Recent Shots of a 4 Month Old!!!

I don't know if I blogged this, but he is over 4 months now, 1/3 of a year, he has been here for that long!

Oh and he is just sofa king cute. and getting cuter and more fun everyday. He loves to laugh and is so talkative, just like his brother was. He can tri-pod himself up well and can't wait to sit up more on his own.

He is loving toys and entertains himself for longer stretches, laughing and what not. He loves seeing his reflection in the mirror or metal bowls for that matter.

and oh how big he is, growing so much. He is very long, I think that he will be taller than A is. We are pretty sure that he is responding to signing, he arches his back and gives us his hands when we sign up. And he is rocking the elimination communication as far as we are concerned. He wakes up in the middle of naps, pees, and then goes right back to sleep...
All and all a pretty awesome boy.

Fence Finishing

The pickets went up great (with Asher's help), Ben made a great gate.

The ground was made level to prevent escapees.

And the chickens made themselves at home.

Isn't it pretty?

Fence Day Two

Hope no body reports the nudity, but A spent day two of fencing beeing a worker bee, carrying pickets back and forth from the garage to uncle zak. It was an awesome morning activity.

He was so proud of himself. And really didn't get to the serious work until zak came into the garage and was going to get his own. Then he knew that we really needed his help. Plus his timing was great, getting the picket there just when it was needed.

The Chicken Upgrade

It is well beyond time to take care of the outside of our house. We have had a pretty thorough inside makeover of the house and now we are branching out. We are really looking forward to paving a patio of sorts, but that falls in the over $1000 projects and currently our budget can only allow for projects in the $100's. So we opted to make over the chicken area.
Here she is before, electric netting reminiscent of the days when we had 60 broilers in the field and first starting raising birds, back in the good ol grad school days. Oh, how I was so sick of that netting. We were lucky to have additional man power in town and Zak and Ben got to work digging the post holes (after going out for a 4 hour manly shopping trip- oh the gossip!). Seven post holes later, that auger goes through the earth like butter. The kids were cool with the project, R spent time looking up at the trees via his wagon. While A attempted to help.
Until he got bored and decided picking all of our ripe raspberries would be more fun and more delicious. Poles set (alternate soil and pea gravel), mama got to work with the new tool for the project (all new projects, require the acquisition of a new tool) a sharp chisel. We weren't slacking and making an unfancy fence, no our rails were meant to be sunk.
Those are some pretty fine notches. I am a good wood worker and look forward to other projects with my new tool.

24 lbs

I love me some strawberries! This was the first year that we hit the timing perfectly for picking. Typically true to our style, we are running just a little late, the picking is slim, time consuming and not nearly as rewarding as when you've got it together, babe and toddler in tow and the berries and just begging you to pick them. Ruby red skin flashing, proudly hanging from their mama, oozing with goodness.

I had a hard time stopping, there were so many more calling me to pick them, so I got this big haul of 24 pounds and then a little basket for some additional snacking.

Plenty to enjoy fresh and lots for the freezer.

A Perfect Meal

Some nigts things seem to come together so effortlessly, they are simple, beautiful and just what we need to wrap up the day. We had our food nanny dinner, the grilled greens salad sat perfectly next to the stromboli and Asher was looking so lovingly at his papa. It is a rare creature in a 2 year old body that requests more and more kale and chard... we are lucky parents.

And what happy boys we have.

A Most Wonderful TIme

It is sour cherry season around here. We don't have our own tree but that doesn't mean we won't come and steal yours when you aren't looking. These were donated on our behalf of our wonderful neighbor. In a couple of days we will go over with the ladder, this was a dessert outing for A, he was so excited.
Ben tried to recreate the new glarus cherry beer (yes Asher is holding it and tipping it back for a sip- he is going to be that kid!) while it was good, it was just good beer (dancing man wheat, yum), not cherry. We will booze some up soon enough.

We also got our first 4 raspberries of the plants today, oh there are so many ready to roll on in. And mulberries, they are ripening up and A loves them. We took a walk last night through the alley and around the corner and found some last night. He tried to sneak back there later for some more, luckily I caught him and joined him when he was halfway through the alley, we have got to get some boundaries established. Luckily no streets were involved. This all just makes me so happy to be the mama of a boy who will eat almost anything (no tempeh or swiss cheese).

