Fish Creek, WI.
What a busy month! Ever feel like vacation takes more out of you, and you need a vacation after vacation? I’ll skip the sob story of how much non-stop fun we’ve been having and tell you in a more neatly compiled list.
Wisconsin- So we’re back. After a long baby-crying/mommy-crying car ride, we’ve arrived back in Sheboygan. I did not pack as many sweaters or jeans as I should have, but the weather seems to be warming up, and it looks like I get another month of spring. The farmers markets start June 7th, and I can’t wait to see familiar faces, and get back to cooking all day! I am also excited to give Oliver some much needed Grandparent time!
Foraging- Foraging is the concept of searching and harvesting wild food. Of course what you find will always vary on where you live, and what season it is. For a lovely Wisconsin spring day we hope to find fiddlehead ferns, asparagus, ramps, and morel mushrooms. We scored a ton of ramps, which we are going to try to pickle the bulbs, and dehydrate the leaves. Maybe we can launch a raw ramp ranch dressing at the farmers market! Erik scored a couple stalks of asparagus which Oliver used as a new teething toy. If you’ve never tried to forage, I highly recommend it. It is so much fun searching around, and you will discover things you never thought to pay attention to before. Nature is so wonderful! I have also been seeing a ton of beautiful recipes for tempura dandelions, as well as dandelion french toast. So pretty.
Ramp crazed.
The end of my ‘no-poo’- I was under the impression that everyone had heard of this by now. To my surprise, almost no one I talked with about this understood what it meant! A few months back, my hair started thinning after Oliver was born. I knew it was coming, but I had no idea how much I would be losing. For me, it was quite traumatic. If you had just passed me on the street, I’m sure you wouldn’t notice. I am not one to oversaturate any part of my body with too much product (even the organics) so I thought this was the perfect time to try out the no-poo method.
The no-poo theory consists of washing your hair with a baking soda solution, and rinsing with an apple cider vinegar solution. Sounds so easy right? I gave it a solid 3 months before I came crawling back to my Jason hair products. I missed the lather, I missed the smell, and I felt as though it wasn’t aiding any of my hair thinning. I was still wearing my hair back everyday. So I quit. I am still thinking about making my own shampoo.
Angel Olson- If you have never listened to the sound of her voice, stop everything and watch the video below. She reminds me a bit of Karen Dalton: unique voice, and very old-timey sounding. I don’t know bout y’all but I am so so SO over the girly girl voice these days. She has a new album out, and is touring at this very moment. Major girl crush…. nuff said.
Eating Animals- Another great book by Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals has been said to convert long time vegetarians to vegan activists. Not that yours truly needed any convincing, but every now and then it’s good to reassure your beliefs, and remember why you hold them so dear. His perspective on how our culture regards certain animals with greater importance than others is unique and thought provoking; the same people who wouldn’t flinch at eating a burger would cringe at the thought of devouring their dog and vice versa. I highly recommend this book to everyone, not just my fellow veg-heads.
You Are Your Childs First Teacher- I wish this book was longer. Or rather I wished Rahima Dancy wrote a follow up into the teen years. Its so great that every time I try to reference anything out of it, I end reading so much more than planned. I grow closer to trying to raise Oliver in a modified Waldorf fashion, and this book goes over so many great natural techniques to develop with our children. When I put the book down, I feel a little more assured of my parenting.
Indiana Jones- To be more specific, we watched the first of the series, Raiders of the Lost Ark. How in the world has my husband existed 30 years on this planet without seeing any Indie Jones movies! I can’t say I know what it was that attracted me so much to them as a child. Perhaps the tom-boy inside wanting to take down the bad guys while discovering historic relics. Or maybe it was Harrison Ford. George Lucas no doubt was ahead of his time. It was great to see the action, the romance, and of course, laugh at the gory death scenes. The classics never get old.
That was my month! How was yours?