Other May snippets...

Other than our family photo shoot, I actually have not been keeping up with photographing all the May happenings... Especially as we push to get the summer gardens weeded, planted and mulched, I haven't been focused on pictures. I've also been enjoying not keeping my phone on me 100% of the time now that I'm not on call for any pending births at present (my nearly 80 page birth doula packet has been submitted and is in the hands of my reviewer at present). So here's what I've got!!

As I type this Alida, Terah and Ivy are going to go on a "strawberry spin" to see what they can find. There's a break in the rain and I was seeing a lot of red in the row the other day. The berries outside the seed cage are often bird pecked, but surprisingly we are getting a few this spring and savoring them. We also got to a local pick your own place earlier this week (our kids woke up around 6 a.m. to join!!!) and came home with nearly 50lbs for the freezer, along with savoring strawberry shortcake two nights in a row. At this point the ones we are finding here at home are an extra treat!

We've been keeping chickens in for a few days again to see if the predators can find other sources of nourishment away from the poultry at Tangly Woods - as hard as it is since we know how much they love free ranging. We are still not completely certain what happened the other day, but my mom noticed some older chicks bullying a little one. I went out to chase them off and then noticed that the smallest ranging chicks were spread out all over the place, not with their mamas and kind of hunched over and holding still. It was a strange sight to see them acting so abnormally, but without clear evidence of what had taken place that we had missed. We still aren't certain, but I did find one dead chick in the woods and are assuming there was probably a fox attack. I patrolled around for the rest of the afternoon and by evening both mama hens were accounted for and the chicks were back to their pecking and scratching about. 

In between rainy days, we've worked hard to tend to the summer gardens (and Jason has worked the hardest of all!!!). Let's see if I can remember what is now in: all the tomatoes and peppers, basil, flowers, sweet potatoes, okra, trombone squash, cucumbers, watermelon, delicata squash, collards and a few small things in the seed cage. Most seeds are up and we are doing our best to keep the slugs from decimating the new little plants. We worked together on the first potato hilling and it was ready for the second round within days - which Jason did solo yesterday. We still need to seed cantaloupe, the flour corn and popcorns, dry beans and the PA dutch squash. Some of those things are needing to wait until other crops are harvested or, in the case of corn, we've been trying to time our planting out of synch with the neighbors so we don't have to worry about our seed crossing with the GMO corn across the road. 

The first hay cutting is complete (done by Jason over the course of a week or two because of many interruptions) and provided enough mulch for the garlic, delicata, and some other areas AND to fill the little stock trailer with hay for the pigs. 

I'm savoring all the blooming things outside. I feel my heart swell seeing Nora's garden burst forth with new life and color! I love the little rose bush.

There continues to be lots of game playing in the evenings or in other pockets of time. When it's not Rook or Dutch Blitz, some combination of us are often competing in word games. Only one round of Upwords has been played, but after a meal you can often find most of us (minus Terah and Jason normally) with a device in hand doing Wordle, Absurdle, Octordle, Waffle, Sedecordle, or Duotrigordle. Yes, we are kinda hooked. There's other ones done less frequently, but we often make our way through most of these before we transition to dinner clean up and bedtime routines. 

Luca had his first sleepover at Tangly Woods since I last wrote. Hopefully the first of many and this one still with his parents close by! I took the first shift until about 2 a.m. and something felt so delightfully sweet about snoozing off and on with a sleeping baby in my arms while the night passed by. I don't necessarily miss night after night of disrupted sleep, but the sweetness and tenderness of those early months with a new little person in your life is really unbeatable! I'm grateful for any and all baby snuggles. When he wasn't sleeping, he was melting our hearts with his smiles and coos. 

In the early morning while Jonathan and Christen snagged a few more winks, he joined me in the kitchen and watched me while I did my morning burst of dishes, getting cheese started and food prep. I got Nora's little blue seat down from the attic and he seemed to find it to his liking! 

I'm still amazed at his attention span for books and how he interacts with them. 

The little people in our lives sure brighten up the world around us. I savor their fresh perspective on everything around them. The kids have returned with strawberries to share and are now back to scurrying around and playing together inside. My job now with playdates seems to be snack distributor and otherwise I'm really not needed! I've just learned that our home has been transformed into a spaceship...

How does one even choose?

One of our friends and a former colleague of mine has taken family photos of us every few years since I was pregnant with Kali! The most recent photo shoot happened on Wednesday of this week. There was a flurry of stress and emotions right before it started, but it miraculously turned out ok in the end. I can't imagine having anyone else take photos of us now - we've been spoiled! And this was a special treat in that he came to our home and took photos of us outside around the farm. 

In no particular order, here's a smattering of just a few of the 200+ photos I had to choose from!

Each of the girls and Jason got an animal to be photographed with. Jason's was a reprise of his high school senior photo. I guess you could say Kali's photo with Duckie could be hers. Alida chose Lilly to join her and Jason snagged a random chick for Terah from the most recently hatched!

I pondered getting our toads, Prince and Dolly, from the seed sanctuary for my photo but decided to spare them!! By the end, we were getting a tad silly! Here's Jason with his bearded barley!

And now you can enjoy some of these favorites with no additional commentary:

Some other things...

And now for a few things that didn't fit into the last two posts! 

