a little crafty nest

a little faith

When I moved to our 5 acre home almost twelve years ago, I was single and thinking of going to live and teach abroad in Thailand.  I had mailed off my applications and credentials and essays about why I love learning...and then Life sent a big huge curve ball.

The mister.

We met at the dump when I had taken a load of garbage from my first home to begin the long process of claiming a little of Me in this new place.  A year later, he proposed.  Another year after that, newly married, we welcomed our first child.  Yet one more year, we moved into our home we built.  Fast forward several years, we have a trio of kids and a menagerie of beasts, with more on the way.  We have created our space, our sanctuary from new gardens to a pond to a barn and coop and more.

It has been a lot of work.  A lot.  Life has thrown us some pretty heavy curve balls...health issues that keep us on our toes every single day, to legal woes with neighbours (how could we know the previous owners, sixty years ago, built our house eleven inches over the property line?).

Yet here we are, with a little faith, clearing more land to get ready for our goats.  Goats!!!  I will be a milking maid this time next year...who would have thunk it?

Today we hired three teenage boys to come help dig our fencepost holes.  Josh was supposed to have been at work, but he was let go at noon so he found all of us down in the new pigpen/goat area hauling rocks and digging deep.  Feeling good.

So he joined us.

And those boys?  Wow!  They worked hard and happily, without many complaints.  They laughed with my kids who hung off their every word.  And their words were respectful and honest and caring.  My nine year old joined in and made a little money, too.  After four hours, all the posts were dug and much of the area cleared for new critters.

With a little faith, I should have known these teens would prove to be the best darn farmhands I could have wished for.

A goat park made by the mister...apparently goats like to play!  And so do my own kids...

Yes, in twelve years so much has been created and nourished and rooted.  I feel so very very blessed by this life we live.

leaping lizards and ramblings

 

We found Lenny the lizard resting (hiding?) beneath a scrap of bark in the big garden.  Huckley immediately was smitten.  Unlike most other times, I agreed Lenny could temporarily reside in a container until the big brother returned home.  Little did I know how fond Huckley would become of this slithery, glistening reptile.

When Forrest walked in the door, before he could take off his jacket, Huckley proudly thrust the container towards his favourite person.  "He's a lizard and I am calling him Lenny and he is mine."  And in that single sentence, Huckley's entire four year old world was summed up with his assertion that he was important and best be reckoned with.

Despite my best intentions, Lenny crawled all over the arms and necks and even faces of Huckley and Forrest while I made dinner.  Finally, as agreed, and more than encouraged by me, the two tromped back down to where Lenny came from.  I watched Huckley carry himself with reluctant dread.  This was so heavy on his four year old heart.

Moments later, the door was shoved open and I heard the wailing voice of my youngest from the entryway, "Mama!!!  I can't do it!  I can't let my lizard go...it makes me feel so sad!"

I must tell you, we like animals here...we have two cats, three dogs, four sheep, eighteen chickens and six pigs soon arriving, not to mention two mystery friends (as you shall see down below).  But we do not do caged animals well.  Perhaps one day we will consider it, but for now, we like our critters to roam.

Unless they are slimy and slithery and move as quickly as a leaping lizard.

However, concessions can be made.  And so we kept poor Lenny overnight, slightly moistened and not wanting for much.

The next morning, he was carefully toted about in his sanctuary, with murmurs of adoration and respect detailing everything Huckley did.  But before lunch, he was momentarily left on a tree stump outdoors and leapt away before anyone noticed.  Huckley smiled quietly, "It was time for him to go home, mama."

Without someone telling him when or how to do it, my four year old easily recognized the obvious and let him go with peace in his heart and a smile on his face.

And this mama was humbled by the simplicity of it all.

On a day off, my husband found some old walkie talkies in his shop.  Three, to be exact.  The kids were over the moon excited and tromped about our acreage using all sorts of hilarious slang, in overly deep voices...I don't even think they noticed how deeply they were speaking.  At one point, Sunshine turned the channel and heard two other kid's voices, crackling away ~ weren't we all surprised it was some good homeschooling friends across the valley and up a mountain!  What are the chances?!  Between crazy giggles, these five kids had an outrageously good time trying to come up with code names, disguised plans and assorted reasons for staying on the radios.

We began eating lower carb meals for our family, in hopes of getting better control over my daughter's blood sugar levels.  I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies made without flour or sugar.  Um, yes, they taste great...if you like "hippie pucks" as my husband calls them.  Forrest had his best friend over and they were eager to sample the treats.  After one bite, our friend paused and hesitantly asked, "Uh, Jules, is there goat in these cookies?"  Why yes, there was goat cream cheese, actually.  "Oh, well, I don't want it anymore."

