groundspeed

D and D Family Farms

This is our last produce box of our CSA season.

(CSA = Community Supported Agriculture.)

Ok sometimes we were a little over our head with the amount of eggplant we got, but I can now make eggplant parmesan and baba ganoush without referring to a recipe. My kids like (LIKE!) cabbage and brussel sprouts. I have not only learned of the existance of things like broccoli rabe and watermelon radishes, but I can now cook them too. 

If you are in St. Lucie or Martin County or heck, even Indian River and north Pam Beach, and you haven't been over to D and D farms and tasted of its bounty, then you are missing out.

Here is the final email we recieved from the farm.  I am so excited to know we'll be able to get eggs and berries next year!  

 

Dear All,

This week will be our last week of the CSA for this season. We hope you have all enjoyed this program, and thank you all for your patience as we go through our learning curve of this program. We are always trying to come up with new ways to improve our service and would definitely appreciate any feed back you would like to give, as well as any special requests as to types of vegetable for the new season.

Unfortunately due to the very slow growth of our blueberry, raspberry and BlackBerry plants we were not able to provide any this season although it looks like we will be able to around Easter of next year, (that is when they are producing berries). We thank you for your support this year, it has helped us achieve a lot, including getting additional fruit trees planted, such as peaches, apples, mangoes and avocados. These are small trees and will take a few years to start producing in any quantity, but you have to start somewhere.

In the last month we got a grant approved by the Dept of Agg, for a hoop house, which will allow us to now grow things in a controlled environment over the summer. We have also purchased a 200 foot hoop house which is being put up right now, and will house our airponic, and hydroponic growing systems that will be functioning in the next month. This will allow us to produce, 100% certifiable organic produce on an immediate basis which we will be having during the summer. If you are interested in this let us know and we will let you know when the produce is available. 

we value you as customers, and again appreciate your support, with out it we would not be able to survive the season during the current economy. Due to this we are offering special discounts to those of you that would like to sign up for the new season. If you sign up by June 30 and pay in full you get a 25% discount off the full season. There are also special discounts for those that are on subscription and easy ways to pay. Go on line to www.danddfarms.com  for full details. 

As a further service to our CSA members, we are offering you the first priority on Free Range, Cage Free Farm Fresh eggs, all produced within 7 days of delivery. These are not part of the CSA but are additional, but are available to you first before sold to our other customers. Let us know on this when you sign up if you would like to be put down to reserve eggs on a weekly basis. There will be a limit of 4 Doz per customer.

We hope to see you all again next season as returning customers, let us know one way or the other as soon as possible, even if you don't sign up right away, as we offered a two week trial on Groupon, which had an overwhelming response. Based on the response we are sure we will sell out our shares rather rapidly once they have been made available to our Groupon customers. who are also going to be offered early sign up discounts. remember space is limited in the CSA.

If any of you would like to refer friends, call us or email us for a referral code. You will get a 10% credit usable towards your CSA or produce from the Farm. Refer 10 friends for the CSA and yours is free.

Some of you have attended our Easter Celebration, and following in its tradition with a fall festival, including, G-rated haunted house for kids, games activities, a more teenage, adult haunted hay ride, pumpkin patch, sunflower maze, BBQ, bounce house, face painting etc. And then for Halloween, we may also be doing a special market with family friendly vendors, so that you have a nice safe environment to bring the kids to go trick or treating.

We will be doing a winter wonderland, for the holiday with Santa workshop, Santa Clause, festive hayrides, hot chocolate, face painting, and much more, as well as hosting our first annual Foster Children's Christmas party, where those in foster care can come and get a little more love and support from caring individuals in our community.  Did you know there are over 1000, children in Foster care at any given time in Saint Lucie, Martin and Palm Beach counties. We'll keep you posted as plans develop.

Hope you all have a wonderful summer. 

Thank you again,

Dean and Tania Bruschi Owners D and D Family Farms

Marcus, Fanny, Brian and Brooke, Grandpa Phil, Christina, Walter, "D and D Family Farms" Family

I quickly hit reply and thanked them for a great season of produce. I also volunteered my help if they needed it for their Foster Kids Christmas party.

What a fantastic part of our community.

Oh, and if you sign up for the next CSA season, and it's your first season, consider this post a referral and mention me so I can get the discount! :-)

 

Good Friday at the Beach

Psalm 8

¹ LORD, our Lord, 
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!
  You have set your glory 
   in the heavens.  

