Dandelion stew?

I've been pulling weeds today, and since the entire plant is edible, I feel like I should be cooking these up rather than tossing them. What's your favorite dandelion recipe?

Little House in the Suburbs: Backyard Farming and Home Skills for Self-Sufficient Living by Deanna Caswell - A Review

Little House in the Suburbs: Backyard Farming and Home Skills for Self-Sufficient Living by Deanna Caswell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The only thing I didn't like about this book is the fact that it made me want goats and chickens as pets for my kids. Slyly, it avoided talking about the inherent problem with animal ownership: someone has to care for those animals, even when you're not there, and therefore travel is complicated. Obviously, this means I should not be a goat or hen owner.

This is supposed to be a book review, not a discussion on why I shouldn't own farm animals, inside the village limits, that my son would love to pieces all while helping us be somewhat more self sufficient.

Okay, back on track. I love that this book deals with not only growing things and self-sufficiency from a production standpoint, but also gives concrete examples of what one can do with the things one has grown. Caswell and Siskin make a point of having practical advice, and even go so far as to include possible garden layout suggestions that actively include pest deterrents. Companion plant list? Yes, please.

I know that in the past I've occasionally voiced irritation with informational books written in an overly anecdotal and conversational format, but here the "blogger" feel translates well.

I enjoyed the book, and most importantly, learned even more than I knew this morning, including exactly what is happening to my squash.

Dearly, Beloved - by Lia Habel: a Review

Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yes. Lia Habel's high tech with a Victorian twist world, rife with holographic edifices reminiscent of the world before the second ice age, took on a broader life in Dearly, Beloved that left me smiling for hours. The Characters from Dearly, Departed are here given the freedom to interact in new environments and blossom into themselves. Because the plot in the second book of the Gone with the Respiration series is less immediately catastrophic than the kidnapping plus zombie apocalypse scenario set forth in the first, the reader gets to see the characters in their daily lives and learn more about their world.

Of course, true to form, Habel doesn't leave anyone's world in tact for long. All too soon the fissures in the calm facade begin to show. Pamela's panic attacks prove to be not only merited, but nearly prophetic - Nora's independence leads her back into danger - Dr. Dearly's solution to the Laz proves to be too little to quell tensions between the living and the dead. Characters like Michael, who at first seemed simply callous, grow into full fledged villain-worthy unlikability while the seemingly vapid Vespertine blossoms into a deep woman with intricate motivations. Habel's approach to Bram in Dearly, Beloved is far more entertaining. Gone is the tired "I'm no good for you, I'm too dangerous," droning, replaced instead with a young man who doesn't pretend that he knows what's best for Nora at every turn, but instead allows her to make her own decisions. Sure, he continues to weigh in on her options, and she continues to at least consider the words coming out of his cold lips, but the dynamic morphs into something far more healthy and rather beautiful.

Although my experience with the zombie genre is limited to perhaps a dozen books, Dearly, Beloved has proved to be the most enjoyable. I look forward to the saga's conclusion, which can not come soon enough.

Vestiges of the Drought

Last year my area was hit by a drought. Rivers receded until they resembled wide streams. The soil felt like sandstone. Communities were forbidden to water. Some farms languished in the baking heat with sun scorched leaves on crops that wouldn't grow any taller.
On the bright side, we didn't need to mow the lawn for months. The grass refused to grow. One neighbor struggled to keep grass at all.
This season's wetness has been a welcome change, but as I work in my garden and look out at my unkempt lilac hedge, I can still see the effects of last years drought. The blossoms that won't come remind me of the severity of last summer. Those that have come are fewer and smaller, but they're the survivors. Lilacs set their buds in the summer for the next year's blooms. I knew that many of the blossoms wouldn't survive, but I didn't know how many leafless branches I'd be facing. It's time to get out the pruners and cross my fingers that this year's weather is a touch less hostile.

