"researching" compost bins. definitely want one of those kind that are easy to rotate. found one that is supposed to look like it's a rock formation(or a castle or a covered bridge or something...),which i'm more inclined toward than one of the incredibly ugly looking ones,but it isn't easily rotated...

i'm bear-like. i hibernate in winter. curling up into a ball and reading a lot is way more enjoyable than ever going outside in january...

happy birthday to my lil' sisters. i would make them a cake if they were here,maybe i should make a cake anyway...

a thousand thoughts...

perhaps one of the reasons that i don't make new year's resolutions is b/c i make a thousand everysingleday that i can't make myself follow through with,so i find the idea of it to be a practice in futility.

but,either way,i made one this year,in my head,to myself- "to get more things done." and even though,i really do plenty(more than some,not as much as others.) updating this more frequently,was a big part of that. clearly i have proven my theory correct b/c i thought that maybe telling myself that it was my resolution would motivate me...nope. besides the fact that it is the dead of winter,i can't make myself DO anything.

yesterday, we sat down and made a list of potential garden-ideas for the spring,since we're determined to have this year's be better than last. or,at least, less hurried. last year's was fine,but now we've learned a little about what's good out here,ect. so now we know that 9 tomato plants are not an adequate number if we want to freeze even close to enough sauce-base to last us through,even november.

anyhow,we want to do so much more than last year. we definitely want to put things like zucchini and pumpkins in areas other than the front garden area,since they just TOOK OVER the entire left(north?)side of the garden...

new things to plant this year are: kale,collards,chard,cabbage,brussel sprouts(ew,for jake,not me),celery,mustard greens, parsnips,onions,scallions,leeks,chickpeas,peas,cantaloupe,chervil,bay,horseradish,fennel,tarragon,chives,mints, and catnip that we won't let ed sleep on and kill.

definitely want to try eggplant again,as nothing happened last year...and we know it was more us,than 'it'.

i want to check again, but,if i remember right,there's not enough of a growing season to do artichokes,which i am totally in love with. so,i guess they'll have to wait until i can invest the thousands of dollars that i have just sitting around,in a greenhouse...

we'll see...

i guess my 'new year's resolution' is to make myself do this more often. this surely means putting more time/thought into it than," i just did this," or "i'm thinking of doing this". we'll see.

going to start a few indoor herbs today. cat-attacks have been the #1 thing stopping me. i can put a few in the window above the sink and the cats won't be able to destroy them,it's just on the exact opposite side of the house than what would be the better side for growing...goodness.

we'll see.

made zucchini fritters last night with apple shredded in with the zucchini. made some soy-peanut-sauce to go with it. they were a lot fluffier than last time,but tasted just as good.

since the sister and her boyfriend will be here tonight,we're making tempura. not sure of the exact recipe yet,will post later...

coconut is magic

to cure(or at least,aid) my constant craving for coconut,we made these:

CHOCOLATE COCONUT MACAROONS
and
DRIED FRUIT AND COCONUT CANDIES

both from The Joy of Vegan Baking,our new favorite cookbook. though,neither required the oven to actually be turned on.

we're thinking of making the candies continuously,but varying the recipe with,among other things,different nuts...since it called for walnuts,but if we were to use,say,cashews,the flavor would be entirely different. the continuous part is because they are entirely raw and jake has been trying to start the day raw(for the first few hours) since he says that he feels better when he does that. pancakes are good too,if you ask me,but whatever. fine by me.

i think tonight we're going to make ZUCCHINI FRITTERS with apple chunks in them. the shredded zucchini being frozen,from our garden. yay. i'll post that recipe when it happens.

possibly complimented by some of the jalepeno jelly that i made in the summer.

i'm going to try to get back to doing this more frequently. i can't seem to concentrate, fully, on projects.

we're waiting on an organic seeds catologue to come in the mail before we really start planning this years garden. definitely decided that we are using an entirely seperate space for squash-type plants. mostly because they took over and choked other plants to death,but also because we want to plant more More MORE! this year. the tomato sauce that we froze from the upwards of 10 plnts last year,was gone in less than 3 months. putting the squashes somewhere else will free up SO MUCH space to plant,say triple the amount of tomato plants.
we're also going to try a few more things this year. just to experiment,last year,we planted anything that we could get our hands on,but i think this ear we'll make it a point to try things like eggplant,specifically.

since winter is really setting in,and our basement remains unfinished, i think that we're going to try brewing soon...still haven't decided specifics yet,but i do think that we'll most likely, start with wine,just because it'll be easier...and we're lazy,on top of having a billion things to do,already.

went to watkins yesterday. wandered the block of the town. just like i anticipated,it's really a very seasonal town. went into a secon-hand store that is truly a glorified(alphebatized,clean) packrat's basement. only vonnegut they had were ones that i already had. the dude said that it was hard to actually get any of his stuff... also stopped at a coffee shop/bookstore. they had 2 vegan bakedcgoods. blueberry with puff pastry...i wish they would expand that to other fruits...
the summer. i swear,this year.

//i'm faking it 'til i'm psuedo-making it.//

i don't know what's wrong with me. i have so many ideas floating around in my head but can't pin them down long enough to put any effort into getting them done,let alone actually write about any of them...

since i almost always crave coconut,we bought a package of shredded coconut like a month ago. i've stopped myself from opening it and simply eating it with a shovel. we're thinking chocolate coconut macaroons are the way to go. also found a dried fruit and coconut candy recipe in The Joy of Vegan Baking that sounds good.

i will post the recipe of whichever one that we finally decide on.

sewing will happen today. but not fun sewing,fixing sewing. necessary.