We HEARD the waves while still walking up the sidewalk, long before pavement gave way to sand. And then... Red flag. High tide. We weren't sure how our beach day was going to work out.

² Through the praise of children and infants 
   you have established a stronghold against your enemies, 
   to silence the foe and the avenger. 

The kids enjoyed dancing in front of the waves but even later in the day when the tide receded and things smoothed out, Kaden was too scared to get in the water. He'd heard and seen the strength of those wave breaks...

³ When I consider your heavens, 
   the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars, 
   which you have set in place, 

Meanwhile Kevin fully enjoyed God's handiwork.

⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them, 
   human beings that you care for them?

Big waves. Small man.

 ⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
   and crowned them with glory and honor. 

This troublemaker? A little lower than angels? God IS gracious. :-)

⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands; 
   you put everything under their feet: 
⁷ all flocks and herds, 
   and the animals of the wild, 
⁸ the birds in the sky, 
   and the fish in the sea, 
   all that swim the paths of the seas.

And brothers. Because here Toby has his brothers under his feet.

 ⁹ LORD, our Lord, 
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Yesterday it was animals. Today it was ocean, surf, and sand. There have been times in my faith walk when my intellectual side has leaned toward atheism (just being honest) but in creation... I can't imagine it all occuring by chance. Surely this beach, yesterday's peacock were the design of The Artist.

And if I accept a Master Designer, then I can accept that He is perfect, and I am not, and there must be a bridge to overcome that gap.

Today, more than any day, I humbly acknowledge Christ's sacrifice in creating that bridge. 

But on this side of the cross, it's not such a solemn day. There may be the dark skies, heavy thunderous waves... but they give way. The skies brighten.  The sea calms.  The beauty reveals. 

I know. I've seen.

In nature. In my life. In the life of my kids.

So this solemn day was not so solemn. We played at the beach. We lunched at the Jensen Beach Mulligans. We napped and watched Star Wars. I shopped for our church's Easter breakfast and worked on vases for table decorations. Preparations... 

THE day of celebration for Christians is almost here!

Critters and More Critters

My critters had fun with zoo critters today. This having a zoo pass thing is great when the kids have a day off school.

We were greated by a peacock.

We got to watch a tortoise eat brunch (It was around 10:30am - what other meal could it have been?)

Toby gets just as excited about the tigers and otters and bears as he does watching the same birds he could see in any local pond. Beyond this pic is probably some boring 'ol duck and I think that's super cute.

I came thisclose to getting Blue eaten. A mama can try...

Toby got to ride a zebra.

Kaden battled it out with a fountain.

And Kaden's friend who slept over last night was well entertained.

We watched the Wings Over Water show. We had a stare down with Mardi, the albino alligator. We said hi to Oz, the koala bear with Toby's birthday (but two years older).

Very productive morning.

On the way home we stopped at Chik Fil A. I reminded Blue that he's been calling himself a vegetarian, but he said he wants to be a vegetarian who eats Chik Fil A. We all make our compromises I suppose. (Meanwhile, I ate fruit and fries.) I'd packed plenty of snacks for the zoo so we were able to hold off and not eat lunch till almost 2pm. The beauty of this timing was that the kids had the play area to themselves and we ended up staying almost an hour. After all that fun, I think Toby was asleep before we got out of the parking lot.

Crazy Campers

Friday night we headed down to Jonathan Dickinson State Park for a one night camping trip.

Kevin and I had some big camping adventures pre-kids. 

We went tent camping once when it was just Kaden.

Kevin took Kaden and Blue a few times last year.

This was the first time we went with all five of us. 

It was... a good decent first try. We were all set to book a site in the Keys/Bahia Honda  for a longer family camping trip later this year, but now we're thinking we're gonna wait on that.

Set up in the evening was fine. Picnic dinner. Tossing around the baseball. Roasting marshmallows. The boys inviting a stranger for some marshmallows (they did, we shared, it was fine). Kaden read the littler boys a few stories.

Blue eating attacking a marshmallow.

Reading in the tent time.

I'm so talented.  I can hold a flashlight and take pictures.

Aside from some sand fleas and the fact that Kevin beat me at Scrabble, it was a nice evening.

And then came bedtime.

