Delectable Humboldt Mac and Cheese

Excellent Cheese+Pasta+homegrown sweet onions =DINNER!!!
So while we had our weekend guests, Jess and I whipped this up, her idea, and I loved it! It is "delectable".


Ingredients:
Extra Sharp Aged Cheddar and Cypress Grove Midnight Moon Goat Cheese

Larrupin Mustard, (local Humboldt. Co. mustard/dill sauce...addicting).


Garden Fresh :-) Sweet Spanish Onions
Bow tie Pasta
Sour cream
Garlic
salt and pepper to taste
and of course strawberries, (as they're coming out of our ears!)

You can't buy this from a box!

Awesome Friends

So imagine coming to your good friends house to visit, and thinking, ahhh, this will be relaxing. Sitting on the beach by a great river, drinking beer around a campfire, eating fresh strawberries, just great.
Our friends Jess and Joe did all of those things with us this weekend, but also, oh, dug a trench in our garden for our water system, planted our beans which require some pretty deep holes, picked a gangload of berries in 95 degree heat, and fertilized our potatoes and dumped more dirt on them...just to name a few things. This was all in about 24 hours.

Amazing.
I think they slept in there as well...and yes, we had great beer, a sit by the river, a hike, and great food.

wow.
They live in San Francisco, and I'm thinking our place here, where the outdoors grunt work is abundant, is a kind of oasis from the hustle bustle of city life and an indoor job.
I still do think they are a bit happy to escape back to their homes though.
And they thanked US when they left...are you kidding? Again, wow.
Forrest liked them too....

Tough little 2 month old with a big noggin...

Forrest's 2 month check up was today...a little late as he turned 2 months old 6 days ago, but none the less all checked out fine.
His official stats: Weight - 10 lbs 12 oz (25th percentile)
Height - 22.9 inches (25th percentile)
Head Circum - 16inches (60th percentile)
At first I was somewhat worried...I don't know why. In my peds training in school I learned not to pay attention to percentiles, and it's more important that the baby is growing steadily. But the pediatrician quickly eased all worries and said that he's doing wonderful, and is very proportionate. And he's got a good big head on him! (bigger brain!) She actually was impressed that we were all doing so well with me being back to work so soon and him on a bottle parttime. She never once mentioned supplementing with formula, which was a relief as really don't want to go there. I was also worried about both of our gut flora due to the crazy antibiotics I've been on. Ive been eating yogurt like mad, and she did say that the probiotics are passed in breast milk. But, as Forrest has had some more frequent stools this week since I've been on the meds, she suggested we start actual probiotic powder, even giving him some on his tongue every day for the next month. I guess it tastes like dried milk, so babies usually have no problem with it. As I know our little guy needs all the good nutrients he can get, I'm happy to do this, and so glad to be done with antibiotics tomorrow, and hopefully for years to come, (so funny I haven't needed them in the last 5-6 years, and in the first two months I've been breastfeeding, I've needed them twice! Sheesh, so glad the offending tooth is now no longer an issue!)
All in all a good baby visit. His stats also coorespond well with both Alex and I as babies, neither of us were big bruisers!

Mom's Doc visit went well also. All healed up from the labor, and subsequent C-section. I had a good discussion with my midwife about why Forrest had the decellerations with my pushes and late contractions, and she said that they never found a cause. She had thought the cord was wrapped around his neck, but that ended up not being the case...so, I suppose it will always be a mystery...in the meantime, we have this to laugh at/with, and love to bits everyday...

Aunt Megan Visit #2!

Megan came to visit AGAIN last weekend! Surprise roadtrip! She drove almost 1000 miles round trip just to see us...(or really just to see this face....)


She came with her roommate Lauren, and they were so cute and awesome with Forrest. There visit was all too short, but we packed in the fun, with a hike to Split Rock, a very awesome landmark near by that isn't on any map...just a local secret.

Where's Megan....Find her! She's in red...

Saturday afternoon was BBQ time with our cousin Corey and a few of the HSU football team, (those boys can eat!) And some of our friends over as well. Sunday we had breakfast together...pesto eggplant omelets for mother's day, (don't ask me why...it was in the fridge, needed to be used...and was actually VERY good), and a hike to our infamous bird perch.
Those girls are so awesome to take the time to visit. We loved it! Forrest misses them already...

My flirty 2 month old

Look at this Forrest baby! What more can a mother want for mother's day...and a FIRST mother's day at that...

I'm a lucky gal with my new little man...

And this post is really just an excuse to show him off! Happy Mother's day to all the happy mama's out there....

Forrest Griffiths, 8 weeks old

This last Saturday, May 9th, was Forrest's 8 week milestone...wow! For 8 weeks he's been in our lives, eating, growing, sleeping, playing, and now more than ever smiling! As an 8 week old infant he's living a pretty good life...and looking more and more like a little boy...ALREADY!
His FAVORITE thing to do is this...

And the challenge now is getting him to sleep outside the swing...he seems addicted to it. Nice for us parents as we know he can be awake, happy, or fast asleep in it. But the swing is not attached to our car for trips, nor do we want to be...

And right behind that is his baby play mat...we add anything and everything that can hang on the hooks for him to bat at, coo at, and work on the hand eye coordination.

Besides the multitude of smiles he adorns us with, sticking out his tongue at us is the newest skill just in the last week...he seems to get a kick out of anyone of us sticking it back out at him...

Alex and I are pretty good about toting him along wherever we go...hence the family portrait on Split Rock, a local excellent hike and great view.
He's not always stoked to be carried in the sling or baby carrier....but the majority of the time he seems pretty relaxed....

