Pumpkins

There are so many pumpkins around right now, I wonder what happens post Halloween? Do the pumpkins go to waste? Do they get shipped off to pumpkin canning facilities? Do they rot and go back to being the soil from where they come?


We have a fair share of pumpkins at our house. Small ones, fortunately. Marjorie had taken the kids to a pumpkin patch along the coast just north of here a couple of weeks ago. And then Claire and Jim had a date where they also picked some more pumpkins after a delightful high tea. At any rate, we have carved them, lit them, and enjoyed their presence in our home.


Today at school the children got to decorate pumpkins using cut-up vegetables to make eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. After they woke up from nap, Claire asked to decorate our own pumpkins. Good idea, I said. That sounds like fun. Secretly, I wanted to partake in their fun at school today, but I was too embarassed to admit it (and actually had to run off to help induce a pregnant lady!). So with enthusiasm, I found some carrots, dried cranberries and zucchini from our fridge and pantry. I cut them up small enough to fit onto the pumpkins. Because we don't have toothpicks at home, I used dry spaghetti sticks as our adhering device.


The kids helped, but mostly, they watched me play while they ate the fruits and vegetables. Our fun continued with making banana bread. They actually were a big help! Claire added flour, eggs, and butter as Momo stirred. I have not tasted the end product, but it looks like a winner!

An Attempt at Halloween

Everyone in Santa Cruz is excited about the impending Halloween. Everyone except us, that is. Jim and I have never, in the many years together, celebrated Halloween. The first two years with kids, we didn't dress them up either. Too young, we thought. We would have done it for our sake, we thought. So this year, the children are about to turn three. Maybe they would be more interested, we feared.


It so happens that Halloween falls on school day this year. My fear worsened. That means they HAVE to dress up! What do I do? Where do I begin? I tried looking at some used costumes at children's stores. None appealed to me, of course. Why should they since I myself don't like the whole dressing up thing. After a few tries, I gave up. Luckily, we have a lot of friends who offered their children's costumes from previous years. I asked our friend Brenda, who has four boys, for a train conductor cap for Momo. And Julie, Jackson's Mom, offered a bumblebee costume that Jackson wore last year for Claire.

I was optimistic. Great, the kids can wear these to school next week so that they have something to talk about with their dressed up friends and teachers.


Today being Saturday, I thought perhaps we should TRY the costumes on to see if they really fit. After a few times of asking, and getting the answer "no, Mommy, I don't want to wear that, " I decided to bribe them. The truth is, I actually wanted to SEE them in these silly costumes since we had them at home. They probably would look cute. So I told Claire that I would give her a gift if she put it on. Mean, wasn't I. She bought it. She put it on! But for a mere one minute, just long enough for me to take photos of her trying to take it off (can't you see the look of the unhappy bumblebee in the photos?). As for Momo, he happened to be singing his favorite song, 'I've been working on the railroad.' So I laid the hat on him briefly. He gave me a impish smile, and took it off promptly as well.

What can I say? I tried. And honestly, I am happy that they don't buy this holiday either. Maybe next year will be different. (You see, they don't know about dressing up, looking silly, and getting a lot of candy for it yet). But at least this year, we will remain the Halloween party poopers, and I am perfectly fine with that!

Artwork

The kids love art. Momo, especially, likes to draw. He tends to spend a lot of time perfecting certain themes like trains, or tractors, or excavators. Like a real artist, there are usually a plethora of crumbled pieces of paper on the floor around him. Those are the rejects. The ones that aren't quite perfect.


Claire enjoys drawing, too, but less so. She prefers to get messy with paint, glue, or shaving cream. I let the teachers do that with them at school so that I don’t have to clean up more mess than I already have in the house!


Momo tries to autograph his artwork. It may look like NONO to us, but that’s MOMO to him. Kind of appropriate since sometimes we call him Mr. No (his nickname in Thailand, given to him by my mother).


For a while I was trading with a patient who is an art teacher. I would take the kids to her Blue Apple Studio and she would receive acupuncture treatments in return. They enjoyed it, but they were a bit too young to really benefit from all that she could offer. This coming spring, I think they will be ready for that kind of fun again.

