Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart blossom

We survived parents’ weekend! Actually, it was a very successful weekend, musically.  It wasn’t pretty as far as following the meal plan (and, in truth, involved way too many cookies, too much ice cream, and too many dining hall meals).  This week, I need to get refocused on following the meal plan.

Also, you may have noticed the addition of a lilac photo last week.  I decided to add a bit of photo gratitude to the menus, so each week I plan to include a photo of something on the farm that is indicative of the week and makes me happy.  The last week was rainy, and started a change in the types of flowers that are blooming.  I spent a bit of time in the rain Saturday morning playing with my macro extension tubes.  The wind was annoying (when you’re 1/2″ from your photo subject, and it moves just a little bit, it’s gonna go out of focus), but I enjoyed the quiet time in the midst of a crazy weekend.  Had a hard time deciding on the one to use for the post, though.  Here are others I thought were worthwhile.  Which should I have used?

• Wild strawberry blossom
• Orange wildflower
• Redbud blossoms
• More redbud blossoms

New from the farm: The asparagus is really coming in strong!

Groceries:

Lilacs are blooming!

The asparagus is finally coming in!  We ate asparagus for 4 meals last week (though it wasn’t on the menu yet).  The harvest is picking up, and so are the pre-orders.  I imagine we’ll be fulfilling asparagus pre-orders this week, and need to begin marketing it next week.  Exciting/exhausting times!

Meanwhile, this week will be packed.  I was unable to do much while I was sick for 5 weeks (which is the reason I started this whole meal planning adventure), and this past several weeks has involved constant pushing to get caught up – at school, on the farm, and with my graduate classes.

Yes, I’m working on another degree, this one an MA in Public History.  I was in the early part of one of the classes I was most excited about in the whole degree program, Theory and Practice of Oral History.  Alas, missing 5 weeks of an 8 week class is problematic.  So I was given a 30 day extension to make up the work.  Wouldn’t have been too much of a problem if I wasn’t behind on everything else in life.  At any rate, that extension ends Sunday.  We also have parents’ weekend at school beginning Thursday, and that doesn’t offer much in the way of time to breathe for band director types!

Despite all of those challenges, we’ll try to both celebrate asparagus, and get as many home-prepared, all-organic meals in as possible this week.  Thankfully, I prepared a couple of freezer meals over the past few weeks, and have a slow cooker.  I wasn’t too happy with how the Crock Pot Chicken Tika Masala turned out last week, so I’m going to make a few changes and try again this week.  We are down to only 4 chickens left in the freezer (which probably makes X happy…), though, and 1 of those will lose its thighs for this…

Groceries:  Kroger – $99.38

New from the farm:  Asparagus!  Also, rhubarb is starting to fill in, so that might make a dinner appearance early this year.  We’ll see.  Lettuce, spinach, and arugula germinated slowly this year, and is still probably 3 weeks from harvest.