Author Archives: Maria

Stone Exchange

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I recently participated in the Artful Stone Swap through Gardenmama.  Kaia, Leif and I gathered some mossy stones from the local fairy quarry.  We painted golden words of encouragement on them, sprinkled them with fairy dust and then sent them all over the world (seriously, one went to The Netherlands and one to Australia!!)  Then we received 5 fabulously beautiful stones from other participants.  I’m so excited about these.  They will grace our winter table.  What a fun way to meet people from all over and send a little love!

Picture update

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My posting has been fairly sporadic, I know.  But life is full and I don’t have much time to spend blogging.  So, here are some pictures to catch you up on our ‘doings’.  Hope you are all doing wonderfully and enjoying fall!

Leif's moved from a shoe obsession to hats.

Cowboy hat!

Paper boy hat! (And his delivery vehicle)

Attack!

Kaia's ghostly pumpkin

Scar face

Vampira

My awesome new scarf!! (Just finished last night)

subjects and predicates

This was a really fun lesson.  Kaia asked to do this over again and again.  She wrote the subjects and I wrote the predicates.  Then we put them in hats and drew out one of each.  In case you can’t see the last one it says “My mom’s butt – screams ‘Hallelujah!'”

All tuckered out!

Him too!!

Children’s Literature

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I never liked reading when I was a kid.  Certainly not the books that were assigned in school.  When I occasionally  found something that I did enjoy (Tuck Everlasting, A Wrinkle in Time…), I had a hard time focusing on the words unless there was complete silence.  In fact, I use to read out loud with my fingers plugged in my ears so that all I could hear was my own voice.  I don’t think it was until after college that I really began to enjoy reading.  And now that I have kids it feels like all I ever do is read, but this time around I’ve fallen in love with children’s literature.   I think I pick out more books at the library than Kaia does.  I had dreams of the day when the whole family could snuggle up in the living room next to a roaring fire, each with our own books.

Until recently, though, Kaia has had absolutely no interest in reading.  She loved to be read to, but admitted that she didn’t want to mess up a word, so she just wouldn’t read it at all.  So, for her 7th birthday I decided to write her a book.  I thought if I put her into a story doing things that she loves, maybe she would want to read about it.  She did love the book, but my plan didn’t work.  She just wanted me to read it to her over and over.  (It was actually Bernadette Kelly and her Pony Tales series, Dan Greenburg’s Zack Files, and other funny chapter books, along with a little more aging, that did the trick and got her devouring books).

But, that little story has spiraled into a 11,000+ word early-middle grade book, The Summer I Grew Scales, and it is ready for publishing.  I’m very lucky to have friends who are authors and editors who have walked me through this whole process and helped clean up the manuscript, as well as many sweet 7-12 year olds who have read it and given it rave reviews! :-)  So, I’m officially looking for an agent!

What’s it about, you ask?

When ten-year-old Kaia leaves on a summer beach trip with her family, she expects to enjoy some good old fun in the sun.  Instead she gets a lesson on mermaid genetics, a date with a hungry shark, and the fate of a species in her hands.

Kaia’s loves everything about being in water:  its silky smooth feeling on her skin, the quiet weightlessness as she glides underneath, the way it carries her on its surface like a rock star at her own concert.  She can only imagine how lovely it must be to float in the vast, open ocean.  However, imagining is all she plans on doing during her summer turtle-watching trip with her family. Where there is ocean there are sharks and she will never, ever get in the water with sharks.  Not even if her life depends on it.  But, what if it were someone else’s life?

It doesn’t take long after arriving on Tor Laei Island for Kaia to realize that things are a bit different there.  The houses are in the water, the food is, well, fishy, and the people spend most of their time in the water.  Yet, none of these oddities can prepare her for the news her uncle has for her.  The turtles of Tor Laei are dying out.  They can no longer find their way to shore to lay their eggs and they need help. That help, it seems, can only come in the form of a fish.  A half-fish to be exact.  And according to Kaia’s uncle, she is just the half-fish they need!  Kaia is a mermaid.  A Halfling.

