Imogen Alice recently started daycare, which means she came down with an upper respiratory yuck. Her fever came down over the weekend, but she still wasn’t feeling great, so we both got to play hooky on July 1st.
We took walkies.
We had a bath.
We took more walkies.
Which led to naps. Mom fed her on breaks from work. I changed diapers. Then I went home. It was a splendid day.
Pink yarrow! Who knew? It’s usually white!
Michael calls this “Butter and eggs”. My flower finder calls it Toadflax. It looks like a tiny snapdragon. I love snapdragons! They magically appeared the beginning of June and will be some of the last flowers of fall.
Marsh Woundwort. It has square stems and so I think of it as a non-fragrant mint.
The peonies smell light and sweet.
The Hop-Hornbeam is in full flower. A relative of a birch, it has very hard wood.
The hop clover grows everywhere.
I planted a lot of bulbs last fall and then forgot what was there. Such a lovely surprise to have some late bloomers!
The garlic blossoms, aka scapes, need to be gathered, sautéed in olive oil and tossed with pasta.
I greedily watch the tomatoes.
My first daylily burst forth today.
The elders are “blowing,” which is what we call its blossoms. The elder blow wine we made last year finally came into its own and has a complex, slightly bitter but floral flavor. It grows on you.
The Johnny Jump Ups and marigolds brighten the deck.
But they cannot hold a candle to this wonderful child. Happy Birthday Grand Girl!
In two days. 20 broilers. 2 girls.
These are “buffer” photos for those who would prefer not to see the blood involved in transferring chicken from pasture to freezer. We did have our first salads this past weekend. Amazingly yum.
We love our chickens. We both carry them down to the “lick log.” I create the kill sack. Michael beheads them. We started early in the morning Saturday, racing rain.
We had all chickens hanging and started the plucking/gutting process both Saturday and Sunday before our children arrived. Sunday we tried to beat the heat (and flies). Successfully.
Saturday the only Grand in attendance was the one dependent on her mama for sustenance. I got to introduce her to the Cresap mania for word puzzles between outside and inside processes. Always good to rest a bit between times.
They are beautiful: excellent at transforming feed to protein while still keeping their individuality. We love our birds.
Chickens breathe without benefit of a diaphragm. Their lungs are attached to their ribs instead. It makes removing them from the carcass a challenge. Amazing to have such perfect specimens. Marvelous!
This is what 40 pounds of chicken parts look like. Those are soup bones in the far bowl. The extra 2+ pounds were from hearts and gizzards (for making sausages) and livers (which neither of our girls like).
But we do! We have 14 more broilers to do in. We will package 10 soonish, letting the smaller ones grow a bit while it rains. We got an inch today. More rain due tomorrow. Four will grow up to the ten pound range, graciously providing holiday dinners. We have some Speckled Sussex to process as well. They will weigh half as much in twice the time, but will be delicious in a slow food kind of way. We love our birds.
Our first radishes: Thursday June 6. Crisp and mild, they have benefited from the near-constant rain we have received.
Peppers, tomatoes and potatoes are abloom.
As are the potato beetles. Organic potatoes means squishing them. One. By. One.
My eggplant starts are almost large enough to plant.
Unfortunately, the eggplant garden needs some work.
The pumpkin patch has been prepped and planted.
The squash square sports sprouts.
I found a lovely toad while weeding garlic.
Onions! No bottoms yet, but we sneak some of the tops into pasta, guacamole, and anywhere else we can.
The cucumbers need weeding.
My lettuce/radish ratios seem about right.
We thinned the carrots and bok choi.
I thinned the Grand Guy’s thatch.
The rabbits thin the peas and beans.
Michael thinned the rabbits. (Cuban style fricassee comes highly recommended.)
The only one not getting thin is me!
I usually visit my mom in March for her birthday. This year the tiniest Grand Girl took precedence, and so my sojourn occurred in May.
Added benefit: seeing not one but two brothers! One in Las Cruces and the other in Santa Fe.
We walked every morning.
We enjoyed neighborhood flowers.
We ate good food. (Now you know from whence the good food genes…)
We achieved Queen Bee status.
We got out and about.
I puttered in her yard while she puttered in her wood shop. And then I went home.
