trish fixed pictures!
Uncategorized
Seedlings
Yesterday afternoon, with my son on my back, the girls and I potted up the first of our tomato seedlings – all 51 of them. (The one above is a “Black Krim”, a favorite of ours for salads.) Another 26 little tomato-lets (started a week later) will be potted up this weekend, time allowing.
(Above: Our eclectic collection of potted-up tomatoes – in sour cream and tapioca containers, large paper cups, milk jugs, juice bottles, hand-me-down pots.)
It felt wonderful to spend the afternoon in the warm sunshine, kneeling with my children on the front steps, tenderly moving each little seedling from a starting tray into its own pot.  It felt wonderful to be growing food with my children, and I am grateful for the many, many days of gardening with them that are spread out in front of us.
Got our wellies on!
Seems like we’ve been living in our wellies this week as we spent most of our time planting in the garden. This week we’ve started:
Peas, round two, this time in the front yard – Little Marvel, Tall Telephone, and Oregon Sugar Pod II.
Potatoes, in three beds in the backyard, near the larger coldframe – German Butterball, All Blue, and a rare heirloom, Red Thumb, an oblong potato with thin red skin and rosey pink flesh.
Leafy and misc. Veggies – Fordhook , Magenta Lights, and Bright Lights Swiss Chard; Russian Red, Dwarf White, and Nero Tuscana Kale, chives, an heirloom lettuce blend, mustard greens, and a brave early attempt at carrots.
Sprinkled around the edges of the beds we seeded calendula and mixed-color California poppies. At the ends of the pea rows, we put in Wedding Blush tall sweet peas.
(Hyacinth picture by Firecracker)
When I got too tired to do any more yardwork, and the kids were tired of scooter and bike riding around the driveway, we sat on the front steps (smelling the fragrant hyacinths that have just begun to open), and potted up some seeds:
Tomato and tomatillo – third round of tomato planting, so all of these are repeats – Green Zebra, red and yellow Brandywine, Persimmon, Black Krim, Yellow Pear, Sweet Million, Tigerella, Cherokee Purple, Crnkovic Yugoslav (from Seed Savers), Marvel Striped tomatoes, and Purple de Milpa tomatillos.
Other veggies – we started Musselborough Leeks and a second round of globe artichokes (Tum Tum the Destroyer did in my first pot of 7).
What veggies are you starting in your garden? What are you most looking forward to starting?
Simplifying
The past month has been an opportunity to re-evaluate what we value as a family – to really examine what we strive to be and to accomplish. Although unintentional, the blogging break these past several weeks has been very therapeutic for our whole family. (Actually, it was a break from all computer-related activities).
I realized how much time was being spent every week blogging, and reading other beautiful, but consuming, blogs. I realized how much more time I spent reading, knitting, sewing, being still and quiet when I tuned out technology. My stress level went down, and we were all less rushed and more at peace. Most importantly, I spent so much more time communicating and interacting with my children in a positive way.
I am going to continue blogging, still for the reason I began – to be an encouragement, and reminder of the value of being a mother, and a keeper of the home and a member of the greater community. There is priceless value in the small, everyday moments of raising a family.  But, for the next few months, at least, I’ll be scaling back the frequency of posting and dramatically pruning back the amount of time spent on the computer.
So, that’s it for this week. I’m not going to spend the next hour reading other mama’s blogs (as inspirational as they are) while the baby naps – getting neurotic and feeling completely inferior about this humble little blog and our domestic activities compared to what I see elsewhere.
Instead, I am going to put on some mint tea, and sit down with my girls and enjoy our tea with oranges, Nutella on graham crackers, lively conversation.
Blessings on you as you connect with your loved ones today.
I’ll be back next week.
Words from Trish
This week, I was able to join Angela in Florida for our first visit in two years. We spent Little Hens birthday at Angelas Parents and her and the kids stayed overnight in My Husbands and Mine beach house. The weather has been brisk down her, but we had a blast.