Getting over your deepest fears isn’t for the faint of heart.  With the help of her family and Tieren, the violet-eyed merboy, not only is Kaia going to have to figure out how this whole mermaid thing works, she is also going to have to get in the water.  The ocean water . . . with sharks!  Never say never, right?

I had Kaia’s birthday present printed up and an amazing friend and illustrator, Constance Lombardo, painted the cover for me.

Wish me luck!

The Faeries’ Guide to Green Magick from the Garden – A Review

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Earlier this month, I was asked if I would like to review a newly published herbal on my blog.  “Sure” I said, “sounds like fun”.  Though I have to admit that part of me was apprehensive to spend my sparse free time looking through yet another herbal journal.  I have a gazillion of them at home already and most of them repeat the same basic herbal information.  Still, it sounded interesting so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

I’m happy to report that The Faeries’ Guide to Green Magic from the Garden by Jamie Wood and Lisa Steinke is a wonderful herbal journal that stole my heart from the get go.  Really, after receiving it, it was a few days before I actually read any of it.  The illustrations, done by Lisa Steinke, are so breathtaking that I had to take my time absorbing each of them before I could move on to the words.  Each of the 33 herbs in the book is represented by an image of a faerie that is absolutely captivating.  It’s hard to take your eyes off of them.  But if you move to the edges of the faerie figure you notice the images of the plant they represent.  You don’t really see it when you first look at the picture because your eyes are drawn to the faeire, but if you focus you see wonderful detail in each plant picture.  (And of course my faerie loving daughter needed to take her time devouring each picture before I could have the book back to read!)

I also really liked how this book was designed … each page adorned with flowing leaves or swirls.  This certainly isn’t necessary, but being a homeschooling mom who often doesn’t get out of my pajamas all day, it is nice to feel pampered when I’m reading a book.

Ok, so on to the words.  The beginning of the book does a brief but solid job of describing Green Gardening, Complementary Medicine, Faeries, and how they are interrelated.  I especially appreciated the mention of why Magick is spelled with a ‘k’ and what a faerie is.  I was not brought up with religion or taught much spirituality as a youngster, so believing in something I can’t see has been hard for me as an adult.  I thought the authors did a nice job at explaining faeries in a way that most people would be able to understand and not just see the image of Tinkerbell in their heads.

As I’ve mentioned, the majority of the book focuses on 33 herbs that can be easily grown in the house or garden.  Each herb description contains it’s scientific name, common names, and the parts used as well as a description of the plant.  I especially enjoyed reading about the energetics of the plant and the history.  (I love to hear how people in the past used plants, whether for physical medicine, spiritual use, or in cooking.)  There is also a recipe associated with each herb.  They range from edibles (Lavender Truffles!!) to cosmetics (Nettle Hair Tonic), to medicinal (Comfrey Salve), and spiritual (Cinnamon Protection Splash) recipes.

I’ve enjoyed this book.  It packs a lot of information into an enchanting design.  I think I’ll keep it in a prominent place among my herbals (if I can just get it back from my daughter).

(Note: I have not been paid for this review and have no association with the authors or the publisher.)

Squashes and Sweet Potatoes, Oh My!

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Well, the harvest is complete and most of the veggies have been canned or frozen for the winter.  The pantry looks pretty good and we have lots of soups to savor when it’s cold and bitter outside!  But, we also have many pounds of winter squash and sweet potatoes strewn about on the floor (we don’t have a basement or root cellar to store them in).  I’ve already canned up lots of squash soup and I have many gallons of puree in the freezer.  Unfortunately, I really don’t know what else to do with these veggies other than pies.  I’ve found a few yummy recipes on the internet that I’ve already tried, but I would love to hear some of your favorites!  Can you help me build my file of recipes?  Feel free to leave it in the comments, or if you post it on your blog, be sure to leave a link.

The Queen of the Night

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One day in the second grade, my music teacher played us some music by Mozart.  I remember thinking how lovely it was and fell under its spell as the notes traveled up and down the scale.  Then an aria came on that sent a shiver through my body and made the hair on my arms stand on end!  It was so powerful and strong that I wasn’t sure if I should jump out of my seat and start dancing, or flexing my muscles.  Mozart instantly became my favorite composer and I knew that, one day, I had to sing this song!

