Stuff those stocking with Back to the Roots

As the kids I am gifting for are growing up, we are heading more into "activity" type gifts. The kids are busy with an activity that isn't a screen and the parents are happy for a little quiet time, win-win. Some of our favorite activity gifts include gardening and getting little hands dirty! Don't be afraid of a little dirt, folks, just have a proper set up and you'll be fine. My favorite kits to include in kids' stocking (ages 4-12, in my opinion!) are by Back to the Roots.

It's more and more important to teach our kids where our food comes from and simple kits like the mushroom farm and garden-in-a-can are great tools to get the conversation going. Check your Whole Foods, mine has these all stocked up and ready for gifting!

We are currently doing our mushroom kit and Jonas loved misting it each morning. We always see mushrooms in the yard that I tell him to stomp so it will be fun to explain that these are the kind of mushrooms we can eat! And a random side-note: do you watch The Bachelor/Bachelorette? I am guilty. Second question, did you watch Emily's season of the Bachelorette? Then you might remember the super cute mushroom farmer named Alejandro?

What about now? Yep, that's the same mushroom farmer that started this company, Back to the Roots! Was a fan then, am now a customer, thanks Alejandro and company!

Lately

I am such a sucker for cute packaging and anything by Method, so I couldn't really resist this. The scent is Vanilla Chai, yum. Plus, I heard it's a good idea to stock up on hand soap before a new baby comes since we will be asking all the visitors to wash their hands before holding the baby.

After a horrible day, my sweet husband brought me home flowers to cheer me up. After I cut them and put them in water it wasn't long before they all wilted! What gives? Come to think of it, when I cut the ones in our yard and did the same thing they quickly wilted. Bummer-central. 

A corner in the nursery. Some newborn-ish toys in a wire basket hang on the wall. I love Land Of Nod and everything they have. BTW lots of things would pass for adult decor, too. Basically blows Pottery Barn Kids out of the water.

Funny how my purchases lately are focused more on post partum. Everything I've read says witch hazel will be my friend afterwards when everything is sore and stings. A maxi pad soaked in witch hazel and then frozen may offer some much needed relief.

Gotta love summer dinners where there is always a little stack of fresh homegrown tomatoes on the side.

lately, via instagram

Pete checking out the rug we got from Urban Outfitters for the nursery. // Catie Coyle shooting away during our maternity photo session. // An adorable shirt I won from a Darling Clementine blog giveaway. // Our tomatoes are doing really well this year! // First shoes. Need I say more? I die. // Beer and a Bloody Shame (Bloody Mary without Vodka-get it?) //

garden update.

So far the garden is off to a great start with only a few challenges. The major problem has been a mole! Cleo has killed moles in the past but I guess she is just over being the garden keeper these days.
Here are how things are going in our garden lately: (Sometimes what I like most about blogging is looking back on posts and garden posts are especially helpful for me to see in the future.)

What's new! Jon planted hops. These little suckers are actually 5-6 feet tall and grow like weeds. Those strings attach to the eves on our house! Who knew he'd be so into it? He has already brewed about 10 batches of beer and hopes to harvest the hops and use them eventually.

The new & the classic: crooked neck yellow squash and zucchini. Both have been the fastest and earliest producers. I even made flourless zucchini brownies with some zukes already.

I spy a cute little butternut squash!

I predict a pretty awesome tomato season for us. Last year was not so great, so this already looks promising. We planted 6 different ones in the plot.  And on the far side where we have our zucchini, butternut squash and cucumbers two rogue tomatoes popped up! You can see them in the 2nd photo. We aren't the cleanest gardeners, oops! It will be interesting to see what variety from last year stuck around. So I think with 8 tomato plants this year we should be rolling in them come July and August.

My basil is not doing so hot. I planted the kind on the right in April and when they didn't take off, I planted the bunch on the left. Both haven't done much. They flower and I pick them off and that's just it. Very frustrating. 

Cleo says "come again!"

How does everyone's garden's look so far?

One warm weekend

What my weekend looked like, if you're interested.

Frozen yogurt on a hot day. But halfway through I smelled Subway and wished I had that instead. Weird!

Trying to get excited over sparkling water with lime and strawberry...but hard when you husband is drinking beer he brewed himself and you wish you could enjoy a glass too!

I got my first Birchbox. Verdict? Meh. I got some expired (2009!) moisturizer and duplicates of fashion tape among a few other things. Not impressed. I will give it one more month before canceling. I'd like to try out Bluum or Eco Emi.

Loving my new radio I got from Gilt. Had lots of background radio and Giants games going on recently. Plus, it's cute!

This is not how you made homemade rosewater (I wish!) but this looked and smelled pretty on the kitchen table.

Garden Plans

{Some early blooms in the backyard}

I am so excited to plant our garden this weekend. We have been soaked in rain the last couple weeks, which is why we are getting a late start. The chance of frost is over and now is the time to plant. Here are our plans:

Old favorites

Tomatoes-they make up the bulk of the garden. We like to get about 4-6 different varieties including some cherries, yellow ones, classic Brandywines and some heirlooms. 

Herbs-We still have our rosemary, sage and mint from years past but its time to replant the basil and cilantro. I actually never even cooked with the sage last year, my bad. 

Zucchini-it grows so well and we love cooking and baking with it. 

Radishes and carrots-grow very well from seed, can work them in throughout the season. Great additions to summer salads.