Angela has asked me to post up that she has NOT abandoned her website, but will be back when she arrives home at the end of the month, but im sure chaos will ensue with her having to come home and re-acclimate to a real winter temperature and children being cooped up, ill guess she’ll be bak to blogging in February.
Until then, i have a few pics to share from our ventures together.
I heard a bird sing…
Yesterday evening, we strung popcorn and cranberries and decorated our little Christmas tree. We have quite a collection of bird ornaments, and as we hung them by candlelight (dark at 5pm!) I was reminded of Oliver Herford‘s little poem, I Heard a Bird Sing –
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.
‘We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,’
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
Hope and Light to you on these dark winter nights.
Back to posting
My apologies on being absent for a bit – we’re once again struggling with sick kids, especially Firecracker, who has had multiple trips to the doctor and the ER in the past few weeks because the colds are wreaking havoc on her asthma.
That, plus my first time hosting Thanksgiving for extended family, and now scrambling to prepare for our church’s Women’s Christmas Breakfast at my house this coming Saturday (ack! that’s less than two days away!!), I have hardly been on the computer.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a string of posts about the beginning of our Advent celebration.
Blessings!
(And and extra special thanks to my dear friend, Trish, who has been tirelessly experimenting with new banners for me!)
5 years
Look who celebrated a birthday over the weekend! Firecracker turned 5 years-old on Halloween (which is why I’m so late posting – what a busy weekend!!)
My sweet girl, Mama and Daddy are SO glad you are a part of our family! You bring such enthusiasm, such big feelings, and so much delight wherever you go. You have the best laugh ever – you laugh with your whole self. Your exuberance is contagious, and we are blessed by you every day!
(Classic Firecracker – pink prairie girl meets tomboy – she’s in her new bonnet and with her new fan (birthday gifts), a girly girl thrift store dress, along with wellies, while taking a break from riding her scooter and playing “Zombie Pirates” with her sister in order to pose for the camera. Gotta love her.).
Please bear with me
I may not be posting much this week – I have come down with a probable case of H1N1, and am feeling pretty low.  Thankfully, no one else in the family appears to be getting it yet, and hopefully no one will at all.
Also, my blog will be undergoing some aesthetic changes this week and next – Trish at This Lucky Family is working hard to make some improvements to the layout and give me a custom banner. (Trish, you’re the best!!)
Okay, so back to the sofa, where I can keep an eye on my very energetic children, who are currently making a fort under the dining room table, using every single pillow and blanket they can round up.
Stay healthy!
Paper crafting – freestyle
The past month has left me feeling stretched pretty thin because of obligations and responsibilities to my family and others.    Tackling domestic duties and “home schooling” the girls while my non-stop motion toddler “explores” the house into a distaster zone has also been a challenge. Crafting has been particularly tricky – Tum Tum either attempt to eat or destroy anything the girls are working on – and he’s especially good at climbing up on the kitchen table and flinging art supplies across the room in a lightning flash.
This day, he took a nice long nap after lunch, so as soon as he was sleeping, I quickly whisked out some craft supplies for the girls to do a little fall paper crafting. We didn’t have anything in mind – I put out some supplies with a vaguely autumnal theme and let the girls’ creativity lead them.
We had a huge pad of fall-colored scrap book paper (on clearance for $3 this past summer at Michaels), paper scraps, some oatmeal and coffee tins, glitter glue, sequins, etc, chrysanthemum and maple leaf punches (I am addicted to the Martha Stewart craft punches – whenever they have one of those 50% off the sale price ” coupons and the Martha Stewart items are on sale, I snatch one up.). After punching out some maple leaves for them, I went into the kitchen to make brownies, and let the girls explore on their own.
I love what they came up with – Little Hen’s (left) is a “treasure box” (it’s hard to see in this shot, but she wrote “treasures” on it) and Firecracker’s is a bank for “collecting coins for Heifer”.
