Catching Up

Somehow I knew going into this that I would not be as regular with my posts as I would like. What do we do all day that I can't make time?  I'll admit to not being particularly eager to sit at my computer all that often.

Busy-ness + slight technophobe= irregular postings

By the way, my spell check tells me that technophobe is not a word.  I could be "technophobic", or have "technophobia", but I cannot actually be a slight "technophobe".  Sorry.

Many things have happened since my last post, few of them important. Small things fill our days like the rhythm of chores, school, eating, diapers.  We watch the weather throughout the day, go out when we can.  In between the small things there are bigger occurences  such as Iris's school days, homeschool group,  Hannukah, putting up the Christmas tree,cheap ski day at the Wisp, our first major snow and x-c ski of the year! It has been so bloody cold this week, our thermometer reading 5- and it often reads high!  Too cold for Tessa to venture out, and cold enough for Iris not to stay out long!
    I feel sorry for the chickens we acquired about a month ago.  Pretty chilly in the chicken coop!  Grace and Leon have to chisel out their water dish each morning, bring them fresh warm water from the house.  They fluff up to the best of their abilities, and huddle together.  I know of folks who heat their coops.  They must really love their chickens. The cows and horses make it through just fine.  They come in each late afternoon or evening, and stay in till late morning.  They also huddle together in the field, looking forlorn and wishing they had something to nibble.  Anything.  They get enough to eat each day, but would be much happier grazing throughout the day as they do in the other seasons.
 
Please enjoy these pictures, and I'll try my darnedest to post again soon!

Iris on her birthday, considering her wish.

August Miles, with the red eyes!

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Iris's first "real ski" of the season! Go girl!She's another natural!

Louie, the snow king

Shout Out to my Girl Iris!

Iris Pearl is turning four today!  Happy Birthday Iris, my love!  So I thought I'd treat you to a story about her.  There are so many to choose from, but this one is fresh in my mind.

Last night we were eating dinner (homemade sourdough tortillas with pinto bean, beef, rice, cheese and tomatoes from the freezer, arugala and spinach salad from the garden with pomegranate and toasted nuts) when the topic of the pigs came up.  They are coming to the end of their time with us and we were discussing when we would butcher them.  Iris didn't hear what was said, and if you know Iris, you know she will not stop asking until she knows what was said. The conversation went something like this:

Iris: "What's going to happen?"
Me: "We were just talking about what is going to happen to the piggies.  You know we are going to butcher them and eat them, right?  Are you okay with that?"
Iris:  Long pause, and with all seriousness, "Not Pumpkin.  I don't want to butcher Pumpkin."
Large outburst of laughter around the table.  Pumpkin is Iris's cat.
Me:"No honey, not the kitties, the piggies!"
Iris: "OOHHHH, cause I was gonna say, I don't want to butcher all the cats.  But we could butcher Suki though."

And for those of you who know Suki...

If you are served stew the next time you are here for dinner, just don't ask what's in it.


                                                                                          Smiley Face by Iris

Tessa eating up the last autumn sun

The Birthday girl making muffins for "school"

always plenty to do round here

The Wind Turbines

It's Grace.

Friday we hiked to the top of the mountain to see the wind turbines up there. They are so huge! I'm glad we took the camera with us. They're not fenced of or anything so you can go touch them! When you get close to them is's kinda scary . We stood under one that was moving and it seemed like the blades would fall on us! It was really cold on Friday so Mom bundled Tess up super warm but it still wasn't enough. Soon Tess had my mittens on and Moms hat and Mom  was taking her down the mountain to the truck. Well I posted a few pics of the wind turbines.

Thanksgiving is Awsome

Hey y'all it's Grace again. We are going to have an awesome Thanksgiving(again).The entertainment is perfect, although I'm not going to spill the beans. Today we are going to get some chickens  from the neighbors and we just finished cleaning up the old chicken coop. We leave around lunchtime today to go to the Cabin.
Grace

The Last Market

We attended our final market for the year this past Sunday in Morgantown, WV.  The farmers market that meets on Saturdays on Spruce St. hosts a series of indoors winter markets throughout the winter months, every three weeks.  This is an excellent chance for both customers and vendors alike to do their business and maintain contacts.  For the end of December there was quite a variety of produce available!

At the Backbone table you could find
arugala
broccoli
kale
salad mix
mixed mustard greens
French breakfast radishes
hailstone radishes
carrots (rainbow style)
parsley
dill

Others things I spotted include brussel sprouts, beets, cabbages, bok choi, baby bok choi, head lettuce, basil, potatoes and tomatoes.  Then there were all kinds of "value added" products like breads and other baked goods, meats, greenhouse plants, jams and jellies, wreathes, woolen wear, cards, eggs and honey!  Whew!  The market was packed for quite a while, and I saw lots of folks with their Thanksgiving menus in hand, buying what they could locally.  It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that there would be lots of Thanksgiving dinners where our produce would be served.  I do give thanks for our customers.  Without them, we would be just growing for ourselves, and working some kind of jobs we would rather not have.  Most likely.  That's always a strange road to go down though, and I don't think I'll get into hypothetical parallel lives right now.

Thanksgiving being just two days away leaves me obliged to give some thanks myself.  And I'm happy to do it.  I've been trying to live my life in a more grateful manner lately.  As the sign board on some church today put it "live with at attitude of gratitude"  Now that's a bit to hokey and holy for me, but it is a great sentiment.  Life is so unpredictable and can come crashing down on us at any minute.  So I give thanks for each and every day that the most awful things I have to worry about are escaping cows, three year old's tantrums, poopy diapers or car trouble.  Run of the mill discomforts, typical daily trials that can seem terribly troubling at the time, but really don't amount to anything.  I have a wonderful family, and I can't express how much they mean to me.  My children are the cornerstone of my life right now, and I give thanks that they are all healthy and happy (for the most part).  And I am thankful that they still let me into their lives, have not shunned me yet. I give thanks for a husband that loves and respects me, and for parents and in-laws who offer me endless support.  I give thanks for friends that brighten my days, and hold us up when we need it, and accept help in return.  Most days I remember to appreciate and marvel in the apparent beauty of our surroundings.  The farm and it's fields, trees, changing colors and textures.  The clean water, clean air and healthy soil, the animals wild and tame, the woods and the streams. I am thankful that my children have this. I give thanks that we live in a state of peace, no major conflict or oppression, we have our basic human rights met.  And I am thankful for my health.  A mundane thing to say, but really- what else is there?  What else is there but health, family, friends, food and peace?

So to all you out there that I know and love, aven those I don't see and seldom talk with, I hope you have a most enjoyable and peaceful holiday.  I wish for you that you get to be with those you love, and eat what you like till your heart's content.  And then maybe a nap.

Girl Scouts

Hey guys it's Grace talking about my Girl Scout Event that I did over the weekend called Behind the Lens. We went to Morgantown, WV for a photography class taught by ex-army photographers. They taught us about different types of photography and what qualities to look for in pictures. We got to go outside and take pictures using their professional  cameras with really good zoom. We went inside and they set up a studio with different backdrops.  We took pictures of each other and got group pictures taken in different outfits(that was probably my favorite part). After that I got dropped of at the winter market in Morgantown. Here are a few pics I took.