Leaning Apple Gardens

as the days pass.

2012-02-08T21:16:00.000-05:00

brother towing brother...such a lovely sight to see!

oops...i missed a few days here and there. is it really february? i am beginning to slowly let go of the non-winter we have been having this year. snowshoeing and sledding will have to wait until next year. the ice skating and incredibly warm weather have been enjoyable for toting a new walker around with us.

zevy's extremely small and cute skis have arrived!

after unloading lots of clothes...3 boys in ships.

my little big skier

my littlest hockey dude.

practice, practice

our setup! we are usually the only ones at the rink (yeah homeschooling).

co-sleeping with baby and dragon

girls time!

co-sleeping with the lot!

girls night...a much needed overnight with my best gals!

and that is what consumes us these days. skating, skiing, playing, sleeping, being...

this moment.

2012-01-27T09:54:00.001-05:00

...joining in with soulemama today for a bit of *winter* inspiration...

A Puppet Show.

2012-01-26T10:44:00.000-05:00

What the boys are up to these mid winter days...

This is the sign that hung above the stage for the puppet show! lots of commas...always!

Nahum has a love for art, commas, and lately puppets. He checked a book on make your own puppets out of the library the other day. Luckily for me and him, he chose one of the ones that he could complete on his own. A shark sock puppet! Using a sock from our stash of holey socks that I saved just because (and who knew...sock puppets would be such an interest this year!) and supplies from his stash he created a puppet all on his own (well...except for a bit of help with the hot glue gun). He then made a fish and seahorse stick puppet for his brother. Although they were quickly forgotten. They then put on a .7 second puppet show eight hundred times. Nahum was the shark and Zevy was the dirt pile (picture boy under brown blanket). Then the shark would say something along the lines of a great dirt pile and voila! Zevy would pop up and they would laugh and start it again...making sure we were watching each and every time, of course.

Here is the dirt pile with a knight on top.

Nahum's shark sock puppet.

So...that is a bit of some homeschool happenings here. Library time and puppet making...it counts! They also have been doing their art homework (Nahum), folding laundry (Zevy), and making a mess (Asher).

All in a day or days...good stuff, really!

Winter Groove

2012-01-24T20:51:00.001-05:00

Well...I was in my winter groove until the rain and 50 degree weather came and stole it back from me. I was just settling in to the repeated bundling, ditching schoolwork for outdoor winter fun, night after night of soup, dry cracking knuckles from the wood heat being cranked all day long. That lovely winter rhythm that I look forward to all year long. I do dream of it in the summer and can almost taste it in the fall. I feel a little grumpy mid April when I know I must pack it all away and really prepare to garden and swim. Yes, I am one of those people that loves winter...cold, sunny days 25-35 degrees...pretty dreamy in my opinion. I do love summer but any weather above 70 sends me into a frenzy...a lazy frenzy...I sit and moan and say things like...we live in Maine...where are my cool foggy summers...and people stare at me and probably whisper things behind my back. It is cool though. I get it. Everyone is different and is entitled to their own crazy loves and likes... But seriously...where is winter this year? I dream of packing up and moving to Alaska and Canada and the snowy likes but really my heart is here and it isn't going to happen. Maybe we will get pounded next week...

It was very cold!! I was just picking Zevy the Icicle up to bring him home!

They caught two fish which we ate the next night after skiing!!

Anyway...before the weather changed we were ice skating and sledding, ice fishing (with Papa...not Mama...I was at home with Asher because it was too too cold!!) and downhill skiing! Loving it to be exact. Nahum is really getting the hang of skating and looks great and has so much fun! Zevy is just shy of beginning to glide. He is closest when distracted by his brother and friend. He loves his own pace and even does a cute slow motion turn very proudly. He just turned three a couple of weeks ago so...the fact that he can even stand and move at all on the skates blows my mind! I never even thought to take Nahum at that age...we were too busy shoveling and snowshoeing:) Asher has been a great sport hanging out in the Ergo (not while I am on skates), sleeping in his car seat in the car (while I am skating like a madwomen), or walking around and snacking (while I skate a lap, check in...repeat until I am forced to remove my skates). The sledding has only happened once since we have had hardly any snow this year. It was great and once Zevy got behind me in the sled to save the face from cold snow...he couldn't get enough. The skiing has and always will be my favorite...we have a cute mountain about an hour away...price is right and the so is the challenge for Nahum. He just learned to ski down without me even on the same trail as him...just with a buddy. Kind of big for my sweet and very cautious boy. I am very surprised that he wanted to do this...and even more surprised that he only let me ski one run with him. I am happy that he is finally able to pull away a bit!

Quite a difference a few days makes...no mittens or snow pants!


Hello cute owl pants that a dear friend knit for me for him! I am too busy to knit:)

Today...we hit the beach for some shell searching and lobster body, claw playing. The weather was perfect for it and Asher really got to explore the rocky beach. And that is that for now...I am really going to try and work with Nahum on some stuff tomorrow but...I have said that before!

the snow day.

2012-01-12T23:06:00.001-05:00

while the local schools were getting dismissed early, we were hunkering down to a serious amount of school work today. knowing it would be a snow day i figured we would get a lot of work done. funny isn't it...quite the opposite from the rest of the world. i mean, why sit inside on those gorgeous winter days when there are times like today that scream-school day. the wind and snow, plus little asher being sick kept us in by the fire!

nahum made a little hand sewn book this morning for his chosen *block* on parrots. he got a good amount done and was begging for more. asher was napping during most of nahum's work time and sitting in my lap dumping block crayons all over during the rest. zevy was bouncing off furniture and scribbling on the chalkboard for parts and doing his own *school work* for the rest. (his work includes drawing one million pictures of fish on every available scrap of paper we have.)

we also made a really delicious vegan banana bread that nahum declared the best ever...although he does say that about everything, even if he doesn't really like it. then we practiced summersaults in the living room on our sheepskin rugs. asher did one the other night and i wanted to see him do another one. i think the boys liked it most when i showed them how to do a headstand...which is a lot harder now then it used to be, like 20 years ago! sheesh.

rick is playing music tonight, practicing for a little gig at a cabaret event thingy and that means all the boys are in my bed and i am sitting just on the edge wondering where to lay down! and thus concludes our snow day...please don't let it rain tomorrow...please!

notes to self...photos for you.

2012-01-10T21:48:00.001-05:00

um, hello snow...where are you? yes, we really went skiing...why...i don't know:)

entering the world of lego...kind of crazy...the lego craze

our table...always covered in art supplies (not always with my mom's cell phone)

nahum with his embroidery...he works in spurts!

even if you aren't on skates at all and just strapped to mama's back tag can be fun on the ice! he was shrieking with joy at the others shrieking with joy!!

move nahum!

playing tag on the ice is fun...even if you don't move fast!

letting the little boys play in the sink...revelation! dinner gets made easier!!

homeschooling, unschooling...whatever.

2012-01-05T21:24:00.001-05:00

seeing as how i am in a talk about it mood these past posts i will continue on with spilling my innermost feelings and thoughts...ha.

