Life With The Crew

Thankful Tuesday - Rain and Raspberries

This past weekend had two themes:  rain and raspberries.  Saturday was non-stop rain all day.  Not just a little drizzle, but steady, dark sky, cold rain.  It was only 62 F in the afternoon, which is very abnormal for the end of June.  How are my raspberries supposed to ripen in that kind of weather?!  I don't know how, but they are.

I am absolutely in love with my red raspberries.  As I have stated before, I am not a good gardener.  I have too many dogs and too many garden foes.  However, I lucked out this year and can say that I can grow raspberries.  And good sized ones too!  Not that I can really take any credit for them.  All I did was severely clear out the patch back in April and hope that I wasn't totally killing them.  Apparently it was the right thing to do, because they came back bigger and more bountiful than last year.  So what did we do on this waterlogged weekend?

We ate raspberries of course!  A Berry Cream Tart, Raspberry Cream Scones, and Chocolate Brownies made with cream and swirled with a red raspberry sauce.  Are you sensing a theme?  (I figure that since the berries have no fat and the raw cream has good fats, it all balances out.)  

I also was a maniac knitter, feverishly working to complete a sweater for the little babe.  It is the first full length sleeve project that I've made and I was just in one of those moods to Get It Done!  And since I wasn't going to do yard work in the rain, I had plenty of knitting time.  However, on Saturday afternoon, when the rain had slowed to (only) a steady drizzle, I did venture outside to pick my beloved berries before they molded.  The ducks were looking a bit lonely, so I let them out for some grass time while I picked.  I had to smile at myself and think how silly I must have looked.  Standing in my suburban backyard on a dreary wet afternoon, hood up, picking raspberries while talking to my ducks.  And guess who also likes raspberries?

I am thankful for all of the above:  rain to help the garden grow, good food, and the simple joy of picking berries accompanied by the gentle murmuring of happy ducks.  

What are you thankful for today?

Backyard Buckwheat Bonanza

Since we live in the suburbs and cannot allow our chickens to wander all over the neighborhood, we have a large chicken yard that is surrounded by wire fencing.  The chickens have long since stripped out any plant life except prolific Rose of Sharon, monster catnip that has gone wild, and the odd weed that they don't like.  While our four ladies live the good life, roaming where they like, dust bathing under the shed, eating their own eggs for breakfast (and lunch) and getting a steady supply of garden and kitchen scraps, I felt bad that they didn't have more live vegetation.  I decided to fence off half of the chicken yard and try growing buckwheat.  I read that buckwheat grows quickly, loosens up soil, and chickens love it, so it sounded like a good crop to try.  

We raked out several years worth of sticks, stones, pinecones, and other detritus from the chicken yard.  I have no idea where all of the stones came from.  I watered the soil to cut down on the dust, then I used a garden rake to loosen the top half inch of dirt.  (I won't call if soil, because it is really just hard rocky clay dirt.)  Then the little babe and I broadcast the seed pretty thickly and I went over it with the rake again and watered.  Then I waited, watched, watered, and finally...

it sprouted!  And it grew really quickly.  

Some plants seem to be at the same stage forever and then all of a sudden, bam!  They're in bloom.  But with buckwheat, I could see a noticeable change each day.  

Soon it was almost knee-high and then I started waiting on the flowers.  A couple of plants started flowering and then the whole crop was covered in tiny white flowers, packed in tight behind the fence, doing a great job of hiding the ugly dirt down below.

Once all of the flowers were in bloom, I decided to open up the fence and let the ladies go to town.  At first, they didn't even cross the boundary where the fence had been.  I don't really blame them though, because the buckwheat and catnip were taller than they were.  But they slowly started venturing into the buckwheat and one day I realized that it was really trampled down and they had even started scratching down to the bare ground again in their quest for insects.  They loved the buckwheat!

To add to the mix, we also have the two ducklings living in a third part of the chicken yard.  When we moved them out of the garage, we gave them their own space so that the chickens could see the new strangers in town through a fence before we let the ducklings loose in the chicken yard.  Chicken beaks are much sharper than duck bills and I didn't want the babies getting picked on.  

The introduction went well.  The chickens came through the buckwheat and helped themselves right to the ducklings' food.  Lou and Lily definitely gave the ladies the hairy eyeball when the chickens were in their space, but since the chickens didn't mess with their water, all was good.

For now, the ducklings will still sleep in their own hut at night so that they have some privacy.  The long term plan is keep everybody - 4 chickens and 2 ducks - in the chicken coop at night.  In the meantime, everybody is enjoying the new space and the tasty buckwheat.  I have to decide when I'll till it into the soil and if I am going to plant a cover crop for Fall.  

