My New Pot

Hi everyone, here I am months later again. Sorry I cannot seem to keep up with my blog but I get up, do chores, practice my tin whistle, take Michelle to school, practice my violin and go to work. Pretty boring. Today when we went shopping, however, we noticed a new place open in one of the shopping centers. Kind of like a junk shop/thrift store. A bunch of the older men and women at the flea market got together and opened their own (inside) flea market. It is a good sized store and they have a decent amount of stuff in it that will make it worth stopping at every weekend.  I really wanted to make sure that we bought something this weekend though, so that we could support their efforts and keep such a good place open. It wasn't hard. They happened to have a table of cast iron. Old cast iron; pots, sausage stuffers, and other things I didn't even know what they were. There were three large pots though and I really wanted one. Two seemed newer than the other though, not quite as heavy, and the one also had a really heavy lid. I got the one with a lid.

I have several cast iron frying pans but have never had a pot, let alone one with a lid. I'm quite pleased with it (there is a handle that goes over the top but it is hanging in the back in this picture). I think I might have gotten a good deal at $25 and felt good that I got to support such a nice small business in our town.

I don't buy things just to say I have them though. They have to be usable and this certainly is being used today. I have a nice pot of chili cooking on the stove.

I am hoping I will get a chance to do some more posts soon. I have taken over the garden beds at work. If you all have been following you will know I work at the Boys and Girls Club here and several years ago we had 9 nice large raised beds put in that have basically gone to waste. A few of the staff have taken the kids out to plant things but they never actually have taught them how to do it right (maybe because they don't know themselves). Last year they planted turnip seeds in little circles in one of the beds (sigh). Anyway, as I am the Membership Clerk there it is not really my job to do classes with the kids but I asked if I could do a real garden class with them this year and my wish was granted.  I plan to do a real class and teach them how to plant things the right way, with the right spacing. I also want to teach them about fertilizer, what organic and inorganic means, what companion planting is....etc. I have about 8 weeks worth of lessons planned so far. But I can only do so much and I have my own job too plus we have yet another new Unit Director who has a lot of other commitments so I am left in charge more and more so I have decided to only take out 9 children. Each will have their own raised bed to take care of.  I think the kids will like that. Later I hope to add in a few cooking classes with what we produce as well (we have a large full kitchen-seldom used as well). I have been spending what little spare time at work out there trying to clean out the beds which have for the most part just been totally neglected. They are covered in grass and weeds and I had fun digging out several small cedar trees that had taken root in the back beds. I'll start the class with the kids next week and I am excited about it. I will have to take pictures for work anyway, so will copy them and show you all what we are doing.