But first, let me give a brief update on our winter 2020 deep clean projects. We recovered from the garden shed project and are benefiting from the reorganization of that space - though my dad wondered if he was in the right shed when he went out to do chores this morning. It is always nice when one's work makes a noticeable difference!
So what remained yet was under the shop shed, the junk piles around the shop shed and then, last but not least, inside the shop shed. We are working up to the latter one, but in the last few weeks we have completed the under and around projects - with Jason taking the last things to the dump as I write this. As always the projects were a combination of sorting things, cleaning things, getting rid of things to various places, fixing things, re-purposing things and reorganizing what remained. It was also a chance to sure up the foundation under the shed, tighten the tie downs and level the rain barrels. 
We were able to work together for most of the under the shop shed project. For a variety of reasons, Jason ended up being more on his own for the junk piles deep clean. And that project was unique in that our goal was not to reorganize anything but to dismantle and make something go away entirely! Jason really deserves a medal for his commitment to these projects and "stick-to-it-ness." It's not easy work - either physically or emotionally. We call them "junk piles" for a reason - they include things that many would consider "junk" but that there is also a potential use for. So do we ship off to the landfill things that no one else is likely to want but that we might be able to use? I am trying to not use the phrase "throw it away" when I talk about getting rid of things from our home. I think it is more accurate to say something like "move it to..." We are not really getting rid of anything entirely, just relocating stuff out of our sight. Would it be more responsible for us to have to find a way to deal with our trash without shipping it away for others to deal with? These projects raise lots of value questions and judgment calls and are just messy in every way! But we did meet our goal. As of this morning we moved the last pile of pressure treated wood, mostly from our old greenhouse, into the crawl space where it will store longer out of the weather.
Also this week, Jason finished a once over on chicken coop repairs AND was able to accomplish another winter project wish list item - replacing the old roofing on our carbonaceous materials shed that had sprung some leaks (making it not nearly as useful for keeping the leaves, stray, hay, corn stalks dry). I had assumed he would need some help, but I was also feeling a lot of stress with what was on my office job list. I told him to let me know when he needed me to join him outside. When he came in to wash up for lunch he had done the whole thing by himself. So no before or after pictures of the roof but here's the shed with it's new metal roof installed.
So what's next? Well we have a little time to gear up for the shop shed deep clean, which will take place spring break week when I hope to take off work to have more hands on deck to help. We have done some prep for it - getting electrical supplies for the wiring we hope to do while it is cleaned out and amassing pallets for the insulation project we also hope to do. This will be no ordinary deep clean. We are definitely saving the most involved and complicated project for last - AND the one that will likely have the most lasting and beneficial impact. We can do it!!
I should at least mention here that Kali also did a little deep clean this week. She deep cleaned her Free Little Library at the end of our lane! Jason went down and helped her with a few minor repairs and then her sisters also joined her for some of the cleaning out and organizing. So if you find your way to Fruit Farm Lane anytime soon, check it out! Kali is thinking about putting a little survey in there to see if she can get a sense for who is using it and what they might like to see in there. It's clearly not just us, but we have no idea how many others are checking it out!
NEWSFLASH: We ate our home grown pineapple! It was delicious. It was gone way too fast. We look forward to the next one in four and a half years or so! It was definitely bigger than the first one we grew and savored in September 2015, which was great since this time we had to divide it 5 ways instead of 4 (I was 8 months pregnant with Terah last time so she only enjoyed that one vicariously)! We had been cleaning up some pineapple from a work catering event that I had brought home and so maybe that made our pineapple shine even more. The flavor was spectacular and no doubt it was extra special because we knew this particular fruit very well; walking past it each day for months as we waited for it to ripen. The top is now planted and we'll see if we keep expanding our pineapple operation... Kali thought it would be nice to have enough going that maybe we would net closer to 1 a year rather than ever 4-5 years!
Yesterday we tried a new fun food experiment. We've been taste testing a lot of winter squash for seed so I've been roasting many squash! Sometimes the pans almost fill with "squash water" as they are roasting and it's often a very sweet liquid. When I pull the squash out and let them sit, they reabsorb the liquid. But what would happen if you drained the liquid right away into a pot and simmered it down? Squash syrup!! It's actually super syrupy and sweet (and, well, squashy). Not sure if it is will become a staple but it was fun to give it a try and have it work so easily!
While we are still yearning for more winter, the first flowers of the year are blooming! Jason heard a new word coined recently that has resonated with us: blissonance. It is a word used to describe the feeling that I, and it seems many others, experience on these gorgeous warm winter days where the sun is shining and buds are popping out. It's beautiful. The warmth is welcome. And something just doesn't feel right. It would be great in April or May, but January and February? So here's a celebration of the beauty and the color and an acknowledgement too that it feels like we have yet to have a "real" winter. We wonder what that means for the growing season ahead, the bug population and more broadly what this is communicating about our weather patterns to come.The purple crocuses are always first and I sent Kali out with the camera to get a few photos the other day. I should have known that she would seek new and interesting ways of photographing these delicate beauties. There were delightful surprises when I downloaded photos this morning. Here are two of my favorites:
And, finally, we welcomed the first two walking iris flowers inside - which we can enjoy with no blissonance since this is about the time they normally start gracing us with their one day shows!
I'll end here with a short kiddo update. This past week held two new exciting things cousin/niece-related! Ivy had her first sleepover at Tangly Woods and it went off without a hitch! Other than me needing to intervene in the bedtime routine when Ivy was pitter-pattering out to Kali asking for additional stuffed animals every few minutes to sleep with, it was completely smooth! And even that was all cuteness in retrospect, though at the time I was rather eager for some shut eye myself! Then this week, Ivy spent Tuesday at Tangly Woods. We are going to start having her with us for a day a week. It went great and she clearly has no trouble sleeping here as she took a 3.5+ hour nap. As smoothly as it went, I must say that I was exhausted by evening. That may have had more to do with the work meetings and cheesemaking I was also fitting in the cracks, in addition to having an extra mouth to feed and an extra little person to tend to. Whatever it was, the combination had me very ready for bed!
And, last but not least, our girls eagerly prepared for my parents' arrival last night by making 75 hearts to hide around their quarters in honor of my mom's 75th birthday 10 days ago. Well, they mostly enjoyed it. Terah had a massive meltdown when her hearts were not turning out as she so deeply desired them to and there was no consoling or helping to fix it. It seems every few weeks she is due a large emotional exhale and this is where it came out this go round. But she had recovered in time to help with the hiding and also the sweet sign she and Alida made to put on the door. So we are happily a household of 7 again and Terah has once again moved upstairs. We'll see much less of her in the next 2.5 weeks. We pale in comparison to the excitement of Grandma and Grandpa. It's about time for me to extract her from upstairs for lunch, but she'll likely pipe up "you can't take me downstairs" as soon as she hears my footsteps! Here I go...
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