"you know what mama...instead of school or homeschooling...its like we have noschooling"-nahum, sometime in december. yes dear boy you are exactly right!! just don't tell anyone;)

homeschooling. nahum is only six and since the beginning of the year i have wondered what the hell we should be doing that is appropriate age wise and interest wise (and yes i have several curriculum but really...i have a life as well!). he learned all his letters for the most part last year and so i thought...grade one for sure. but...really? nope. not really ready. he loves the idea of sitting down for *school* but not so much if i am telling him what the lesson will be about and then executing it...forget it. he wiggles and wriggles and complains and whines and i yell and threaten and want to cry. so in december i quit. i stopped trying.

nahum loves to draw. he does it almost all day long. paper waste in my household is at its all time high right now because of course along with nahum's millions of drawings come zevy's! i am not really complaining just feeling guilty:) so, when i say i quit and stopped trying...what i meant was...that i threw the vowels on the black board and briefly told him the sounds and that was that. he is so close to reading that i know once he grabs the vowels and their many sounds he'll get it. and he did for almost a moment. for about a week. then he stopped and i let it go too. he kept on drawing. and begging for art. so i signed him up for art. and he kept on drawing.

the nutcracker nahum drew immediately upon returning home from seeing it performed for the first time

the pup he drew from a how to draw book from the library

but...it being the new year i felt like i had to start school again. so i did. with a new attitude. i told him there are certain things he must learn. and i had to teach him those things but lets learn it by studying something you choose. he chose parrots. so we continue through the alphabet to finish up his sweet little book that we have been trying to finish and not cry over every time we sit down. two days of no schooling this week and two days of no crying and whining and etc...! we checked books out on parrots at the library. and we looked up some wonderful photos on the computer. we will make a stuffed parrot (nahum's desire because mama, i love sewing) and eat like a parrot (mama's desire because how funny will that be) and who knows what else. and who cares. because it is winter and although our snow dance hasn't worked out the ice is here and i have TWO boys who can skate/sort of skate and one boy on my back and one happy mama to be outside during the best time of the year! so in between skiing (on man made snow) and ice skating and throwing rocks into the water we will also fit in our no schooling. i think.

just getting out.

2012-01-04T21:46:00.000-05:00

i admit that these three wild boys of mine have been giving me a time of it lately. i am still struggling to find a rhythm that works for more than 5 minutes. today we found a great one but i am sure it will be so very different tomorrow. i really need to be outdoors everyday (as do my kids) but with the three of them i have found it so much more challenging i have to say. it seemed easier last year when asher was just a baby. now they are all mobile (and asher just started walking before the new year) and all needing me and i am well...just one. i hate being frantic when out in public. it makes me more frantic.

today a friend invited us to go ice skating (one of my favorite winter activities if i can't go downhill skiing) and i hesitated and gulped and said sure why not?! i was very anxious about it and worried that we would all just start crying and i would then get stressed out and yell (which happens to much lately). i brought my skates but told myself that i wouldn't go. and i didn't. we had a great time.

i got nahum on the ice while zevy was snoozing in the car (which i could see from the deserted rink-yeah homeschooling benefit!) and with asher on my back. when zevy woke up i got him on the ice (for the first time ever!) asher was still on my back but as i helped zevy and moved around he fell asleep so then i put him in the car in his seat and went back out to help zevy and nahum. nahum mostly played and skated with his buddy and zev requested that i didn't help him. i walked right in front of him and just relaxed!

i relaxed. key words, i relaxed...i never do that anymore. i am always so wound up...trying to keep all the boys happy and busy. and my house semi clean and organized and food made and on and on. you know! but anyway, yeah for a great part in a day (because there was still plenty of fighting!). so my goal for right now is going to be just get out (of the house...all of us!).

the other side.

2012-01-02T20:36:00.002-05:00

here we are. 2012. it is a bit overwhelming for me to try and make plans and resolutions. i don't like the pressure of the clean slate. i like the idea of it though. so today, a day after it all i thought about my dreams and goals for the upcoming year. we finally took our family walk by the ocean...just before sunset and played on the beach in the dark. the boys loved it and so did i (and i am pretty sure rick did as well). and it was unplanned...not on my list of things to do today and much less stressful than if that had been my goal for new years day...which it wasn't...it was to clean and unpack...which i did.

we had a hectic holiday season as usual. no matter how hard i try and how many things on my list i let go of...it is still crazy. we were home for the solstice this year which has been my dream for many years now. we didn't get to anything on my list for the celebration but i did clean my house and pack with help before we left the next day for family visits (which is very important...coming home to a clean and orderly house). in our family we celebrate chanukkah and christmas and a birthday on new years eve. all i want for solstice is our family of five to be together enjoying the outdoors and celebrating nature and the return of the light. there is always next year!

the cousins...7 boys and one baby girl

rick and nahum getting this years tree

but no matter the stress and craziness of the season, the boys had a great time. i love watching them be with their cousins because they are all so very different! i love to imagine what memories will stay with them shaping their holiday seasons as adults. i can only wonder.

rick goes back to work tomorrow and i once again will return to my life at home with the three wild boys. maybe we will focus on some school work this month or maybe we will try to find a snow dance to get this winter started...happy new year everyone!

happy holidays!

2011-12-24T16:15:00.002-05:00

happy holidays from our family to yours! and welcome new computer...hopefully you will make my life easier and blog posts regular-ish again! but since you can't add hours to the day...or can you?...lets not hold our breath!

one.

2011-11-04T21:10:00.000-04:00

A swirling, whirling year has flown by and now my baby is one. A most crazy year. Overdone. Overwhelmed. Riding a rollercoaster of emotions. I still feel like I am heading down a steep hill without breaks. Finances, multiple ages in multiple directions, homeschooling, everyday silly problems...it is all unending. Still...I love them and most of the time wouldn't trade for anything!
Asher is a sweet and sour baby. Very happy but when he gets mad...WOW! He crawls on his bum and one leg...a scootch if you will. He stands, laughs, then falls. Loves the dishwasher, open refrigerator, and baskets full of things. He eats all the time. He laughs, shrieks, and roughhouses with his older brothers. He wants your attention. Now. We love him up and down and back again!

Cranberries.

2011-10-20T19:44:00.002-04:00

(Now that I have figured out how to post from my phone...and yes we have a computer but it hardly runs as it is bogged down with many many photos.)
Most years picking cranberries is on my fall to do list but the past few years I have either been too pregnant or the weather hasn't made it worthwhile. Or the turkeys and bears got to them before I could. Or. Or. Or. This year was the year though. Perfectly wet throughout the season and a babe on my back (or in the bog!-the very very shallow yet wet still, bog) rather than in my uterus. All in all it made it so I could trek through the woods, down the 4-wheeler roads, and up and into the bogs. My neighbor who didn't mind that he was picking with a mama and three young boys. My boys who didn't mind working a bit to pick a tart, unsnackable (to some) berry. Me, I didn't mind sitting in several inched of water to gather and gather. There are three abandoned bogs now on state land back in off a dead end road and a quick trespass on friendly land! We picked about 14 pounds in 1 1/2 hours! Pretty excited to have another something to add to the freezer this year!

Garlic.

2011-10-19T10:20:00.001-04:00

Another fall chore. Another year. We are trying to plant about 10 pounds per year now. This year we planted all but the smallest cloves we grew plus we bought a bunch to bring our totals at 9 pounds. Next year, hopefully we will get there! We grew some beautifully large bulbs this year...which made it sad to plant almost all of it and not hoard it in our pantry for delicious eating! This year we also planted down at our other plot (which is deer ridden, rocky, poor soil-the very thing garlic hates:). I am keeping my fingers crossed for an amazing 2012 garden...starting with garlic! (We did add some great amendments to the soil though!! )

Test oh test.

2011-10-19T09:38:00.003-04:00

Trying to get this right.

this moment.

2011-07-22T08:03:00.000-04:00

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this moment. inspired by soulemama.

happy beach time napping.

this moment(s).

2011-07-14T21:47:00.000-04:00

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...inspired...

this moment.

2011-07-01T11:14:00.000-04:00

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this moment

a summer in photos.

