2015 is here…

Well goodbye to 2014.
2014 was a year filled with travel , new adventures , struggles with school and balance, and the loss of my Grandma. December proved to be a whopper of a month. Dad got sick and was hospitalized, found out my sister has a disease, I got the flu and my uncle flew in to visit and help with the mayhem that became the last few weeks of December.

With all that I am very thankful for all the blessings , even with bad news came good things. Traveled to Ecuador and Grandma died while I was there. Got to visit with her and other family members. Got to travel to Scotland with Jules and her stage program who got invited to the FRINGE festival in Scotland. Awesome! Our return with hats!

I have so much to look forward to. I am trying again to learn about balance. I am getting it and cutting back on the things that are not necessary in my life. I am making time for people who are important to me. I am not feeling guilty for letting some things slide.
Let’s face it the hardwood floors will forever need to be swept due to the furry creatures who reside with us.

We lost Anthem in December 2013. We got Bosco in August of 2014 who has proved to be an awesome companion to Jack.

Jules is playing in the baby jazz band at school like I did when I was in high school. It is a cool thing to watch your kid do some of the same things you did(the good things!) when you were in high school.

Resolutions, there are many. Keep on my scheduled workouts, drink more water, be more peaceful. I need to learn not to be negative especially in my own head. Sometimes when I interact with people close to me, I am tempted to vent or think very negative thoughts and be critical, instead of letting it all go. So I guess another resolution this year will be to learn to “let it go”. “It” being negative feelings or reactions to interactions with people. Because in the end as I tell my kids “God did not put you on a deserted island, you are on earth in a suburban setting , you can’t go any direction without finding people” . We need to learn to get along.

“Letting it go” many times is  something I have to do when dealing with family members.

I mean we are all different and we don’t all react the same way. I need not to judge the way Simone deals with things just because I would never do what she does. Right?

We made some new traditions and revisited old traditions. When Mom was alive, she would take me as a little girl , then my daughters to see the Nutcracker every Christmas season. She began by taking my oldest when she was a wee three-year old. Even the last year she was with us, she purchased tickets but ended up sending me in her place. My oldest realized she was not doing well and was sad because she had a feeling she was not going to finish out the year.  Well , after she passed my sister and I took them once but it was difficult.

This year on a whim I bought three tickets for my daughters and I. It was one of the best Christmas memories of 2014! The three of us went to the Diner for lunch, hung out at the book store for a few, then went to the ballet. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon. Our seats were in the last row. But we had a great view and the girls and I were completely impressed and enjoyed the day. We all thought about Mom and remembered that she instilled in us all the appreciation of ballet and music. ❤

What to look forward to in 2015?

More of the same: school, chores, farm team work, Jules will be graduating High School, spring musicals, possibly some road trips this summer, Pam’s dance competition season is beginning. I hope to make some soap this year and be more organized.

Hoping to stay healthy!

CHEERS!

Polar vortex you say?

I must admit, I have never experienced the cold we have had in the past two days.  Yesterday was the first time I had heard the phrase ” polar vortex”.  I am not a fan of the cold weather whatsoever. If I had my choice I would live in a tropical place and never ever miss the cold weather. I think is the Ecuadorean blood that courses through my veins that makes me crave warmth from the sunshine and heat for any source!

The reality is that I live in a suburb of DC in Maryland. We have had single digit temps for the past 24 hours and it feels like it is not going away. However, usually our winters are not too bad temperature wise so I usually don’t complain. That being said, I now have the added responsibility of hens. So this morning like every other morning I had to go check on the hens at daybreak( actually before daybreak).

Their water was frozen and my crazy hen Liberty was at the chute door. The chute door opens up to their run; opens up to the great outdoors and the 1 degree temp. She stood at the door facing it then looking at me sideways as if to say ” Are you going to open it so I can go outside?”.

“Is she crazy”,  I thought to myself. Don’t these girls know we are in the midst of experiencing a polar vortex?

