Updates Galore

So what have we been up to??

The better question is what haven't we been up to?!  Life is getting crazy around here but all in a good way.    Spring is in high gear and we are taking advantage before the heat of a Texan summer kicks in.

I am so excited to be a volunteer for our local Farmer's Market again this year.  I am trained by the City to distribute our nutritional assistance vouchers - this program is amazing because it keeps our local dollars right here by spending WIC money on produce from local farmers.  The Farmer's Market situation in our city is a little rough.  I try to do my part to promote and support our local farmers.  The local food movement is strong here but unfortunately, the competition is fierce.  Last year, a member of our market quit and started her own market to compete with ours.  It breaks my heart because the farmers split between the markets and now there is a weird and unnatural division in town.  And the farmers are too busy growing, cultivating and harvesting to worry about social media and promotion of their market!  So let me brag on our market real quick.

Each farmer who sells at our market sells only what they grow on their land.  

  No one is allowed to re-sell produce that they purchase and it is strictly monitored by the farmers themselves.  So if mother nature doesn't cooperate and they are left with no harvest the morning of the market - this is what their table looks like.  This is the real risk of farming though!!!

Our market is farmer-run and operated.  The farmers run the show and aim to serve the community.  This is what local really is!!

It doesn't get more fresh than this.  Have you ever had a strawberry that was all red throughout - absolutely NO white?  These true red strawberries are the real deal.  

And this year, I was able to participate as a "vendor" at the Market Bakery table because of the Texas Cottage Law! I spent all day Friday preparing and baking 8 loaves of sourdough bread to sell at the market.  It is a bit of a process and I need all the help I can get.  First step is grinding the wheat:

The finished product was pretty amazing.  I use this recipe without the added yeast.

It took over 24 hours to finish but I sold out completely!!  

I'm not cut out for farming (my idea of enjoying the outdoors is usually reading a book in the shade...) but I can bake the hell out of some bread!  The market season will end early for me since the baby is due June 28th, but I'll be there every week until then!  

Oh yeah - I'm still very pregnant with #4

And even though this is the most unflattering photo in the history of pregnant photos, it is the only one I have.  The kids are giving me a "spa day" at home.  Foot soak with epsom salts and herbs, hand massage, cardboard fan, and Roman promised not to jump on my belly one time while I was laying down (for the record, he lied).  I'm 2 months away from having the baby and too busy to stay uncomfortable.  Although I am pregnant in Texas and it is starting to get really hot so talk to me in a couple weeks!

So let's talk about the important updates:

These kids are amazing.  I really am too lucky with them.  We finished our homeschool year with Leo and now they spend hours each day playing together coming up with all sorts of games.  

Do you see her up on her tip-toes?  I'm not sure that her heels have ever touched the ground.

This third trimester has been SO different than the last two in the best way.  The kids are older and require a lot less time and attention from me (unless you count the 3,938,462 fights I break up throughout the day).  They play hard all day, they have chores, they clean up after themselves, they help me out when I get stuck on the couch and can't get up (Roman's only chore) and they are all so sweet that I am not stressed out at all about bringing another baby into the mix.  She is lucky to have these three as older siblings :)

We were able to get some seeds and plants in the ground to try our luck at another Texan garden!  Last year was a fail because of bad soil and lack of water.  This year, we are getting serious!

Some of their favorite jobs are watering the garden and sprinkling diatomaceous earth all over.  This stuff kills fire ants within a couple hours - I love it!!  And it is edible so it can't hurt the kids or our property one bit.

We had an awesome Easter Sunday celebration.  The kids were spoiled rotten but what better day to really have a celebration?!

We were supposed to participate in the post-Mass Easter Egg hunt at church, but as it turned out, if you stayed until the actual end of Mass, you missed the party.  The Creaster Catholics scooped up all the eggs before my kids even exited the Church!  So we redid an egg hunt at a party later in the day.

Lastly - wish me luck as I prepare for the first annual Foodclub picnic this evening!!  I have been running the foodclub out of my house for over a year and we have yet to have a group party.  So this is our first one and I'm a wee bit nervous we will forget something important...like the 3 huge chickens I have slow-roasting in the oven all day today??  Surely a pregnant woman won't forget the food right?