2011-06-24T21:01:00.000-04:00

I am busy. It it is true. I want to have time to linger over blog posts and perfectly composed thoughts. But I can't. I can't find time or the motivation. Our farm is busy. My kids are busy. I am working three nights a week outside of my homestead. I am exhausted. That being said... I want to remember what we did so I will add my photos and maybe a line or two. But that is it. More notes to myself than anything...

* asher sitting and somehow scootching
* asher two teeth at 7 months
* zevy with a dead fish for a playmate at the beach for hours
* Nahum loves the water and swimming (life vest)
* wet spring, cool summer
* moments away from our first strawberry!!

this moment: planting popcorn.

2011-06-16T22:44:00.000-04:00

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inspired by soulemama

chicken pox, spring, sickness, snow.

2011-03-23T12:10:00.000-04:00

i believe that title pretty much sums up life these days. we have had two rounds of the pox. zevy. now asher. all of the usual sickness and horrible cough has also filtered through the boys ending at asher who is so miserable and sad. i feel horrible every time i look at him (which is a lot!). i know he will get better but there is something that changes when your babe gets sick for the first time. i remember with nahum and zevy. outside of our house snow melts, rhubarb and crocuses poke through the grass, trash is revealed, berries are pruned, bees fly, mud is played in, snow falls and once again everything is covered. like mother nature threw a blanket back over it all because she wasn't really ready for spring. i am. actually i am ready to be barefoot. i am ready to open my windows and kick out the sick air. i am ready for spring peepers. i am ready for a real season of working in the dirt. i am hoping to arrange a mother's helper for this spring and summer, you know so i can actually be productive on the farm this year. we have many more farm shares lined up and our seedlings to sell. i need to help rick or else. or else what...who will feed the kids, do laundry keep the house marginally clean, pay the bills...i guess we will see what happens!

we managed to start onions, artichokes, and celeriac. my flowers...well...as soon as asher is better i will get on those. our maple syrup harvest has left us flush with four plus gallons so far! this sunday is MAINE MAPLE SUNDAY and we will be joining in...inviting friends and neighbors to come and visit, eat some syrup laced ice cream and check out our mini farm!

myself reflected in the vat of syrup

i have also been taking the boys to the beach again. they absolutely love it. and i feel like it is a break from hardcore parenting (a.k.a. breaking up fights and taking away toys). they mill about throwing rocks into the water, building homes, stepping in water and in general play together peacefully.

first harvest of 2011

2011-03-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

diving right in again. my lovely, lovely snow is almost completely gone. we have heard the sounds of the beginning of spring. we have seen the robins working to gather materials for their nests. the outdoors smells of wet damp earth. i can no longer pretend the winter is still here. all of the broken toys and bits of trash that we never picked up are glaring at me as the snow slowly reveals them. yes, spring is definitely on its way. the first action our little farm sees in late winter/early spring or more appropriately, mud season is maple sugaring. i always look forward to a first harvest before any veggies can really even think of growing in our gardens. we usually try to make enough syrup to last the entire year since it is by far a luxury that we normally wouldn't be able to afford for every pancake, french toast, and baking need. this winter was the first time we ran out and i did end up buying two quarts to make it until now. we were gifted 80 gallons of sap this year from some friends who had excess (is there really such a thing?). in the world of boiling and syrup making...40 gallons of sap equals one precious gallon of syrup (which is what we usually get!). this year so far in the first week of the sap run we have boiled 70 gallons. we still have around forty that we haven't gotten to and we are hoping to receive more from our friends. at this point in the season we have already put up 2 gallons of syrup for our upcoming year! we are hoping to make some maple sugar and maple sugar candy and more syrup, of course. my goal is to have some to spread around!

ricks car loaded down with sap

buckets awaiting their turn...

our boil pit.

the bounty!

mud is here...

...a boys favorite pastime...MUD!

asher joins us for his first boil.

after our first winter of beekeeping...they came flying out on this warm day!!

this moment...at papa's gig.

2011-03-11T09:05:00.000-05:00

this moment.  inspired by soulemama.   

here is sir asher at four months sleeping peacefully while papa's loud electric rock band jams on around him.

time warp, time suck, time flies...

2011-02-10T22:17:00.000-05:00

wow! it has been so long since i have even been able to motivate myself onto this blog. by the end of the day i am usually so burnt out that even reading has become a chore:) i have taken to watching harry potter movies instead.

this is why i am not thinking of spring...our buried greenhouse!

chicken yard in the morning...after another huge storm

we have been getting pounded with snow this winter and i am in love with it. i am trying to figure out how to do anything with more than one little who might need to be held at a time:) some days suck and some days don't as they did before sir asher joined the pack.

this is the snow pile near the ice rink we skated at!

for the updates...nahum: first time ice skating (had to go twice in one day), first time skiing (wants to try again), first time having a class (dance and a science-y thing at a challenger center near us).

zevy: talking and talking more and more! a lot of sentences now.

asher: shrieking and cooing, quite loudly, i might add. just being cute and being a baby.

we finally ordered our seeds and rick is thinking ahead to spring. i have to confess...this being the first winter to ski and skate again after how many years...i am not. i am thinking ahead to the next snow storm. i would love for our windows to stay frosty like this for awhile!

well...i hope to be back here a bit more but then again...if i am out enjoying the snow...you may not see from me again for a bit!!

this moment.

2011-01-14T08:56:00.000-05:00

this moment

since i have a horrible memory...

2011-01-11T20:37:00.000-05:00

...i thought i had better post as many pics of my littles as possible...here are the holiday photos at last! i have to put these up or i will feel like i can't move on to the glorious pace of relaxing january!! *seriously...a lot of photos here folks!*

my grandmother and my boys!

mr. asher looking as peaceful as well...a baby!

just loving my grandmothers facial expression in this photo!

holiday nahum!

zevy absolutely chugging my coffee on christmas morning.

asher *enjoying* the gifts:)

all the boys at once!

zevy in down.

perpetually sticking his tongue out to catch snowflakes!

Add caption

some snow! for nj...this was awesome! i always get sad leaving maine in the winter in case we miss all the big storms but jersey won with this massive dumping the day after christmas this year!!

it was his lips i was after in this photo...!!

zevy, on his birthday morning, the last day of the year, looking well...like zevy!

we took the boys sledding for zevy's birthday:)

and what would sledding be without hot coco?!

i offered the chocolate cake and he chose the apple pie!

poppy (my dad-who looks about twelve here) and asher.

the end.

this moment.

2010-12-17T08:14:00.000-05:00

{this moment}

coming up for air.

2010-12-11T22:57:00.001-05:00

it has been awhile. i have been thinking about a post and then by the time i sit in front of my computer it is the last thing i have felt like doing. but...here it is a month plus later and the pics are piling up and i would love to remember exactly what i did during asher's first six weeks.

first snow!

thanksgiving.

nahum playing mama (while knitting) with zevy as baby.

cooking: where everyone has a job!

welcome with love asher!

2010-11-01T21:34:00.000-04:00

on october 27th our littlest, newest boy was welcomed into the family after a short and powerful labor and birth. asher benjamin. he weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and looks just like the other boys:) we are all doing fairly well...although my back has taken a turn for the worse and i have been bed bound just as i thought i would be starting to integrate back into the routine of our family. which is beyond frustrating. so...this is it for now and perhaps for a little while until i can sit again for more than five minutes:)

almost 38 weeks!

2010-10-22T23:12:00.000-04:00

just some self portraits as a pregnant mama...before the baby is born and i lose my chances of photographing myself as a pregnant mama (which i haven't done since the days of college (minus the pregnant part)...i missed it:).

this is my favorite kind of game to play.