I changed their water and made sure they had enough  feed and left the chute door closed. (I don’t open the chute door until the sun is out.) Later when I opened the chute they all tumbled out as if they had been waiting for me to open it! Yes everyone is talking about the polar vortex. Apparently, the chickens have never heard of this and are not at all amused nor do they care.

I have to remember that hens put off as much energy as a 60 watt light bulb ( not the LED kind either the illegal type!). So when I step into their coop, it feels comfortable and not nearly as cold as it does outside.  It looked as if they had taken turns in the nesting boxes overnight to keep warm though. I made sure to stash extra hay in the boxes as well as fortifying the side walls by filling in hay  to insulate from the crazy wind that howled last night. Twice, my husband looked out the window to make sure the coop still stood.

The kids and Jack know better. Jack went out with me in the early morning. He usually watches while I take care of the hens from a safe distance behind a railing on the deck. As I was finishing my chore, he got impatient and started barking so the kids would let him in. He had enough of the brisk breath-taking air.

Needless to say today when we go out , we need to cover up completely. Found my daughter’s awesome mittens with a water proof thin exterior shell ,lined, and fur on the edge. I wore them out today and what a difference from the cheap little knit gloves! Why did my 16 year old decide she did not need these warm mittens? Well, she explained to me that whatever extra garments she brings she has to carry them around with her all day and is afraid of losing them . Her loss is my gain! they are definitely Polar Vortex worthy. I did not feel the cold at all on my hands.

Stay toasty everyone!

I am sure I will revisit this post in the high heat of the dog days of summer and remind myself how cold it was and to enjoy the heat.

It finally happened…. the first egg!

I was researching information about when a hen is ready to lay an egg. I was concerned because we were coming up on 21 weeks for a couple of our hens (some are a bit younger) and had no eggs yet.

Yesterday I noticed that when Philip would run up behind Loka to pick her up she would flatten herself a little as if to allow him to pick her up. I  bing-ed this behavior and made note that this was

possibly a sign that she was ready for laying or preparing.

Today we got the hens out early to free range in the yard. When my daughter went out, she started making noise because there were two hawks circling the neighborhood. We ended up taking our bible

study and history outside with the hens. It was  beautiful unseasonably warm fall morning so it was tolerable sitting outside for an hour. When we were sure the Hawks had left  our street, we went inside.

My son noticed that Loka was heading towards the backyard( and the coop) . We let her back in the coop and she went right to the nesting boxes, scratching and shifting the straw around and cooing

and  crowing.   Pamela watched and gave us a play by-play ” now she is in the middle box, no back to the right box” etc.

It started to rain and we brought all the hens back down.  as soon as they were all in, Loka and Lora were in the middle box.

I thought maybe something would happen.

After lunch we went down and let the hens out. I let my son check and he found the egg.

A beautiful light teal colored egg, still warm to the touch.

What excitement ensued. Of course I had to tell my dad and all my cousins. I was so excited.

Now if only the other hens  get the same idea!

This has been an exciting day. As a treat, all the hens got some freeze-dried meal worms which they gobbled up greedily.

 

 

 

 

Love my tomatoes and so thankful how plentiful they have been…

I know I talk about my tomatoes a lot!

However, as I went to the farmer’s market yesterday, I realized as others were snatching up the heirloom tomatoes at an inexpensive $1.99/ lb, I still have green and turning tomatoes on the vine and a few delicious bright red ones ready for sandwiches and salads. It is October already.

I can say that I have bought tomatoes exactly once since June. We are tomato lovers. We have had such a harvest this summer( and fall) of Tomatoes that I have shared with my dad, neighbors and even brought some in to the rescue squad for dinner. I have even shared the tomatoes with my girls. These pullets have learned the art of jumping for their food.

Even though I  had caged the tomatoes and made sure to “keep them out of reach”, a few of the pullets look like basket ball stars jumping for the ball. Those tomatoes that have the beak marks in them go to the hens, they have earned it.

I did also yesterday have the last few figs. Even though we had a few cool nights,  high above me hung the most beautiful , brown, plump, and juicy turkey figs. I picked one and it was a bright red, purple and sweet inside. the hens gathered around. they knew what a tender delicious treat I was enjoying. I had to share. I did there turned out to about a dozen so we shared in the mid day sun, a treat of the last figs of the season.

