Monday, March 18, 2024

A Glorious Week!

A new week is starting here on the home front and I'm kicking it off by luxuriating in the memories of the week that just concluded while Jason takes care of the animals and the girls pull themselves out from under their covers to join us for a family work day - it's spinach thinning and weeding day!

A week ago today Jason and I packed up and left the home front for a few days alone together - an early celebration of our 25th anniversary coming up in May. I believe we have now fulfilled one of the new year's predictions for 2024 we made with Benners, which was that we would leave the farm to the girls' care sometime this year. I don't know that I ever expected to get four whole nights! 

They did amazing! Jason and I are already dreaming of the next time! While Terah and Alida would probably say that we can never do it again, every update seemed proof that they were not only surviving in our absence but thriving. They got to hang out with Luca, enjoy an outing to the American Shakespeare Center with Christen, had a picnic on the roof, enjoyed an evening with Grandma and Grandpa and another with Jonathan, Christen and Luca and they even kept Bear on Thursday and tantalized me with adorable pictures of their time together. In all fairness, Terah was eager to turn the dish and egg washing duties back over to us and Kali didn't seem to mind that her chores would now take a fraction of the time they had taken that week. But they didn't seem to suffer in the least! I don't have a single picture of Kali from the week, since she was the one taking the photos (other than the many flower pictures that came to us thanks to Terah!). 
So while our kids kept busy feeding themselves, cleaning up after themselves, tending to the animals outside and inside and to other little people, Jason and I savored every minute of our time away together! It was as close to perfect as anything can be - such a sweet time of connecting, music creating and playing, reading, hiking (soaking in so much beauty!), light and deep conversations, future planning alongside reflecting back, so much playfulness, and mostly feeling so grateful for each other and all the growth and healing that we are experiencing individually and together. It was just beautiful! It can already feel like a distant memory in some moments, but I know that time together will keep feeding us for some time to come. We knew that this getaway was like taking a deep breath before starting somewhat of a marathon. It's gonna be a full year here, but we feel more ready for it after taking some time apart together. And we also made some concrete plans for making sure we check in regularly about how we are doing amidst the many balls we will be trying to keep in the air together. We make a good team!
We came home to some excited children and to some chicks who had nearly doubled in size and definitely in strength and to a layer of dust over nearly everything - thanks chicks! Our younger two had clearly spent a lot of time with them as they were super comfy using both of them as roosts and lovely perching spots! So we savored a few days with birds escaping regularly from the confines of their swimming pool and served them their eviction notice yesterday! They moved out as the next round of chicks hatched and were delivered to our first broody hen of the year! We are firmly in chick-hatching season!!
We all spent the afternoon tying up various loose ends, cleaning the house as much as one can do with chicks flying about, and prepping for our third and final Ted Lasso weekend with Andrew and Alena (i.e. making caramel corn, chex mix and cookies for the snack table!). We only had a handful of episodes left, which we enjoyed thoroughly, which left us plenty of time for chick adoring, a glorious hike, many rounds of Higgy Piggy, and lots of ping pong. While we have come to the end of our show rewatch together, we are already dreaming and scheming for our next weekend together!
We parted ways Sunday late morning after a St. Patrick's Day brunch together (no green foods but plenty of green confetti, thanks to my mom, decorating the table - and Alena sporting a lovely headband!). 

The afternoon was full of more fun times. It was Terah's day for time with me and Jason solo and we soaked it up (don't ask questions around Alida's birthday on what we did for much of the time!!!). Then I departed on another glorious hike while the chicks were moved to their outdoor lodging! And there are no pictures of the evening scurry to at least make the house a little less obviously a chicken coop (i.e. CLEANING!). The afternoon hike was a particularly special one - I had the privilege of doing a repeat hike with one of my doula-clients-turned-friend! We had walked to Hensley's Pong when she was eagerly anticipating this sweet baby's arrival (ok, trying to be patient and wishing to encourage her to come out!!). We did a repeat hike so I could take some photos of the pair 9 months later. Pretty sweet and special!! I love birth work and I love staying connected with the families that invite me into such an important season of their lives!
And now here we are! Jason just came in from chores and the girls are officially stirring (I hear voices and footsteps in the back). The morning quiet has come to an end...

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Reflecting on home from glorious Lost River

Ahhh, the back drop of this post is pretty incredible! I'm sitting outside with a cool breeze and the warm sun hitting my face. Across from me at the picnic table Jason is playing guitar and my view beyond the deck is the woods all around us. We are back at a cabin in Lost River State Park where we have come for similar getaways in the past and it is once again not disappointing! It feels like we are making history this week in that our kiddos are tending the farm while we enjoy an early celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary coming up in May. It feels like such a gift to have this time away together! Thanks kids!!

It's also lovely to know that by Friday (not just yet!!) we'll likely be pining for the place we call home and the people that make the life there with us so beautiful. So a few vignettes from home before Jason and I take a meander through the woods and see what's emerging as spring approaches!

