The Garden

When we first moved into this house, I commented to Gurmeet about how nice the grounds were already. That maybe I wouldn't "need" to have a garden. With our lovely yard and a new membership to Draper Farm's CSA, I would have no need to plant anything. Well, I was wrong. If I'm not growing something, it just feels, well, wrong.

In late February or early March I bought our first tomato plant, a sungold cherry. The fruit is orange and as sweet as berries - perfect for the kids, maybe even my picky one.

In April, we picked the sunniest spot for a small vegetable garden. Gurmeet dug up the grass (what a guy!) and I layed out the old raised bed garden, reconfigured from last year. We covered the bottom with gopher protection and filled it with compost, chicken manure and earthworm castings. Then we purchased a few starts: a few tomatoes, a couple of peppers, a cucumber, a baby watermelon, (Arjun's pick), a zucchini and some flowers. We also planted some seeds: Swiss chard, beets and carrots. Then I installed a drip-irrigation system (something I now know I should have done before planting). I fed them with fish emulsion and sea kelp. All the plants seemed very happy. We had about 65 square feet of garden!

But on Mother's Day, I got the crazy idea to take the remainder of the raised bed pieces and added another 35 square feet of garden space, for a total of around 100 square feet. When Gurmeet was travelling to Japan and Australia, my mom came for a visit and we added the soil and the plants and built a teepee for the beans she brought and a squash trellis, inspired by one I saw on www.digginfood.com . We also planted some zinnias and celery and made space for a later planting of beets, lettuce and carrots, which was later ruined by an animal walking through it.

Gardening is like a big experiment and nothing is guaranteed. You can do everything right and then leaf miners can come and destroy all your Swiss card. Or you can grow a sunflower 6 feet tall and then a deer can nibble the head off from the other side of the fence. Or a bird can mistake a sprouting bean plant for a grub and yank it out and leave it to die on the ground (that one I managed to save!). All in all, though, I've had pretty good luck. This is my biggest garden yet, and it's about all I can manage right now, so it's really perfect. I like to go there to retreat. I like to see how many fruit have set on my tomatoes. I like to hand-pollinate my zucchini.

Here are some photos of the progression of our garden:

Mid April:


May 10:


May 25:


June 18:


Delicata Squash:


First Zucchini:



June 22:



Sun Gold Cherry Tomato:


Baby Watermelon:


Zucchini we used for lasagna and muffins:


June 30, Our salad, harvested entirely from our garden!


It's hard to believe that the garden will get any fuller, but it will. Still to come are all the larger tomatoes: Japanese Black Trifele, Pineapple, Green Zebra (almost there!), Delicious and Cherokee Purple. We're also going to be getting quite a few cucumbers, red, jalepeno and ancho peppers, those watermelons, two kinds of winter squash, cantaloupe, beets, more carrots, and four kinds of beans! I'll take more pictures as things change. That's one of my favorite things about growing anything: watching the transformation.

The not-so-lazy days of summer

I had this fantasy that once school was out for the summer, we'd have lazy days. Days where there was nothing to do but plenty of options. Should we go to the beach today to look for treasure? Should we go the the California Academy of Science to use our membership that we never seem to use because it's always too crowded on the weekends? Should we go for a hike and a picnic? Instead, life this week feels an awful lot like the rest of the year: busy, driving, drop-offs and pick-ups, rushing, getting there just in time, etc. I suppose that's my fault, since I'm the one who signed Arjun up for camp this week. But, it was the only week of Lego camp that we could attend this summer and so here we are.

