Walking the Walk...kind of

Earlier this year, I wrote a long rant about birthday parties. I swore that my own kids would have simple parties and we wouldn't even try to keep up with the Joneses. I took a "no loot bags" vow, and a "no presents" vow. That was easy, because neither of my kids had birthdays for at least 6 months into the future. But summer is birthday season in our house, and now I have to walk the walk. The results weren't as hardcore as I'd originally imagined, but we've just had two parties that kept (for the most part) to the spirit of my vows.
My son's was easy. He's just turning 3 and not so indoctrinated with neighbourhood birthday tradition. His birthday isn't until August, but we had a party for him in June to celebrate the beginning of summer with all of his daycare friends. He got it in his head that it was a birthday party, so we made a cake and he was totally satisfied with that. He was the only one who thought it was his birthday, so there were no presents or loot bags. Done.
5 year olds have been on the birthday circuit longer and thus have higher expectations. But we did okay with my daughter's party this weekend. We kept the guest list small, which granted, is easier to do with a summer birthday when school's out and you don't have to worry about too many people feeling left out. We had 6 friends and 1 little sister. Reasonable I think. We had the party at home (unusual in these parts since we all live in tiny houses), we made crafts (tissue paper flowers, beaded bracelets, and ahem, Froot Loop necklaces), we planted flower seeds in pots that the kids could take home, and we busted up some homemade pinatas (yeah, filled with candy- and each kid got a brown paper bag in which to collect their pinata winnings...so I guess that's a loot bag. Ooops). The birthday girl requested a Canada Flag cake, and we had pita pizza with organic dough, and a giant watermelon. All in all, pretty low key, easy, inexpensive and low waste. High sugar though...I'll work on that one for next year.
My favorite idea I found on someone else's blog (sorry, I can't reference it 'cause i forget where I read it), but we requested that instead of gifts each child brought two $2 coins. One for the birthday girl and one for a charity of the birthday girl's choice. At the end of the party, our daughter had $14 to take shopping, and $14 for charity. She chose a summer dress to buy, and after careful consideration, decided to give her charity money to a Conservation agency that works to save habitat for frogs and lizards. A little surprising for me, but hey, it's her choice! We were happy that our recycling bin wasn't full with toy packages and wrapping paper. All in all, the concept was a big hit and got great reviews from the parents involved.
I even got some feedback from parents saying that they are planning to try the 2 toonies birthdays too! Good luck everyone!

Colourful Harvest

This is what I picked from the garden today.

I'm pleased to say that we have been eating salad with our homegrown lettuce, making zucchini bread with our own yellow zukes, and getting totally sick of green beans. Awesome. I'm in awe of my beets, chard, and kale for their productivity and hardiness. The green and purple beans have produced more beans than 3 families could possibly eat, and I'm not sure what I'll do with 40 giant beets...but these are nice problems to have.

The downside is that my expected glut of tomatoes may be smaller than I had hoped. Many of the tomatoes are rotting on the bottom as they ripen (known, I discovered, as blossom-end rot)...but after a bit of research I learned that I only need to add "hydrated lime" to the soil and the problem should disappear. I also had a drainage issue in one of my self watering containers that has a couple of plants teetering on the edge of survival. The soil blight (virus...?) at my "away" garden is spreading and is affecting some of the cucumbers and squash plants. I have no idea what to do about this, but I'm sure the solution is very labour intensive! I kind of hoped that once I planted my little seedlings I could just put my feet up until it was time to pick stuff, but alas, it doesn't quite work like that!

My big step for this week will be buying and beginning to use a composter. Since I live in a city that composts for us, I'm in the habit of just throwing all my food waste into the green bin. But I guess this gardening thing gets under your skin because I now looks at all my peelings and think "what a waste to not have this in the soil".

Anyway, hope everyone is able to eat some fresh, local food this month whether from the garden or the farmer's market.