In love with a frying pan and mud.

Knowing what I know about the questionable chemicals in the non-stick coating of many frying pans, my cookware felt like my enemy. It was getting old and a little worn; it just seemed wrong to continue using them. So I bought a small cast iron frying pan and I'm in love. Properly treated it is just as non-stick as my others and it's actually more energy efficient. It holds heat so well that I can cook with temperatures that are 25% lower than before.

My new frying pan has not left it's place of honor since I brought it home.


And March break was so lovely this year. "Hippy" and I had time to prepare part of our garden.. I can't wait to start planting! (I think perhaps we should start a blog just for our garden!)

This space is twice the size as it was last year. And yes, Hippy pulled ALL of those rocks out of the mud! What a dedicated gardener.


We put some of those rocks to work as a pathway (is it hardcore recycling when you reuse rocks? heehee) Oh, and see that tiny green speck to the upper right of the big rock? That's our chives growing already! These were planted before we even moved here.



And we're so excited about this, that hill behind the kiddos used to be covered in weeds. We cleaned it off and made two tiers that we're planting the cucumbers and zucchini on... won't it be lovely when the vines are tumbling down that hill? So exciting!



We're also adding a salad and herb garden to the front of the house and a row of scarlet runner beans and sugar snap peas to crawl up the side of our deck. I can't wait for the planting! Indoor seedlings to be started soon. :)