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Empty Nest

Posted at 6:28 PM on June 5, 2008 by Laura Solorio (4 Comments)

I'm officially an, "empty nester." My youngest son just graduated from high school. I have a feeling, though, that the nest will be anything but empty.
I did manage to have a fairly local graduation party with grass fed tritip barbeque and free range chicken breasts. I do have to say, though, that the grocery bill is growing. I don't know how families on limited budgets are managing the increase in cost. Salinas' fields are full of all types of produce. Fruits seem to be the most expensive items. I have ordered my twenty pounds of dried apricot slabs from my cousin's orchard in Hollister. The strawberries, cherries and peaches are pretty expensive. I'm still allowing apples from Wahington state in our diet.
I planted some tomatoes, but so far, I only have two tomatoes. I used some organic fertilizer yesterday to see if that would help. Any tomato growing secrets out there?! I have managed to build a fence around the plants I have in the ground to keep the dog out. If my tomatoes are not doing so well, my peonies are! The blooms have been lovely and most gardners around here don't grow peonies.
Crablover, a frequent responder to my blog, keeps encouraging me to ask about the local farmers' markets and why food stamps are not accepted. That will be my next task.
I love to cook, but working 10 hour days does not leave much time for it. When I do make dinner on a week night, we usually don't eat until 8 or 9pm. Even if I cooked larger quantities on the weekends, the boys would inhale it. It would be great to find a source of frozen foods made with local products.

Comments (4)

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There is a farmers market here in MN that accepts food stamps. Their website has some info about it on the front page. Perhaps there is hope for yours? good luck with the festivities.

Posted by Sareen | June 6, 2008 7:40 AM

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Boy, hard to say what to do with your tomatoes - it has been cool and wet here in Boise and that seems to have put a damper on some of the growth of plants that like the sunny hot weather that we would normally be having by now - so chili & tomato plants aren't doing too well if they were located in the sunniest driest corner of the garden (at least in seeing various gardens of friends and talking to the farmers at the market the past couple of weeks).

Here is a web site I just found with some tomato secrets

One friend swears by Epsom salts. Last year I used a standard house plant liquid fertilizer but it probably wasn't organic.

One interesting thing occurring in one friend's garden this year is that her Yukon Gold potato plant is being attacked by ants but the other 4 varieties are not being bothered at all. So we are trying to troubleshoot this problem.

Good luck!

Posted by Scott | June 6, 2008 10:25 AM

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Hey Laura!
Congrats on your son's graduation. What else did you prepare for the event?
What do your sons and their friends like to eat?

Good luck with the tomatoes. Two tomatoes are better that what we are experiencing up here. Of course the weather has been strange and cold. It was in the 40s last night.

Paulette

Posted by Paulette Thompson | June 8, 2008 4:28 PM

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Thanks for the tips on the tomatoes, Scott. There are a bunch of blossoms right now. I hope they turn into tomatoes! Hi, Paulette. As I get older the spreads are less lavish. I bought five loaves of french bread from Beckman's Bakery from Santa Cruz at the farmers' market and slathered them with butter, fresh chopped parsley and tons of freshly minced garlic before grilling them. We also had a black bean salad, (I tried not to overcook the beans), which had fresh green onions, bell pepper and corn. I still had two cans of corn in the pantry, so they were not local. I also had my usual huge green salad with tomatoes, lettuce and spinach leaves and my house dressing which has lots of garlic and mustard in it. I bought relatively local beer from Mendocino County, but the relatives still like their Coors Light, but they try to humor me. The wines are always easy. I tried a new varietal, I think it was called Vermentino. It was delicious! Everyone seemed to prefer white wine due to the warm, beautiful day we had.

Posted by Laura Solorio | June 8, 2008 5:49 PM