Last weekend we hosted the CJP graduation party. I worked closely with all the students in this graduating class, so it felt significant and meaningful to be part of celebrating with them. And it felt very strange to go through my first graduation season without being "in charge" of the CJP graduation. As it turned out, it was really crummy weather (cold and drizzly) to host an outdoor ice cream social (we set up tents for the food and figured people might mingle there - but not when there was a fire to congregate around). While the air was nippy and damp, I had such a warm and cozy feeling as I looked down from the yard to the ring of people surrounding the flames and heard the happy buzz of them connecting with one another. I've missed hosting large gatherings!

We did a flurry of flower garden edging and weeding before the party (we often allow hosting outdoor gatherings to nudge us to bump up on the list some of the weeding that often falls much lower on the priority list in comparison to the gardens focused on food production). Now we have turned our attention to the summer gardens. The first hay cutting is underway and has provided a wonderful mulch layer for the garlic patch and the cooking tomato beds. When more is cut this week it will go to the delicata patch and to other yet to be determined locations - yay for extra hay/mulch! It's time for the first potato hilling, now that Tala (with a little help) cut back all the weeds in the patch. 

Then here next to me on the table is a list of several dozen "summer-garden-to-do's." We hope to dive into that together tomorrow! We don't see anything near a frost in the 10-day so we are ready to put tomatoes, peppers, basil, flowers, etc... out in the elements!

Finally, we enjoyed a brunch Saturday at our home! There is one common feature in pretty much every picture I took: Luca! Here's the only picture without him since I was holding him as I took it!

This baby is so well loved! Our girls can't get enough of him!!

Neither can I!

It's so cute how much he loves books already. He is so attentive, and often sticks out his little fist towards the book!

And then after a bunch of stimulation, he's ready to sack out on a stroll around the yard! 

Milestones for several members of our family!

There have been a few noteworthy happenings for members of our family in the last week. 

For starters, Terah is losing teeth at a fairly rapid pace (prior to the other night, 4 out with 4 more loose). The other evening, she was showing us how wiggly the 5th one was. Moments later my dad texted us a "rainbow alert." As we headed to the door to take a look, she exclaimed that her tooth was out. I've helped with a few at the tail end of the process, but she's had 2 now where they are so loose that they just pop out when she is merely assessing their readiness! I guess she got her answer! Eating certain foods is going to get more and more challenging as the gap widens. She's pretty cute though and seems to get a kick out of her ever changing mouth! Oh, and the rainbow was gorgeous!!

Also this week, I attended the last birth that will go towards my birth doula certification process. I've got a few loose ends to tie up (paperwork and such) and then I can submit my packet for review. I won't go into details in this space, but my feelings about the whole certification process have gotten quite muddled by the upheaval in the organization I have been planning to certify with. That said, I've learned so very much by going through the certification process - through all the podcasts I've listened to, books read, conversations and connections made, and most of all the births. Each one had things that did not go "to plan," things to grieve and things to celebrate. I feel grateful that there have been healthy babies and birthing people at the end of each of them. I'm so thankful to each family for inviting me into their process of preparing for and birthing their baby. Bearing witness to this process and supporting it as I'm able has been a huge privilege. I'm unclear the trajectory of this work for me long term and am glad I have a few months now before another birth to turn my attention more fully to other things.

And, last but not least, we have a high school graduate in our home (here she is receiving her signed transcript from the "administrator" of Tangly Woods Academy)! While this is largely Kali's story to tell, I'll just share a few quick thoughts from my perspective. We had her final homeschool evaluation this past week on Wednesday. I had gotten home around noon after being at the hospital overnight for the birth and was clearly not functional. A nap had me feeling a little more with it, but I admit I went into the meeting feeling uncertain and unprepared. This was not a path I had trod before - we knew what starting the unschooling journey looked like and what doing it looked like for us, but what about "finishing it!?" And what does "finishing it" mean anyway when it pertains to unschooling? It seems probable that our children will be lifelong learners and so this "graduation" was mostly Kali jumping through some official hoops that then give her access to some future options for formal schooling, should she choose to take that path. Otherwise, not much has changed. 

That said, now I know what it looked like for at least one of our kiddos to wrap up the "formal homeschooling process" and I was surprised to find that it brought me to tears at one point. I did not expect it to feel so emotional (and I probably have to credit sleep deprivation to at least a percentage of my high emotions). I found it powerful and touching to sit together with Jason, Kali and our friend/homeschool evaluator, talking over with Kali what she has studied and learned and what she would feel good about including on her transcript. We had the Virginia requirements for high school graduation handy and together we talked through what felt good to list (which did include us having to convince Kali a few times that she absolutely could include various things - she was apt to not give herself enough credit!). 

As it feels is often the case, I believe I was more changed by this process than Kali. This way of learning and assessment is all she has ever known. It is something I've never experienced - to be in charge of assessing my own learning alongside caring adults who are enthusiastic about supporting me and not using external measurements to determine my success. The process was also deeply affirming, as we really haven't taken a step back together to talk about the last four years and what things Kali has pursued for her enjoyment, learning and self development. 

Terah and Alida were playing out in the yard while we met, and when they heard that Kali was graduating they shot into action. She was brought a snowball flower to fill in as a tassel that she could move from right to left. 

We then had an impromptu graduation party, for which Kali made her own hot spinach dip.

On the transcript there was a place for special activities and awards and so we threw in a little awards ceremony in which she was given the following honors:

• Best Kind and Helpful Big Sister - from Alida
• Best Deep Listener / Second Best Rook Player - from Tala
• Kitty Cat Award (for exemplary formation of close attachments while maintaining an independent mind) - from Jason
• Most Likely to Correct her Mother - from me!!