Meanwhile, back at the Bat Cave

In the midst of work, the after school activity de jour, household choirs, and household maintenance, we've managed to cram some fun into our hectic life. The fun didn't leave anytime for blogging (at least that's my excuse), nor has it left much time for transferring pictures from the camera. What have we been up to? We made our first trip to the zoo this spring where we encountered a keeper in the wild! Little Clover, thrilled beyond belief at his close encounter, began asking her about her typical work day, the animals she kept, the existence of a junior keeper program at the zoo, and where she went to school. I've never seen a kid as excited at the prospect of cleaning an animal cage as he was when the keeper told him, yes, our zoo has a junior keeper program. This is a dream come true for my future zoo keeper.

We've also found a couple of warm water fishing ponds. Now, we can slip away for a couple of hours when the fishing bug bites instead of holding out for a weekend trip. Little Clover is a natural fisherman. He can coax bass out of water and his joy overflows in the form of laughter and squeals. His enthusiasm is the main catalyst for my love of fishing. This week, we changed roles as he taught me how to handle the small pond, and he is an excellent teacher. He also caught a tadpole and a frog, proving once again he is all boy.

To completely juxtapose the all boy nature experience, the Engineer had a baby shower. She is generously giving me a niece and a chance to knit something utterly girly! Watch for a little more information in a later post, after I download the pictures.

The little pink dress isn't the only thing on my needles. I've made great strides cold sheeping, reducing my stash count this year by 3000 yards. I'm striving to knit two skeins of sock yarn a month and have managed to hit that target since I accepted my Yarn Investment Portofolio was growing too quickly. The latest sock project is yet another pair of socks, knitted in Wollmeise, a very hard to get yarn.

From WIPs

The color is beautiful and the yarn is nice. To be honest though, I don't get the Wollmeise craze. This yarn has gone for more than triple its face value on eBay. I'm happy with the skeins I have, but there are definitely other yarns I love more. They do make great socks and show off the stitch definition of the pattern nicely. For the sake of time, the picture is from my camera phone, which suffices in a pinch, but I must really transfer the pictures from my big camera.

Happy birthday to you

From Disney 2011

Today, one of the loves of my life is celebrating his birthday. I've known him for almost half his life and like a fine wine, he's gotten better and better with age. He's grown handsomer and lovelier with each moment. He's an amazing husband, a loving father, and my bestest friend ever. Happy birthday, love. May this new year be filled with tight lines, fun trips, loving memories, new friends, and old friends.

611

Like my father before me, I love photography. Unlike my father before me, I don't have rolls and rolls of film and albums upon albums strewn about the house. Instead, I have an external harddrive and a paid Picasa account, both of which came in extremely handy last night when I began downloading my more than 300 photos of my camera. Even though I expected more than 300 pictures, I was not prepared from how grossly I underestimated my snap happy state while on vacation.

My camera even tells me how many pictures it has room to hold, and ticks down the numbers as you shoot away. I tought my camera was lying to me. It would blink "748" and the number wouldn't register. The next time I look down, it would blink "542," and I'd think, "huh, how odd." When it was blinking "337" I thought it must be highly inaccurate, but no, I just didn't believe it. I didn't know what motive the camera had, but I was pretty sure it was lying.

Nope, I took a lot of pictures, 611 to be exact plus 4 movies. I won't bore you with all 611. Instead, here are a few highlights.

If you aren't wearing mouse ears, then you might as well wear the sorcerer's hat.

From Disney 2011

Children of all ages, love to be at Disney with their mamas.

From Disney 2011

From Disney 2011

From Disney 2011

If you see a giant statue, you must pick it's nose.

From Disney 2011

If you stay in a pirate themed room, you might as well dress like a pirate.

From Disney 2011

Finally:
The chocolate mousse in Canada, really is a moose.

