Here I go again!

In 2004 I saw a stack of pamphlet at a Starbucks for the Susan G Komen 3Day in San Francisco. I picked it up and thought... this sounds like it could be fun; I could do that! It got me to thinking about the family friends that had fought hard to be a Breast Cancer survivor or were currently waging their own was on cancer. Soon, I went from "I could do this" to "I should do this!" to "I am going to do this!!" I recruited my best friend/mom to join me on the journey and off we went!

Day 1 of the walk came up fast. We had both reached our fundraising goals and started our 3Days determined to take it all in! Along the way we met amazing women and men who were happy to share their story.... some survivors, some widowers, some daughters who lost their mothers, some who walked in honor of those who couldn't. Each and every story touched my heart. (As I sit here writing this I have chills thinking of each of those stories.) We even met some fun cute little San Jose Police officers who happily provided a safe escort through our day's journey. I'll never forget Office Naughty (as we dubbed him)... he was a ton of fun along the way! When day 3 came to an end... after the closing ceremony ended, we took our tired bodies and feet to the car and headed home knowing that my 3Day journey wasn't over.

I quickly decided to do the San Diego 3Day in 2005. This time around my neighbor friend Tali wanted to do it with me. Her mother was a survivor and she wanted to walk in her honor! I had never been to San Diego, so walking 60 miles through the town along the beaches, through the communities was amazing! There were such beautiful views and people along the way. We met up with a friend of mine from So-Cal (Aimee) and her mom and friend... so there were 5 of us walking strong! As Day 3 came to an end I was happy! I felt great and I wanted more!

In 2006 I registered for my 3rd 3Day and started fundraising. Within a few weeks I found out I was pregnant and would be 38 weeks along at the time of the walk. My 3peat would have to wait. As the next couple years passed by life got a little crazy and money got a little tighter and my network for fundraising shrunk as I became a stay at home mom.

Fast forward to present day.... I discovered that 3 of the lovely ladies I used to work with had signed up for the San Francisco 3Day this October 1 - 3. I immediately decided that if they would have me as a teammate / tentmate.... I was all in! I asked my hubby what his thoughts were and he said to go for it... so here I am! Yesterday I officially registered for my 3rd 3Day adventure! This time around, I'm looking forward to sharing this amazing journey with Evelyn, Meghan and Nicole! They are tons of fun, lots of laughs and I don't get to see them nearly as much as I'd like to! If I can't see them every day at work... they'll be stuck with me for 3 glorious days!

If you would like to sponsor me for the 3Day you can do so by visiting here

Up to my ears in Strawberries!

After joining the Live Earth Farm CSA, I discovered that they offer "Community Days" several times through the season. During the community days, they offer tours of the farm, hedgerow plantings and U-pick opportunities. For the U-Pick, they might offer Strawberry, Raspberry, Apricots, Apples, Watermelon, Pumpkins and more. They even let visitors come down on Friday nights and camp out on the farm!

On Saturday morning, Brittany, Keira, Grandma Dub and I headed off to the farm. We gathered our baskets, gloves and hats and hiked down to the strawberry fields. We were warned that the walk to the fields would take about 30 minutes, however I had no idea that it was all downhill. (Not a problem going down, but returning with a couple full flats of berries was a different story!)

I have never seen such beautiful strawberries.... perfectly ripe for the picking! Many of the children in the field sat happily picking and eating berry after berry! They all wore the tell tale red stained mouth, cheeks and fingers giving them away!
Keira thoroughly enjoyed picking them, but rather than eat them, she was excited to fill our baskets.... as did the rest of us!


After we quickly filled the first flat, we decided to get another.... after all, $15 for a full flat of organic strawberries is unheard of around here! We had visions of jams, ice cream, margaritas, and smoothies in our heads! After filling the second flat, we headed off to the staging area for the tractor ride to the top of the hill. We quickly decided that the wait was longer and the exercise would be welcome! (We had quite a few strawberries to work off!) The hike back was a little tougher, but we still ended up reaching the top before the first load of tractor passengers and we were on a time schedule; Brittany had to be at work soon.

Once we got back to Grandma Dub's house and saw Brittany off to work, we started the task of washing, hulling and mashing strawberries. During this time, I also made my batch of bread for the week. This was by far the best batch yet! Warm weather and fresh yeast! What a glorious combination!
We ended up making 3 different kinds of freezer Jam. Option 1. Low Sugar, Option 2. Liquid Pecton with Lemon, Option 3. Liquid Pecton with lemon with 10 minute resting period. Option 4. Cooked Jam (shown below).

We also ended up with 3 gallon sized freezer bags full of frozen strawberries, perfect for smoothies and Margaritas. After several hours, 24 - 8 ounce bottles/containers of jam we were still left with 4 or 5 baskets of strawberries. We hulled and sliced a couple baskets to use for strawberry shortcake and ice cream, but those would have to wait till tomorrow. Mom and I could hardly stand to be on our feet any longer, Keira was starving, and she and I needed to get home.

It was a great day! Next time around, I hope to have a few more sisters around to help with the post picking process, but Mom and I survived... and we had a great time together!

What a beautiful spread!

We picked up our first CSA share this afternoon. Wow, I'm glad that we're sharing this with Mom.... cause right now, I don't think that the 3 of us could eat all of this in a week if we didn't. I do hope to start incorporating more vegetables into our diet... but for now we get our 3 - 4 servings of greens and a couple servings of fruit.