2010-10-19T21:06:00.001-04:00

the title of this post were nahum's words as he and zevy and i sat around this evening (while rick...thank you!...made us dinner) removing the dried flint corn from the cobs. he was so excited to help and so serious about it all and then so sad when his fingers got tired and he had to rest. he kept saying how this was his favorite kind of thing to do. i am hoping that he keeps that attitude because he is one helpful five year old in the garden and with chores! we just started reading farmer boy this evening which he has already thumbed through (to look at the pictures) two times!

i have been busy trying to get rid of the worst sinus infection and organizing the house so trying to find time to sit at the computer has eluded me:) i actually hadn't taken any photos in almost a week...which is pretty crazy because i usually take photos of everything. but here are some of the more recent photos and days we have enjoyed!

36 weeks!!

fall walk with mimi and the dogs.

nahum and his new pilot cap i made him using the pattern from sew liberated (which i adjusted and made quite a bit bigger for this sweet boy!

fall color.

one of my bestest best friends daughter and nahum in a long overdue visit!! it was a truly awesome day but this was the only photo i took:)

fall projects.

2010-10-11T22:13:00.000-04:00

they are the same each year. gather apples, make cider, plant garlic, watch the pigs grow. this year we (i mean rick!) cleared more of our land for garden space next year. i also made our first batch of bread using our wheat...i didn't take any other pictures aside from zevy watching it grind but it is also the first batch of bread i have made in so long. the slim winter budget makes it a lot more motivational to bake my own bread:) and here are the photos...(short on words because i am attempting to make nahum large pilot cap like zevy has and well...sewing with knits make me cringe a bit...i want to finish it up tonight if i can...)

zevy watching our wheat grind into flour!

walking down to the leaning apple.

feeding the pigs the apple drops...very happy they were for these treats!

a woolly baby belly.

zevy stealing our apple picking bag!

watching the cider..

the new ground that rick just cleared for next years garden!

nahum and rick planting the garlic.

here they are breaking up the bulbs to plant. nahum has really been a giant help this year in the garden!

the firewood.

2010-10-08T21:32:00.000-04:00

just a few pictures of a lovely afternoon entertainer...the firewood! after a day of rushing around gathering the birth supplies we would need for this babe's welcome i came home exhausted and ready to relax. luckily for me the firewood had been delivered while we were out and the boys had their afternoon fun playing with the wood! i got to sit back, relax, snap pictures and watch them play. tomorrow night they are calling for the first frost and so i will be busy harvesting what needs to be harvested (basil, tomatoes...) and trying to get it all processed for the winter. meanwhile rick made me some shelves for my little sewing room and craft room so i can now, finally, organize the mess. a busy weekend for sure (cider making and garlic planting as well!!).

welcoming october.

2010-10-07T20:44:00.003-04:00

work (outside of my family) is finished for me this year! i made it and it feels great to be done. i am not quite as dead tired feeling in the mornings after only being done for about a week:) i have a list of things i would love to check off before this baby is born but being realistic i am hopeful to just have the pesto made:) we have been eating the lovely fall crops from the garden, broccoli and swiss chard, kale, carrots, beets, turnips, cabbage...all those yummy veggies just keep on producing! i have been washing the tiniest baby clothes and the cutest wool socks! plus, all of the other woolens that were oh so very disgustingly dirty (life on a farm!). we have been on a few homeschooling adventures aka field trips, one to a marine education center with an awesome touch tank and story/craft time, swimming, and the other day to see a 55 minute (perfect for frisky kiddos) laura ingalls wilder musical. other than that life is as is no other *schooling* necessary! i am loving it so far (the homeschooling). we do projects at home by ourselves as well but i don't feel like nahum needs much more than that at this moment. maybe this winter, maybe next, only time will tell. and so this month has begun and with it all of the fall activities and happenings. here are the first round of october photos:)

zevy's look of mischief!

marine education center adventure!

before pesto making began...there is so much outside still!

making apple cider at the community garden harvest day.

cutest baby socks! (made by a friend for nahum!)

nahum using the apple picker better than i can!

baby woolens drying on the line!

our wheat for next year is up already!

zevy being zevy.

argh...

2010-10-06T21:57:00.002-04:00

i have been having some major problems uploading photos with blogger this past week and i just can't deal right now...so until i can figure it all out...a single photo of the belly.

a really great sunday.

2010-09-29T22:25:00.001-04:00

harvesting flint corn

prepping the bed for next years wheat

nahum planting the wheat

apple picking at the new garden location for next year

staking out and measuring for the new garden plot on our neighbors land

the end.

bits and pieces.

2010-09-15T21:22:00.000-04:00

bits and pieces of our days. summer days have, i think, left us and now i am feeling the fall push (gotta make that pesto! and wash the rest of those woolens). on our drive home this afternoon or early evening the light was definitely golden:) the nights are cool and crisp. i made my first soup of the season the other night. i think that these are definite signs of the changing seasons! and i am so very happy. i do love summer (the swimming, long days, fresh foods in super abundance...) but the fall is my favorite, followed by that lovely, lovely winter:) and so here we are with bits and pieces of our days...in the early, early days of (almost) fall.

boys in their dirty muddy puddle of fun:)

a happy five year old and his new *real* drill.

*first day* of homeschool...a field trip to birdsacre.

trying to capture a decent photo of these frisky kids...will try again...when they are sleeping:)

celebrating poppy's birthday (that is my father)...number sixty!! rock on dad!

fall time=project time=new dining room table (we are staying with the small car, a scion, for our soon to be family of five but rick and i both agreed we needed a bigger table!!)

making the first batch of soup for the season...homegrown squash, parsley, carrots, onions and garlic with some barley thrown in too!

*bee bee*, zevy happily showing us his pee!!

world's grossest mirror (zevy's toothpaste smears!) and world's roundest mama.

five.

2010-09-08T22:13:00.001-04:00

really sweet boy you turned five today?! was it really only five years ago that i lay in bed staring at you wondering how it was going to be possible to fall asleep knowing you were here now?! full of yourself you are now...riding without training wheels, swimming with your face in the water, identifying plants and trees like you have always known it all. it has been a big year for our first son, nahum, so much growth and to top it off his first days of not going to school;) we are very excited to journey down the paths of homeschooling/unschooling. i am so happy that so far during our end of the summer farm/food preservation craziness that nothing has changed as we slowly wind down for the fall!!:) we heard about the alarm clocks that are being set and the bus rides and new schedules and it all sounds so lovely...from afar! so here are some photos of our birthday day (which was mellow...breakfast out and a small party at home with some friends and cupcakes!).

returning to my blog.

2010-09-04T21:55:00.000-04:00

well. i hadn't intended on vacating this space for three or so weeks but i see that is indeed what happened. i must say that my hot little sewing/computer room wasn't pleasant in the past weeks, nor my little attitude toward the hot weather and house. i must admit i have been a rude and mean mama and housemate. i hadn't gone the store or done laundry in a couple of weeks...the toys were everywhere and i really didn't give a rats ass. fruit flies and spiders have moved in quite comfortably and still i turned a blind eye. i found myself praying for the hurricane so that it would bring cooler weather (really?! like we need a hurricane to deal with!). nahum's birthday, his fifth birthday has been looming over my head, along with the canning i promised to do and oh...everything else. i did manage to can some salsa today, bake a zuke chocolate cake, and freeze 17 cups of grated zuke for this winter. the weather is cooler tonight and so i am posting a bit of this and that so i don't wonder what happened to the last weeks of summer. a short list...we have been swimming, to the blue hill fair, swimming, napping, and swimming. oh my...an exciting bit of news...we found some land nearby our house that is owned by one of our csa peoples brother who is going to let us farm it!! complete with apple trees galore and a path heading to...a lovely beach (which the boys and i have already been too!!). the amazingly lovely folks that own this land are only able to be here for about three weeks in the summer and are thrilled that we will be farming where generations of his family farmed before!! rick and i are so excited to be able to expand a bit and hopefully be able to rotate crops around a bit more. okay i am going to post some photos of late august and the like and then get into bed and read a book on pickling!! woohoo!!

the end of the blackberries...

summer dinners...

playing with clay dug from our yard...

inspiration from the awesome book: make it wild by fiona danks and jo schofield

a short but sweet visit with family!

our cornmeal corn at the community garden plot!!

washing our woolens...


and on the last day of august...finding and examining baby snapping turtles!

