Bluebird Hill Art

July Garden

This time of year is exciting in the garden – the tilling, weeding, watering, and waiting has paid off and we are harvesting now. While my tomatoes are all duds, the plants have wilted and died, I do have some successes this year.

okra

The okra is flourishing – I planted Hill Country Red from Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. I love to make gumbo out of okra, I also think they would make beautiful stamping tools, when dried out.

pumpkin

The two pumpkins – Pumpkin Musquee de Provence are growing rapidly. Right now they are about basketball-size and propped on top of pieces of block foam to keep them from rotting on the damp dirt. They should be a lovely dark mixture of green and orange when they mature. The kids are most excited about the prospect of growing one’s own pumpkin and are dreaming up ways to use it.

kale

I had two kale plants that survived the winter, thanks to leaf mulching, and being nestled against the south side of the house. They have once again absolutely exploded! You can see the size of the root from the mammoth kale that did not survive the winter, here.

corn

One of the other fun experiments this year, has been growing corn in the front yard. This is Japonica Striped Maize, an ornamental variety from Japan. As of the most recent count, we have five ears of corn. The kids have been delighted at watching the corn grow taller than them, and grow purplish tassels. I figure they will make great autumn decor, or still life subject matter for my classroom.

One of my favorite things this year, has been watching my volunteer squash grow. These two came from seeds in our compost, so I am not entirely sure what they are yet. I think the white one is possible a white acorn squash and the green is a zucchini. We will wait and see!

Iowa Skies + Batman Piñata

My most recent finished watercolor, started just before our trip to Alexandria, MN – based on an Instagram photo I took a few years ago of baby blankets drying on the clothesline.

This summer has been flying by – we have all been making time for creating which leaves me happier than anything else at the end of the day.

As I write this, my youngest is throwing chalk and making the best 2-year-old smears of color that he can make.

Last week, Greta had her school friends over for a belated birthday celebration, so we whipped up a quick Batman piñata. The two kids worked on their own cardboard and tape creations, while adding layers of paste and newspaper when they felt like helping me.

Batman’s head was formed from a large balloon. The ears and nose were fashioned from cut up cereal boxes, which were then layered in papier-mâché strips. My favorite paste for papier-mâché projects is art paste, it comes in a powder and when mixed with water, makes a gel-like paste that isn’t too sticky and lasts well, when covered.

Batman, dried and waiting to be painted.

The finished painted Batman. This was a quick, get it finished paint job, as I was finishing the paint 1 hour before the party. Nothing like a deadline to get an artist moving!

Lake Week

A couple of weeks ago, we headed North to Alexandria, Minnesota, with my hubby’s family. We rented a wonderful lake house with a boat, playground, and killer lakefront view porch. We spent our time boating, fishing, eating, playing games after the kids were in bed, swimming, and site-seeing. It was a lovely way to spend a week in the summer!

We broke up the 7+ hour drive with a stop in Minneapolis, to see my sister, brother-in-law, and niece both times. A big backyard with a sandbox and a wading pool were a welcome view to my stir-crazy, stuck in the car, kids.

Upon arriving at the lake, all cousins immediately jumped on the boat, and proceeded to giggle and goof off. I absolutely love this image – it captures their silly attitudes and sheer joy at being on a boat, perfectly.

As it grew dark, the dads and kids went for a breathtaking (literally) swim. I opted to take photos, and wished I had brought my own wetsuit. I am a chicken when it comes to swimming in really cold water!

I was pretty excited to have this view for the next week, and settled right in to work on a watercolor painting that I had started a day before.

The next few days were filled with fishing, boating, and all things lake vacation. The kids had a blast playing with their new pets, err rather, bait – the minnows. All kids wanted to drive the boat every chance they could. I don’t think Eric liked sharing as much as he said he did…

We found some of the most beautiful biking scenery we’ve seen in a while, on the snowmobile trails that traverse the entire area. There was seriously no one on this trail with us, save for a strange encounter with one lone cyclist, I will spare you the details on that story. We saw snakes sunning themselves, sandhill cranes calling to one another, turkeys strutting across the trail, and wildflowers in bloom.

We biked from Alexandria to Osakis which proved to be a good find. We found a Scandinavian shop, Jacob’s Lefse Bakeri, that sold honest to goodness lefse – made in the back room! I was in heaven and bought a package to wolf down with the two older girls. We also decided on lunch in a small diner on the main street, which proved to be a blast from the past. I could almost hear my grandfather’s stories of the neighbors, and other gossip over the clink of coffee mugs, and lovely Minnesota accents.

We found a fabulous set of museums in Alexandria. Our favorite was the Maritime Museum, which housed quite the collection of Chris Crafts and other antique boats, an interesting Gyotaku (fish print) exhibit, and gardens outside.