From Disney 2011

A break from the break

There is something about Spring Break which can be exhausting. I think it is us. For some reason, we see Spring Break and Fall Break as opportunities to go out into the world and cram those days with as much activity as possible. These are the vacation breaks where we willingly wake up early and hit the day running only to stop late in the evening with a hard sudden crash. I think there must be something wrong with us.

I'll update you on the break which wasn't after I upload the over 300 pcitures from my camera. In the meantime, here is something which provides the solice and relaxation often missing from my vacations.

From WIPs

It's a sock (shocker, I know) captured in a moment of rest by a camera phone. No, it isn't a masterfully arranged photo, but it also isn't a raw file requiring downloading, tweaking, and converting. It is instead an accurate reflection of the time available and it is a little piece of peace.

My reason for feminism

Today is the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, and I wasn't going to take note of it nor celebrate it. Then, I read the Yarn Harlot's post. Not only was she eloquent, but she's right. Feminism is and should be the practice of equality of the sexes, both sexes.

In college, I was the one with the "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle" bumper sticker. Not because I thought men were unnecessary, but because I thought the image of a fish riding a bicycle was funny. I didn't believe a woman should need a man. She should be self-reliant and only be with a man because she wants him. As a mother, I tell my son he should never get married because he needs to, but only because he wants to be with someone more than anyone else, because that person brings light and wonder to his world, and he, in turn, is the light of his/her world.

As a feminist, I want my son to face a female competitor as an equal, and not as a girl he has to let win otherwise her self-esteem might be damaged. I shared his frustration when his boys' basketball team was told this weekend that they had to lose the scrimage against the girls' team, not because I felt like he was cheated, but because I felt the girls were cheated out of a fair game. In our house, there's no affirmative action for gender or age. We only let you win if you suck.

As as feminist, I want my son to grow up and do what makes him happy, and I want the world to accept him as he is. I don't want him to be the major breadwinner just because he is the man. I don't want him to shoulder the financial burdens of his household alone. I want him to pick whatever career he wants regardless of whether or not it is a traditionally "feminine" or "masculine" job. I want him to find a partner in life who complements him, the yin to his yang, one who is his equal and a true partner.

As a feminist, I celebrate the strengths and the weaknesses of both sexes and the expansion of opportunities based on who you are and not on your gender.

So, here's my reason for feminism, my son. May his world continue to be expanded as it harnesses what each person has to offer.

From Colorado 2010

(And yes, that is a pink scarf he's wearing. As Little Clover correctly stated, "Real men wear pink." Pink is after all, just a color.)

To be young

There hasn't been as much knitting going on at Clover Field as I would like. I blame the Twilight series. With some luck, the last book will move to my "read" bookshelf tonight and knitting can resume with it's normal voracity. The lack of knitting greatly impacts my Cold Sheeping goal of knitting through 8000 yards this year, which means I'm going to have to either knit faster or convince my family that my time helping out with household chores is really unnecessary and better spent on the sofa with yarn and needles in hand. Since the likelihood of being let of the hook with choirs is low, I better start speed training. Another option is to get on a project with requiring a lot of conference calls. Then, I can use my knitting to tame my need for multitasking while on a call.

Granted, Twilight wasn't the only thing competing for knitting time. The warming weather and chirping birds signals the return of fishing season. We stole way for the weekend and hit the river. Although fishing was a bit slow for me, Smallish Clover manage to have a very good weekend. Not only did he luck out with quantity, but he also hooked and landed a very good quality fish.

From 2011 Fly Fishing February

The children's only stream is a curse and a blessing. Although Italian and I are overjoyed with Smallish Clover's success on the river, we are slightly jealous we can't have the experience ourselves. Clover targeted this beast and we watched as the fly floated towards the whale. Then, with held breath, we watched as the fish opened to take the fly, and Clover set the hook perfectly. As always, we released the fish, exhilarated to see it swim away.

From 2011 Fly Fishing February

It was worth giving up the knitting time to have this moment.