Garden

I picked some cherry tomatoes from our garden today. I call it ‘garden’ even though the tomato plants are grown in pots, and so do most of our other plants. Our home in Santa Cruz is tiny, with no yard space, but a little patio and a pathway that wraps around the house. In some ways, it’s been perfectly fine for us with young children. I can’t even find time to water the plants we have let alone take care of a full blown yard. Someday, we will have more space. But for now, we have created our own little garden that is just as good as any.


Our brother in law, Nickolai, found some great wine barrels for us when we first moved in. He even cut each one in half so that we could use them for bigger plants. I planted a rose called ‘double delight’ in one, a bamboo in another, an olive tree in another, and a lemon tree in the last. That was the beginning of our garden. As time went by, I kept adding more flowers in smaller pots, lettuces here and there. This last summer I was able to grow a whole crop of arugula enough to make many batches of pesto. We also grew a couple cherry tomatoes, basil, lemon cucumber, sweet pepper, parsley, kale, oregano, thyme, sage and rosemary.


The kids enjoyed picking food from the garden this summer. They learned that tomatoes had to turn red or orange before they are ripe. They got to taste the fresh peppery arugula, and fed fresh kale to our bunny Scooter. They helped water the plants and watched them grow. The garden is as much a classroom as a functional place where food grows.


Even though it is fall and most plants are going back to the earth, we do live in temperate California climate. We should be able to grow one more crop of arugula and lettuce before the real rainy season arrives in a couple of months. I remember one year we had a garden full of swiss chard and a cherry tomato that never stopped producing all the way through the winter!

Living Earth

Claire and Momo started preschool this fall. They actually went a few times this summer before our month long visit to Thailand. Now they are going three mornings a week.

It took me a while to find the right preschool for them. I checked out a few different places in town, but none felt ‘right’. How hard can it be, you may ask. All I can say is that it’s not easy to find a place for your children where you feel that they can provide something better than you can.

One cloudy spring day, Jim had the day off from work. We decided to visit two preschools in one morning. One was a cooperative where there was a lot of parent participation, but the program is only 3 hours long, 2 mornings a week. A friend of mine had told me about another school "somewhere in the hills, called living something." I found it on line, and without contacting the school first, we just showed up!



Deven, the founder of the school Living Earth, could not have been nicer about our impromptu visit. The school is actually part of her home, set in a country-like area just north of Santa Cruz and south of Scotts Valley. There were a few young children running around outside, picking flowers, chasing after lizards, and playing under the music tree. Deven gave us a quick tour of the chicken coop, the garden, the goats, the playground. In the middle of a large green lawn, Jim and I decided on the spot that this was the place where our kids will thrive.

The school’s official name is “Living Earth Playschool." I believe it was founded in 2004. Deven and her husband Jason have two young children of their own, Mira and Spencer. With some parenting experience behind them, a wonderful farm-like setting, and some great ideas, they opened up their home so that some fortunate children can join them in learning.



Their main theme is the cycle of the earth. Throughout the school year, they cover many different themes. They had just gotten done with learning all about the farm: animals, plants, machines, all about the farm. Momo surprised me one day when he was playing with his toy tractors. "Mama, look at my hedgemobile!" I swear my eyes popped out of my head. Hedge Mobile!! Where did you learn that?

Now they are on to the fall theme: trees changing colors, pumpkins, harvest. Today when I dropped them off at school, the teachers were preparing ingredients for a pumpkin pie. Yes, the whole school was going to make a pumpkin pie! Apparently it was a success and they had it for lunch.



What is wonderful about having the children in school is not only are they learning, but they are also teaching us new things. The other day at the dinner table, the two of them were singing away a completely new song to our ears. They sang the whole song together, over and over, laughing and giggling. Probably happy that Mommy and Daddy had no clue what they were singing about. “It’s called Slippery Fish Song, Mommy. Teacher Daniella sang it at school.” Claire told us proudly.

They are growing up so quickly now. Like two little birds learning to fly. They are mostly still in their nest, but they now know that there is a whole world out there to explore. We are happy that Living Earth Playschool is their first step into that world.

Fruits of the earth

At the market yesterday, I did my usual overflowing of goodies in my basket. I said hi to the regular farm stand patrons, and had to say no to some foods that I really did not need.



People were dressed up in Halloween costumes at the market. Sorry I didn't take their photos... I am not much of a Halloween worshiper.