...so now i may have lost you all but...i will be back with photos from the fair and new beach and a giant pregnant belly...

enjoying the harvest.

2010-08-18T21:26:00.000-04:00

a post of pictures...here is what we are enjoying from our gardens right now. i am a most tired mama (working as a waitress three nights a week and not getting home until past midnight...) these days. but i would be so sad to let the rest of my summer go undocumented so i am just going to post pictures and leave the words for another day:) happy harvesting, swimming, lounging, back to schooling, or whatever you and your families are enjoying these days...

and yes...that is nahum's smile (or what it looks like if you ask him to...).

this moment...a walk with mimi.

2010-08-13T08:20:00.001-04:00

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this moment

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wandering wednesday...harvesting the fruits.

2010-08-11T09:52:00.001-04:00

i haven't been wandering too much these days since i am feeling a wee bit tired and full of baby but i have managed to harvest our peaches. (i can't believe i still have 13 weeks left of this pregnancy...maybe once the weather cools i won't feel so...) we have also been harvesting some of the blackberries, and the remainder of the blueberries. rick made some blackberry jam but mostly they just get eaten right from the field especially if they are harvested by little fingers:) the peaches we picked while they were still hard since some were laying on the ground (the branches were so heavy) and some had started to fall off. they are mostly small but super tasty:) i hope that we will be harvesting some melons before too long but who knows...we haven't had much rain lately. rick also harvested some of the artichokes for us to eat the other night and they were quite good cooked in olive oil with lots of fresh parsley, thyme, oregano, and onions. even nahum ate some!! i am feeling too tired to think of much else to say so i am going to post my pictures and head to the lake for another day of swimming because soon i know, it will be to chilly for it:)

just a small, little, tiny sample.

2010-08-03T22:02:00.000-04:00

rick checked the beehives the other day to make sure all was well and to give them more hive space. they haven't capped any of their honey yet but there is some in there!! rick broke off the tiniest sample for us to try. it is a bit of a sweet and sour. nahum thought it was a bit sour because we hadn't added any sugar or agave to it! but it is so beautiful and light that i haven't wanted to really eat any of it. the bees really amaze me. but i am still scared of them...oh well.

also while rick was checking the second hive i noticed our poor peach tree who is practically breaking from all the strain but holy cow once these ripen i am going to be in heaven. and so will the boys!!

we haven't had this many peaches ever off this tree and i only hope that it survives the weight. we lost one branch earlier on because it couldn't support all the peaches and i am just holding my breath for the rest!! happy august! it is the month of fruits in maine:) peaches, blues, blackberries and hopefully watermelons and cantaloupes as well...

artichokes in maine.

2010-07-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

although they have gotten a bit bigger and some more have started growing here are some of the first few photos i have taken of rick's first try with the artichokes. i can't say i really love them but who knows i have never eaten a fresh one before!

wandering wednesday...into our garlic harvest.

2010-07-27T21:19:00.001-04:00

joining in with gardenmama's new photo challenge to take notice of where our feet travel throughout the days and weeks of being who we are...this weekend my feet traveled to many many places but the one i am most excited about it our garlic harvest...we harvested our garlic crop this past weekend and we are keeping our fingers crossed that we don't lose any. the past couple of years have not been so great for our garlic and last year we even, gasp!, had to buy garlic from the store a first in many years of trying to provide as much of our own food as possible. last year we had a lot of rain during the summer and most of it molded and rotted even before we pulled it. but this year it looked pretty nice (or as far as we can tell with all that dirt still on it). we also only planted two varieties this year, german extra hardy and red russian (we purchase new seed (or bulbs) every year from our favorite garlic farm at the common ground fair). this year we also set it to dry in the greenhouse with a fan for air circulation rather then rick's workshop which is dark and damp and icky!

here i stand, pregnant for the third time, looking down at my growing belly my feet barely visible anymore unless i lean way forward, inhaling the fresh smell of garlic and imagining what meals i will be making my sweet family this winter. here i stand in 2010's garlic harvest!

and here i stand (though you cannot see me) watching and photographing my family doing their thing to get the garlic harvested!

threshing our wheat.

2010-07-20T22:39:00.004-04:00

here is the first post on harvesting the wheat if you are interested.

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in the hot sun, on the hotter driveway, on a hot sticky tarp we threshed out wheat. i have to say it was not hard but time consuming and hot. i mean there is a reason i live in maine (the cold snowy winters and cool lovely summers). this is not the summer of my dreams...i know there are plenty of people hotter than we are but come on, we live in maine we are not supposed to be this hot for this long:) anyway...i was talking about threshing our wheat. as you will be able to tell from the photos, we used what we had on hand...some plastic wiffle ball bats and other than having to share with zevy, they were fine for this first time. rick has decided he wants to build a thresher and i have decided we need to just plant more and more wheat (and some oats!!). oh we also want to try spelt.

after we pounded the wheat stalks with the bats rick poured from bucket to bucket in front of a fan to remove the chaff.

...and then after all of that, i made biscuits to go with our very homegrown dinner that night. but first we had to grind the wheat berries into flour, with nahum helping and zevy sampling, it really was a wonderful day and process:)

so after all that...it took almost one year to make these biscuits!! quite a process but one we are definitely willing to go through again and again:) our total yield was about six pounds of wheat from almost one hundred square feet...maybe not the best but we are pretty satisfied for this year! i also can't help but think how much more work pa and ma ingalls had to do in order to be able to provide enough grain for their entire year! and they didn't have an electric grinder:) i kept asking rick...did people really have to do it this way before threshing machines?! i mean if we had to thresh an entire wheat field...

this moment.

2010-07-16T07:43:00.001-04:00

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this moment

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harvesting wheat.

2010-07-14T20:48:00.001-04:00

i am a fresh bread at every meal kind of gal and i refuse to buy the stuff from stores (even the smell of it makes me feel like i might puke!) so i thought well, i grind my own spelt but why can't i just try it from the absolute beginning?! so last year one day, sometime, somewhere i said to rick...could we try to grow some wheat someday...and next thing i know he is planting some:) well, i have watched my wheat grow and grow and just as it was in the milky/almost dry/but not squirty phase we harvested it. (well...rick and nahum harvested it while i took photos. i tried to help but i had been up really late for a few nights trying to nurse one of our goats back from a serious worm problem and i could hardly function.) so right now the wheat is bundled in the field awaiting the next steps. actually it has (since i began this post) been brought indoors due to the rain and horrible humidity we have been having here. we don't want the grains to mold after coming this far:) harvesting the wheat was such a wonderful task to be a part of, with all of us doing something. zevy was just wandering back and forth playing with some of the stalks and nahum kept telling me he couldn't wait to eat our bread from our wheat...!! i loved hearing that. in order to harvest rick just used clippers since we haven't found a hand sickle yet. and since we only planted about 100 square feet of wheat, it didn't take him long. for guidance we are using information rick got from a talk at the common ground country fair and the book home grown whole grains. i can't wait to begin the threshing (i am especially curious about how much we got and i am already scheming about tilling up more lawn for more wheat next year:) here are some of the photos i took on harvest day.

this moment.