Toby just didn't sleep. First he wouldn't go to sleep. Luckily our tent is so big it actually has two rooms, so finally we zipped him into his own room and let him cry and fuss until he passed out. That was around 9:30pm. He slept soundly till about 2am and then that was it. He woke up and thought it was time to get up.  Blue slept through everything. The rest of us? Notsomuch.

Finally around 6am he crashed again for about an hour.

And then, big surprise, we had a cranky fussy Toby the next day.

We went on a short walk to a river overlook.

Some of the time Toby was into it and walking.

Most of the time he decided to stop. Because, you know, pine needles and sand are so fascinating.

So we took turns carrying him. This worked when Mom did the carrying, but if Daddy tried it was all squiggles and shouting for Mommy.

So that didn't work, but we still made it.



But then, for some reason (oh right, no sleep) Toby threw a big fit when it was time to walk back. Sadly for me, big fits these days involve scratching and hair pulling.  Finally, beyond frustrated, I threw him in Daddy's arms and ran ahead on the path. Without me to act up for, he chilled and came along. 

In addition to Toby's tired-two-year-old temper, there was another big hazard to this walk. Apparently there was a giant on the path ahead of us. He left some crazy tracks.

I did find it a little suspicious that the word "giant" was written in the middle of this print and that Kaden was walking ahead of us with a stick in his hand, but... you never know. If you go for a walk at Jonathan Dickinson and you come across a giant on the path, don't say I didn't warn you.

We survived.

We had a little playground time where Kaden and Blue played happily and Toby stomped around uber cranky at one point even breaking Daddy's sunglasses when Kevin went to fetch him because he'd stomped too far away. Oy.

Then Toby and I sent Kevin, Kaden and Blue off into the Loxahatchee river (we borrowed a canoe from one of Kevin's coworkers) and Toby and I continued on to a birthday party in West Palm.

Wait. What?

In that state I took Toby to a birthday party? Am I CRAZY?

Yes. There's that. 

It still seemed a better option then sticking the kid in a canoe.

Also, I figured he'd get a needed nap during the 40 minute drive and if worse came to worse I'd just let him sleep. 

He did nap, but I didn't let him keep sleeping. He wasn't happy about being woken up and right away getting a diaper change, but he was soothed by Teddy Grahams and a fruit bar and I got him composed before we entered the bounce house! kids! snow cones! and petting zoo! birthday hoopla.

Actually the petty zoo was what I'd known would be our saving grace. Toby loves "anmals."

There were baby chicks, bunnies, a piglet, a rooster, two ducks, a mini cow, a goat and two baby goats. I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy making sure Toby was being gentle.

Yup, a traveling petting zoo for a barnyard themed birthday party. LOVE it.

After leaving the party we returned to the park to fetch the rest of the fam. Poor Kevin... About twenty minutes before we got back it had started POURING. Kaden and Blue didn't mind because they love to play in the rain. Kevin was a bit grumpy, and of course it didn't let up for the packing up, canoe mounting, but by the time we were out of the car and gassing up? Clear skies.

Is there any better way to end a camping trip? 

It only took 33 months...

But I finally took Toby to get a "real" haircut.

There's a kids haircut place only about 5 minutes away in the small plaza at PSL Blvd and Parr, and part of me has thought I should take Toby there because maybe, just maybe he'd be happily distracted or maybe it would work because they are used to screamy, fidgety kids and can work under those conditions. Another part of me thought it would just be ridiculously overwhelming.  A haircut PLUS sitting in some crazy car PLUS toys PLUS books PLUS videos etc. AUUUUGGGGHHHHHH.

The optimistic part of me that thinks, let's just try it and see what happens, won out today.

It went well... enough.

I didn't think to take a before picture, so here's the most recent picture I have pre-haircut (taken on Tuesday).

That is one shaggy boy. And yes he is making a huge mess out of a tomato. And yes he is eating it like an apple. In fact, when I came upon him (after deciding to check on why suddenly Toby had gotten so quiet after I knew he had  walked into the kitchen) and asked him what he was eating he said it was an apple. Silly kid.

I didn't get very many pictures during the cut because most of the time I was keeping the fruit strips (I tend to have a bunch of these in my car and purse at all times.) coming. That or I was hugging Toby and trying to keep him in his car/chair.  This freaked the hairdresser out as she was convinced she was going to end up cutting me. I survived.

Every station had a mini DVD player so that's where he's looking.

