Eco Idea: Recycle in the Garden

Jeff had the brilliant idea to use this antique bed frame for a trellis/arbor over our front garden gate. We have been trailing the honeysuckle over the top and look forward to it being completely covered with the fragrant flowers some day. 

We've been saving these bed frames, knowing we would use them eventually and last week they met their purpose.  The old frames' paint is wearing away and getting all rusty with age- I love it! We used the other part of the bed frame to the left of the gate, where we needed a small section of fencing. It fit perfectly. 

Using recycled items in the garden adds so much character to the space. 

Look around your place, you just might find a treasure waiting to go to use in your garden!

Then- Wa-lah: a beautiful garden and recycling in one!

Changes

What a full week. 

I've hardly been on my computer (I've hardly been in the house for that matter.) This has been one busy week. We had more trips to town than usual and have been working outside a lot getting caught up on some projects that have been needing attention. Our week has been filled with strawberry harvesting, fencing, cheesemaking, gardening and lots of other adventures. We are now milking four goats a day, a few are new milkers and have needed some training (which required Jeff's lasso skills a few times.) There has been a lot of entertainment and a lot of progress. It feels good. 

When you drive up the driveway, it looks like a whole new place.

So grateful for the movement, flow and changes happening abundantly.

Now I need some regeneration time before market tomorrow. 

I've been missing you all. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Kale Flowers

Every year we let a few kale plants go to seed. 

Some kale came up on it's own from last year and started growing so early in the season, that it's already flowering and going to seed. Some seeds will fall on the ground and plant themselves for next year and most of the seeds we will dry and save.

Saving your own seeds is a great way to save money, plus everything is so beautiful when it flowers in the garden.

Happy First Day of Summer!

Happy First Day of Summer Everybody!! 

Today we celebrated the first day of summer by basking in the sun, making our first batch of goat cheese of the season, lovingly admiring the garden, putting up a trellis for the honeysuckle, and working on the fence project (digging holes for posts and setting them in concrete.) 

What a wonderful, successful day. It was exactly what we needed- a day outside filled with hard work and much satisfaction. 

How did you celebrate the first day of summer?

Field To Table Lunch

Yesterday, at Saturday Market, we headed to Farmer's Market to get some lunch. We had some trade with 'Field to Table'- hooray! 

This is what we picked. 

I got the Salmon Hash, Jeff got the Grilled Pork Belly Flatbread and we shared the Squash Salad. 

(Normally we get one meal for each of us, but someone ordered the salad ahead of me in line and it looked so good, I couldn't pass it up.)
I'm so impressed with the eggs they use- the yolks are so deep orange. 

The pictures say it all.

Yum!

So, tell me, local lovers of 'Field to Table'..... what are your favorite things to order?

Feeling Grateful

I love it when things fall into place. Today was one of those days. 

As you know, we've been looking for loving homes for some of our goats. Today, 5 baby goats all went to one home together! I could tell the wonderful family who took them would spoil those goats rotten. I'm so glad they all went together, what a blessing! It makes my heart happy to know they will be with their best friends, all happily playing on their new farm. We are now down to 5 goats, which feels like such a relief. We kept one little doe from this year (we haven't named her yet.) We are still looking for a home for Lucy, our goat in milk. Then we will be down to 4 goats, the perfect number.

Another thing we are feeling grateful about today is that we found a home for our two roosters. At first, we were going to just keep one rooster because we wanted to have our own fertilized eggs every time we wanted to hatch new chicks. Plus, I love the sound of the rooster crowing, but Jeff can't stand the sound of the rooster crowing. It wakes him up every morning (I sleep through it) and then continues to crow all day long. Also, the roosters were being really nasty to our hens and tearing some of their feathers out. So I decided I could live without the rooster crowing, and we decided to find a home for both roosters. Plus, we figured we could just buy chicks in the future or get fertilized eggs from someone else if we want to hatch our own.
With that decided, today our neighbor came and got them. Hooray! Now we have 16 hens. The chicken yard is suddenly so quiet and peaceful.

It's feeling so much lighter around here. We are very happy to be downsizing.

The goats were out grazing in the sun today. 

 This is the little doeling we are keeping. She is learning how to graze and is nibbling on green things, though most of them seem to fall out of her mouth and back out on the ground. It's so cute to watch.


Today, feels like a sigh of relief.
Yes, we are feeling immensely grateful.

Eco Idea: Create something beautiful with invasive species

Jeff created these carved tree buttons out of Scotchbroom. Any local will tell you how invasive Scotchbroom is around here. As soon as he made them I fell instantly in love and then I thought 'what a great Eco Idea!'

What beautiful things do you like to create with invasive species?

Bringing home the harvest

Yesterday I harvested strawberries with friends for the first time this season. We headed to a local farm and had the whole field to ourselves. All of the bending and stretching felt like a great yoga workout. We harvested in the rain and sun, that switched back and forth throughout the day. 

The taste of a fresh strawberry, just picked, is a very sweet thing. 

And bringing home the day's strawberry harvest makes for a very happy husband.......

Sunday Visitors

Yesterday we had two lovely ladies come to visit us- Lara and Rosemary. They had just been backpacking at the coast with friends (we love when they go camping along the coast because they stop and visit us on their way home.) 

We spent most of our time in the goat yard, which is a pretty entertaining place these days. 

Here are some pictures:

I think Rosemary was ready to move into the goat house. But eventually our tummies started rumbling so we headed up to the kitchen.

