short & sweet summer smock

I finally got my sewing machine out...since moving from Nome--hello old friend!  The first thing I did was to figure out how to sew a rolled hem on rayon crepe (hemming some pants for an amazing lady who is about to turn 90!) and then, to restore my sanity, I jumped right into this project:

 I spotted these frocks on zulily a while back, and I though they would be fairly simple to make... but then to make things even simpler my mom found a vintage simplicity pattern at the thrift store and mailed it to me.  And there it sat on the shelf, just waiting for a week of 75 degree weather and the realization that my girl's summer wardrobe is still a little on the Nome side of things {long-sleeved t-shirts and sweatpants in case you're wondering}

Since the pattern was in 12 month size I just sized it up to fit this girl.  This is seriously the easiest thing ever to sew.  It is just one big piece of fabric that wraps around the back and buckles over the shoulders.  Brilliant, like many things invented in the 70's.

And so sweet.

This is going to be my new go-to gift for all summertime girls under the age of 6.

And the best part... 

besides the adorable model, ahem,

It's totally reversible!

so when your kid melts an entire popsicle down the front of it is ready for a fresh new look, just flip it around and voila!

 On a totally unrelated note, I'm totally diggin' this troleus garden that the previous owners of the house put in.  Globe flowers are pretty much summer embodied. 

the chicken whisperer

When we decided to get chickens Sadie was excited for weeks in advance.  I kind of wondered if this would be the kind of thing where the chicks would get here and it would be all cute and fluffy wonderfulness for a week and then... old news.

No sir.  This girl of mine is the self proclaimed chicken mama.  The first question in the morning is "can we hold chickens after breakfast?"  And sometimes she even talks to them at night in her sleep.

All day long, as we work outside on garden or yard projects she has a chicken in tow.  Sometimes the extra-loud peeping requires a gentle refresher on chicken-holding etiquette, but for the most part, the chickens love her.  She seems to have a calming effect on them--even when she sets them in random trees around the property, or in a dog dish, in the stroller, parked inside the garage. true story.

Learning the care of other living things is such a simple, yet infinitely complex and interesting business.  I am reminded of that every day.  And for this little chicken mama, it seems to do her soul good.  The good will seems to be catching...I caught her voluntarily giving little brother licks off a most coveted popsicle today while no one was looking.

shhhhhh....I never told.

coming up green

It's summer...for real now.

The pasture is down right verdant. 

The raised beds are all planted with seeds and starts.

My children are running (or crawling) carefree and barefoot--becoming the filthiest, happiest urchins that you can imagine until they are scrubbed clean in an evening tub and fall into sleep exhausted from the day's adventures, covered with scratches an mosquito bites.  Summer is, as Sadie would put it, "my best." My heart is full and I am a grateful, exhausted mama (waking up at all hours of the night to apply anti-itch remedies to said mosquito bites or soothe a restless teething baby.)  But morning always brings a stout cup of black coffee and the sounds of birds singing.  I love to tiptoe out to the garden while everyone is still asleep, and have just a minute with my bare feet against the cool earth, and watch all the hard work, all the winter dreamings springing into reality. 

There is nothing quite like a northern summer where all these living things, without hesitation, reach greedily to get their fill of sunlight and also rain, dig deep into rich earth and come up strong and green.

small starts

 

This week our family was joined by the first of our much anticipated chickies.

Our Wyandottes didn't hatch out so we ended up with a mix of Australorpe, Barred Rock, Golden Buffs and Rhode Island Reds.  My favorite are the Barred Rock.  Of all the chicks are the most stoic and snuggly.

 

We will be joined next week by some more chicks... lots more chicks. pictures to follow.  Can I have a crazy lady chicken confession now?  I was told, and read, that if you mail order chicks you should figure in about a 30-40% mortality rate.  I wanted to end up with between 12 and 16 laying hens, so back in January I ordered a straight run of 25 from a little farm in VT.  Then I got worried that I would end up with mostly roosters and so I found a vendor that offered smaller orders (and had Wyandottes) so I ordered the twelve pictured above.  When we went to pick up our chicks at the post I told Sadie, who was over-the-moon with excitement, that some of the chicks might not be okay when we opened the box.  "Yes mom," she tells me, "I know some will be sick and some will be healthy."  Kids are amazing.  

