rudderless

Making it Home

A few corners of the boat. This is truly the first home John and I have made together- something that isn’t a rental, or a loaner, or a boat that first belonged to him. It’s been great fun sewing, decorating, polishing it into something that belongs to all four of us.

The cushions are Ultrasuede (big splurge, but so worth it), sewn in the most basic way possible on my Sailrite Ultrafeed machine. I have had a long and tenuous relationships with the sewing machine. But after five years and a few dozen projects, I am proud to say that I love it with all my heart. Cockpit cushions are next on the list.

Pictures of my grandfather, grandmother, John’s mom, my family. My other grandmother resides in the galley. And I’ve noticed a strange absence of pics of my parents. Perhaps we need to schedule a photo shoot for next month, so the girls can have their beloved Goonie and JoePop framed up onboard. We hang pictures with velcro so that they stay put when the boat rocks. I need to reframe something for the left corner.

Art. By my lovely friend Meg Winnecour. The bluebird has found a home on our bulkhead.

Now, on with the living, and the adventuring.

Week of Love

Today this old man has been on my mind. Perhaps it’s the LOVE theme surrounding Valentine’s Day. He hated “Hallmark Holidays” but appreciated the calls and cards from his “Chirrun” (children) just the same. He would have enjoyed watching my girls diligently coloring their Valentine’s yesterday. He would have hung them on his credenza behind his desk with a straight pin and told anyone who’d listen that his GREAT-granddaughters sent them to him.

He asked me to help him write his memoirs about ten years ago. We didn’t get far- just some notes and a few precious tape recordings I need to transcribe. He never mastered the art of talking to a tape recorder. Every episode starts out with, “Ellen, I can’t get this DARN CONTRAPTION to do what I ask it to do.” But I have letters, notes, his Chirrun, and many, many images to get me through. I will write his stories down so that my Chirrun will know one of the most beloved people in my life. My oldest Valentine.

That’s the book I am writing in my head, on long bike rides, on my sunrise walks with Rosy. I am writing the stories of my three wonderful grandparents. I hope there will be some vignettes along the way. I need to sort through the blog my sister and I started about my grandmother and then abandoned- one more corner of the Internet gathering dust. I need to give my mom some time before I start extracting the tales of her Mother. They are just too fresh. But him, I am starting with him. With a picture, with a promise to finish what we started.

Local Harvest!

I’ve never gotten completely comfortable with South Florida’s upside-down growing season. It just seems counter-intuitive to stock up for the summer months and have local stuff in the market in the winter. But that’s what we do. We go strawberry picking on the first week in February. And what a wonderful harvest it was. This morning we are eating our “jam toast” and drinking smoothies, all with the berries we picked a few days ago. Knaus Berry Farm is in the only part of Miami-Dade I really enjoy. The Redlands is a paradox- a gorgeous, flat and fertile swath of agricultural land above Homestead, made possible only by diverting water from the Everglades in a network of canals that effectively ruins the natural flow of water from Lake Okeechobee. We have seen some moves towards restoring the natural environs of this area, but honestly, it wouldn’t be America without big business entering the picture . . . That said, I love visiting the Redlands and we patronize a co-op of organic producers, along with the Berry Farm. Occasionally when I’m going north and need to extend the drive a bit for a sleeping baby, I find reason to get off the main roads and drive through the green. Green in winter, that is.

Red Pot Meals- Chili!

First off, thanks for the well-wishes and support when it comes to living aboard. We will be back and forth for the next month as we close out the land base and try to get the mast on the boat so we can live at a mooring (where the breeze is better!). But I can’t tell you how amazing it was to see the ladies loving the boat. The most gratifying thing EVER.

I’m concerned that the big red pot won’t fit in the boat’s oven, as I’ve recently become a fan of slow-cooking in the Dutch oven by putting it inside the oven (my version of a crock pot). Perhaps it will work out, and perhaps the pressure cooker will give me a similar effect in a fraction of the time. We’ll see, eh? Yesterday we cooked this chili all day long and it was, hands down, the best we’ve ever made. Try it-

Chili in the Red Pot

2 tbs oil
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup chili powder
1 tbs ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 pkg. ground turkey (or beef, i suppose!)
2 cans beans- dark red kidneys, pintos, whatever you please
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato puree
salt
condiments: scallions, cheese, etc.

1. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, bell pepper, garlic, veggies are softened and beginning to brown- 10 mins. Increase heat and add meat. Cook until no longer pink and beginning to brown.

2.Add everything else and bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer for 1 hour. Remove lid and simmer for 1 hour longer. Alternatively, put the whole pot in the oven at 225 degrees for 6 hours or so. You won’t regret it.

We eat ours alone with sour cream, or in true Southern form- ladled over a hot dog, in a bun, in a bowl with onions and mustard on top. My grandmother would insist on putting oyster crackers over the whole thing. A true Scrambled Dog- famously served at the small-town pharmacy in Columbus, GA where she took her children and grandchildren to dine at the lunch counter.

One Small Change, and one rather large one

Last month we joined Hip Mountain Mama’s One Small Change project- one earth/family/environmentally-friendly change per month leading up to April and Earth Day. Ours was to try some new recipes from Nourishing Traditions and continue to make organic dairy and meat a habit, not a splurge. Even if it means forgoing snack foods and other luxuries. After watching Food, Inc., buying decent meat seems to be a moral imperative.

The cooking went great- I’d recommend the cookbook to anyone and everyone- we made a beef stew, pot roast, potatoes, and a chicken dish that John loved. We played with sauces and marinades. Everything was from scratch, and it felt good to expand the repertoire a bit more. The premise of the book is to resurrect “traditional” recipes, simple, and from scratch, that optimize digestion and overall health. I look forward to many more meals from its pages.

I did my best to reach for the organic stuff despite the cost. I am enormously frugal, but have come around to appreciate quality over CHEAP. I put less meat in a dish to be able to recoup the cost of organic. I am heartened to see the natural meats picked over and the supermarket debuting its own line of organic dairy. All good signs. It’s still a matter of considering most everything I pick up- but once it becomes a habit, it will get easier, I’m quite sure.

This is the month of THE BOAT! We spent last weekend living aboard, getting adjusted, and are so excited about our new home. February brings the challenge of outfitting the boat in the most earth-friendly way we know how. Re-rigging our solar panels and fitting the DC system to run from our batteries (currently we have shore power that runs our insanely efficient fridge, a TV and 2 lamps- not bad!). Smalls things too, like using dish soap that won’t hurt fish. Reducing our laundry (potty trained babies help in that department!). Driving less (moving aboard shaves 500+ miles of driving off the odometer every week). Buying pillows and sheets that aren’t full of fire-retardants. So many things to consider in a 33-foot space. But we love it. And we’re living it.

The Yard Sale Continues!

Diapers, anyone? I just listed my medium pockets on diaperswappers.com- here’s the link.

For the locals, I have an enormous vat of Thai sticky/glutinous rice that I need to pass on. We have always made it in a bamboo steamer and the girls love rolling it into balls and dipping in soy sauce. We just don’t have room. Let me know if you want to try it.

I’ll be back later with pics of our FIRST WEEKEND Aboard! It went swimmingly, with the icing on the cake being Sophie this morning, “But I don’t want to go back home. I like the boat better!” She WAS at home.

And to put KSue’s and my mom’s minds at ease, boating does not mean the end of blogging. If anything, it should mean a beginning of sorts, as a boat trip was what inspired this whole business!

Nineteen Months

Dear Roo-

Happy Nineteen Months! What a crazy awesome month it’s been for you. 2 more molars. Speaking in complete sentences, about everyone and everything. You have a little work to do in the pronouns department, but for now, nothing in the world is more eloquent than, “My do it? Rosy do it?” I love hearing myself in your language- the way you mutter, “Careful” to yourself all day long. The constant, “Happen? What happen??” And the joyous shout of “I take a WALK!” when I ask if you’re interested in a stroller ride (at 7AM).