Years passed by and I could still hear the song in my head … the amazing high notes that sounded more like a flute than a woman … the wild anger in her voice.  Unfortunately, I’d never asked my music teacher what the name of the song was.

When I was about 12, I began voice lessons, hoping to sing opera one day.  I told my teacher about the song and that it was written by Mozart.  She immediately knew which one I meant.  She said “That is the Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute” and when she played it for me I was overcome by the same powerful emotions.  I was so excited to finally have a name to put to the song.

When I was about 16, I bought myself the CD of The Magic Flute (or Die Zauberflote – the opera is written in German) and listened to it over and over in the car, singing at the top of my lungs when I was by myself.  Def Leppard could kiss my butt!  I had Mozart!

I continued to sing through college, mostly in my car, some with choral groups, and very occasionally doing solos.  I had no desire to sing in front of people, I just wanted to sing.  Then, somehow, it just fell by the wayside.   It seemed like there was always someone in my car or in my house (room mates, husband, kids… it’s not easy to sing opera quietly, so I just sort of stopped).

But, this week, Kaia and I were offered free tickets to see the Asheville Lyric Opera put on a performance of  The Magic Flute and there was absolutely no way I was going to pass that up!!  We got seats front and center and had the most wonderful time!  The opera is actually much funnier than I’d realized.  Kaia loved the costumes, the set, and of course the princess.  For me, I held my breath for the moment I would hear the Queen of the Night, and she didn’t fail me.

So, I’m at it again.  I have the Magic Flute CD in my car and I plan a long ride by myself today so that I can start practicing!!!  One day, I will get up and sing it in front of an audience, even if it’s just an audience of two.  And YES, there will be make-up, costume, and one awesome crown!

So, for your listening pleasure, turn your volume on high and enjoy a little Queen!

(In this song, she is telling her daughter to kill the wise man, Sarastro, so that she can be queen of his domain.  She tells her daughter that she will be cast out and dead to her if she doesn’t do it.  Yes, she is a mean ol’ queen, but MAN, she can sing!!!)

While the mice are away, the cat will do stuff!

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Okay, well only one mouse was away … Kaia went to her Nana’s house for a few days.  But even with the other little mousey around, this ended up being the weekend of getting stuff done!  Maybe it’s the energy of fall making me want to put my house in order.  Or maybe I’m just a glutton for punishment and try to do too much.  (Probably more of the later.)

Friday morning Leif and I headed out to a local farm and picked up a few bushels of apples and 5 gallons of apple cider.  The 5 gallons of cider went straight into the carboy (big glass jug) along with 2 pounds of honey and 2 packets of champagne yeast.  It now sits on our counter while it ferments into a yummy and sweet hard apple cider. Mmmm! (Note:  I let the cider come to room temperature before adding the yeast and honey.)

After that was taken care of, I went outside with Leif and Heidi and scraped a bunch of lichen off of branches that had fallen in the woods.

Why would I spend my time doing something so seemingly pointless, you ask?  Well, because when you boil this funny little plant, it creates a wonderful rusty brown color to dye fiber with.

I have two skeins of white alpaca/wool mix that I want to use to make this vest for Leif.  So, I thought I’d make it a more seasonal color first.  We soaked our fiber in hot water while bringing the Lichen to a boil (we ended up having about 4 cups of lichen and wrapped this in muslin cloth before putting it in about 2 gallons of water).

I had 2 skeins weighing about 7 ounces and Heidi had about an ounce of unspun wool.  The rule of thumb when using lichen is 2:1 lichen:wool.  We ended up using 4 cups (I don’t know the weight) of lichen to 8 ounces of wool.  If we had gone by weight I’m sure the color would have been stronger.

The lichen boiled for 30 minutes, then we turned it down to simmer for an hour and added 2 big pinches of salt (to help the dye set).  Then we tosses the fiber into the pot and let it simmer for a few hours.  Once the heat was turned off, it was left to sit overnight.