Where a few days later my Uncle Tom and Aunt Marcy arrived from Alaska! Just in time to read to the Grands and eat good food. I love my huge family!
The iris and pinks blaze in low sunlight, greeting me every morning.
Today the black raspberries came into bloom. We do not often get berries, but with the steady rain we have received, there may be berries this year.
I mowed a legion of daisy buds two days ago. These smaller aster cousins appeared before the daisies.
Despite my mowing, daisies dust the landscape, set off by orange hawk weed.
Hawk weed comes in yellow too.
Vetch provides a soft purple haze when I ride by on my bike.
The dreaded buckthorn: planted for its beauty, spread by abundant berries.
Wild carrot or perhaps hemlock. It does not have hairy “legs”, so is not Queen Anne’s Lace.
Wild parsnip shares the same habit, but blooms yellow.
The humble clover holds its own.
Wild roses: you often smell their clove-like scent before you see them.
Phlox shades from pale to intense pink.
Hoary Puccoon: a horrible name for such a bright flower. These first started to show up in late April.
Hoary Alyssum: a more fitting name.
The shy Columbine.
The brash Bridal Veil Spirea.
Lilacs have come and gone.
As have the trillium.
The wild strawberries continue to blossom, even while bearing fruit. That is a plastic garbage bag on my fingers. I didn’t come prepared for strawberry picking, only stray trash picking.
My favorite flower of all!
Occasionally, daycare takes a day off. A week ago we took advantage to have overnights with Felix.
We immediately put him to work helping Boopa with ducks and chickens.
I rewarded him with biscuits and gravy. He slept well.
He didn’t fall off a cliff or into a pothole.
We all enjoyed a treat.
Had a great time waiting for dinner at our local dive bar. French fries! Ketchup! Nirvana! He slept well again.
He explored the lawn tractor while waiting for Baby Sister to arrive.
She showed up and stole all the hugs.
Then happily helping back home!
Today we got tomatoes and peppers in the ground. Michael spent several days digging this 14’ by 14’ garden, setting posts, and fencing.
I took our starts and got them planted.
I cut the styrofoam cups, leaving a collar.
I dug a hole, snuggled the roots into the dirt, and packed them in so a collar of styrofoam remained above the dirt. Styrofoam is easier to trim than plastic cups and provides as good a shield against cut worms as plastic or metal. Using a physical barrier keeps us from using pesticides to protect our baby plants.
We planted the big garden with onions, carrots, bok choi, potatoes, lettuce, beets, cabbage, popcorn, peas, beans, leeks, dill, radishes and flowers. I found my experiment with egg carton starts were mostly successful. They are smaller than peat pellets and so dried out more quickly. I lost some flower starts to dryness. They also deteriorated over time. I may have lost some leeks because the soil fell away from roots in the transplant process. Generally, they worked. They just took a bit more care.
Growing things. Yayayayay!
Michael cut chives almost in time. They were beginning to bloom, which means separating out the stiff blossom stems as well as random grasses.
After washing and separating, we snip them onto screens. Then into the dehydrator they go.
After about 24 hours, chives have gone from wet to package worthy.
Seven screens filled two jars. This will supply us with chives for blue cheese dressing, white sauces, and other delicacies for an entire year. Fresh chives will go into omelettes, croquettes, and any other dish we think would be improved by these savory morsels.
We have feasted on asparagus for about two weeks now. My daughter noticed that asparagus fresh from our garden tastes so much better than anything available from a market.
Michael has been making rhubarb pies. Soon we will harvest rhubarb for wine. We move from spring to summer at lightning speed.
Rainbows and Northern Lights. It is shaping up to be another amazing year.
The Japanese honeysuckle won the first leaf contest on April 11th. This invasive bush lives on the edges of woods, producing abundant flowers and berries. It competes with the prickly ash for this ecological niche.
The box elders tied the poplar for first trees leafing, which happened yesterday, April 27th.
The Nanny Berries, a type of viburnum, finally showed their leaves as well. They will have big panicles of flowers that turn into clusters of dark berries in the fall. They remind me of dates in flavor and texture. They were Michael’s grandmother’s favorites.
The tree pictured below appears to be leafing out. It is a maple in full blossom!