First time planting

Butternut Squash-yum yum yum

Pumpkins-would love to cover my porch with pumpkins all fall but they are sort of expensive, planting my own should help. 

Garlic-why not just stick a head in the ground and see what happens?

Not trying again

Cauliflower-winter crop and they take up too much room

Celery-just wasn't impressed and its so cheap at the store, why bother? Although I will miss having all that access to the leaves for my bloody marys.

Peppers-it just doesn't get hot enough here for them to grow well, and we don't eat them when they are ripe!

What am I missing? What are you planting this year? Whether in a garden or a patio potted garden, I'm interested! I am truly at my happiest in my overgrown garden. Here's to warm spring days and hot summer nights in the near future!

Good Things

Happy Friday! We made it. Here are some things that made me smile this week when the rain was getting me down.

We got another wrapped canvas photo from our wedding. There was a great deal through One Kings Lane that I couldn't pass up. If you are in the market for one, keep an eye out for sites like OKL, Gilt and HauteLook. They always have canvas deals. (Photo by Kate Harrison.)

A new succulent to tide me over until we can plant our garden in a couple weeks.

Fresh squeezed orange juice. Citrus is so cheap right now they are practically giving away bags at the farmer's market. A great way to use them up is fresh juice. 

Remembering a great dinner with friends over fried chicken and mac n cheese at Farmer Brown.

Pete lays in the strangest places. That can't be comfortable, lil guy.

Happy Friday!

{me by Kate Harrison}

Have a happy weekend everyone! And be sure to head back here next week, when I will finally be sharing photos from my wedding. Can I get a hooray for that? ;)

My weekend

{Nicole and my glad-clad feet}

This weekend I attended my 10 year high school reunion. It was easy and relaxed and just a lot of fun. These are people you are connected to in a unique way and I felt a sense of camaraderie. Maybe that was the beer talking but I really am so glad I went. 

{Jars of refrigerator zucchini pickles and peppers}

So exciting, guys. I used some of the Weck jars we got for the wedding to pickle peppers and zucchini from the garden! This was my first time experimenting with this and I can't wait to test these out tomorrow. Do you like pickled things? Either you love em or hate em. And if you hate them its pretty passionate I've noticed. I once read that people either love or hate olives/mustard/pickles. If you love one, you most likely love all three, something to do with the way you smell and developed tastes. I love that trio while Jon hates them. Interesting!

{Homemade pizza}

We got to try out another one of our wedding presents, the pizza stone! Ok, like a lot of other gifts (toaster, nice silverware), I don't know why we didn't just buy ourselves one years ago. This makes such a difference in the way the dough cooks! Will never look back.

Cozy Eats

The weather here isn't really feeling like its time for the red Starbucks cup*, but I don't care. The flavors at this time of year are really some of the best. The change in seasons has been reflected in my cooking.

Butternut squash mac and cheese

Tomato soup made from the heirlooms we grew in the garden. 

Baked cauliflower mac and cheese.

Recipes from an old SHAPE magazine.

*It was 95 degrees today.

O'o Farm

One of the best things we did in Hawaii was not very typical Hawaiian at all. We toured an organic farm, harvested some of the lunch, had a chef prepare and cook us a meal in an outdoor kitchen and ate right there on the farm! O'o Farm is located in the upcountry of Maui and was about 50 minutes from Wailea, where we were staying. When you live in the Bay Area and constantly drive 30-45 minutes to go to dinner, this wasn't a big deal for us.

 Welcome!

 Coffee beans! It was pretty embarrassing that I didn't recognize all the coffee trees. It really was my first time seeing what they looked like before roasting. We got to eat the red ones! 

Meeting Chef Caroline in her outdoor kitchen. Turns out she used to live in SF for 17 years! Like half the people we met in Maui were from the Bay Area, go figure!

Where we will later eat our lunch. 

Jon in one of the greenhouses. 

Maui is not so great at growing tomatoes and cucumbers, which were growing in here.

Learning about their own coffee roasting, yum. Their beans were so small! The tour guide told us they sold their coffee for close to $25 a pound, yikes! Some girl asked how coffee gets flavored like macadamia nut and mocha and this organic farmer basically played dumb, shunning all the chemically enhanced side of coffee.

O'o Farm grows beneficials on the outskirts of the rows like cilantro that they let flower because it attracts the good bugs that actually eat the farms true pests. It looked a little overgrown around some parts, but everything was there for a reason.

Those are some good lookin' Maui Onions. 

When Richard pulled some of the compost pile aside, we actually saw steam escape! The inside of the heap was around 100 degrees. 

Jon + my plates. Can you say yum? Everything local, sustainable and organic cooked fresh for us. It felt pretty decadent. We were able to bring a bottle of wine to enjoy with our lunch. 

The lunch was capped off with homemade biscotti, chocolate and French Pressed coffee. If you ever find yourself in Maui, I urge you to go on this lunch tour!

Weekend Scenes: Down to the wire

Here I am a few hours after my wedding makeup trial. So happy with it. Our garden this year looks nothing like last year at this time. It's been a relatively cold summer here in the Bay Area. Crossing my fingers for warm weather in a couple weeks.

Pretty kitty, Cleo.

Margaritas with some of my favorite people. 

Sea salt + butter.

Nephew + Kayaks.

We celebrated my dad's birthday with everyone at Briones Reservoir. 

A little food, family, kayaks makes for a great time!