Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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random farm updates

Hello again, and happy Thursday! Or happy whatever day you are reading this. Thank you so much for dropping in here. Lots is happening at the farm, and I feel like getting it all out.

the rose of sharon are blooming and the skies are churning...xoxo
The Rose of Sharon are blooming and the skies are churning…xoxo

The seasons are changing, then changing again, and basically keeping us guessing. Oklahoma is probably past tornado season but still dealing with torrential rains and flooding. The temperatures are nice and summery, though, so overall our gardens look amazing.

Volunteer squash. Yay!!
Volunteer squash. Yay!!

Except the east facing flower border. Some shrubs have overgrown, and three others (my red tipped photinas) have contracted a disease that made it necessary to remove them. Jeep-jeep to the rescue! I have big, colorful ideas for the newly wide open soil here.

jeep pull

I still do not have any honeybees to replace the hives that last season fell under attack from hive beetles, but that’s really my fault. Or at least, it’s a consequence of consciously prioritizing farm projects. The good news is that we still have scads of honeybees in the vicinity, and they visit us daily. I see them in the vitex (chaste tree), in the vegetable beds, flowers, fruit trees, everywhere. Chances are that the forest next door has several wild swarms practically begging for me to get my act together and catch them. It’s just a matter of time or the ability to clone myself.

Speaking of fruit trees, the plums are numerous and ripening slowly. I am so happy about this! At my childhood home in Oklahoma City my Mom grew a plum tree in our front yard, and I was unreasonably proud of it. Not that I had anything to do with it; it just made me happy. So petite and healthy, so beautiful and productive. I thought my mom was magic to be able to grow plums like that. So seeing my own plum tree now heavy with green and nearly purple fruit, silken and firm, it’s pretty thrilling. One of my apple trees, though, is suffering from some rain-related copper-colored fungus. Not the end of the world, but I will have to do something about that if and when the sun ever comes out for good.

The hens are still providing us with up to ten fresh, heavy eggs per day. Sometimes they lay in the barn, which is fun to discover, either in a hay nest or behind one of Handsome’s tool boxes. Our fridge is always full of eggs, and I’ve been selling them locally too. To me this is pure luxury. I eat eggs anytime I want, which is all day long; we sell enough eggs to continue feeding the flock; and everyone is happy. Except maybe the liquid chickens who are so delicious. : )

My sweet little sewing and embroidery machine has been putting in some good hours, exploring new patterns and fun fabric combinations. I am slowly but surely spending up our abundant scrap supply. Okay that’s not true. It’s unlikely we will every be empty of fabric scraps here. But the dent is noticeable, and it’s sure fun. I’m selling various little kitchen accessories, too, so drop me a line if you’re interested.

ruffled, appliqued, & embroidered dish towels, each one unique, $9
Ruffled, appliqued, & embroidered dish towels, each one unique and slightly weird, $9
Don't fold it. Don't stir it. Don't blend it. WHIP IT. Whip it good. This is the beginning of an apron and towel set for a new bride. : ) 3-piece set for $25.
Don’t fold it. Don’t stir it. Don’t blend it. WHIP IT. Whip it good. This is the beginning of an apron and towel set for a new bride. : ) 3-pieces total for $25.

Basil, you guys. The basil is coming.

I just… I just don’t have enough words. I have recently enjoyed two meals with little specks of it on top, and I just know that with a few days of good, baking heat every bed where the fragrant sprouts are growing will explode with the beautiful stuff. Pesto is about to be a reality.

When is National Basil Day? There’s a designated calendar event for every other food in the world. Not basil? The King, nay, the Emperor of herbs? Somebody make a phone call. Handsome! Send a terse email. Let’s make this happen.

Look out, Spaghetti Sunday. I'm coming for ya.
Look out, Spaghetti Sunday. I’m coming for ya.

Book club gathered last week and I took some strawberry-oatmeal cookies. They were so legit. It was kind of a mash up of a few different recipes, so I will try to share that soon. Strawberries are so abundant right now! Fat of the Land, and all, Barbara Kingsolver would be proud.

strawberry cookie

I’ve been staying really active fitness-wise, just not running so much as before. Hence, no “Marathon Monday” posts lately. But that’s about to change because I crave it again, hard. In the two months or so since the marathon I have been doing more weights and Jillian Michaels videos, plus gobs of time on the elliptical and just running maybe twice per week. It’s been really nice to enjoy some variety in working out. I have noticed my stress levels drop significantly, and I am also down ten pounds. Yay!

Let’s see… Let’s see… What else?

Anything else new here?

We did make an addition to our farm family. Our farmily as Honey Rock Dawn might say.