We saved the last canister for Tum Tum, who was happy to turn it into a drum after he woke from his nap. 🙂
Note : I hope to get back to some more regular posting by the end of the week. Life has been a bit overscheduled I just haven’t found the time to sit down at the computer much the past few weeks. We have some family birthdays, out of town company, and a trip coming up, so I hope to squeeze in some blogging late at night!!
World Forestry Center
Over the weekend, we took advantage of the Smithsonian’s annual free pass day to visit the World Forestry Center, located right across from the Oregon Zoo. The building is light and open, and the exhibits are well designed, educational, and attractive to children.
There were displays appealing to many senses – here Firecracker is smelling the oils from different culinary trees and trying to guess their origin.  Euclayptus had her stumped – she said it smelled like “Burt’s Bees something…but that’s not quite right.”
Little Hen played the tongue drums for a LONG time – and has been reminding me daily how “if we ever find any tongue drums on Craigslist, maybe we could get them.”
Of course, all Tum Tum cared about was the MACHINES! That boy signed “more car” and made engine revving sounds all morning. “Driving” the timberjack and the jeep totally made his day.
Little Hen spins a Tibetan prayer wheel.
Hope you get a chance to visit the World Forestry center – for my kids, it was a chance to try their hand at some really fun virtual experiences – like parachuting as a smoke jumper, running a timberjack, river rafting and riding a jeep in Africa. But, it was also a chance to learn more about good stewardship of our resources, the importance of conserving forests, and the blessing that their products are to us and to people all over the world, and the value in renewing those forests for future generations. A very nice little museum -I’m glad we got a chance to visit.
Perry, Sauce, and Butter
Final count from the Barlett harvest:
20 – 1/2 pints of Caramel-Spice Pear Butter (sorry, secret recipe!)
18 quarts of pears in light syrup (some spiced, some with lavender, some vanilla)
12 quarts of pear sauce (which we all discovered we prefer to applesauce – it has a wonderful buttery quality)
oodles of pear crisp and pear upsidedown-gingerbread cake
about 40 lbs eaten fresh
and 4 1/2 gallons of pear cider, for our first ever attempt at perry. (Although, there’s quite a bit of sediment, so I’m sure it will yield much less after racking once or twice…or three times, we’ll see how it goes.)
After far too many hours on my feet, late at night and very early in the morning, processing all of the pears, it feels wonderful to be done. We all look forward to enjoying the fruits of our labors throughout the fall and winter.
Thanks for being patient while I took a few days off – the whole family was down for about 5 days with a fever/chest cold and that plus putting up the pears (after all, they don’t care if we’re sick and the timing is inconvenient for us, they ripen when they are ready!) and some other obligations left me feeling spread pretty thin.
Today is rainy and gray and the girls are still feeling under the weather. I’m hoping to get the house cleaned, since it’s been terribly neglected for a week. After that, I promised Little Hen we’d work on spinning with a drop spindle, and maybe read a little together.
I hope you have a restful and recuperative weekend, too.
Retro Fall Doll Quilt
Little Hen and I finished the first scrap doll quilt in a while with more of a fall color scheme. We made it for a friend who’s daughter has a birthday coming up.
Actually, there wasn’t much to it -the four main blocks were in the middle of a big bag of fabric scraps I had been given. Little Hen picked out the orange fabric “because orange is a good fall color” (from the same bag of scraps).
In the scrap bag was also some neutral-yellow cotton fabric in a large enough piece to fold triple thick to serve as batting and backing for the quilt.  We layered them up and quickly put the doll quilt together. The finished quilt is about 18″ x 24″. Can’t wait to see our little friend snuggling her dollies up in it soon!
Roast Chicken Dinner
Cooler weather this weekend means a chance to make a family favorite – roast chicken. Here’s my recipe –
Larksong’s Roast Chicken with Shallots
1 chicken, washed and patted dry with paper towels left to stand at room temp for 20 min.
