by Albert Camus--autumn really is like a second spring!

{picture of Walden Pond in autumn via New England Travel Planner}

I always associate autumn with New England. I lived in Boston for a few years when I was in school, and autumn there is beautiful--the colors just seem more vibrant than they are here in DC. When I lived there, I made a few trips to Walden Pond in Concord, MA, where Henry David Thoreau lived for a couple of years, and his experience was the inspiration for the book Walden. Although this park gets a lot of warm weather visitors, to me it is synonymous with the peace and tranquility of autumn, when everything starts to slow down a bit and you can appreciate nature from a different perspective.

I'm thankful for moments like this. In the technological world we live in, it's nice that there are still places to go where you can remove yourself from everything except nature, whether that's at a park or in your own garden.

{top picture: Thoreau's house on Walden Pond; bottom picture: view of Walden Pond from his house, both via New England Travel Planner}

I'm also thankful that I was able to visit Walden Pond, a place that I had read about and wondered about when I was younger, and I'm thankful that I've had the opportunity to live in many different places (though I don't miss New England winters!)

{p.s. For any literature/trivia buffs, Louisa May Alcott knew Thoreau and wrote Little Women while living in Concord}

30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge - Day 1

When I read that Cat of The Whimsical Gardener was beginning a 30 Days of Thanksgiving challenge, I thought this would be a perfect way to slow down and count my blessings this season. I'm starting late, and don't know if I can post every day, or always post about the garden, but I shall try my best. [Here's Cat's original post about the challenge and what inspired her to do it. ]

Today I'm thankful for my pets, my two cats, Pickles and Cleo. They are not skittish hide-under-the-bed cats. They are good little companions who follow us from room to room, hang out with us while we watch TV, and Pickles likes to join me outside in the garden. He sits on the deck, either directly in the sun or hiding among plants to better watch the birds. He is content to sit peacefully outside, observing. 

I am thankful that my Pickles and Cleo are healthy. I am also thankful for veterinarians who take care of the non-human loves of our life. I'm thankful for all the people who go to rescue groups or shelters and adopt dogs, cats, rabbits, lizards, etc., and I'm especially thankful to anyone who simply shows a little kindness to the smallest of Earth's creatures.