While all this stuff was boiling, I decided it was time to reorganize my art closet.  It had become a huge clutter … and I don’t like clutter.  So, once Leif was down for his nap, I dove in.  I even had enough boxes to organize our medicine section of the closet.  I know I didn’t include the before picture, but believe me, it looks much better!

Leif was very helpful with my projects as long as I kept him supplied with crackers and apple cider (the non-alcoholic kind!)  He even let Suki clean up after him.

Saturday, I drained the fiber and rinsed it in warm water.  It came out a nice earthy brown color.

Heidi took her wool out, but I wanted a bit of yellow in there, too.  So, we decided to do a second dye with marigolds.  First we needed to boil the wool in Alum (Alum is used a lot in dying as a mordant, or a chemical that is added to the dye to make the color stay in the fiber).    We stirred 2 ounces of Alum into about 2 gallons of water.  (We were using ~10 ounces of fiber, my two skeins of yarn and Heidi added more undyed wool.  The general rule is 3 ounces of alum and 1 ounce of cream of tartar per one pound of wool, but Marigold doesn’t need cream of tartar.)   Then we tossed in the fiber and brought it to a simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally.

Once it had simmered, I tossed in a basket full of Marigolds

(yeah… so, I’m not so good a measuring out everything… but if you want to, the general rule when it’s not Lichen is 1 pound of plant/dye material per one pound of fiber) and let it simmer for a few hours, until I got the color I wanted.

Of course, doing all this wasn’t enough for me (I really do like projects!)… I had to cook and can 8 quarts of Emeril Lagasse’s Potato Leek soup, too! (Can you say YUMM?) (edited to add: the dairy was left out of this recipe for canning.  I add it when it is being reheated for a meal.)

All the while, the fermenting cider bubbled along…

Sunday I rinsed and dried my yarn.  It came out perfectly!  Just the color I had envisioned in my mind.  I think it looks like pumpkin pie.  It will make a lovely ‘little man vest”!

Lichen-Marigold Yarn

With that out of the way, it was time to tackle some of those apples.  So, I peeled and sliced up a bunch and tossed them in a pot to make cinnamon apple sauce (17 pints), apple pie filling (6 quarts) and dehydrated apples.  And I still have about a bushel of apples left!  Shesh!  Got any good apple recipes?

Taste testing apple sauce

I think I’m going to go put my feet up!

Fall Bonfire and Chocolate Awesomeness!

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Every year around this time we have a bonfire to celebrate the coming of Fall and Toby’s B-day. But this year, we are also celebrating Kaia’s speedy recovery from the snake bite, and Toby’s new job! We have a lot to be thankful for.

When I saw this post a few months ago on painting with chocolate, I knew I had to do it as a topper for Toby’s B-day cake!! I can’t believe how simple it was and how freaking awesome it turned out!!

I found a good picture and altered it according to the video in the post above. Then taped the picture to cardboard and covered it with wax paper and taped that down too.

The Original Picture Under Wax Paper

I put the dark chocolate in a plastic ziploc bag and melted it in hot water. Then I filled in the larger areas of the darkest parts of the picture. Here you see me using a tooth pick to add chocolate to the detailed areas.


Dark Chocolate Details

This is the final picture of the dark chocolate before I put it in the fridge to harden.

Dark Chocolate Layer

I mixed the dark chocolate with white (lots of white, only a little dark) to get a nice brown color and filled in the shadowed parts of the picture.

Light Brown Chocolate Layer

Then, after cooling it again, I used the white to cover everything with a nice thick layer, and returned it to the fridge.

White Layer

Once it had time to harden I took it out and flipped it over to reveal his chocolate handsomeness!!

Final Freakin' Awesomeness!

Kaia also took her turn making flowers and designs to decorate the cake.

Kaia's Side Decorations in Chocolate

Toby loved it! It now sits in the freezer so that it’s staring at you when you open the freezer door! Don’t know if we will ever eat it. 🙂

This morning we celebrated his real birthday with breakfast in bed and a hike.  Happy Birthday Sweet Stuff!

Leif’s new interest

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Leif has started getting interested in dressing himself. He loves to try to put on shoes and pants. He will even get mad if you try to help him out. Well, yesterday he found his sisters panties. He was very happy with himself!!

