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.

Loving the Newest Z

Oh my boys are in love. With this little of bundle of joy that became part of their family 12 days ago. They have both been so interested and gentle with her and loving her as good as they know how. A, wanting to hold her and R wanting to kiss her. And oh, my brother is such a proud, proud papa. Reese is a lucky girl. H
And the new family of three, expanding with ease. She really does seem to be already smiling in moments, healthy, strong and loved.

Life as we Know it

A little crazy, who am I kidding? A lot of crazy.

Luckily also a lot of fun.

Around the Yard

New growth.

Fruit Setting.

Fruit Protection

And Garden Harvests:

Green Garlic

Leeks

Chive Blossoms

And all the asparagus I have been having to fight my kids for. Yum!

Into the Woods:: 4/22

Not a ton of pictures this week, I guess I was enjoying it too much. We really had the most lovely time this week. It was earth day, there were lots of folks getting outside, a lot of our friends joined us and we just got to explore and follow the kids. Mayapples are in bloom, bed straw is up, salamanders were found. Dead logs were explored for long periods of time, trees were climbed and imaginations were stretched.

It was the type of day that everyone needs. Perfect everything, temperature, sunshine, and company. Oh, and wild garlic, because what makes a papa more happy than his two boys coming home with garlic breath?

Easy Peasy

We got our peas trellised this past weekend and the method was really easy and I think will be successful. A post stuck in the ground with eye hooks up high and natural fiber strings (so we can compost it) running to the ground, stapled in with a piece of wire.

The peas seem happy that their tendrils have found something to crawl up.

Into the Woods:: 4/15

This weeks hike was pretty remarkable. The kids did great on what really was a hot spring day. Lots of tree climbing- dead trees that are laying down now resembling pirate ships, or large creatures, regardless a place for imaginations to run wild and free. It felt really good to just be able to play in the woods. River has finally hit a stage where he can sit and explore a single area for a good amount of time without eating everything!

And the highlight: a salamander!! I didn't find one last year for A, and turned up empty handed earlier in the spring after really trying to build it up. But this week on a whim I rolled over one random log, call it a feeling, and there she was. Asher was to the moon. We wet our hands and scooped her up.

Shared her with friends, put the log back and then let her crawl back under on her own. Please note when handling larger creatures that live under logs not to put them back and then roll the log back on them...always let them crawl themselves back into space that they fit. Plus it's more fun to watch their tail disappear.

Full leaf out will be here before we know it. I so love all the light that hits the forest floor this time of year. Also, if you need any baby leaves for art projects to dry, there isn't much time left.