Back on Track & the Three Sisters

You know what?  I will tell you.  Happiness, thankfulness, joy, excitement, contentedness fills my being.  Why?  Because I am feeling back on track.  No.  Better than back on track.  On a new track.  A good track.  The track I'm supposed to be on.  It has been filled with many happy surprises.  Here come the bullet points that I love so!

• We have internet in our trailer home.  Which means I am writing you from our cozy mountain dwelling that we have decided is our modern-day Little House on the Prairie log cabin.
• My handy hubs has built about 593 shelves (give or take) inside our "cabin" making for delightful organization and a place for everything.
• Our water comes from a well.  Chlorine what?  Bring on the hot showers!
• The way to and from town is so utterly breathtaking, I find myself looking for excuses to make the drive.
• My kids have friends (whom I love) that they get to catch bugs, jump on the trampoline, race go-carts, and make shows with every day.
• We are surrounded by people who daily blow my mind with their wonderfulness.
• I get to hang a clothesline.
• I have just been offered a plot to garden in.  Heavenly angels sing!!!

Just as I was about to give away my stash of this year's seeds, I received the garden news.  All I have to say is, it's going to be hard for me to sleep tonight, due to the utter excitement of plunging my hands back into some soil.  Oh, the anticipation of little sproutlets turning into plants yielding fresh nourishment!  There is no exaggeration here, I really will have a hard time sleeping tonight.  Sweet happiness!

I pulled out my treasure box tonight and started dreaming again.  Isn't it wonderous? Oh, the many treats this basket holds within it's braided walls!

I am so incredibly giddy about my first garden project, it must be shared.  First, there will be a circular plot of soil dug up and fertilized.  Next, I will start in the middle and plant about sixteen corn seeds in a cute little circle. (The variety of corn 6-year-old chose for this year would be called "Sugar Buns."  Yeppers.)  Then, around the outside of the corn will come a larger circle of Pencil Pod, Rattlesnake, and Black Valentine pole beans.  Lastly, there will be an outer ring of lovely Early Butternut squash.  There you have it.  The Three Sisters; a bit Native American wisdom.  

I heart companion planting.  The corn supports the beans, the beans give nitrogen to the soil which nourishes the corn, and the squash provides a pest-resistant ground cover that holds in moisture and smothers weeds.  Beautiful.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if my dreams included the Three Sisters tonight.  

Goodnight, kind world.  Tomorrow, I join the beloved league of home gardeners again.  Oh happy, happy day!

~Read the archives of this journey here.~

Chicken Enchilada Salad, an In-Season Treat

We have recently signed up for weekly CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) boxes.  Never have we eaten so much organic, in-season, local produce in all our lives.  Seriously, we just feel.. healthier.  You know, more energy and not yucky-feeling.  It's become a great reason to create new recipes, which is always exciting.  And by the way, if you live in California and are interested, we subscribe to Abundant Harvest Organics.  I couldn't be happier about the freshness (produce is picked the day before delivery) and the price.  Organic eating has been made affordable!  Also, if you're interested in making a little dough on the side, you might want to look into signing up as a community host.  I promise, I don't work for them, nor do I make any money off of plugging them, I just wanted to spread the goodness.

Back to the salad...

Organic Chicken Enchilada Salad (A Springtime/Fall-time, In-Season Recipe)

For the salad:

1-2 heads lettuce of your choice

3 radishes, thinly sliced

greens from the radishes

2 carrots, grated

1 avocado, sliced

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 jar olives, sliced

1 cup jack cheese, sliced into strips or grated

2 green onions, sliced

1 1/2 cups chicken, cooked and shredded (I used some I had from making stock)

1/2 cup enchilada sauce

Toss chicken with the enchilada sauce.  Layer ingredients or toss, as desired.  Serve dressing on the side or toss with the salad.

For the dressing:
1 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
1 cup salsa or leftover enchilada sauce
1 Tablespoon milk or water (optional, if you want to thin the dressing out.  I didn't.)

Put all dressing ingredients in a mason jar, close the lid tightly, and shake until blended.

El yummo.

~Browse more riddlelove recipes here.~

This is a contributing link to Tuesday Twister, Fight Back Friday, & Fresh Bites Friday.

Week 1 ~ Trailer Treasure

First of all, you make me so happy, I could cry.  This is the first chance in a week to find internet access, and as I logged on to write, I assumed I'd lost at least half of my readers due to the week-long silence.  But no.  There are still the same number of you, patiently awaiting.  Silly?  Yes.  But I feel loved, just the same.  So thank you.  You made my day.

Could I have chosen a more cheesy post title?  I don't think so.  And yet, it stays.  It's what I'm feeling right now.  We've condensed our lives into a 5th wheel.  We've weeded, stored, and shoved until all that what's left is:  Cozy beds

that turn into chairs,

smoothies and croc pot soups,

Kitchen Aids and lacto-fermentation,

Skillets, teas, coffee, and spices,

and jumping.

Despite the harrowing appearance of this rig, the trampoline safely made the move, and no one got hurt.  There are currently up to four children occupying the tramp every second there is daylight.

Apparently, we treasure nutrition, exercise, and coziness.  That's happy.  When push comes to shove, I honestly wasn't totally sure what was most important to our family.  This condensing process brought and unexpected clarity along with the presumed simplicity.  

On a personal level, the greatness of this transition has been settling in this week.  Some nights, after the kids went to sleep and Jeremy was at the old house, cleaning his brains out so we'd get every possible penny back from our security deposit,  I'd sit alone on the bed as sounds of rain tapped on the thin trailer roof while my mind wrapped around the details of it all.  So many questions raced through my head, some of them helpful, some of them not.  Evenings have been filled with weeding through emotions and thoughts; pulling out the bad and cultivating the good.  When it all comes down to it, I know we made the right decision.  Excitement of relieving the weight of debt remains, friendship with the amazing family we're renting a piece of land from daily increases, our surroundings are breathtaking, and I'm learning how amazing close community can be (no, it is not a commune, and it never will be.  As long as we don't give it a name, it cannot be a commune...).

Things are settling in, we're getting a better idea of what this next year will look like.  The future, as well as the present, looks beautiful.

~Read the archives of this journey here.~