Kali update, featuring life's many lessons!

At one time I had a lot of uncertainties, or at least insecurities, about whether we were doing the "right" thing having Kali schooling at home.  I no longer think there is the same "right" schooling choice for every child (not sure I ever did really), but I feel confident that unschooling is right for Kali. She's thriving and I am encouraged watching her on a daily basis. I'm thrilled that our almost teenager daughter is so full of life, so focused on the present moment, so in tune with herself, so content in her body, so eager to be part of our family and farm, so tender and loving and helpful with her younger siblings, so healthy and vibrant and creative and fun.

I've completely stopped playing the mental games that were common as Kali got to school age: "What are other kids her age doing?" "What things are they testing for at her age?" "Will she ever be a good speller?" "Should we be doing more structured things?"

No doubt there are areas in which Kali is lagging behind her peers. I don't know for sure what those areas are and I'm not concerned about it. She can catch up on spelling (if she ever really needs to be a good speller) or any other academic subject area she finds herself in need of improving upon.  That will take a fraction of the time to learn as it does to learn the things I feel are being instilled and nurtured in her on a daily basis here: responsibility, empathy, mediation skills with her younger sister, time management, growing her own food and learning to understand what plants and animals need to thrive, observation skills, dealing with loss, etc...

Her maturity amazes me sometimes.  Recently we had a big scare - Kali's pet Ducky survived a predator attack (we presume a young fox).  He was injured but with some tender loving care and lots of checking up on him, he's back to his feisty self (I was so happy to see him chasing Kali to dabble her the other day).  However, three of her other ducks were not so lucky in recent days.  Kali noted two flocks with missing ducks one day and went out to investigate. To this day we have no information on what happened - no feathers anywhere and no signs of an attack. But it is quite clear that they probably went to feed a den of fox kits in our neighbor's brush pile.  Just yesterday Jason went to investigate some chicken ruckus and followed a trail of feathers to a dead hen (maybe he scared the fox off by going to check on the noise), still warm and now in our fridge to eat.  So the fox didn't get that one, but after the three ducks went missing Kali hasn't been free ranging.  It's a hard balance - giving the animals in our care the freedom to roam and enjoy not being in a cage and figuring out what level of risk we are willing to take given predator pressure at various times of year.  I know Kali was sad and she has been extra cautious about letting ducks out to play.  But she also seemed to take it in stride - knowing it was something that might happen.

I will say we all have high hopes for the duck eggs in the incubator. She did the second candling last evening and there are 14 eggs that are developing nicely.  She should have a good hatch if regular monitoring and tending of the incubator has anything to do with it. She is monitoring temperature and humidity and faithfully spraying the eggs nightly. She references her duck raising book as needed.  It's so fun seeing her get into it, and she is also starting to pay more attention to making the whole enterprise sustainable - keeping track of feed and other expenses and in how many eggs we are getting and she will often tell me how close the ducks are to "paying for themselves" if we value their eggs at $5/dozen.

As I type this she is back out (the afternoon rain has finally let up) chopping and mulching the peas with comfrey. She continues to want to be part of every farm venture (she even turned down a weekend trip so as to not miss gardening - I know, what a kid!). I had to convince Kali and Alida to let Jason and I plant four pepper plants last evening at nightfall without their help. I love that they both like to be involved and in Kali's case she is quite helpful (not as much when she and Alida argue about who is going to pull out a particular weed - of all the things to fight over, let's not fight over weeds - there's enough for everyone!).

She is getting so competent at caring for Terah.  The other day she even managed to take care of Terah AND fold laundry - the baby is in that stack (see Terah's post for the picture of her with laundry surrounding her - she was having a grand time in there).  Kali puts up her yanking her hair or stealing her hat and doesn't seem too bothered by her squawks. She seems to take her various moods in stride - once again she's the example for me, not the other way around. Right now I'd say if anyone is the "teacher" around here, it's Kali!

She continues to cook for us weekly - one week alone and one week with Alida (on the off weeks Alida gets to help me with a meal). We haven't had to grocery shop for anything, as Kali is an expert at finding things we have in abundance and using them up. She has come up with some winners because she is willing to experiment and has an open mind about various combinations. This past week the girls made tomato soup with all dried tomatoes. They sauteed garlic and onion and then put dried tomatoes and fresh oregano in chicken broth and simmered until soft.  They pureed and added milk and salt. We had it alongside cornpones and soybeans.  Her meals are usually simple but delicious. Normally about this time in the week she starts thinking about what she might like to make, exploring cookbooks or the pantry to see what we have a lot of.  Yes, I look forward to Monday evenings!

