After the last post, you may wonder what the other 4/5 of this family is up to, when not keeping up with our littlest gal. Here's a few brief snippets from recent days!
Jason is trying to keep up with his chickens. As I type this he is doing his evening rounds and part of that will include his now daily "Easter egg hunt." We are ranging a lot of birds right now. Often Jason will try to leave them in for the first half of the day so the hens lay in the next boxes that he made for them and which are convenient for egg retrieval. Well, we are balancing that desire with loving the extra nutrition of eggs from chickens that get more of their diet from foraging AND when we have a lot of chickens in a coop we know that over crowding leads to picking. So they are enjoying nearly full days of freedom and my are they taking advantage of it. We've been hearing cackling (associated with egg laying) coming from all directions and Jason has found eggs in many locations, including a nest of 20 tucked under a rotting tree up in the woods. Recently he noticed that some hens were spending a lot of time in one of our window wells. He decided he might as well put some straw down so they weren't laying eggs on gravel. The hens are very fond of his decision and the news of this new comfy nest seems to be spreading far and wide. Yesterday there were 10 eggs in the window-well and there were 8 by mid-morning today when I peaked in. It's like a revolving door with hens lined up to take their turn. Alida even saw a hen jump in on another's tail today. We can see them from our back kitchen window and Jason is tempted to take the screen off so we can just open up the window and pull in about the freshest eggs you could hope for. Yep, we are all thinking this is kind of fun! Yesterday was a record day for Jason. It was the first time at Tangly Woods that he hit 4 dozen eggs from our flocks in one day. Yes, we've got a lot of eggs! Kali's ducks are also picking back up and her Dutch Hookbills just started in.
Some extra warm days had us feeling a tad behind on the spring farm tasks, but then cold returns long enough to remind us that we are still in the latter part of February. We've got onions, parsley and cilantro started and hope to start the next round of seeds soon (peppers, basil, cabbage, kale, sweet potatoes...). Jason and Kali have been enjoying working together a lot lately! The other day they got chicken compost placed on the garlic rows after Jason went through with the wheel hoe. It's fun to see the green shoots poking up. They have also been spending hours working on Kali's climbing tree - slowly transforming it with hand tools into her hanging bed - hopefully to be installed before the spring burst of activity gets underway. Alida enjoys joining in here and there. It's nice to be working with tools that are safer to work with when young children are around. Jason is enjoying using one that Samuel gave to him that he hadn't had the opportunity to put to use before!
When Alida is not with Kali and Jason engaging in their projects, she spends hours being "crafty." She and Terah spend a lot of time playing together - and it is normally either the sweetest thing you have ever seen or they are at odds constantly. I wish I knew exactly what made it go one way or the other! Some of her current favorite things to do including coloring, play dough creations and tea parties (I think her recent loaf of playdough bread looks rather edible!) and putting puzzles together. She is a girl after her Grandma Myers' heart! The other night after my folks left for an evening out, she was still up in their quarters working on something. I told her to come on down when she was ready. A long while later I realized she hadn't appeared so Kali went up to check on her. She was puzzling and said she would be down soon. Another long period of time passed and I believe Kali did a second check. She finally came down admitting how addictive that activity is! So much for being scared when she is all alone. She's growing up - and is starting to get excited for her birthday coming up one month from tomorrow! We will then have a 2 year old and a 7 year old and a 14 year old (my math brain likes that our kids' ages will be 2 x 7 = 14 for a few months!).
And what about me? Well, I am still really enjoying trying to learn the art of cheesemaking. I've got quite a row of cheddars aging right now and have learned that waxing seems to not be advantageous in getting the flavor that we really go for. We just finished off the first cheddar that I had air dried/aged and it was spectacular! I'm also enjoying the signs of spring, even if I'm a little nervous that it's a tad early for some things to be bursting forth. That didn't keep me from stopping to admire the clump of purple crocuses in Nora's garden the other day. The spinach is starting to have leaves worth making a salad out of, which is very exciting and our Lenten rose is in full bloom. The longer days and brighter colors springing forth are welcome! And as I go throughout my days, enjoying many of the activities within them, I'm also trying to be attentive to many of the swirling thoughts and emotions that seems to be par for the course for this 39 year old these days.
