Simple Zucchini Brownies

Simple Zucchini Brownies

I love Zucchini brownies, but most of the recipes I have found make it more complicated than it needs to be. Basically, you are substituting the stick of butter for two cups of zucchini squash. You can tweak this recipe in other ways too. But here are the basics:

Ingredients:

2 cups of zucchini or summer squash, grated
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoons of oil or butter
2 bars (4 oz) of Unsweeted Chocolate broken into pieces (if you prefer to use baking powder, mix it with the dry ingredients and add two extra tablespoons of oil or butter to the wet ingredients)
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flour (I use half white and half whole wheat)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup nuts or chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 13 X 9 baking pan.
Heat up the butter (if using it) and unsweetened chocolate until it is mostly melted. (Chocolate will take about one minute to melt in the microwave.) Mix in the sugar, (oil if using it), and vanilla. Beat the egg and add it. Mix in the zucchini. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix. Fold in nuts or chocolate chips if you desire.
Pour into the baking pan. Bake for 30-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Baking times will vary depending on the moisture content of your zucchini. Check your brownies often.)

Enjoy!

Chiggers-Some practical advice from the South

Chiggers are tiny, almost microscopic, parasites. Some people are not bothered by them, they drive other people, like me, crazy!

I would like to start by debunking some chigger myths:

1. Chiggers do not burrow into your skin nor do they simply bite and then leave. They spit acid on your skin, dissolving it, and then eat the digested skin. They stay on the surface and the bite usually only really itches when the chigger is still on your body.
2.  Chiggers do not carry diseases such as Lyme disease. They do not suck blood like ticks and mosquitoes so they can not transfer diseases.
3. Chiggers are not microscopic. If you look hard you can see them with the naked eye. (More about this in the next section.)

Now, what to do if you get into some chiggers:

Chiggers hid out in grass, moist hay, leaves, and even rocks. They like moisture, lots of ground shelter, but seem to appericate sunny lined areas (not deep dark forests but more like the edges of fields.) Personally I assume that I get chiggers every time I go outside.

So this is what I do:

1. Wipe off every inch of your skin. Chiggers do not burrow, right? So they are on top of your skin. Also, they have a soft body (they are mite nymphs) and have no exoskeleton. They run very fast, but will explore your body a long time (an hour or two) before settling down to feast. They have a soft body that is squished easily. Rub every inch of your body with a wet wash cloth or something similar.
2. As you start to feel an itch, BEFORE you scratch at all, check for a chigger and this is how:
• Get into a place with natural sunlight. For some reason you can not see them with artificial light nearly as well as with sunlight.
• Stretch the skin where you feel the itch until any pinkness disappears.
• Look for a tiny hunter orange dot. (Hopefully you have not itched because the itching will make little red dots from blood coming to the skin.)
• With your fingernail, the tip of a pocket knife, or something sharp like that, flick the tiny dot off your skin. Then squish it. If you can't see it, then rub your hands and the area.
3. Chigger bites happen. They suck, but you will be ok! Use a little antihistamin or mentholated insect bite medicine if you need. Try not to let it ruin your day!

Get outside and enjoy yourself. Good luck with the chiggers!

Gardening Tip

Alright folks. Here is my number one super secret gardening tip...
Garden daily.
Seriously! Being a constant gardener is key. Go into your garden every day. Examine every plant. Turn over every leaf. Don't skip a day because your tired or don't feel like it. Don't go back inside because it is too hot. If it is raining, walk through with an umbrella.
As you look, you will learn. You will have questions. Make sure to find their answers. But know you will never have all the answers.
Stay in control. Pull a few weeds, squash a few pests, and pick off a few eggs every day. How will you know the weeds from the plants, the pests from the beneficials, and what the heck do insect eggs even look like? The answers will be in your mistakes. You will let the plants grow until it is obvious that they are not producing fruit and you will know what to look for next time. Once the caterpillars are eating the leaves you will know they are not your friends. And if you are in the garden every day, no weeds will have a chance to take over and no bugs will be able to completely wipe out your plants. That is why going out and taking a long, close look is so important.
At first your mistakes will take a toll. But every year your garden will get better and better. You will become more and more proficient; which means it will also become more rewarding over time. Like the garden you will grow...
So get to it! Go garden! Don't stop!

Feeding the Birds

When snow covers the ground and ice coats the trees, birds have a hard time finding food. In the winter, birds do not have insects as a food source so they are dependent on seeds. They forage for seeds in the bushes and trees as well as on the ground, but ice can coat every seed and blanket the forest floor. Furthermore, more and more humans have replaces native bushes and trees with sidewalks and lawns. It has become harder and harder for birds to find food, especially during ice or snow storms.

When I hear that winter weather is on its way, I buy a bag of bird food. My son helps me fill the bird feeders. He enjoys filling them slowly, cup by cup. The scoop and pour of tiny seeds is very satisfying. Then we watch the birds from our bed first thing in the morning. My son's favorite bird is the cardinal and the summer tanager, both red birds. I get excited when we see the red bellied woodpecker.

It is important to hang bird feeders away from windows because some birds will get confused by the reflection and can fly into the glass. Sometimes it is necessary to buy reflectors and put them on nearby windows. It is important to keep predators in mind when setting up a feeder so that it is not a trap. However, some birds will prefer fallen seeds because they are ground foragers.

