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It feels as if we have had an uptick in activity in our household that my body and mind are trying to acclimate to. We have had more playdates and social activities, which have been wonderful and have added some additional stress (the good kind, but still) to our household, primarily for the person that does the coordination/scheduling (that'd be me!).
So let's just take the last stint a day at a time so that I at least hit a smattering of the highlights!
Monday, March 13 - We had a tiny March snow that really didn't stick much at our home, but that day I got to savor a long hike with my dear friend, Wendy. We made it to an overlook on the western slope of the Massanutten Mountain that I had never gotten to. And I had to text my mom some pictures to show her that we found snow! We hiked for hours and it felt like mere minutes because we easily could have walked/talked for hours and hours more! While I wish we saw each other more frequently, we are both mothering three kiddos and attempting some variation of farming and so the stars seldom align. But this is one of those precious friendships with deep roots where we just pick up where we left off!
Tuesday, March 14 - I had a good chunk of this day to myself as the girls went to Clymer Kurtz's for a playdate. I'm still getting used and savoring the delightful change of our girls just hopping in the car and taking off the three of them. When Terah's along, they are required by her to use a map of some kind. If it's just Alida and Kali, some exploring is often part of the fun (meaning no map whenever time is not a constraint). I spent most of my day cleaning and bingeing podcast episodes, as well as joining an informational session about a community doula training program that would set me on the path to being able to offer medicaid recipients doula services. I have since applied and am waiting to hear back about whether I'll be joining the next cohort starting in early April.
Wednesday, March 15 - Jason and I enjoyed going to donate blood together. We were right next to each other and basically got stuck at the same time. I'm not complaining because my iron levels were good and the donation went great, but I was hoping I might beat him to the finish line and I didn't. He normally 'flows faster' than me. It was funny to also discover that both of the people who stuck us are allergic to cedar shaving (learned when Jason was sharing his suspicions that he is allergic to cedar). And I might have recruited another birth doula as I was texting one of my clients and was feeling rude so I told the person tending me why I was on my phone. We ended up talking about community birth doula work for the remainder of my donation and exchanged contact info so I could send her more info. That was fun!
Thursday, March 16 - Regular readers now know what the highlight of most Thursdays is at Tangly Woods. This was a full day of fun, as we followed our time with Luca with another playdate for the girls and a walk with Virginia for me! Luca really knows the drill now when he comes over, but there are also new things each week. He reached for Jason when I got home with him, which was super sweet. It's really sad when we have to say goodbye now as he normally cries about leaving. He loves people and playing and has so many great ideas of things he'd like to do with us, which he initiates with some pretty cute persistence!
Weekend of March 17-19 - I haven't mentioned much in this post about what Jason has been up to! We might need to request a guest post here before too long, but in short he had the great fun to leading his first two day Chicken Breeding workshop at Oak Spring Garden Foundation. He spent a lot of time preparing for it in the weeks leading up to it. Marigold was featured heavily in the slideshows and put up with Jason taking pictures of all her parts! Alida was his photography assistant! For those of you that know my hubby, there is not much he'd rather do more for two days straight than talking about chicken breeding (maybe grain and other plant breeding). So to be in a group of people who were also enthusiastic was unusual and thrilling. He noted what an odd moment it was when he was on the section about "finding the good ones" and was talking about heart girth and other features of the chicken and, while most people would glaze over at this point, his workshop participants whipped out paper and pen and took copious notes. He came home tired and energized. He made some good connections with other breeders, they will likely want him back yearly, and it was pretty hard to shift gears back to a pretty routine construction job Monday and Tuesday following the workshop.
Friday, March 17 - The girls and I were on our own for the weekend, as my parents were also away. I think we not only survived, but even ventured into thriving territory. Alida and Terah planned and executed a delicious green St. Patrick's Day meal: Creamy pesto pasta with homemade green noodles, sauteed chicken breasts with garlic, and green beans. YUM!!! They topped off the meal with a delectable chocolate cake, which was allowed to be part of the menu since Alida covered it liberally with green sprinkles. The girls are each getting both more adventurous and more skilled in the kitchen and we are all benefitting from that. We have also recently decided at a family meeting to add them cleaning up after their cooking nights to the list of responsibilities. I LOVE when they cook, but the idea of them cooking AND cleaning up the kitchen is downright dreamy!
