A Quiet Evening

About to settle into an evening of The Hobbit movie with my family.  They all saw it together when it was in the theater, but I did not.  The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books have been popular and recurring stories in our household for several years now.  So the kids are very, very excited for me to see the movie... finally.  They are horrified that I did not see it on the big screen.  (However, movies in the theater are absolutely not my cup of tea.  Even if I could have gone to see it, it's highly unlikely I would have chosen to do so.)

This guy lost his nose and an arm during a big earthquake in 2001. He hangs out in the garden now and smiles at me and reminds me to smile even when things are crazy and enjoy the ride.

It will be a nice, quiet way to end the day after a crazy, hectic springtime frenzy kind of day. Let's just say it involved last-minute hay runs, sprinting back and forth through the pasture many times through sideways sheets of rain and snow, wrangling pesky turkeys, visits with out-of-town friends, and toddlers attempting to eat dinner with their feet on the table and their heads on their seats!  All with a very tired baby on my hip or back who was still feeling the effects of a late night with friends last night celebrating the arrival of spring. 

Now, said baby is tucked snugly in bed and I am flanked on either side by big kids anxiously awaiting family Hobbit night.  Ah yes, a quiet night does sound nice indeed.

Hello again

Hi there folks.  Sorry it's been so long.  There has been a lot going on for our little family this summer which has taken priority over blogging time....

Needless to say, the greenhouses have been quite the huge commitment.  Holy smokes!  Those wonderful overflowing domiciles of veggie bounty do require an amazing amount of time and energy (and water!).  Not that I am complaining.  It's amazing to have more tomatoes than I know what to do with already ripe for the picking in August when I am often lucky to get a few by the middle of September.  And cucumbers, and eggplants, and onions, and squash, and basil, and peppers, and.... you get the idea, I'm sure.  It's been wonderful and truly a blessing.  We even have melons!!!  Real honest to goodness melons!  In western Washington!  We planted them with low expectations, just an experiment.  But, by golly, we actually have dozens of good-sized fruit set and ripening on the vines!

Like I said, the greenhouses have been such a blessing... but also a challenge for me this summer.  About the time of my last blog post I began getting god-awfully nauseous every time I tried to work in them.  The heat and combined smells of the all the different veggies (especially the onions, of which there are hundreds) were just too much.  I kept having to find dry spots to lie down and catch my breath while waiting for waves of nausea to pass.  Hmm... very strange.  Then came the fatigue.  I just couldn't quite muster the energy to get to the greenhouses at dawn to work before they got too hot.  And when I finally did make my way there I felt exhausted and like I was swimming through molasses rather than simply watering, planting and pruning.  What the heck?  My dreams coming true and they're making me sick?

Ha!  Not quite!  That's right folks... for those of you who may have already guessed.  We planted one more seed this spring of the not-so-veggie variety.  There is another little one on the way!  As today marks the beginning of the second trimester, I feel that I can finally share the news.  We are thrilled and excited and couldn't be more happy to be welcoming another munchkin into our family!  And I am happy to also report that as long as I get enough sleep and regular bites of food, I am significantly less nauseous and exhausted these last few days... a HUGE relief.  I can't wait to get back full swing into the responsibilities that Steve has had to take over for the last couple of months (which have included daybreak watering at the greenhouse and anything involving strong smelling food).

I'm also excited to get back into the blogging flow again.  I am short on photos at the moment, but hope to return soon with some greenhouse and summertime fun beauties.  Happy summer everyone!

When Opportunity Knocks....

When opportunity knocks... for goodness sake, open the door!

This last week has been crazy!  In the best of ways.  So very much has changed since this time last week, I can't even believe it's all real.

That lovely greenhouse is but one of the two greenhouses that we just acquired for the season.  And, believe it or not, it is the smaller of the two!

Steve and I working to amend the soil in the small house

the big greenhouse - before amending the soil

In addition to the greenhouses, Doug, the owner offered us full use of this propagation house:

the propagation house

and all the outdoor bed space we can revive and plant!  And, here's the kicker.... it's all for free!

I had approached Doug back in the early spring and asked if he'd be willing the rent the greenhouses to me for the season.  They are only a half-mile down the road from my house and I had known that he was looking for someone to manage them.  He was interested, but the price was way too high.  So, I just let the idea go.  But, I started way more seed than I could possibly grow here in hopes that maybe something, somewhere might work out....

Last week I got word through the grapevine that Doug wanted to get in touch with me.  So, Thursday evening I gave him a call and he asked me to meet him down at the greenhouses Friday morning.  Of course, meet with him I did!  Turns out, a fellow had paid him in full for the season for the greenhouses but did nothing with them.  Poor Doug had no idea why nothing was being done in them.  Finally, just last week, the guy left Doug a note saying he wasn't into it.  So... Doug offered them to me, free of charge!  "Just put them to good use, take good care of them, and give me what you can't eat," he said.  The excess we can sell from a roadside stand in front of his office.