He went to sleep that night wearing a pair of pants with her panties on top and a shirt that said “AWESOME ends with ME”!

That’s my boy!!!

Mountain Fair and a bunny!

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We took the kids to the fair last night for some fun on the rides and greasy fair food!

Kaia has always been a very cautious child and likes to ride the slower kiddie rides.  Leif went on any ride that he was tall enough for and then cried and screamed “MORE!” as soon as we tried to take him off of the ride.  (I love being able to witness how their personalities unfold like that.  They are such cool people!!)

Kaia said this ride was, “Fun enough to ride again, but scary enough not to.”

Learning how to drive a car.

Leif looked a little concerned about riding this little fish all by himself, but when it stopped he asked for more.

This was some kind of crazy fish/helicopter thingy.  As you can see, it went fast enough to swing the kids to the outside of the seat.  Kaia spent the whole ride trying to slide Leif back to the center 🙂

Leif was very unhappy that he wasn’t big enough to go on the bumper cars, but enjoyed watching Kaia.

Oh, and the big happenings at the homestead are that we have a bunny!  Well, our land mate, Heidi, has a bunny.  She spent this past week at the John C. Campbell Folk School learning how to prepare , spin, and dye natural fiber and came home with little gray angora bunny!  She’s such a cutie and very sweet! 

I have to admit, since learning how to sew in January, I haven’t picked up my knitting needles.  But now that the weather is cooling down, I’m getting the urge again!

Time for a swim

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The ducks have been putting themselves to bed for about a week now.  That means that as the sun starts going down, they head up the ramp and into the coop without me having to chase them around.  Yay!!  So, they have officially earned their time free ranging.  And because they are no longer enclosed, they also have access to the pond and the baby pool.  The pond is so surrounded by weeds that they haven’t found it yet.  But, boy are they excited about the pool!  They are so funny to watch… a bit spastic!

I can’t believe the Ancona’s were only hatched 2 months ago!  They grow so much faster than chickens!

And what could be better than a pool, and a rain storm?

First day of school

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We started school today… Kaia is now an official second grader and Leif began his pre-pre-pre K studies.  (He he, ok, so he ran around grabbing pencils, walking over workbooks, and sitting on Kaia.  I did read him The ‘A’ Book, though!)  I like the schedule I have mapped out for this first semester.  On paper, it seems pretty manageable.  Even with breakfast, chores and many interruptions, we were still done by 1 pm.  Then, the mail lady arrived bringing two boxes of yummy goodness that I’d ordered to add more fun to our homeschool days.  Kaia immediately dove into it all!  In our boxes we got:

Unjournaling – I didn’t think we’d actually start this until late in the year, but Kaia wanted to dictate some journal entries to me.

Funny Fairy Tale Proofreading- again, Kaia wanted to keep doing this late into the afternoon.  I finally had to tell her I was done teaching for the day 🙂

The Periodic Table – We are starting chemistry this year, and though a lot of this is beyond her at this point, I still thought this would be a fun way to learn about the elements.  She ended up flipping through it for over an hour to find the ‘cute’ elements.

Amelia Rules – I got the first three books in this series and they look adorable.  Kaia is really starting to get into reading.  Over the summer she’s really bloomed.  So, since she loves comic books, I thought this would help fan her interest.

Vocabulary Power – Idioms – This is an idiom a day flip-type book.  Each day gives you a new idiom (like It’s raining cats and dogs) and what it really means.  Kaia said “do I have to do only one a day”

Vocabulary Power – Words – Another flip book… I thought this would be a great way to add new vocabulary words to our days.  Each page has a word, pronunciation, definition, and use in a sentence.  Any words that Kaia doesn’t know we add to our vocabulary list.  Occasionally I will draw from these words and their definitions for copy work.

Haiku Stickies – We haven’t really done much in the way of poetry yet, but I couldn’t pass these up!    They are yellow sticky pages with partially written haiku on them.  You fill them in and stick them some where to be found!  How cool is that.  I thought this would be a fun way to introduce some poetry.  (And what’s really cool is that the author, Allan Wolf, is a friend of mine…. we met in Tae Kwon Do)  (Sarah, don’t get these for Meg… she’ll be getting some for her birthday!)