THE. BIKE. SHED. IS. DONE!! We chuckled the other night around the table when we were trying to remember when we started this project. I pulled the 2022 blog book off the shelf and found this from a Feb 11th post: We have two main winter projects we hope to complete...the hope is to have a bike shed and seed cage constructed before the growing season gets underway. Digging for the bike shed has commenced. We'll focus on the positive - the seed cage DID get done that year! But, like we often do, we bit off more than we could chew and the bike shed has been done in fits and starts over the past 2+ years. Jason, with some eager daughter carpenters, pushed pretty hard the last few weeks and it is done and stocked and ready for use!
The other day our neighbor came for eggs and Jason and the girls were out there working on attaching the latch for the door. Jason waved and said, "Hi...we're just over here doing carpentry by committee." The neighbor replied, "Oh no, you can't do that!" It's clearly not the most efficient way to do things but there is a lot of ownership in the end product and Jason had a really fun time teaching his girls some of the many carpentry skills he has. They know a lot more than me!!

A big focus on the past week is summed up in one word: CHICKS! I do not enjoy the increasing smell in our house or the fact that there will soon be a layer of dust over everything. BUT the benefits far outweigh those downsides. It's so very fun to invite friends (young and old alike) over the adore and hold the chicks with us. And my favorite time of day is when I come out and turn on the big light and I get to behold their morning burst. I also love watching our kids just be mesmerized by them. We jokingly call gathering around the kiddo pool with the chicks "Tangly Woods TV!"
They are all very cute but there is one that has been picked as a decided favorite. Meet Golden Fuzzer! We've had to mark her head with red permanent marker just to be sure we don't lose track of which one she is. That said, they usually can pick her out by appearance AND temperament. She got her first adventure outside yesterday!
Speaking of outside, spring is definitely right around the corner! This past week, I delivered eggs to people I met at a baby blessing who have glorious giant orange poppies. They graciously dug up a bunch of starts for me again and Jason tucked them in beside my Southern Magnolia (that is thriving!) and in Nora's garden. Really eager to get a healthy stand of them growing vibrantly at Tangly Woods!
In the meantime, the daffodils are dotting our landscape with their bright cheer. I wonder how many bouquets of them Mom now has around their home?!
Yesterday we had a VERY short family work day (more like family work hour) due to our departure for our cozy cabin. Last week we attended the virtual orientation for the Perennial Atlas Project that Alida, Terah and I are participating in with the Land Institute. We'll invite Jason and Kali in as they wish and yesterday the five of us worked together to transition one of the arch apple garden rotations to be ready for the 8 3x3 planting beds we'll need for the project. Made me feel excited about taking part in this research project with others and with the girls! It's gonna be fun and I'm going to learn a lot!
We so enjoyed having my great aunt Eleanor around for the week. Our days felt pretty full, but we savored some slower evenings together with meals around the table and we even fit in a game of dominos one evening. Thank goodness for such a loving, kind and gracious guest!! As the days lengthen, we've already found ourselves eating dinner in the 7-9 p.m. range rather than our wintertime 6-7 p.m. average. 
It's fun for me to have someone around that delights in the little things even more than me - she's my inspiration! When I'm doing something fun or creative in the kitchen, it's lovely to know that there is someone who will appreciate it and get a kick out of it like me. This week the thing that stands out is rolling our own oats! I had bought 10lbs of local hulless oats a few years back and they just sat in the pantry. It felt like too much to do even one additional thing and so in some ways those oats felt like a burden and a reminder of all the things I didn't have time to do or couldn't enjoy doing even if I did find the time. This week I had so much fun and it was easy and the end product made me feel giddy! 
It's been fun to increasingly be able to use our own grains for various baking experiments. Alida has been treating us to homemade roti with our Sirvinta wheat and this past week she made a batch with 100% rye flour. I hope she doesn't tire of making them anytime soon. They are so delicious!
I think it's time to insert a confession here! Jason and I worked through the 2024 garden plans some weeks back. We attempted some baby steps at simplification (e.g. no hull peas this year...sniff sniff!). One of those was that we were not going to grow beets this year. Hmmm...what, you might be wondering, is this a photo of then? Well...the co-op member special right now is a free pack of seeds and so I put my own little fleece out as I went into the store: if they still had beets in stock that is what I would get and maybe we'd do a row or part of one. So I came home with my seeds and assured Jason that there is no doubt he is rubbing off on me! If I'm honest, I love it! Now I'm saying that pretty easily from a WV state park where I will be relaxing with my hubby for a few days. Ask me later this summer when it's time to thin the beets and I can't see the end of the to do list! May the perspective remain!!

Sunday it just so happened that I got to take THREE hikes on the Western Slope trails across from us. What delightful walks sharing with friends and, sandwiched between two friend walks for me, it was Kali's week for Mommy/Daddy solo time! She and I also squeezed in SUCCESSFULLY giving blood together - though she creamed me filling her bag in just over 4 minutes! On our hike with her we took some new trails, finding a sweet little pond and enjoy a variety of woods trails. 
We also savored two evenings with good friends this weekend, with meaningful conversations, delicious food and some fun game playing. I treasure all my friendships (new and old), but there is something sweet to be with college friends and look over and see our grown and growing kids and think about how much life we have shared.
Speaking of shared life, you are probably wondering where the Luca and Bear pictures are!?! It's been a dry week on that front and I've missed them both very much. Due to illness and travel, we missed our normal playdates and times caring for them. That opened up some pockets of time for some other things and I found myself looking for a photo in old albums one day. In the process, I found photos of me being doted on by a loving big sister and it gave my heart a big squeeze! While I and these little people we tend to won't likely have active memories of the way they were treasured and tended to, I feel confident people hold that kind of love and care in our bodies! I was glad to be reminded of it this week!