Mulberry Season!

It's mulberry season! Here is a picture of Ella from two years ago - she enjoys mulberries to this very day!

We had a very nice weekend camping, despite the rain. I stayed raw throughout the trip - I had made such delicious food it was actually easy! The orange-miso-shiitake soup/dressing was so incredibly good that I ate all the greens the first day, just to eat more of the dressing! Then I peeled my zucchini into pasta-like strips and put the rest of the dressing on that.

I also brought large broccoli leaves to use as wraps, and made burritos with a brazil nutmeat (spiced with cumin and coriander), avocado, tomato and cucumber with a squeeze of lemon on top.

For breakfasts I made sesame milk (which only lasted one day, though) to top fresh apples and my mix of sunflower seeds, raisins, dates, prunes, brazil nuts and goji berries. A breakfast of champions.

Speaking of champions...there was a triathlon happening at Yellow Creek State Park (where we were staying - we were actually in campgrounds across from the park) on Saturday morning! It was a sprint one: 1/2 mile swim, 9.5 mile bike and 3.5 mile run. I wish I had known! But as it was, I had no bike or running shoes, so I had to let that one pass me by. We had a beautiful Saturday instead visiting Smicksburg - Amish country. We stopped into an Amish owned harness shop (to post a wanted: land sign. If anyone knows of any rural land around Pittsburgh please let us know! We're looking for a couple acres to build a cob house, have chickens, bees, organic gardens, etc.) Ella and Dave waited outside and watched the horses and buggies go down the street (they move at quite a clip!) and when anyone came to the store Ella would ask, "What's your horse's name?" Very sweet, as were the Amish, who graciously replied.

The campground, however, wasn't the best kept place. The first site they gave us was full of trash, which we cleaned up, but then when I noticed how much broken glass there was everywhere, we had to move.

The second one had trash, too, but a toad was waiting there for us, so I knew it was to be our site.



A few years ago when we stayed at a house in Nags Head with some friends, we stayed on the ground floor and at night frogs would come out and guard our door. That's when Molly was with us, so when I saw this toad, I just felt we had to stay at that site.

However, there was still quite a bit of broken glass and rusty metal, so everyone had to wear their shoes at all times at the campsite, which Ella was able to accept. (My fingertips are stained purple in the picture below from mulberries!)



Her favorite part of camping: roasting marshmallows for s'mores. Here she is in the car during the rain, digging in: