Oh Summer, I will miss you

I realize that I did not do a very good job posting at all this summer.  I also haven't been sewing too much either.  I was totally sew-crazy in the spring, after I finished up my first Washi (must post soon!) I kind of lost steam other than a few kids sundresses.  I know it almost sounds cliche, but we were so busy this summer!  Between me working, or having the kids alone while Greg was gone, taking vacations, camping, friends visiting, and basically fitting in every possible beach day that I could muster in a ten-week span it has felt busy, but good busy.  (And I am NOT done with beach days yet!!)  It has felt at times hectic, but mostly quite good.  Summer is definitely my favorite season.  The lakes and the ocean call to me and feed my soul, as do all the social visits and lazy family time outside, and basically just opening the windows and breathing and living OUT instead of IN.   Having a newborn two out of the last three summers I did not get to enjoy those summers to their fullest to say the least!  This summer I was itchin' to do it all.  Not that you can do it all with little kids for sure, they really do need a different rhythm than adults can handle, and we had our fair share of melt downs due to late nights, too much sun and no naps, and I did have to be sensitive to their needs.  When we did have down time I even found myself much less inclined to do any play dates so the girls could just have quiet mama time breathing IN at home.  Claire is not going to preschool this fall but she is signed up for a couple of classes, and although on a hot, humid day such as today it doesn't feel like summer is over, the cooler and shorter nights tell me it is coming, as do the scheduled music and tumbletime classes starting up soon!  I plan to get in at least one more beach day (or morning as it is really for us) and hopefully one more canning session. (Cucumber relish?)
To make up for my lapse of posts this summer here is summer smorgasboard of pictures from summer 2013! 

We rented a lake house in New Hampshire since I love lake houses!  Hopefully a new family tradition!  I read almost all of Michael Pollan's COOKED while there, and still haven't finished the last section I have left in the last two months!

Shhh! Don't wake up the baby!

Bug bites and watermelon = Summer!

Loungin' with my mom and our water baby (She's eating more watermelon!)

Somebody was a little too fearless walking in the water alone!

Camping at Crawford Notch Campground, hiking up to Arethusa Falls

Ahhh my love of water apparently extends to rivers and waterfalls

A few minutes of independent hiking

Our blackberry bush was prolific this year!  We still can't walk outside without Amelia diving towards the bushes

One mom, one toddler, one baby at Willard beach.... exhausting!  Always worth it for the two minutes I get alone (sort of) to breathe and look out on the ocean

It melts my heart to see how much she loves the beach.... who doesn't?

Getting through one our quiet days at home

Casco Bay ferry ride

Deliver me to Long Island Maine!

Loving the ferry!

We'll miss you summer of 2013!

Fermented Beets

So for everyone who has been anxiously awaiting a post all summer (or I mean my two friends who read this blog right now) I'm sorry if you're disappointed that I am posting about....... beets.  But I am just really excited about them!!   When I get excited about new things I dive in head first and have a tendency to get really into it, which may mean it sort of consumes all my thoughts and I devour books and now blogs all about it. Case in point for this summer: Lactofermentation and canning (which is for another post). 
I have dabbled in vegetable fermentation for the past couple of years with varying success, making my own sauerkraut.  It has in the past turned out.....okay, and I may have thrown a batch or two out.  Now, in 2013 all of a sudden it seems to be everywhere I look and after checking out Sandor Katz' (the fermentation guru) famous books Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation I am sooooo hooked.  With just a little bit more understanding of the process I am on a roll and am hoping to make tons of sauerkraut with farmer's market cabbage, kimchi and fermented carrots.... this weekend!  I am also reading Cooked by Michael Pollan (love) and am right smack in the middle of his chapter about his own foray into fermentation, and in his book he includes none other than..... Sandor Katz!  I love Michael Pollan, maybe too much. 
Anyway, one step at a time.  I'm not sure Greg really wants to hear me swoon anymore about the benefits of live culture food and our microbiome and intestinal health as solving all the world's problems.  I know my Dad especially could care less but that doesn't stop me from telling him about it, because he's nice and he'll listen!   (Although actually, Greg was the one who made our first real successful sauerkraut last summer that we are just finishing up in the fridge right now after HE heard Sandor Katz on Morning Edition!)  So.... after all this reading and all this talk I have made (with Greg's help)

Fermented beets!  

Nothing like a beautiful beet!

My basic process came from the above books and was this:
1. Peel and then grate our farm share beets in the food processor using the grate setting
2. Mix them in a big bowl with sea salt (I used the ratio of 5 lbs of beets to 3 tbsp salt - I did not have five full lbs of beets but did the math accordingly... or maybe Greg did) and caraway seeds
3. Pack and push and pound into a quart size mason jar, following Mr. Katz's instructions to be certain the juices (brine) covers all the beets
4. Set a weight on top of a lid (I used a smaller jar lid and put a bag of water on top of that as the weight) and put on a shelf in the basement and forget about it/taste periodically.

Yum!  They tasted good!

The beets needed more brine, so I added some salt water - a ratio of 1 tbsp sea salt to 1 cup water

Not a great photo, but basically a plastic bag filled with water on top of a smaller size ball jar lid to act as a weight to keep the beets submerged in the brine. 

After Greg and I both tasted, we were pleased with their pleasant, pickled taste!  But we decided they could ferment some more, so back to the basement for the lactobacilli to do some more work.  We'll put them in the fridge to essentially stop the fermentation, once we like the taste.  Up next... kimchi!

 

Peonies

Smelling the peonies

A delayed post for sure (I can't believe it's been two months since we went here in June!!) but I did love these pictures of Claire at the peony garden at our favorite spot near our house, the Audubon Center.