If you have chickens and have the space to plant buckwheat, I would definitely try it.  Apparently it is also a great food source for honey bees, so it plays a useful role on a small homestead.

 

Shared on the Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop.

 

A Lasting Impression

While I was on my Saturday morning run several weeks ago, I was bitten by a dog.  It was on a route that I have run many times before and I have always heard the dog barking behind a high stockade fence at the end of a cul de sac.  On this particular morning, I turned the corner and immediately stopped when I saw the large black dog which immediately saw me.  I knew exactly what was about to happen and there was nothing that I could do about it.  I couldn't run, since Rule #1 is to NEVER run away from a dog attack.  I carry nothing with me when I run, so I had nothing to defend myself (not that a cell phone would have done any good unless I had the taser attachment).  I was standing in the middle of the road and had no where to hide.  And so I stood still, waiting for the inevitable to happen.  The dog charged right at me, aggressively barking.  He stood a foot away for a second or two and I thought he was done, but then he turned back and bit me on the butt.  As he ran back towards the house, I started running/walking away as fast as I dared.  When I was out of his sight, I booked it back home as quickly as I could (my running mojo was totally shot) and ran in the door yelling at my husband to get the camera and take a picture of my butt cheek.  The bite didn't break the skin, but I had four distinct red marks from his canine teeth, which turned into four pretty bruises over the coming days.  

My point of telling you this is not to warn you about big black dogs (little white dogs bite just as much), but to marvel about the power of an experience.  I know that the probability of that dog ever being outside the fence again are near zero.  In five years of running on that road, it has never been loose.  One part of my mind knows that, but the other part is still very nervous and cautious.  I avoided that route until this past weekend, when I practically forced myself to run that way just to prove that it wouldn't happen again.  However, I couldn't bring myself to turn into the cul de sac and run right by the house.  It just seemed like I was tempting fate, even though I knew the odds were against it.  I normally really enjoy running through that neighborhood - there is a lot of green space, not a lot of cars - but this one little love bite left a negative impression that lasted long after the bruises faded.

It makes me wonder about my daughter and the power of experiences that she is having.  Will she remember the events that are occurring in her sub-three year old life?  Has she experienced a traumatic experience already that has made a mark on her conscious, but that I just wrote off as no big deal?  I know that we learn new things when we are pushed out of our comfort zones.  Facing our fears, blah, blah, blah.  But the problem is that we each have different fear levels.  It makes me think about the cliched story of a Dad teaching his child to swim by tossing him into the deep end of the pool/middle of the lake/dark and stormy ocean and leaving the kid to either sink or swim.  The child hopefully was able to figure out some desperate doggie paddling, but he also probably lost just a bit of his trust in Dear Old Dad.  I'm not speaking from personal experience here; my traumatic childhood experiences with my Dad involve hiking.  After you hear, "We're so close I can almost spit on it" several times and you still don't see the top of the mountain*, you sort of give up hope of ever making it to the summit.  However, something about that family nature time stuck with me for the better, because now I love hiking.  And you know what?  I have already uttered that infamous phrase to my daughter.

*We're not talking Everest here - a mountain in central Pennsylvania is actually just a large hill.

 

Thankful Tuesday - 6.22.15

As I was cresting the first hill on my long weekend run, I had my eyes on the ground, thinking about the route, glad that I was out early while the suburbs were still quiet.  Suddenly, something caught my eye at the top of the hill.  It was a bird of prey, wings outstretched, flying directly at me.  That alone would have been exciting, but then I realized that it was carrying something in its talons!  I abruptly stopped running and stood in the middle of the road to watch it swoop by me and head towards the small patch of woods along the bike path.  I started running again, half in a state of amazed shock, and saw where the bird had taken off from.  In the strip of grass between sidewalk and road, I saw the killing sight - a circular explosion of small gray feathers.  I contemplated taking one home with me for the little babe, but didn't want to carry a feather in my sweaty hand for the next hour.  As I continued my run, it made me smile to think that I was the only person to have witnessed this event, even though it happened right outside someone's door and within sight of several other homes.  I wondered if anyone had seen me standing there, wondering why I was staring at the sidewalk with a strange smile on my face.  The lucky kestrel, soon to have a full belly, the unfortunate songbird, whose end was hopefully quick, and me, the rude visitor interrupting the meal.  If I had run into another cul-de-sac or left the house three minutes later or if a car had driven by and scared the kestrel, I wouldn't have seen it.  I may have seen the feathers and wondered what happened, but my morning wouldn't have been the same.  I am thankful that in this manicured, manipulated, mass produced suburban neighborhood, the natural world is still alive and thriving, fighting for survival.

