A Morning Harvest

We have this wonderful hidden trail that leads from the backyard to the garden. Last year is seems that all the landscaping we did the years before finally made a little sense. Woven between elderberries, gooseberries and josta berries, lined by raspberries, blackberries and asparagus. And leading right to the garden, which we are gathering spinach, komatsuna, turnips, radishes, cilantro and countless other herbs.

A gathering spinach for our morning meal... yummy.

Toady

Once there was a little boy who went on an adventure with his family.

He heard a toad and then spotted it in the leaf litter.

And he caught it all by himself.

It tried to get away, but he held on tight- not too tight, just the right amount. He showed it to his mama and papa and brother.

It was beautiful and he wished so much to take it home to live with him.

But he realized the toad would miss it's home and he let it go free.

Gator Graduates

Congrats to Uncle Gator- or now professionally speaking Engineer Alex.We had a whirlwind adventure this past week. Driving 11 hours to see the last of Ben's siblings graduate from college-not that we saw the actual presentation of the degree, as that didn't happen until 9:30 at night, but all the eating and celebrating. Plus the boys got to climb on the nittany lion, though not for enough time as we waited for over an hour and more likely closer to 2, I am trying to block that part from my memory.

Water

Oh, how all three of the boys love it. Asher was already hooked by Ben and their adventures, and when River received his name, we should have know what we were in store for.

From mud puddles, to ditches, to Wisconsin ponds, the same joy of splashing fills their souls. River was absolutely amazed by this bullfrog. Every time it moved he giggled.

He'll catch one soon enough, I think it's a good thing they can still get away at this point.

Asher patiently stalked up on another: sadly it got away, but next time... he was so close.

Into the Woods:: 5/6

The cotton winds were blowing.

So much running about, that I didn't pause for much. It is a delight to see a gang of kids run through the woods with such joy!

Brothers exploring independantly side by side.

A Sneak Peak

We ordered the hand holds today and got a lot of work done this weekend, to a playable point, but not completion.

But we are thrilled at how much the boys have been drawn to this construction project. Asher saw it out his window, ran outside naked and climbed up (photo through window, where he left me in his dust).

Cedar shakes and all, it is starting to look really good.

Sunday

Our last weekend home without work until July, big plans being constructed.

Prosciutto

The goodness has been unwrapped.Seven months ago, I put complete faith in my husband that he could take a 30lb ham and turn it into something phenomenal with only salt. We set it up in salt for 35 days until all the moisture was drawn out, checking it daily to re-salt it and press it again. Then we rinsed it, slathered it in lard on it's cut sides, dusted the whole thing with crushed black pepper to deter pest, wrapped it in cheesecloth and hung it in our basement- an unfinished, basement basement. The unveiling was amazing...Ben assured me that if things were going to go bad, we would know. There isn't too much question about a rotting piece of carcass hanging in your basement.
And oh my god, it is incredible. The color, wow. The weight- 16lbs, they are supposed to loose half their weight, as we could have let it hang for another 6 months, loosing further weight, we are happy with these results.
The first slices.
My first bite...



As all we added was salt and time, all the flavor credit goes to the farmer. This cured meat is an awesome product that just highlights all the good things that can go into a pig. The flavor is all part of the tamworth raised by the Moores. And we have so much of it to eat!! And my husband is awesome.

Harvest

When you let the 3 yo plant radishes, well you end up with a lot. There are only so many neighbors and dog walkers that we can pawn them off on. So attempting to use up the radishes, we made pickles.

We'll see how this experiment turns out. Radishes anyone?

Making Tracks

I thought I would get around to sealing the plaster, but it was time to use them outside, so forget the sealing, we just dug into the ground, made a trail and walked.

It was cool to talk about how different the relief of the tracks left behind is in this loose soil compared to our play dough.

Asher fully embraces becoming any given animal, I love how into character he gets. Adding the tracks to his walking certainly enhances his already strong imagination.

River's Audition Video

River has taken to the harmonica. And of course as him mama I am so very proud. I have to say of all the noises kids can choose to make, the harmonica is one of my favorite. A pleasant, volume regulated (he can only blow and suck so hard) music. He can also multi task and use a shaker as well. this kid has got some good musical instinct.