It's about time to segway to a post with some non-kiddo updates, if the little one in my arms allows it. We'll see...

Terah update, featuring food!

So probably the biggest thing to report on with Terah is that she is up to having tried about 25 foods. Her older sisters think we need two food lists for Terah: those we tried to feed to her and those she swiped.  The list includes some of the normal baby firsts: squash, applesauce, green beans. And then it also has things like: a stick, clover, mint tea, french bread filled with cheese and beans (that one she swiped and inserted in her mouth in one motion before I could bat an eye).  Berries are one of the newest things and, while she makes crazy faces when the cold tartness first enters her mouth, she is eager for more.  Most of those have been frozen (blueberries, wineberries and raspberries), but as of yesterday she got to try one of the first ripening strawberries.  You can see for yourself what she thought of it:



While she is highly interested in food, much of it goes in, gets mulled around, and then comes back out.  But, let's just say that watching what is coming out the other end, it is clear she is getting some down!  She likes to look at it first, explore it with her own hands (we are going to have another "me do myself" kid, I'm quite certain) and then put it in her mouth.  And things with texture are particularly entertaining to watch her work with.  Here's one of her first rice experiences:



Terah is definitely the child changing the fastest around her.  If she has a "normal" day, her schedule most days currently consists of waking in the 6-7 a.m. range and lasting normally long enough for me to get the house picked up, dishes away, breakfast made, maybe laundry started, breakfast put away and dishes done before she is ready to crash. On days I'm with her she normally naps in my arms for 2-3 hours in the morning in the 9-12 range, and I've been using that time to do office work from home.  Then on to lunch prep/cleanup and possibly a few household/farm projects that I can do lugging a squirmy 25lbs around with me, before she is due some more shut eye!  She'll taken another 2 or so hour nap (she's in that one right now) on me, while I do another stint of work time (or today I'm devoting this nap to the blog).  If those are good naps, she can normally hold herself together until bedtime (anywhere in the 8:30-10 p.m. range depending on our evening).

She's at such a distractable age - that has its advantages (we can hold her off for a bit when she wants/needs something by singing or dancing or giving her something to chew on) but also makes it impossible to nurse her if anyone is where she can see or hear them. And she doesn't want anyone to leave. Even if I'm holding her and Kali, Alida or Jason come in the room, she is almost certain to cry for them when they leave. It's very sweet - her desire to have all "her people" preferably within hair-grabbing range.

This fourth daughter of ours is not a gentle or quiet one. She is making sure her voice is heard and that her grasp is felt!  I wonder if that might be why I've had a headache for the better part of this past week - if she can reach any of our heads, we are going to lose a few little handfuls of hair.  She is also particularly fond of trying to remove Jason's beard!  I know this stage won't last forever but I really don't think it is one I'll miss (but who knows, maybe I'll even be nostalgic about my hair-pulling baby!).

She is so busy and wants to be part of whatever is going on. She will try to squirm from your arms. She never stays where we put her down, rolling to and fro and started to pull her belly up off the floor. We are in trouble when this kiddo learns to crawl! She loves to play with her big sisters. And they are so amazing with her.  Alida is the prime entertainer and can still make her laugh more easily than anyone else.  Kali is so nurturing and must be working on some serious arm muscles carting her around!  The other day at work I got a text from Jason that read, "While I finished chores in the pouring rain, Kali danced Terah to sleep." Another nice segway to an update on our oldest...

Alida update, featuring soccer!

So my "things to put on the blog" list is enough to keep my busy for quite some time. So I'm going to break it down into manageable bites, starting with a "scrapbook page" for each kiddo!  Since the feature of Alida's posting is the freshest news, I'll start with hers. And maybe also because she likes to go first as much as possible, and the reality is that some days right now I don't feel like she gets as much attention as I wish I could lavish upon her.

Kali's soccer game was cancelled (again) due to fields still being too wet, but Alida's was not. So Terah and I got to see Alida play this season for the first time at her game this morning.  What is it about watching my kids out there on the field - I always get a bit choked up.  Alida clearly loves it and seems so at home with herself out there on the field.  She was pleased to have scored four goals today.  She seems a bit more concerned than most about keeping track of the score, but I was thrilled to see her cheer when the other team scored a goal too. And she had many attempts that didn't get in the goal and that didn't seem to bother her in the least.  Here's one of her successful goals:



I think maybe she didn't get quite enough of it, as I am pretty sure the thumping coming from the front room is her reenacting a soccer game.  Jason seems to be enjoying himself coaching as well and the kids seem to be thriving and having a grand time.  It was a lovely morning and Terah was quite entertained by it all.  She liked when Alida was subbed out and came over to give her five.