Well, we opened that box to 12 very lively chicks.  "They are all so healthy mom!"  says Sadie.  Well, I figure that maybe I can call the guy in VT and cancel my chick order since he might not have started incubating the eggs yet.  Nope, they are scheduled to hatch this Monday, so it looks like our flock will be growing, and chicken dinner, as well as fresh eggs, will be on the menu for next winter.  And I'm okay with that.  And I have the best chicken helper in the world.

Sadie: self-proclaimed "chicken mama" The next trial our chickens must endure is the overzealous, but very sincere love of an almost-three-year old.

and... because we are trying to be more realistic estimators of our building time (aka it took us 5 months to build a table)  we decided to forgo building the chicken coop this year, and this is my mother's day present:

pretty dang spiffy, and probably a lot classier than what we would have come up with. And it's always good to support local skilled craftspeople when you have the option.  

In other news, Eli-Bear's new early morning style has been very conducive to getting some garden projects done.  He likes to be outdoors chillin in the backpack while I drink coffee and play in the dirt. Got this little birch log raised bed finished, ranunculas bulbs planted, and two giant truck loads of horse manure compost hauled, check and check. 

You know you might be going a little agro when you get two truckfulls of horseshit for mother's day, and you are actually excited about it.  It just feels so good to be putting roots down.

at the table

I came across this poem today.. and I'm sure I've read it before, but it means more to me now as "a Grownup Lady" (as Sadie refers to me) with my own children sitting at the table.  It kind of sums up why I wanted to build our own table--why it seemed too impersonal to buy this particular item of furniture.

Perhaps the World Ends Here

By Joy Harjo

The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.

The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.

We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.

It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women.

At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.

Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.

This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.

Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.

We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here.

At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.

Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.

eight months

Little Eli "Bear Lips"

Looking like a little bear standing in a salmon stream just waiting for a fish to jump into your mouth.

You crawled into our lives eight months ago, and now you are crawling into our cupboards, under our furniture, and anywhere else you can fit. 

Then you get stuck and you get so mad.

But there are lots of pairs of loving arms to help you out, 

lots of ears to listen to the sweet music of your first words...dada...mama...hey. 

 

It's no surprise by now that we love you.

You fit right in with all our crazy...your sleep-deprived ma and pa, 

your almost-three-year old sister/aspiring dentist

 Like peanut butter & jellyfish sandwiches, some things were just meant to be.

Garden Journal: Tomatoes

I've planted quite a few things....lots of flower and herb starts growing and Sadie's strawberry from seed--and not to forget her sunflower, but so far most of the windowsill space has been given up to the tomatoes.  I started four kinds this year.  A beefsteak tomato & a yellow pear tomato from Eden Brothers (both organic heirloom) and a Japanese black tomato and Hillbilly tomato from Territorial (also both organic heirloom)

Unfortunately, the Japanese black and the beefsteaks kind of crapped out on me.  The beefsteak tomatoes were poor germinaters--only got one plant out of 4 seeds planted, and that one plant is struggling along.  It's tall, but it doesn't have many leaves, but I'm keeping it just to see what it does.  The JB tomatoes had a fantastic start, but either they caught some kind of blight, or they were very unhappy about the hot/cold conditions in our sun room, also the constant dampness on their leaves from an overzealous 2 year old and a spray bottle. (Yes, my tomatoes are all warming up by the wood stove in the pictures above because it is snowing...again.) Anyway, the stems started looking pinched at the bottoms and then the leaves started dropping off and eventually the whole plant died--the one pictured below is the only one that had any green left, but it is getting the same stem constriction that all the other ones had just before they kicked the bucket.  So I just pulled em all up (Loren thinks I'm ruthless) but I just can't dedicate any more precious space to the sickly tomatoes.  Maybe I'll try to germinate a second batch for a late crop, but it is getting pretty late for that. 

 at this point I'm just cutting my losses and moving on... because it is time to start squash and other fast growers that are going to need that extra space. The Hillbilly and Yellow Pear tomatoes are doing great though.  They are mostly 14+ inches tall and growing buds.  So here's hoping to a happy crop.

A lovely little flat here with some happy looking petunias, bells of Ireland, Sweet Williams, Echinacea and Chamomile.  Almost ready to head to their final destination...that is if it ever stops snowing and becomes spring!