When entering our home, there is no coat closet, or even much of an entryway to speak of.   Our kids tend to walk in the door and immediately dump their coats on the floor.  And, of course, the dog promptly makes a nest in them and takes a nap.  Even if they take their coats back to their room, they aren’t tall enough to hang them up in their closet, so they end up in a pile on the floor back there.  It drives me nuts.

The other day, we were at Cost Plus/World Market, because it’s close to church, and I can’t resist going in when we drive by, especially at Christmas time.  (I love everything in that store!)  They had a big bin full of Indian ceramic dresser knobs and little hooks, and for $8 ($2 for each kid, including “Baby Tummy”), we had a solution to the coat problem!

A very small change makes a big difference sometimes, and a little less chaos is very good thing. 

My husband’s cousin will be visiting all summer (from New York City!), and for part of her visit, she’s going to be staying with us.  We were worried about her not having a place to sleep here, and have been on the lookout for a used sofa.  A queen-sized futon has been serving as our sofa for a while now, and if we could find a decent sofa, the futon could go in our semi-unfinished upstairs and give cousin Erin a place to stay (and have some peace and privacy away from the kid chaos).

This past weekend, a church right around the corner from our home had a big rummage sale, and we picked up lots of treasures, including a $3 quilt (above), dress-ups for Firecracker, a new basket to collect eggs in, and many other goodies.  It was the last day of the sale, and I kept eye-ing a mauve sofa and chair set that had been priced at $100, but just went half off.

I’m no fan of mauve, but I liked the style, they were in good shape, and I figured a quilt thrown over them would suffice for now.   If I ever get around to teaching myself some upholstery skills, I could recover them in pale turqouise velvet when the kids are older (or resell the set on craigslist long before that…).  And at $50 for the set, how could I go wrong?

Besides, my sister says it’s perfectly in keeping with my “old lady/grandma style” of decorating. 

So, now, we have some legit furniture in the living room, and cousin Erin will have a place to sleep!   (Now to get painting upstairs before her visit!  We still can’t decide on the colors…)

And here’s the rest of the garden update:

There wasn’t time to get any side-yard shots before the rain started up again, but we now have 64 healthy strawberry plants growing there (many have set fruit already!) and the Christmas limas are germinating there as well.

Out in the backyard – the peas (see above) are as tall as Firecracker!  Oregon Sugar Pod IIs, Alaska, Galena, and Alderman Tall Telephone peas are all going strong.  And yesterday Firecracker noticed that they’d begun to flower!  Soon we’ll have sugar snap peas, snow peas and shell peas by the bucketful!

The first planting bush beans are up all over the backyard, and I expect the second planting to germinate later this week (for a longer continuous harvest).  These are Royal Burgundy.  This patch looks good, but unfortunately, most of the bush, runner, and lima beans are all taking a heavy hitting from…

SLUGS!  Despite daily picking (and feeding them to the chickens), the garden is inundated with thousands of slugs.  Most mornings the girls and I pick anywhere between fifty and one-hundred fifty.  Beer traps have only managed to capture a few as well,  so today I finally resorted to buying some organic, “pet friendly” slug bait in order to save the bush beans.  Here’s hoping it works, because there is no way   chickens freely hunt for slugs in the beds without the baby plants being eaten as well.

This is one little patch of the Red Russian kale, which we’ve planted all over the yard.  Thankfully, the slugs haven’t bothered it.  It’s our favorite kale – not only is it beautiful and doesn’t easily bolt, it’s full of vitamin K, vitamin C and iron, and has a mild flavor – we put it in everything from fruit smoothies to lentil curry.  A definite superfood bursting with nutrition.

This is one of the 25 asparagus crowns in full frond – only two more years and we’ll have a nice crop of asparagus of the BCS volunteers!