Alida seemed so grown up out there. And there are other signs of her continued growth and development. The other night when I was brushing her teeth she told me her front tooth hurt. I was suspicious!  Sure enough, it wiggles...  So she currently has two loose teeth. Just as Terah's two bottom teeth are through enough for all to see, Alida may have a hole in the same spot.

A highlight of the last few weeks is having a playmate around. The couple using my parents' place for a few weeks in their absence, have a four year old son. The path between the upstairs and downstairs is getting a lot of foot traffic!  I think it is fun for her to have her own playmate and someone she is older than, since much of her playtime is with Kali and older friends.  I'm glad that Grandma and Grandpa come for a stint in their place the day after her friend leaves or we might be in for some major "playmate withdrawal."

Well, that's the top news in Alida's world, I think (though she might add something if asked).  She's pretty excited about the strawberries ripening outside, which is a good segway to Terah's post...

April family book report by Jason

I, Jason, resolved at the turn of the year to read one book per month for 2016.  It is now May, meaning I should have consumed four units of print media thus far, which I have.  Adulthood is famous for helping us realize that if we are going to accomplish something we had better go ahead and work at it because no one is going to do it for us.  But I have to add that adulthood is teaching me a counterpoint: that usually the things we accomplish are not accomplished so much by one person's steely will bearing down on the task so much as they are by the integrated actions of a family or other mutually supportive circle who are all, to varying degrees, invested in the accomplishment.

Never more true than in this case.  It is partly for the fulfillment of this resolution, for example, that we have instituted Family Reading Night each Sunday night.  Janelle especially has put in extra effort here, keeping the baby happy and reading aloud to Alida while Kali and I concentrate on our reading.  As such, it felt immediately unfair, in my favor.  I reasoned that if Janelle was going to labor thusly, the least I could do was to open up the choice of reading material to our family decision-making process.  If it was going to be a family effort, I wanted them to have some more noticeable return on investment.

Since the beginning of March, the chosen book has been The Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips.  The goal here is for me to acquire some of the necessary knowledge for our family to grow satisfactory fruits here at home...clearly a useful choice if ever there was one.  The trouble has been that so thorough and thoughtful a treatment of the topic took me much more than one month's worth of Family Reading Nights to chew my way through.  As April Fools Day loomed, Janelle began to stress out that I was not going to make the deadline.  She suggested I find a book I could cruise through to satisfy the March requirement.  And so I did, with the graphic novel Persepolis, a family report about which I believe appeared in an earlier edition of Encounters with Sustenance.  By the time May Day crept up on us, I was surprised to discover that I was still not within striking distance.  Again the "quick read" strategy.  This time I selected Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory.  It was not quite the breezy trip that Persepolis is, but one evening and two or three good baby naps had the lion's share of it done.


Despite their having been used so expediently, neither of these reads are in any way light material.  The Power and the Glory and Persepolis are both set in revolutionary contexts, which tend to bring out the grotesque extremes in human behavior.  Both also deal in themes of spirituality and violence.  The Power and the Glory is intensely focused on these topics, and on the confluence and interplay of political and religious dynamics.  It is known as one of Greene's "Catholic novels"; it was fascinating to see how he wove in questions of goodness, redemption, sacramentalism, responsibility, spiritual mystery, and wealth and poverty into a setting of an atheistic communist revolution in Mexico.  I will refrain from a complete report here, but would encourage anyone who wants or needs to wrestle with these elements of the human condition to pick up this classic and get involved.  But brace yourself.  Graham Greene is not one to soften the blow, and he makes excellent literary use of the deeply uncomfortable situation.  It was my second time through this novel, the first having occurred as required reading for a college course.  Probably "British Fiction."  But I found the intervening years had opened and softened me sufficiently that the impact was far more stirring; the ponderings probably closer to the intended.  I found also that what the author probably thought of as redemptive often felt hollow to me this time through.  I probably read parts of his narrative as hopeful that he disregarded or intended to render as sidestory.  I found myself perplexed about details that seemed incongruous to me, and it was at those moments that I was forced to unsuspend my disbelief and remember that this was a work of fiction, which allowed me to accept it as an extension of his mind and perception.  Then I was able to be even more grateful, because it was a courageous and inquisitive mind indeed to which I was so ably exposed.

