Homegrown Salad Bar

There are a lot of things to love about living on a farm, but eating your own, homegrown organic salad just picked from the garden is undoubtably one of the best. Weeks ago, my sons and I carefully counted out seeds, dropping them one by one into neat rows and dusting them with rich, black dirt. Day after day, we watered and weeded for just this glorious moment. About five dollars worth of organic green mix on our table tonight, tomorrow night and the next and the next. We keep picking and it keeps growing. In this age of supermarket salad bars, this feels like a miracle. We don’t miss the buzzing fluoresence or the oversized, indifferent walls. Our salad bar is flanked by large green trees and lit by God’s bright orange sun. We pick our greens, toss them in a bowl and give thanks.

Writing with Kids

If I neglect my children to write all morning and they interrupt but also edit my poem and compose one ad libitum, it’s not neglect, right? I can call that education, can’t I? G corrected my subject-verb (dis)agreement and D instructed, “Mom, write this.”

Dirt Bikes
By D (my 6yo)

Dirt bikes crash onto hills
while the sweaty wind blows
the leaves into their faces.

The finish line is 10 miles away
and the iguanas are swishing
by the dirt bike road.

The rabbits are hopping along
the pond you jump over;
it’s a little deep.

The rocks are bumpy,
thump, thump, thump.

He says it’s a work in progress. I assured him we are all works in progress.

Writing and Chocolate

GAAAD!

I finally create my writing space and it’s GREAT! In fact, it’s so great that now the kids want to hang out there, too. With me. While I’m writing.

Every few minutes, or less, one will ask me to read aloud. So, I did what any good teacher would do: I bribed them with chocolate. Granted, it was healthy, homemade Raw, Vegan, Gluten-Free Chocolate, but still. Tomorrow’s lesson: Boundaries.

Recipe for Good, Medicinal Chocolate

1 cup raw cacao powder

1 cup virgin (or extra virgin) coconut oil (or only 1/2 cup + 1/2 cup coconut butter)

1/3 (or more to taste) cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

Melt the oil. Add the cacao powder. Stir in the syrup. Add vanilla and salt. Refrigerate. Eat in about 30 minutes. Voila!