On Monday, I dropped Arjun off at camp and then Soraya off at preschool. I came home, cleaned up breakfast, made a shopping list and went to the grocery store. I got the shopping done, came home and put the groceries away. Then it was time to pick up Arjun. Arjun and I grabbed a quick bagel for lunch and then picked up Soraya. We made it home just time time to meet Maria, the woman who cleans our house every other week. We try to stay out of her way as best we can. I made a chicken pot pie for dinner, fed the kids, and got them cleaned up. Gurmeet came home just as they were getting out of the bath and shower. I wish I could find the time for them to bathe more often, but it just doesn't seem to happen. It's also stressful for me to bathe them. If they bathe together, it's a crazy wet mess and I find myself fuming with impatience. Arjun likes to take showers now, which is a great weight lifted off me. Soraya takes her bath and it's generally pretty peaceful. But they bathe at the same time, which means running from one bathroom to the next, turning on the water for Arjun, coming to wash Soraya, wash and condition her hair (since it's usually full of knots and food), running to shut off the water for Arjun and then getting Soraya out and drying her off. Then they usually run around like crazy nudists until I can wrangle toothbrushes around their teeth and separate them long enough to get their jammies on. My kids love each other like magnets at night and it's hard to pull them apart to get them to make progress at bedtime.



Tuesday was busier than Monday! Camp in the morning, to the farm to check for eggs (none), home to meet some friends we haven't seen in months, off to pick up Arjun and his friend from camp, another friendly visit from a friend who wanted to borrow a cookbook and see the garden, then to the library to return books and finally to Aikido.

Wednesday was our 8th wedding anniversary. We've been together for over 12 years now, so it feels longer, but also like it happened yesterday. It's strange how I've only been married with kids for just over 6 years, but I can't remember life before that. I'm not sure about Gurmeet, but I had a really difficult time thinking of an appropriate gift for him. I wanted to give him something significant, but not necessarily expensive. I guess after 12 years of being together, we're on the same wavelength, because this is what I got for him:

And this is what he got for me:

Gurmeet went to work late so we could have a peaceful, child-free breakfast. While I was dropping Arjun off at camp, he had dropped Soraya off at school and picked up croissants for us. Then he came home, started a pot of coffee and did the dishes! What a guy! After our breakfast, we exchanged gifts and he went to work. I did some errands until it was time to pick Soraya up at school. Arjun went to Fynn's house to play. At 2:30, I picked him up and we headed home to meet a guy from a tree trimming service. Our view just isn't what it was a few months ago.

That night, my friend Gina came over with her 3 yr old daughter Violet to babysit while Gurmeet and I went on a real date! We ate at Marinitas, a new Mexican restaurant in town. We felt the menu was too limited and the food was nothing special. Then we went to see The Hangover. What a funny movie! We laughed out loud the whole way through. I picked a comedy because we notice that our marriage is stronger when we're laughing a lot. We've been laughing a lot lately, especially at all these Digital Shorts that Adam Samberg does for Saturday Night Live.

On Thursday, Arjun had camp and Soraya stayed home with me. We had Aikido in the afternoon and then I gave the kids dinner and bathed them right as Gurmeet came home. I can't even remember what we did other than that. Maybe it was the heat, but all I know is that those kids were in rare form. Screaming, fighting, not listening, whining, sassing. I was wondering if I perhaps should have signed Arjun up for a longer, more active camp. Or one that runs all summer! I went to meet some friends for dinner and Gurmeet stayed and put the kids to bed. When I got home, I asked him how bedtime went. His response: "Those kids were WILD." Amen.

Today is Friday and I've got one at his last day at Lego camp, and one at preschool. I spent the morning researching new preschools. I learned while dropping off Soraya, that the teachers at her school have had it with the administration of the Seminary and are leaving as of August 15th. It's a long story, but the Board of Trustees want to sell the preschool and have been giving everyone, including the parents of the preschoolers and the teachers, the runaround since the beginning of May. The teachers have been treated really poorly and disrespectfully, and have decided to leave. I don't blame them, but it puts us in a bind to find a new preschool by the end of the summer. I'm registered for a course on Organic Farming that starts in August and without preschool, I won't be able to go. It's not the end of the world, of course. I'm more concerned because Soraya is already reticent about attending school and switching her AGAIN is certainly not the best thing for her. We will figure it out though. My course may have to wait another year, and Soraya may spend another year at home with me. All I really want for her is to make a few friends. Unfortunately, all the kids her age are in preschool!

This weekend we've got Aikido on Saturday morning, as well as errands. Sunday is Father's Day and we have plans to meet our friends for breakfast at the Dipsea Cafe, our favorite breakfast place. And then Monday, it all starts again... more camp, more preschool, more summer.