Maybe this was not very directly applicable to our family life...but I'm still glad to have read it!

Something special here...

May has arrived! And after a long stretch without rain, we are in a super rainy stretch. I told Jason during the dry spell that it seemed likely that we would then have a long stint of wet weather right around graduation week - I hit that prediction right on the nail!

So for a second year in a row, we hosted the all CJP graduation party with what I hope most felt were "showers of blessing!"  While rain was not predicted to start until 8 or 9 p.m., the initial drops fell as the first guests were arriving.  Some did not let the weather keep them from enjoying the outdoor fire that Kali tended dutifully while Jason directed parking and I did a whole host of other things...  Some walked the grounds or played at the swing set, but most chose to visit indoors (and we used about every corner of the house).

When hosting and also keeping track of our kiddos (and the hunger level of the littlest), I can never be sure if all are being taken care of well and having a good time, but the vibes felt positive.  And I love how many who visit, even if they don't get any kind of in depth introduction into what we are doing here, seem to pick up the spirit of what we are putting our life's energy into.  And I can't think of much of a higher compliment to receive than for our homestead to remind some of our students, who are so far from home, of their homes.

One of our students who mentioned multiple times the way our home and land reminded him of his home, will return back soon to help his people as his village has just recently been destroyed (lives lost, homes destroyed, crops burned).  So many emotions well up inside of me when I think about this little piece of land that we have been entrusted with, the sanctuary that it is for us, and how quickly it could be gone.  It reminds me that all the hard work we are doing has to be worth it for the process itself, not just the end product.

That said, we are enjoying a lot of the "product" of our labors right now. Let's hear it for "Tangly Woods special" spinach seed.  After saving it for a number of years now, we have spinach that winters over uncovered (even if temp gets to 0 degrees!), and is ready to grow like crazy in spring (especially if we apply a small side dressing of compost).   In about 10 minutes or so I can pick a large bucket or sink full of wonderful dark green leafy goodness!  We are eating large salads most days, and did our first (hopefully of several) spinach freezing. The containers with "2016" on them are starting to go in the freezer - just harvested and froze the first bag of rhubarb this week as well.

So for those much more interested in the growing baby than in growing spinach, I'll end this short update with a few pictures of Terah.  Then off to get ready for the CJP graduation.  It's a big weekend for this family...  The girls have done amazingly well this week with me being gone part of most days, opening our home to 75 plus people, dealing with their mother's increased stress levels, and today being drug into town for most of the day. Alida told me before the graduation party that she was excited and scared. They all seem to enjoy the hubbub, but also are taken aback a little bit by the chaos. Terah sure wondered what had happened to our home when the masses started descending. :)

She's so funny.  Right now when there is a lot of noise, sometimes she just chimes in. Not crying or screaming, just vocalizing. It's like she hears the noise and figures, "ok, this is what we do now."  That also applies when I am on the telephone trying to have a conversation!  Speaking of noises, I learned something new about her when I was trying to get some cleaning done for the party. I was cleaning the windows in our doors and learned that she does not like the squeaking sound - ok, so it makes her cry.  What about the vacuum cleaner? No problem!  Or her pulling our alligator musical toy from table to floor with a loud crash? Also just fine. Silly baby!

She is definitely getting more mobile. When the older girls are playing with her, I often hear them saying, "now that's not where you started."  She rolls and scooches, and munches on anything she finds in her path.  Trying to "contain" her is no easy task.  She enjoyed her brief stint in the dishpan with water the other day and is getting the concept of "splashy splash" quite well.

Ok, she is starting to rouse so I better turn my attention to getting this family out the door and on our way to town. The next blog post should be full of garden updates as May is our main garden planting month and we eagerly anticipate getting lots of things in the ground - as well as welcoming more baby chicks AND baby ducklings in a few weeks. Never a dull moment around here...

Growing, growing, growing!

Everything around us seems to be growing right now: babies, children, chicks, plants, and the to do list!  The only benefit to going a very long time without rain is at least the grass isn't growing too fast right now such that we are putting off the first major mowing just a tad longer.

Ten days is too long to go between postings right now, as it feels like each day is packed full of adventure and new things around here.  But I'll do my best to include some highlights.  First, and most importantly, an update on the little (or not so little) people in our home.

