Meal Ingredients Delivered

While I was writing this post about batch cooking, I did an internet search and realized that I could use Greenling to get organic/local/sustainable products delivered to my door and that I could actually order all the ingredients (already chopped/prepped) to cook five Engine 2 meals (for two people). 

What!?!

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Engine 2 diet, it was developed by a firefighter in Austin (I'm actually friends with his awesome wife!). It's a plant-based diet that focuses on whole, healthy foods. 

The total cost for 10 meals (5 separate meals for two people each) was $89.99. 

And just when I was about to feel guilty about the carbon footprint associated with having groceries delivered to my home (so indulgent!), I read that it actually uses less carbon to deliver 100 orders in one van than to have all those people drive to the grocery store separately. 

Don't get me wrong; I don't want to be the kind of person who gets groceries delivered. In fact, I want to be like Barbara Kingsolver who grows all her own food and cooks homemade pizza with her family! But I'm okay with it for this year (if it actually works out well). I'm trying to make a clearing so that I can balance everything. Parenting is so, so hard. Parenting two children is even harder. Trying to do it without getting very much sleep is even more overwhelming. And then throw in two parents who are working full-time+. It's a lot!

But when we start to get overwhelmed, Matt and I remind each other: "Let's be grateful."

Even if this system works out for us, we'll still go to the grocery store every week so that our children learn the very practical skill of shopping for food; it's just that we'll only shop for breakfast and lunch stuff instead of every ingredient needed for every meal. (I guess we won't be reducing our carbon footprint...). I'm eager to see if we can buy breakfast and lunch things and pay $90 for our meals and still stay within our weekly budget for groceries. 

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Planning the Spring Garden

I'm sorry it took me so long to post the plan for our front yard! It's kind of hard to tell what's going on without any of the labels, but the short version is that the four squares near our front porch steps are 4x4 raised beds made out of wood. The bed to the right of those is an herb garden. The bed along the sidewalk has five blueberry bushes in it. There is also a pomegranate tree, kale, basil, and some other edible things. The whole thing has drip irrigation which will help us save water and minimize the amount of work that is going into the front yard.

The good news is that we've finally saved up enough money to have the landscaping done. Woo-hoo! And since it's only April, there's still time to get stuff planted in the garden for the upcoming season. 

I've consulted the Vegetable Garden Planting Guide for my county, and it looks like we can plant things every couple months all year long (thanks, Texas!). Here's what we're planning for April:

• Sweet potatoes (4 per square)
• Greens 
• Okra (1 per square)
• Watermelon (1 per two squares)
• Carrots (16 per square)

Of course we reserve the right to modify the plan once we get to the garden store and see what's available and hear some of their recommendations! 

We'll be following the Square Foot Gardening method, so that we can maximize space and make the process easier for ourselves. I don't come from a family of gardeners, so it's not second nature to me. It's something I'm trying to learn. We'll see how it goes! 

Now that I'm sitting down to write this post, I'm realizing just how excited I am about this. I started this blog seven(!) years ago. My first post was about how I was starting to cook at home more and about how I wanted to take up gardening. The name "Feeding the Soil" came from an old organic gardening adage. My friend Camella shared it with me to describe the kind of education we were trying to implement in our English Language Arts classrooms (using the reading and writing workshop model). The idea was that education needed to be transformative and get to the very core of who we are as people (versus just dealing with the surface stuff). 

Matt and I attempted gardening with full gusto when we moved to Denver, but it was a big failure. Too hot. Too much work to water. Too little reward (if anything did ever grow, Hoss would eat it before we could). When we moved to Houston, our yard was too shady and we couldn't bring ourselves to chop down any trees to let in light. Then we moved to Austin and were in a rental house. And now we are finally settled in for the long haul. I opted to use our front yard for gardening because a) it's sunnier than the backyard b) we can keep Hoss and the chickens out of it more easily (although I am nervous about neighborhood cats) and c) we travel through it at least four times a day. We literally have to walk through the garden to get to our cars, so it will be easier to monitor and keep up with. Also, I'm hoping that the drip irrigation takes the hardest part out of gardening. Matt is skeptical that we'll be able to do it (given our previous lack of green thumbness), but I'm optimistic and excited! 

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April: Reflection & Rejuvenation

Hello, April! It's great to see you. 

I didn't have much time to accomplish my goals this month, since I set them in the middle of March, but I surprised myself by actually accomplishing a lot of them! 