We drove to Inspiration Peak and made the short hike to the top, only to find ourselves wading through ants, so we snapped a few pictures and headed back down quickly! The kids loved being able to see for miles and didn’t want to look at me for this picture.

It wasn’t all just boating and swimming time – we did do quite a bit of fishing.

These were two of my favorite views of the trip – oh how I love being on and near water.

On our last day, we found ourselves a petting zoo and pony rides in Osakis for their Osakis Days summer festival. The kids were beyond delighted to do a few laps around on Princess and Nugget.

On the last night, we used up leftover food and make kitchen sink nachos to go with brats, potatoes, and other sides. I absolutely loved sitting and eating meals on that porch, overlooking the water.

We enjoyed one last cloudy fishing outing before heading back to warmer Iowa and the work week (for the non-teachers). Lake time was exactly what we needed to kick off our summer vacation.

Balsamic Beet Pizza

This past week I got inspired by a beet recipe, Balsamic-Glazed Beets with Pecans, from Eating Well magazine. We have been receiving lots of beets from our weekly produce box and I get tired of making things over and over again the exact same way. I decided that this beet recipe would be the best pizza topping on earth.

So, I mixed up a double batch of my best.pizza.crust.ever, however, this time I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 2 cups of all-purpose flour. It was a nice whole grain taste, without being too dry. By the way, the Norpro silicone pastry mat (above) gets used all the time in my kitchen – it is perfect for kneading, rolling dough, and measuring the size.

I glazed the beets the day before, but also added a small yellow onion to the Eating Well recipe. I added an extra tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to make sure it was saucy enough for a pizza topping, as I was not planning on using tomato sauce for the beet pizza. I left off pecans, due to personal preferences in my household, however, I would add them were I making this just for myself!

beet pizza

I like to make amoeba-shaped pizzas – they are more interesting to look at. I topped the beet pizzas with crumbled goat cheese, sliced jalapeño peppers, and sliced beet greens.

I made 6 pizzas total, out of whatever veggies we had laying around. These were the perfect kitchen sink pizzas.

tomato pizza

Pizza on left: tomato sauce, pizza seasoning, sliced sweet peppers, sliced swiss chard, and crumbled feta cheese. Pizza on the right: tomato sauce, pizza seasoning, sliced grape tomatoes, sliced shallot, beet greens, and crumbled feta cheese.

cheese.pepperpizza

The last pizza was for the kids and topped with: tomato sauce, pizza seasoning, sliced sweet yellow peppers, and grated cheddar cheese.

I baked all pizzas at 425° for 14-17 minutes, or till cheese was melted.
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All of these pizzas were delectable – but the beet pizza was by far my favorite. The combination of vinegar, beets, onion, crispy greens, soft goat cheese, and chewy crust was perfection. I will be making this again, with my next batch of beets!

Chore Chart

Summer break started off with a bang and a sprint out of the school gates. Then, we had a few trips, routine shaken up a little, naps were skipped, and meals not fully eaten…you get the picture. Things weren’t like they were when everyone was in school still. Before I knew it, I had an almost five-year old screaming at me, “YOU MAKE ME DO EVERYTHING!!!”

Y’all, it was all I could do not to laugh. I am sorry my future internet-surfing child, if you are reading this, but take this gem and use it yourself one day.

Rather than giving up and continuing to do everything, I thought like a teacher. Funny how hard that can be to do for your own children, especially when you ARE a teacher. I ordered these pocket charts from Amazon and hung them on the fridge with their handy magnet attachments. It was instant OOOHS and AAAHS from my wanna be teacher daughter.

Then, I made a series of notecards. These are first drafts, and may get updated later with lamination and clearer images. We will see how long they last abuse from almost two-year old son. Anyhow, when said chore is done, she takes the card from the yellow side and transfers it to the blue side. Yesterday morning, she was done with all but 1 card by 10 AM! She was begging me to find some clean clothing to put away so she could transfer her last card. I am just hoping the newness and novelty of this card chore system doesn’t wear off. Maybe if it does, that is when I up the ante and make sparkly cards! I am dying of laughter at the though of glittery chore cards – how she would love them.

Seriously though, the best part of this system though? Little brother is watching and mimicking! Soon I will have two politely trained kids, right?! I can dream.

Since it was a four pocket chart set, the other two are now handy holders for the magnet shapes set. It corrals the extra pieces nicely, and creates an empty workspace for their creations.

How do you encourage your kids to help out? I love tips on raising thoughtful and helpful children.