2 – 3 Tbsp (approx) Penzeys Bicentennial Rub (or spice rub of your choice that contains salt)
2 Tbsp Tillamook Butter, cut into small pieces.
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 pinch dried rosemary (from my friend, Jerilee. Thanks!)
about 6 large shallots
4 large potatoes, washed and quartered
2 handfuls chopped carrots (I used baby carrots for convenience)
Olive oil
Directions –
1) Preheat oven to 425 F. Slice the shallots thickly and place them in the bottom center of a lightly oiled roasting dish.
2)Rub chicken (instead and outside and under the skin) with the butter. Then rub entire chicken with the spice rub (especially under the skin for maximum flavor). Place garlic, rosemary and a few carrot slices inside the cavity. Truss the chicken.
3)Place chicken breast side down on top of the shallots in the roasting pan. Arrange the carrots and potato slices around the bird and drizzle them with olive oil. Bake at 425 F for approximately 1 1/2 hrs, or until juices run clear. Let rest on the counter 15 min before carving.
Wooden Bowls
Yesterday’s thrifting yielded these three child-sized wooden dishes (Other finds – two prairie bonnets for the girls for 75 cents each, and an April Cornell baby dress for a friend’s little girl for $1.50! I also picked up a like-new Maya Wrap for $2, but it’s a size M and a bit short for my tall frame – if anyone in the Portland area would like it, send me an e-mail at angela dot baker dot knits at gmail dot com, and it’s yours!). The larger bowl and the plate were 25 cents each and the smaller bowl (with a teensy chip in the rim) was 12 cents!! I LOVE my local thrift store!!
These dishes were all handmade right here in Oregon out of myrtle wood with a wax finish. Little Hen remarked right away on the beautiful grain in the larger bowl.
On the topic of beautiful wooden things – two mamas who always are so inspiring with their pictures and thoughts that capture the beauty of childhood moments – Grace at Uncommon Grace, and Shelley at Waldorf Mama.  Grace posted a while back about her children polishing wooden objects with beeswax polish.  The reason this post stuck in my mind is because of the purpose behind it – Grace says, “And, best of all, polishing is such a relaxing activity for my children, especially in the ‘witching hour’ right before dinner.” We are always searching for purposeful things to occupy the children that often-frustrating time of day, and this activity seems like something my girls would enjoy doing very much!
Shelley has shared some pictures of her daughter Maya’s wooden child’s dishes by Heartwood Arts.     Her posts have inspired us to slowly transitioning from plastic play dishes to wooden ones (Little Hen especially oohs and ahhs over Maya’s lovingly handcrafted toys and playthings).  She has such a way of emphasizing the benefit of natural materials in children’s lives. It’s been fun to hunt the thrift stores for pieces to add to our growing collection. Now to find some little wooden spoons…
What natural treasures have you been discovering lately?
(Please visit my giveaway post – comments will close at 11pm Pacific this evening. Thanks!)
Morning on the Farm
Some more shots from yesterday’s trip to Sauvie Island Farms.
Little Hen in the raspberry canes,
where we found an old abandoned nest, lined with feathers and seed fluff.
Firecracker helped her auntie pick blueberries.
And the flowers were absolutely stunning.
The biggest surprise of the day was finding a nest with four baby birds in the middle of the marionberry canes. They sat very still as we observed them. It was a real treat – the nestlings were clearly Cedar Waxings (the black face mask and yellow band on the tail were telling signs), which are one of my favorite birds.  The nest was right at eye-level for the girls, so they got an excellent look.
Please come back tomorrow – I’ll be having my first giveaway. Thanks!
Watermelon Granita
For the past few weeks on and off, we’ve been experiencing some uncharacteristically hot weather here in Portland (hovering around 100 degrees). The forecast for the next few days is 103!! Ack!
So, in an effort to simultaneously keep cool and fulfill my need to cook (without running the oven!), I made a batch of Watermelon Granita.  Here’s my recipe –
Larksong’s Watermelon Granita
4 cups seeded, chunked watermelon
1/2 cup Dainty Lime Marmalade (or 1/2 cup sugar and juice of one lemon or lime, but the final result will be grainier)
1/4 cup vodka (optional – I make two batches, one with for the grown-ups, one without for the kiddos. )
Directions – Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a casserole dish and freeze 1 hour. Rake with a fork. Return to the freezer for another hour. Rake again with a fork.  Return to the freezer for 1 more hour, then rake yet again. (Sometimes, with the vodka added, it may take some additional time to freeze thoroughly , so leave 4 hours in your time schedule just in case.)