In the winter birds look fat. They puff up their feathers for insulation and look as if they could not eat another bite. But they are not overweight, they are just fluffing their feathers to stay warm. In the summer I stop feeding the birds. During seasons when food is plentiful, birds need to do their natural duties of spreading native seeds and keeping insects in check. However, in the winter and early spring when times are tough, I think it is important for people to feed birds. Besides it is fun and entertaining. Happy Birding!

All the pictures were taken by Lisa Parker. Thanks Lisa! 

Natural Homemade Laundry Soap

I don't buy laundry detergent anymore. I hate the way it smells (mountain breeze? really?) I don't see the need for  all the chemicals they use to make them. And the price of natural detergents is too much. Besides, making laundry soap is easy, cheap, and better for the environment than most detergents.

Ingredients:

1 c. Washing soda
1 c. Borax
1/3 of a Bar of Soap

I use Fels-Naptha soap for the dirtiest toughest clothes with stains. (These three things should be easily found in the laundry isle of your local grocery store.) But Fels-Naptha soap is not as environmentally sound as I would like. So for regular loads I use a natural, locally made soap. I buy a locally made lavender soap from Rudbud Gardens.

Mix together the washing soda and borax first. Then use a cheese grater to grate the bar soap. Mix the grated bar soap into the soda and borax mixture slowly.
If you have a larger container you can double or triple the recipe.

Use only a tablespoon or two per load.

And that is it! Simple, cheap, eco... What more could you want?

Gratitude

My four year old woke up on Thanksgiving morning whining. At breakfast he demanded cereal. He did not say thank you.
For the most part, I have taught my son to say please and thank you. He often is very respectful. However, like his father, he is NOT a morning person!
Furthermore, four years olds are selfish by nature.
Nevertheless, on this day of giving thanks, his attitude did not go over well with me. I paced the kitchen worrying about his lack of gratitude.
"How do we teach our boy gratitude?" I asked his father.
"Hardship," he answered. "It is always the children who have nothing who are grateful."
Of course I don't wish my son to struggle through times hardship. What mother would wish hardship upon her children? I think seeing other's hardship would have a similar effect, but Zane is not old enough to volunteer in a soup kitchen with me yet.
So I took a different approach. We made a list for 20 things we are thankful for. It included my logical answers like food, family, and a home as well as his four year old "thank you to" gummy bear vitamins, rainbow colored slinky, and best friend June.
The morning after Thanksgiving we talked about gratitude with breakfast. We thanked the apple trees for fruit juice, cows for milk, the pigs for ham, and our very own hens for the eggs. Then we added to our list. Perhaps we will add a few more every morning throughout the Christmas season. I think it is a good start. Maybe you want to try this too? Share if you do!

Art and Parenting

The birth of a child is not only the creation ofnew life; it is also the transformation of a woman into a mother. Eventually itis also the transformation of a man into a father, however, that transformationhappens more slowly over time. A parent is someone you become. You areforever changed. In this loss of self-identity, there is morning, no matter howmuch you enjoy being a mother. Furthermore, parenting is the hardest job youwill ever encounter. It is fuller than any full-time job, more demanding thanany career, and there is more at stake than in the riskiest stunt.

As an artist, a writer, my biggest loss is that ofmy art. There is no time for a mother, especially a mother of little ones, todive head first into art and float on inspiration for a day. All I can dois grab fractions of time here and there, between snotty noses and dirtydiapers, and there is not much chance for inspiration in those fleetingmoments. When the day comes to an end and the children are asleep, I often havea little time. In my exhaustion, there is little inspiration. Every mother who wasonce a writer or a painter, a weaver or a gardener, a dancer or a musicianmisses the woman who could wait for inspiration to come and then seizethat beauty and bask in it for as long as it lasted.  

Nevertheless, you must grab all the inspiration youcan find and steal every moment you can get. Do not forget to do what you love.Never abandon your art. Your children should see you being yourself and expressingyourself. It may seem there is no time, but really there is. It will not beeasy to find, but it is there. Sure, the dishes and laundry might pile up, butyou will have to make that sacrifice. In the end you will not look back andregret neglecting your chores, and neither will your kids. On the contrary, theart you accomplish will make you happier, which will reflect positively on yourparenting and therefore on your children.

When you are swimming in dishes and laundry it is easyto forget that everything you are doing is important. But the tone of your voice,the expression on your face, and the way you go about your daily duties isteaching your children and influencing who they will become. You don't have tobe sitting on the floor playing blocks, engaging, for the art of parenting tobe taking place. Everything you do becomes art once you are parenting. Unlikeany other art, parenting never stops. The art of parenting isin everything you do and everything you are in every moment you arewith your children.  

There is an art to good parenting, but no one knowshow to do it. Like artistic beauty, good parenting is in the eye of the beholder. Noone should judge art any more than they should judge parenting methods. But nomatter the parents’ methods, the creation of an amazing human is the mostbeautiful work of art on earth. A well rounded young person with a kind heart,nimble mind, and strong body is a reward beyond the wildest artist’s dreams.

So next time you are inspired but you have no time,or you have time but not an ounce of inspiration, just remember that thoselittle ones ARE your art. Now that you are a parent, there is nothing moreimportant, no greater art!