Timing is everything

Some people have a knack for timing. They purchase the right stock before it skyrockets. They show up in time to get the best deals or the best seats. They finish their knitwear in time to wear it during the same season. I do not seem to have the gift of timing which is why my Bohus sweater leapt off my needles as the mercury outside climbed to 68 degrees (F). After a year of on and off knitting, the sweater is finally ready to wear, yet the weather outside just isn't cooperating. I haven't the heart to shove it into the deep recesses of the sweater closet, so it's been gracing the ironing board.

From 2011 Finished Objects

I love this sweater. It was a challenge to knit, taxing my braincells. The pattern is called Wild Apple. Originally released in 1958, Wild Apple is considered one of the most popular of the Bohus sweaters. Theses sweaters could be seen draping the lovely forms of Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman, and helped Sweden during a time of economic hardship. Now, I have one of my own and enough yarn left in the kit to knit a matching hat.

From 2011 Finished Objects

Now the sweater is an official finished object, I can begin knitting down my stash. I've decided to go "cold sheep," meaning I won't buy any more yarn for the rest of the year, with one possible exception. I might allow myself to come home with yarn from a special knitterly trip I'm taking later in the year. Outside of that one exception, I'm striving to knit from my stash, all 29 miles of it. Putting my best foot forward, I think these are a step in the right direction:

From WIPs

Yes, it's a sock, a man sock. Compared to the other socks I've knitted, this one seems very large. I know it's not. I married a man with reasonably sized feet, thankfully, but it still seems to be taking longer than usual.

There's also a secret bit of knitting going on for a new little person I'll be meeting later this year. Since I can't show you the knitting, I'll instead show you a former little person practicing his Abraham Lincoln impersonation.

From Irish Clover

He helped his table tie ours at a charity trivia night. Although we didn't win, we managed to hold our own and place in the top 10 tying for fifth with a few other teams. The trivia night topped off our busy week which included a guinea pig meet and greet, as well as a book signing with Baltimore Raven'sMichael Oher. In addition to being very tall, he was also very nice and generous with his time. I hope he is a positive role model for many years to come.

From Irish Clover

Snowmagedon

Well, we all survived Clover's first dance. After dropping him off at the dance, I parked in the parking lot just in case he needed to run out for a last minute request or a last minute decision he wasn't ready for dances and wanted to come home. That didn't happen, so, I cried. Just a little bit, but I definitely shed a few tears. We passed yet another milestone in his journey.

At least he let me snap a couple of pictures before we left.

From Irish Clover

He looked dashing as he struck a pose. He had a great time at the dance, telling us excitedly about it, with the slightest hint of a blush as he mentioned slow dancing.

The dance was originally schedule for January, but Snowmagedon forced a rescheduling. The weather almost didn't hold out as yet another cold front was moving towards the Midwest, dumping almost two feet of snow on Chicago and wreaking havoc on Dallas for the Super Bowl. The weather was cold for us with a slight break Saturday. Snow threatened Monday as a few flurries fell over most of the City and an inch of accumulation on our lawn. Then, today, Snowmagedon struck!

From Irish Clover

I've lost count of how many days of snow we've had. Rumors of a few inches flew with the flakes. As the snow continued and the flakes got bigger, we decided to take a short walk.

From Irish Clover

From Irish Clover

From Irish Clover

From Irish Clover

At times like this, I'm glad to be a knitter with lots of wool socks.

From 2011 Finished Objects

I finished the Rhodie Gus Socks in Zauberball Crazy. The afterthought heel worked out well, leaving the color repeat intact. The yarn isn't the softest, but the colors are lovely and easy on the eyes. The pattern is slightly looser than I like for my socks, but they still fit snuggly and are comfortable. I think the yarn will soft with a few washes and will be one of my go-to pairs.

Emergency blog post

I just picked up Little Clover from his first dance! One of the girls in his class brought a camera. After being informed by another classmate, I asked if I could see the pictures. OMG, my little guy was slow dancing with his crush! Will post more later.