Our compost still isn’t cooking well once again (too wet and soggy, too many kitchen scraps (”greens”) and too little “brown” matter (leaves, dry plant matter, shredded paper).  So, in the drizzle yesterday morning, I got down to the stinky job of turning it and splitting the compost into two separate side-by-side bins, which will get lots of shredded newspaper turned into them this week.   Let’s hope that does the trick.

The hens and chicks were THRILLED to have the compost turned and were scratching about while I was working – finding germinating pumpkin seeds and worms and all sorts of  “delicious treats”.

This is one of the as-of-yet-unnamed Speckled Sussex chicks (or, as Firecracker calls them “teenagers”) scratching in the compost (those three are so fast, it’s tough to get a photo of them!).  You should have seen the chickens happily clucking and scratching and snacking and clucking some more!

And thankfully, all of the adults are done molting, so those happy hens have started churning out -

- 3 eggs per day!  Woo-hoo!

And that’s it for the garden at present – thanks for being patient with a long update -  Hopefully, the warm weather will come back soon and the tomatoes, summer squash, tomatillos, cilantro and basil will really get a chance to thrive.

Okay, I promise something other than a gardening post coming up soon (although, I don’t know what that will be, since we haven’t had time for much baking or knitting or reading or cleaning house since every spare moment has been spent gardening or researching gardening and chicken keeping!)

If you’ve got a garden going, or even a few tomatoes in pots on your balcony, the girls and I would love to hear about how things are going for you!

The garden has really taken off  after a week of hot, sunny weather, followed by lots of rain. (although, the cold nights and wind the past few days haven’t done us any favors).  Volunteers have been able to start taking in a few baskets of organic produce to BCS, mostly radishes, mustard greens, lettuce, chives, tarragon and baby beets, bok choy, and kale.  The teeny harvests thus far just begin to hint at the bounty of the coming months.

Between slug-picking and weeding and rain showers, we got a few pictures this morning – (above) The boys in the front yard behind Alderman Tall Telephone peas, mesclun mix lettuce, with more lettuce mix and Oregon Sugar Pod II peas in the background.

- the tomatoes are really taking a beating with the cold (40s and 50s) and hail and driving wind this week.  We wrapped about half in plastic (and then ran out of plastic!) but can’t see that it is helping them out much – the hail damage is the worst.   Surprisingly, the tomatillos don’t seem to mind the dreary weather as much and are growing nicely

Despite a little slug damage, the cardoons we planted back in February are coming along nicely – the largest are nearly two feet across already.  (They were planted closely, because about 20% of the seed stock are infertile – they are smaller and weak and I keep thinning them out.  The hassle of starting them from seed is well worth it – I only used half a pack (@ $2.45/pack), and have 8 strong seedlings, versus paying $7.49 each for large starts from the garden center.)

The Vulcan Red Chard is doing quite well – just a few more weeks until it will be able to be harvested in any quantity.

The mustard greens and bok choy bolted in last week’s heat, but the bolted stalks were fed to some very happy chickens  and in the gaps I have planted summer squash (a total of 6 in the front yard, and 19 in the back – a mix of crooknecks, zucchinis, and patti-pans).  I may eventually need to thin them down, but a few are compact varieties, so we’re hoping they won’t get too crowded.

This is a Golden Hubbard seedling, coming up in the bed closest to the street.  Winter squash are such a treasure – beautiful rambling vines all season, tasty blossoms to stuff with ricotta and deep-fry, and finally, vitamin-packed, long-shelf-life squash in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes to eat throughout the winter.  (Since there is limited space, I have only put in my favorite eating squash – Buttercups, Butternuts, Hubbards, Delicata, except along one side-yard, near the house, where the gorgeous – if largely inedible – Rouge Vif D’Etampes has been planted for harvest decorations.)

For everything you could want to know about nearly every variety of winter and summer squash, I highly recommend Amy Goldman’s book, The Compleat Squash.