Almost there. Poor guy was getting so itchy. No drape because once we got him in and buckled the goal was just to go fast. Next time we'll go a little slower at the beginning because the cut itself didn't seem to annoy him and the clippers which were a brand new experience didn't phase him even though I expected them to totally freak him out. So next time the priority will be to cut down the itch factor. 

The whole time he kept calling out, "Yay, I did it!" and then standing up as if he was all done. So I, while pressing him back down, kept saying, "You almost did it. Little bit more..."

Post-cut:

He was instantly happy once I brushed him down and released him back to the toys.

And before we left he got a balloon. Here he is telling me that it's yellow. It was a dog but he untwisted part of it right away.





All the boys got shorn so here they are before we left. 

I now have a very clean-cut crew!

Zoo Day

When the hostessing duties are over and the presents are bought and wrapped, why not plan a zoo day over Christmas break?

So we did.

It was busy because Toby had his My Gym class this morning, and I promised my mom I'd have Gus groomed before he hangs at her house a few days so I had to drop him off, and then it was time to get lunch so we hit Chick Fil-A on the way down... But finally, around noon we got to the zoo. 

Kookaburra

Roar like a Tiger! (Did only Blue hear me?)

Pose with the tiger statue since the live ones are sleeping in a spot we could barely see.

Watching monkeys.

Wild Things Show...

Touching Banjo the baby alligator after the Wild Things show.


Anteaters are so cool. 

Ended our trip at the carousel.

Then off to pick up Gus, stop at the drycleaners for pants I need Christmas Eve, drop off my mom and the dog, and now last minute details... It's a good thing Big Apple Pizza is having a fundraiser for Kaden's school tonight - no need to feel guilty about just calling it a pizza night! 

Merry Christmas, Animals!

There's a bunny in all that fur somewhere and her name is Crystal. She's available for adoption at the Treasure Coast Humane Society.

We hung out with Crystal, some of her other bunny friends, and a whole buncha kitties today after I picked up Kaden from school. (There are dogs too, but we didn't go to that part.)

We brought them presents.

In lieu of presents for Blue's birthday party we asked his friends to bring presents for the animals of the humane city. On the invitation I included a few items from their wish list as well as that web address. Our guests came through and we had a big tub full to place under the tree at the Humane Society.

The boys with our donation:

The boys trying to play with the dog toys in our donation box:

When we arrived there were three wrapped presents and this one bag of dog food at the tree.  Now there's toys, cat litter, leashes, treats, and collars that extend all the way around to the other side!

We've always done a charity instead of party presents (they still get presents from us and grandparents) but this is the best one we've picked because the birthday boy got to take part and have fun during the delivery. In the past I've tried to explain the charity and who it helps but to actually see animals and place things around the tree was sooooo much better.

The only problem was trying to get them to leave...

...without a kitty. (I stayed strong.)

Santa's Christmas Tree Village

First and foremost Kevin and I are REAL tree people. I think if one of us ever waffeled on this it could be a deal breaker in the relationship.

We usually get our tree from Home Depot. And when I say always, I mean way back in 1999 or 2000 when Kevin and I were dating we went over to the Gainesville Home Depot and picked out a tree for my apartment.

Home Depot for trees - it's a little lame I know, but the price is usually right and their trees are always in early. It's convenient. 

Wednesday night we went to Home Depot and a whole section of trees were sold out (On NOVEMBER 30th!) and we weren't excited about the trees we saw plus the price was higher... so we left. Without a tree.  But we didn't know where else to go. We called someone and they suggested a tree lot on PSL Blvd and we found a good tree for a good enough price.  All is well.

But.  

Next year we are going to Santa's Christmas Tree Village on US 1 just into Fort Pierce if you're driving up from Port St Lucie. Apparently it's been there 25 years now!

Blue had a class field trip there today. (A field trip on his birthday!) Toby and I should have been at My Gym but, of course, for Blue's birthday we had to go on the field trip and bring along a special birthday snack for the class.  (Did you know Panera sells its hot chocolate in those big coffee boxes? Good for when you're trying to bring hot chocolate to a preschool class out on a field trip. Ya know, in case that ever happens to you.)

Anyway, the tree village.

Gorgeous trees. Three different kinds of trees. All are set up so as you pick out your tree it's as though you're wandering through a Christmasy forest. Up high they have a "snow" blower. (Soap.) Free hayrides. Fun decorations and the prices are comparable to everywhere else. Um, why would you go anywhere else? (Well, because we didn't know about it. But now we do.)

