The Green Adventures of a City Girl

A Front Yard Farm

2011-05-09T12:00:00.004-05:00

Here at the City Girl household we have been embarking on a brave new experiment. Urban Farming!! When this City Girl read about PRI - Cold Climate's new Urban Farm Certification Program she jumped on board fast! And let me tell you, it's been a whirlwind of classes, networking, and just plain urban farming. A City Girl's dream com true! This City Girl is psyched.My biggest accomplishment so

It's CSA Time!!!

2010-06-11T14:09:00.004-05:00

Can you believe the Harmony Valley Farm CSA season has already been underway long enough to be on Box #3? This City Girl can't! Life is crazy around here these days so I haven't had much time for posting. Suffice it to say using up the box has been MUCH easier than last year now that I have some experience under my belt!So here's a quick summary of my faves so far this year:Frittata - you can use

City Girl CSA Recipes Online!

2010-06-08T12:37:00.003-05:00

Oh my goodness! Sick babies, teething babies, full time work and desperate attempts to get my gardens going have left almost no time for posting these days! Despite that, this City Girl has had time for one very essential thing: keeping a list of recipes useful for my CSA shares. And the best thing about that? I've made it public! A few months ago, I discovered the best thing since sliced

Seedlings!!!

2010-04-19T21:53:00.004-05:00

So there's a brave new experiment going on these past few weeks in the City Girl household. We're starting this year's garden from seeds! This is a first for me, so I of course, sought some advice from the web. And I found this nifty little idea for starting seedlings in empty water or milk jugs. Now, before you scold me for my ecological unfriendliness of buying water let me just say that we

Eastern European Vegetable Stew

2010-04-19T20:25:00.006-05:00

We started a new tradition in the City Girl household in which our oldest (almost 5 year old) gets to choose whatever vegetables or fruit he wants at the co-op when we go shopping. I do this partly to let him feel like he 'gets' something of his own choosing at the store, and partly so he can feel invested in some of the fruits and vegetables we buy in the hopes that he's more likely to eat

Braucher's Sunshine Harvest Farm - a Meat CSA!

2010-03-24T18:00:00.001-05:00

In the dead of winter, when the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares stopped coming from Harmony Valley Farm, this City Girl had the delight of still feeling like she could support local farm fresh food with a meat CSA! Yup, you heard that right M-E-A-T CSA! And boy do I love it! It comes from Braucher's Sunshine Harvest Farm. Unlike a veggie CSA there is no sign-up deadline. You can sign

Green Adventures Plus Two! Oh And Cloth Diapers Too!

2010-03-09T08:00:00.009-06:00

Boy, those "couple of weeks" off referenced in my last post were sure an understatement! That said, I promised to come back so here I am!First of all, I have to say, I do believe we have got the cutest little twin boys in the world. We are so blessed. And they actually SLEEP! Still, there is little time for much in the way of any fancy sorts of green endeavors. I am still keeping up with our CSAs

On Twin-Cation!

2009-08-19T07:33:00.000-05:00

I think it's safe to say that City Girl will be on a twin-cation for the next week or two. My wife is being induced on Friday with our twin boys! I've already been slacking as far as the blog posts go because we've been busy busy busy trying to get all our ducks in a row for their arrival! So I wanted to offically say: I'll be back soon, I promise! Likely with a post about our new cloth

Cucumber Fennel and Orange Salad

2009-08-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

We're still experimenting with ways to use our fennel here in the City Girl household and since I'm going to have an abundance of cucumbers from my garden I decided to give this idea of mine a try. It's a very fresh, light tasting salad. The dressing is very light and mild, so if you like something with a stronger dressing you may want to change it up a bit to your liking. I'm not a huge dressing

Ramp Cheddar and Brebis Cheeses

2009-08-06T21:46:00.006-05:00

We were delighted to receive another veggie share from Harmony Valley Farm today, along with our once-a-month cheese share. Here's what was in our veggie box, along with some luscious looking raspberries (Photo courtesy of Harmony Valley Farm):I have to confess. Now that we are getting some more 'normal' veggies (that is, things this City Girl is used to) I'm having a harder time using up the box

The Cloth Diapers Have Arrived!

2009-08-05T23:17:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, Do Good Diapers left a fun little package on our door step: our first sets of cloth diapers! Since we're having twins (any day now!) we have even more reason to try the cloth adventure. The cost, even using a diaper service, will be nearly half as much as buying disposables. For a singleton, you'd probably break out about even with the use of a diaper service. So here's what we

The Best Chicken Rub Ever

2009-08-03T20:38:00.006-05:00

Really. Seriously. This is the best thing I have ever put on chicken in my life. EVER. First of all, it was part of my first time butterflying a chicken. What's that? Yeah, that's what I thought at first too! But then one of my favorite bloggers detailed how she did it on Pinch My Salt. So, in case you're clueless like I was, it's simply cutting a whole chicken down the middle so you can

Raspberry Meyer Lemon Marmalade

2009-07-30T22:27:00.010-05:00

[Updated 8-3-2009: I finally got my camera & cable in the house at the same time! So thought I might as well add the photos I had taken!] With our previous CSA fruit share, we were blessed with several Meyer lemons. They were raved about in our newsletter like they were some kind of amazing offering so I figured I better try a few things with 'em! They are officially gone now, and I used them

Is Being Green Inconvenient?

