Oh, What a Weekend!

Wow, the last three days have been so jam packed, each day very different from the one before.  The weekend has left me exhausted, sore, sunburnt and oh so very happy.  Grab a cup of your favorite steamy beverage while I grab mine, snuggle in, and I'll tell you all about it.

Friday we hit the mountain.  They had gotten six inches of fresh powder the night before and it was still snowing strong when we got there.  Being a weekday in mid-April, there was hardly anyone there.  A powder day on an empty mountain!  Who can ask for more?  I suppose the one thing I might have asked for was for nice light powder.  Spring skiing and all, is was more peanut butter.  Up at the top of the mountain where we spent the whole day, it was cold enough that the snow stayed pretty nice.  Heavy and slow, but still pleasant nonetheless.  And oh, was it tiring!

yahoo!!!

For folks who do not snowboard or ski, riding heavy snow is truly like riding in peanut butter.  Imagine you are on some human powered vehicle - perhaps a bike or a skateboard or whatever - going downhill pretty fast and your wheels hit a big patch of thick, sticky peanut butter.  Yup, you guessed it.  Your mode of transport stops and your body keeps going with the momentum.  Needless to say, the day was filled with a lot of falling and laughing.  One header after another.  By the time I got to the bottom of the mountain at the end of the day, I was so tired and so sore, in the best way.  Hot cocoa never tasted so good!

On the way home, we had a little surprise detour planned for the kids.  We hopped off the highway, cruised some rural backroads and made our way to the Ritter Family farm.  We were met in the driveway by ten-year-old Quincy who greeted us kindly and lead us into the barn.  There, on the barn floor, was a big brooder full of peeping chicks.  The kids each got to pick out one White Leghorn to add to our little flock of chicks.

We've never raised White Leghorns before, but Steve and I had decided earlier in the spring that it would be fun to add a few white egg layers to the bunch.  Up until now, we've raise brown and blue egg layers.  We have one Polish who lays the occasional tiny white egg, but not enough to really spice up a dozen.

meet Starlight - our crazy Polish hen

The people who buy eggs from us love getting colorful dozens.  We figured that white eggs are no longer boring when mixed in with all shades of brown, pink, blue and green.  It only makes the dozen prettier!  (Am I the only person who looks at a basket full of eggs and thinks pure beauty while my breath catches slightly and my heart skips a beat?)  Welcome little ones.  We hope you like it here on the homestead!

OK, on to Saturday....  Steve summed the day up nicely when he told his brother that we spent the day moving thousands and thousands of pounds by hand.

We needed a load of aged manure delivered.  We were down to dregs of last year's pile and our hungry little homestead is crying for more.  It seems simple enough... call the guys down the road who we get great, rich, year-old organic cow manure from and ask them to bring on up the dump truck.  Ha!  The two cords of firewood that were still yet to be stacked were piled high right where the manure needed to be dropped.  So, Steve and I got cracking as early as our ski-battered bodies would allow on the project of splitting and stacking two cords of oak.  Luckily, we had been chipping away at in little 20 minute spurts throughout the week, so it was down to more like one and a quarter cords by the time we got to it Saturday morning.  We split and we stacked, and we split and we stacked.... until every last piece was neatly and tightly arranged in the woodshed.

I have learned that I have a talent I never knew about.  Apparently I am quite the wood stacker.  No wobbly uneven rows here.  No way.  Each piece fits like a key.  At one point early afternoon, Steve stopped short and gave me a quizzical look.  "What?" I ask, arms burning and covered in bark and dirt.  "Were you a Jenga champion before we met?" he asks.  It's funny, in all the years of dressing up like a business woman and playing "office" as a kid, I never thought in a million years that I would blush like a schoolgirl at a compliment regarding my wood-stacking skills.  But, there I was, bright pink, heart fluttering and grinning like a fool!  Oh, how times change.  It's so interesting discovering who we really are.