The spread this week is beautiful! There are things that I've never had before... that I haven't cooked before, that I wasn't quite sure what they were. Everything we got though.. I am excited to try. Here's what we received this week: Arugula, Broccoli, Carrots, Chard, Escarole, Fava Beans, Green Garlic, Lettuce, Pac Choi, Young Onions, Spinach, Summer Squash, Tatsoi, 6 artichokes and 2 baskets of Strawberries.

We split everything up and packaged up Grandma Dub's portion and then started thinking about our "plan of attack" for eating everything before it goes bad. We decided to wash and put away all the greens. I packaged up our strawberries, carrots, onion, squash and artichokes. We ended up cooking all of the broccoli and some green garlic in a garlic/broccoli/spinach dish that Jason makes using some of our homemade beef broth. Mmmmnnn!

After dinner Keira wanted dessert, so I washed and sliced up all the strawberries. I topped them with a little homemade whipped cream and they vanished in minutes! I love that she's excited about a bowl of strawberries as dessert! (on a side note, she was quite distraught when she discovered that her "weekly strawberry" from the garden was eaten by a bird!)

I think we're going to be quite happy with our weekly CSA order! Thanks MOM!!! You rock!

Backyard Chickens and Raw Milk anyone?

Today Grandma Dub, Keira and I went on a little adventure. We heard about a group of families in Alameda who were opening up their yards to let people see their backyard chicken coops. There were several different types of coops.... some made with plywood and chicken wire, some with reclaimed/re-purposed redwood, and some that looked like little doll houses/children's playhouses. It was very clear that most of the houses along the tour didn't just think of their chicken as utilitarian "egg layers"... and more like family pets! There were some different species of chickens which were absolutely beautiful! Some of my favorite were:

Slikies - There were several silkies... white and black. Very cute. They look like tiny little fluff balls!

Mille Fleur Belgian D'Uccle... this little bantam girl was adorable. She was bandaged up though, as she broke her wing trying to outrun a neighbor dog! Her eggs were TINY! (Apparently very tasty though!

Black Sex Link... there were a variety of sex links along the tour. I especially loved how some of them had a shimmery blue tint to some of their feathers in certain lighting.

Crested Polish.... You've got to love the little Feathered Afro these chickens have! They are just so funny looking, you can't help but love them!

Easter Eggers / Americananas... these beautiful ladies were big girls! Beautiful oranges and reds.

Wyandotte... another big girl. She was very pretty blackish bird.

After spending the day touring all these coops, it made me want to get some chickens of our own. Unfortunately, we don't have the kind of backyard which would be very fitting to chickens.... we have ZERO grass, and the only vegetation is my garden and I wouldn't want them tromping through there. So, we'll have to settle for fresh eggs from Grandma Dub's house.... well in 5 months that is!

Keira was a great on the tour. She didn't complain about getting in and out of the car, over and over and over. She didn't chase the chickens, she didn't try to catch them, and she only pet them when they would come up to her extended hand. I was impressed! She did rather enjoy the houses along the way which had sand boxes and toys for her to play with. She also loved looking at the baby bunnies in the rabbit hutch. At one point though.... after scraping her arm along a brick wall... she lost her sense of adventure and humor. GONE... out the window. Stick a fork in her... she's DONE!

We noticed a cute little market as we were pulling up to one of the house so...G-Dub and I bribed her with some juice. Please be good... be patient... and after this house we'll go to the market. Well she was, so we did! WOW! I would love to live next to a little market like this. There was a fresh bakery, a sushi bar, a butcher/meat counter, and a kitchen gadget shop all around the perimeter. The meat counter had an incredible selection of grass-fed meats, wild fish, pastured pork and poultry. They displayed the ranch name from where the meats were from. WOW... places do that?

We walked into the grocery section greeted by a tray of fresh cut strawberry samplers. Behind there were strawberries laid out for you to put together your own basket. Places do that? WOW! The produce section looked so colorful and fresh! I knew I wanted chocolate, and I was curious... so we walked to the dairy section. There before our wondering eyes did appear... RAW WHOLE MILK! They had Raw Milk, Raw Cream, Raw Colostrum (Not sure I want to try that one) They even had chocolate Raw Colostrum. Hmmmm. I have NEVER seen Raw Milk sold in a grocery store! I've been quite curious to try it so we picked up a quart at a whopping $5.60!!

We got to the car... got Keira in her car seat... and loaded up with her juice. She was content and Mom and I were anxious to try the milk. I don't know why.... but I was shocked at how "normal" it tasted! Actually, for whole milk (which anyone who knows me know I hate!) it was smooth, light, refreshing and left a wonderful texture/aftertaste behind. I don't like typical whole milk because it tastes/feels like I'm drinking like heavy cream. This Raw Milk was great and it went wonderfully with my chocolate bar!

Oh... the quart of milk, in case you might wonder barely made it home! Between G-Dub, Keira and I we drank almost half of it. Once we got home... Keira was begging for some "Cow Milk" (as opposed to Almond Milk aka "Grandma Milk" or Egg Nog aka "Snowman Milk."

Now I just need to find a place to buy it where it doesn't cost $arm and $leg!

CSA Membership!

I am so excited, I just have to share quickly!

After finding out recently that our neighbors (Chris and Amy) are the host site for their CSA, Mom and I decided to join! We get our first share next Thursday! Mom and I are going to share a Family Share. The picture is a sample of what a typical family share looks like! WOW, we're going to be Veggie eating Queens here pretty soon!

Jason and I were lucky enough to benefit from the misfortune of another CSA member who forgot to pick up their share last week! We received a Single Share and WOW was there a ton of produce! Things I've never had before... and certainly never made before! Now I need to figure out how to cook Fava Beans, Escarole, Tatsoi, and Mei qing choi. Oh boy this is going to be fun!!!