This morning was a slow start, and I didn't even party last night.  I welcomed with some relief, the vigilant cold (flu?) that forced me to stop the frenzied partying, eating, consuming, gifting, and worrying that comes during the Holiday Season.  The past two days have found me in bed sucking lozenges, sleeping, and watching Netflix on my phone.  Laaaaazy bones.

So this morning I heard the usual sounds of the little farm waking up-starting with the turkeys.  We still have 3 turkeys left from heritage breeds Narragansett and Royal Palm.  Two puffy males constantly strut in front of the lone female, their male ego a beautiful blue show.  The turkeys were loud, gobbling, gobbling, gobbling.  They kept getting louder and louder until it approached the level of ruckus.

I opened the blinds to see a huge flock of wild turkeys descending on the farm!  It was invigorating!

So the Mister and I hurried outside to investigate and dissuade our guests from discovering the free food.  There must have been close to fifty, gliding in and surrounding our turkeys.  Our two males were puffed and huffed.

Through the gate and already the wild flock is starting to part.



Some flew away.



 And that-a-way.



Others meandered to our neighbors field.

I felt a flood of options and questions come over me:
What if we just made them our own flock?
Let's have a big dinner?
How are they thriving and surviving so well in the winter?
Do you think they'll come back?
Where are they going?




When we turned back to our turkeys, they were still fluffed up from the encounter.  Not being a turkey whisperer, I couldn't tell if their gobbling call (answered one second later by the simultaneous gobbling of the entire flock of wildlings) was a warning, a threat, or just a Hey! Where'd you guys come from?


Here they are in the neighboring field, close to fifty of them!  The sky above, the clouds, the vigorous show of family and flock, the asking for blessing from our farm (sorry, denied!) seemed just the sign I needed to start my 2013.

So I started my morning with a O.J., banana, spinachspinachspinach green power smoothie.  A sign of things to come?

Then our post-Holiday overly-blessed house spent the morning taking care of some important business.  Like how is it my kids have never seen Goonies?  I almost feel like my duty as a mother should be in question.  This is one of the great films from my childhood.





Use caution when blowing young minds.  They are little sponges.  I dread the day my kids get a facebook, pinterest, and whatever else account. 


Oh Samwise, how cute you were.  I once wanted to kiss you braces and all.  Big brother is taking it all in, and I'm making a list of all the great 80's flicks that need to be shown weekly for Outdoor Movie Nights on the farm.  A sign of things to come?


And occasional distraction with little brother, just to prove we're not total TV Zombies.

Happy New Year!
Love From,
Mrs. Olsen

Last year's reckoning was depressing. This year I'm not deep cleaning under my stove as a consolation prize. That is good.

My salad a day for 2010 was a positive arc. I'm feeling good! I got my cheekbones back in June and then promptly got pregnant.

My goal: try to keep my cheekbones until this kid arrives. With holiday goodies and a resurge of sugar cravings distracting me, it could be a task indeed.

So to carry through to better health for the sake of my new crop growing in my womb, I decided to keep going on a salad a day until my green Martian appears on earth (he has to be green after all that roughage right?).

Better documentation is key to staying on track...so here I am scrambling for my greens via spinach smoothie at 11:14 pm.

Nighty night,
Mrs. Olsen

Yesterday, I was "en-route" to my European Vacation for just over 24 hours. Ugh. What time is it? One of my fears on this trip has been: Will I be able to get my salad a day? Well yesterday, during our 7-hour layover in New York, I put these fears to the test. Check out my little mini New York adventure below:


Upon emerging from the swarthy subway tunnels, I emerged into the cliched version of New York that is Times Square. Immediately we were dazzled by the lights, the energy, people, shops, and advertisements.

My first thought was this: I wonder if any trees can grow here. It was several blocks before I found this.



Not technically a tree, but living and green. Maybe my miniature adventure should have been to Central Park huh?

So since we went straight for the cliche New York life, my next thought was this: I want a New York Dawg.