Greensboro Weekend

A couple of weekends ago I went on a whirlwind, three-day trip to Greensboro, NC. I went completely solo – this was the first time I have traveled alone since before my eldest was born – more than five years! I was so excited to have plenty of time for friends, and let’s be honest, to eat my way through Greensboro!

My first stop upon landing, after getting my rental car and phoning in a to-go order to Fishbones for their best in the world burritos, was to stop at Bestway. Their wall of beer has only gotten more thorough and fuller.

Fishbones hasn’t changed, and the decor is still as funky. I almost always ordered some type of their burrito – the way it is steamed and stuffed with cabbage and some delectable sauce. Yummm.

The Fishbones burrito is on the left, along with one of my favorite brewery’s beers – Foothills Jade IPA. Then, for dinner, I hit up my favorite Thai place – Bangkok Cafe – for the Pad Thai Jade. After filling myself with delicious food, and an afternoon at the pool, I slept perfectly in my quiet and dark hotel room. Actually, I woke up insanely early because my body is just accustomed to waking with the birds and my early riser son.

The next morning, I did some driving around to check out old neighborhood haunts – including our old place. I was sad to see the dogwood tree was gone.

I had breakfast with a friend, at Scrambled, and I have to say it was so-so. I guess I should have stayed with the tried and true, and stuck with my favorite Greensboro breakfast place – Smith Street Diner.

After breakfast, we had to walk off the full stomachs, and so we headed over to the Greensboro Arboretum. The magnolias were stunning, and everything was in bloom. It was a hot and lovely day for a walk – just like Greensboro summers tend to be.

After a graduation party full of former colleagues, friends, former students, and good eats, we headed to the coliseum for graduation. I have not ever had the chance to get to graduation and see former students walk across the stage, but I have to say, it was well worth it. Sitting with my friend and former colleague, Mary Elise, watching our former students was the biggest thrill a teacher can get. We laughed, cried, cheered, clapped, shouted, told hilarious stories, and marveled at how grown up each and every one of them looked. It was easily the highlight of my school year, and maybe my career so far.

I rounded out my trip with two more meals with friends and former students. Pizza at Sticks & Stones never disappoints – the Kiss Before I Go is covered in fried eggplant! The hot chips and Sir Charles tuna with wasabi sauce, paired with an icy IPA from Natty Greene’s is also a winner. I have actually had dreams about this patio, food, and world-class beer.

Obligatory photo with Nathanael Greene – the Quaker who fought in the Revolutionary War. The rich history in the south was something I absolutely loved to learn about – it seemed so much more ancient and romantic than what I already knew about the Midwest. Revolutionary War reenactments, complete with cannons, never hurt my love of the history in Greensboro.

One last walk around the lovely neighborhoods of Greensboro was on my to-do list, and I tried to bring her the remnants of my 6-pack of Jade. Oops.

I hopped on a plane, after meeting some former co-workers after their school day ended, and headed home. I know faces of people are absent from this post, but they already lead such public lives, that I thought I’d focus on places and foods. I can add y’all, with your consent, especially since you are what I miss most about Greensboro. Not the food, not the places, not the spaces, not the landmarks, but my own personal history. I am so grateful for all the people I got to see, laugh with, hug, cry with, and catch up on your doings. Thank y’all so much.

New Artwork

I finally finished an artwork that I made for a coworker’s nursery. She sent me some color requests – pinks and grays, 2 quotes she liked and a general idea for the artworks. I got to work, slowly, much more slowly than normal. But, hey, it was a busy spring for me.

The quotes are printed and then collaged onto the canvas. I sealed the collaged areas in my favorite collage material – gloss gel medium.

The flowers are also collage, done from painted pages from an old dictionary.

I used a palette knife to rough up and wrinkle the collaged words, for a more aged effect.

The flowers were inspired by some of favorite and currently blooming flowers – peonies. This huge, pink beauty of a bloom was picked from my backyard earlier this week.

I started with watercolor paint for subtle all-over color. Then, switched to thinned tempera paint for the bolder magenta hues.

During this project, I actually ran out of white acrylic paint – the first time in forever! A good problem to have – it means I am actually creating something.

My pile of scraps and old credit card that I use to ensure a smooth adhesion to the canvas. This pile of cut petals and printed scraps was a goldmine for my daughter’s budding creative mind.

“Can I make something out of this pile, Mommy?” she squealed with delight.

“Of course, you can! What do you want to do with them?” I asked her.

“You’ll see,” she replied with a grin.

She set to work, glue stick in hand – gluing, tearing, cutting, and arranging. She set up her paint space and requested her paint colors. I was amazed at the care and time she vested in her painting. She was so proud of her careful brushstrokes and the fact that she did not get any paint on anything other than her paper.

Her finished masterpiece. We will be doing much more of this kind of collaborative work in the next few weeks, now that school is officially out for me.

