CRAZY!!!

Let's just say that this summer has been CRAZY!!!!! I can not believe that Sam starts school in one week, Arlo in two weeks and I feel like my head is about to spin off!

Just to give you some idea of what has been going on.....in the last month we have (in no specific order):

:: Traveled to Pentwater on Lake Michigan.
:: Hosted visitors from Korea.
:: Hosted family from 2 parts of the country.
:: Moved my sister into her new house!
:: Traveled back from Pentwater and attended a talk that Matt gave at a composting farm. We saw a large scale vermaculture compost with worms (very cool).
:: Matt and I had a weekend away to celebrate our 10th anniversary.
:: Saw family off and had one quiet evening....before we...

...spent the last two days butchering and processing 12 chickens from the broiler hens we raised this summer!! That is a lot of chicken to process in a short period of time! We ate vegetarian last night.
Oh, and Pat and I canned 12 quarts of tomatoes, too.
We also harvested black beans and I am making ketchup as I write!

Anyway, I have loads of photos to share and now that we are actually home and will be on a regular basis...I may get to posting them....stay with me folks...

In my Opinion...

...this is the most perfect outfit for a 16 month old baby

...and the most perfect 16 month old baby.

Obi Wan

Yesterday after breakfast Sam wanted to cuddle on the couch in the living room. He has seemed so forlorn lately that I snagged this opportunity to spend some time with him and talk.
Here is how the conversation went:

Me: "Sam, you seem so sad lately. Is there anything you'd like to talk about?"

Sam: "Um, well, I guess I can tell you. Mom, do you believe in Star Wars?"

Me: "Well, I believe that it is a story someone created and the movies are based on the story, why?"

Sam: "Aw, I shouldn't tell you if you don't believe. You wouldn't understand or believe me."

Me: "Why don't you give me a chance. Tell me."

Sam: "Ok, so I am Obi Wan Kenobi. For real. I am not lying."

Me: " So what you are telling me is that I gave birth to Obi Wan Kenobi?"

Sam: "Yes! And I have the force. I can move things with the force. I dropped my light saber at Ruby's house and held my hand out to move it with the force and it moved!!"

Me: "Wow!"

Sam: "Yeah. Make a fist Mom. Like this. (makes fist) Squeeze tight."

Me: "Ok." (making a fist and squeezing tight)

Sam: "Can you feel that?" (meaning the sensation you get when squeezing your fist very tight)

Me: "Yes. I can feel that."

Sam: "That is it. That is the force. You have the force too Mom!"

Me: "Awesome."

He's been so happy ever since this conversation. The truth is out. Obi Wan Kenobi is my son.

First Pick of the Season

On June 28th the boys and I wandered up to play with the chickens and realized that the berries were on!!
Everything seems to be ready a bit earlier this year and I remembered our wild black raspberries ready for picking around July 4th of last year.
So, to find them round and black and juicy and ready for our mouths made us all very happy!

I managed to pick a quart in between my and Otis' samplings (he was on my back and I would pass two or three back to him as I picked). Sam and Arlo each carried a berry basket, but at the end the baskets were empty and the only evidence of any berry picking was on their faces and hands!

After we had picked our fill, we played in the garden and I set Otis down. He hadn't had enough berries and wanted more. I gave him a small handful and then watched as he kept them in his hand for a bit before eating them. Enjoy this series of shots...a true summer experience and an afternoon I will never forget!

Slacker

I know, I have been a great blogging slacker in the last six months. I have no excuses, except that I do, and I am trying to change. I want to change. I love writing about our lives...our crazy, never at-home, running an urban homestead lives.

I am photographing everything and partially because I am a perfectionist when it comes to my images, I can't just post any old photo. I need to modify them, etc. and that takes time. I have been having some computer memory issues, too, so that is making it a little harder to get images out.

Never fear. We are in a 10 day stretch of "at homeness" and I will be feverishly working on the image issue and the writing issue...and enjoying the nice cool temps of my basement office!

Please keep checking back and have faith that at some point in the very near future there will be grand summer stories told and photos of our beautiful children, chickens, turkeys, garden, friends and lives....

Arlo's Surgery

On May 25th Arlo had his tonsils and adenoids removed and tubes put in both of his ears. I have been meaning to post about this since the surgery...but boy does time fly!

All in all he did as I expected... and it was intense. Coming out of the anesthesia was rough, though the time we were in the hospital was a bit sweet. He watched a lot of TV and I sat right next to him knitting. He loved having me right there with him and I liked it too. It was actually a bit relaxing.


For the first day he couldn't eat any solid foods, so by the next morning when he was able to order from the menu he went crazy! He ate little bites of each thing he ordered...but most of it went uneaten in the end.


The following two weeks at home were very hard. He had a bad reaction to the first pain medication he was on. We ended up in the ER one night after he woke screaming as if he was being killed. I ran into his room to find him with blood spraying from his mouth. It was horrible. After 5 hours in the ER, we returned home with a new medication and things went a bit smoother. Now, nearly 6 weeks later, he sleeps all night, the snoring is gone and he is generally in a much better mood!!

Busy as Bees

Spring has sprung here at the homestead and we are quickly seeing summer peek its head out too! We have been so busy running around digging in the dirt and collecting eggs, tending our bees (yes, we have bees now...2 colonies!), mowing grasses.....the outdoor season is well underway.Finding the time to keep up with everything is such a challenge, so tonight I tried a new tactic....mowing the lawns after the boys were asleep with the mower head lights on! It was fun mowing in the dark! The boys could hear the mower through their open windows though and Sam wasn't asleep until 10 pm when I laid with him for a bit...erg. Maybe mowing at night isn't such a good idea....At any rate, we have a garden planted (mostly planted anyway) and we are sharing our large garden space with the son of an organic apple grower that Matt works with. He is an MSU student named Zach, and so far it has been a great arrangement!


We welcomed our newest "livestock" to the farm a few weeks ago...the bees. We have some dear friends that have been tending bees for years and Matt has been dying to learn. David has been a wealth of knowledge and I am enjoying learning from behind the camera!
Matt has been doing all of the "keeping" and my help will come into play when we harvest the honey in the fall. The boys are very excited about the bees and Sam keeps asking for a "small bee suit" so he can help, despite his experience with bees in the past.

Ten years ago Matt and I would sit and talk about our eventual place, our farm....bees were always on the list of "animals" we wanted to have. I am really enjoying being where we are right now...the place we've been trying to get for so long!
More to come soon with stories of Sam's 6th Birthday, Otis walking everywhere and Arlo's impending surgery!