Now, lay some eggs ladies!!!!! Hopefully she isn’t laying an egg in the yard!>

Spring is around the corner

I had ordered my seeds back  in early February as I do every year. This year I added some seed potatoes. MY BAD! They are behind with those so my entire order is on hold. This kind of throws a monkey wrench in my plans.

I guess it will be interesting if starting my seeds indoors two to three weeks late will make a difference . The lady at the seed company did promise I’d get them before March 17 , which is potato planting day. The delay has given us time to work the outside beds. I just can’t wait for the seeds!!!

We are trying leeks this year, so excited.In other garden news, I saw the first bunny! I was coming home form a meeting late and she/he scurried past me directly to the potato bed.

I think this year I am going to try using Agribon to protect my garden from predators/and poachers of the furry kind.

 

 

I am hoping to avoid the avian death that occurred at the berry bushes last year.  Last year I had covered my berry plants with the fruit guard. This was like a plastic grid. But a  grey catbird  got caught up in there struggled and died. It made me sad.  So sad that I took the guard off and had only a few berries .

This year the berries will be covered in agribon and I will leave some figs for the birds!

You can get Agribon online mostly. If you live near a nursery, they would have it there. However, you can shop for deals on line.

So excited for spring.

Jules my oldest has decided to follow through and raise some chickens as pets( egg layers).

We are hoping to get chicks as soon as April.  Jules has researched this project for a few years. I think we are ready. There is a pretty interesting group in my area of backyard chicken keepers. It is nice to have a good support system. We have visited a few and gotten some good pointers.

. We are looking at Marin, Barred rock, Buff Orpington, and she also likes the Wyandote.

Marin

                 eggs More to come on our adventures in sustainable living. I know that living in the suburbs, I cannot get a cow for milk or broilers  for meat. However we will do this experience to see how much square footage in garden will save us money in eggs and veggies. All of us, except my husband , are excited about having chicks and hens as pets too! We are all trying out cool hen names. I told them to wait until we get the chicks and we may be further inspired by their characteristics.

I read Animal , Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

It was a wonderful book about her experience of a year of sustainable living. For a year her family ate only what was in season and what they grew. I felt sad for her teenage daughter who longed for a salad in March and rejoiced with her when in late April the baby greens appeared! It has inspired me to do what I can to grow what I can and make what I can and see how those measures will help with our home budget. I am not sure if I can make it through Jan-April without lettuce. Maybe I will cheat and try to grow hydroponically in the winter.

I will post more later with our own pics .

Happy Gardening!

 

 

some things we did this summer

We had some fun. We did some unit studies. This one pictured here was henna tattoos. We were studying  India. It is a broad topic so we did some writing, a lot of reading, did some fun art projects and made samosas. It was a fun week. My honerary daughter and fourth child Tess joined us .

  We raised a ton of tomatoes. So many of them came out in the shape of a heart. They were purple cherokee variety. It is an heirloom variety with a mild and delicious flavor.  I cannot count how many times I went to the garden and brought back at least 3 tomatoes in this shape.

I had a number of heart shaped items. I had at least three hydrangeas in the shape of a heart. My cousin said that was Mom sending me love! I thought  that was sweet since Mom gave me those hydrangea plants the spring before she passed away. Then finding the numerous tomato hearts was a bonus. My husband said it is because I am constantly whispering sweet nothings to my tomato plants from the time they are seedlings. LOL

We taught the dogs a new trick. How to get along without killing each other! they look quite civilized siting in adjacent chairs. Don’t they?

It has been a long time coming but the doggie detante is becoming a regular thing… Peace:)

The girls at Pa’s Bday party.. theme was under the sea. We decorated the basement with paper fish and sea creature (homemade) decorations.

It was a nice group we went to the pool and had pizza, decorated t shirts and cupcakes and watched Aquamarine!