To keep the neighbors happy, I have planted misc. wildflowers, sunflowers, daisies, and about 50 dahlias in the front beds.  Add to that those dozen winter squash (to trail out of the beds and along the path), bronze fennel and artichokes, and for good measure, a whole jumbo packet of nasturtium!  If that doesn’t make for a pretty (but still mostly edible!) street-side bed, I don’t know what will!

(Eventually, the front bed will be mostly perennial flowers, currants, a dwarf plum, and a low fence with a grape arbor and a gate across the path, but it needed something to make it attractive this year, especially with so many folks in the neighborhood stopping by to ask what in the heck happened to our front yard!)

And with that, I’ll save the backyard and the chicken update for tomorrow!

This afternoon’s project was painting the chicken coop a vibrant blue (although it dried darker).

The girls had a great time, and were sure to get lots of paint in their hair. 

Up next?  A second coat (after picking up a second gallon), painting the trim and posts, and adding a nice bright yellow sunshine in the upper right corner, and this fall, a trellis and table grapes up one side.

Preparing for our celebration of the Resurrection tomorrow:

The children’s baskets may be put out awaiting little treats from a certain visitor, but our hearts and minds are fixed the redemptive joy of tomorrow.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. – I Peter 1:3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12: 1-3

Happy Easter, from our family to yours.

We scrapped all other plans for today,

and simply played in in the dirt.

As Firecracker said, “There’s nothin’ more natural than gettin’ dirty.”

Somehow, in the midst of playing “dirt fairies”, “cruel dirt queen who makes her workers dig all day”, “climb dirt mountain”, “search for worms and buried treasure”, and “fill and empty buckets of dirt over and over”, we managed to spread just shy of two yards more compost over the front beds, finally completing them.

Tomorrow – chard, beets, kale, mustard greens and potatoes are sown out front.  The coming weeks – finish backyard beds, plant more veggies, mulch paths, plant a few fruit trees, and finish chicken coop/run.

Our front yard before this weekend’s garden work day:

And this afternoon:

Many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped on Saturday!!  We are excited to see the garden grow and develop in the coming months!

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.

A quiet afternoon yesterday – now all of us are feeling under the weather and we are doing our best to cultivate an atmosphere of peace and foster wellness.  The girls were snuggling in their bed, reading Highlights and Ranger Rick,  and Tum Tum was napping.  A rare opportunity to enjoy a cup of coffee in the front room, watching the rain fall.

Also a perfect opportunity to get out some spinning (because anyone who knows me knows I can’t just sit and sip coffee without some handwork at the ready).  I’ve been so busy knitting socks, I’ve gotten behind on my spinning, and frankly, my hands are tired of double-points and need a rest.  So, I grabbed a basket with some mystery pencil roving (from the large bag of fiber that was thrown in on my Craigslist purchase of a fixer-upper Louet S-10) and one of the drop spindles my dad made me a while back.

I like spinning standing up, so I can spin a much longer length before I have to wind it up, so there really was no “sitting and sipping coffee” about it.  But I find spinning a very restful, meditative experience, even if I don’t put my feet up.

This spindle, made of maple, has a large whorl, but spins very evenly, and is one of my favorites.

The fingering-weight singles.  I’ll ply it when I’m done for a heavy sport-weight that will become more gift socks.

Wishing you a peaceful  and productive afternoon as well.

Some friends recently asked how we share sleep with our youngest while he’s in cloth diapers.  Overnight leaks are a worry, even with doublers and the “good covers” saved for night time.  To safeguard the mattress, we don’t use expensive wool mattress pads (which sound fabulous, but are way out of the budget) or those awful rubberized crib pads that don’t breathe a bit.

Our simple solution is to use some thrifted wool blankets that I ran through the wash a few times in order to felt them up nice and thick (from twin size down to about 3 x 3 1/2ft).  They are breatheable, natural, and very waterproof.  I double up just to be safe – and wash on warm, tumble dry.

It’s that easy!  I’d love to hear any tips on how you make the family bed work for you!