The Failed Gamble

A few weeks ago I mentioned a gamble we'd made, my son and I. We had wagered that the closer we got to Mother's Day, the less likely we were to have a freeze.
The "last danger of frost" date here is May 15th, but as a rule, my community generally hits the gardens on Mother's Day. May 12th, May 15th, close enough, right?
Wrong.
Ah, the trials and tribulations of gardening.
I was oh so very wrong.
Last night, or rather, early this morning, temperatures dropped down to 32 degrees (Fahrenheit, yo, because the US was only kidding when we legislated a switch to la vida Metric back in the 1970s), and tonight will drop as much as two degrees colder.
Lovely, just lovely.
This means my yard is a sea of impromptu shelters. If it were autumn, it'd be awash in spare bedding, but tender seedlings aren't really meant to be weighted down so much. Instead, every milk jug I've hoatrded, every two-liter I've come across, and a few other odd bottles have been cut open to make mini-greenhouse shelters. I've overturned plastic bins to cover tiny seedlings grouped still in flats too numerous to carry in, and fitted potted plants too large to carry in with doubled plastic grocery bags. Yes, I sometimes forget my reusables, and then I hold on to the plastic bags until I find something useful to do with them or remember to bring them back to the store for recycling.
Either way, we gambled on fair weather and lost. Here's to hoping the few uncovered plants make it through well, and that my lilac bushes, just preparing to bloom, aren't too adversely affected by the cold snap.

The Clockwork Prince, by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In the Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, the characters truly blossom, taking on an emotional gravity that the first book in the Infernal Devices series failed to attain. Watching the slow unfolding of Will Herondale's back story alone made this book a worthwhile read. I enjoyed the treatment of the era much more deeply than in the first book.
The Clockwork Prince made me optimistic and impatient for the third in the series, and encouraged me to pick up more of Clare's work.
If you were lukewarm about The Clockwork Angel, give the series a second chance, it definitely improves as it grows.



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Alice in Zombieland - a Review

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

With a one part tragedy to two parts adrenaline ratio, Showalter's novel races forward without forgetting that despite the big events in life, the little mundane things can still hurt and heal. The title character, Alice, "call me Ali," Bell's world gets ripped apart one fateful night on the way home from her sister's dance recital leaving her heart devastated and her world shattered. Suddenly the only survivor of her unorthodox family, Ali must learn to fit in in a new home, a new school, and with a new understanding that the physical world that everyone could see and touch was only the surface.
A quick paced and blood pumping adventure, Alice in Zombieland keeps the energy up and the reader engaged. Although at times the secondary characters read like caricatures of machismo and sexuality, Showalter writes with a depth that turns that caricature into a front for deeper insecurities.
With the propensity for Paranormal YA to glamorize the dark and disturbing (sparkly vampires and friendly werewolves anyone?), Alice in Zombieland gives new life to the genre, keeping the otherworldly threat both dangerous and horrifying.
The anticipated second book in the White Rabbit series, Through the Zombieglass, expected to hit shelves in September of 2013, promises to continue the tragedy and the excitement, and hopefully bring Ali closer to avenging her family.


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Little Boy's Garden Update

Mr. In Charge of everything decided about two weeks ago that he wanted his own garden. Around here, our last "risk of frost" is May 15th, so really, he was planting his garden a whole month early. That didn't strike me as the best way to introduce him to gardening. Walking out one morning to water your tender seedlings, only to find them decimated by deadly frost doesn't engender a lifelong love of gardening. So, with the help of his mother, he got to build his own miniature greenhouses. Because his garden was so small, it was easy.

Using scissors, I cut the bottoms off of empty two liter bottles which we settled into the soil around the seeds he'd planted and watered. Of course, we ran out of bottles, so for the rest of the garden, we found a clear plastic storage box that wasn't storing anything terribly pertinent. (Read: nothing a 27 Fling Boogie couldn't clear.) We overturned that to function as a greenhouse for the rest of his little seedlings.

Two weeks later, his sunflowers and carrots are coming up quite well. Sunflowers and carrots may seem like an odd combination, but he's not quite four yet, and that's what he wanted to grow, so who am I to say "no, you must grow something else!"

We'll keep you updated on how they grow, but so far, it seems like it's coming up quite well.