Crop Share Saturdays

One cool thing Jim and I have been doing since we have moved to Portsmouth is join a crop share program with a local farm. It's called CSA - community supported agriculture, and there are lots of benefits for the farmer and for us, the consumer. Most CSAs are yearly, but since we moved in the middle of the season, we found a month-by-month plan to do for now.

Here's how it works: we pay monthly for a "share" and once a week, we go to the farmer's market and pick up a box of fresh, locally grown produce. It's fun to see what kinds of fruits and veggies we get, and come up with ways to cook and eat the things we may not be super familiar with. Most offer a "full share" or "half share" program, to meet the needs of different families. Jim and I are big fruit & veggie eaters, so we go with the full share, but I think it's usually recommended for families of 4+.

Our share this week, yum!

Even though I love to cook, I found myself getting the same veggies at the grocery store a lot of times, because I knew easy ways to incorporate them into recipes and dinners, but that starts to get pretty boring. Having all this produce also opens lots of opportunities to make homemade things that I would usually just buy at the store. For example, Jim doesn't like tomoatoes, and I only eat them with a few things. When we got 6 tomatoes in our box, I thought we'd never eat that many in a week. Now I've learned how to make my own tomato sauce for pasta & pizzas and have made fresh salsa (using all fresh veggies from our share!) that we both can enjoy. Because most CSAs are yearly, the farmer can count on having enough money from sales to plant, fertilize, etc. the crops for the season. It's a win-win for everyone! We now always have a stocked produce drawer and fruit bowl, so it's easy to eat healthy!

Just as an example, here is what we got in our box this week:

peaches
yellow squash
zucchini
green peppers
jalapeno peppers
some mystery yellow hot peppers (I don't know what kind they are, but they are good in the salsa!)
a canteloupe
tomatoes
cherries
red potatoes


See how many fun possibilities! If you're interested in finding a CSA in your area, here is the website we used:
Local Harvest CSA

I definitely recommend it!

Friday Love!

I just wanted to share these precious pictures with you guys, they get me every time!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend, do something sweet for someone :)

21 Pictures That Will Restore You Faith In Humanity

24 and Fabulous (and newly a nurse!)

Ok, good news and bad news! Bad news first: I have been so super busy lately that I have neglected my blog a little bit (you probably already knew that one...) Good news: I was busy doing lots of fun things so now I have plenty to share! So hang on, ya'll...this one may be a long post!

Jim started working at the hospital here in Portsmouth the first week of July. He has been working in the clinic lately, which means better hours! He's usually home by 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon, which is wonderful because I got so used to spending all day everyday with him during the wedding/honeymoon/moving weeks that I miss him so much during the day (we are clearly newlyweds, huh?) Once Jim went back to work, I began studying for my nursing board exam (NCLEX) that I scheduled for July 13 (Yes, Friday the 13th). Anyone who went to FSU with me knows that then my days consisted of a good 45 minutes of studying that quickly turned into Facebook (gotta know whats going on in the world), Pinterest (but...I just moved into a new house with SO many decorating opportunities!), RueLaLa (a girl's gotta shop...and it was SUCH a good deal!), and recipe websites (I mean...I still have to make dinner, right? That time was well spent.). I'll admit, I was starting to get a little crabby due to the pressure of the test and my lack of discipline (the Bachelorette was getting down to the final 3 and 4 guys AND it was the finale(s) and reunion(s) of Real Housewives! It's not my fault there is a 2 part finale and reunion!) In the end, I buckled down for the last few days, and it all worked out because I got a big fat PASS as my test score on the Florida Department of Health website! So you can just call me Ashley Ripple, R.N. whenever you feel like it :)

Both Jim and I really like to have people over, so the weekend before 4th of July, we had our first little cookout/pool party! We had some friends over and had a great time enjoying our new backyard! I think the one that enjoyed it the most was Miss Izzy, because the more people there are around, the more people to throw the ball for her. That little doggie just never gets tired of fetching!!

Jim & I getting ready for the cookout!

Happy 4th of July from Admiral!

I know everyone has been wanting to see house pictures, but our house has been constantly changing lately! I keep taking pictures to put on the blog, but now looking at even the most recent pictures, we have changed even more! In the past few weeks we had two huge trees cut down in our front yard, bought a new dining table and kitchen island, and have been working on cleaning out the office so we can actually have our computers in there!

I was kind of sad to see the trees go, but the roots were cracking the driveway, plus we were not big fans of the pine straw and sap on our cars all the time. Here is the house before and after:

Now we just have to figure out what to do with all the tree leftovers....anyone want some mulch?

Sunday, the 15th was my 24th birthday and we had planned on having Tiffany and Kris in town to celebrate. I was so excited about having them in town, but when they got here, there was a pretty big birthday surprise with them...my mom had flown in to DC to drive down with them for my birthday! Mom and I had just been talking about how I've never not been with her on a birthday and now we are still going strong! Saturday night I cooked delicious vegetable lasagna (in case you're looking for a recipe, this one is great!) and we hung out around the house. Sunday we played in the pool all day long and then had a wonderful dinner at 456 Fish in Norfolk.

Monday we had lunch at the Cantina in Downtown Portsmouth and Jim even came to meet us!

Tiffany and Kris went back home Monday, but Mom was still in town, and her, Jim, and I went to the Norfolk Tides baseball game. We took the ferry from Portsmouth right to Harbor Park and had fun watching the game with a few of Jim's friends from work.

Mom and Jim on the ferry

Mom flew home today, so we are getting back in the groove of things, but we all had a wonderful time and it was so exciting to have a surprise visitor! I am so thankful for my sweet friends and family and 24 is definitely off to a good start!