Only the cutest, sweetest, smartest puppy in the WORLD!

knlaus day 2

But I bet you don’t want to hear all about Klaus the Wonder Pup,
The Most Perfect-Amazing-German-Shepherd-Baby-Genius ever born.

Do you?

I didn’t think so. I’ll save those scrumptious details for a whole new post. Soon. Right now I need to go cuddle him and sniff the basil.

Happiest possible Thursday! Or whatever day you are reading this! Okies, don’t float away!

Life is so good.
Over and out.
XOXO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

peace returned, power never diminished

I woke up in the middle of the night shaken from a series of difficult dreams and instantly aware of some real life problems weighing heavily on my heart and mind. I was almost panting from the sudden onslaught, my eyes torn open, my stomach queasy, and every muscle in my body tense. Rather than lay there wrestling myself back into sleep and trying once more to sort out my thoughts (focusing on my worries lately seems to strengthen them), I stood up. Slipped out of our spacious upstairs bedroom with some comfortable clothes and my rolled up purple yoga mat. Tiptoed downstairs, got dressed and gathered my hair into a loose bun, and began. For half an hour I enjoyed stretching, breathing, twisting, holding, stretching and breathing more, and gradually returning my thoughts and facial expression to a place of peace and calm. My forehead and jaw relaxed. My smile felt easy again. My shoulders could drop back. And one by one, healthier, more life giving thoughts clicked back into position, simply and quietly, just as if they had been misplaced for a moment. An error easily corrected. Recoverable. Forgivable.

Almost four-thirty now. I feel like half of a new person. Hungry to keep this moment alive and this feeling going.

So I clicked on the coffee maker, snuggled Fast Woman and accepted her enthusiastic leg twirls, and took my favorite green notebook outside for a Senses Inventory. While the coffee brewed in the kitchen, I walked around taking stock of the midnight beauty outside in our south lawn. It was dark of course, but the longer I stayed (this time Geoffrey the gray and white barn cat was offering enthusiastic leg twirls), the more I could see. And the more deeply I breathed in the cool, clean air, the better I felt. It was magical.

The moon was particularly stunning. Not huge like it would have been on the horizon at dusk. No longer perfectly full or colored anything noteworthy according to the almanac. It was just so strong and heavy. Metallic. Constant. Suspended there above the south edge of our property, lending glimmering edges to everything around me, the very same moon we all have been watching for eons. And I couldn’t get enough.

I eventually finished my Senses Inventory, sat down, and put my notebook next to me on the iron bench. Geoffrey sprang up into my lap, purring, his fluffy tail swishing against my face. I felt like myself again, strong against the worries and difficult dreams that woke me an hour ago. Resilient against circumstances and people beyond my control. I felt very much at peace with and in control of my own small but expanding universe, which is my heart.

 

from Everyday Tao: Living With Balance and Harmony
from Everyday Tao: Living With Balance and Harmony

They say that these couple of hours between midnight and dawn are sacred. That this quiet time when the earth is asleep and gathering her energy again for the new day, that this is when we can tap into something rare and powerful, a meditative time of day when our hearts and minds are more susceptible to change and inspiration. Renewal. Communication with Love.

I experienced that again early this morning. The longer I sat there in the moon shadows the more firmly rooted I felt in my heart. Buoyant, light, and strong. Freed from anger and bitterness in a way that articulated for me what was wrong in the first place. Answers actually came.

Love always welcomes us back. A return to peace is always possible. For this I am so grateful.

Love is All You Need
XOXOXOXO

marathon monday: what’s your worst outfit?

One day last week I finished up a hectic afternoon of running errands by stopping at that one-mile loop track that’s sort of near the farm. I sprinted for three sweaty, desperate miles, making eye contact with nobody, then hurried back to my Jeep and made a beeline for home. Once there I kissed my husband, who was working on his Camaro and thankfully didn’t need a lot of eye contact, then made a second beeline to the shower and then my closet for fresh clothes. I’m not always in such a hurry to shed my running layers, but on this day my running layers were embarrassing.

I was wearing third-day, baggy yoga pants, full length ones with wide bottom legs that went swish-swash with every stride. Also the kind with a wide elastic flap at your hips that when flipped over reveals a super classy word, etched in sequins. Totally appropriate for a woman my age. Oh, but I tend to wear these pants wrong side out because I hate the way those sequins feel against the small of my back if that flap flips up. Which it often does. So, third-day, baggy, wrong-side-out yoga pants with bell bottoms that could start a campfire.