Ends and Beginnings

We've had a busy week! This was the last week of kindergarten for Arjun and Soraya's first full week of preschool.

Soraya is progressing at her new school. She briefly went to another preschool, but it was large and overwhelming for her and she sort of just stood there. She recently started attending the San Francisco Seminary's Children's Center three mornings a week. Miss Iris, her primary teacher, is a very soft spoken, gentle woman who hugs and cuddles all the children. Her second teacher, Miss Corey, is the silly one. Sweet and silly are a good combination for Soraya. Although the good-byes are sad, she quickly composes herself and finds something to do. She dresses herself in scarves, pops bubbles, feeds the fish and plays "ice cream store" with a few older (read: older by a few months) girls who have taken Soraya under their wings. The teachers have even observed her smiling a few times! She is definitely on her way, but taking her own time to do it. We're proud of her willingness to give school a chance!

Yesterday was a big day for the kindergartners: Kindergarten Olympics! All of the K teachers got together and mixed the kids up into about 10 teams of 8, so they'd be sure to meet a few new friends who might be in their class next year. There were potato sack races, bean bag tossing and relay races. Every kid won a medal and were treated to a first class picnic, complete with hot dogs and marshmallow krispie treats.



Today was a special one. Lots of emotions for everyone. Today was the last day of Kindergarten. In the morning, we got out of the house early so that we would have time for a special trip to the bagel shop before school started.
We made it just in time for school! The parents from Room 4 (that would be the parents of all the kids in Arjun's class) organized a little breakfast get-together to kill time before the "Stepping-Up" ceremony. For 45 minutes, we socialized and talked about summer plans. Soraya drank some lemonade and tried each of the baked goods. What a nice group of parents! I just couldn't be happier with our new community. At about 9:30, we were called into the classroom for the ceremony to begin. Mrs Holko called each of the children up, one by one, to read a "Cinquain" poem about them. It was written with the help of each child and outlined their nickname at home, two things unique about them, three things they like to do outside of school, four feelings that they have, their full name and lastly, who or what they are. Arjun said that he had no nickname (honestly, he probably has so many nicknames he couldn't pick one out), that you could identify him by his brown eyes and two freckles on his cheek, that he likes to play with legos, go out for ice cream and play games with his sister (Awwwww!),and that he feels happy, sad, funny, and excited. He finished with saying that Arjun James Singh is a "person". Mrs Holko then read a "good-bye" poem to the children. There wasn't a dry eye in the room (ok, maybe the kids and dads weren't crying, but all the moms were).



After the ceremony, we celebrated with cake and lemonade in plastic champagne cups, and the kids ran off their sugar buzzes for about 45 minutes. The parents all left so the kids could go check out their new digs in the First Grade rooms and watch a play put on by the First Graders. At 1pm, we picked up the kids and said goodbye to our friends and wonderful teacher. Arjun, Soraya and I spent about an hour after school on the playground so the kids could run around with their friends some more. This is something we do just about every day after school. Today we couldn't stay too long, though, because our day was only half over!

AFter an hour or so at home, Arjun dressed in his Gi and we headed to Aikido for his first belt test, for the rank of 10th Kyu. Usually when we arrive, I'm the only parent who stays to watch and the kids are running around silly. Today was very different. There were at least 8 parents there and the kids were all serious and a bit nervous. They all sat on the mat and did their warm-ups and then the test began. Each child had to perform 4 moves, plus a routine with a "jo" or stick, as well as their bowing ritual. If you had asked me three weeks ago, when it was announced there would be a test, I would have told you that Arjun couldn't do it. I even encouraged Arjun to wait until September for the next test. But after he was part of an Aikido demonstration, he felt a new sense of prowess for his skill, and took a step up in his interest of Aikido. He went to every class, he studied the moves, he practiced at home, and he taught his little sister in his own class. He tied his belt at least 50 times, determined to figure out this very complicated knot, getting frustrated, giving up once, but trying again until he mastered it. Now he wears proudly wears his belt around the house like Obi Won Kenobi. So, now you get it. He was really determined to pass his test. And he did it! He's the smallest and youngest in the class, but shows the most focus. And he earned his new rank and belt. Although, the HUGE disappointment was that his sensei didn't actually HAVE the new belts for the kids. She's trying to coordinate with other dojos in the area so that when the kids cross-train, everyone will know what their rank is. The problem is that one dojo moves up from the white belt to the red belt, and the other dojo moves up from the white belt to the yellow belt. The third dojo hasn't returned her phone call. So, she's not sure which color to order, plus she wants to give all the kids certificates and have a special ceremony for them in two weeks. Arjun was truly bummed. He thought he didn't earn his belt (he'd never taken a test before and didn't know what "you passed" meant). Now that it's all been explained to him, he's slightly less bummed.