I consider myself lucky to have a friend like Lara who makes food according to my current cravings. Whenever she visits or I visit her, she makes the most incredible meals out of the exact thing I happen to be craving at the time (bless her!) Yesterday she made avocados stuffed with shrimp, goat cheese, avocado, lemon juice, cilantro and a little salt (did I remember everything?) It was incredible! And I want to make it again as soon as possible.

Good friends and good food is a wonderful mix.

Cucumber starts in the greenhouse

The little birdie was right....

Well, Saturday started out overcast and chilly. Everyone looked at the sky with curious expressions on their faces. But it turns out that little bird was right (the one who promised good weather) because the sky cleared to a brilliant blue and the sun warmed things up in a hurry. It was fantastic. 

Yesterday was one of those wonderful market days where everything seemed to flow smoothly. Our booth was filled with so many new creations. Sales were great, friends surprised us with gifts, there was some amazing music on stage (I loved Gypsy Moon's music!) and we enjoyed delicious food.

Jeff had an inspiration for an incredible afternoon snack. He cut an avocado in half and mixed the contents with goat cheese (one of those generous gifts from a friend.) As all of you know, I've been an avocado fanatic lately and mixing avocado with goat cheese was beyond my wildest dreams. There are no words to describe how incredibly good it was. We ate it with some of Deck Family Farm's salami. Now that is what I call a snack!

Here is Jeff in our booth. 

When we drove home from market with a huge bag of fresh vegetables and so many gifts, we felt immense gratitude for the fun, abundant day.

We knew the garden was going to be happy with all that sunshine, so we went on a garden walk when we got home. We got this belly pic while we were out there.

Hope you all had a wonderful Saturday!!

Our First Strawberry

Discovered an unexpected surprise in the garden tonight- our first strawberry.

Jeff and I shared it and it tasted sooooo good!

Ready for market

We are all packed up and ready for market tomorrow with lots of new items! 

A little bird told me the weather will be gorgeous.... sounds good to me! :)

Hope to see you there!

Honeysuckles Blooming

The Honeysuckles are just starting to bloom by the front door. I've been waiting in anticipation all week, watching the process unfold. The scent is even better than I remembered it........

Etsy Etsy Etsy

I've got Etsy on my mind. This week I've been taking pictures and loading new items on our Etsy Store .

Yesterday I loaded 6 new items and today I loaded 5 new items. Hooray! I feel such a big sense of accomplishment when I get a bunch of new items posted on there. 

Every day I get an e-mail from Etsy called 'Etsy Finds' with picks of the day. I've always dreamed of being on there and today, to my surprise and sheer delight, we were! As if that wasn't exciting enough, it brought us a lot of traffic and we made 3 sales today! Yes, there's been a lot of excitement in our house. 

Here are pictures of some of the new items I've listed. 

What do you like? What would you like to see more of? We'd love to hear your feedback. 

Pictured above is 'Eco Tree of Love Necklace' 

'Tranquility Kanji Eco Pendant'

'Turquoise Mahogany Mandala Necklace'

'Handcarved Eco Lizard Pendant'

'Woodland Forest Necklace'

'Spiral Eco Wood Earrings'

'Good Luck Kanji Necklace'

'Wild Roots Eco Necklace'

'Turtle Totem Eco Pendant'

'Turquoise Peace Inlay Necklace'

Relax

Slowly sip your cup of tea

Watch the swirling steam rise and twist

Close your eyes and feel the mist gently heating your face

Enjoy the feeling of the warm mug in your hand

See the reflections shimmer on the surface

Breathe in the scent 

then

Do Nothing

and feel yourself completely relax.......

Regenerate

Soak in a warm bath

Surrounded by candlelight

Watch the bright flames sparkle and dance

Feel the fresh breeze from the open window

Listen to the gentle, steady rain

Breathe slowly

Let your body melt in bliss

and know that in this moment....

All is right with the world

"Pregnant Mama needs Protein" Salad

Wednesday's Lunch:

From the Garden and Backyard:

Variety of Lettuce 

Cilantro

Parsley

Hardboiled Eggs

From the Farmer's Market:

Basil

Carrots

Cucumbers

Radishes

Bacon

From Deck Family Farm:

leftover Chicken (from our crockpot meal the other night)

sauteed in butter, garlic, and italian herbs

From California:

Avocados

Homemade Dressing:

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Lemon Juice

Mustard

Himalayan Crystal Salt

Now that is one satisfying lunch! Yum!

Carrot Baby

Today I'm 5 months and 1 week pregnant (21 weeks.) 

Here's what this week's e-mail said:

 "Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long- the length of a carrot."

It also said that I may soon feel like the baby is practicing martial arts as their initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. Yes, that's exactly what it feels like- this is one active baby these days! It also said I might notice a pattern to the activity, which is true. 

I've been feeling really good. My biggest food craving lately is still- surprise- avocados. I have turned into an avocado fanatic and am in shock that I never paid them any attention (my entire life) until very recently. I want to eat avocados for every meal and I celebrate when I find them on sale at the store. I've also been craving raw aged goat cheddar cheese. The other night I made scrambled eggs for dinner with sauteed zucchini and topped it with shredded raw aged goat cheddar cheese and chunks of avocado. I cannot even tell you how good it tasted to me at the time. It was the first time I ever had avocado on scrambled eggs and it was delicious.

I'm also craving fresh fruit and our homemade goat's milk kefir (so excited to get goat's milk again soon!) I'm loving fresh foods and craving more fermented foods. So grateful that I've been enjoying food and eating so much throughout this pregnancy.

And it shows- this belly sure is getting big!

Bree's Babies

Baby Boy

(his coloring is so incredible!)

Baby Girl

(coloring just like her Mama's)