I was told there would be no math

Remember those days in high school when you sat in various math classes thinking, "Will I actually use this stuff?" There are really only a few times in life outside of a classroom when remembering Pythagorean’s theorem becomes vital. Other than the occasional need for geometry and algebra, my life has been rather void of mathematical equations; that is until last week.

Last week, I received a fax (yes, some people still send a fax) of my accident report. My lovely little blue Element had been sandwiched between a Chevy Tahoe and a Ford Escape. Unfortunately, that is not what the accident report stated. The report stated that my lovely little blue Element crashed into the stationary Chevy Tahoe and moved it forward into the back bumper of a Ford truck. I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.

From Irish Clover

My lovely little Element was supposedly able to push a stationary Chevy Tahoe forward into another vehicle. At this point, the logical part of my brain began to compare the size of my lovely little Element to that of a Chevy Tahoe. Just on the superficial level, the Tahoe appeared longer than my car. The Tahoe seats over seven grown adults in it and I can only seat four. Hmmm, my airbag didn’t deploy, so I know I was at a near stop when struck from behind. Then I began to wonder if it was possible for my lovely little Element to actual do what the report said it did.

Dusting off my calculator and finding the physics formulas to calculate the force needed to move an object one meter in half a second, I did some math and discovered that yes, it is possible for my lovely 1599.8 kg Element to move a stationary 3084.4 kg Chevy Tahoe. In order for my car to produce the necessary 42,595.6 Newtons, it needed to be traveling at a speed of 29.75 mph, way faster than I was going and fast enough to force my airbag to deploy (did I mention that it didn’t?). I passed along the information to the wonderful lady with my insurance. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m a bit obsessive now. Then I did some math on my sock.

From WIPs

I wasn’t thrilled with how a standard gusset and heel impacted the color flow of the yarn, so I ripped it back, put in some waste yarn for an afterthought heel. I need to then calculate how long to make my foot. I guesstimated, which turned out to much easier than calculating force required to move mass, moved the toe stitches to some waste yarn and then added the heel. The universe is slowly getting back into alignment, much like the alignment on the Element.

My address hasn't changed

With Google Maps on my laptop, I confirmed I still lived in the Midsouth, in the Delta. Yep, my address was the same and Google Maps was still showing it in the south west corner of the state, so why oh why are we getting more of this?

From Irish Clover

My City shuts down when this white stuff falls from the sky. We laugh in the face of heavy fog, speed with reckless abandon in rain, and enjoy the skidding on ice because it's the only ice skating we have, but snow, we shut up in our homes after clearing out the grocery store of its milk, bread, beer, and ice cream. The snow brought us another snow day (and a half) in what was already a short week with the MLK holiday. The car accident that stole my lovely blue Element away didn't help either (everyone involved was fine, Clover was already at school and not in the car, and yippee, I'll get my car back - Elements shockingly keep their value).

The snow was too powdery to make for good snowballs, so I did the next best thing. I took pictures.

From Irish Clover

This isn't the best snow picture, but at least it has some interest. The snowfall measured in at 3 inches, which is a lot for our neck of the woods, not even considering it was our second substantial snow of the year.

From Irish Clover

Clover and his best pal relaxed while I worked away. Yes, he's on the phone, but to his grandma, Mrs. Soprano. So far, that's the girl he talks to the most on the phone. We'll see how long that lasts.

From WIPs

The reflection of the snow gave me perfect lighting for some knitting photos. These a pair of socks I'm knitting in preparation for the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling. I didn't like the color striping with the heel flap, so after the photo shoot, I ripped back the heel and put in waste yarn for an afterthought heel. Now, I must go measure my foot.

P.S. We got even more snow yesterday! Another 2 inches fell at my house, but it was gone by afternoon, like a normal Delta snow.

Marathon

Marathons have almost always been a part of my life. Papa Clover was an avid marathon runner, so my mom and I accompanied him to many a marathon. My company sponsors a marathon every year. My city also is the host to a major annual marathon. My brother-in-law ran it one year. I have friends who have run half marathons to raise money for charity. Therefore, the idea that one day, I might be involved in a marathon isn't such a strange idea. I just didn't expect it to happen this way.