After some celebratory pizza and ice cream at Pizzeria Picco, we headed to the Ross Farmer's Market to pick up some local, organic strawberries for Soraya's preschool. The kids were totally wired. They dropped strawberries all over the place, bumped into people, squealed and tickled eachother, and Soraya fell on the ground, scraping her hands... all in 5 minutes. I was ready to go home and be off duty - which is what I am now. Off duty. Until tomorrow. Soraya goes to preschool from 9am til 1pm and Arjun stays home with me. It'll be nice to have some quality time with him. He's really a pretty great guy to hang out with and I'm looking forward to a summer with him and Soraya.

I don't have anything profound to say. Maybe I'll just write a bit about our weekend and day today. 

On Saturday, after sleeping in (til 7:45!), I made blueberry wheat pancakes for the kids. Gurmeet ate his usual plain yogurt with granola. We got everyone ready and piled into the van for Arjun's Aikido class in Corte Madera at Aikido of Tamalpais. He's been learning Aikido since the end of March and it's really the first extra-curricular activity he's been "into" so to speak. This means we don't have to drag him, kicking and screaming. He goes willingly, smiling. We're really proud of the progress he's making and of his focus in class and desire to learn about this martial art. Why Aikido? Why not Karate or Tae Kwon Do? Aikido seemed like a natural choice, since it's not about dominating your opponent or even hurting them. The focus in Aikido is to redirect the energy of your attacker, keeping yourself from harm or from harming your attacker. 

After Aikido class, we stopped off at our favorite donut shop, Donut Alley in Larkspur, for some fresh, homemade donuts. Nothing compares! Then home...

I met up with my friend Kendra for a pedicure (probably the 5th time in my entire life), but mostly just to get a moment to ourselves, chat and laugh about mom stuff. I also spent my time browsing through my new favorite cookbook, Comfort Food, looking for ideas for dinners this week. I settled on BLTA's (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Avocado Sandwiches), Cobb Salads (minus the blue cheese since no one in our house likes it), and Fish Tacos. I'll do pulled pork sandwiches in the slow-cooker later this week if we need another meal idea. After my time with Kendra, I met up with my friend Yoshiko at Dharma Trading Co.

I had all these project ideas in mind: purple-dyed cotton bike shorts for Soraya to wear under her skirts and dresses and a blue-dyed sweatshirt for my friend Heather's little boy William, turning three and REALLY into Thomas. Unfortunately, I had no luck for either of those projects (no bike shorts, and no blue iDye). So, I decided to pick out three other iDye colors for some prefolds for Emily. Emily is due with her first baby, a boy, this month, and has chosen to do cloth diapers with him (hurray!!!!). Cloth diapering is so much more fun when you've got colors!

Meanwhile, Gurmeet walked the kids all the way down our hill to the market to get a pizza for lunch. More importantly, they walked all the way UP the hill too. I guess my emphasis on being a little kinder to our planet has paid off. They chose to walk and no one even complained.

In the afternoon, Gurmeet went to the gym and I spent my time downstairs with the kids, dyeing diapers and whatever else they wanted a new color. For Soraya, I dyed some underwear and t-shirts emerald green, ochre and fire red, and a pillowcase green. For Arjun, a couple of pairs of socks in emerald green and fire red. I did all the dyeing in the washing machine and between cycles, I tried to organize the playroom while the kids undid everything. Oh well. The rest of the day we spent just hanging around, being with each other.  Gurmeet and I watched the season 1 finale of The Tudors. Boy am I glad I didn't live under Henry VIII!