I was also wearing a lavender-colored stretch cotton pajama top, some ill-fitting Winnie the Pooh number from I cannot fathom what chapter of life (it looks like a maternity top but isn’t), and my husband’s athletic socks. Picture, if you will, the heel contour landing somewhere north of my ankle and near my calf muscle. Not that you could see that. On account of my super classy yoga pants.

I looked less like a runner and more like a person who had just awoken from a coma that had started long ago, while nursing a baby during a Britney Spears video.

My only semblance of normalcy was that pair of new blue and turquoise Brooks that still looked pretty fresh. Those shoes alone carried all the heavy burden of making me look like a legit runner at the track that day. Apparently I care about this now.

shoes

Why such shoddy attire? Because I hadn’t done laundry in several days. So all my workout gear was used up. Nor had I showered very recently.

These were facts of life because our septic tank was near capacity.

This was because Oklahoma has been enjoying a deluge of steady rainfall for weeks now.

Our water table is full. Our well is full. Our pond is full. And so, as things go, is our septic tank. Or at least it was last week, and I was exercising an abundance of caution. Trust me: not showering and not doing laundry is not my thing.

Anyway, the next time you see a badly dressed person at the running track, resist judgement and assume that he or she has a good reason for it. Things happen.

After all, color-coordinated spandex and witty racer back tees are for the drought.

The End.
XOXO

 

 

 

 

yet another kale salad & some recipe reviews

Howdy! And thanks for checking in again! It’s Tuesday, so let’s see what’s up in the Lazy W kitchen.

What we’re eating a lot of these days: EGGS. So many eggs, in so many wonderful incarnations. The hens are laying maniacs this week! Yesterday I collected 22. That’s a lot for us. So we are compelled to find more and more ways to eat our weight in these little nutritious miracles. Fried, hard-boiled, cheesy breakfast sandwiches, mushroom omelettes, Quiche, eggs cooked hot and runny over kale, you name it. Liquid chickens are on the menu! Handsome may or may not be getting tired of this.

Speaking of kale, I am still eating lots of that, too. Although, and maybe you’ve noticed this yourself, the grocery store offerings are starting to taste a little drab and bitter as the season progresses. So I’m relying more heavily on what the raised beds provide. Fresh baby kale to the rescue!! Last night I found a bunch and a half of not great grocery store kale in the refrigerator plus half a bag of languishing clementines. (How long have we had those?) Together these two nearly expired food stuffs comprised a really delicious salad base.

kale citrus 1

kale citrus 2

Try this salad:

As always, just wash the kale, remove the “bones” (do any other veggies have bones?), slice it up really skinny, and massage those kale ruffles with just 2 teaspoons of your fave olive oil. Toss all of that with freshly squeezed clementine juice then some black pepper and sea salt. Add a plain roasted sweet potato and chicken breast if you want. The clementines made it all much sweeter than normal, a great flavor combination with the roasted sweet potato. Do you like those salads with chicken and strawberries? Not at all unlike that deliciousness. And supremely filling.

bowl 1

bowl 2

 

Okay, now on to a few recipe experiments and reviews of each:

Bacon-Cheddar Scones: I made this recipe, with a few minor tweaks, for my Mom for Mother’s Day. She is taking her diabetes and health very seriously, yay Mom! So I feel guilty loading her up with desserts no matter the special occasion. A double-protein treat seemed better. (I used oven-cooked bacon instead of ham, by the way.) She really seemed to liked these, so this recipe is a keeper. Sometimes don’t you crave a dense, buttery scone instead of a more delicate pastry? I do. So on a special brunch day I’ll make it for us here at the farm. Bacon and cheddar scones. Oh, quick tip! Freeze your stick of butter at least partially then grate it into your dry ingredients, and don’t overdo it with the mixing!

Turkey Burgers: I was a huge fan of this recipe, but Handsome was decidedly not. No offense to the recipe itself; the ground turkey is just not a texture he could handle. He barely gagged down half of his, so we won’t be sharing this meal again. Like, ever. But since I have more ground turkey in the freezer, I’ll make a batch of these for myself once in a while, only with less dark mustard next time. Also, in the spirit of use what you have, I added a little shredded mozzarella instead of fancy cheese. Plenty good enough for a weeknight or for a healthy lunch. Turkey Burgers

Roasted Garlic Humus: Okay, this recipe we agreed was wonderful. This is good news, too, because a craving for humus was the main reason I spent $10 on a jar of tahini. (Yikes!) Next time for the sake of my husband’s stomach health I’ll use less (or zero) roasted garlic, and eventually I’ll invest in a food processor. My trusty blender did an okay job of destroying the tender beans, but the finished product was slightly chunkier than I would expect humus to be. Overall, easy and so good! Really good with whole wheat pita bread and celery. Roasted Garlic Humus

