Third Thursday Farm Day: Tomato Fest at Need More Acres

Last night, before all the storms rolled in, we spent the evening at the Heirloom Tomato Fest at Need More Acres. We had so much fun and it's so nice to have events like this and all the other Third Thursday Farm Days that bring the community closer together.

The Howell family opened up their home to lots and lots of people. They even let the community paint a huge mural on the side of their barn!

Seth and Bryan painted part of a tomato.

 

There was a silent action with beautiful artwork with proceeds benefiting the Howell family's work with Global Water Issues.

Of course, I was drawn to the chickens and I thought it was very fitting for them to be munching on a big pile of tomato scraps.

There was lots of local food. Home Cafe and several Community Farmer's Market vendors like Hillbilly Grillers, Meltdown, Borderland Farms, and Esters Baked Goods had samples of food to try. We tried our best to stick to only Paleo foods, but we couldn't resist trying a sample of ice cream.

Seth had a big time playing at the kid's table and on the swing set while Bryan was learning all about how to grow food more efficiently from Nathan Howell.

 

 Since it was a tomato fest, we got to try lots of varieties of heirloom tomatoes. 

They were very yummy!

It was such a delightful evening!

Yes I "Can"

I have been wanting to learn how to can for almost two years. Fear of the unknown kept me from trying, but today I conquered my fear and fulfilled a new year's resolution. I made a big batch of Easy Heirloom Tomato Marinara (from all local or homegrown ingredients) and canned four jars of it. (I did add a bit of lemon juice to each jar before adding the marinara.) I froze the rest. I didn't want to get overly ambitious since it was my first time canning. 

Things went from this ...

 to this...

 to this in an afternoon.

Of course, I made a huge mess of things in the kitchen and I learned that there are some valuable tools that are very much needed for canning. Before my next canning endeavor I will be picking up some tongs for sure. A water bath canner (I used a very large pot) and funnel would also be very helpful. But, I am feeling good about trying my hand at canning other things now. I think I just needed to break the ice.

Tillery Tot School: Letter Z

We made it through the entire alphabet! I started Tot School with Seth just after he turned two. I'm proud of all that he has learned so far. 

This past week we learned about the letter "Z." 

Here's a look at our Tot School board:

We drew zebra stripes on our letters this week.

 

We made a zebra using some black foam, some wiggly eyes, and a paper plate.

 We practiced drawing zig zags.

  

We made a zoo using some animal stickers. We wrapped yarn around the Styrofoam tray to make it look more like a zoo. (You can see a finished version on the Tot School board above.)

 

We relied on these three books this week: I Can Zip, Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire, and Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathman.

 

We made a zebra using the letter Z.

We also made a zipper using the letter Z.

 

I've been asked by several people what we will do next now that we are finished with all of the letters. To be honest, I am not really sure yet. I know we will continue learning, but for the next few weeks it might be a little more unstructured. 

 So stay tuned...

Local Bounty: Beautiful Food

It's been more than two years since I posted a Local Bounty post. I'm not really sure why since the majority of our food is now purchased locally from the Farmers' Market or local farms. Here's a look at some of the beautiful food we purchased this week:

Tigger Melons (they taste similar to a cantaloupe)

 tiny eggplant

(from Caneyville Gardens)

 colorful peppers

(from Caneyville Gardens)

 delicious heirloom tomatoes 

(from Need More Acres)

 a ripe watermelon

(from Crooked Creek Farm)

 and purple cabbage

 that came in a CSA box from Need More Acres

Not only is local food beautiful, it tastes better too!

A Very Bad Burn

1 piping hot cup of tea + 1 very curious baby = one very bad burn

Silas pulled a cup of hot tea onto himself last night around 7. It was on a side table just inches away from Bryan, but Silas was too quick. Screams erupted. We stripped him of his clothes and got him into a cool bath within seconds. Bryan called the pediatric helpline and within minutes we got to talk to our pediatrician because thankfully he was on call. He recommended we come to the ER so within 20 minutes of the accident we were getting examined. Burns on babies can be more complicated so it was recommended that we go to the burn center at Vanderbilt. After struggling to get an IV started and waiting for an ambulance, we finally headed to Nashville around 10:30. I rode in the ambulance with Silas, and Bryan and Seth followed. With a drop-off to Nana in Nashville, Seth got to return home, but our night was just getting started. After the fastest trip to Nashville I have ever experienced, we made our way to the burn center at Vanderbilt. Silas had his burns to the chest treated and bandaged in the hydrotherapy room. Thankfully, from their first assessment, his second degree burns weren't very bad. Silas finally settled down to sleep around 1 and we tried to get some rest in the most uncomfortable chairs in the world.

 

This morning we got to see the burn specialist and after another round in the hydrotherapy room (this time with bubbles and toys and music just to make it easier on kids) we got the OK to go home.

Silas has done phenomenally well. Besides being completely bandaged you wouldn't know anything happened to him.

 

He was a hit with all the nurses and one of the nurses actually asked to take him up and down the hall to share with the other nurses. He was definitely spoiled during his hospital stay. We go back in a week to make sure everything is healing as it should and we have to clean and bandage his burns everyday until then.
I'm not sure Bryan will ever make a hot drink again, because this has been pretty devastating to him. Accidents happen, but it's so hard when it's your baby.  I just pray that we never have to repeat the last 24 hours ever again.

Adding to our Flock

This whole chicken raising thing is pretty discouraging right now. With the loss of two chickens, we decided that we needed to order more from a different hatchery that allowed shipments of less than 5. All of our egg calculations were based on four chickens and it just wasn't going to be cost efficient to have only three. So we ordered three more last Friday. We ordered two Black Australorps and one Easter Egger. We had to have a minimum order of three so we chose the Australorps for their high production quality/friendliness and the Easter Egger just for fun (they lay pastel bluish eggs).
Today was the day they were going to arrive! I had been following the birds via their tracking number on the package, so I knew they arrived at the post office this morning. I got the call around 8 that they were ready for pick-up.

Wednesday mornings I observe pre-service teachers at The Learning Center so things are rushed around our house. I didn't have time to check on our chickens in the coop until I was heading to the car... and THERE WERE ONLY TWO. Either someone is being very mean or we have a really big snake around here. I left the house devastated.

I picked up our new batch of chicks at the post office. The man at the post office was not very encouraging. He told me it was the worst time to try to get chicks and that he hoped they were alive. He said they weren't chirping very much. Thanks, Mr. Post Office man for making me feel even worse!

The chicks were indeed chirping so I felt relieved. At home, we opened our box just like we did a little over a month ago and we saw the cutest black and yellow chicks. But there were only two! The hatchery forgot to pack the Easter Egger!

After calling the hatchery, they told me to wait until Friday to make sure the two Black Australorps survive. If they do, I can get the Easter Egger and two other chicks of my choosing sent to me with free shipping. Chicks are really cheap, but shipping them isn't, so I was thankful to hear the shipping would be free. If more chicks are sent next week that will give us 7 chickens, assuming we can keep them all safe. It sounds like a lot, but thankfully we have the square footage for them. Now it's time for some snake proofing and some possible surveillance!

Farm School for Kids

This morning we went to Farm School for Kids at Need More Acres. We had a fun time learning on their farm. Here are a few snapshots from our morning:

peeking into the chicken coop

 collecting eggs

 learning about all kinds of vegetables

 playing

 tasty snacks

  fresh picked flowers

shopping at the "vegetable store"