Life With The Crew

Proof of Berries

The great thing about traveling North for vacation is that we have an extended berry season!  I was just picking the last of the red raspberries from our bushes in Pennsylvania on the day that we left for Maine.  Up here, the berries are still in full swing, so we had a great berry picking session at a local organic farm.  They had the biggest black raspberries I have ever seen - larger than my thumb!  They also had HUGE purple raspberries, which are similar to red raspberries, but even larger and they are actually a muted purple color.  Last year, the raspberries on this farm were affected by the Spotted Wing Drosophila and the farmer was afraid he would have to destroy his berry bushes.  He told me that the purple raspberries are from 35 year old stock that is no longer available, so he was going to try and keep this variety going.  Isn't that amazing?  35 years!  And to think that just like that, they could be lost.  If people only ever shop in mainstream grocery stores, they won't ever have the chance to see all of the amazing varieties of food in this world.  Supporting small farms that grow heritage varieties might introduce you to something knew and delicious!  The red berries in the photo below are actually the purple berries - the color in the photo doesn't do them justice.  

What fruit is in season near you right now?  

These Lake Days

 

If you were to paint the view, you would use up most of the blue in the paint set.  The blues of the water - navy blue, ocean blue, black, or even green and brown.  The blues up above - the obvious sky blue, baby blue, cerulean (what IS that?), the purplish blue grays before the storm.  The shaded blues of the mountains in the distance.  Then a bit of green for the trees and a couple dabs of white and gray for the clouds.  A tiny dab of black for the loons that suddenly appear, black heads visible for a couple seconds, minutes if you're lucky, then they bob back under, out of sight.  In the sleepy middle of the night dreamland, their calls drift in through the open windows.  Owls?  Loons?  Both sound other-worldly.  The lake has many moods.  Calm, contemplative, quite mornings.  Bright, boat filled, sun baking mid-days.  Lethargic, long light, end of the day sunsets.  

I do so love all of these blues.  I am thankful that my parents favored this type of vacation experience over the Disneyland or touristy boardwalk scene and I am grateful that I am able to share this special place with my daughter.  Canoes instead of cotton candy.  Loons instead of lines of people.  These lake days.  They make me happy.

 

 

 

A Beach Walk

A walk on the beach.  What’s to say?

A simple walk makes for a perfect day.

 Wind blown curls, sand between our toes.

The smell of a stinky dead crab in our nose.

 Plovers, terns, gulls, and geese.

A smiling face and a feeling of peace.

A Farm Stay in Maine

Goats and geese in the milkweed, frogs in the pond, three cute pig noses, the biggest duck we've ever seen, AND we slept in a yurt.  We had a great time staying at Pagett Farm in Palermo, Maine for two nights.  I discovered Pagett Farm on the website Farm Stay U.S.  

We had never slept in a yurt before and I was just as excited as the little babe.  It had a full sized bed with a crazy handmade quilt and two bright colored braided rugs on the floor.  There was a propane stove to keep us warm and we could see the treetops through the hole in the roof.  In the morning we picked blueberries along the grassy trail as we walked to the main house for breakfast.  We passed the pond along the way, which was full of frogs, minnows, and even a snake, which made the male in our group very happy.  After breakfast on Saturday we were given a great tour of the farm.  The more animals, the happier we are, and there were plenty here.  

Since I can only dream about having a homestead full of animals right now, I am grateful that there are people like the Pagetts that are willing to open up their barn doors and make room at their kitchen tables to share the highlights (and hardships) of life on a farm.

A Silly Little Rhyme

Feet, feet, I love these feet.  Little chubby toddler feet.

For nine long months they were inside my belly, which luckily was stretched too taut to shake like a bowl full of jelly.

Ten little fingers and ten little toes, she also has one little cute button nose.

This picture was too cute, I just had to share; though I know really only her grandparents will care.

I don't know where these feet will go, what paths they will take, what the future may hold.

I do so love this babe of mine and that's the end of this silly rhyme.

How To Save A Baby Robin

 

How To Save A Baby Robin  

-Loudly exclaim expletive*, because this sort of thing always happens when you are home alone.

-Confirm that the bird is still alive.  Yes.

-Survey the surrounding area to see where the baby may have come from.  Locate nest directly overhead in apple tree, maybe in reach with the help of a ladder.

-Run to shed and grab ladder, which actually was conveniently located right inside the door.

-Situate ladder as steadily as possible on uneven ground, tell toddler to spot you stay out of the way, and climb as high as possible (two steps from the top).  Still too far below the nest.

-Run to shed and grab apple picker, grab the branch with it (why is it so hard to avoid getting it stuck when you're picking apples, but now when you want to grab the branch, it keeps falling off?), and tell toddler to pull down on the picker stay out of the way while you again climb as high as possible.  Pull the branch down with the apple picker, but do not dislodge the critical nest from the branch.  Still too far below the nest.

-Run to shed and grab grain scoop to pick up the baby bird.  Climb back up the ladder with grain scoop in one hand, pull on the picker with the other, and attempt to tilt baby bird into the nest.  The darn baby bird is alert and active enough to know that this isn't a good idea and he is scrambling to stay in the scoop.  With quaking arm muscles, admit defeat.  Expletives may be uttered during this entire process.

-Grab the toddler, run to neighbors to ask for assistance from tall neighbor.  More expletives may be uttered when they are not at home.  (Or just inside avoiding the crazy neighbor.)

-Run in house, call tall brother, and ask him to drive 20 minutes out of his way to save a bird's life.  (Luckily he was headed this way anyway.)

-Tall brother saves the day, after two attempts to get the baby to stay in the nest.  Present brother with reward.  Homemade chocolate whoopie pies are well received.

It is a myth that if you handle baby birds the mother will not return.

*This is one of those times when something other than "Gosh darn" was uttered.

 

Shared on Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop.

One Little Seed

I've been feeling a bit blah about blogging recently.  I want to share inspiring, positive, educational blog posts, but they just aren't coming out.  Sometimes I get on a roll and I can't turn my brain off.  I'll wake up in the middle of the night and write a whole blog post in my head and hope that I can remember it until nap time the next day, when I have time to write it down.  I'm not talking about major mind blowing rocket science ideas, but I do like to have a point or focus for my blog posts.  Today, I have nothing to share except some flower photos.  

Cosmos - I love seeing raindrops like this.

Daisy Fleabane - most people would call it a weed, but it looks so pretty on a sunny day, white and yellow against a baby blue sky.

I love the texture, as well as the intense yellow color, of these two flowers.  Stop and think for a moment about a small simple flower seed.  Then look at all of the individual parts that compose these two flowers.  Amazing, isn't it, that all of these little tiny parts some how come out of that one little seed? When trying to identify the plant on the right, I discovered this article about Lowes and bees.  Good news.

More fleabane and sedum.

Queen Anne's Lace in its first curled up stage.  It will open up for pollination, then curl inward again at the end of the season.  Parts of the plant are edible, but it has some scary poisonous look alikes, so beware.

You carry the power of that one little seed to create a magnificent life full of amazing texture and color.  Appreciate the richness.  Don't let the blahs weigh you down.

A Bit Of A Gloomy Gus

The almost constant rain is wearing on me and as much as I know there are far more important things that I could fixate on, I would just really like two days in a row without precipitation.  I have a constant eye on the sky looking for storm clouds because I don't want to get caught on the opposite side of the neighborhood with two dogs and the little babe while we're out walking.  I could make a run for it with the dogs, but the additional 30 bouncing pounds on my back would slow me down.  The duck pen/pond is really starting to smell because it doesn't have a chance to dry out.  The garden is growing out of control, but I haven't had a chance in between rain showers to do any weeding.  I did manage last week to provide some additional support for the tomatoes which are taller than me!  

But, enough complaining.  Let's focus on the good!

-I managed to steal an egg from my own chickens today.

-The little babe and I watched fireflies before bed.  She said it was fun.  I was reminded of how amazing nature can be.

-I have managed to freeze a whole gallon bag of red raspberries from our own bushes and that is on top of eating lots of them straight off the bush, on top of pancakes and granola, and the occasional raspberry milkshake (which is actually more like raspberry milk, but the little babe doesn't notice.)

-My pumpkin vines have blossoms on them.  These pumpkins have the potential to weigh 90 pounds, so I am very excited (though not holding my breath.)  I'll be excited if we get ANY pumpkin that isn't mutilated by a rodent of some sort.

 -The little babe and I had a nice morning at the arboretum on the one day that the sun was visible.  It actually felt like July.  Then back to reality - the next morning we woke up to the steady pitter-patter of rain.

Hope your day is filled with goodness, whatever the weather may be.

 

Thankful Tuesday - 7.7.15

Today I am thankful for...

-the creative mind of a little babe.  While I do roll my eyes and get frustrated over the temper tantrums that result because of a "buddy" not having this or that (especially at bedtime), I also smile at the creativity behind it.  Can you identify the fish that she is holding below?  (In case you can't see it that well, I'll tell you that it is a sculpin.  She actually touched a live one at the nature center last week, so then we had a whole play session centered around it at home.  I had to hold the sculpin while she got the cooler all set with water for it.  I'm glad that I only had to hold the imaginary one.)

-a husband who not only made sourdough pancakes this weekend (eaten with berries from our  yard and foraged on my morning run), but also spent the weekend refinishing old wooden floor boards from our attic.  They became the ceiling in our daughter's bedroom and it looks awesome!

-pollinators.  This world needs more of them. 

-lilies!  The first pink one bloomed on Friday.  The shape and texture just amaze me and the fact that so much energy is spent creating something so beautiful that only gets to shine for a day.  Nature is crazy sometimes.

What are you thankful for?

 

Summer Loving - #3

Pennsylvania is loaded with state parks and one of the quintessential Summer pastimes is to visit one for picnicking, swimming, hiking, or boating.  We do not own a boat, but this past holiday weekend we had the opportunity to rent a kayak free of charge.  I was told that the sit-on-top kayaks are really sturdy, so I had faith that the little babe would SIT STILL and we went paddling.  We had a terrific time.  We went early in the morning on a Friday, so there wasn't a lot of motor boat traffic on the lake yet.  Mainly fishing boats and another couple kayaks.  There was one jet ski, which the little babe declared she did not like, yet she was fine with the motor boats.  

 

The little babe knows what kayaks are, but she had never been in one before.  We talked about it the night before, explaining how she has to sit still and not stand up.  She was excited, but I'm not sure if she really knew what to expect.  She donned the life vest and took her seat in the middle without complaint, though she did mention that neither Momma or Dadda were wearing one.  She also voiced a request for a paddle, but (luckily for my head) they did not have toddler sized paddles.  However, we found an abandoned wacky noodle floating along the shore, which filled in for a paddle.  (The tree hugger in me wonders how many of these damned unnatural things are floating around the world's oceans.)

 How do you get your water fix in the Summer?  Creek stomping, pool lounging, paddling or boating?

(Summer Loving #1 and #2.)