The pomegranates, the persimmons, the dahlias, were much more interesting to me than the people who were trying to be something that they were not.



With Halloween being the kids' school day this year, they may have to dress up as something silly... If they do, I will document and report it to you.

Meanwhile, enjoy these beautiful fruits of the earth!

Pineapple Guavas

Thai fruits aside, these may be my favorite fruits in the U.S. Completely unknown to me until a few years ago. I was introduced to them, strangely, while babysitting a little boy named Andre. There were a few mature pineapple guava bushes functioning as a fence at his home. One late October day, his mother, Raqib, asked me if I wanted to bring some guavas home. Guavas? I asked. What guavas? She quickly ran outside to pick up some small green fruits off the ground, came back in to show me what was to become an amazing new discovery!

Known in Latin as Feijoa sellowiana, it has a few different names. In New Zealand, where I was happily surprised to find it growing abundantly, it is called Feijoa. It is also known as guavasteen. Must have been named by the same people who named my favorite Thai fruit, the mangosteen! It is native to southern Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, but can be grown in temperate climates like New Zealand and California.



After my first experience eating pineapple guava from Andre and Raqib's house, I was hooked. It's one of those fruits that you don't find in supermarkets. Occasionally, they will show up at farmer's markets which I am sure came from the farmer's own fence bushes (the shape of the bush makes it ideal for that purpose). But for about $4 per pound, I never bothered to purchase these delectable fruits.



Three years ago when we moved to our new neighborhood, I stumbled on a little pathway lined with pineapple guava bushes! Can you imagine my excitement? Not only did I find gems, but they were abandoned gems! Not many people know or care to know about them, which means, more guavas for me! Claire and Momo take after their mother and can not get enough of them either. We often walk along this pathway together, picking and eating as we go.

The family in Otorohanga, New Zealand, with whom we spent a few weeks, preserved their Feijoa by poaching them briefly and canning them. To my delight, I took that idea and have stored our own pineapple guavas that way as well. Don't be surprised if you find a jar at your doorstep one of these days!

Long Marine Lab

It was supposed to be school day. I was anticipating taking some photos of the school and writing about it. No such luck. Momo woke up with a fever, and he stayed rather ill throughout the day. So the three of us made the most of staying home, going to the park, and visiting our local aquarium - also known as Long Marine Lab.



The kids have been there a bunch of times. It is a great place to visit, especially on a rainy day, or a sick day like today. One of their favorite spots is the touch-tank where they can feel, hold, and touch the creatures that can be found in the tidepool right on this coast. There are an amazing varieties of sea stars, hermit crabs, kelp, and sea anemones. In larger tanks, they have leopard sharks, decorator crabs, sting rays, and many other sea creatures that I can't pronounce.



Outside the kids love the family of seal statues. They represent the actual sizes of the male, female and baby seals. Of course Claire's favorite is the baby. Neither of them seem to pay too much attention to the Male... I wonder why.



Momo is seeming better now. Perhaps Thursday we can all return to school!

We are thinking....

About what Mommy should blog about next.



She should blog
about our school!

We love our school!

Farmer's Market

The Wednesday farmer's market in Santa Cruz is quite a scene. It's more than just a place where you can buy the freshest produce grown practically in your backyard. Groups of young hippies convene for an opportunity to socialize in their own style; children tag along with the adults to taste some fruits and vegetables for the first time in their life; farmer's market neophytes learn what the produce that they eat in the cafeterias and restaurants actually look like precooked.



For me, I go to farmer's market for two reasons. First, it's a very relaxing yet invigorating experience for me. Fruits and vegetables stack up like works of art. Often I marvel at the colors of the produce - how is it possible that nature can produce such vibrant, brilliant colors! I also marvel at the intervention of the human race: purple cauliflower! candy cane beets! yellow raspberries! What else are we going to come up with? Should not we just let nature do its wonder its own way?



Second, it is my outdoor supermarket. I intentionally do not purchase fruits and vegetables at supermarkets with the anticipation that come Wednesday and Saturday, I have freshly picked produce with no sticker labels, waiting for me. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part, I like to take advantage of living here!