2010-07-09T09:35:00.002-04:00

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this moment

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this moment.

2010-07-02T09:49:00.002-04:00

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this moment...inspired by soulemama

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june in passing...i spy...

2010-06-30T17:40:00.000-04:00

...cute boys in bike helmets.

...my cute man.

...you spy.

...fun with family.

...boys loving water.

...natural beauty.

...clean diapers (wash wednesday!!).

...csa day.

...a few peaches.

...the first sunflower (in june!).

...a boy and his carrots.

...a day at the beach.

...growth.

...the end. of school. of a day. of june.

off the needles...finally.

2010-06-29T08:30:00.000-04:00

i finally finished a hat i was knitting for our new baby. the pattern i got from ravelry. i had bought, actually paid for, the same hat for zev last year at a local fair. i debated over it for awhile, it was expensive and i knew i could knit it. but i decided to buy it thinking when will i actually knit it though. well...i lost that expensive hat about a month later. finally months after that i bought the pattern and cast on. the whole thing knit up really quickly but then my back began to bother me so much when i was sitting that i put it aside (with only the i cords left to finish...). last week or so i took the unfinished hat and kiddos to the beach...and viola! the yarn is handspun, hand dyed from our very own mohair boys which i plied with some sheep wool. the hat is a bit small for zevy, my frisky little model but i had to see what it looked like on somebody!

homestead happenings.

2010-06-24T14:46:00.000-04:00

summertimes are here...we are outside almost all day long whether it be exploring the beaches, biking, or playing in our own gardens and yard. i have not had much of a chance to be in our gardens this year due to a certain little zevy who thinks pulling out hand fulls of swiss chard and then tossing them in the air is an amusing pastime. or stomping on the growing carrots, onions, and greens. so this tour of our early summer garden is as much for me as you. we are enjoying fresh sugar snap peas, and carrots. the cauliflower is just around the corner. the wheat has started to dry. i plan my meals around our own fresh food straight from the garden not having to bother with the freezer this time of year. i have been making focaccia bread almost every night we are together as a family (i work three nights a week). on this focaccia i am putting caramelized onions (which are still storing great from last years harvest!!!) and swiss chard topped with a bit of asiago cheese. we are also eating lots of raw carrots and snap peas or salads. anyway...without further chat here are some of the images i took recently...

this moment.

2010-06-18T08:45:00.000-04:00

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this moment inspired by soulemama

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wash wednesday.

2010-06-16T16:27:00.000-04:00

...finally getting around to rehanging my clothesline. the first attempt has been in the goat pen for over a year and is not my first choice to hang clothes anymore since i didn't want the goats to nibble at our stuff. so finally after needing a place to hang our diaper covers and clothes outside in this lovely weather and inspired to join gardenmama's wash wednesday posts, my husband hung me a brand new clothesline that stretches from the flag pole (what else was it being used for) to the corner of the house...very long and lovely! so here are some of today's
diapers waiting to be hung! my maiden hanging on the new line!

photos of happy drying diapers!! check out the flagpole getting used!!

with a child that wanted to help!

and then of course run through the many *doors*!!

**i am trying to be back in my space as i can...but my back is unfortunately so messed up right now that i can hardly sit for more than a few minutes at a time. and the pain makes me a bit grumpy and less inspired. i hope to feel better and post more often soon. next week i will be heading to a local hero (osteopath) and i hope i am not placing all my eggs into one basket...**

this moment.

2010-06-11T07:42:00.001-04:00

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this moment...inspired by soulemama...happy weekend!! 

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lately.

2010-06-07T08:39:00.000-04:00

i began this blog with no intentions a while after nahum was born and then promptly left it to smolder in cyberspace. after i realized the awesome network of woman with children chatting back and forth and also the ease as to let our family in on what we were doing up here in maine i began to work at keeping it regular. and as i worked at it i realized the awesome book of our life and our kiddos lives that was forming (since i can't be trusted to keep a baby/kiddo journal). i am going to try and get back to this little space a bit more often so i am not wondering what we did the summer of 2010!

i have started working (waiting tables at nights in bar harbor) again and between that, the kids, the housework, the extra childcare i do i have been a bit exhausted. not to mention the pregnancy (which i have been unusually stressed about-did anyone else have this with their third or more?!-i can't focus on the positive and it is making me crazy...i am excited to have three babies but i am just so worried about this one!)

anyway...so here are some of my favorite photos from lately...to catch us all up over here! and a short (i hope) list of some moments...
**nahum has learned to bike without training wheels and is just a bit obsessed with practicing.

**our school, is over and we won't be returning next year so we can begin to homeschool/unschool nahum.
**zevy has a whole lot of teeth that just keep coming in in sets of four!! and he has also started running.
**zevy is also my sweet child that you cannot turn your back on...or else:)

**nahum knows the digger he is going to buy when he is bigger and (still lives with us:)) is constantly offering rides to all the younger kids and even me that we see. (this is not a picture of his digger but one that he got to drive at a fundraiser called touch a truck!)

**this has been a very warm spring. almost like summer!

csa day.

2010-05-29T11:28:00.001-04:00

today rick put together the first csa farm shares! we live on two acres and have a house, several outbuildings, goats, pigs, chickens, swampy useless area, and driveway so the actual garden space isn't acres and acres like we wish.

but anyway rick decided to offer up a couple of farm shares to help us along. we have one person getting a full share and two half shares. this week in our first basket of the season we had baby swiss chard, spinach, tatsoi, radishes, arugula, and since everyone opted for the eggs as well...there were eggs! plus rick made a sweet little newsletter to let everyone know what was what and a suggestion or two for eating!!

oh and yes, of course rick made the lovely boxes that we are putting the shares into for pickup! i think it looked wonderful.

this moment.

2010-05-21T19:52:00.000-04:00

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a series inspired by soulemama

bees.

2010-05-16T14:10:00.001-04:00

well it has been one week since we installed the two new packages of bees (after our first failure-which we determined was from exposure). rick and i clucked around the bees for the first few days fretting and checking and listening and hoping. our installation weather was not ideal plus we drove a total of 5 plus hours to bring these bees back to our home on a cold and rainy day.

we kept them toasty warm in our greenhouse overnight and then rick installed them on an equally cool and not quite rainy but not quite not rainy day.

the next few nights were in the 30's. not the best bee weather. but we learned a few tricks and apparently it worked because they made it through and a few days later when it was actually warm and sunny, they were out and about bringing back pollen and working those dandelions like crazy:)

we are using the top bar hive in order to try and keep them as natural as can be. so when we put them in the first time and didn't hang the queen cage they couldn't cluster and keep warm. the second round (which we bought from a lady who exclusively uses top bar hives here in maine) we were told to hang the queen cage and a little piece of comb (that the lady we bought them from gave to us) and shorten the amount of space they had to keep warm. she also gave us a cotton ball with lemongrass oil on it to keep them interested in their hive. and the most important part...get them really warm so when you install them they have less work to go to get their hive up to their toasty temps they need and like and so they can actually move their wings, as well! we followed her instructions exactly and rick checked them really briefly the other day and they had stared to build out their comb. anybody else out there keep bees in a top bar hive and have some words of wisdom...we would be grateful!

this moment.

2010-05-14T09:27:00.000-04:00

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this moment, a series inspired by soulemama

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shearing day.