First Art – I had to get something for Leif, too.  This looks like it’s going to be a great project book for keeping little hands occupied.  Thanks for the recommendation Nikki.

Kaia is doing well recovering.  She can almost straighten her leg and the swelling is almost gone.  She’s still using a walker, but she’s gotten super fast!  You have to watch out for her if she’s moving around or she’ll run over your toes!

Here’s the little foot hammock she created on her walker.

And here’s speedy gonzales!  See, she’s just a blur when she gets going!

We took everyone peach picking this weekend.  Kaia got pulled around in a wagon… pampered princess.  She was actually easier to pull than the load of peaches we got.  In the end we had 2 bushels of peaches, a peck of apples, a gallon of apple cider, and a dozen fresh apple cider doughnuts!!  (Umm, yeah, there’s only one doughnut left!)

Yum!

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We just finished downing a huge batch of Butter Beer while watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Yes, I did forget about the huge snake at the end, but she had no problem with it.  In fact, she pulled out a ‘magic book’ from her book shelf and started looking up the magical powers she has now that she’s been bitten:  She hisses when she’s mad (which she does frequently), she can speak Parseltongue, and she has healing abilities.  I told her that she also has the power to emit a powerful stink when she’s cranky.  She didn’t think that was so funny.

Butter Beer

  • 3 cups milk (we used fresh goat milk)
  • 2 Tablespoons Brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons butter

Mix all in a pot and warm.  Once the butter has melted, pour it in the blender and whip it until it is frothy.  Then pour it back into the pot and heat until nice and hot.  It’s a great winter drink!

Oh, I should go… I can hear Kaia hissing at Leif!

Home again!

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We got home from the hospital yesterday evening had dinner and all went to bed.  Kaia’s still sleeping soundly!  Her leg will take some time to heal, but she is doing well.

Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Heaven,Hell, and Copperheads

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This past Sunday night, Kaia was bit by a copperhead snake.  We think it wiggled it’s way under our screen door and over to the dining room table.  When Kaia ran over to the table to look at something on Toby’s computer it bit her ankle.  While Toby fought the snake and finally chopped it’s head off with an ax, I ran around gathering supplies and calling poison control.  I had her drink a big dose of echinacea and put echinacea and activated charcoal on her ankle hoping that it would draw out some of the venom.  Heidi (our constant savior) ran over to take care of Leif while Toby and I rushed Kaia to the ER.

When we arrived, we were immediately brought to a room (no waiting!) and seen to.  Everyone was fabulous!!!  Kaia was in a lot of pain and her leg was already starting to turn a bruised blue color and swelling up.  The doctor wanted to watch to see if the swelling was going to increase before giving the antivenom (because there are high risks of reaction to it and because it’s insanely expensive – to the tune of $1000-$5000 a vial!)  After about two hours at the hospital, with the swelling and bruising creeping up her leg, she was started on the antivenom. After they made sure she was reacting well to the antivenom she was moved to the pediatric ward.

We’ve been here for two days now.  She’s had ten vials of antivenom (SOOOO thankful for health insurance!!).  Her pain comes and goes, but is gone more often.  Her leg is swollen tight up to her knee and is a pretty blue-green color.  We are watching her blood work to be sure that the anti-venom out lasts the venom.

I’m sitting here in now, thinking about our amazing community of family and friends.  Over the last two days we have received an outpouring of love and friendship that has kept me wrapped in warmth while we’ve been going through this hell.  Kaia’s grandmothers have taken care of Leif so that Toby and I can be with Kaia.  Ad all the prayers, well wishes, calls, emails, gifts, and visits have kept us all strong.  I am a firm believer that our intentions and thoughts change the energy around us and all the healing love being sent to Kaia has boosted her up.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  You are all my little piece of Heaven.

Kaia never actually saw the snake (it was a 2 1/2 foot adult snake… about 1″ in diameter!), but Toby, in all his wisdom, took a picture before we left for the hospital.  Last night, Kaia asked to see the picture.  I was worried she would flip out of be scared of it.  But my little girl is such an amazing trooper!  When it comes to the big stuff, she can take it on with more strength than most grown men.  So, when I showed the picture to her my amazing little girl said “Wow!  What pretty colors!”  What a kid!