  Prepared for the fair by baking test batches. Brownies, cookies fudge and cake.  I think I am good and wont need chocolate for a very long time. Well, at least util the next full moon!

Went to the fair a couple of times. We saw a tone of cool creatures. The Kids participated in the fair through 4H. They were in the parade with their club.

All the kids entered craft projects and bakery projects. They all won a ribbon in at least one craft and one bakery item.

I entered my Carrot cake in the open class and won a blue ribbon.

We missed the birth of a few calves by hours 😦 but we did get to see some newborns. We also enjoyed some good fair food.

We have spent some time at the beach and a lot of time at the pool. We have spent some time with my Dad too.

So many times I was driving from one place to another, I would compose a blog and thought that as soon as I would get home I would write it. But I didn’t. I was too tired or had too much to do. Right now I should be baking a carrot cake. I totally forgot I was bringing  to the  pool party tomorrow!

My Shadow

I always joke that Anthem is my shadow. Recently, it has come to my attention that this old GSD is as attached to me as my human baby girl.

She has always followed me around and been underfoot while I am working in the house. When I am in the garden she follows me and when I settle into a task such as weeding, she will sit or lay down adjacent to where I am weeding. ( She knows not to actually go in the garden bed).

When I go in the laundry room she follows me back through the narrow path to the washing machine. When I am in the powder room, I practically trip over her as I exit because she is sitting directly in front of the door.

Yesterday we were preparing to go to the pool for a swim.   We walk to the pool so there was a lot of “did you get the passes?” , “Where is your towel?” ,  and “Are you going barefooted?”. So there were a lot of kids running in and out of the house and leaving the gate open.

Well at one point one of the children forgot to close the gate and the front door.  Anthem took advantage and nuzzled her way out the door, through the opened gate, and up the street. I was at the top of the street. My first thought was “oh no! we will have to get in the car and chase her.”

Boy was I wrong. She was running full tilt ( at her age it is  an amazing accomplishment) towards me.  We all laughed and hugged her and she walked back to the house with me. We put her in the house and secured all doors and gates and went on our way to the pool.

Once we were on our way up the street again,  we could hear Anthem howling. Aw.

The Jack(the younger GSD) joined in. They howled and we could hear them till we turned the corner.

And of course on our return it was whining and tail-wagging all around.

Who’s a good dog!

Anthem! I love the expression in her German Shepherd Dog eyes.

She is getting old.  She has always been my shadow. It was funny when the kids were still young I had to be careful because I had a five-year old ,  two toddlers, a giant German shepherd (Victor) and a GSD pup(Anthem). I couldn’t rush around I had to watch my step as they were constantly criss-crossing underfoot.

Now Victor is gone, the three kids are all grown up tweens and teens.  Anthem is older now, a senior dog. She still follows me everywhere and howls when I leave. The kids told me about that.

So today after a very long sleepless overnight shift at the rescue squad, and a longer school day, I crashed on the couch.  When I woke up, my trusted Anthem was laying by my side . as I stirred, she looked up and put her head on my lap. That is one of the most endearing  gestures she does.

I am sure some Animal Behaviorist will tell me that is a sign of her dominating me.  I don’t think so.  I will continue to believe she just like to hang with me:)

Chinchilla-sitting

We have been Chinchilla -sitting for a few days. It has been fun.

Philip actually asked to borrow her for Vet Science class.  We have friends who have a couple of Chinchillas and gladly let us have her for a few days. It has been a lot of fun. She is pretty jumpy. I would not recommend a chinchilla for someone who has dogs.

We have two GSDs and we have been keeping the chinchilla in the girls’ room.  The older Shepherd is very curious  but we will not chance stressing the chinchilla.

So far we have had her in a rolly ball and out as well. She likes raisins.

I must admit, I was taken by her cute little furriness. But now I know,  a rodent would be more trouble than fun. The stress comes from making sure the Chinchilla is safe from the dogs.

Here is Anthem after a long day of sniffing the smells of a new creature in the house. She was “chillin”  on the floor when Pam came up and started rubbing her belly. Ah to live a dog’s life.