2009-07-23T11:25:00.008-05:00

Well, maybe. Probably if you are used to conveniences in our modern systems. But some things, such as composting, are easy. Some, such as joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and cooking more from scratch with SOLE (Sustainable, Organic, Local and Ethical) food do indeed seem inconvenient. At first. I'm about a couple months into my first ever CSA experience. And though I

Is Being Green Affordable?

2009-07-22T23:18:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure I would have known the answer to this question even a few months ago. I didn't give much thought to greening my life. Well, actually I did think about it, a lot, but didn't take much action. Practically none actually. Sure I put some recycling out every week and rode the bus to work, but those were the easy things. When I started to really think about greening my life and how I

Using up the box with Pasty!

2009-07-22T16:00:00.000-05:00

I found another amazing way to use up the box: traditional Michigan UP (that's Upper Peninsula) Pasty! What's a pasty? Basically pie-like crust folded in half & sealed over a filling usually made of cubed beef stew meat, and thinly sliced potatoes, carrots & onions. And I think it's the perfect dish for many of my CSA veggies! This time I stuck with a more traditional route, but I have

Fennel Beet and Orange Salad

2009-07-21T21:00:00.006-05:00

OK, confession time: I have NEVER eaten fennel or beets. They are completely new veggies to me. Seriously. New. So I had to come up with some way to try these things. And boy am I glad that Harmony Valley Farm's recipes came to the rescue! I made this salad to take to a potluck and was sorry that I forgot to take the little bit leftover back home with me it was so good! Oh, and I don't

Cheese Fondue with my Veggie & Cheese Shares

2009-07-16T17:00:00.002-05:00

When I saw the recipe for cheese fondue in the Harmony Valley Farm newsletter for my latest cheese share and thought of the fact that I had one green apple on it's last legs, cauliflower, zucchini, tofu, and homemade whole-wheat bread all plentifully available in my kitchen already, I knew this was a meal I would be sure to make. The only problem is I have a wife pregnant with twins and the

Making Vegetable Broth from Scraps

2009-07-15T23:17:00.006-05:00

When I read that you could make vegetable broth from scraps this City Girl was psyched! There's nothing more green than making something out of stuff that would be otherwise just sitting in the compost heap. So for the past month I've been accumulating veggie scraps in the freezer. When one large plastic container didn't seem to be quite enough, I also filled a large sized freezer bag with scraps

Growing Cauliflower

2009-07-15T17:00:00.000-05:00

Now, I've tried plenty of the usual veggies in my garden before. Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, herbs... But this year is my first year trying cauliflower. And I am forever indebted to Harmony Valley Farm because on our visit there a few weeks ago, I heard them mention the fact that you must TIE your cauliflower leaves to cover the new baby head of cauliflower in order to keep if white. If you

Grapefruit Granita

2009-07-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

In a few more days we'll get another fruit share, so we're still trying to make it through the last one. My favorite from the last box was the grapefruit. However since it's a little time intensive to eat compared to most fruits I decided to use most of it to make granita. It was excellent. Basically not much more than frozen, slushy grapefruit juice but it felt like a nice healthy summer

CSA Week 9

2009-07-13T21:26:00.009-05:00

Last week we got another installment of our veggie & cheese shares from Harmony Valley Farm: Fresh garlic, White cipollini onions, Red beets, Fennel, Carrots, Thai basil, Cucumbers , Snow Peas, Baby bok choi, Salad Mix, Cauliflower, Otter Creek Summer Cheddar, Pasture Land Coop's Sogne, Cedar Grove Monterey Jack.Plans for the loot? Well, I've honestly never tried beets or fennel. So thinking

Cooking Beans in the Pressure Cooker

2009-07-08T22:00:00.005-05:00

Okay. This is one of those City Girl experiments that didn't go so well. Not that it's the first (not by a long shot). But I had a bunch of black beans to cook, and didn't want to do the whole soak for 12 hours, cook for 2, or whatever long and drawn out processes my cookbook outlined for choices. And it did mention briefly that you could cook them much quicker in a pressure cooker. But it

Radish Parmesan Pizza

2009-07-07T21:14:00.005-05:00

Wow. I can't believe it's almost time to pick up a new installment of our veggie share from Harmony Valley Farm (this Thursday!) and we've used up our entire share! Well, except for a tiny bit of spinach that went bad. That really is a tragedy because I've discovered how easy it is to throw spinach into nearly anything! Ah well. More for the compost I guess!One of my most exciting

Bike Commuting (with Bill!!!)

2009-07-06T17:00:00.004-05:00

So my friend Bill is starting a fabulous new business: Bike with Bill. What is it? Your fastest and easiest ticket to smooth sailing bike commuting. Bill was the perfect personal guide for my first ever bike commute.He researched and rode my route to work ahead of time. Foreseeing a few obstacles on the first half of the trip AND knowing that I have not ridden my bike in oh, just four years or so