I saw my first bloodroot, violets, pussytoes and sedge blossoms on April 25th. I’m probably missing the hepatica, which bloom in the deep woods. It has been raining and my knees are not yet stable enough for slippery hillsides.
I am enjoying the flowers I over-crowded last fall. They will never disguise our old LP tank, but they do increase my joy looking in that direction.
All the sprouts give me joy too. The 6 year old travels too fast to capture. The two years olds also demand more attention. The 6 week old has to be held while she is still a peanut. She started cooing today. They grow so quickly. We do not want to encase them in amber, but only to soak in their wonder at this world while we may.
The mosses bloom and oaks shed their leaves.
Chives will be our first harvest. We long for the greens our land will gift us.
Michael planted 900 onion sets today. He planted potatoes by April 15th as the soil complied by not being frozen. We will have frost tonight, but the earth will retain its heat.
The tomatoes I planted a week ago sprouted overnight. The peppers and eggplant have yet to show signs of life. My leeks need sunlight!
No matzo, but a different type of unleavened bread: corn tortillas. No lamb, but a different cloven hooved animal: venison. No bitter herbs, only spinach. Green and red chile from New Mexico, the land of my ancestors. It is a good day to remember how they abandoned the places of their births and slaved to make life better for their children. Salt to recall sweat, if not tears. So much to be thankful for. So much to celebrate.
Every now and then we are called upon to care for various and sundry Grands. We love various and sundry Grands! We live to spend time with these growing people.
Their parents went off for a long weekend to celebrate a birthday with friends far away. I’m sympathetic because the friends are of long standing and have traveled far…accomplishing fabulous things. It is so good to keep contact with such amazing people. And we have been wanting to have a sleepover with the tiny people.
The Tiny Grand and I went and did those things that Michael got to do with our girls as they were growing up. I missed out on some things with my own children. It is good (if physically challenging) to be lifting 30 pounds up repeatedly to see over fences to peer at zebras and tigers and gorillas.
Back home again and all Grands together for a day. What to do but read books! And feed them good food.
All our ducks in a row.
In with ducks and cherries and chickens. Rawr! How to exert primacy as one finds one’s way in the world.
Eating pineapple gifted from Chiapas.
Braving storm clouds bringing snow flurries instead of sunshine.
Finding flowers after the storms.
We hope to foster familiarity with the foreign, so that these tiny people can be at home wherever they may go.
Our first four ducklings hatched yesterday. Felix gently welcomed this first, who arrived in time for a visit. More on their way! We check the incubator every couple of hours, so tiny feet don’t get trapped in the egg turning mechanism. Made for a poor night’s sleep, but that is the nature of babies.
We got to see Moogie’s eyes! She is an amazingly chill child.
Felix and Zeke basked in the sun.
My crocus are blooming! They began flowering on on March 23rd, but then a foot of snow fell on the 26th. Unfrozen soil allowed my flowers to survive!
The ducks loved the snow. The chickens, not so much.
Enough cool weather for Moogie to make use of her tiny hat.
We celebrated Easter early in Minneapolis…
…and then spent a quiet Sunday together.
I’m taking my time taping and mudding, if only because my knees don’t allow much floor work or time on a ladder.
Today I listen to rainy day music as the ducks revel in the wet.
A good day for asparagus soup (not local asparagus, alas) and red corn bread.
We baked our last winter squash today: sweeter than the kisses of Esmeralda. I made broth from the last of my soup bones today as well. We spend down our stores, reveling in the fruit of our labor and making way for the coming year’s bounty.
The heartbeat of the land quickens with increased sunshine. The vultures and robins returned before the snow. Sand Hill Cranes creak their love songs and the Great Blue Herons have begun nesting. Black birds and grackles return in clouds of racket. Red birds blaze in the tree tops. Eagles and hawks glide by, eying our chickens and ducks. Turkeys strut and fan. Poplar, cedar, maple and birch flower out, wanting to leaf any moment. The waiting is agony and joy wrapped together. So much death. So much life. This is springtime in Wisconsin.
Imogen Alice Luz made her appearance on St. Paddy’s day.