I took an inventory of my stash.

Being the start of a year, I felt compelled to inventory my yarn and update Ravelry. As I added more and more yarns to my stash listing, I began to panic. Upon completing my inventory, my panic rose. I exported my stash information to a spreadsheet and totaled up my yardage. Because the number was much larger than the requisit 1760 yards needed to make up a mile, I divided. Yep, marathon. Marathon plus some to be exact. I have over 29 miles of yarn in my house. Considering I knitted 6643 yards last year, I have enough yarn to last me seven years. To you non-knitters out there, this may seem like a lot, but in light of today's current economic situation, I am now concerned that my Yarn Investment Porfolio (YIP) is quite small. Thank goodness I have a new spinning wheel which will allow me to increase my YIP at marginal costs.

From Irish Clover

I wonder if I can put an odometer on a spinning wheel. Who knows, I might have already spun the equivalent of a marathon.

Snowballs at the ready!

Monday brought our third snowfall for the 2010-2011 winter season, but the first major snow event. The snow began late Sunday afternoon and continued until early Monday morning, completely closing down the city and leaving four inches of snow. One of the things I love about living in the Delta is the lack of snowplows. Each year when we get our one snow, the snow day feels like a holiday, even when I have my laptop and am working from home.

Before the day really got underway, I took the annual "House in the Snow" photo.

From Irish Clover

Then, the fun began!
We don't waste time choosing sides or setting rules, it's every Clover for his/herself. The snowballs were flying, people were falling, and much fun was had. Even when I stepped out of the fray to assume the role of war photography, I was not out of danger and was the target of a snowball.

From Irish Clover

(Can you see the snowball about to hit me? Not the small one, look left.)

After a quick rest by Clover, he stepped back out while Italian and I worked. He busily and quickly made the obligatory snowman, and then I noticed the basketball was missing. Not wanting to waste snow on the interior of the snowman, he used the basketball. That way, we'd have a snowman and we'd have plenty of snow for the second round of snowball fights.

From Irish Clover

Inspired by the snow and the continued dip in temperatures, I pulled out an old friend. I think the time is right to finish her, before the weather warms back up to the Delta norms.

From WIPs

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Another year has passed at Clover Field and a new one is greeting us ready to be filled to capacity. Honestly, I wouldn't mind a slower passed year, but as Clover gets older (yes, it's time), the year seems to get busier and busier, try as we do to simplify it.

To close out 2010, here is a quick run through of the last few weeks of the year.

Italian got a new hat. Mrs. Soprano loved it she almost stole it. She relenquished the hat when I promised she will get one of her own. The pattern is Claudia, on Ravelry. It is a bit long, so the next one will be knit slightly shorter and with a quicker set of decreases, to keep the hat from getting pointy.

From 2010 Finished Objects

I got a new pair of mittens.

From 2010 Finished Objects

They are the Ribbon Mittens by SpillyJane. Because I'm a bit high maintenance, I changed up the pattern and made them convertible mittens. This way, I still learn a new technique and have my fingers free for my PDA and retrieving items from my purse.

From 2010 Finished Objects

Little Clover got a new scarf. The pattern is Palindrome, knit in Malabrigo because he has expense tastes like his mommy. It's cute to see him grab this scarf when I tell him he needs to bundle up. Seeing him choice this scarf warms my heart.

From 2010 Finished Objects

During Christmas, I spent the break on the sofa, knocked out by a nasty little cold and then terrible side effects from the antibiotic. It made me appreciate chicken soup and hot toddies as natural remedies even more. The wacky cold weather is probably the culprit, but it also brought two snows, so I'd welcome this type of weather at Christmas again. We woke up to snow on Saturday, Dec 18 and snow flurries on Christmas day. For our little part of the world, this is a lot of snow! With some luck, we'll have even more this weekend.

