full on summer

At the beginning of summer my always organized friend Mary sent me a list of her weekly family rhythm and I decided to sketch one out for my family.  At first it looked really full with all kinds of things filling our days.  But, I knew I had to just wait it out and see how it all fell into place loosely.  Monday is our tennis lesson, Tuesday is the farmer's market, Wednesday is lake day/fun day, Thursday we walk to the library and Friday is another fun/free day.  It feels really good to have some kind of structure in our week. 

There are lots of in between time to just do nothing, maybe time for taking a nap or reading a book.  I'm all for doing nothing or just watching the grass grow or robin fledglings in our yard while sitting in the hammock.  I'm taking lots of deep breaths this summer, just slowing down a little.  Even with all this slowing down though, I still go to sleep at night thinking about how full our day was!

I've also been juicing at least 4 mornings a week.  I feel so good.  It's a great way to use up the greens from the garden.  I've been adding celery, carrots, apples, beets, cucumbers, lemons, ginger and sunchokes.  I've also been starting my day with a headstand to get all that good blood to my brain and short meditation to start my day out right.

 I've been watering my garden, pulling weeds and watching everything grow like a proud mama.  It's a never ending job, that garden.  It's so worth it though. 

I picked our apricots and Jonathan made the most scrumptious apricot bars that disappeared in day.  I was watching the fruit ripen and I really wanted to keep them on the tree as long as possible. There are a few slightly green ones in there.  But, it's a tricky thing.  If I waited too long they would all fall off or be eaten by the birds.  I think I picked them at the perfect time.

I got a flat of unsprayed peaches at the farmer's market and again made peach lavender preserves.  I've been canning a lot.  Last week I made a summer squash relish...Wow!  It was so good!  Today I got a flat of strawberries and made some jam.  I added a basket of blackberries!  Oh my gosh, the color of this jam is so beautiful!  Well, I guess you can't really see it here but you'll have to trust me on that one!  It's so surprising that a flat of strawberries can go so fast.  There are lots of little hands that sneak a pint or two before I can get to my jam. 

My chickens are outside now and they're loving it.  They've grown so much as you can see.

And a few weeks earlier....They really don't like getting their picture taken.  They think when I get close to them I'm trying to catch them and they're really not into that!

I could go on but I think it's time to go to bed.

I hope you're having a fun summer!!!

my little ladies.

These little ladies of mine have grown so much in a month.  No longer fuzzy little balls but mini chickens with a little fluff here and there.  We've started letting them outside for some time each day and they of course love it!  They scratch.  They test their wings. They dust themselves.  They peck at ants and other little things.  They aren't really interested in veg yet but we put a watermelon rind in their brooder yesterday and they loved that.  Right now we're just waiting until they can't get through the fence in the chicken yard and they'll be put outside.  They could also use some more time to get all their feathers in.  But, it's warm enough for them I think.

Yesterday we had them outside and when we do that our dog has to stay inside.  As we were coming and going we realized that the door was left open.  Where was our dog?  Sitting outside watching the chicks.  Just sitting there.  He was being such a good boy.

These are the little ladies last week.  I need to take more pictures of them today.

We're still in love

We're so in love with our little furry boy Zephyr. It's his 1st birthday today.

When we met you, we knew you were the one. Our hearts melted and we became a family with dog. At first, you were so shy but now you're quite comfortable with us.

You take your job as protector very seriously and ever night you wake up and come sniff us to make sure we're still there.

You love finding a sliver of light on the floor and stretching out to take advantage of the warmth. You love eating chicken shit.

And we're so in love with you. I don't think you doubt that for one minute.

Happy Birthday!

weekend planning

I'm sitting here with the south facing shades completely open, the sun is pouring in the family room and it's somewhat pleasant (yet windy) outside.

The fence has been mended and Jonathan is outside right now working on a movable cage to grow greens under for the chicken yard. Those chickens wake me up every morning wanting attention. For a simple bird, they sure know how to get their way. Hopefully this cage will allow us to grow greens for them all summer.

I crawl out of bed every morning at 6:38 am (earlier and earlier every day by a few minutes) to give them scratch and the compost scraps. If they like what I bring them, they'll let my kids and I to sleep in a bit longer! Chickens can be extremely loud in the morning and have been known to crow without the presence of a rooster.

What they really want are some greens....but I guess a bucket of worms would work too.


Jonathan lifted the boards on the compost bin so that they can scratch at the good stuff before we sift out our finished soil.

The scene on Saturday morning looked something like this.

Each of my three kids quickly came over to the table in order to get dibs on their seed packets. They're very into gardening. Solomon wants more room every spring to grow his sunflowers, gourds and watermelon. Amelia begs Jonathan every weekend to take a walk down the street with his wheelbarrow to pick up loads of manure for her garden. Eli just wants to grow flowers on his plot of land at this point. I wonder if I'm going to have any garden space left by the time they're teenagers! I have to hold tight to my space out there.


We've just gotten seeds from various stores. There's no special place we got our seeds from this year. We always end up with far too many seeds though. Sometimes I want to be more organized but it's so much fun for the kids to pick out seeds from the display.


What I've been thinking about for a while is changing the way I garden. I got a few books from the library about permaculture and I'm diving into them tonight.

love, february

I love 4H.

(Amelia in the car, leaving early in the morning for the cavy show)

A few weeks ago we went to the local 4H small animal show where the kids show their guinea pigs (a.k.a. cavies), rabbits and chickens.

(We love to see all the other animals at the show, especially the poultry)

Amelia has had guinea pigs for 6 years and she's loved every minute of it. She loves her animals and takes good care of them. We actually have to wash and blow-dry our pigs before every show. She knows more about guinea pigs than anyone would care to know. She's bred her pigs several times and been witness to their births. It's been such a great experience for her. For all of us.

(Aren't these rabbits cool? I love looking at all the different kinds of rabbits)

But, all good things come to an end eventually. Ever since we've welcomed a dog into the family, our attention has moved away from our pigs to our dog. It's hard not to since our dog is so much more enjoyable. Our puppy has made his way deeply into our hearts. Along the way, I've pushed Amelia to make the hard decision to move away from cavy 4H to dog 4H. That was my plan all along. You know how us moms are! After all, cleaning guinea pig cages every week for 6 years wears on a mom.

(The rabbits at the show table waiting to be judged)

We finally made it to our first dog 4H meeting last Monday and it was so much fun! Not only do the kids run the meeting, taking turns each month doing a presentation but, two of Amelia's old friends from 4H are in this club. After learning about the anatomy of the dog's nose and learning about their sense of smell ( complete with play dough to make a 3D model), the kids spent the next hour with their dogs training them.

(Amelia awaiting her turn for showmanship)

(Amelia doing showmanship)

Tomorrow, if all goes well, we are handing off our last two piggies to a homeschooling mama that lives is Winnemucca. She has two young girls who would like to get into 4H. I want very much for our pigs to be loved, something that they've been lacking since our dog came along. They deserve it.

(Eli talking to his friend about rabbits)

I've been so thankful for everything the keeping of cavies has taught our family. It's been a great ride. But, I think what's coming next will be just as amazing. I can't wait.