Once the wood was all tucked away, we then had to move what was left of last year's manure so it wouldn't get lost at the bottom of the pile again.  By, now it was getting very close to our scheduled two o'clock delivery, so Steve and I were frantically running wheelbarrow loads back and forth from the dump zone to the gardens.  We had just filled the barrow with its final load and dragged the tarp on which we have hundreds of raspberry canes heeled into soil to the side when the dump truck came rumbling into the driveway.  We got to see the drive clean and empty for all of a minute and half before a new mountain of steamy, wormy, fertile composted manure took over once again.  There wasn't even time to snap a photo to prove that it can actually clean up around here.  But hey, that's farm livin'.  And I couldn't be happier about it.

the raspberry clump

So, by the time the truck left, it was about 3:00 in the afternoon.  The kids had been great sports all day, preparing their own breakfast and lunch and playing happily together while Steve and I worked.  We decided to ride that wave of productivity and content, self-suffiient kids clear into the evening.  The plan was to simply clean out the chicken coop a bit and put down new straw.  Again, I say, "Ha!"  The next thing I knew, there Steve and I were completely tearing down and rebuilding the entire chicken yard.  There were fence posts everywhere, chicken wire strewn across the yard and chickens running amok and underfoot as we planned out what we were going to do next to fix this mess we had gotten ourselves into!

A few hours later, as the last light of the day was fading away, we stood ankle deep in fresh clean straw, very proud, content and tired in our remodeled chicken yard while the ladies settled themselves on their roosts for the night.  There was a sense of accomplishment and peace that I just can't find words to explain.  Every sweet, soft, contented coo that the ladies uttered as they fluffed out their feathers and nestled in among their flock echoed perfectly the deep feeling of aliveness, gratification and serenity radiating from my heart at that moment.

We lit a small bonfire and watched the moon rise and found the perfect end to an exhausting and wonderful day.

- happy birds in their new yard -
- where you see straw is just part of it -
- it extends far back into the woods behind the coops -

Now, if you think that's the end, think again!  That was only Saturday.  Now for Sunday....  Did you know you were embarking on a short book here today?

Steve's brother, Richard, was working up here in Washington last week and came down with another friend from Seattle to spend the day with us!  The morning kicked off with a delicious breakfast and mimosas at a great restaurant in town followed by a sunny walk to the farmer's market.  You just know it's going to be a good day when it starts out like that!  Eventually we made our way back here to the hill where we enjoyed a fabulous afternoon of jumping on the trampoline, swinging from the huge maple tree, cuddling adorable chicks, snacking profusely, planting seeds and starts, and generally laughing ourselves silly while having a great time.  Richard, Erin, Cedar and Sequoia also helped us put new greenhouse plastic on our hoop house.  And, the sun was shining the whole time!

The hoop house at sunrise this morning!
Despite the six wing-nuts working to put the plastic on, we were short a few when bolting the sheeting into place.
That's why you see that floppy edge on the bottom right.
We'll get some more hardware this week and get it all fixed up!

We also need to build the doors, but that shouldn't take too long.

Eventually, it did decide to cool off tremendously and rain for a while, so our party moved inside.  Soon after, I found myself nestled in by the woodstove knitting away on my sweater while everyone chatted happily making friendship bracelets together.  Seriously, can a weekend get any better?  David, our land-mate joined us for dinner and the night carried on in the same fashion as the day... gut-busting laughter, good food, and great company.

And, now, here I find myself.... The is sun shining through the window calling me outside for another day in this sweet little life I've chosen.  Can't wait to see what happens today!

almond blossoms at sunrise

early morning fog rising off the sound

World's greatest watchdog, sleeping on the job....

hazel fence - a work in progress

Handsome rooster "Junior" 

a face only a mother could love 

blue sky through the giant Big Leaf Maple that towers over our house
I've started calling her "Home-tree"

Spring!

Asian Pear blossoms about ready to burst!

frost melts in the morning sun on new little shoots

I hope you had a great weekend, too, wherever you call home.