Father's Day, visitors, blueberries and a snake doing its job well!

Here's the first of two posts, as there was too much to include in a reasonably-lengthed post this go round. This one will include all recent happenings other than Jason's and my long-anticipated time away ALONE in WV. That one deserves a post all to itself!

Kali missed being with her father on Father's Day this year and you can see how rough of a time she was having! We were happy that she got to enjoy another weeklong stint in Pittsburgh with Christie and Mark, with no two week quarantine needed this time around since all involved are now fully vaccinated! We did not hold back on having fun in her absence. Terah and Alida were keeping track of any activities that they could "rub in" that we did while she was gone. I do not think they were at all successful in having her second guess her choice to go - she had a lovely time and we also managed to have some good fun without her. I guess that's a good thing, since a week apart will be expanded to 2.5 months this fall when Kali takes off for the Philippines. I am very grateful for the good buds Terah and Alida are, but we will still miss her terribly!

But I'm getting ahead of myself! Backing up to June 20, Jason and I enjoyed a hike to Hensley's Pond to start off Father's Day and we ended the day with pizza pockets around the outdoor fire. I got to have my father with me physically and Jason got to feel close to his by doing something that felt like a familiar family activity of hanging out around an outdoor fire. In the middle of the day, we enjoyed a picnic outside where we drank out of rye straws (made from the stalks) and enjoyed fresh peas (whatever ones the chipmunks are not helping themselves to - Jason commented recently that he doesn't think chipmunks will be permitted into heaven as he will have to be able to grow peas there!)

In addition to peas, we are deep into berry season here. There are gooseberries, red currants, black currants, red raspberries, black raspberries (domesticated and while), the first white raspberry here and there, blackberries and blueberries. The limiting factor is picking time. I made our first (but not last) batch of cornstarch pudding this week for us to top with an abundance of fresh fruit. Yum! We've started in on harvest days 3x a week. The things coming in the door right now include hull peas, sugar snaps, lettuce, all the berries mentioned above, parsley, basil, collards, mint tea, and other herbs, onions and chives as needed. I used the very last garlic scapes today in hummus, and we're likely to pull garlic within the week. It's also grain harvest time, with the wheat and rye now cut and shocked (I did one shock "all by myself" this year for the first time!).

This past weekend we enjoyed visits from several friends of Jason's youth. On Saturday we enjoyed our first trek to the blueberry patch next door with J, a friend of Jason's from high school, and her family. We enjoyed a meal outside and the kids had so much fun playing soccer.

When they continued on their way, we transitioned to getting ready to camp out in our yard. Jason and I had used some wedding anniversary gift money from my parents to buy a little screened canopy for our yard. We have never all slept outside together so it seemed high time - and the screens would keep us from being eaten alive by mosquitos all night. The kids were excited and I was hoping I'd get some sleep. We had a family meeting out in the canopy as night fell. Then Jason told a Little Buddy story about him going blueberry picking and we settled down for the night. Or that was the plan anyway... Terah fell asleep pretty quickly and Alida was close behind. Kali and I made at least one trip outside together to pee and to take a look at the beautiful moon rising over the mountain. But sleep was not coming. I was itching all over. Terah was asleep but scratching most parts of her body. What about our screen keeping bugs away? I admit to having a pretty lousy attitude by the wee hours of the morning. I assumed Jason, who was most excited about sleeping outside, was sleeping peacefully (though I was perplexed as to why he wasn't snoring). I think it was nearly 2 a.m. when I saw him sit up. I asked if he also couldn't sleep. We were in the same boat. He was also being bitten by something and could not rest, but kept hoping for the night to get better as he had so wanted to enjoy camping out as a family. It was not to be. We bailed soon after and carted kids and pillows inside. We fell into our bed, by this point laughing at ourselves and our failed camping experience. Jason is pretty sure we were being visited by no-see-ums but who knows: we never saw-um!

The next day the canopy was redeemed as a perfect spot for putting the kiddie pool for great water play on a hot day! 

On Sunday afternoon we enjoyed some fascinating and educational Tangly Woods TV! (content warning: skip ahead if you don't want to see snake pictures!) Kali had gone down to the garden shed to get a tool and noticed a black snake who had just killed a rat and was starting the long task of consuming it. The chickens were very curious about what was going on, as were we. We spent the next half hour watching it swallow something about 3x its width. Incredible, truly! The rat had clearly put up a fight as the snake had some blood on it. We were thrilled the snake had chosen a rat over a chick; that's the kind of black snakes we are happy to have around. 

Later that evening, members of 3 families (of friends/distant relatives) came over for snacks and s'mores around the fire. It was a fun evening of visiting, even if we got rained on initially by some unexpected showers. The evening turned out beautiful with a double rainbow and a great firefly show.

And here we are at today! Kali's been busy in the kitchen this afternoon making a triple batch of black currant blueberry jam (Jason cashed in a "you choose" coupon!). That was after getting up at 6:45 a.m. for another hike with my parents - they should feel very special!! Terah and Alida are on "guard duty" for the chickens (listening for foxes) outside while chatting and/or listening to science podcasts. I've enjoyed making some progress in recent days on my birth doula certification requirements, including completing a required "doula business webinar" today.  Jason finished up a large digging project (yes, in this heat), threshed clover seed out and then headed off to donate platelets. So we'll see if I can crank out the second post before his return!!