Then there’s “Right here” and “Right back.” The other day we were having our special predawn time and I’d been clipping your toenails. When I was done, you grabbed the clippers for yourself and said to me, “Wait here. My right back.” You ran into the kitchen and hopped up on Sophie’s stool to get the dish sponge, which you proceeded to rub between my toes (ewww . . .) while tickling me with the clippers. A baby who administers pedicures. There is simply SO much going on in your head, and in your world. It’s hard to keep up.

The big deal this month- the potty! Next week will ostensibly be our first week living on the boat as a family of four. Karma is truly catching up to me, as you decided to bless me with the gift of “peepeeinthepotty!” What a glorious achievement. I knew you were ready physically and when words started pouring out like wildfire, I knew you were ready intellectually. So here we are a week later and it’s like old hat. Two girls, two potties, one very happy mama.

The tiny moments I want to put in a time capsule for when you’re fourteen and threatening to drive away in the family car:
-The way you touch your nose with your finger and scrunch your face and say, “Shhhh.”
-On New Year’s Eve at Diana’s when you looked over at her sleeping pup and said, “Doggy sleeping. Shhh, doggy quiet.”
-The M added to everything- Mogurt, Morange, Moga (yoga), Melmo. I wonder how long that will last.
-The tippy toe dancing and insistence on being a ballerina just like Sophie. This weekend you were on her bike saying, “Rosy the princess . . . Rosy the PRRRINNNCESS!”
-Your mad love for Tubtubs, Caillou, Brown Bear, Bus Stops and Choochoos.
-It must have come from the Once Upon a Potty book, but the way you gasp when a box comes in the house and say with such excitement, “A new present!”
-The demands for “Booby ON THE couch?” This evening your Dad and Sophie were playing hide-and-seek and you were nursing. You looked up to count- “1,2,3,4,6,7,Booby?” You count everything, with a tiny finger pointing, always, “2,3,4 BEARS!”

I wish I could bottle it, freeze it, distill some of its essence. It is all so lovely right now. Watching the silly, charming, SMART you emerging by leaps and bounds. What a goofball, happy and lovely as the day is long. Every day less of a baby, yet still wanting to snuggle into that cradled spot where you can nurse, “on the couch!” a few times a day. We are at such a crossroads in your life. The moment between baby and kid. Between part of me and all of you. We are all happier people because you make us smile so many times a day. Intense and light all at once, silly and cerebral, joyous through and through. I love you to no end.

Here’s to our adventures ahead. I can’t wait!
love,
mama

Red Pot Meals- sausage and beans!

As boat life becomes our reality once again (T minus THREE days!!!), I am trying to remember the best of the one-pot meals. I have a Le Creuset cast iron dutch oven that is my favorite kitchen item, ever. I use it five time a week- for soups, stews, braises, popcorn. The inside bottom is dark brown, seasoned with five years of use and goodness. It’s my baby. So without further ado, here’s a favorite red-pot meal. We made it last night and will be making it again, on the boat!

Spicy bean stew with sausages
adapted from the River Cottage Family Cookbook

2 tbs olive oil or veg oil
1 lb mild Italian sausages, we’ve used both pork and turkey; of course the pork is slightly better, but the turkey seems healthier!
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
2 14 oz. cans beans, cannelini, pinto, kidney- whatever you love.
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 14 oz. cans diced tomatoes
salt and pepper

1. Fry the sausages in the oil, over medium heat until browned all around. Set them aside on a plate,
2. While the sausages cook, peel and chop the onion and garlic as small as you can, drain beans into a colander and rinse.
3. Add onion to the pan (same pan you cooked the sausages in). Turn heat to low and cover, sweating the onion for about 10 minutes. Add garlic and fry for another minute or two, until fragrant. Stir in brown sugar and the spices and thyme.
4. Pour in tomatoes and beans, season, and add sausages. Turn the heat up to medium until stew simmers, then put the lid on, turn to low, and cook for 1-2 hours (longer the better). Stir every now again, but if you cook it gently enough, it shouldn’t stick.
5. You could leave the sausages whole, but I like to pull them out at the end and cut them into bit-size pieces, then add them back in (this makes feeding a toddler simple).
6. This is exceptional with potatoes, mashed or roasted, and a good beer.

