You Say Tomato...

This is our third full summer living in this house. The first year, our garden consisted of 2 lettuce plants that produced for a few weeks, then grew tall, skinny, and spindly, and dried up. Boo.

The second year, we planted seeds in a muffin tin indoors, hoping for about 24 plants in 6 different varieties of vegetables. About 10 of them actually turned into seedlings and got put into the ground... and all of them dried up and died before they turned into anything we could actually eat or even show off to anyone. More boo. I was very pregnant last spring (our little guy was born July 12th), so that's my excuse!

This year, I planted our garden in May. I bought 16 small plants (4 zucchini, 4 red peppers, 4 eggplant, and 4 tomatoes), stuck them in the ground, and have been watering them daily ever since with as much love and attention as I can muster up while also taking care of three small children. There have been a lot of hot days but also a lot of rain, so all of them are still alive, and some of them are even flourishing! (I'm so proud, can ya tell?)

Yesterday, I went outside to do some more watering, and lo and behold... tomatoes!!! 2 little green guys were peeking out at me from their leafy hiding places.

I can't even remember what kind of tomatoes I planted, and I have no definite ideas for what to do with them yet (other than slicing them up with some fresh mozzarella and fresh-picked basil, making some yummy bruschetta, and baking them stuffed with gorgonzola and bread crumbs- mmmmm!) but I am still so happy! There is something so gratifying about finally seeing the fruit of your labor. And I am so excited to have the opportunity to provide for my family in this way: frugally, organically, and deliciously! Now, if I can only narrow down my list of what I'm going to make with this impending deluge (I'm an optimist, I know!) of juicy, delicious Jersey tomatoes...

What's your favorite thing to do with fresh, ripe summer tomatoes?

Papertowel Confession

Okay, I have a confession to make. I'm addicted to papertowels. Or rather, I was addicted to papertowels. For as far back as I can remember, papertowels have been my friend. For any and every mess, my papertowels (I'm partial to Bounty Select-a-Size) were always there to comfort and help me. My kids spilled their juice: 5 papertowels. I splashed some water on the floor: 2 papertowels. Messy table after dinner: 3 papertowels. Hands wet after washing: 1 papertowel. Etc, etc, etc. My goodness! I can hardly image what my daily total was, no less my weekly or monthly grand total!

I'm not sure what made me re-think my papertowel usage. Perhaps a magazine article or blog posting or conversation with a friend. Whatever it was, a few weeks ago, I decided to attempt to cut back. And I did- drastically (or so I thought)! I cut our usage down to about a roll a week (I'm not sure exactly how many that is, but I know it was a lot less than we had been using.) I was so excited at our progress!

So how did I do it? Well, I just stopped reaching for a papertowel every single time anything spilled. I started using cleaning cloths more often and even leaving a drop or two of water on the counter or on my hands from time to time (gasp!) But after two weeks or so, I thought maybe we could do better. So I made a huge, monumental change. What was this gigantic change, you ask? I moved the papertowel holder from the countertop to under the sink. Yes, that's it.

It's been two weeks since I made the big change, and it's made a very noticeable difference. I would say that I have now been using about three papertowels a week, and even those are probably unnecessary. I used one to blot the oil off some fried eggplant cutlets. I can't remember what I used the others for, but I'm pretty sure I could have used a towel instead. For everything else, I've been using cleaning cloths (towels, dishrags, washcloths for cleaning up the kids after meals, etc.), and I think they almost always do a better job! I'm still adjusting slightly, but I can honestly say that I'm not in papertowel withdrawal!

I am proud to say that I have been (almost) papertowel-free for one month! Better for the environment and better for our budget... what's better than that?

Has anyone else taken on this challenge? Any advice to share?