Good thing my three kids like goat milk and related products, because look who is coming home to us in six weeks...

Please meet Heidi...

She will be accompanied by a friend, Billy the Kid.  The pair will join our flock of sheep until we clear pasture for them by the fall.  Heidi will be giving us milk this time next year, so we will have a whole year to get used to each other.  We can hardly wait!

In the meantime, spring has sprung and there are worms and snails and caterpillars to fondle...and maybe another lizard or two.

today

There were some moments indoors before the spring sunshine beckoned us outdoors...the boys made a homegrown breakfast of eggs and sausage on the cookstove, while one of our kitty's rested in some wool I was spinning...

I finished spinning and plying some very special yarn for a wee little bird yet to be born, and discovered a new place for our napping Pippi and Pumpkin ~ kitty bunkbeds...

Outdoors, we took care of some chores...taking water to the sheep and checking on our gardens...

There were logs to be shortened and bike jumps to be built...

A little cardboard box fire in the driveway followed by some chicken cuddles...

And now the babes sleep deeply with windows opened like a sliver to let in the cool, earthy smells of spring awakening. 

Yes, today was a good day.

the merry month of march

Every chance we get, our afternoons are spent outdoors, often for at least four hours or more.  With homeschooling, we try and get most of our work finished by lunchtime so the time after lunch is unstructured...in more ways than just activities.  I have found our grade 3 year is so very much about farming and building and "doing"...one day Huckley found Papa's stash of hand-made cedar shingles and constructed the walls of a fort.  When his older brother returned home, he added a roof with a big hole to allow smoke to waft upwards.  I was always nearby, clearing the new pasture land, so I admit to a few dashes over to the fort to encourage smaller fires...afterall, it was built of dry wooden boards.

The three of them have played in there nearly every day for a week straight.  When I peeked in, I realized how they are making it as "homey" as they can.  Some essentials have included...utensils and bowls for eating snacks, a make-shift bench, books, a change of clothes (?), and two paint sets.  I guess you just never know what you might want to do in your fort on a sunny afternoon.  And all of this is good prep work for the tree fort planned for summer building.

With Josh away so much this winter doing his mountain work, I felt quite ready to take a break from all the activities the kids participate in.  So we cleared our schedules as best we could for the month of March so we could just stay home and be outdoors...in the midst of our early spring melt.

Although, there was a visit to a horse stable to meet the Icelandic pony that Sunshine will begin her riding lessons with...

We have already started five flats of seeds indoors, and some basics outdoors, too.  Sunshine insisted on planting some catnip for her furry friends in her own garden bed...she has been waiting for this thaw for months now just for the catnip.  Lucky kitties...happy girl.

And Huckley transforms from cowboy to dragon slayer to pirate, all in the space of an hour.  Oh, I love four year olds and their ability to step into a new identity with a simple change of a hat.  I am constantly reminded of all I learn from my children and their ability to live so fully engaged in the present moment.

Happy weekending, friends!  May the March melt come soon to all of you.  xo

an early start

(Thank you so much to everyone for your kind thoughts and emails regarding my last post.  While it certainly could have been a whole lot worse, it sure has helped me learn about the importance of protecting my children in cyber world, particularly with close up frontal photos.  I plan to continue on here, but in a more cautious way.)

 

These photos are from a month ago, back when it seemed like merely a mild winter in western Canada.  Fast forward a month ahead, and we are in full spring, so very unusual for these mountains.  Garlic tips have shooted up, snowdrops are pushing upwards, and I've been building squash beds and preparing for a big Three Sisters Garden with Forrest.  We are certainly a month ahead, at least, of "normal" weather, and given the crazy snowy storms in the east, I'm feeling rather disoriented...what happened to winter?

No matter, there are seeds to start...lots and lots of seeds.  Our seed start table is back in the house and already there are onions, leeks and several variety of flowers started.

early February garden, and a month later...

early March garden

There is so much to begin right now, a whole month ahead of our regular spring schedule.  We are clearing more land for this year's pigs which will eventually be sheep pasture.  We have some work to do on the chicken coop to make way for more nesting boxes as we anticipate some chicks later in the spring.  And as always, expanding the gardens to provide more year-round food.  I have already built eight squash mounds and I'm itching to move some manure, though the pile is somewhat frozen still.

And with spring comes the appearance of new life...of the four-legged variety.  We went a-visiting to meet some critters at the neighbours down the road, and we are drawn outdoors more to spend time with our favourite furry and feathered friends.

Whether you are waist-deep in snow or beginning to put your hands in the soil, I hope that March has brought some new perspective and a fresh outlook to your days!