Terah had her 6 month check up this week.  She now weighs 22lb 12oz and her weight is not "chartable" on their handy dandy growth charts, as she is off the chart (and slacking in height: just the 95th percentile).  She was most pleased to swipe the nurse's measuring tape and chomp on that for about half her appointment. Her doctor was more or less unimpressed and not concerned by our list of "pressing" issues and her answer to pretty much all of them was that this little gal is just her own person, charting her own path (and that our older girls had spoiled us)!  She's really a grand baby and so much fun when I'm at least moderately rested. She is also enabling my empathy to grow by leaps and bounds for various parenting challenges that I never got to experience before her. For example, our other girls were excellent "transfer babies." We could go from arms to bed to pack to car and back again when they were asleep.  Not this gal! Yesterday after taking just 2 naps, we headed home from small group last evening a little before 9 p.m. She fell asleep in the car (a big success for her) and was sacked out when we arrived home...until I got her out.  Sigh!  It was then after 10:30 when she finally was able to give way to sleep again - so I guess it was a 3 nap day after all!

Here's Terah enjoying parsley!  She is still not consuming much food but enjoys playing with it - particularly sucking on dill pickles and chomping on leafy things that she can shred and feel the interesting textures in her mouth until she gags and gives them back.



We decided to be efficient with our doctor appointments and do back to back appointments with Alida having her 5 year old check up right alongside Terah's appointment.  It cut the waiting time in half, so we'll be doing that again!  Alida grew over 3 inches this past year, but even more impressive was her growth in other areas.  I don't know what it is about the first time our children are old enough to do the vision tests but I well remember almost crying the first time Kali did it also.  There is something so cute about them standing there with their little hand cupped over one eye, slightly inclined forward and reading off the letters so purposefully (and proudly).  Kali loved the eye test and it seems to run in the family as Alida was pretty impressed with it as well.  But even more than that was here little lesson in mindfulness.  She and Terah both got one vaccine (the same one in fact), and the nurse didn't attempt anything fancy with Terah - just the "get it over with as quickly as possible" route. With Alida, though, she taught her to lay back and close her eyes and take deep breaths. She helped her relax her leg until it was floppy.  I was standing there a bit dubious.  I didn't think Alida would go for these "tricks" at all.  I was wrong.  She followed right along, took all the tips to heart, and only flinched a tiny bit when the needle went in. She then talked about the success of that approach for the rest of the day, as well as the status of her sore (but not very) injection site.

No new doctor stats on Kali, but I can report that she is growing up in so many ways - the one I'm thinking about most this week is the growth in her abilities in the kitchen. She has been cooking regularly now on Monday nights for a few months and is getting more and more skilled with each meal.  This past week I was in the bedroom working while Terah napped and basically came to the table when supper was ready (my help was limited to a few quick consults on cooking time and spices that might be nice in her dish).  I couldn't stop exclaiming about the deliciousness of the meal - it was a hit with all of us: soaked rice/black amaranth combo cooked with a red lentil spinach dish served over top. Simple and scrumptious!  I told her we might have to up number of cooking nights - she is open to the possibility!

Now for some of the other growing things.  Let's first comment on some of the projects that have come off our ever expanding project list:

The potatoes are planted!  And, unlike onions, we even had some seed potatoes left over to share.  I got in on just a little rock picking up and a row of potato planting with Terah in tow.  But mostly this was a project completed by Kali and Jason, with some assistance from Alida.

Our new asparagus bed is complete and the crowns planted!  We had a scare when we realized that our crowns were still in Mom and Dad's fridge when they last came and co-existed there for about 24 hours with a few apples and a banana before Jason realized it.  Those fruits put off gasses that kill living tissue so we were quite concerned.  We have yet to know if any damage was sustained, but I was very pleased to be the first to notice two little sprigs on the one variety shooting up yesterday. I've been obsessed with going down daily and giving them a drink of water. I am yearning for a good asparagus patch!  And we should give credit where credit it due - here you will see that the ducks and chickens are always quite happy to get in there and work on bed preparations with us - the chickens scratching is often "the kind of help we all can do without."

Jason got all the remnants of the fall/winter tree/brush clearing picked up, chipped, put on brush piles for the next biochar burn or stacked in various places for cutting up/splitting for firewood.  We just emptied out one side of our woodshed and so it will be ready to fill when the weather cools and it's the firewood splitting time of year.  For now, in a moment of inspiration, we decided for Jason to move forward with prepping the white raspberry bed below the new garden for fall planting - this used up most of his accumulated chicken feed sacks and several piles of duffy material that we were happy to get cleaned up.