(Luckily, this adorable little guy did not get eaten over the weekend.  He was hanging out under some bark scraps in the driveway.  Another great suburban nature find.)

What are you thankful for today?

Summer Loving - #2

As I was thinking about what I wanted to share for the second Summer Loving post, I remembered that I had a couple of jars of goldenrod dye left over from last Fall.  Since I don't have any more white yarn to dye, I thought that tie dyeing some clothes with the natural yellow dye would be fun.  Tie dyed shirts just shout, "freedom, sun, laid back Summer fun!"

What you need:  natural dyes, rubber bands, white clothing to dye, a stainless steel pot and spoon

How to make it kid friendly: let them do the spraying and stirring.  What kid doesn't love playing in water?!

After the shirts have been soaked in water, wring them out and put on the rubber bands.  I had no predetermined idea for a pattern; I just let the little babe choose which rubber bands to use and I twisted areas of the fabric, folded the top over, and wrapped them tight.

Then I emptied out the water, poured the dye in, and let the little babe stir until she got bored.  Since the dye is just goldenrod and alum, I wasn't concerned if she splashed a bit on herself.  (Though I did not encourage it.)

Almost immediately, the white shirts turned yellow.  And more importantly, stayed yellow even after the dye was rinsed off.

I wasn't quite sure if I had to let the shirts sit in the dye for a while or if I should rinse the shirts with the rubber bands on or off.  I didn't know if the wet dye would bleed onto the white parts if I took off the rubber bands.  So I pulled a typical Katie and just winged it.  I drained off the dye, but let the shirts sit in the pot for two hours.  Then I took off the rubber bands and rinsed the shirts until the water ran clear.  Then I hung them outside to air dry for several hours before machine washing them, hoping the dye was set.  As you can (barely) see from the photos below, the yellow color is very light.  I only soaked the shirts for 5 minutes since I had an impatient stirring partner, so in the future, I will let the shirts sit in the dye for at least an hour.

This isn't a step by step tutorial for tie dyeing with goldenrod, because I already had the dye prepared (and I wasn't really sure what I was doing, so it was an experimental process!)  This website and this website offer good information about tie dyeing with natural dyes.

Sometimes you just have to wing it and have fun.  As I've said before, it isn't always about the end result, it's the doing that matters.

If you'd like to share one of your Summer Loving experiences, please leave your link in the comment section below.  The third installment of the Summer Loving series will be on July 6th!

 

Thanks For The Reminder

So the big joke of the week is... our Pekin ducks are not Pekin ducks at all.  They are Indian Runners!  I think I subconsciously knew it, but since the clerk at the feed store told us they were Pekin ducklings (and all ducklings basically look the same to us), I believed her.  We have raised Indian Runners in the past and they have a very distinct look.  They have a much more upright stance than other ducks and are very slender.  They typically "run" rather than waddle.  Pekins are short, stocky and very white.  Like this:

 And here are adult Indian Runners:

Very different body shapes!  And here are my ducks:

Definitely cute, but definitely not Pekins.  Look at those long necks!  Ever since their adult feathers started coming in, I have been waiting for them to turn a brilliant white.  At first I thought their belly feathers looked tan because they were dirty.  But they stayed like that and the tan spot started getting larger, especially on Lou, who we believe is a male.  Finally the other day, my husband said that he looked it up and he thinks they are Indian Runners.  As soon as he said it, the light bulb turned on and I had a "duh" moment.  Of course they are Indian Runners!  I would have figured it out sooner, but since the lady told me Pekins, my brain was set on Pekins.  I couldn't see what was actually right in front of me.

I think there is some moral to be learned here, but I'm not eloquent enough to put one together.  Basically, we shouldn't trust everything people tell us.  While there are experts that we should be able to trust to provide us with correct knowledge, we should also be open to doing research, exploring, and thinking for ourselves.  These are key concepts that I want my daughter to learn, so I am glad for this little reminder.

 

Shared on the Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop.

 

 

Encouraging Kids to Appreciate Nature

 

Encouraging Kids to Appreciate Nature

-Get outside.  You don't have to spend the whole day outside.  There is plenty to see on just a short hike in the woods, a stroll at the local park, or simply a walk around the neighborhood.  There are many lessons about nature to be learned right in your own back yard!  (Chamomile, which self seeded from a scraggly couple of plants I had in a planter last year.  Despite being stuck between two pieces of concrete, they are now blooming.  Lots of lessons to be learned from this.)

-Slow down.  When I was processing strawberries the other night, I found a slug on the edge of the bowl.  I was in a hurry to get the berries put away before dinner, but I also knew that the little babe would enjoy seeing the slug.  So I took the time to take it outside to show her.  And then what happened?  All by herself, she found a small green caterpillar crawling on the berries.  Then when she was finding a home for the caterpillar, she found a small inch worm, which she very happily held in her hands.  She had several great learning experiences in less than 10 minutes.

