Farmer John

Mom needed a break so Okko and I went to the farm to check on some plants....We found corn and sorghum and lots o' toads.

vocabulary

Home brew

We wanted to take some pictures of the pickling process but forgot to continue after washing the cukes! We have three jars of pickles at the moment and about 4 pounds more of just-harvested cucumbers. Eric says they are all delicious. They make a very nice white gunk as they ferment, which is little dead bacteria bodies and nothing that will hurt you, but also means you're very brave if you eat them. Thanks for the recipes Charlie!

Eric has also made hot sauces with the garden jalapeños and scotch bonnets. He's using recipes from the book Johnnie got him, and with each one he pronounces, "This is the best one I've ever made." So it's quite successful, although they aren't spicy enough to please him. Fortunately the garden is also producing peppers like whoa, so there is time for more experimentation. The tomatoes are the only ones that have disappointed so far - because they started making tomatoes about a month ago, but none of them are ripe yet! But when they ripen, there will be an abundance of sauce.

The cats ate our pot seedlings, so that experiment will have to wait for another year. They're very grouchy because we've switched them to wet food - maybe that tiny snack helped them mellow out?

Oscar is a champion boy. He got his first scraped knee, loves playing games on the iPad, and enjoys experimental hats. He's started saying a huge number of things, and will repeat words after you. Today he fed me pretend food (his hammer was the spoon), and he's started catching yawns. So that's all very exciting!

Now it's time for everyone to take a nap!