I had images of Tina Fey, long lines of weary corporate workers, and downing some meat the farmgirl in me doesn't want to think about with onions, relish, catsup, and mustard.



We succeeded. Here's my man with our New York Dawg. I was disappointed only catsup and mustard were available, but after a 5 hour flight with a small cup of water and some nuts, I was ready to eat a roasted rat.

Not really, that would be gross. My point is, I try not to buy or eat hotdogs, but man was that dog good!


Bonus! Snapped a photo of the Times Square Naked Cowboy's competition. What is she? The Naked Cowgirl? I'm not sure, but I learned The Naked Cowboy recently sued her for...infringement? I shouldn't put things on the blog I don't know anything about, but there you have a fairly naked woman amongst the lights and action of New York.

My last and final thought before we had to jet back onto the subway was this: Where can I get a salad?

Then we found a little deli that sold raw greens, fruits, sushi, and pastas for $7.99 a pound.



The noodles make it look gross, but it was the perfect end to my mini New York adventure. For just five bucks, I snarfed fresh strawberries, kiwi, ginger dressing, and a couple sushi rolls that had no chance in heck of growing within 20 miles of the deli, but which tasted absolutely fresh and delicious.

Well that's it for now. Good night/afternoon/morning...I'm not sure which one.

There was a time in my life-my skinnier, single life, that I was a proficient nightswimmer. Large bodies of natural water: lakes, oceans, sometimes the eddies of a river, would unwittingly accept my sweaty armpits and oily hair as I checked the swim off as my daily shower. I'm pretty sure my sister Niki contributed her urine upstream from me a few times as well, bless her little heart. The girlfriends and I would sneak into the night, shed our clothes as we screeched off of docks or cliffs, and become mermaids at best, fish in the least.

First test to know if it will be a great night. This little poem my dad taught me as a girl:





Here's Sara and I taking clues that it will be a good night while we wait for Heather to come.

Heather wins!..and with glasses on no less! In the end, she chose french fries. Hmmm, maybe nightswimming may be a danger to my health after all?

Naaah.


Here's me timing my camera to see how long it will take to get a picture of Sara in mid-air jumping into blue.


Instead I got this. Oh well.



Aaaaahhhhh.


This is why I got the call this time. Heather is ready to POP next week and was delightfully weight-less in the blue.

My other highlight of this night (apart from the fact that I was nightswimming) was the reality that the last time I jumped through stars into blue (last fall) I was 30 pounds heavier! Still not ready for the public swim, but the salad a day plus consistent exercise is slowly but surely making a difference! Wahoo!

Thanks ladies! Call me anytime! Sorry we missed you Wendy and Rebecca (and even Niki).

Favorite nightwater picture ever here.

How much salad can this blog take before it's left in forgotten no-man's land? (hint: please take my survey on the sidebar if you have a moment). In case you're new around here, when that crappy New Year rolled around I decided to simplify my resolution list and just try to eat a raw green salad every day in 2010.

I'm still doing it! We're in March and every day this year (so far) I've eaten salad! Some days my salad is a spinach smoothie, and once in a while it's steamed cabbage. Other days it's both. So I figured another weekly audit is due. So this week I'll be posting pics of my salads.

Here's the recipe...

VEGGIE-STUFFED MUSHROOMS

20 large (1 ½ to 2-inch diameter) mushrooms (about 1 pound)
½ cup broccoli, finely chopped
¼ cup carrot, finely chopped
1 TBL onion, finely chopped
1 cup seasoned croutons, crushed (about ½ cup)
½ cup (2 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
1/8 tsp salt
2 TBL butter or margarine, melted

Carefully cut out stem end of each mushroom. Reserve enough stems for ¼ cup chopped mushrooms. Place hollowed out mushroom caps onto glass pie dish or (small) casserole dish.

With reserved chopped mushrooms, add the remaining ingredients. Spoon mixture into caps and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until tops are lightly golden. Serve warm.

Dear Jenny,

Dear 2010 Self,