I showed up on Felix’s doorstep early that morning so mama and daddy could sneak off and get baby sister. We didn’t know how long that would take, so we took a walk and found a donut as big as Felix’s head. It was spitting snow on us during our walk.
Imogen looks just like her mama. She came via C section, so I brought Felix to our home.
Felix played with ducks…
Taste-tested the deer tallow soap…
Made friends with Zeke…
Slept well and then helped Booma make pancakes…
Went and met Baby Sister…
Came back and helped Boopa haul wood…
Ran amok in monster dish gloves…
Took our measure after another great night sleeping…
Waited patiently for mama and sister to arrive…
And was overjoyed to have everyone back home!
Nate ran errands and read to Felix when he got home. It’s been a number of long days for everyone. Good job bringing these precious toes into the household!
I broke down and planted some seeds today. The packets all say I’m terribly early, but just like Irene’s clock, I’m all wound up. The cardinals sing love songs and the redwings trill: It’s time! It’s time!
Someone gifted us 30 count egg flats. I heard egg cartons with potting soil can substitute for peat pots. We will see if this works.
Michael rigged me a place to start seeds. The leeks and flowers should be up and moving to the next level when it comes to start tomatoes and peppers. Thank you Super El Niño for early spring.
Michael started incubating eggs March 11th.
The flower bulbs are beginning to show.
The Pussywillows burst forth today.
Warm afternoons allow us to finish cracking walnuts gathered two years ago.
Gratuitous photos of the Grands from this past weekend…just because I can.
March 1st and I really want to start seeds…but I haven’t yet.
At first glance, our road does not look very spring-like.
But the kapok falls off the cattails.
The buds swell on the poplars.
The river opens and welcomes rafts of geese, ducks and swans.
The frogs explode from the mud, leaving tiny craters.
Michael makes hot crossed buns, which we share with neighbors and friends.
The Grands say “cheers” to longer days and time to play.
Michael and I celebrate 39 years together, 37 married. We are stardust. We are golden. And we have to make it back to our garden.
These are the rootlings that anchor us in time and space.
We create space.
The rootlings engage in activities beyond our time. (Was I ever able to do a head stand?!?)
We celebrate the passage of time. (Michael’s new favorite is carrot cake.)
We take advantage of our gift of snow to turn our old ducks, chickens, gizzards and venison hearts into brats and kielbasa. To be eaten, turned into energy and growth, until we fade and become stardust once again.
What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
All things are wearisome, more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear it’s fill of hearing.
What has been will be again, what has been will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1: 3-11
Michael and I shared a love of the wisdom of Ecclesiastes before we met. It is the glue that binds us, makes us fertile soil to support new growth and a return to ashes. We are stardust; there is nothing new under the sun.
Despite my lack of any meniscus to repair, I have been helping Michael hang rock.
We moved the bed from the corner niche and Michael took out the door and frame on January 22. Then we took a Grand break.
These are the beds my grandparents bought for my mom and her older brother when she was about 6 years old. That makes them about 85 years old. My mom turned them into bunk beds at some point. The Grands loved the new duck-watching perch.
I picked up the sheet rock after dropping Michael off at the dentist on January 30th. Two yard guys loaded for me…but the gate guy didn’t know that. Ha! I didn’t enlighten him.
We covered the fiberglass up in time to host the Grand Guy and his family yesterday.
My dad would call this face “pucheros.”
He cheered up with a bit of Booma cake in him. Or maybe it was the great chicken soup and fresh rolls Boopa made.
Today we hung rock in the corner and on the other side of the now missing door. We ran out of drywall screws and time. Walls are more than 8 feet tall, so there is a strip at the bottom we need to add. Then I’ll start mudding.
I can tell I haven’t sheet rocked in a while. I totally blew measuring for this first outlet.
All my other outlets turned out well.
I’ll glue pieces of rock around this outlet. First I had to create a backing for that one side. A popsicle stick was just the right width. I drilled holes to give me a way to position and secure it while my glue dried. I cut the string and pulled it through when the stick stuck. Glue. I love glue.