On Sunday we split the kids up. Soraya went with me and Arjun went with Gurmeet. 

Gurmeet first took Arjun to get bagels at Barton's in San Anselmo. Then they drove to Rodeo Beach, in the Marin Headlands, to look for shells. After a lot of searching and not much luck, they drove to Tennessee Valley, our favorite trail to the beach. We like to hit this trail after a hearty breakfast at the Dipsea Cafe in Mill Valley. Gurmeet was wise to take the jogging stroller, because the walk to the beach is 1.5 miles each way, with no shade. His exercise that day was pushing Arjun to and from the beach. He said he got lots of encouraging comments as he ran past families. I think it made him feel not so out-of-shape to know he was getting so much attention for his feat! To finish their day together, Gurmeet took Arjun to Pizzeria Picco for his favorite Margarita pizza, kid style (cheese spread around, no basil). 

I took Soraya to a birthday party down in the city. It seemed silly after the party was over, after driving all the way to the city, to just go home. So, we headed to the big Marin County Farmer's Market at the Civic Center. Soraya likes to ride the ponies and I like to browse through the booths. We both like to sample everything! The next time we move, this is probably the place I will miss the most. This farmer's market is the biggest in the county, possibly the state (maybe the country?) and it runs year-round, every Thursday and Sunday. There's live music, and the smells of food waft throughout every corner. There are no less than 100 purveyors of fresh, local fruits and vegetables, nuts, honey, rice, Indian food, Afghani food, Vegan food, raw food, Mexican food, Thai food, sausages, waffles, coffee, spices, artisanal cheeses, vegetable starters, breads and pastries, and art, just to name a few. It's amazing and if you don't go with a list, you'll end up at the market's ATM, where invariably, there's no more money left in the machine. We left when the market ended and headed to Whole Foods for our weekly shop. I know it's expensive, but I've figure out how to shop there and spend less than most people spend at Safeway. I hardly buy any prepared foods, and stick to what we need.... meats, fruits and vegetables, bread and dairy. I left the store with everything I needed and spent only $78. I spent about $20 at the farmer's market on vegetables. Plus, I bought a dozen eggs at our CSA for $6. In total, I spent $104 and we'll eat all week on that. Granted, my pantry is pretty stocked right now. If it wasn't, I could easily spend $200, but that doesn't happen too often. Finally, after a quick visit to Draper Farm to say "hello" to the chickens and eat some sorrel (Soraya's favorite these days), we came home. Gurmeet and Arjun arrived home about 10 minutes later.

And that, folks, was our weekend! 

Here we go

Yup, I'm starting a blog. Why? Well, for a few reasons, I guess. One, to keep people up to speed on the goings-on here in our household. Since we live about 3,050 miles from the most important people in our lives, it can be hard to keep up with what we're doing. I'm hoping that Arjun & Soraya's grandparents will especially appreciate this. Two, to keep a record of what we're doing. So many times (many, many times) I say to myself "I should really start up that journal again. That one that I abandoned after Arjun's 1st year of life" or "Wow! I should definitely write THAT down! I won't want to forget that!" But I seem to be able to find time for the computer more than for a notebook or physical journal. I also want my kids to have some record of what happened, since I know I won't remember everything. Lastly, well, I can't remember. There was a third reason, but it's not coming to me at the moment.

This blog (I hate that word for some reason.... let's call this an online journal instead, ok?) will mostly be about life with the kids, living in this most amazing place, and probably quite a bit about my garden and household. It will most likely be written by me, Elizabeth, all of the time. This just isn't Gurmeet's cup of tea.

I can think of a dozen things I'd like to start with, but for now, I think I'll take advantage of the uninterrupted-by-kid-time with Gurmeet. He's watching basketball right now which is rare for him (lucky me!), but it's almost 8pm, and there's probably something better on HBO.