And here I am watching Asher eat cherries, nursing R, drinking my beer and of course taking the picture... mama's are great multi-taskers.

A Little EC Talk

I have discovered that as elimination communication has become a part of our life, typical baby clothes suck, which really sucks as we have all the clothes we need for R from A- the special bonus of having kids at the exact same time of year. But EC is different, we need to have pretty easy access to the diaper to remove it to quickly respond to R's cues, this means on most days I don't dress him, but I am trying hard to downplay the white trash look of my baby and he drools so much that one onesie wasn't really suffice for a day... enter my first t-shirt. I modified a pattern that was a little girl cardigan and added a cute tree aplique.

The neck is a little wide, but this was the prototype. Now my baby can be cute in a t-shirt and diaper. And really isn't that what it is all about? Being cute. And trees just rock. I am working on an owl for a yellow shirt.

Super easy project, craft nigth success, it is rare these days that I get to finish anything. I also completely paid all of our bills today. I have been trying so hard to do that since Friday, it only took 15 minutes and it felt so so good to sit down and start something and then be able to finish it.

A's Summer Do

Asher sat beautifully for a new haircut... we gave the hair to the birds for their nests, he was very excited to do this and requested to cut more.

Happy Sunday, hope you all have a good look, thanks for the blog love.

Our Yard's Current Potential

We are currently only harvestinggreen things from our yard: collards, kale, silver beet, green garlic & scapes, arugula, cilantro, parsley, sage...soon we will be reintroducing color. Asher and I did an inventory of the yard yesterday to get excited about what is growing.
Blackberries pollinated and ready to swell and ripen. White Currents that will ripen up faster than we check on them. Raspberries showing a glimmer of the color they will be turning.
Gooseberries bushes so heavy with fruit (and thorns) that tempt us for soooo long before being ripening, it will be awhile for these guys.
The elderberrry just beginning to flower, a late summer fruit that promises to come. The garden in our easement full of life and beginning to grow like crazy. A new cucumber tunnel, 8 ft. stakes for the tomatoes- oh how our neighbors love us (most of them anyway, but who cares about the others?) Our winter cold frames awaiting our yearly supply of chickens who will be getting mailed to us in July and moving off the driveway to the backyard (yes my friends this year you will no longer be able to say you have eaten chicken grown on your friends driveway:() A tree worth of wood, that was removed to give our garden more light and our neighbors more sanity in there life, awaiting for us to split it and heat our home this winter. And the mighty oak logs awaiting fungi to be innoculated next week: our new mushroom project as the old logs are spent. Oh hooray for home grown mushrooms.

Starting Fresh

**Blogging Disclaimer: If you choose to read this post, you choose to accept me and my thoughts even if you find them offensive. You accept the fact that they are not directed at you, just my thougths. Furthermore this is a long winded post, intended for myself not others, you are welcome to continue reading but be warned. If you start to get bored or don't care about the inner working of my head then please just top reading. I have a lot more readers on this blog now that the kids are on here, and while that is awesome, you all might not be the audience for my brain, but who am I to stop the workings of the internet? Are you sitting on the edge of your seat completely intrigued? I am going back to some of my sassy blogging roots, where sometimes I was a little uncomfortable publishing things, but knew that really it didn't matter as I had no traffic, now I am considering making my blog public... gasp! also there are no pictures and it may not be coherant, I am all over the place finally getting a chance to type without at baby on my lap**

