We’re working on a converting our front lawn into veggie beds, and the unseasonably warm and dry weather has helped us get a jump start on sheet mulching. Goodbye lawn, hello permaculture landscape! While Tum Tum and I spread cardboard, straw, manure and compost, Little Hen and her Daddy were busy building cold frames out [...]
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A morning spent baking a pecan pie thank-you.
An early afternoon spent planting hyacinths and digging earthworms with the girls.
A late afternoon of immense blessing – We have been given an enormous maple loom, made right here in Oregon. We spent about two hours getting it dissassembled, carried up our narrow stairway, and reassembled.
It will need [...]
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Saturday, I was blessed with the opportunity to ride with another family of volunteers out to Mosier, OR (in the beautiful Columbia Gorge) to glean pears for Birch Community Services. The weather was very rainy, windy, and chilly, so I was grateful that the children could all stay home, snuggled up reading their latest chapter [...]
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Another day’s harvest at Penelope’s Garden. Fourteen pounds of beautiful organic produce picked and delivered to Birch Community Services!
The girls were excellent green bean harvesters. Little Hen and I may have snacked on a few while we picked.
For more bountiful harvests, visit Soule Mama, Mom in Madison, Red Dirt Mother, Old Red Barn Co., Heirloom [...]
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We were recently, unexpectedly, blessed to be able to trade a family friend some homemade jam and brownies for a Kelty his son had outgrown. Best barter we’ve ever made, if you ask me!
I love my Ergo and use it daily, but the Kelty is a much better fit for my husband. We’ve been on [...]
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Posted in Building Community, Outings on Aug 16th, 2009
Last week we traveled north to Ridgefield, WA for the Clark County Fair. The kids’ aunt and uncle, niece, grandparents, and great-grandparents met us there for an afternoon full of livestock viewing, carnival rides, and ridiculously unhealthy food.
All of the kids enjoyed the hula-hooping contest, and my niece (with the white ribbon in her hair) [...]
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Fridays are my days to volunteer at Penelope’s Garden. This week’s harvest was 29 lbs delivered to Birch Community Services!!
The raspberries are all done for the year, the mint bolted in the heat, but the tomatoes and green beans are in full production! There were even some carrots and a new patch of basil [...]
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Little Hen has been at Waldorf Art Day Camp (and thus immersed in magical-make-believe) for the past two weeks, . Her sister misses her terribly while she’s gone (”Is it time to pick up sissy yet? Is it time to pick up sissy yet???”), but we’ve been trying to do something special in the mornings [...]
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Another family at church has welcomed their first baby. It’s our privilege to bring them dinner tonight (and ooh and ahh over their little boy), so the girls helped me bake some Blueberry-Raspberry- Marionberry pies to take for dessert (I love living in the Northwest!).
Firecracker helped with the lattice top, and Little Hen shaped the [...]
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Songs for Saplings have kicked off their US/Africa tour!!
It was quite a thrill to see Dana in concert!
Don’t miss the chance to catch one of Dana’s free concerts before she heads off to Malawi!
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