2 posts tagged “garden”

One thing I've learned to do since moving to northeast Iowa is to really.....really....appreciate spring.  After a hellish winter of brutal cold, endless inches (feet) of snow and wind that'll rip the skin off your face, a 60 degree day seems like a day in paradise. 

Yesterday was amazing.  The sun was shining, just a light breeze and really warm.  Birds were everywhere - most seemed to like the small brush piles in our year and kept busy taking small twigs for their nests.  A few robins waited by the edge of our vegetable garden plot and grabbed at worms and grubs.

About the garden plot - Mark and I decided that it was now or never to get our vegetable garden plot prepared.  Being folks with few garden tools and even less money to buy them, I supervised while Mark dug the sod up from a 12 x 20 foot plot in our backyard.  It took all day but now we have the beginnings of what I hope to be a productive source of healthy food. 

I've made some serious changes in how I shop and what we eat.  I've done this before but this time I feel very committed to making a lifelong change.  I've had several high school classmates die in the last year and it's made me very aware of my age and my health and the need to control what I can to stay healthy. 

I took a look at what we were eating and began to eliminate what wasn't nutritious, like white flour, sugar and chemicals.  I'm trying to limit our intake of starches like white rice, potatoes and pasta and concentrating on cooking lots of fresh vegetables.  Meat has become a side dish and I try to buy only lean meat and fish.  It's a little difficult because our meat department is made up of predominantly pork, but that's what happens in the #1 state for pork production.

I've found that now I rarely shop in the "middle" of the store - the place where the processed food is kept.  No more mac & cheese, Tuna Helper,  Rice-a-Roni", thing I'd cook when I was too lazy to put thought into what I was feeding my family.  My grocery list is full of fruits and vegetables and we're eating fantastic salads.  The best thing that's happened so far is that we're losing weight.  I'm down almost a full size and have lost 12 pounds.  I'm amazed at how easy weight loss has been when I don't "diet" but eat healthy food.  

So, back to spring.  We'll be outside again today, finishing up the veggie garden and digging some new flower beds.  I'm going to get out the Weber and cook some Beer Can Chicken for dinner.  It  should be a good day.

Serves 6.

Chicken sits on a can of beer for 2 hours in this dish from barbecue expert Steven Raichlen. (BBQ University)

1 whole chicken (4 to 5 pounds)

3 tablespoons of dry barbecue rub

1 can (12 ounces) beer, with 6 holes punched in the top of the can

1. Remove the pockets of fat inside the chicken cavity. Rinse and dry the chicken. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of rub inside the bird, 1 tablespoon rub all over the skin. Use half the remaining rub to sprinkle between the skin and flesh.

2. Light a charcoal fire using the indirect cooking method: Set the charcoal around the sides of the grill. Set a foil .

I've been gone for awhile, severely neglecting my blog.  I do that sometimes, just check out and disappear.  I get depressed when I'm stressed and in emotional overload. I think I'm emerging from that, but who knows for sure.

I'm still working for the Obama Iowa campaign, although things have slowed down. We had our County Convention a few weeks ago and did really well.  We ended up with 7 delegates to send to the District and State Conventions. Iowa's final tally of national delegates will be decided at that point.  I'm looking forward to the conventions, sort of as a way to have seen this campaign to  through from beginning to end.  It's been an interesting journey and I've learned a lot about the political process.  I was also elected to a 2 year term as Secretary of our County Democratic Central Committee. Ah, the life  of a politics junkie!

My son has been very ill for the past couple of months.   His bipolar disorder has developed some psychotic overtones, both visual and delusional and this has caused his anxiety and panic attacks to escalate.  We had to have him hospitalized for 11 days, which was really hard on us all, and he came home on Monday.  Things weren't much better.

Fortunately, his case worker was able to find a small apartment designed for mentally ill adults where he can live and get some help.He's independent in that he can come and go as he pleases, bu he's required to follow a treatment plan that includes learning independent living skills and learning how to live with a chronic mental illness.

Another major stressor has been helping my mother deal with my father's recently diagnosed Alzheimer's diagnoses.   We're separated by 1000 miles  but there isn't any other family to help out.  I do what I can, such as researching support groups and preparing the various powers of attorneys. l know I'll eventually have to fly back to Virginia to tackle the hard stuff when Mom can't handle things on her own any longer.  I have a feeling I'll be there in the summer.

Now my focus has to be on finding a job, since I've been unemployed since the beginning of  October.  That's where living  in a  rural  location  is a disadvantage. Unless I  want to work on a farm, in a manufacturer plant or as a housekeeper at the nursing home, I'm out of luck.  Office jobs that I'm qualified for (manager, admin. assistant and the like) are non-existent.  The ones that exist are taken by women who'll retire from them.  No one leaves! I'm trying to think of something I can do from home.

And winter just may be over, but I may have jinxed it by saying that!  I can finally see my wet, soggy lawn and a few plants are coming up.  My vegetable garden is planned and should be able to plant by the end of May.  I'm going to attempt a technique called "square foot gardening" which is supposed to increase the yield in a much smaller area.   I'll probably end up selling my bounty at the local farmer's market...but this unemployed person could use the income.

Depressing things to write about, but isn't what life is like?  I'm a natural pessimist anyway and I like Ben Franklin's outlook. To paraphrase. I'm a pessimist so that when things go good, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Katie at the Waverly Horse Auction
My cat friends, Chloe and Willie
Snow - I won't miss this!
This is what it took to get rid of the 8" of ice in our driveway.

And what I'm looking forward to....

Garden