So so many things growing and changing...

...that sometimes it's hard to keep up!!! And it's a little harder for me to keep up when I can't seem to get a headache free day anymore. It appears I've settled into a state of chronic migraines (or that's what the MRI seems to indicate)... Not debilitating (except the one day that it more or less flattened me for the afternoon/evening, but that's rare), but just persistent and wears me down! But enough said on that - maybe I'm just noting it here as an explanation/excuse for this post likely being even more scattered than normal. Or it might just be all over the place because I just plopped a whole bunch of pictures into this post which have come in in no sensible order and I only have a half hour before our small group joins us on the lawn for an evening gathering... (I didn't end up getting it done and am back at it now after dark). Either way, here are some updates from our household! Brace yourself for a bit of a loop-de-loop journey here, there and everywhere!

I believe we can finally say that the colds have left our household! Yes, I definitely forgot how long it takes for a minor virus to make its rounds and how disruptive it can be. Thankfully other than filling the wipe bucket with nose wipes at an impressive rate and messing up Terah's (and thus my) sleep for a few nights and the sore throats, it truly wasn't anything to write home about. So maybe it was a good "easing back into viruses" for us, as they are bound to return here and there!

I'm kind of obsessed with violets this year! I really can't think of any downside to them! They are edible. They are beautiful. They are an excellent ground cover. I'm into them!! They are nicely filling in the cracks around the rocks in Nora's garden. So lovely!! 

We've had some really impressive skies lately - the clouds have created some rather magical moments. The light on the mountain and the green creeping up its slopes has been breathtaking.

We have some famous chickens - or at least a lot more people know about our chickens than did a week ago. Someone from the local DNR came out and spent about an hour talking with Jason about the breeding work he has been doing and wrote up an article about the four breeds we've got going here at Tangly Woods (see https://tanglywoods.com/chickens/ for beautiful descriptions of the breeds recently updated by Jason). I think we all thought it would be a little side article hidden somewhere in the deep recesses of the paper. It was surprising to receive a text from a friend early one morning with a picture of the front page article they enjoyed reading with their morning coffee. Since then the article has been picked up and posted in lots of other papers, including The Washington Post. We have yet to see what comes of it - thus far one person has called about buying a few chickens, another person reached out saying he'd like to talk with Jason about chickens sometime, and we have had two phone calls from companies wanting a lot of our money to mat and frame and make the article look pretty for our wall. It would look something like the photo below IF we wanted to burn several hundred dollars on such a thing. We don't! We would be very interested in making connections with anyone that has interest in collaborating with Jason and/or connecting us with funding possibilities for this work.

I've been trying to soak up the beauty of spring and to stop occasionally to soak up the beautiful people I get to share life with! This was one such moment!!

This was a little while ago now, but I was not impressed. Let's hope this was the LAST snow of the year! Thankfully, it didn't linger...

Because now it is time for things to grow and bloom and fruit... I don't know why I love peas so much. Every time I walk by I can't help but say, "Hi peas!"

Today Jason and I spent a few hours weeding Kali's garden and the fire ring. We took probably 8 or more 5-gallon buckets of weeds to the pigs (they mostly napped on it). The lilacs in her garden are amazing right now!

I admit that I was impressed with the bouquet I was able to collect from our yard the other week. This went to my dear friend and former colleague who is making it through her first spring season in my former job - I know that it takes a lot of endurance and encouragement!!

I love the red clovers and how the poppies are just starting to dot the landscape with their happy bursts of orange!

We are eating lots of fresh spinach but it is unlikely we'll freeze much, if any, this year. We'll be processing a lot of sweet potato greens for the freezer to take the spinach's place!

We are also eating LOTS of carrots. But we did not grow them. In short, somehow a ton and a half or more of carrots ended up in someone's garage by mistake! And they were looking for homes for over 60 bags of carrots. We ended up with three 50lb bags - we were able to share 100lbs and are making our way through the other 50 - we have been eating carrots at most meals. Kali and I dried one round of them.

The first batch of chicks is now free ranging. We had to keep them in for a few days to hopefully encourage the fox Jason chased off an adult hen to look elsewhere for nourishment. They were so excited when we let them run this evening while we were out in the lawn with friends. 

And now last but not least - the growth in some little humans! A week ago tonight, I headed to RMH for my next birth. I made it in time to be supportive, but not with a ton of time to spare. This sweet little one was born in the wee hours of the morning and I returned home as the darkness was fading and light was starting to return to the world. I actually really love attending births during the night BUT if this is going to become my main thing I'm gonna have to get better at sleeping during the day!

This past week Christen and I took our first walk together with Luca since he joined us on the outside. The first of hopefully MANY!!!!!!!!

And, while on the subject of Luca, there is really no one we like to talk about more around here. The conversations includes how adorable he is. And how much he has grown. And how cute his coos are. And asking when we can see Luca again. And inquiring about how soon is Luca coming over when we have a planned get together. And the girls asking why am I going to take care of Luca without them (not to mention me trying to find times to go over without them so I get to hold him without multiple arms coming in for a turn). And on and on. This baby is well loved by the members of Tangly Woods! He came for a couple visits recently and then I enjoyed a long stint of snuggling and playing yesterday. It filled my tank but it's amazing how quickly I'm ready for another filler upper. I love seeing our girls lavish tender care and love upon this new little friend and neighbor. AND it is wonderful that we love his parents so deeply too!!!!

Well, there are some rowdy rounds of Dutch Blitz happening in the front room. And I promised to break out the ice cream. So I'll end here my own blitz round of updates... Until next time!