Bird Brain

This is what I do at some point each day. 

I go online and look at my "shopping cart."  I don't buy anything, but I look.  Periodically my cart goes away and then I get to "shop" again.

See I am just totally in love with the idea of raising chickens.  I talk about it, dream about it, and I stare at my cart and wish I could get started.

It would be so easy to just click purchase and then move forward.  But I am trying to be a good little homesteader.  And a better wife.  Which means that this needs to be a joint decision.  Husband thinks we should have the coop planned out before we order, and ready to go once the chicks arrive.  He feels we should have a solid idea of our Chicken Budget.

I would rather jump in right away.  It is so much more exciting that way.

Peace and Birdsong

Today is obviously a big day for international news, of celebration and reflection.  Though I will leave the in-depth commentary to others, I do not feel more safe or protected today than I did yesterday.  If anything, I feel more anxious at what these necessary evils will bring to our world. 

Because of my uncertainty and anxiety, I find that I am drawn outside today, where I can hear the summer bugs, and the birdsong.  And where I can watch my garden come to life.  My garden gives me hope and peace, and the knowledge that I have planted more than seeds.  I have planted my love and protection for my family.  I nurture my garden as I nurture those I love.

Here are some pictures of my garden growing.  Hopefully they will bring you peace on a day of great upheaval.

Amish Paste Tomatoes and a Marigold

Carrots

A teepee my husband built out of branches trimmed from the pear trees.  Just for fun.

Hardneck Garlic

Baby Lettuce

Sweet Peas

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Pie Pumpkins

Very muddy strawberries

 Peace to you and yours.

A Cake-tastrophe and Mr Itchy Pants

A Cake-Tastrophe

Today is my husband's birthday, so I made him a cake.  I love to bake cakes, and my favorites, and my husband's, are scratch-made cakes with raspberry preserves and chocolate icing.  Not just any chocolate icing, mind you.  It has to be my grandmother's famous chocolate icing.  (Which, it seems, is the icing recipe on the back of the chocolate box.  Still, it is famous to us.)  This icing is rich, chocolaty, decadent, and delicious.  Tonight, however, it was also a little thin.  I have had this problem before and when the icing just doesn't want to thicken, I just add more sugar.  It didn't work.  Maybe because I used 2% milk.  I don't know.

Whatever the reason, the beautiful layers of yellow cake started to slide off each other as soon as I layered them.  I thought they were level.  Would have sworn that they were level.  But the waterfall of chocolate-raspberry goop splooging out the side told a different tale.  I tried valiantly to make the cake look beautiful ...

I failed.  In fact, there is so much fail in this cake, I should send it to CakeWrecks! (It tasted good, though.)

Mr. Itchy Pants

My 5-year-old is a chatty boy with a good imagination.  Lately he has started trying to excuse things he says or does by blaming them on his "brain."  My brain thought that. OR I didn't say that, my brain said it.  He kept talking about his brain as a separate person so often that it started to really bother me .  (I started worrying that he would develop multiple personality disorder!)  Then one day I stopped and realized...

His brain is his imaginary friend!

Imaginary friends are supposed to be a sign of intelligence and creativity (and I am not just saying that because I had one (Sha-la)!), so I am supportive of this idea.  Once I got over my annoyance at his brain being the excuse, I started listening to the stories my son was telling me.  Apparently his brain has quite an advanced and active life!  He drives a white pick-up truck and has seen all the toy-story movies through Toy Story 100.

So today I asked him what his brain's name was, since it would be easier to personify if we could call him something other than "my brain."  What did my imaginative, creative, intelligent son tell me?

His brain's name is Mr. Itchy Pants.

Okay.  And we are back to mildly worried.

Thanks, Mom!

My mother has a gift for landscaping.  She just seems to know what flowers would look perfect in any given place.  I can appreciate flowers by themselves, but when I try to plant them or group them artfully, the end result just looks confused.  My mother, however, can work magic.  But she doesn't know it.  She says she "just puts things in the ground," yet year after year her yard looks amazing.

For example, all these bulbs were planted by my mother.  Don't they look stunning?

Tulip, daffodil, and other bulb flowers.

So I have learned that if my mom suggests I plant something, I should do it!

Last weekend, while she and my step-father were visiting, I sought advice from my mom on our herb garden.  I had already planned to dig out part of the lawn in front of the house for our herbs, but wasn't sure what would look best.  My mom had a great idea to make a swoopy, wide bed that would curve partly around the house.  I made her draw it out for me.

Yesterday I started edging the design, but I didn't get far.  Not because it was hard, but because my lovely husband decided it would be much easier if he tilled.  Well, if you insist!

One other fact about my mom - she is addicted to our local greenhouse.  We went just to "look" and ended up with a flat of primroses and some houseplants.

Primroses.  They smell like honeysuckle

 I had never seen primroses before, but was immediately hooked.  I have already gone back to the greenhouse twice so that I had enough to edge the new herb bed.

And here is the finished bed: 

Thanks, Mom!

 I have already planted Lavender, a Flowering Almond, and a Jacks Camelia.  Now I just need to wait for our herbs to grow big enough to transplant.  Soon the bed will be filled with flowers, rosemary, thyme, sage, and oregano.

We also hung the kids' birdhouses.  Now it is truly a family garden.

Flowers and a Song

The 5-year-old sang me a seranade.

It was very sincere.

And the flowers bloomed.

They are lovely.

Homestead Christmas

Happy Christmas, Everyone.  We had a nice time hunkered down here while the snow fell.

The boys put on their party hats (and buckets, and knight's helmets).

We made paper chains.

And counted down the days until we could share presents.

On Christmas morning, the boys opened their stockings.

And reveled in despicable presentry.  Or something that makes sense.  They got loot.

And loved it.

And ate sweets.  (And got very, very sticky.)

And then, like most families, we had an epic battle.

Between the forces of good, and evil.

(Or storm troopers and dragons.  You choose.)

The battle was terrible. 

Until reinforcements arrived.

And then victory was both very sticky,

and very sweet.

And then we all took naps to celebrate.

More blogging soon!