As for the field trip...

First it was learn about tree time:

Can you spot Toby acting like a 4/5 year old?  Yeah. He thought he was cool

Then it was wander through the forest time. Sounds fun, but there were risks.

Then a happy class photo.

Then a craft. I thought if I stood Toby at the table but didn't give him any glue... well, how much damage could he do? As it turns out plenty. But, again, he thought he was way cool standing at the table acting like the big boys.

Most mornings when I drop off Blue, Toby is always T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Maybe it's because he's mad he doesn't get to stay too.

After craft, hay ride:

We even sang carols.  

Then I ran to the car to get the cookies and still-warm Panera hot chocolate.

I'm sending my mom to get her tree at the Village Saturday and making Kevin and the boys go too so I can get them out of the house while I take some time for party prep. (Blue's Kung Fu Panda bash is Sunday and pretty much all I've done is bought some stuff and thrown it in a pile. Need to get on that.) So even though we didn't get our tree there at least someone in the family will.

Great morning of Christmas fun. 

Pumpkin Patch

We picked out our pumpkin today. We go to the All Villages patch to support that church where Blue goes to school.

Usually we get three carveable pumpkins but our van is dead and we are determined to stay in budget these days in order to squirrel away cash for the new-car fund. (In the mean time I'm driving a FREE car from my father-in-law who decided now would be a good time to get a new car.) Even so, one big pumpkin will do. 

But without Kevin to make silly faces behind me (hernia surgery gets him our of so many things!) I totally struck out on getting a shot of the boys looking cute, at me, and all together.

But, I have to face it, Blue and Kaden are getting a little old for pumpkin patch pictures.

And yet, they do make good pumpkin heads.

I didn't think to try Toby in the pumpkin. He just laughed at his brothers.

With Kaden there to stand behind me and goof around I got plenty of happy Toby pictures.

Then we got serious about picking out our pumpkin.

And Toby got to ride with our pick back to the car.

That shirt Toby has on? It's on its third Stratton boy. I love it when clothes last that long. And since it's probably only been worn 6 times between all three kids, it can still get passed on to a younger cousin.(Oh - don't let the jeans/long sleeves fool you. It was just for pics. It was mid-80s. A little better than the low-90's we had all last week, but still not jeans/long sleeve weather.)

Even though we stuck to the plan of only get one carvable pumpkin, I ended up letting the boys each pick out a small $1 pumpkin. Potential project involving spray paint to come!

Palm Beach Zoo

Yesterday was play around home day. Today I kicked it up a notch and my mom and I took the boys to the zoo.

Back when I was a kid it was the Dreher Park Zoo and I assume I went, but I have zero memories of this zoo. A few vague memories of Dreher Park and a few vague memories of the nearby planetarium but my brain calls up nothing on the zoo, so it was as new for me as for the boys. 

And now for 1,792 pictures of our day at the Palm Beach Zoo. (Give or take 1,770)

Toby was all about the carousel until it started moving. Then I had to take him off and just hold him. In my arms he happily watched the carousel animals around him, just didn't want on one.

Doing the Gator chomp by the alligator habitat.

 

My little chicks in a giant eagle nest.

Only at the Palm Beach Zoo will you come across a statue of some donor's beloved pet. Seriously. I wonder how they would feel about the fact that Blue walked up to this Samoyed and said, "Look, Mommy! A piggie!"

Waiting for the bird show...

Unfortunately this spider was not behind glass or in any sort of arachnid habitat. That guy looked bigger than my hand! Ewwwww.

Toby loved this turtle. He petted it. He talked to it. Super cute.

A little after noon we were at the tiger area. It was just the daddy tiger which we knew because I'd looked up the cubs schedule. On Fridays they don't come till 1pm. We moved on and made it back over to the tiger area at about 12:55.  Finally around 1:10 Mama and two cubs came out.  Fifteen minutes of waiting when we had been at the zoo since about 9:45 was an eternity especially for Toby. I was able to pacify him by singing Old MacDonald had a zoo... (And in his zoo he had a bear/grrr, tiger/growl peacock/caw etc. etc.) It was worth the wait because Mama and cubs came out playing strong and if you ask Kaden and Blue what their favorite thing at the zoo was, they will both tell you they liked watching the tiger cubs.

And then the boys were able to blow off some steam at the splash pad which we saved for last.

A very happy school-free Friday!