I’m gonna go take a nap!

Second grade prep

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Kaia and I have been taking time this week to get her prepared for starting the second grade.  We’ve labeled and decorated folders, picked up some books from the library, filled her art box and refreshed her nature kit.  I think I’m more excited about school starting than she is :-)  I’m also trying to prepare for the fact that we will have a crazy little toddler trying to get into everything that Kaia is doing.  So, I’ve gotten some ABC craft and cookbooks (including this ebook which is full of fun ABC crafts) to work on with Leif, made smelly playdough, and dyed some rice.  I’ve also moved a little table and chairs (just Leif’s size) into the living room where we usually do our work.  I want to have some easy play things to pull out for Leif when Kaia needs to focus on school stuff.  Next week she will be spending some time with her Nana, so we plan to officially start on Aug. 30th.  I’m looking forward to getting into a routine.  Summer does a good job of sending us in all directions with no routine at all.  But that’s what Summer is for, isn’t it?

Drying Rice

DO NOT USE SERGEANT’S GOLD FLEA AND TICK PRODUCTS!!

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My sweet cat Max is at the vet for a reaction to Sergeant’s Gold flea drops. He’s never had flea problems because he’s an indoor cat. But yesterday I noticed a bunch of fleas on him. I ran out to get something because he was starting to pull his hair out and scratch like crazy. I wish I’d listened to my gut and not used it… the ingredients seem so toxic. But I said, “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Lots of people use this stuff.” Well, this morning he was having a neurotoxic reaction with muscle spasms and shaking! The vet thinks he’ll be okay, but it will take a day or two for him to recover. She said she’s seen reactions like this before, fairly frequently!!  Why is crap like this on the market????!!!  Poor Max is on Valium and muscle relaxants while he waits it out!! 🙁
DON”T USE SERGEANT”S FLEA AND TICK PRODUCTS!!!

Ducky update

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The Ancona babies are a little over a month old and doing great!  I am going to move them to the main coop tonight.  I’m sure they will be very happy to have more room to make a mess.

We also got three new ducks yesterday.  The two that are lighter and larger are Saxony ladies and the darker one is a Khaki Campbell boy.  They are ~3-4 months old.  Very beautiful!!

This is Snow, Nibbles, and Splash.  I’m pretty sure they are all girls.

This is Dot.  She is definitely a girl…. nice loud quack.

This is Freckles.  I think he’s the only boy! (YAY)  He should have been named nibbles, though.  He keeps nibbling the feathers off of the other ducks wing tips!

And these are the new ducks.  They haven’t been named yet.  Any thoughts?

Great happenings

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Before I get to all the vacation pictures, I have some great news!  Tomorrow, Toby starts his first day working for RedHat!  He’s at a two day orientation in Raleigh, but after that he will be working from home!  Yay!  No moving!!!  He’s really excited about the new projects and the team of people that he will be working with.  Not to mention the great pay and benefits!  I’m really excited for him.  I want him to love and enjoy the work he does.

We spent this past week visiting Toby’s dad in Charleston.  It was flippin’ hot!!!  But, the beach had a great breeze.   We walked to the beach and soaked in the water every day, played putt putt golf, went to the movies, watched the Perseid Meteor Shower, and just had a grand time relaxing!

Now, on to the pictures:

Kaia is in the “run away from the camera” stage.  So, Leif got a good bit more camera time.

Now, I’m taking some time to prepare for Kaia’s second grade while she is visiting with her Nana.  It will be a quiet week at the homestead.

Mad Men!

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Do any of you watch Mad Men?  My mom got me hooked last winter when I watched a few episodes at her house.  We ended up borrowing the first 3 seasons on DVD from her to catch up.  In the beginning, I would get frustrated with the treatment of the women, but I suppose it’s pretty true to what life was like in the 50’s.  Plus, the women all get their payback in the end.