Treehugging Tuesday!

John and I went to see Avatar this afternoon and with images of the ginormous (and beautiful) Hometree in my head, I hereby resurrect Tree-Hugging Tuesdays! I did a few of these on the old blog and may republish some old entries over the coming months. But the greenest thing we did all week? Potty-trained our baby!!

That’s right, Rosy is officially a potty kid. Still in cloth diapers at night and naps, but in a week we’ve cut our diaper-fueled water and electricity consumption by two-thirds!! Thank you, Roo!

Both of my girls potty trained wicked early, and with no fuss. Blessed I am. I have no secrets. Rosy was showing some real readiness signs- telling me when she peed, taking off her diapers, wanting to “rehearse” the potty rituals, going for long stretches without peeing and the DRENCHING herself to the tune of a leaky diaper. Which really prompted the efforts last week. She’s had three or four misses, but for the last three days, has been nothing but consistent. I don’t sit her on the pot and ask her to pee- we only go when she asks. She does a lot of rehearsing, and we make the bathroom super fun with lots of books and attention and love. I have stayed close to home for the past week or so, which is everything, if you ask me.

I can’t compare early potty training to any other way. I can only say I’m thankful that we’re saving diapers and water and resources, along with our sanity on the boat. I also think for us, it’s worked to do it before the stubbornness and independence of two and three set in. My friend Christie always says there’s a window, and if you miss it, you’re doomed to potty issues for the next few years. Who knows if it’s true, but I certainly happened upon that window both times and feel so lucky that my ladies jumped on board.

Here’s to the potty! We love you, Roo.
For old time’s sake, here’s an old TreeHugging Tuesday post about how we diapered the ladies. In the end, after four years of it, I am still loving prefolds and covers, just what we started with. Full circle, eh?
Sophie in what is still my favorite fleece cover.

Monday Favorites

The Monday endorsement theme continues, with kids’ stuff!

A friend asked last night which children’s book authors I’d recommend for their expanding library. Specifically, she wanted stuff without too many words and lovely pictures, which rules out the beloved Frances series and William Steig (love love Doctor Desoto).

But we can provide a list. Here goes.
I complied all of the below titles (and toys) here at Amazon- you can even shop through us!

Byron Barton makes great graphically illustrated books. Rosy loves Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs.
Taro Gomi is one of our all-time favorites. Especially My Friends and Bus Stops.
Anything by Peter McCarty is beautiful and simply worded.
Rosemary Wells. The Yoko books are some of our favorites.
The Ella books by Carmela D’Amico are a bit more involved, but still simple and sweet.
The Blue Kangaroo series by Emma Clark
The classics by Maurice Sendak- Wild Things, the Night Kitchen, the Nutshell Kids. We love them all.
Vera B. Williams and Julie Vivas are my other favorites.

Graduating from pure picture books, our favorites have been:
The Little Bear series by Else Minarik
Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad series, and Mouse Tales.
For old classics, I love Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson, and Robert McCloskey.
And for Sophie, the Angelina Ballerina series continues to resonate.They’re short enough that I don’t mind wading through them night after night.

We are bringing some books to the boat, storing some more, and will be relying heavily on libraries along the way. Our toy collection has also been pared down to the select special things and costumes. The most popular toy in our collection, hands down, has been the Haba doctor kit (at far left in the picture). We had a plastic one but after the crazy toxic plastic scare a while back, I tried to replace our best things with “better” versions. The Haba kit is a little collection of vials and bottles with cork tops. Nothing like the American kits with blood pressure cuffs and such. But it gets played with every day. They love it. We recently added some elastic and triangle bandages, and a real stethoscope (so cheap!) and it’s gained a new lifespan.

Their other favorite? The dragon. We have read and listened to Puff the Magic Dragon dozens of times over the past few weeks. Rosy calls any lizard or crocodile she sees a dragon- today we visited the pet store and she almost fainted at the sight of the iguanas in the glass boxes- “DRAGONS!! BABEEEE DRAGONS!!!!”

Happy reading, and playing!