Little Ways of the Catholic Household

Strawberry Picking

2011-04-07T03:43:00.000-07:00

We are headed down to Alvin to pick strawberries with friends this morning. .about an hour drive, but so is the farm in Plantersville. Seems we live right in the middle between the two. . I've heard this place is nice with a little store, but I will bring lunch anyway.

We're late for picking. . we usually go over spring break, but went to Louisiana instead to check restaurants for the rehearsal dinner. I've got to get that done too, picking the restaurant, I mean.

CSA pick up recap

2011-04-06T04:33:00.000-07:00

CSA pick went great! All greens with a bunch of radishes thrown in. . looks like I'll be blanching and freezing the greens and making lots of salad with the arugula and spring mix.

We'll be making a trip down to Alvin to pick berries at Froberg's tomorrow. Likely any cost saving over King's Orchard will be offset by the higher cost of gas. But the effort will be fun and it's an important activity. . to visit an actual farm (albeit a single crop effort)and pick and bring home food that you will eat.

Where's that pectin?

First Day CSA pick up and local food

2011-04-05T04:46:00.000-07:00

I've been supplementing our family's fresh food for the past year with veggies from a local CSA. First spring pick up is this afternoon. The location is one nearer to us than last fall, tho my previous pick up was from a friend in Tomball, so it was always nice to visit a bit as I weighed produce.

The Farmer's Markets will be opening up soon (hope today's 40 degree morning doesn't slow them down)so I need to get my list out.

We have been eating seasonally for the past couple of years, and all you can eat bananas and grapes are a thing of the past. This was much easier with my two oldest in college, and only home to complain, I mean comment, every few months or so. I bought bananas for tropical drinks once and grapes at Christmas. . seems more like it. . special occasions should have something special about them.

A friend and I are planning a berry picking trip for later this week, so I need to check my pectin.

Community Gardens

2010-12-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

Write more later!!

Not posting

2009-09-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Just sticking in a post with no time to write. . lame, lame, lame. .

Chickens!

2009-09-13T04:14:00.000-07:00

I forgot to add to the two previous day's posts the fact that we'll have eggs in the house around Christmas time. . we've got a few pullets in the yard, yep we do. . so that would be food that my family eats (tons!), readily available, and very traditional -- a grand slam!

However, chickens are only simple if you have a proper coop and a yard to peck in. .I did it on the patio for a couple of months and the maintenance was surprising. . now with the coop and the yard, they are pretty easy. . for now. . I'll update when laying season starts. .

Hallmark of Simple Food #3 -- Traditional foods, cooked by generations, proven to be life sustaining, not trendy

2009-09-12T06:24:00.001-07:00

For my side of the family lots of pork roast and gumbo, onions, eggplant, cornbread. .my mother did not bring food traditions with her from her family. .I remember her mentioning potatoes, but that my father did not care for them (what?)

Hubby's side brings lamb, eggs and onions (leeks, actually) with his mom rounding us out with corn, potatoes and beef. .

Hallmark of Simple Food #2 -- Local to your area or readily available within reason

2009-09-11T03:42:00.001-07:00

For the past few months, I have been buying fruits and vegetables in season for the state of Texas, using a list I found online. . the family has noticed a lack of year round bananas, apples and grapes so I have lightened up on the bananas and will buy them every couple of weeks, regardless.

I have not gone organic or specifically Texas grown, tho those would be the next logical steps, if I take them. I have made purchases at my local grocery and farmer's market (who also sell imported bananas because people want them. . market forces, you know. .)

Tho I initially applied this simple principle to fruits and veggies, I guess I'd have to apply it to all food products -- meat, nuts, etc. Does this mean I'll have to find a source for buffalo? Cattle are not indigenous to Texas, but at this point readily available. . pecans only -- no walnuts? Catfish, no tilapia?

I'll be thinking on this. .

Hallmark of Simple Food, #1-- Grown in your own garden

2009-09-10T05:44:00.000-07:00

I have had a kitchen garden for as long as we've lived in our current home. . the spring of 1993, with varying success. I've grown what was available at the seed store, not necessarily what my family liked or what was indigenous to our region. I resolve to:

1. Plant what is easily, traditionally, grown in my area
2. Plant what my family will eat (that really narrows it down)
3. Plant corn, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, onions, carrots, peas, strawberries and other berries, citrus.

What we love, but cannot be grown here are bananas and apples.

I haven't had ANY luck with strawberries, and have never tried corn or potatoes. . time to research and concentrate on the necessary. .

That about says it.. time to focus and get going. . I'll need to redesign the beds and figure out new irrigation, install some shade to the areas of the yard that get unmitigating sun for too many hours. .

Wish my neighbor to the west would plant a big, fast growing tree in their backyard. .

The bed is ready for the next planting, so no use putting it off. .

Food on the Table

2009-09-09T15:52:00.001-07:00

Can food be simple? I guess if you only ate one thing every day, that would be simple. Saints have lived on Eucharist alone, but most of us don't fit that bill. . we have nutritional needs we must fulfill each day, so a single dietary item would not work. What would the family at Nazareth have eaten? Whatever they could have grown on their own, whatever was native to the region or readily available from passing merchants. . traditional foods, probably, handed down by generations of cooks. . so are the hallmarks of simple food:

1. Grown in your own garden
2. Local to your area or readily available within reason
3. Traditional foods, cooked by generations, proven to be life sustaining,not trendy

Keys to the Simple

2009-09-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

I begin on the Feast Day of Our Lady's Nativity. . She then, my patron, and along with her -- her handmaids. . Sts Ann and Elizabeth, her kinswomen, St. Helen of the True Cross, St. Monica and of course, St. Therese of Holy Face, whose revelation of the Little Way instructs my challenge. .

How little do we need? How can we need less? These are two of the questions I'll be trying to answer as I write. . I'll try not to re-hash what others have written, but I do keep a list of quotes and passages, so many may end up here -- I'll be sure to give full credit when I know it. .