And even better... Doug is the person that we get our organic composted dairy manure from.  He owns an organic soil business.  So, he has been bringing up unlimited loads of manure for us to use in the greenhouses for free as well!  And that gigantic white bag you see in front of the propagation house is full of his organic potting soil mix that we are also free to use.  Crazy right?!

It is quite late in the season to be suddenly trying to get the greenhouses going, but we are doing our best.  The hardest part is prepping the beds for planting.  They are tired and neglected and need lots of love.  So far we have all four of the big beds in the little house amended with manure, minerals and nutrients and partially planted with tomatoes, peppers, and basil.  In the big house we have one 5x40 foot bed amended and planted with onions, broccoli and beets.

happy tomato!

planting onion sets

As of this evening when we went to water and close up the greenhouses for the night, the beet seeds that we sowed on Monday were already up!  It's amazing what a difference some heat makes!  Here in our cool, shady garden, we never get germination that quickly.  I couldn't believe my eyes!

And, oh boy, it gets even better!  Sometimes, when it rains, it really does pour....

I also contacted my neighbor just down the hill from us about renting her pasture.  She was rather surprised and overwhelmed when I asked, so I figured it was a "no".  However, she called me Monday evening and said, "You know what?  I would love to have you put some animals down here.  And I'm not gonna charge you rent.  I just need an extra set of hands around here.  And, if you're willing, I'd like it if you would teach me how to spin.  So, you go ahead and get yourself some sheep.  Get yourself a horse if you want to!"

Seriously folks, I almost passed out.  Right there on the spot.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  Was it possible that this woman who I don't even know was really telling me that my age-old dream of having farm animals (larger than chickens) was really possible?  Like, right now?  I could put animals on pasture the next day if I wanted to?  By the time I hung up the phone, I was shaking like a leaf and had to walk in circles taking deep breaths for about 15 minutes just to calm myself down.

In addition to the pasture, there is a good-sized 4-stall barn with electricity and water that we are free to use.  Her horse and old angora goat are very sweet and mellow and would be more than happy to share their barn with some new wooly friends.

And, in trade for me teaching her to spin (which I feel really funny about given that I've spun for all of a week), she would like to teach me to weave!  She has an 8 harness loom and would really enjoy showing me the ropes.  Please somebody... pinch me.

And then, just to add icing to the cake that I am both having and devouring....

I got to spend all day Tuesday and Wednesday helping with the shearing of 20 gorgeous alpaca!  I got to be the fleece skirter and weigher.  This means that, as each fleece came off the animal, I took it and laid it out on a skirting table (a high table made of wire or plastic mesh that allows debris to fall through).  I got to carefully examine and go through each fleece removing any dirty or coarse fiber, straw, pinecones, whatever I could find that would lower the value of the fleece.  The most important thing that I was looking for and removing was second cuts.  This is when the shearer travels over an already sheared section of the animal with the shears, therefore making a second cut.  The second cut fiber is less than an inch long and is unusable.  Therefore, it needs to be removed from the long, usable fiber.  Then I took the fleece to the scale and weighed it.

Do you have any idea how lovely and deliciously soft an alpaca fleece is?  It's heavenly.  They were so beautiful.  The colors ranged from pure snowy white to deep earthy brown to silver grey.  Again, they were so beautiful.  Mmmmm....

And, in trade for my helping hands, I get to go back to the ranch next week to pick out some fiber to take home!  How's that for a deal?!  As if the experience alone wasn't enough.  We were so busy during the shearing that I did not get any photos, but when I go back, I'll be sure to snap a few of those funny looking little alien animals!  They're so cute and too funny looking now that they're naked!

Well that was my crazy week summed up.  Now, I'm bed bound with some nasty springtime virus.  But, I'll be sure to be moving through this bug as quickly as I can so that I can get my hands back in the soil again and get those greenhouses planted.  I've also learned this lesson... put intentions out there, plant the seeds, and good things will most definitely happen!

Alpine Love

Friends of ours have a little community farm on some borrowed land just a short drive from us.  It's a very sweet spot and their arrangement is great.  A small group of folks all work together to tend to the greenhouse, gardens and animals and all get to share in the bounty and learn as they go before making the big step of committing to land of their own.

I've been visiting a bunch lately and have been loving up on the horses and goats.  Getting my farm animal fix while we continue to work toward suitable pasture here on the homestead.  There are three beautiful horses who are the most loving and affectionate beasts you could ever imagine.  They snuggle.  I'm not kidding!  If you scratch them along the neck or behind the ears, they snuggle up and massage your back with their lips!  It's the funniest thing!  As someone who has dreamed of having horses since I was about six, not only getting to spend time with them, but also getting loved up in return is about as close to a perfect moment as I can get.... face buried in horse mane, fingers scratching as fast and deeply as I can, grease and dirt building up and caking my hands, horse hair covering my clothes, and big wrinkly soft-as-butter horse lips rubbing my sore shoulders in return!  Heaven!