When I was finally feeling better, we cooked a goose. Yes, a goose, and not only was it pretty when it came out of the oven, but it was delicious. To help with the delicousness, I made giblet gravy for the first time. Midway through dinner, Italian looked over and proclaimed that the gravy could not be thrown out for any reason. I think he liked it.

As for what's coming in the year, I hope for the best for everyone. Our family has been blessed with much. We have our health. We have wonderful families. We have many friends and our family and friends are welcoming or have recently welcomed littles ones. I hope our blessings and yours continue to flow into 2011. Happy New Year!

Before the year ends

My two, ok maybe three, remaining readers have been begging for a new post and before they become too belligerent, I felt the deserve to end the year on a happier note. Things were rough for us after we lost our little pet, but to honor his memory, we lived on holding him our hearts. Brenda Dayne's podcast on preparing for the loss of a dog with a new dog inspired us to go out and see if there was a Guinea Pig who reminded us of Jellybean that needed a home. We found one. It was as if she was placed at the pet store just for us. She arrived at the store two days before we found here. When we brought her home, we named her Jellybean and she looks just like him.

From Irish Clover

We also celebrated Mrs. Soprano's birthday in October and Nana Clover's in November. Again, my life is blessed by these two women and I am very grateful for them sharing their lives and families with me.

As for families, we had our annual trip to the woods for Thanksgiving, and we also added in a little something new. Growing up in Nashville, I always loved seeing Opryland Hotel decorated for Christmas. Little Clover has never really experienced the hotel, so this year, we added a night's stay at Opryland. He played in the snow.

From Irish Clover

He also rode the river boats in the hotel and we spent over three hours wandering the grounds looking at the conservatory and waterfalls.

From Irish Clover

Overall, the last couple of months have been a whirlwind of activity, knitting, and holiday preparations. We're relaxing a bit at home now and I'm recuperating from a very bad cold. In a couple of posts, look for a parade of recently finished knits and a reflection on the last year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Loss

From Irish Clover

Last night, our family lost our little pet guinea pig, Jellybean. He had gotten very sick and the vet did not give us a positive prognosis. I made the difficult decision to let him go so that he didn't die alone at the animal hospital in the middle of the night, but instead, would be with us when he passed.

As a mother, this has been the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. My little guy's heart was broken and his pain was one I could do nothing about. He was filled with guilt, thinking he hadn't taken care of his pet and he was responsible. He was filled with remorse at not spending enough time with Jellybean while we had him. He became angry that God would take Jellybean so early in life.

This is the dark side of loving. It is much easier to lose something when one is not as invested. To love means to feel the pain of loss, and it is a deep aching pain. Seeing my son in a pain I could not alleviate broke me. A part of me wishes I could spare him from feeling this type of pain ever again, but I can't, no mother can, nor do I really want to. To keep him from feeling the deep aching pain of loss would also mean keeping him from the deep joys of love and I would never want him to miss the warmth of feeling love for something and to have the love returned.

Westward Bound

My laptop desktop photo at work is of the South Platte river winding through Spinney Mountain Ranch. It's my happy place and when work gets a tad bit too stressful, I look at the picture. This weekend, for Little Clover's fall break, we actually went back Spinney. The moment I stepped off the plane, I felt as if I was home.

We found the Bear Creek Cabins and booked one for the weekend. The cabin was small and cozy with a fireplace. As soon as we arrived, we had our first daily encounter with the wildlife. A mama elk and her baby meandered their way through the cabins grazing as they went.

From Colorado 2010

Little Clover was busy pulling trout out of the creek in front of the cabin, but he paused long enough to admire the elk. That night as we drifted off with a crackling fire and cool mountain air carrying the babbling of the creek through our open windows, Little Clover admitted he liked Colorado. With some luck, I'll get him hooked.

The next two days, we woke up before dawn to drive out to Spinney. Little Clover slept in the back and Italian and I watched the sun creep over the mountain tops. Spinney proved to be tough fishing the two days, but we all managed to hook into some great fish and I even managed to land my first big trout.