Iron Skillet Focaccia: Oh man, friends, I am a sucker for good focaccia. It has got to be the loveliest of all homemade breads, right? Especially with fresh rosemary, some olive oil, maybe a splash of vinegar. Or nothing at all! It’s so good naked, and the whole baking process imparts a cozy sexiness to your home. But sometimes the day is too full and the kitchen counter is too crowded for rolling out the heavy dough, kneading it, allowing it to rise seven million times, etcetera. I mean… Those things are satisfying and worthwhile, just not always possible. Well, I happened upon this recipe last week on just such a day and was thrilled with the results! We don’t eat bread much these days, so when we do I want it to be pretty gangbusters. This was a success. Try it. You will not be sad. Easy No Knead Skillet Bread

focaccia

Okay that’s it for now! I’m reading my way into an appetite for food by Elizabeth David, but that’s for another day. Tell me something you have tried cooking lately. I’d love to hear. Over and out!

“Calvin: Why are you crying mom?
Mom: I’m cutting up an onion.
Calvin: It must be hard to cook if you anthrpomorphisize your vegetables.” *
~Bill Watterson, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
XOXOXOXO

 

*LOL

rainy saturday reading links

Happy Saturday! If you are anywhere close to our neck of the woods, then you are probably spending a lot of today indoors. Again. Oklahoma is hunkered down beneath one deluge after another, and we’re not mad. We’re soggy, but we’re not mad. The years-long drought is becoming a distant memory, so it’s okay. In case you’re sitting around open to errant reading material, here is a Literary Saturday offering by yours truly. I hope you enjoy.

full rainbow

I’m not the only woman dealing with body comparison fatigue, and apparently it happens a lot after a tough race. Gina (The Fitnessista) wrote about it here and really has some smart insight. I like how she zeroes in on the negative affects of comparison but also the benefits. Give it a whirl. Monica also touched on the topic here, and if you must know, her feelings are so close to mine about being a runner but not feeling like you look like one. Finally, Lora just ran a really successful Boston Marathon and is glowing! Boston, you guys! And her time was amazing. But still she is struggling with body image/weight loss issues within her own heart, and she shares a lot of that right here. My heart absolutely goes out to this young woman. I tell ya, it all messes with my head, so I’m so grateful for these beautiful ladies exposing their feelings so I feel less alone and maybe reconsider my approach/attitude.

This statue in New Orleans never changes, of course. Every year I look different next to him. LOL Suck it in lady!! haha
This statue in New Orleans never changes, of course. Every year I look different next to him. LOL Suck it in lady!! haha

Along a sunnier vein, here is a sweet, simple article by the Huffington Post about the Keys to Happiness. I also watched a not too long Ted talk this week that was very thought provoking. It asked whether life events can really affect our happiness past about six months. The speaker asserted that the seemingly huge life events we experience, whether we perceive them as amazing or disastrous, only affect our current happiness level for a few months. After that, our happiness is a matter of our own perception or determination of life. Really interesting! What do you think?

It’s Mother’s Day weekend, and Ann Voskamp is doing anything but making it easy for us. Her words are the gritty, nourishing antidote to all the flowers, pedicures, and desserts about to happen. I was shamed to read How to be a Revolutionary Mother, but also deeply inspired. We have seen so many miracles in our family, and I have this feeling that we are about to see more. My faith in God’s goodness and power is really strong, but as a mother I also have my part to play. I’m ready.

Bon Appetit is courting me hard with this article about pesto. This same magazine first suggested the idea a few years ago, that pesto doesn’t have to be just basil and pine nuts; they seduced me with ideas involving carrot tops. Now they are really branching out, and I groove it. I groove it so hard. I even spent $10 on a jar of tahini with big plans to make all the things.

Sandy, The Reluctant (and wonderful!) Entertainer writes something lovely almost every day. But in this particular post, well, she just gets me. “What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.” YES! This is scary true. And I often get lost just drooling over her party photos and recipes, so be warned. The RE website is brimming with goodness.

Positive-Quotes

This story just popped up on my news feed today, and it’s so refreshing! Read it and see if this young woman, an art director, doesn’t remind you a little of Albert Einstein. I think her message is brilliant. For the record, my daily uniform around the farm is: Skinny jeans with either a tank top or a 3/4 length sleeve top. Messy bun. Bare feet or flip flops. Two necklaces at least.

Okay, now I am signing off to do some book reading and maybe cuddle up with Handsome for movies. There’s only so much time we can spend fawning over the new baby chicks, after all. Wishing you and yours a dry enough and very happy weekend!

XOXOXOXO