A Potluck to Remember

We have had a pretty busy couple of months. I worked for almost two weeks straight, with twelve/fourteen hour days during November due to Formula One. Then we followed that up with Thanksgiving.

December has also been filled with jam packed weekends.
We spent two weeks doing our Christmas shopping. I also convinced my "accountant" that we needed some new home furnishings from Ikea - I mean that's Christmas worthy right?! I love Ikea. I'll talk Ikea in another post, cause this one is all about our weekend in the garden.

The second weekend in December we had a mandatory workday at the garden. There is some neighborhood construction going on and a neighbor (of the garden - not of ours) donated a fence! So we all got together to install the fence and do some heavy duty general work.

The guys got together with saws and tape measures and lots of pencils and lots of ideas. B went to the garden early so they could get a jump on the measuring and such and I took my fat ass out to eat like a greed monster.

One of my girlfriends from Houston was in town for a football game so we met up for an awesome lunch at Bacon. My girlfriend has a food blog so it was completely necessary that I skip the first part of our scheduled workday to show her a good time. You should check out her awesome blog.

If you are in Austin you must try Bacon!

It's a baconfest over there and seriously, who doesn't love bacon?!?! Bacon is a once a quarter type of meal. Their portions are huge and very sharable. I don't share, but if you are into that sort of thing then by all means have at it. Surprisingly they also have some of the best fried chicken in town! I stuffed my face full of fried chicken and bacon waffles and all the ladies cooed over Howie. It was heavenly.



Photo courtesy of the Austin Statesman

We left Bacon and went directly to the garden. Howie was a trooper and didn't spazz out until much later in the evening. He really loves being outside with the plants and trees. I laid out his mat and he hung out with our other garden baby. It is so awesome to have another baby that is so close in age to Howie. They were talking up a storm and eating leaves together. I can't wait to see how they mature as time passes.

The guys worked on the fence while I did a little weeding (emphasis on little). I did however pound some rebar into the ground and set up the pvc tubing so that we can cover all the crops with canvas for any upcoming cold weather. It was juuuuust enough work to feel useful. I have learned to skip my usual Saturday morning workouts on garden days because it is too exhausting to do both. It's hard work out there!

After all the hard work was out of the way we all washed up and had a great pot luck feast outside on the picnic table. You can click here for my sweet potato and swiss chard gratin! It was a hit!! yaaaay Wine was poured, a fire lit, and music was blaring through the garden. Howie loved the fire and he stayed up well past his bedtime. We had to leave at about 9:30 or so because he was ready for bed. We had a really great time. Thanks to everyone who participated.

The garden just before sunset.
  A smart person would have taken a picture of the new fence...

I was able to get Howie down for a mini nap.

The Garden

When I first brought the idea of a community garden home to B I thought I would have to really sale it. I thought I needed a whole presentation with a power point and a laser pointer. He knows me pretty well and knows that I go off in tangents of "we need to eat healthier and I'm throwing out everything in our cupboard." Sooo, I didn't  want to spook him. I tried to approach the subject of manual labor from a rational place. I simply said, "it will save us money at the grocery store." To which he replied, "sounds good."

That was it. Wtf?? What about the dissertation that I prepared?? What about the slides?? Think about the slides for goodness sake!

Not needed.

So, a few days a month we spend an afternoon at the community garden digging up stuff and turning soil, and weeding, and other tasks that I am learning along the way. Things like - black eyes peas that are nitrogen fixing plants. That may be common knowledge, but it was new to us. So we're working with a group of families on a shared plot - everyone shares the work and everyone shares the bounty. It's a perfect set up for us gardening novices.

The garden itself is beautiful and we are loving spending the time outside together. I use my yoga mat and a blanket to set up a play area for Howie. He is so calm and relaxed for the most part. He sits there and plays with his toys until he finds a stray leaf to suck on. He also loves to cover himself with dirt, which is cool. I see worm hunting in his future.

We have also stared bringing the dogs with us and it has become almost an extended living space for us. I look forward to sharing recipes from our garden bounty.

Our two garden babies.  

I believe these are the carrots we recently planted.