-Be interested (even if you have to fake it).  I'm not too keen about bugs.  As a child, I was just down right scared of them.  I still don't have any interest in touching them, but I try to not show any anxiety or disgust about them and I encourage my daughter to touch them.  Children mimic what their parents do, so get interested!

-Encourage further fact finding.  We were given a set of field guides as a wedding gift (thanks Nan), but only in the past year have we really used them.  They are now kept in an accessible place and we reference them almost daily.  The little babe often "reads" them by herself, looking at the different birds that we have identified.  (After a lot of research, I am pretty sure this is a Meadow Fritillary.)

-Create a space at home to display nature finds. (Obviously live animals or insects should not be removed from their natural environment).  We have a purple painted kitchen chair (saved from the curb) that sits outside our front door and serves as our Nature Chair.  When we come home from our walks, the little babe ponders the best place on the chair for her nature finds.

-Find a balance between photographing your outdoor adventures and just embracing the moment.  Some moments seem just too precious to NOT capture with your camera, but you also don't want your child to feel that every time they find something exciting, you'll whip out the camera.  I've started asking my daughter if I can take a picture of her with a nature find and if she says no, I respect that.

-If you do photograph your nature experiences, display your photos at home in a creative way so children can continue to remember and talk about the experience.  We have a picture mobile that holds about a dozen photos and hangs over my daughters's play area.  It was my intention to change the photos each season, but we don't normally get prints made, so I'm a little behind on that.

Do you have a family favorite way for experiencing nature?

 

Shared on Living a Good North Coast Life for Reconnecting With Nature.

 

Thankful Tuesday - 6.16.15

Today I am thankful for... 

Shafts of wheat.  Yes, you CAN grow wheat in your own backyard.  Is it practical?  No.  Will it be enough wheat to even make a loaf of bread?  Probably not.  But is it a totally awesome learning experience to see wheat berries germinate, the same wheat berries that I ground into flour, and then to actually see new wheat berries growing?  Oh yeah. 

 Garden harvest.  Rhubarb, a bit late.  (It started the season under a pile of wood, so I'm impressed I got this much.  Our kale (in the front yard) is doing awesome.  The unlucky souls in the backyard are still recovering from the rabbit attack.  Small spinach, which I planted a bit late, but which will be perfect for putting in smoothies.  ("Mom, taste spinach."  "No, you can't taste the spinach.  Just drink it.")  And look at those sage leaves - big, sturdy, full of texture.  I love growing sage - mainly because nothing eats it.  It is just too bad we don't have more of a use for it.  Since we don't eat meat, we really only use it in some butternut squash dishes.  We also have tons of basil and I have already made several batches of basil pesto, with some random spinach and kale leaves thrown in.  I never get tired of smelling the basil.

The kindness of strangers.  A couple from the neighborhood that had a large white oak cut down, no use for it, but didn't want it to go to waste.  It would have been easier to have the tree company haul it away, but instead, they knocked on the door of a stranger's house, a stranger with a wall of wood in the driveway, and asked if he'd like to take it.  Yes, please.  So in a little over a week, my husband has hauled (in the trusty Subaru), split, and stacked almost 1 1/2 cords of white oak.  We returned the favor by taking them some homemade strawberry muffins and they invited my husband and daughter inside for water, cookies,and conversation.

What are you thankful for today?

A Natural Gift

A natural gift.  No price tag, no carbon footprint, no pesticides.  Just semi-wild goodness.  These roses were blooming before we moved here, they continue to bloom every year even though I offer them no help (except a good whack once a year), and they will still bloom even when we are no longer here to see them.  The least I can do is appreciate them when they're in their glory.

 

Field Trip - Goat Farm!

Last weekend we took a little road trip to visit the dairy goat farm that we purchase milk from at our local farmers market.  It was a pretty drive, up and over the mountain, through Amish country, and luckily the rain had stopped.  They keep Saanens and Alpines, which are both pretty tall goats!  They also have one Boer buck, so that they can breed year round.  They have about 69 milking does, 5 bucks, and had around 100 kids born this year.  They gave us a tour of their milking parlor and processing rooms.  Along with offering raw and pasteurized plain goat's milk, they also make chocolate milk (the little babe's favorite), drinkable yogurts, kefir, hard and soft cheeses, and in summer time - ice cream!  We had a wonderful visit, learned a lot of new information, and now definitely have to start planning for a homestead!  

 

Do you raise goats?  If so, what is your favorite breed?  

(This article has some great goat head shots.)

 

Shared on the Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop.