Good ideas gleaned from blogland

A short post after yesterday's novel...

I've been inspired this week by some of the loveliness I see daily on other blogs.

I had to pull out bubbles after I saw gardenmama's photos of bubble wands made from branches. What a brilliant idea! So naturally beautiful, I couldn't wait to try. (Lucy's using a forscythia wand; Andi's using a rubber canning ring.) I did it again today with all the kids, and they loved it, too.


And today, when one of the 5-year-old boys picked up a Y-shaped branch, I was reminded of the wonderful natural weavings I'd seen on Child in Harmony. I described it to the kids, and they were eager to try. Two boys and I worked on them for a good part of the morning, and they were so thrilled with the results, they brought them over to the neighbor's house to show them off, (and to the mail carrier, and to the UPS driver). This boy decided to add a flower he drew and cut out to the things he found in nature. I love the mixed-media result.


What's inspiring you and your kids lately?

Life blessings

We've had a very full week (at times, it felt overly full). But it's been a good one. We needed some time to talk and heal and be with friends, and we've had all of that. And these blessings helped, too:

One night, we went shopping for a birthday present for a friend (he'd asked me how to crochet at the park one day, and sat there on a park bench, crocheting away, so I'd hoped to find a good men's crochet book and supplies). When we arrived at the yarn shop, we saw that they were having a book signing. Cool! I'd heard about the book online, and always love to meet an author. It hadn't started yet, so we went over to the crochet books (where the men's selections were horrible!) and I fell in love with a pattern in this beautiful book. It was for a sweet baby dress; just what I'd been wanting to make for Lucy. But the pattern was for 9-12 months, too small. I was so disappointed! But I kept picking up the book and admiring all the wonderful patterns. We have a friend who works in the store. She saw me admiring the book and said "wait a minute," and wandered up to the front. I wondered if she might be getting me some insider deal. But then she returned with both Simple Crochet for Cherished Babies and Handmade Marketplace in her hands and said "happy belated birthday!" (She also told me she'd help me size up the pattern.) Seriously? Wow. What a treat! So I met the author and she signed my book (and gave me a lovely little bonus gift of twine and clothespins for an inspiration line; what a nice touch!).

We spent Saturday afternoon with my sister's family. Her 5-year-old was in a daddy-daughter dance recital (so sweet I got all teary-eyed) and we went to watch and then hung out at their house for a while. Lucy had a great time playing with her cousins in the back yard, and it was lovely to see; she's getting to a point where she really plays with them (instead of simply being their plaything...). I think she's so lucky to grow up near her cousins, something my sisters and I didn't have as children.

Sunday, we took a trip with friends to the Garden in the Woods. Our friend Eric, an awesome gardener, goes there to celebrate his birthday. We walked through all their gardens, admiring and trying to identify the native plants, gathering ideas for our own gardens. We watched a snake swim through a pond and it was such a thrill to be able to show Lucy an animal she'd only seen in books (now, when we read about a snake and say "do you remember the snake we saw at Garden in the Woods?" and she lights up and says "yeah!") Here we are taking one of many breaks (it was hot hot hot and it was that time of the month that I'm just not really up to hiking, if you know what I mean!)


And then yesterday, I got a gift in the mail from a reader. Ruby often comments on my blog (thanks! I love love love comments!), and when she heard I was having a rough time, she asked for my address. Look what arrived in the mail yesterday:

a reusable snack bag, filled with...

an adorable embroidered panda bear. (Lucy adopted this immediately. She thinks it's a drum, but also loves to feel the textures. I plan to hang it in her room.)

I can't even begin to say how amazing it is to be pampered by someone you've never even met. Ruby, what an incredibly sweet thing to do. I feel so blessed.

And then, of course, there's this baby:

(Remember this sweater? It's all well and good to take pose-for-the-blog photos, but this is how it looks in real life.) As I write this, she's sleeping (for the very first time) alone on her mattress on the floor in her own room (she'll come to bed with us when she wakes to nurse). We're downstairs, missing her! My so-big, wonderful, joyful, brilliant baby. She brings joy to my every moment.

Well, now, that was wordy! Aren't you glad I don't normally disappear for a week? My posts would get unbearably long! I'll tell you later about all the great reading I did this week...

I'm back, with my Independence Days update

I'm back. Thank you for forgiving my absence for a bit; my family had a bit of a crisis, but we're pulling through. And thank you so much for your kind comments; I was amazed at how much it helped me to have sympathetic words from strangers. It's time again for Sharon's Independence Day's Challenge, and that seems like as good a time as any to start again...


(peas, surrounded by branches to keep the chickens from uprooting them; so far, so good)

1. Plant something:
I have been very busy in the garden; more edible-plants orders arrived this week, so I planted a meader persimmon tree, 10 salmonberry bushes, 10 thimbleberry bushes, 3 elderberry bushes, 2 huckleberry bushes, creeping oregon grape groundcover, bunchberry groundcover, more good king henry, roman chamomile, and stinging nettle. And from the farmer's market (open at last!), I added lemon balm and lemon thyme.

(one of the many sticks I planted this week; can't wait until they're more bushy!)

2. Harvest something:
Eggs. Good king henry, ramps, garlic mustard.

(my perennial garden, pretty much ignored since I began planting edibles; thankfully still looking beautiful!)

4. Waste not:
Cleared some food out of storage that we're not eating, for donation to the post office's food drive.

6. Build community food systems:
The farmer's market opened again--yay! We got parsnips, leeks, scallions, and--to my great delight--wheatberries (we've never had grains there before; I was so glad to see them!)

7. Eat the food:
It's asparagus season, and therefore we are eating asparagus as often as possible: we've had lots of roasted asparagus and some stir-fried tofu and asparagus. More rhubarb cuppa-cuppa, this time using local honey rather than sugar (mmm...and I think I could cut the sweetner down next time). Roasted parsnips and leeks, wheatberry salad with scallions and sorrel.

Grey days

Please excuse my absence from this spot for just a bit. We're in a grey place right now and are trying to find the sun. I'll be back soon.

One post, three challenges

Time again for Sharon's Independence Day's Challenge:

1. Plant something:
Resina calendula and sugar snap peas from seed (good toward the Growing Challenge). Highbush cranberry, golden horn tree, salal, and nagoonberry (that's what was in the big box).

2. Harvest something:
Eggs, dandelion greens, violets, good king henry, sorrel, sweet cicely, and chives from our garden and yard. Garlic mustard foraged from a nearby abandoned yard (this is a new food to us).

3. Preserve something:
Made garlic-mustard pesto to freeze.

6. Build community food systems:
Some of the kids went home talking about the green smoothies--which turned out to be a new idea for some of the parents--and some kids are now gathering dandelion greens and giving them to their parents to eat. So I shared the "recipe" for our smoothies in one of my daily emails to the families in my program.

7. Eat the food:
I served the kids green smoothies three times this week, with mixed results (some love them, some don't--but I fear a bit of that is peer pressure). Lucy continues to love them. And all the kids love the idea of them, and love gathering greens for them, so it's going to become a regular snack around here (I trust that their taste for it will come with time--and with the arrival of fresh fruits!).

We also ate a yummy yogurt dip made with chives and teeny bits of other herbs from the garden (all I've got so far): plain yogurt, lemon juice, herbs, salt, pepper. It was great on green beans (1st day) and on roasted cauliflower (2nd day). And ate garlic mustard foraged from a nearby yard. Hated the recipe I used, but think I could like the greens. Will try again.

And then there were these. Oh, my goodness. Don't make these if, like me, you have trouble with--shall we say--portion size. I found the link here. Not the slightest bit local or sustainable, I'm afraid, but a good made-from-the-pantry treat.
...
Outside today, I finally removed a terracotta planter which sat at the base of this tree for a few years. We'd failed to take it in over the winter, so it had cracked to pieces, and it was so root-bound, I could barely get the soil separated from the pot shards. But I tackled the task today. To watch me, Lucy was inspired to climb up on the base of the tree, a new accomplishment of which she was very proud.

Once the pot was removed, there was a treasure-trove of insect life left behind: pill bugs, centipedes, and various larval creatures. Here, Lucy watches as the older children scramble to catch the fast-moving bugs to feed them to the chickens.

Reading and digging in the mud

It's been a very full weekend! In between lots of cheering-up-the-teething-toddler,

I got to the library:

(couldn't resist that $1 Fannie Farmer cookbook from the sale shelf, though it seems an odd combination with the one below it!)

Admired the effect of the rain on the now-looking-lush gardens:


And got my new plants in the ground:

Hope you found some time for relaxing this weekend, too.
...
I forgot to take pictures for the Great Outdoor Challenge again! Here's what I wish I'd photographed:

Lucy, sitting in an overtaken-by-weeds yard, picking dandelions with her 5-year-old friend, her arm around his shoulder.

Or when she pointed to a magnolia tree and later a wisteria vine, then to her nose, and said "mmm!"

Or when she sat with me on the steps, pulling leaves off the garlic mustard plants we'd foraged across the street, in preparation for dinner, again saying "mmm."

Can you picture it?

Work of various kinds

Look what came today!

I've got my work cut out for me this weekend. I can't even remember what I ordered, let alone where I thought it would all go. Fruit bushes, that much I remember!

There was no time to open the box today, however. We were too busy down at the stream.

We discovered animal tracks in the mud:

Someone suggested we try making our own:

We came home good and muddy:

We'd forgotten to bring our field bags with us today, so we sketched the tracks from a photo later:

We knew these tracks--dog and raccoon. But we've been frustrated by attempts to identify other tracks we've found using the books I have on the subject. Any recommendations for good track identification guides?

Play along with us during the month of April for Children and Nature Awareness Month by posting a picture of your child(ren) each day enjoying the outdoors! Get outdoors and climb a tree!