We are having fun watching chicks of various ages growing up.  The first batch will go to my aunt and uncle in WV tomorrow. Part of the second batch will make their way into Keezletown proper for Emily and Jonas and the third batch is currently being brooded for us by a great mama hen.  Round four is split between the incubator and another broody.  When possible, we love using broody hens. It's so fun to watch the mama teaching them the ropes - much cuter than the fake brooder we have in the kiddie swimming pool upstairs. But the kids do like having chicks at the ready for holding and playing with.  Here's the mama unsure of the camera pointing at her and her chicks.  She made a nest and called all the chicks to her. Soon they were mostly underneath her with a few peeking out around the edges:



Terah is now awake so I need to bring this to a close, but a blog post would not be complete without a few food updates.  A few recent finds/successes/experiments!

Jason introduced me to Great Solomon's Seal shoots - better than raw asparagus.  Now I want to spread that all over the place. Super tasty!

I've got a winner for using up dried sweet peppers and tomatoes and my frozen shredded trombone squash.  If I saute chives and then add a quart bag of shredded squash to the pan along with a handful of dried peppers and tomatoes, it works perfectly. Throw in some chopped nettles and pour eggs over and bake with some fresh herbs added and we have a delightful breakfast.  It's great in that the squash is so watery when it thaws but that is beneficial in this application as it helps re-hydrate the dried veggies and nettles also tend to be a bit dry. Yes, I will admit that I'm a bit pleased with myself on this find.

And big news (that is only slightly sad): we used the very last garlic bulb from last year.  It was used with some trout our neighbor gave us and a final round of roasted sweet potatoes.  Thankfully the garlic chives are thriving all over the place and the garlic patch can be thinned of diseased plants that we can use until garlic scapes come in, which should hold us then until the garlic harvest.  Yes, I'll miss garlic cloves for roasting with veggies, but I like to run out of things in time to really feel their absence and welcome their return.  So we won't be buying garlic or onions and will be creative with the various "garlicy" and "oniony" matter we have around until harvest time!

To end, back to that growing to do list. The word that will most frequently appear on that list in the near future is "weed."  There is no end to the areas that are calling for weeding, mulching, and would benefit from an application of compost. We'll get to it as we are able. And sometimes we get to it in little blitz weeding sessions - like the one pictured here on the rare evening when supper is done and cleaned up from before dark and we can all go out and relieve some strawberry plants from their weedy surroundings!  They are flowering and we hope to give them their best shot at replenishing our dwindling strawberry supply. Time will tell!

Onions, chicks, babies and more

So here goes: a whole smattering of updates from our lives and homestead in no particular order, except for what comes to mind first.  Terah is sleeping in my arms (still with minor sniffles from the latest cold going through out household), Alida is "reading" Dr. Seuss here on our bed (and trying her hardest to be quiet), and Kali and Jason are out moving the ducks and getting into the days chores/project list.  Last night got into the low 20's and we have yet to know the full extent of the damage. Kali slipped out at dusk last night to get a container of red buds for our spinach salad today in case they got zapped. It looks likely it will likely be a year without peaches.

I'm so grateful for a much needed day at home, all day long!  Other than possibly venturing out for a walk (the routine seems to be settling into a walk for Terah's third and final short nap of the day in the late afternoon), I plan to stick close to home. Those daily walks are so helpful for me - a combination of thinking time, allowing my mind to swirl and circle around and sort out various things needing processing, and then just checking in on the world around me and the neighborhood. Right now I'm enjoying watching a pair of Canada geese in the neighbor's pasture and waiting to see if they might nest and if we'll get to see baby goslings.

We are solidly in "crazy month" and, after weathering some hard days earlier this week, it seems we are currently (maybe temporarily but we'll celebrate it while it lasts) in a bit of a better groove.  Terah will be six months old tomorrow and I have good reason to believe that the trajectory we are currently on is going to make the second six months of her first year of life higher on fun and lower on stress than the first half.  I will be the first to admit to anyone who asks that the past months have tested my limits on multiple occasions (often on a daily basis).  We joke that Terah wanted to be sure she was the last offspring in this family.  And while we could have assured her of that, she has helped Jason and I know very deep in our core that we have all (and more) than we can handle now.  I think on multiple occasions throughout each week that I really don't know what I would do without Kali's help right now.  And she is building some serious arm muscles lugging her little (but big) sister around.  We'd have a serious backlog of dishes and laundry if it weren't for Kali taking Terah after meals for a dance session or swing ride or tummy time so I can clean up before the next nap-time comes around. And it doesn't appear that they could be a whole lot more fond of each other.  One of my greatest joys is watching our girls enjoy so much good quality time together.