One of the things occupying some of my mental space and a good amount of our time this winter is our continued "deep cleaning" projects in our main living space. We are nearing the completion of the next room so stay tuned for the run down...
Jason is trying to keep up with his chickens. As I type this he is doing his evening rounds and part of that will include his now daily "Easter egg hunt." We are ranging a lot of birds right now. Often Jason will try to leave them in for the first half of the day so the hens lay in the next boxes that he made for them and which are convenient for egg retrieval. Well, we are balancing that desire with loving the extra nutrition of eggs from chickens that get more of their diet from foraging AND when we have a lot of chickens in a coop we know that over crowding leads to picking. So they are enjoying nearly full days of freedom and my are they taking advantage of it. We've been hearing cackling (associated with egg laying) coming from all directions and Jason has found eggs in many locations, including a nest of 20 tucked under a rotting tree up in the woods. Recently he noticed that some hens were spending a lot of time in one of our window wells. He decided he might as well put some straw down so they weren't laying eggs on gravel. The hens are very fond of his decision and the news of this new comfy nest seems to be spreading far and wide. Yesterday there were 10 eggs in the window-well and there were 8 by mid-morning today when I peaked in. It's like a revolving door with hens lined up to take their turn. Alida even saw a hen jump in on another's tail today. We can see them from our back kitchen window and Jason is tempted to take the screen off so we can just open up the window and pull in about the freshest eggs you could hope for. Yep, we are all thinking this is kind of fun! Yesterday was a record day for Jason. It was the first time at Tangly Woods that he hit 4 dozen eggs from our flocks in one day. Yes, we've got a lot of eggs! Kali's ducks are also picking back up and her Dutch Hookbills just started in.
Some extra warm days had us feeling a tad behind on the spring farm tasks, but then cold returns long enough to remind us that we are still in the latter part of February. We've got onions, parsley and cilantro started and hope to start the next round of seeds soon (peppers, basil, cabbage, kale, sweet potatoes...). Jason and Kali have been enjoying working together a lot lately! The other day they got chicken compost placed on the garlic rows after Jason went through with the wheel hoe. It's fun to see the green shoots poking up. They have also been spending hours working on Kali's climbing tree - slowly transforming it with hand tools into her hanging bed - hopefully to be installed before the spring burst of activity gets underway. Alida enjoys joining in here and there. It's nice to be working with tools that are safer to work with when young children are around. Jason is enjoying using one that Samuel gave to him that he hadn't had the opportunity to put to use before!
When Alida is not with Kali and Jason engaging in their projects, she spends hours being "crafty." She and Terah spend a lot of time playing together - and it is normally either the sweetest thing you have ever seen or they are at odds constantly. I wish I knew exactly what made it go one way or the other! Some of her current favorite things to do including coloring, play dough creations and tea parties (I think her recent loaf of playdough bread looks rather edible!) and putting puzzles together. She is a girl after her Grandma Myers' heart! The other night after my folks left for an evening out, she was still up in their quarters working on something. I told her to come on down when she was ready. A long while later I realized she hadn't appeared so Kali went up to check on her. She was puzzling and said she would be down soon. Another long period of time passed and I believe Kali did a second check. She finally came down admitting how addictive that activity is! So much for being scared when she is all alone. She's growing up - and is starting to get excited for her birthday coming up one month from tomorrow! We will then have a 2 year old and a 7 year old and a 14 year old (my math brain likes that our kids' ages will be 2 x 7 = 14 for a few months!).
And what about me? Well, I am still really enjoying trying to learn the art of cheesemaking. I've got quite a row of cheddars aging right now and have learned that waxing seems to not be advantageous in getting the flavor that we really go for. We just finished off the first cheddar that I had air dried/aged and it was spectacular! I'm also enjoying the signs of spring, even if I'm a little nervous that it's a tad early for some things to be bursting forth. That didn't keep me from stopping to admire the clump of purple crocuses in Nora's garden the other day. The spinach is starting to have leaves worth making a salad out of, which is very exciting and our Lenten rose is in full bloom. The longer days and brighter colors springing forth are welcome! And as I go throughout my days, enjoying many of the activities within them, I'm also trying to be attentive to many of the swirling thoughts and emotions that seems to be par for the course for this 39 year old these days. 
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