2010-05-13T08:38:00.001-04:00

yesterday was shearing day! our neighbors have a huge flock of sheep and each spring they have an amazing shearer come up our way from new hampshire to shear their flock. we piggy backed onto their day last year and well...we did again this year. the woman that shears is super fast and really amazing!!! we sent her home with some of our tomato seedlings as an extra thanks!! our goat boys were in desperate need of a haircut. angora goats should be sheared both spring and fall but last fall it got away from us.

it was actually quite easy to catch the buggers this time. levi the brownish guy basically just walked over to see what was going on and once he saw me with the grain bucket he didn't leave. he was trimmed and clipped before he knew what happened to him. lance the white goat, he is very leary of us and even with the grain bucket he won't come over. we had to *escort* him into his house and then drag him out:)

but now they look great or rather silly, i think and i have a huge pile of fiber to wash!!

p.s. we have been finally getting to harvest some fresh spinach and arugula! last night before dinner nahum was snacking on the spinach saying, "i don't even eat it if it was bought in the store!"...oops...wonder where he heard that before!

this moment.

2010-05-07T08:28:00.001-04:00

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a series inspired by soulemama

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p.s. we will be getting two new packages of bees this weekend...let's hope that all goes well and i will have some good news to report on monday!! have a lovely weekend!

this moment.

2010-04-30T06:46:00.001-04:00

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(a series inspired by soulemama)

homestead happenings

2010-04-28T16:41:00.001-04:00

we just got back from a family visit and while we were gone things grew up here in maine. unfortunately, the bees that we installed before we left (that is what the photo is of from the previous post) failed, like completely failed. we are really bummed out and have had several ideas and some input as to what may have happened...so hopefully we will try again.

as far as the greenhouse goes...transplanting and transplanting! rick has been very busy trying to fit in an hour here and there to work in the greenhouse. i can't take zevy in there because he whacks at the tomato seedlings with a wooden stake! yikes!! so i keep zev out and try to make myself useful by knitting:)

***and the peach blossoms!!

***and the wheat...it grows...even though some of it had been eaten by some pesky hens that like to fly the coop:) here is a picture with zevy in front of it for size comparison. it is hard to get him to cooperate:)

***and the strawberries...starting over after needing to till in our old ones which we finally did last year. i think rick said he ordered 200 hundred plants:) i can't wait until next year. this year we will once again trek to a pick your own place and load up. we ate up all of our strawberry jam and i can't believe i have to wait until july for more.

this moment

2010-04-17T07:41:00.000-04:00

{this moment} - a friday ritual. a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

inspired by amanda soule

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the amazing sweater vest...

2010-04-11T09:38:00.000-04:00

...is finally freakin' done. almost one year later, with lots of questions and ignoring and looking at and wishing...it is finished. nahum was too sweet, telling me that once it is finished he is going to wear it all day long (and he did). i was so happy to finish something wearable for the first time (other than a hat or scarf) that i wanted to take a full page ad in the local paper to announce my craftiness. but i didn't because well...anyway now i can start nahum's blanket and i want to make a sweater for someone...either nahum or zevy. i ended up using malabrigo yummy soft yarn to knit this since nahum is so ultra picky about the softness of his clothes. it is the first time since i have started spinning that i didn't use handspun and it was a bit weird. okay...well i am off to continue the tackle of mount laundry.

the news.

2010-04-04T08:28:00.000-04:00

the news is. we will be expecting our third little baby this very year, not until november, after the majority of the garden and canning season but before the holidays get rolling. sorry to those of you i have lied to recently about this...but you know:) this explains my absence. for those who know me...know how sick i get during the first four or so months and this time is no different and i am only more tired:) but...bed at 7:30 has been quite special, although i hope i can manage to stay up a bit later this summer! so...that is the scoop from here on this sunny easter morning. i am off now for some spring cleaning (trying to put our front porch back into another use besides trash pit!). and then we will head to some friends for the annual easter egg hunt and brunch. i will try to be back in the space since i have quite a collection of photos to share but i am making no promises to myself:)

::a photo from a very long time ago of nahum's cousin owen meeting nahum before he was born! i don't look like this quite yet:)

this moment

2010-03-26T21:41:00.000-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.-amanda soule

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here i am.

2010-03-25T07:11:00.001-04:00

hello out there friends and family. no, i have not dropped off the face of the earth although sometimes i feel like i am sliding very close to the edge... we have been in and out of sickness, and i must confess the past several nights instead of bounding out of bed i have been reading a really intriguing book (which i finished last night). recommended by one of my best friends, cloud atlas, has been an amazing book to read. i haven't read anything that i haven't already read in so long that i just couldn't do anything else, which is how i tend to read. ignore everything until i finish my book then wonder why i didn't savor it longer... so here i am just thought i would share some photos of a few days past to prove i wasn't completely doing nothing (but reading). the first photos of from a walk that we didn't complete due to the entertaining nature of this fall tree! the rest are from our maiden bike ride with nahum's new shiny purple bike (he picked it out all by himself at the bike shop in town!). look how big it is for him. he does really well with it considering how small that other one was (knees were brushing the handle bars) even if this mama's heart is pounding and i am a nervous wreck he will hurt himself! the last photo is "a huge, the hugest skid mark ever mama!" i totally remember doing that as a kid...pedaling real fast and jamming on the breaks! must get going now...off to work!

lovin' this maine spring.

2010-03-17T21:29:00.001-04:00

i can't recall a spring here in maine like this one before, although, as i was speaking with our plow guy he and his wife informed me that maine does in fact have a spring every fifteen to twenty years! cool. i am starting to accept it but still a bit wary. we have been already ignoring (further) our indoor chores to stay outside and we have been bike riding, sandbox playing, flower searching and doing every other spring like activity just in case father winter decides he isn't ready to leave! and oh those lovely, lovely mud puddles!!

now...if you will excuse me i must go finish knitting a certain vest while watching mystic pizza!!

homestead happenings

2010-03-14T22:46:00.000-04:00

it has been awhile since i have posted about what was going on here on the homestead. with our very mild winter seemingly behind us (though we all know it might be back!) rick and i are looking forward to this years growing season. aside from selling seedlings again which enabled us to fully support our farm, we are offering a couple of farm shares. we are both really excited to be able to expand our farm and goals a bit this year. it is all good for learning for when we get to buy our own farm!! rick is also involved in starting up community gardens here in our town this year and we are also going to have a couple of plots down there as well. so during our weekend i found crocuses beginning to show and our garlic and rhubarb also up and looking ready. it is just so early for that here! i also found this bag of wool on my couch waiting for me when i came home friday...i had split it with one of my spinning friends way back in september and we both just remembered it about a month ago...i guess i should start planning...

we boiled maple sap again this weekend, 70 gallons of it, and got a total of 13 pints which is great (7 of which were shared with the people who participated in the boil). we raised up the pit with another layer of cinder blocks to be able to stack more wood under the pan and rick thinks that it helped a lot. all in all the boil lasted from 7 until 3.

today we finally got around to starting the onions, scallions, celeriac and artichokes the latter of the group being a first time and experiment. we ended up starting them inside since both boys are sick and nahum was asleep during the preparations. although it is like he knew because just as we were starting he came downstairs asking to help! since we only have five flats right now we germinate them in the boys room (since no one sleeps in there) because we can close the door and turn up the heat for just that room and this will be more economical then firing up the entire greenhouse this early for just five flats. rick is finishing up our organic re-cert and tomorrow we will send it in along with a check to a beekeeper for some of our very own bees. so it looks busy already and we haven't even started...i hope it is a good growing season!

this moment

2010-03-12T21:10:00.001-05:00

{inspired by amanda soule i am joining in on her *moment* series. just one image and no words...}

home again home again

2010-03-11T21:29:00.002-05:00

there is nothing like arriving home after being gone for a week. we made it back home this evening to a happy and waiting husband and papa. my dog was also excited to see me and she doesn't usually let much excite her. when we left rick he had cleared out the living room and was preparing to redo it, finish the floors and put up some woodwork, repaint. he finished it all and i can't believe how awesome it looks. i feel like finally this is the room i have been waiting for and i actually want to spend some time in it. it feels brighter and just looks amazing. of course most of our stuff has not been moved back in yet so it looks extra neat and uncluttered. quite lovely. i will share some photos of it after i take some during the daylight because the ones i took this evening did not capture the rooms loveliness.