Anyway, Mad Men is having a casting call for the public.  You submit your photo, dress in Mad Men-like attire, and see if you can get a spot on the show.  My sister, Carla, is competing!  Will you go vote for her please??

July Harvest

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  • 365 eggs
  • plums
  • peaches
  • tomatoes
  • green beans
  • eggplant
  • cucumber
  • squash (yellow and zucchini)
  • mint
  • black berries
  • red raspberries
  • blue berries

And I put up 5 quarts of ‘mock’ apple pie filling, 5 pints of cucumber relish and 4 quarts of green beans.  My counter tops are covered with squash and cukes!  I need to do more processing!!  We are eating squash burgers, squash casserole, squash waffles, and squash muffins!  Got any good squash and cuke recipes???

Also, sorry posts have been so sporadic.  I’m trying not to spend so much time at the computer!  We are cleaning house, cleaning the yard, getting rid of things that aren’t needed, trying to simplify.  See, Toby recently left his job and has been looking for work (work that would also include benefits and a good salary and possibly working with others!)  But, for the last 2 months, we thought that meant we were going to have to move!   AND I’ve moved 14 times in the last 18 years!!  I am SOOOOO ready to be settled.  So of course, at first, we were not excited about the idea of moving.  Yet, I’ve thought this was my dream life for so long, and now that I have it, I’m resenting it.  I look at my friends who get to play on the weekends or relax when they are done work and I just wish I could have some time off.  We are always tending to something here… animals, buildings, land, gardens… People are always saying to me “I have no idea how you do everything that you do.”  I guess that should be my first clue that I’m doing too much.  Now we need to look at all we do and figure out what truly brings us joy and drop the rest of it.  Really, when we built our homestead, we went about it wrong.  We built so many structures and have half-assed our landscaping.  Now it all needs to be tended and that’s not what I want to do.  I realize that, as we settle in here and the kids get older, the stress load on us will lighten.  But the idea of moving almost seemed like an ‘out’.  We could start over and try to do it better.

BUT!  Don’t worry folks!  In the midst of interviews as close as Raleigh (3 hours away) and as far away as Hawaii, Toby was approached by a friend who may (prospects are good!!) have an opening for Toby that would have benefits, a good salary, let him work with his friend, and allow us to stay where we are!  I have to say, even though we were getting excited about getting a place in the city with no yard, we are relieved now that we won’t be moving!  But all of this has started us seriously paring down what is not needed in our lives, fixing up the yard and house to make it closer to what we want and require less tending…. and it feels good!!!  Today we moved a pile of wood and another pile of rocks, started planning out our patio and retaining wall, cleaned out closets, the fridge, and my apothecary, rearranged dining and living room furniture… Tomorrow we will tackle Kaia’s room!!  (That may take all day 🙂

Our new babies

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Look what’s new around here!

The first baby piping.

Just born.

Kaia reading to the babies so they will come out sooner!

We now are the proud parents of 5 Ancona Ducklings!!!  They couldn’t be any cuter!

Yes, they are snuggling with a stuffed piggy!!  Every baby needs a stuffed piggy!

Greek Mythology

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As part of our summer curriculum, Kaia asked to learn more about the gods and goddesses.

We’ve been taking our relaxed time reading through mythology stories, coloring pictures, doing crafts…  But today, we brought it all to a close.  We started the morning by designing our togas and decorating ourselves in gold.  Then we broke out the Ambrosia (prepared the night before) and Nectar (peach juice mixed with carbonated water) and plopped down in front of Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief.

Ambrosia Salad

  • 1 – 15 oz. can of Mandarin oranges, drained
  • 1 – 15 oz. can of pineapple chunks, drained
  • 1 cup of miniature marshmallows
  • 1 cup flaked coconut
  • 1 cup walnuts or pecans
  • 1 cup grapes
  • 1/2 cup maraschino cherries

Place all of the above in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix:

  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 2 Tbsp. Maple Syrup

Pour this on top of the fruit mixture and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for several hours (overnight is best).  And enjoy!

We got our idea for the toga from here. We used the Greek Chiton design, but just clipped one shoulder.  I love the way it looks on her.  This would be easy to sew up into everyday wear!