From Colorado 2010

This was a redemption moment for me. Not only had I lost several decent sized fish that day, but I had also managed to hook myself in the a$$ with a very teeny tiny fly, only to discover I could not remove said fly on my own and had to ask for help, from our guide. He was a very good sport about it.

Not only was Little Clover a great fisherman and a great sport while fishing a very technical and challenging stream, he proved he's also a great photographer with an eye for beauty. He snapped this shot through the car window as we drove through the mountains.

From Colorado 2010

We treated him to a Coney Island hot dog because no trip is complete without a stop to this little place. Italian enjoyed the buffalo dog while I noshed away on an jalepeno elk dog. I even gave a couple of guys a chuckle while I stood by their truck to take a picture of the restaurant.

After our two days of fishing, the rest of the trip was Little Clover's. He jumped at the opportunity to attend a murder mystery dinner at the Adams Mystery Playhouse. We were expecting it to be enjoyable. We were not expecting to have our cheeks and sides in pain from laughing as hard as we did! If you are ever in the Denver area and enjoy comedy theatre, go and go quickly! The experience was fanatastic and Little Clover even had a small encounter with the detective during the show. We are still quoting lines and will go again during our next trip.

Little Clover also wanted to see the Buffalo Bill Museum and Denver Zoo. We happily obliged and admired the view from the top of Denver's Lookout Mountain.

From Colorado 2010

Between all the hustle and bustle of the trip, I even managed to snag some knitting time on my Versatility, listening to the creek. The bamboo is my own handspun and I can see how I've grown as a spinner since I spun it. It is soft and rustic and warms my heart. If we ever make living in Colorado a reality, I think it will work well for early fall.

In a Pickle

One of the reasons motivating us to sign up for a CSA this year was to broaden our food horizons. I hoped it would give me a chance to grow as a cook and to change my perspective on food and cooking. Instead of picking a recipe and finding ingredients sourced from all over the world, I'd be given ingredients and then would need to find a recipe to use them. I'd also have to face one of my fears - canning.

The thought of canning is terrifying to me. I don't hesitate in purchasing items canned by large factories in far away places. I figure they have the whole canning thing under wraps. Home canning, though, scares the dickens out of me. You could kill someone if you don't do it right! I've put off canning all season, opting to build our compost pile instead. With our CSA winding down to an end, an abundance of okra, and the rememberance of the yummy pickled okra from our CSA, it was time for me to tackle my fear.

I pulled out my canning kit, talked to the preservation spokesperson at the farmer's market, bought a boiling canning pot, and promptly spent the next three hours clearing trees from our backyard. When we were out of trees, I tidied up the house. My procrastination options quickly dwindled before me, and I was forced into entering the kitchen.

I read the directions. I read the hand-outs from the preservation spokesperson. I convinced myself I was capable and dove in. Stressed to the maxed and believing this adventure would end in death, I scared everyone out of the kitchen.

From Irish Clover

When the jars were filled and boiling, waiting to be sealed, Italian came back in to reiterate yet again how safe canning is. For starters, I'm making a pickle. He reminded me of the high acidity of vinegar. Almost nothing would survive the vinegar. Secondly, pickling requires cooking the pickling liquid. It's cooked. Few things surviving cooking. Thirdly, sealing the jars means boiling the jars for 10 minutes. I'm cooking again. Lastly, if the jars don't seal, then we stick them in the fridge and eat them first, as if they were leftovers. At this point, my jars were out of the canner and the first one popped shut. Oh, what a happy sound!

From Irish Clover

I told friends and family about the canning effort and asked if someone would please check on Little Clover if we suddenly stopped coming around. He's the only one in the house who doesn't like pickles. After the jars had time to rest, we tentatively tried the okra. Actually, Italian dove right in. I kept a watchful eye on him for a bit, watching for signs of illness. When he seemed okay, I tried a pickle myself. They aren't the best, but hey, we're still alive.