Wind Chimes

We've got wind chimes.  The neighbors left them when they moved and since the new neighbors don't want them, Madison brought them over here.  There were actually two sets.  The smaller set she hung on her rabbit's hutch, because of course bunnies need chimes too !  The second set we have hung on the edge of our patio cover.  They are  quite tacky  not the most beautiful things but the sound they make is lovely.  It is a soft, tinkling sound.  It is going to rain later today and the wind has just come up and is swirling around our backyard, and as I sit out here in my garden and listen, it is as if the wind has found its voice.  It is an interesting concept, to think that maybe we are all like the wind, constantly moving and speaking and singing from our hearts, but that we need to find our specific tool to find a way to outwardly express ourselves.  The wind is naturally silent, and it needs trees or water, or even a cheesy set of wind chimes. We too are naturally silent, living inside our own heads, and we need writing, painting, woodworking, ceramics, or cooking.  Whatever our particular tool or medium is, it allows us to sing and howl in a way that allows the world to hear us. 

Divine Nettles

Tonight we are feasting!  My parents are coming over for dinner tonight, and we are grilling some chicken, and having roasted cauliflower and sauteed greens.  It is the greens that I am so excited about!  For some reason we have had a super successful winter growing gorgeous rainbow Swiss chard, spinach, kale, and now that spring is here our nettles are growing.  Yes, I planted nettles on purpose and I saute them along with the other greens and it makes an incredible side dish.  Before we had this wonderful garden of greens it would never have occurred to me to buy Swiss chard, or to pick nettles and saute them for dinner.  But since they are growing in such profusion, and since we really want to be more self-sufficient, I want to use them, instead of making yet another trip to the grocery store.  So all winter I've been experimenting with ways to use all of these greens.  Our favorite is to saute them in olive oil with caramelized onions and garlic, and then sprinkled with some Parmesan cheese.  Sometimes we put it in pasta, and sometimes we just eat it as a side dish.  Either way it is divine!

   We just pulled out our dishwasher.  Last year our 15 year old dishwasher died, and a part of me was really excited. Now I could get a new (actually used from Craigslist) stainless steel dishwasher to match my "fancy" new (well, another used Craigslist purchase) stainless steel refrigerator.  It turs out that the beautiful on the outside dishwasher was not the best working on the inside!  It constantly left this film on our glassware, which we ended up having to handwash anyway.
  That's not why we pulled it out though.  This last year we (our family) has changed a lot.  We've always been a bit weird, and we have been changing slowly and organically over the last 6 years.  But we started to realize how much easier it was to just wash our dishes and put them away.  Not only did we feel more "green,"  since we weren't  using the electricity and water to run our dishwasher for its hour or so cycle, but it was so nice not to wake up to a full load of dishes to put away while I was trying to make breakfast AND pack a lunch for my husband.  So we stopped using it.  We use a minimal amount of water, some elbow grease, and our dishes are cleaner than ever.  but the best part of washing all of our dishes by hand is the sense of community and relationship it is building.  Before, after we had loaded our dishwasher with all of our plates, silverware, and glassware, we just had a few pots and pans to wash which I just left out to dry in the sink.  Now, since we have a pile of dishes from of dishes from the eight of us, as well as our pots and pans, it is no longer a one person job.  One person needs to wash and another dries and puts the dishes away.  It has become a wonderful, and rare, time for my husband and I to talk without  my children listening in and piping up.  Or my two oldest children laugh and tell crazy jokes or make up silly songs as they wash and dry together.  It also can become a special time between a parent and one child, which doesn't happen often in our large family.  However it works out, washing and drying dishes becomes a special time for building relationships instead of just a dull chore.  Who would have thought?
     So we pulled out the dishwasher, gave it away to some friends who needed one, and replaced it with much needed drawers for storing my grains, rice, and dried beans!  Its a win, win situation!