Burrito night, 70% local...

Tonight we made burritos...sounds pretty normal and boring...but, they were about 70% made from local, home grown, great tasting ingredients. We are meat eaters in this household and the main ingredient was ground venison from one of two deer Alex takes yearly from our property. Now, I know, I had a big issue with "eating Bambi" too when we first started. But, when you look at the alternative of beef, feedlot beef at that, then you really don't feel so bad. Free range beef would be an alternative, but it is expensive. Alex does not hunt to increase and fulfull his testosterone levels, or just to "kill something" as many do. He hunts for subsistence ...and we use a great deal, if not all of what he takes. Plus, venison is the leanest meat that you can eat. It ranks with chicken breast as far as the least amount of fat for the amount of protein/iron you are getting, (which is always good for this often anemic mama). I still can't stomach large quantaties of the stuff on it's own, (which is good, as you really shouldn't eat tons of any kind of meat, ) and I have never been a rich meat lover. I do love cooking with ground venison! We make venison spagetti, burgers, lasagne, you name it...and of course back to the burritos...




So, pinto beans were from good friends garden, and they thankfully had cooked them for us and gave us a freezer bag full when we had Forrest. Lettuce was from our garden, just about the only thing coming from it at the moment, and of course the ground venison. All other ingredients or toppers, (sour cream, cheese, olives, roasted peppers, salsa,) were bought.

Soon, just about all of the ingredients will be from us! In the summer half of the days of the week we pretty much are vegetarians due to out glutton of vegetables....it's wonderful!
And of course salmon...soon we will have fresh wild caught spring run salmon...mmmm mmm.

It makes me happy to produce a lot of what we eat. And meals like tonight happen without even trying....sure we still like our store bought chips/ice cream/out of season veggies or fruit from Mexico or other climates. But, when you eat what you grow, or take from your own land, (or friends gardens,) it does seem to taste better! Now if we could just figure out how to grow an avocado tree up here...hmmm. Got to be the one thing we'll have to keep buying...

G-Diaper Follow up and diapering in general

There is literally endless information out there on diapering. Alex and I looked over some of it before Forrest was born and decided it was not a decision we could make until our guy was with us, and we could then evaluate what kind of energy/$ we felt like expending. Before Forrest was here, the idealist in me thought "cloth diapers, of course!" But now, especially as I am back to work and Alex is the superdad at home 3 days a week, it must be conducive to something we all can deal with...

So if you are expecting, I highly reccomend waiting and not buying expensive diapering systems too soon, but do do the research now. Who knew people cared so much about this subject? (I sure didn't until I saw the mass commentary/at times hate mail out their on the web!)


So...the cost of G-Diapers....they are not really any cheaper than disposables, and depending what kind of disposables you get, often are more expensive.
www.gdiapers.com sells cases of the flushable/biodegradable inserts directly, and then you can also find them at any Whole Foods/Co-op type stores. Being as we live in Humboldt Co, these types are plentiful! Another plus on G-diapers are that you can use the cloth diaper with prefold cloth inserts if one wanted to do a combo cloth/compostable insert deal. Their starter pack, two cloth outer diapers and 10 inserts is a pretty good deal at $26 if one just wanted to try it, (Ashley maybe this would be the best bet....) This is what I bought along with 40 additional inserts to give it a shot. Consignment stores also have plenty of used outers for sale for pennies compared to the new ones, (and these are a ok to buy used, or at least better than reg. cloth diapers as gdiapers have a plastic liner that rarely lets the babies pee/poop on to the actual cloth part.)

So you are purely doing it to decrease your carbon footprint and do your part. Cloth diapers would be cheaper I believe for the average family, but if you add in the cost of a diapering service, I really don't know what is more cost effective. For us in particular, seeing as we have a lot of land and plenty of room for an additonal composter/hole in the ground, it is perfect for us. No water waste either other than the normal weekly washing of the cloth outer with the rest of his clothes.


And, ECing, or elimination communication. Jonna I was amazed when you did your post on this. I did research it...how though does it actually work? Bodi gives her signals or cues and you go and hold her over the toilet? Is she in a regular diaper the rest of the time? And in the outdoors what do you do? I can tell when Forrest is grunting he might, (or might not, and more often not,) be getting ready to sent poop my way, and I have no idea about the pee cues at the moment. But ECing, would be the most economical way to go if you have this down. Way to go Jonna!!!

We'll see how they work...as we are only in our first weekend of trying them at the moment. No blow outs so far! But as our little boy grows it might be a different story...then again what diaper doesn't blow out from time to time... ;-)

G-Diaper, G-cool???

So, a big parenting decision...to add to landfills or not to add to landfills, that is the question. Except keep in mind Alex and I both are not fond of laundry, especially the thought of two loads of cloth diapers every other day, (in order to get them squeaky clean). There is no diaper service out in our wonderful corner of the word, and I'm not really up for shuttling dirty diapers to Eureka 3 times a week...sooo.....
Enter G-diapers. Cloth diaper with a flushable/biodegradable insert. Though, us country folk on a septic system will NOT be flushing anything bigger than a couple of squares of TP down our toilet, (and even that has issues at times...)
But, biodegradable..hmmm
We're giving it a try. At least on weekends and on days off, and when the parental figures are awake enough and have the energy enough to deal with a little tiny bit of extra work...disposables for the rest of the "No energy just trying to survive" time.
So, we'll start our G-diaper compost bin, and sometime later this year, Forrest's pees and turds will help to grow a beautiful fir tree, (we decided it was a little too close to home to use it as garden compost...)