The energy continues...

My late-pregnancy nesting moved me into the kitchen today, though quite unexpectedly. I was pretty content to lounge around this afternoon, not doing much of anything at all, until I just jumped up* and went to the kitchen. From 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. I made:
• a loaf of multi-grain bread
• a batch of granola
• a pan of my cousin Marcia's awesome Raisin Ribbon Bars
• hard-boiled eggs (no big deal, I just had meant to do it forever)
• and dinner: Monster Salads with Roasted Asparagus

(I am beyond pleased to report that 95% of our dinner was local. The salad greens, carrots, French breakfast radishes, hydroponic tomatoes, eggs and asparagus were all from local farms but the avocado, salad dressing, olive oil and croutons were not. Not bad for not even trying to be a locavore!)

After dinner, my energies were directed to the garden where I spent some time thinning out our turnips, beets, carrots, Swiss chard, kale and spinach (Dan did ALL of the weeding this weekend, thank you!). I clipped the tomatoes where they needed it (sacrificing some of the tender young flowers in order to encourage deeper roots and more growth first) and dead-headed the flower garden.

But back to the kitchen I went after Jackson was tucked in bed. Two pans of Black Bean Lasagna are now made and ready for freezing. This is my signature "new baby food" gift to parents (because it was provided for us when Jackson was born and was so incredibly perfect in every way!) so I figured that the least I could do was plan ahead for my own days after delivery when neither Dan nor I will want to think very hard about food but will be starving. It will be nice to have these pans to pop in the oven at a moment's notice - especially since they'll each provide multiple dinners for us.
Now I'm off to finish the last ten pages of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (finally, I've been slow on this one) and check that off my list too. My ending thoughts on this book are:

1.) Being a locavore is totally cool.
2.) However, I am not ready to be a true locavore.
3.) We will, at least, think differently about where our food comes from now.
4.) Canning and preserving your own food is to be admired and respected and we both hope to "put by" a lot of food this season.
5.) (the biggest revelation) The food we preserve does NOT have to come from our own garden. I can't wait to hit the farmers markets at harvest time to buy up their stashes of foods we didn't have time to grow or lack quantity in, just for preserving - PRE-PURCHASED LOCAL FOOD FOR THE WINTER! What a concept...

My energy is obviously still up and I'm still checking things off the list in my head. I've already got a list brewing for tomorrow including baking more bread to freeze for those early baby days and even some chocolate chip cookies to bring along to the hospital with us (we'll be the room with the good cookies!). Mulching the garden and re-sowing some more seeds will hopefully happen too. However, since this is my second child, I do understand the need to remain flexible. If Amelia decides to throw my lists out the window and make an early appearance, I will not be upset. The cookies and the seeds will just have to wait!
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*Okay, so there was no jumping up. My mind jumped up and my body slowly followed.