And, if I thought that was as good as it could get.... oh dear!  I had yet to fill up on baby goat magic.  There are two mama Alpine Dairy goats on the farm, Derby and Sassafras.  They both kidded last week and I got cuddle up both sets of twins just a day after birth.  Derby's kids were born on Monday, and Sassafras's were born on Saturday.  Oh my goodness!  They are so sweet!  If you are ever having a rough day and need a little reminder of the goodness in the world, hold a baby goat.  Seriously.  My heart melted right there on the spot and I honestly question if I'll ever be the same again.

To that end, of never being the same again I mean, Steve and I are seriously considering purchasing the female babes.  They are so incredibly sweet and I am so very smitten.  I can't even believe that I am writing this here... actually putting it out there into the world.  It would be a dream come true.  Goat cheese any one?  If the kids turn out anything like their mamas, we will be up to our eyeballs in goat milk someday.  They are some seriously milky mamas.  Just looking at their udders made me ache.

Sassafras's baby girl, Ginseng.

I know that it sounds crazy, as I began this post with the point that I was getting my animal fix while we work towards suitable pasture, but with this particular acquisition, it could work out quite nicely.  Our friends who own the mamas are in no rush to get rid of the kids.  They would happily hang onto them until we are ready.  Plus, we need all the brush cleared for the new pasture area.  And who is better at brush clearing than goats?

Who knows?  Only time will tell.  As I've said in previous posts, Steve and I don't make big decisions quickly.  We ponder and mull, hem and haw, discuss and deliberate.  Hmmm....

What do you think we should do?

Fit for a Queen

Apparently my lovely flesh is just appealing enough that it lured a queen out of hiding.  Well, it probably wasn't really me who caused her flight, but I definitely got the brunt of her decision.  Saturday night as I lay in my bed just dozing off for the night, zing!, I get stung in the soft and very sensitive tissue of the inside of my upper arm.  Needless to say, it shocked me out of sleep.  I flailed like a startled newborn and shrieked at the top of my lungs.  Steve leaped out of bed in an instant (which is a remarkable feat since he sleeps like a dead man) and began ripping apart the bedding.  He spotted my attacker and took her down with a few vicious swats with a hair brush.  Once contained safely in a jar, we took a closer look at the source of my unwelcome wake-up call.  We discovered, staring menacingly back at us, no less than a queen.  Yes, I had been stung by a yellow jacket queen likely taking her maiden flight.  She was so big, we thought at first that she was a hornet.

In some ways it's all rather humorous.  I have odd luck with bees and wasps.  I prefer to call it "odd" rather than "bad" luck.  They really like me, in the, "Hi! How nice to meet you.  Now I'd really like to sting you for no good reason," way of liking me.  I am probably one of the few people you'll meet who can manage to get stung in her sleep by a yellow jacket in April when it's only 35 degrees outside.  But for me, it's totally normal, almost expected.

I am sure there is some special meaning in all this - getting stung in my sleep by a queen.  I just need to figure out what it is....

Getting crazy

   Things are starting to get a little crazy again!  I have managed not to work much over the past few months while we have been settling into homeschooling.  It has been oh so very wonderful!  But, in the past couple of weeks, work is sneaking its way back in again.  Each day a little more than the day before.  I am actually blogging right now as I await a response from my boss via email.  Need to email the boss, then post to the group, then organize the research plan, then organize that other research plan, then pack that order, then make that extract, then contact that lab, then research those grants, then convene with the group again, don't forget to communicate with the other group - oh, and that other one, then make those 20 other extracts, then coordinate that other massive project, then get all those samples out.... RIGHT AWAY!
   Oh yeah... and homeschool my kids.  And care for all those animals.  And tend to my home and land.  And squeeze in some QT with that guy I love.  Hmmmm.... Can someone remind me how I used to pull this off?  Because I forget.

Fall Cleaning

   We have spent the last couple of days cleaning up the property.  The inspiration: the last of the leaves have fallen from the big leaf maple that towers over our house and yard.  Now that the leaves are all on the ground (and not still streaming down) we can actually rake 'em all up and not have it look as though we did nothing 20 minutes later!  Gosh, that feels good!  So, what started as simple raking and hauling, turned into a full blown clean-up.

   Ever since the tree fell on our house nearly two years ago, we've not kept up with the patio/yard area so much.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's the impending construction on the destroyed part of the house.  Or maybe it's the indecisive feeling that looms over that area since we are still trying to figure out just how we wish to rebuild.  Or maybe it's that we have focused our energy on the gardens instead.  Or maybe it's just that we have been so incredibly busy, it hasn't been a priority....