The super El Niño has gifted us a warm and dry winter. I can negotiate steps and outdoor lumpy ground while wearing my knee brace. I can walk short distances without a brace, if I don’t bend my left leg much. Turns out I munched the last bit of meniscus left to me on that side. I’ll start PT later this month to see how much mobility I can regain. If that doesn’t work, I’ll be signing up for a knee replacement. In the meantime, I’m learning how to hobble really well. The upside is: my right side sciatica has disappeared!
Michael does most of the chores these days as I’m still on the walking wounded list. In some ways it’s given me time to begin long-delayed projects. In other ways it just means things take me longer.
These are sashiko samplers made into those things you put under glasses to keep your table tidy. Michael gave me a kit for Christmas as I had been researching ways to repair clothes. “Sashiko” means “tiny stabs”, the basic method of this style of embroidery.
I have a few heavy canvas trousers with various rips and tears. I work around metal siding, fencing, and other hazards. Michael had some trousers made from a grid patterned cotton: perfect for sashiko patches!
In essence you make a series of running stitches, which look like nothing until you start the stitches that complete the pattern.
One of the best parts was having the Grand Girl take an interest and complete one geometric shape before her 6 year old brain wandered off.
In all fairness, there were more interesting things to do, like watching her mama open birthday presents.
Or snitching the crystallized clementines from the top of the cheesecake. I experimented with an angel food cake pan. I think it worked well! (Yes, the cake was delicious: orange zest/smoked cheddar gave it a symphonic flavor.)
On a more prosaic level, Michael wired the light switches. I held the ladder for him as he climbed in and out of the attic.
I also measured and cut the hole for the switch box. I find I can work hard in the mornings, but pooh out by mid-afternoon. I can’t carry anything heavy, so wallboard installation will probably have to wait awhile. I am able to walk a bit without my leg brace. I’m still waiting to hear the results of my MRI. In the meantime, I’m trying to carefully increase my mobility.
I get most of my increased heart rate minutes cooking. This is a photo of the base I use for braising duck legs, which we shared with the Grand Guy and his family today. I used the last of our home grown carrots in this dish. I neglected to record the final product. No Grand Guy photos either. I’ve been just a little more scattered than usual. Alas. Just as well I’m working on something as simple as making running stitches!
Yesterday was 12th night and today is Epiphany. These are religious holy days, but also markers of season and place.
My mother completed her crèche today. Michael and I lit our wreath for the last time and sang of mages seeking a perfect light. Reflecting on the search for light and understanding seems timely in these dark days.
Christmas Day is a big birthday bash in our house. Having two two year olds added a certain element of delightful chaos.
After a while, Petra needed to find a quiet corner. We have those too!
Temperatures in the 50s made finding cool spaces a challenge, but after last year’s snow, was a welcome change.
We spent Boxing Day babysitting Felix.
We all arose before sunrise on the 3rd Day of Christmas: Michael to babysit Felix again and me to care for the livestock.
The 5th Day of Christmas brought us amazing hoarfrost.
Michael hunted on the Sixth Day. We received a small snowfall. No one was stirring. Not even a mouse.
On the 7th Day, we welcomed in the New Year with luminaria.
On the 9th day we moved our 400 lb. gun safe so we can finish our window opening project.
On the 10th Day I repaired this gorgeous necklace my mother sent me, which arrived with a number of the delicate birds in a broken state.
On the 11th Day (January 4th) I was doing my physical therapy exercises for my right leg when my left knee failed me. I later read that stairs (the exercise I was doing) is hard on knees.
We spent the next two days in a variety of doctors offices, which resulted in the not surprising news that I have arthritis in my knee. The pain is due to either an injured meniscus (that cushion behind the kneecap) or LCL (one if the tendons that keeps the knee stable). I have a knee brace that has allowed me to limp around the house. Michael has had to shoulder my chores on top of his own, as well as helping me with socks and other common items that suddenly are beyond my reach. It is good that PT has strengthened my right leg, else I would be even more disabled than I am! It is also good that we have a bunch of medical equipment, such as a walker and a shower chair, left to us by Irene. I have been using the grab bars we installed and have rejoiced in having space to use that walker and shower chair. I didn’t think I would be needing all of this quite so soon. I’m really happy my knee didn’t fail while I was out walking Zeke. I gratefully accept the blessings of the season and look forward to getting back on my feet and bending the knee.