Summer is Here

Winterbreak

Beautiful Red Currants

Red currants are so beautiful that I just love gazing at them. They are so round and shiny, like rubies growing on a bush. I planted a bush last year and here is the result. Enough for a pot and a half of jam when once I added a few raspberries and the 12 black currants that our non-so-productive black currant bush provided. Black currants are not so pretty, but they do have a lovely flavor. Maybe we should have just eaten these fresh, but it’s nice to think of them down in the storage room in tidy jars, waiting for winter.

A Home for Every Fairy

In early spring we put out the birdhouses for the birdies returning from the south and we build Fairy Houses for the fairies that will visit our garden. Inspired by this book we started making them a couple of years ago...it's a peaceful outdoor activity on fine but chilly-ish days. Here are some pictures for you.

A spacious cottage near the wall with an elegant stone walkway.

A teepee style abode with plush green carpeting and a waiting bed and pillow.An airy treehouse with view over the apple tree and surrounding domains.

Ballerina Chickens

Ha! That title reeled you in, didn’t it?

Well, okay, so No, the chickens have not been doing pirouettes over the lawn, but they are practicing their leaps over their fence and that is getting on my nerves. We’ve been letting them out of their “secure location” a bit this winter to free-range and eat bugs and weed seeds. But now with spring on the horizon it’s time to rein them in a bit. We’ve been thinking of inviting the little kids of our neighborhood over for an egg hunt at Easter, and we need a little time for the “manure” (as we farmer people say) to compost into the lawn. But those darn chickens are not cooperating, and Felicity and Pansy must be of a breed that still has a lot of flying capacity in them. I’ve enlarged their run but have not yet installed some sort of netting for a roof, so they just work up an energetic flap and fly over. Argghh! Then I must chase them, catch them and throw them back in. It does get me some exercise on a slow day, so I suppose that’s beneficial.

Felicity on the lam

In the chicken tractor that my sweet husband built in the fall - useful for days when we don't feel completely cooped up but not totally free range, either. Bella is to the right, sniffing for goodies.

I also feel that it is time for a ballet update. Since my sad second beginner ballet class, I had to miss a couple due to familial illness and strife. Thursday I returned with great trepidation and still without cute pink slippers. But my friend was there and we are slowly learning and feeling less insecure together. Loulou has been coaching me on the positions: first, second, third, etc. When we were told to balance on “releve” and feel that we were growing two inches taller, I did kinda feel a little taller (always a good thing for me). And at the end when we did our little dance routine-y thing across the floor to the lovely, floaty piano music, I was concentrating so hard on the steps that I forgot to feel intimidated and instead felt almost graceful! Maybe that means that I am no longer a “chicken ballerina.” Ha!

Farm Report II

Last week, after the snow had melted and the floodwaters had receded, we noticed bits of green poking out of the kids' garden boxes. So they went to investigate. Pete-O found a few leeks...

and Mina a goodly bunch of brightly colored carrots. Very tasty in midwinter...and just in time to inspire us to dream over the brightly colored seed catalog that had just arrived in the mail.

Since I never posted pictures of their gardens in their glory, I'll do so now. This was in June:

Farm Report

Our hens began laying in the darkest week of December! Now we are averaging about 2 1/2 eggs a day -- they conveniently all lay different color eggs so it's easy to tell them apart. The only problem is bringing myself to use them, because they are so pretty. So I got out my Easter Egg blower so I can save the shells for Easter. Aren't they pretty?

Unblown eggs....working on a full dozen, but we keep eating them.

The notion of chickens in the snow is strangely romantic to me, and during our First December Snow, (not to be confused with The Big December Snow-during which the chickens refused to come out of their pen) I found myself humming "Chickens in the Snow" to myself to the tune of "Strangers in the Night".

Here's one "exchanging glances."

Memorial Day Treehouse

Manu and the children (and me too actually) have been dreaming about a treehouse for what seems like millenia. Each summer some other project has swooped in and taken precedence...basement leak, rotten back fence, etc. But this year, Dear Readers, is the Summer of the Treehouse. It's actually going to be a treehouse/playhouse/Swiss chalet sort of structure. Not too far off the ground, but far enough to thwart attacking pirates. There's been a lot of planning, and plotting and tree limbing and there was a brief delay caused by the garden beds because Manu had to replace another bit of fence so we could repurpose the boards. But finally, last weekend Manu dug the holes for and poured the cement for the post supports, and on Saturday he broke out the saws and got down to business.


Location, location, location.

Peter assisting with the trusses.

Framing structure nearly completed on Saturday afternoon.

Complex underneath structure designed to let the tree continue to grow without breaking the treehouse. Clever!

Summer Impressions

It's about 80 degrees in our backyard at 7:30 p.m. The Irish Rovers playing in the CD player here on the deck. Four children playing in the backyard, three playing soccer, one swinging on his tummy and hopping in his orange car for a quick spin around the patio. Warm air with a slight breeze that seems more like August than May. Water gurgling in the fountain, dinner inside me that we ate out here in the fresh air, my favorite way to eat. Peter and Zarli running around with their bare chests, like little men. Everyone in barefeet. A hot day filled mostly with a yard sale at our house, where we didn't make a ton of money, but for the kids, certainly more money than they usually make in a day. We also took the chickies out to see the grass for the first time. They liked it. The day was hot and tiring but worth it even just for the nice evenign feeling I have now. Now they are playing statues and Zarli is investigating the hose and then running across the yard shouting giberish. I think, I really think, that they are having a happy childhood, and it occurs to me that I am a blessed, fortunate girl whose dreams are coming true. It's not a perfect childhood, after all, they have me for a mother. But I think God has blessed them with pretty much everything they really need, and a lot of things they want as well. That makes me happy. Everything is so green now and is filled with the promise of summer and homegrown veggies and berries.