I often go to the market without a meal plan. Probably not the wisest thing to do, but that's part of the fun. Like an artist with an empty canvas. I yearn to be inspired by the vegetables that I see, or the smells in the air. I often overflow my basket with purchases more than I can carry. That is what I call happiness! Jim can go to a baseball game and I can go to a farmer's market. That is how we each feed our souls.

More Farm

It was Claire's request to go back to the farm today. Why not, we said. There are not too many more days like this. In fact, this time next year, we will not be here to experience its bounty. New England fall will provide its own magic, I know, but there will be no farm that we can walk to from our condo in Cambridge. That much I know is true.



Today we went by the pumpkin patch, said hi to a farm kitty, and found Momo's tractor where we found it yesterday. The kids played hide and seek in the rows of big brussel sprouts and overgrown broccoli.



The kiwi arbor is bursting with fruit. Even though the kiwis are not ripe yet, the distinctive smell (somewhat like a baby's poopy diaper, unfortunately) claimed the area. The kiwi leaves are turning golden, and in the sun, it was as pretty as anything on the farm.



We ended our farm visit at the life lab area where Claire and Momo performed on the stage set up like an amphitheatre. With long sticks, they pretended like they were singing with a microphone.



Somewhere along the way... I think it was in the apple orchards, Claire said to me, unprompted, " Mommy, I am so happy!".
What else can I say, but "I am so happy, too, Sweetie!" And I meant it.

Roasting Peppers

I felt like a hungry gopher yesterday. Walking through the plentiful UCSC farm, there were lots of fallen produce on the ground. "I can't let them go to waste", I thought. So with my baby gopher helpers, we brought a few sweet peppers home.

The best way to preserve peppers is to roast them and store them in olive oil. So that is what I did. It is such a simple process that it makes you wonder why the store bought roasted peppers are so expensive! I just set the oven to broil, lay a cookie sheet with foil paper, and 10 minutes later, voila! freshly roasted peppers!



To ensure easy peeling, I put the warm roasted peppers in a grocery paper bag and leave them in there for a few minutes. Meanwhile, I harvested some fresh oregano from the garden, smashed a couple cloves of garlic and put them in a jar. Once the peppers are all peeled and put into the jar with the herbs, I filled the jar up with extra virgin olive oil.

I can wait a few days for the herbs to infuse into the peppers - or I may just wait until tonight when we plan our harvest dinner feast!

The Walk

On Saturday, October 14, we joined Chris' Crew on the Walk to Cure Diabetes in Napa, California. Last year the same crew walked in memory of Chris, Jim and Terry's youngest sister who had passed away that July.

Terry worked hard all year as one of the chairman to bring this walk into reality. And what a walk it was! Jim and I were remembering the first walk we did back in Boston. The year was 1992. Chris had recently been diagnosed. We walked half the course of the Boston Marathon - some 13 miles of it! While it felt great to be part of a lengthy fundraising walk, the view was nothing compared to what we had a couple of weekends ago!



The grapes ripening on the vines, the autumn sunlight that casted gold on everything it touched, the upbeat feel in the air. All the children were happy to be running around outside, picking and eating grapes as we went.

What was even more satisfying was the postwalk reunion back at the picnic area. Chris' Crew - some 15 of us, young and not so young - reconvened for lunch and some catching up. It was wonderful to see the familiar faces of the people who knew and loved Chris. Jim made a toast. We had some tears, and some laughters. The only thing missing was Chris herself. I hope she was smiling somewhere - happy that because of her, such an event took place and brought all of us together.

Fall Afternoon at the Farm

It was a perfect fall afternoon in Santa Cruz. After the kids woke up from their nap, we decided to spend the rest of the day at the UCSC farm. The kids never get tired of the place, and nor do we.



It really is my favorite spot in all of Santa Cruz. And this time of year, it can not get any better! The apple orchards, the kiwi arbor, the tomato fields, the rows of sunflowers mixing with cosmos and flowering corianders.... Momo found his favorite tractor to sit on. Claire picked dropped apples with me. Jim found some lonesome ripe tomatoes for our salade tomates.



Everytime we go there, I remember the very reason that we wanted to live in Santa Cruz. Years ago when Jim and I briefly visited Santa Cruz on one of our many trips to San Francisco, we stood on this very farm, over looking the Monterey Bay and wondered what we had to do to live here. And here we are, many years later, and two kids in tow. We have made it here. And we are so grateful!