It seems that we started our family with our most chilled out baby/kid and they have gotten increasingly intense ever since.  It's fun to see how these traits change and develop as time goes along, but in the infant stage it is exhausting.  By nightfall when Terah is clawing at my face and pulling my hair into her mouth, I just want to collapse out of sheer exhaustion.  Thankfully nights are including more rest so I usually feel somewhat rejuvenated by morning and ready for another round of it.  Sleep is such an amazing thing.  Terah's been going down pretty easily for her morning and early afternoon naps, assuming I isolate myself with her in our bedroom. She's a distractable little gal - especially if her big sisters and/or daddy are anywhere within earshot.  And when I'm not around, she will take her naps in the jogger, the front pack, dancing or in the swing.  It's pretty cute to see her sacked out swinging.  She reached a major milestone this week, taking several ounces from the bottle. Not laying back relaxing, of course, but in her circle seat with big sister entertainers while she slurped the the bottle turned up (the image in my mind is of a little calf sucking on a bottle). She beats to her own drum!

A few exciting developments on the homestead:  Our onions are in the ground!  We also recently put compost on our spinach and it is happy, happy, happy!  We are back to eating lots and lots of fresh green things!  The fresh herbs are delightful and adding wonderful flavor to my morning egg concoctions - the oregano, winter savory and parsley (that overwintered well under cover) are the favorites right now.  Jason hopes to wrap up the blueberry hugelkultur bed today!  Oats are planted in it for now as a cover crop until we plant blueberries this fall.  The tomatoes have sprouted, the peppers are looking great and the sweet potatoes are starting to sprout.  Our mouths water as we anticipate all the fresh foods we will enjoy in the coming months.

Alida helping to sift compost for the onions.

Oregano!

Making progress on the blueberry bed - a many-staged process...

Almost done - just leaves on the path and compost/duff on the asparagus bed by the garden fence!

The hope of things to come...

We could easily stay occupied 24/7 on our little plot of land, but we venture out now and then.  As often as we can we do that by foot, which was the case for this month's family night (which was actually a "family afternoon" in which friends I&M joined for the fun).  It was Kali's month to choose and she chose hiking on the mountain where at every juncture someone got to choose which direction we went.  We went in age order (though Terah missed most of the hike due to being sacked out on my front so she didn't make any directional decisions) and it was a hit!  Clearly we'll be doing this again. We saw many things we had never seen before, the red buds were in their full glory (and perfect for snacking upon since a certain mother took 5 kids hiking without snacks, except for the littlest since it is kind of hard to me to leave that behind!), the air was cool but the sun warm, and I love hanging out with kids that are so interested and curious about the world around them.   

Yesterday, we ventured by car to the Home and Garden show at the Rockingham Fairgrounds. There was a "homesteading festival" tacked onto it this year and Jason had agreed to do a workshop on local genetics (focused on plants) and one on raising chickens.  We agreed on the way home that we are pretty sure it was not a complete waste of time. If for no other benefit it gave Jason the chance to think through short workshops on two topics he is very passionate about.  And hopefully some of those present learned something (we gave out a lot of our "Tangly Woods special" spinach seed and seed catalogs from a new company that we hope to have opportunity to partner with in the future as they are working to develop seeds for this geographical area).  There were probably 10-15 people there at the start and up to 20-30 present by the end.  Due to the high winds and cold temperatures, they chose to move the workshops last minute from an outdoor pavilion to the back corner of the exhibit hall.  Had we not happened to run into Jason's sister and husband, who had attended some of the earlier workshops, who knows if we would have ever found the workshop location. We were very glad we had turned down the 10x10 exhibit table we could have set up outside (where few dared to venture).

We didn't linger long after the workshops. We didn't need vinyl siding or a supply of freeze dried food or lots of free candy.  But we did decide to officially end our Lent family commitment of not purchasing any food and we swung by Sharp Shopper on the way home (chuckling as we ran into a few others who were present at Jason's local genetics workshop).  Grocery shopping has not changed for me (any kind of shopping tends to leave me feeling kind of physically ill).  However, after a few month's break from being in the stores, I was even more floored by the array of options presented to us anytime we step foot in a store. And saddened by the quality of those options.