Saturday, March 18 - This was mostly a low key day of keeping up with things around the house and farm, time with friends (a walk for me with one friend, long phone call with another, and the girls got to play Rook online with Tala for the first time in months!). Kali did the milk pick up by herself that evening and I had to chuckle when I asked her if she was feeling ok about doing it. She said she was, but was hoping she would remember all the steps correctly. I laughed and noted that I was meaning to ask if she was scared to go over to the farm by herself in the dark. Not at all! There are ways my children do not take after me...
Sunday, March 19 - It must have been a laid back kind of weekend because we tried a new food experiment for breakfast. We had bought some whole oats a very long time ago with the intention of making our own rolled oats (for fun, not as a money or time saver). The video looked easy enough, but you never know. I soaked the oats the night before and in the morning rinsed them and then we put them through our pasta maker. At first they were coming out as just tiny shreds until Alida suggested we move it to the second smallest setting. Then it worked perfectly and we had the freshest oatmeal I've ever had for breakfast. I think Alida will want to do it again. For me, it was fun to try and I'm happy to have others do it again but I won't have a huge need to repeat it often. The best part of Sunday was welcoming Jason home in the evening!!!!
Monday, March 21 - Our girls got to welcome the first day of spring by going over and making a nettle cake with Christen (and Luca). All the rest of us got to enjoy eating it the following night when we were together at their home for dinner!
Tuesday, March 21 - Jason's last work day away from home for the week. We were eagerly anticipating some time together in the garden!!
Wednesday, March 22 - Jason started in on soil prep for spring planting while I picked and picked and picked spinach. I love working with Jason out in the garden, whether we are talking or just working side by side silently. I still think he is about as handsome as he gets when working with the wheel hoe! I think it has to do with how at home in himself and his body he seems in those moments. It's truly beautiful! The girls 'missed out' on helping me with the massive picking job (they didn't mind) by going to the JMU planetarium and arboretum with Jonas and Ivy. They got home in time for Terah to help me freeze all the spinach while Kali whipped up an amazing meal of various Indian dishes. Alida got lost in her own world outside for a few hours! We already have more spinach in the freezer in March than we got all of last year from the garden (I only froze 10 pints last year in May and just froze 16 pints in March). Yippee!
Thursday, March 23 - Since Luca's grandma from out of town was visiting, he soaked up time with her while we spent the day doing our big spring planting, spinach weeding and composting, as well as a little more path mulching. It took me most of the time to weed the spinach, so Jason and the girls planted sugar snap peas, hull peas, beets and lettuce. Makes my mouth water, especially for fresh peas!
And look who showed up in the seed cage - both Prince and Dolly made it through the winter!
We enjoyed an outdoor picnic once we got through our list. Pretty soon we'll be able to add red buds to the salads. They are just about to pop!
Friday, March 24 - Preparations for the birthday in our household commenced this day with Alida joining me for the morning in town. She wanted to join for all the errands/egg deliveries/pig scrap pick ups so she could pick out the Easter egg stuffers for the hunt which will be part of her birthday festivities. We got home just in time to unload before welcoming our dear friend Meghan over for an afternoon and evening of hanging out and attempting some serious catch up - she had not been in our home since before Covid so to say we had some catching up to do is a major understatement. We got started, but really hope it won't be 3 years before the next gathering!
Saturday, March 25 - Here we are at today! Kali and Alida have been in Staunton for much of the day and should arrive home soon. They went to train to be ushers at the American Shakespeare Center and then hung out in Staunton to attend an afternoon matinee there with complementary tickets. So Terah has been my buddy here at home - with chores, decorating for Alida's birthday and chattering in my ear for much of me writing this post while she did some reading practice. In the background there's a whole lot of peeping as Alida's birthday chicks all seem to be attempting to hatch BEFORE her birthday. 
Terah also got to make her experimental chocolate cookies that she has been yearning to make for days now. Here was what her hands looked like after shaping the cookies and after considerable licking!
I just heard a car beep and so I am gonna wrap this up and enter back into family life! In closing here's a few things that didn't fit easily anywhere else!
Our first broody is doing great with the first round of chickens. They are growing so fast and are super spunky. They are now residing in the red coop. I love taking them clumps of grass to eat and tear apart.
This is a 'just because picture.' It makes me smile and my heart swell!
So many things are growing around here right now, and our three little piggies are not so little anymore!
The mountain and the sky. It never gets old for me!