If you haven’t got any watermelon on hand – try my mother’s Peach Granita recipe (you can tell where I got the inspiration!) –
Larksong’s Mother’s Peach Granita
3 cups peeled, chopped peaches (blanch for 30 seconds to loosen skin, and then peel and chop)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Peach Schnapps
1/2 cup water or orange juice
Directions – Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a casserole dish and freeze 1 hour. Rake with a fork. Return to the freezer for another hour. Rake again with a fork.  Return to the freezer for one more hour. Rake with a fork for the third time. Serve in chilled cups. Enjoy!
What are you doing to stay cool in the summer heat?
Handwork Cushion
A cushion handmade by my great-grandmother - wool rug-hooking on black velvet, I believe. My aunt found it in my grandmother’s house, and was set to throw it out (“it’s so kitschy, who would want it?”), but my mom immediately rescued it for me, knowing it would be right at home here . I’m in love with colors, the birds, with having something of Ma-maw’s.
Passing
Tum Tum and I are home from my grandmother’s funeral in rural Indiana. It was a good visit with relatives and friends, and much needed opportunity to say our farewells to Grandma.
I feel very blessed to be given some table cloths that belonged to my grandmother, and her mother before her. Â Every time we put them out will be an opportunity to share happy memories of “Grandma Great” with the children.
A thousand years are in your sight
Brief as a portion of the night.
Short as a dream our seasons pass,
Our lives are like the tender grass –
Luxuriant at the break of day,
But in the evening fades away…
O teach us, Lord, to count our days,
And set our hearts on wisdom’s ways
Turn, Lord, to us in our distress
In pity now your servants bless.
Let mercy’s dawn dispell the night,
And all our days with joy be bright. – Matthew Curl, adapted from Psalm 90.
Your thoughts and prayers
A little boy from our church is in need of your prayers. If you have a spare moment, please remember to lift him up. Thank you.
5For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
6Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
listen to my plea for mercy.
7In the day of trouble I call upon you,
for you answer me. -Psalm 86: 5-7
Grosgrain Giveaway!
A wonderfully sassy girl’s pettiskirt giveaway from the super-talented Kathleen of Grosgrain Fabulous!!
Coconut Macaroons
I have checked out this book from the library at least 10 times. I need to just go out and buy it.  So far, the girls and I have made close to half of the cookies in the book. We keep coming back to a number of them, but the coconut macaroons are simple and fun for children to make. The girls enjoy shaping them into pyramids and we all enjoy the crunchy outside and soft, sweet inside.
The recipe is also online at Martha’s website
.
Hope your day is filled with sweet treats and smiling children!
Look who’s big stuff!
And they say boys are harder to potty train? My 9 month-old things he’s really big stuff when he sits on his little Baby Bjorn infant potty. Anything that reduces how many loads of diapers I have to wash per week is a good thing!
Okay, proud Mama done bragging.
Back from our break!
Feels like it’s been forever – In the past two weeks, we’ve had rotavirus, then a chest cold, then a fever, viral pink eye, and now Firecracker has an ear infection. We’ve also found and put an offer an a house we loved, only to have the inspections reveal major problems, so we backed out, and actually ended up putting an offer on the house next door. Fingers crossed on the inspection (this afternoon), but the house was remodeled three years ago, so we are hoping for nothing drastic to turn up.
Also, as my dear friend Trish posted, my computer decided to self-destruct as did my card reader. My sister came to the rescue and graciously gave us her old laptop, so I’ll be able to catch up on some blogging while trying to close on our first house, and pack up and move!
I have two recipes to share, some knitting, some mothering and gardening…can’t wait to get it up and posted.