Bountiful baskets & other tidbits...

 Tomorrow is pick-up day for Bountiful Baskets all over the USA.  This will be my second basket and I'm so excited to see what's inside.  OnlyDaughter will be our pick-up girl and on Easter Sunday she will deliver to NextDoorDaughter and me here at the ranch. We are still figuring out how much produce the three of us can smartly use over a week's time until the next basket must be ordered and picked up.  The first basket was very good.  I got this sweet little Living Lettuce in my portion. See it's roots below?  It was delicious and reminded me of my own summer lettuce because I always plant Buttercrunch.  I have never bought a head of lettuce with roots this way, have you? 

Along with the head of lettuce, we received several big, beautiful russet potatoes, lots of onions, a big bunch of asparagus, a head each of broccoli and cauliflower and for fruits we received bananas, tangelos, and grapefruit.  All very delicious.  If you've never tried Bountiful Baskets, you should.  It's a food co-op which buys fruits and vegetables and a few other things and distributes it amongst its contributing members.  A regular basket comes with whatever is in season -- half fruit and half veg.  If you want to, for a little extra money, you can add in breads, granola, extra veggies or select in-season fruits in bulk.  It's really a good buy too.  The standard basket is $15 (add on $1.50 service fee charge and a first-time charge of $3).  We were most pleased with the quality and the amount of produce we found in our baskets and we are excited to carry on this spring and through the year.  I'm thinking it will be nice to have fresh produce when the garden is not producing and when the garden is at full-production, we can opt not to get a basket.  If you'd like to check out Bountiful Baskets for your area, click HERE.  One more thing --BB has a blog so if you get a fruit or veggie that you've never used before, you can go there and find some good recipes and ideas on how to cook it or eat it.
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In other news around home, Hubs and I got our vitamin D3 levels tested.  It was really kind of nifty.  We bought two kits online from The Vitamin D Council, filled out the questionnaires, and did the blood tests ourselves.  We sent the tests back to the lab and received our results in an email notice in just a couple days.  Our D levels were at the edge of the optimal range (50-80 ng/ml).  I was actually a 46 so I am boosting my D3 intake through additional supplements, and I'm working harder at getting some natural D by sitting in the sun on warmish days.  Our sun right now is ok, but still fairly weak in strength so I don't feel like I'm getting a "good dose" of D yet.  The good thing is that it only takes about 15-20 minutes of sitting in the sun with a tank top and shorts for the body to produce 10,000 IUs of D3. 

I have another new bottle baby.  The little fella's mom was a c-section and I guess the experience did her in.  She didn't want anything to do with her calf and after days of trying to get her to take him, we turned her out and started bottle feeding him.  So now I have Bette and Bobby.  I've been noticing that once in a while Bette is sucking one of the mama cows in the pen.  Now I see Bobby has picked up on the idea.  It amazes me that the cows will let them nurse.  Mainly, they rob milk when the cows are at the hay rack eating.  Smart li'l bummies.

 

God sent a sweet gift to me early this morning.  I was sound asleep in my comfy bed with my window slightly cracked open when all of the sudden I heard -- whether in a dream or real, I wasn't sure -- robin-song.  I stirred and awoke, and sure enough, there was real robin-song coming from the window by my bed.  I just lay there awhile enjoying the long awaited song, smiling and thanking God for His simple gifts.  Later on that morning I saw my First  Robin of Spring.

I've been tidying up the house a little bit each day in expectation of our Easter guests.  All the kids and their families, fiance', cousin, and friends along with grandparents will be joining us on Easter Sunday for dinner.  Everybody brings a little something to add to the traditional ham dinner so it is always a day of faith, food, family and fun.  Too bad it is supposed to snow.  We'll hunt Easter eggs in the house and be grateful for the moisture.  I wish you a joyful day of preparation and a Happy Easter.