This whole blogging thing seems to start taking over at some point. I am approaching 5 years here using blogger at that fact is really mind blowing. It all started with my friend Natalie she started a blog and sent me the link and then I though why the hell not, I always liked journaling in my life and maybe someone out there would find what I was thinking remotely interesting and leave me a comment. Then one day while reading N's blog I hit that next blog button up there in the right hand corner and my world changed. I just so happened upon a girls blog who got married on the same day as me and was working on wedding albums for her parents and inlaws, the same thing I was doing. From her blog I found a multitude of craft/mama blogs that I still read to this day and most that I have stopped reading. I discovered Amanda of Soulemama, who inspires me almost everyday, found a lot of knitting blogs and as my interests have shifted I have found others like me. Sometimes I remember an awesome blog I once read or heck even an annoying know it all and I will find there blog and it feels as though I am catching up with an old friend.
While I worked this was okay, when I was home with one kid this was even a little okay, but with two kids my addiction needs to be curbed. I realize things are always going to be changing in life, but adding River to our family seems to have been the biggest change in my life. Asher was an easy addition but balancing an active, exploring, smart yet lacking logic two year old with a cuddly sweet babe is a whole new challenge. So with this big life change, the fact that I just celebrated graduating college a decade ago, it is time to realize that my life is good, we are living the way we want and that while I may not have everyone's respect, I respect myself and my families choices. I respect that my choices are not the right ones for everyone, but they are for us. I believe that you should live your life with ethics and that those ethics should be reflected in everything that you do.
Seven (!!) years ago, Ben and I moved to this small town, and we set one goal for ourselves: to grow as much of our own food as possible. I can't believe that it has been that long and that I don't continue to remind myself of this everyday, because now that I see how far we've come it is something to be proud of. We also planned on eating as locally as possible and I just have to say we are awesome! We have the most difficult diet for anyone to understand and possibly the one that seems the most judgemental. This is not my intention, it is just me and what I believe and how I want to live (I would appreciate not being asked to comprimise, if you want to cook food for me, and question what I will and will not eat, consider me a vegetarian, and I am nursing two children, so yes I do still need protein- this is a whole other blog post).
The other big change in my life is our new car. We are letting go of our Toyota Corolla 1991 wagon and I am so sad. I feel like that car has defined us and I am not in the mood to be defined by a Volkswagon Passat Wagon! I feel like a sell out in a shiny car, like an intruder, and while I don't owe anyone an explanation, I need it for myself. We have been looking for a new car for awhile, thankfully it wasn't out of desparation but the toyota is old and has lots of miles, so we found a good deal on a fancy looking car and were able to buy it outright. It is bought and paid for. Ben and I both agree that buying a new car is silly for us, something that depriciates the moment you purchase it- well that just isn't our cup of tea and really I hate bills and wouldn't want another, so we wern't going to finance a car- enough, we have a new car and I don't want it to define who we are, don't read too much into it, we are still us. and if you thought thank god they are getting rid of their hippy little ride, than I am disappointed that you felt you should judge us, even though the fact that I am writing anything about this is because I know people are judged by the cars that they drive, the clothes that they wear, the money that they do or don't have, which is just a shame for some people because it doesn't reflect who they are...
Bringing me to the point of my change, I am taking full accountability for me being me, I am and always will be a product of my parents. I am attempting to let go of all past grudges, not going to day dream of the boys who broke my heart and how I get revenge and try to get past the fact that I am not always accepted for my differences, oh and also be happy that others are living the way I am living and being praised for it, when I was doing it all the time- isn't that a kicker? You live life a certain way, then it becomes cool and then new people you meet think you are doing it to be cool and tell you that it is just a phase you will pass through... Oh that burns me, or it used to I should say. I am letting go of reading about others people lives via there blogs. I still have a few and in exchange I am going to show off my life a little bit more. We have a wonderful little life, on a small corner lot and have been referred to as "The Little Blue House of Sustainability" and while I thought that would be a good new blog title it seemed a little long winded, so I settled for "Our Urban Homestead" this title is a work in progress, but hopefully will focus my blog for me. the kids will always be a feature as they are my life at the moment, but I am going to take a greater effort to show off our lifestyle and choices. It may help others understand us, but really selfishly this is all about me, how I need to let go of me for the sake of being a good mama, how i need to let go of me to be a good person and how I need to get out of my post baby funk and realize that life is good. I need daily reminders of this and so through this blog I plan on taking my life one day at a time and enjoying all the good, learning from the bad and laughing through all the sleep deprivation.
Post Topics to Come:
Our Food Ethic
Our Yard's Upcoming Potential
Mushrooms
Why my two year old can identify birds by ear, more plants than most adults and doesn't eat corn syrup (that may be a few posts)
why food is so important that I need to write about it twice
Tandem Nursing
Elimination Communication
Why cell phones aren't so good all the time
Being Poor and Eating Organic
General Thriftiness
I will continue to post about crafting and my boys. Thanks for making it this far, you are obligated now to leave a comment, even if it is just hi, I read your blog.