Last week, my husband found a recipe in a cook book we’ve had for almost ten years. We’ve been trying to cook new dishes regularly. This dish was called Mustard Milanese with an Arugula Fennel Salad from Deb Perelman’s The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (2012). It was so tasty! We’ll definitely be making it again. Beyond…
Yesterday, I learned from a fellow blogger and Wisconsin educator, Tammy at Tammy’s Reading Life blog that today is Pocket Poem Day! According to Tammy’s blog, the Pocket Poem was started in New York and meant to spread cheer. A poem, written or copied (with acknowledgment, of course), is shared and passed to those one…
I love to learn new things. I think it makes me a better and certainly, more interesting, person. Earlier this spring, we got a course flyer from an organization offering a variety classes in sustainable living. My husband was interested in the DIY dehydrator class and I was interested in the Spring Foraging class. By…
I’ve got the itch! Each day when it seems a little warmer than the last, I think to myself – soon I can plant! The seeds I started at the end of March have done better than ever before. I’ve had nearly 100% germination rate (my basil and lavender have only partially germinated). But, all…
I am a life long learner. I know this because I still enjoy looking for, obtaining, and synthesizing new information. Then, I like to put the information to use because I know if I do that I will remember it better. When my husband was in medical school, they had a saying. It went something…
What have I done to celebrate the earth, I ask myself? Mostly, it’s involved informing others of the precious resources the earth provides. In the past, for celebrations of Earth Day I’ve presented to whole schools on topics such as the forest and monarch conservation. I’ve presented on the prairie as an ecosystem, and helped…
Yesterday afternoon, I ran around town to four different stores, including Walmart, Home Depot, Farm and Fleet, and Rudy’s – a small farm and feed store about a mile from my house. I was on the hunt (excuse the pun) for one of those “ugly fake owls” that are used to deter birds and other…
This spring has been one that I’ve really stopped to observe the changes in our environment. Part of this has been due to being asked to make a video for a local school’s environmental day and part is my own interest in phenology – or signs of the change of seasons. As I’ve aged, these…
My husband and I moved to Maryland early in our marriage. He had obtained a research job at a Delaware hospital and I just finished my child health – pediatric nurse practitioner degree and was working at the esteemed Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. It was 1990. We enjoyed living outside one of the major…
Over the course of the last year, I have lamented the lack of travel. I like to travel. Sometimes our trips are to exotic locations like Kauai or Bermuda or Banff, and sometimes they are to a less dramatic location but still one we desired to see. My husband and I have talked about when…