::at the airport waving to the planes before take off this very early morning.

and arriving home all of the bits and pieces of life are presenting themselves to me, the to do lists and farm chores. we have over 50 gallons of sap to boil this weekend which is a record here at the new boil pit (some of the sap belongs to friends). we have onions to plant, greens to start and i would really like to sit and plan out some flower gardens for the new beds rick made me last fall. it will get done all in good time, i am sure.

::flowers from this past summer...i hope to have lots more this year!

tonight though it was beyond lovely to have our food again. to see a five gallon bucket that is almost half filled with fresh, yellow, yolky eggs, to eat as family around our table, to put the boys to bed in our giant family bed. i am excited to return to our crazy life which is more scheduled than i thought. i am excited to play outside in the cool weather wearing my favorite hat.

::here are the boys at a fountain in the palm beach zoo...they did get wet!

and now i am excited to crawl into that giant family bed with a good book...

::a photo from this past summer of part of the giant (king and a twin) family bed

a moment

2010-03-07T22:37:00.005-05:00

sun and warmth

2010-03-07T08:22:00.003-05:00

not much time for words right now. my mom and the boys and i are in florida visiting my grandfather. i just wanted to post some pictures of sun play! and i haven't worn socks in two days...my favorite..!!

one small change...march is for recycling!!

2010-03-02T20:54:00.001-05:00

here we go (already) with a new change for our family. not a complete new idea but a serious overhaul and redo. RECYCLING. yup. we are mostly good but sometimes lame and sometimes really horridly lame. i want to be wicked! when i went to school (ithaca, new york) the city had free curbside recycling but you had to pay for the trash tags. they gave out bins and a handy little handout to put on the fridge telling you what to recycle and what bin to put it in. i used to put recycling out every week but try to keep my trash for about a month in one garbage can (outside!). it was awesome and i was awesome at it. so now...i will show you our recycling corner (but don't judge too harshly...i really do try). and after (hiding my head in shame and embarrassment...we really aren't that gross, i promise!) i vow with all my ability that when i get back from florida (leaving tomorrow) i will create that recycling haven i have often dreamed of. so...just one picture of the mess...the absolute disgusting mess and when i fix it up...i will post the results.

well, i guess you can all call me nasty names if you want but you just wait and see...i know i can't!!

making maple syrup

2010-03-01T09:38:00.000-05:00

this weekend we made our first batch of maple syrup. hopefully it won't be the last but the temperatures have been less than ideal. we need the nights to be in the twenties and daytime to be thirties and up (above freezing) in order for the sap to flow.

::here are the buckets of sap waiting in the snow banks (no snow anymore, though)

usually we have just tapped the trees but this year the weather is so wonky that we ended up tapping three weeks early. we have one tree that is a mega producer and then a couple of other little trees and we usually produce enough syrup for our year. we also have friends that bring their sap over and so we get to have a bit of an outdoor boil party. this year so far, we are the only ones to have gotten any sap at all...yikes. so, we had almost 20 gallons of sap that we boiled down yesterday morning and last night rick finished it up and we were left with three pints of glorious, sweet, sticky syrup. usually the first boil is a light golden amber but this year it is rather dark for the first boil.

we finish the boiling inside so we can get the correct density and not either turn the whole pan into sugar or not boil it down enough (which is fine but it isn't as sweet and it will be rather watery).

::here is zev posing for something...don't ask what because we didn't know. we think he was mesmerized by the fire.

::here is our primitive boil pit. the pan has a pre heater where the sap hangs out and drips very slowly into the chambered portions of the big pan.

::here is a shot of the sap steaming and boiling away

::nahum can finally climb into the leaning apple since papa pruned it!!

::zev occupied himself rather well out side!

::here is the sap being poured into a flannel to strain out all the debris that falls into it during the boiling.

::the golden syrup as it is filtering...

well...that is how to make maple syrup in a nutshell...we do a lot of tasting and sampling and oohing and aaahing over this delicious mid winter treat.

this and that.

2010-02-22T22:30:00.003-05:00

feeling a bit tired tonight and also a bit uninspired here. (i am blaming it on lack of snow...we are in the ugly spring mode here already). i keep hearing of every other state getting dumped upon and well...i want some too! so anyway...uninspired...but hey look at some photos while i finish some lingering projects.

thirty two.

2010-02-20T23:10:00.000-05:00

gray and dark brown hair with two or more dreads. bad back. hazely eyes. a bit of extra skin in certain places. an interesting sense of humor. no memory. wonderful family. mama. daughter. wife. friend. spinner. chocolate and pizza lover. baker. messy housekeeper. dirt lover. barefoot and happy. smiles on rainy days. busy. secretly wishing to stay at home and spin wool and raise kids. secretly wishing to tap my neighbors maple trees. secretly wishing i hadn't just re-read the entire harry potter for the millionth time so i can start it over again. trying to be content with where i am. happy.

::me.today.thirty two.

::me. ugly. way back when.

thanks mimi and poppy for a wonderful birthday dinner and a few more laughs this evening. i love yous.

happy birthday to paul a., mike w., becky l., paul p., erik m. and any others who share this even numbered day with me.

p.s. we went to an antique store today to search for a washstand table thingy for our living room and found one...just hope it is still there when the tax refund comes in! but i also found this little birthday treat for myself!

mama spins and papa's gig

2010-02-18T19:28:00.003-05:00

first off, i haven't meant to be gone for so long but seriously sometimes life gets in the way of life! we have been welcoming new friends, visiting with old friends, eating lots and lots of chocolate!, playing in the spring-like weather and now tonight i finally have a moment to sit down and look at what we have done this past week! i am actually at home alone right now...which never happens so i thought it would be great to play on the computer and eat ice cream for dinner. rick and the boys are out on a secret mission (my birthday is saturday...) and then to dinner. i told him that him taking the boys out and leaving me home is the best birthday present ever! i mean, i can putter and putter and just sit in the silence...okay but this post isn't about that. i have a few photos from the spin-in i went to last saturday with our group the acadia spinners.

then, when i got home we ate a quick dinner and jumped back in the car for a trip into bar harbor to hear papa and his band play at one of the bars (there is no smoking in any bar/restaurant in maine so i feel like i can bring them in anywhere and not worry). yup, me and the kids. they ran around until approximately one in the morning as happy as can be. (yes, they both slept in the next morning!) nahum has never missed one of papa's gigs...or maybe just one. but i love him to hear his papa play music and he loves to just hang out and sometimes even hang on his papa while he is playing.

maple sap...

2010-02-12T22:03:00.000-05:00

...its running!! three gallons in. many, many more to go. my favorite time of year...among many others of course! i am in a bit of a rush tonight since i need to wind some of my mother's yarn into a ball, find a whole lot of fleece and choose some to bring to the annual spin-in tomorrow. lots of wheels and ladies (and some men) and fiber. ooohhh gotta go get ready. we are leaving first thing in the morning. and then tomorrow night rick's band is playing at the lompoc!!!