   Whatever the reason, the neglect finally came to close (or at least a brief interlude) this weekend.  And it felt darn good to give that area a good solid dose of attention and care.  The leaves are all raked and hauled to their winter resting places (mmm, yummy compost for next year's veggies!), the grass is mowed, the garden tools/stakes/trellises/pots/etc put up in the garden shed, the grill accouterments tucked away for the winter, toys sorted and stowed, gardens mulched and put to bed, kindling split and stacked on the porch, and happy chickens with lots of fresh warm bedding.

   I know that likely sounds like a strange mix of things to be covered in one area, but the part of our property that's not forest is not very big and it was one BIG tree that fell.  It covered a lot of ground and affected a lot of things.  For those permies reading this, that tree fell through zones 0-3.  Geeze!

   Another added productivity bonus: Steve finished tearing up the kitchen floor!  YES!!!  Yet another project years in the making.  So, now all the flooring is out and all we have to do is stay on task and get the new floor down!  I cannot wait, I mean really can't wait, to have a finished kitchen floor.  It very well might be the highlight of 2010 - if it actually happens in 2010.  Here's hoping!

Going for it

  Well Ladies and Gentlemen, we went for it.  We are now a homeschooling family.  Holy crap!

   This is such a huge step for us.  Or, I guess I should say, for me.  You may recall that the whole impetus behind this blog is to chronicle my experience of following my heart.  For years now I have allowed "logic" and "reason" to rule the show.  I put these words in quotes because what may seem logical and reasonable is not always so... especially when conflicting with what the heart truly desires.  And when there is a driven workaholic with something to prove behind the wheel.

   So now, a huge step in the direction of my heart.  It is terrifying!  I thought that it would feel so calming and reassuring.  However, not so.  At least not with this particular decision.  I think, perhaps, that is because this decision significantly affects more than my own future.  There is so much more at stake....

  However, scary as it may seem, I know that we have made the right choice.  Like I said, following my heart.  This is something that we have wanted to do for a very long time.  When Cedar was but a tiny little little guy we always said we'd homeschool.  And now, we are.

   I have to say, it is a crazy feeling to shift life so drastically and so suddenly, with very little forethought or planning.  This was not a decision we had planned long in advance as we usually do with such biggies.  No, this was more of a spur-of-the-moment, I gotta do what's right... RIGHT NOW... kind of decision.  A few weeks ago, I was a working mama.  And I mean WORKING in the fullest sense of the word.  I mean 50+ hours a week in the lab, no childcare, on the school board, easily 2 hours in the car per day, still getting the kids to school and in bed on time, plus homework, plus MAYBE get a few hours of sleep in somewhere kind of working.  I literally functioned on pure stress.  It's what kept me going each day.  Simply put, the momentum from the crazy day before provided the strength for the crazy day ahead.  And I was so deeply engaged in the cycle, I could see no way out of it.

   Well, Cedar has always kept us on our toes.  From the second that boy took his first breath he has had something to teach me.  And there is nothing subtle or mild about those teachings either.  On many, many, many occasions he has brought me to my knees in surrender to what, simply, must be.  This was no exception.

  While I likely could have continued on for many more years of this psychotic schedule, Cedar made it apparent, if not downright obvious, that this shit had to stop.  But, of course, being ten years old, he did not come right out and say it.

   Luckily, prior to the start of this school year, both kids had the wonderful blessing of attending the most supportive, nurturing school I could ever imagine.  They were loved, truly and deeply loved, by every person they spent their days with.  I refer to this as a blessing because it filled them up with stability and strength and confidence while life was a wild ride of running and rushing and working and "hurry up! we have to go RIGHT NOW or I'm going to be late!".  When they started in public school this fall, that holy momentum, that crazy balancing act I so desperately worked to maintain came to a screeching halt.  Or, should I say, crashed and burned like a 50 car pile-up blocking traffic for miles in both directions.

   Cedar could not deal in the public school world.  And it was a really good public school - well funded, lots of access to arts and science, etc.  It was just too much.  And, not enough.  My poor little man tried with all his might to make it work, and yet it didn't.  And in the process, he fell apart.  And my heart broke.

   It was like the universe realigned.  I opened my eyes and saw my choices for what they were.  Choices.  I realized that I had, within my power, the ability to make a different choice.  I could follow my heart and do what I knew was right for my kids.  I could take a step back from all those "responsibilities" and put everything I have into the one responsibility I truly have... my babies.

   So please join me on this journey.  I'm nervous and unsure.  I feel like a new born baby, getting used to this new world.  Learning to breathe, learning to trust....  Learning to follow as my heart leads the way.