Brinner for Dinner

I have become a big fan of Brinner for dinner, which is just a fun way of saying breakfast for dinner.

More importantly I just had to write a quick post that I finally prepared kale for dinner that I truly enjoyed. I didn't mind it in the past, but it was more of, I better eat this stuff because it is packed with nutrients and is good for me. Tonight I just simply heated some oil in a skillet and added some garlic. Once the garlic turned a little darker and smelled good and ready I added the kale (this time I chopped it up smaller), a little bit of water, pepper, a little salt, red pepper flakes, and even a little bacon (because we were already fixing it for the other part of our dinner). I let it simmer for at least five minutes until the kale was wilted but still a bright green.

I think part of the reason I liked it so much was because it went so well with the eggs, bacon, and black beans and rice that we fixed for Brinner!

It's Been a Busy Day

Dave's Fall portraits!!

This is Dave's friend, we call him Frisky.
Clay took this picture early one morning before work.
This is just a hint of what our ladybug infestation looked like. It started last weekend and lasted for about 5 days.
This looks like what use to be a tomato horn worm, but the black part on the head seems unusual.
The next two pictures were taken on a hike at Glen Alton. These pictures were taken 10-12-08.
This is a sourwood tree. We were excited to see one because Clay and I went to the Sourwood Festival in Black Mountain, NC this summer.

We hiked on a side trail called Kelly Flats, but this is the main entrance to Glen Alton. I love these gates.


Back to 10-18-08 The Wildlife Club at CES had their Fall hike today. We ended up going to Camp Alta Mons, one of my favorite places. I haven't hiked there in the fall. I was a little bit worried about the little ones falling on the wet leaves and hidden rocks, but no one went home with any scars. We had 4 teachers (Including Denise Washington from New Orleans, she was excited to be out with us because she didn't grow up spending a lot of time outdoors, she said she might go home a "tree hugger."), 5 students, 4 parents, and one little brother. One of the girls ended up with a wet foot on the first of three creek crossings. She seemed to be pretty uncertain of the whole experience on the way up, but once she got to the falls she was loving it. She kept scooping up handfuls of water and was so eager to explore everything. She was much more confident on the way home and crossed the creeks on her own with no mis-steps. I think we met our goal of getting some families out hiking and enjoying the Fall colors. Claire one of my co-workers had a great motto she had heard, "No Child Left Inside!" I got some great photos of the students, but I wouldn't want to post them without permission, so I just included some nature shots.

Shelf Fungi.

I named these marshmallow fungi!



We are expecting to have a freeze tonight, so we worked late in the garden. We continued to pull up the tomato plants. I picked the green tomatoes, thinking I could try to see if they would ripen up inside. We pick most of the basil to dehydrate. We dug up one basil plant to pot and bring inside, hoping to keep fresh basil around a little longer. The clover Clay planted is doing well and will make a good ground cover to keep the soil from blowing away and can be tilled into the soil when spring comes. We just left the pepper plants alone to brave the cold. If the plants freeze and die we will collect the rest of the peppers. I didn't have the energy to cover them with a sheet and try to keep them going a week or so longer.


A closer view of the peppers, some lettuce, and kale.



For such a big plant the Brussels sprouts are still very small. I'm still hoping to have at least one meal with them, and I've always liked the small ones anyway!

One last view of the evening before dark.

I tried to post a couple pictures of the October Fun Day that we had at church today, but It didn't work, and I don't have the patience to try again just now. I have to say my favorite moment was when all the adults and one child were doing the Hokie Pokie, while all the kids watched. I'm pretty sure it was suppose to be the other way around!

Overdue Update

Just a few quick pictures of what is left in the garden. Clay took these pictures about two weeks ago. We don't have any sunflowers left but the cosmos are still bright and colorful.


We are still getting a lot of bell peppers from the garden. I'm trying to keep my ears open to when the first freeze will be here. I will need to pick anything left growing to put in our freezer before then. The latest peppers are super sweet and great for salads or eating fresh. We also have several hot peppers that I could pick and let dry out.

I have loved the mesclun lettuce that we planted this fall. The combination of different greens have such a varied taste that you really don't need to add anything else to the salad except dressing. The spinach didn't do well at all, you can barely find the baby leaves among the weeds. The kale is doing great, but I can't seem to find a favorite recipe to use it. I've been giving bags away to any takers.

Other garden adventures have been taking place at Christiansburg Elementary with the Wildlife Club. The students have enjoyed snacking on the last cherry tomatoes, picking weeds, finding worms, smelling herbs, and turning the compost bin (that isn't really composting well, they just like to turn it). We have so many great ideas to do with the club, just not enough time to organize it all. I have also been helping to keep up our school pond that has turned a snotty green because our pump broke. We got it fixed for free with the help of Tetra Aquatic and it is slowly clearing up. I love having my classroom near the pond. I can send a few kids out at a time to read in the fresh air and watch them from my window or take the whole group out. At the end of the day I let the second load bus kids go out and help skim the pond to scoop out all the leaves that are piling up in it.

I also had my first Virginia Master Naturalist fieldtrip at Glen Alton and another trip tomorrow at Brown's Farm. I can't wait to spend some time outdoors with the perfect fall weather!!