The Lent commitment was a success in so many different ways.  For one, I was able to unplug our chest freezer in the garage this week for a thorough cleaning.  All our frozen stuff now fits into our stand up freezer and I know what we have and how I hope/plan to use most of it.  Running out of some staples (e.g. peanut butter, coconut, raisins, chick peas, flour, etc...) has encouraged lots of creativity and I've discovered some winners.  Here's a few tidbits:

• I really like red lentil hummus and it is a great way to slip in some fermented green tomatoes.
• If I want probiotics and I'm off dairy to see if that improves our baby's general outlook on life, I can in fact drink the juice from fermented green peppers or winter squash (it's not delightful but it falls in line with wheat grass juice).
• Dried winter squash is crazy stuff - it goes down to practically nothing. The last batch was left in longer and I added cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg so we now have spiced winter squash chips.
• Homemade peanut butter (from home grown, soaked, dehydrated and roasted peanuts) or pecan butter with coconut oil and salt is incredible!
• Dried corn and green beans are delicious in a soup with a chicken broth base.
• Dried colorful peppers are great in a four bean salad - they soak up the liquid and are flavorful and a nice texture.
• We can do just fine with our home grown/ground cornmeal and making rolled oats into flour - we really don't miss other flours much at all (though we did buy some soaked organic ww flour that Sharp Shopper carries, so I guess we missed it in some things).
• And, in general, I'm really enjoying making up lots of recipes and having the results be enjoyed by most of the family most of the time!  

Anyway, back to yesterday's outing: it felt so good to walk back into our home and the sound of chicks hatching. Round two of hatching is coming to a close.  They are, once again, very cute!  The first round of chicks have graduated to an outdoor pen with a heat lamp and are doing what chicks do (and our baby does) best: GROW!

In closing, I thought I'd include just a tiny follow up to Alida's birthday.  Jason and I each gave her a coupon for her birthday. Jason gave her a coupon to build a butterfly house for her garden, which they completed this week and you can see pictured here.  I gave her a little coupon book of various things to do with me uninterrupted.  In some ways it felt silly to give her coupons for reading time, cuddle time, cooking time, outdoor play time with me.  Shouldn't I be doing this anyway? Not just for her birthday?  It was really the uninterrupted part that made the gift unique.  And what a hit that little booklet has been.  She used a good number of the coupons in the first few days following her birthday and we both benefited from the dedicated time together.  I hope that even after the coupons run out, I'll find ways to carve out those spaces with her.  It pains me so much when she makes comments like she did yesterday: "No one thinks about me anymore."  I'm glad she verbalizes them for us (it is likely Kali thought those things during Nora's time with us, but she would have kept them inside), but it is still hard to hear.  We got to talk about it some yesterday and acknowledge that it is hard to get less of our attention with a baby in the house (especially a baby with this particular baby's temperament and noise level).  We also assured her that we do think a whole lot about her...  We just need to reinforce that with daily snuggles that she so loves.

Speaking of snuggles, I will end on what is the bright spot of each of our days currently. Awhile back we decided to try reading a James Herriot (country veterinarian) book out loud together at bedtime. Who knew it would become a family tradition and the absolute favorite way for all of us to end each day.  Alida normally falls asleep within the first 5 minutes but even so she chose it over watching a library movie the other night.  I think it feels so good for her to snuggle up between Kali and Jason each night and fall asleep to the sound of her daddy's voice (or laughter).  Terah and I sit in the recliner and she nurses to sleep - most nights pretty easily but if not easily I have a great story to distract me from a bout of evening ramminess.  I never make it through the chapters either, so we'll be able to read them over and over again and I'll always learn something new!  We owned two of the four books, and once onto the second book I knew we needed to acquire the third and the fourth (which we now have waiting for us!).  For awhile it felt like the coming of night brought an increase in anxiety for me, as I never knew what the night would hold (sleep or lots of baby soothing without sleep).  It's fun to look forward to bedtime each night now and to have girls that are super cooperative in getting ready because they know what's coming and are eager to get to it.  It's these kinds of traditions that I love more than anything because they are ones that I know our girls will remember fondly when they are older.

(Ok, must post this before I lose it! My computer just went black, prepared itself somehow for a "crash dump" and then rebooted. I thought I might have lost it, but here it is. No more chances... Probably a good sign that I need to get off the computer and on to other things.)