Easy Stuffed Peppers

Our weekly produce box has been so good for rounding out our meals – veggies galore! I decided to make stuffed peppers last week, something I have not made in ages. As almost always, I winged it.

I made a big pot of rice, with the intent of the leftovers being turned into fried rice on another night. Win for me and easy weeknight dinner!

I’m an absolute sucker for any sort of Tex-Mex flavoring, so I went with a pre-mixed Mexican spice for flavoring this time.

I arranged my 2 halved peppers in a casserole dish and began filling, hoping I had just the right amount of rice mixture. Somehow, my eyeballing skills haven’t failed me yet!
Just before I took them out of the oven, each pepper received a delicate sprinkling of cheese. Delicious reheated as a weekday work lunch, too, I might add.

Stuffed Peppers

1. Combine: ½ cup cooked white rice, ½ cup cooked mixed rice, 1 cup chopped kale, ½ chopped tomato, 1-2 tablespoons lime juice, salt & pepper, Mexican seasoning.

2. Cut 2 bell peppers in half, horizontally. Remove seeds and ribs. Fill with rice mixture. Bake in 375° oven for 30-35 minutes or till peppers are slightly softened and rice lightly browned. Optional: add sprinkling of cheese on top during last 5 minutes of baking.

Rhubarb Raspberry Crisp

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One of the things I missed most about the Midwest was its unique plants – moving to North Carolina made me realize that I couldn’t smell lilacs every spring, watch the corn grow into tall tasseled plants, and wouldn’t be enjoying freshly cut rhubarb desserts. Of course, moving back to the Midwest has made me miss uniquely southern plants as well – the looming ancient magnolias and their white messy blooms, the grape-like bunches of sweet-smelling wisteria, the browning fields of tobacco plants, dots of white dogwood in the understory of the forests, the creeping cathedral-like kudzu that took over the countryside. What are your favorite plants? Are they tied to a location, particular time, or memory?

I often make rhubarb strawberry desserts, as the sweet strawberries complement the tangy and tart rhubarb so nicely. However, I did not have strawberries on hand, and thus used a carton of raspberries instead. To me, rhubarb looks like reddish-green stalks of celery. The leaves are full and scalloped and also happen to be poisonous. Their blooms are fascinating bunches of flowers and they happen to prefer cooler climates.

I kept this dessert on the sour side, by swapping refined white sugar for coconut sugar. It’s not as sweet in flavor, but remember, sugar is still sugar.

Rhubarb Raspberry Crisp

In a 8×8′ baking dish combine: 2 large stalks of rhubarb, sliced and 6 oz of red raspberries (or more is fine too, this is just what I had on hand).
In a small bowl combine: 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 cup coconut sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom, 1 cup oats, and 8 tablespoons of cold butter. Combine with hands until mixture is sticky and butter is completely combined.
Bake in a 350° oven for 35-40 minutes or till fruit is bubbly and top is lightly browned.
Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Spring Gardening

We tore out a section of our railing in April. We left the section around the door, but the resulting space is along the walk to the house is quite wonderful – no more walking all the way around a paint flaking, rusty, shaky railing to get to the yard.

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After removing the railing, we immediately dug out two new beds. I planted parsley, fennel, marigolds, purple basil, nasturtium, and sage.

My other big front yard project has been adding two raised beds. We filled them by the light of an almost-full moon, while listening to Prince, on the day we heard of his untimely death. Night time gardening, when else can you get uninterrupted time to play in the dirt, when you have young children?

The idea for the beds in the front yard came from the book, The Edible Front Yard, by Ivette Soler. I have focused on planting edibles that we A. love to eat and B. look nice. The kids have absolutely loved checking the status of the plants, weeding, and helping with watering.

The same day I planted items in the front beds, I received a shipment of live plants – hops and rhubarb. I also tore out the giant kale root from last year’s giant of a plant. I’ll have to look for the photo I took of the behemoth. The root is a good indicator of how much kale likes my front yard – two plants came back from last year and are ready to start harvesting already. A happy thing for me, but a sure sign that this past winter was not a harsh one at all.

This is how we have been spending our afternoons after school – outdide, as Q says. We built a bigger better sandbox for these two diggin’ fools – more on that later.

Now that crazy April is over, we will be doing more of this. I am so excited for summer this year – talk about enjoying the long days and sleep-filled nights, now that Q is almost 2 and G is almost 5.

The other best part of the beginnings of warm weather in Iowa? Biking! We have been getting out on bikes every day without rain. We hit up Mullet’s one evening for dinner and enjoyed the scenery along Gray’s Lake on the way home, with a detour for DQ. This mama is ready for summer!