Here's a review:

• Run at least two times a week and stretch at least 3 times weekly. The good news is I have a system in place for fitting in two to three runs a week. The problem this month is that I had a lot of work obligations in the afternoons/evenings, so I wasn't able to run. I did manage to run on every Saturday and Sunday that wasn't already occupied. And I'm getting better at making time for my yoga stretches! This goal has definitely been a work in progress. I still have a lot of work to do to get my body back in shape after everything my babies put it through. 
• Turn the bottom of our kitchen island into a chalkboard: Yes! 
• Purchase dining chairs for our back deck: Yes! I hemmed and hawed about what chairs to get. In the end, I pushed myself to get over my sometimes paralyzing perfectionism and just buy something. Matt and I agreed on these chairs from IKEA. Once we shlepped the whole family there, we decided we should go ahead and buy furniture for our whole deck: a table, an umbrella, and a couch. It feels amazing to have all of that knocked out. We've lived here for eight months already, and our deck has been largely uncomfortable and not as usable as it has the potential to be. 
• Finish our white board for real this time: Yes! 

And as I move forward and set my goals for this month, first I need to revisit my yearly goals:

I want to strengthen my habits of health and wellness:  

• run at least three times a week and go to yoga once 

• drink at least 80 ounces of water a day 

• add new meals to our weekly rotation 

I want to continue to put down roots and connect with those around me: 

• attend church potlucks 

• sign up to support people by delivering meals, etc. 

• regularly invite people over  

• send birthday cards 

• completely organize our house 

• finish our front- and backyard landscaping 

• do service learning with Henry 

• start a garden 

I want to create the kind of school I want to send my own children to. 

So here we go:

• Run at least two times a week and stretch at least 3 times weekly. 
• Get a garden planted--so exciting! 
• Organize Henry's and Tate's closets--get rid of baby stuff that we no longer need!
• Update the guest bathroom
• Host a get together with colleagues
• Update Tate's scrapbook

That sounds about right for this month. Most of my to-do list is comprised of work-related stuff these days, so I don't want to overdo it with my personal goals. 

Have a great month, Everyone! 

Image from Nikki McClure's calendar

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Electronic Organizing System

Phew! A OneNote version for Mac is finally available and free! I'm such a planner kind of person, but I couldn't keep up with everything in a pencil-and-paper format. I love that OneNote gives me the best of both worlds. It's organized like a notebook, but I can copy and paste things, etc. I still carry a notebook with me everywhere, but I use OneNote on my computer and phone to keep track of my specific to-do items. 

Sorry for the short post! This past weekend and past few days included a visit from my mom, a trip to Dallas to present at the American Montessori Society conference, a board meeting, and a visit from an out-of-state lender (for school facility stuff). 

I hope all is well with you! 

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Happiest Nine Months, Tate!

Oh, Happiest Birthday, Little One! 

You continue to be the sweetest. Seriously, you bring smiles and laughter into our lives on a daily basis. 

You are now a little moving machine. You get anywhere and everywhere very fast. You are obsessed with splashing in Hoss's water bowl and climbing into the dishwasher. You love, love, love being outside--especially going on walks in the stroller. You are still Henry's biggest fan, and have also developed a strong interest in touching the chickens. 

And you eat real food! We are officially done with baby food. You eat cheese cubes, broccoli, blueberries, cauliflower, sweet potato lasagna--the list goes on! You are the sweetest little thing, but you get downright cranky if we don't feed you fast enough. 

What else can I say about you? You love your pacifiers. You can sit for five minutes and contentedly switch out three different pacifiers to find which one you like the most. But mostly you love people. We're running a start-up out of our home, and you couldn't be more content with the influx of people you get to see every day. You always have the biggest dracula smile and the happiest kick-legs. And those thighs! They are getting rounder by the minute. I can't decide whether I'm more obsessed with your cheeks or your thighs. 

Thank you for making our lives complete, Sweet One. We are lucky to know you.  

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Graduation Gift

While skimming Facebook the other day, I came across two ideas that made me tear up with [anticipated] nostalgia. The first story was about a mom who had secretly collected everything that was left in her son's pockets from the time he was little. She amassed them all in a glass lamp and presented him with this amazing gift on his wedding day. He said she had basically encapsulated his childhood inside that lamp. 

Then I read about a dad who had asked every single one of his child's teachers to sign a copy of Oh, the Places You'll Go, and he presented it to his child on graduation day. 

It made me wish I would've sewn pockets into Henry's pants! I do think I'm going to implement the book idea. I just need to connect with the three teachers he's had already. 

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Batch Cooking

In my quest to "make a clearing" this year as I try to balance mothering an infant and a three year-old, starting a school and a national charter management organization, making time for health and wellness, and continuing to nurture my marriage/friendships/relationships with family/neighborly connections, I started experimenting with batch cooking. I start cooking early on Sunday afternoon. I try to cook our most difficult meal first. Otherwise, I'll avoid it all week long and make excuses. None of our meals are particularly difficult, but some are harder than others (like Lebanese soup, which has multiple steps). 

In between all the steps, I start the prep work for other meals. In some cases, I can make the entire meal and store it in the fridge (like Mexican Macaroni & Cheese). Other times, I just get the chopping out of the way (which helps a ton!) or make the rice or quinoa.

It's a small thing, but it adds up to big time savings! 

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