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4oz, Fiber, giveaway, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Malabrigo, Review, roving, spinning

Malabrigo Fiber Giveaway.

Olof
Before my mother’s death I was sent this great fiber from Malabrigo called Nube, which means cloud in Spanish, to do a review and giveaway on my blog. I will be giving two of my readers one each and I will be doing the review of what it is like to spin with Nube when I announce the winner. What I can say about this fiber is that it is wonderfully soft and the colors are amazingly vibrant. The color combinations are beautiful and I can’t wait to spin it and then knit with it.

Deciding on which two to giveaway was difficult for me. Looking at the photo, can you blame me?
I chose to give away The Lavanda and the Zarzamora. The 2 to the right of the photo.
Nube is 4oz or 113gr of 100% Merino wool and is as soft as a dream. 
If you have never spun yarn then you can get inexpensive Drop Spindles and the book Start Spinning is a great reference. Why not try your hand if you win free roving? 
To win one follow the rules listed below.
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Thank YOU!

Olof
One of the arrangements and some of the cards at my father’s house.

I was so surprised when I got back from Iceland and there was a pile of sympathy cards and I also got a few money donations both in the cards and in my tip jar here on my blog. Even thought the donations were no where close to the cost of the trip, every penny is a great help and makes a huge difference. Even thought it was just Alex and I that ended up going to Iceland it still cost over $3000 for us to go.  My sisters all got flowers, candles and statues from their friends in Iceland but knowing that I would have to travel back of course that was not in the cards for me. I was a little envious though that they would have all these great reminders but decided that I would make my own. I plan on printing out the photos from my last post and hang them up on my wall. I have found out that I miss out on a lot of things by living so far away from my family and now I ache to move back home to my family and enjoy the benefits of being so close and my boys really learning the language.

Mom and dad in one of those silver dollar city photos with an arrangement in the foreground at my dad’s home. 

My thought now is to go back to work when Alex turns one and put most of the money I make into savings so that we can afford to buy a home in Iceland. Icelandic homes are VERY expensive and I feel like renting is just paying the mortgage for someone else and you end up not owning anything.  Plus we don’t feel comfortable moving back til both of us have gotten a job there and I don’t know how to really go about securing jobs when you are over seas but hopefully it will all work out. At least that is the plan for now. Who knows what life will throw at me next. I have always lived with the feeling of control over my life but this has thrown me off my balance.

Was thinking about giving this book a try. God knows I was not ready to say goodbye.
Live the life you love and love the life you live! Life is too short for anything else.
9 month old, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Iceland, mother, sudden heart failure, travel

Back from my trip of sorrow.

Olof
Sorry for the radio silence but now I am back from Iceland. I had decided to not blog until I was back. It has been a one day at a time sort of 3 weeks for me. My mother actually died of sudden cardiac death and not a heart attack. This is why even though my dad was performing CPR immediately and the search and rescue squad got there with in minutes with a defibrillator nothing worked to bring her back. My mother died in my father’s arms early that Saturday morning changing my family’s lives for ever. Great sorrow has moved through our very large family and she was the first of her 5 siblings to die at the age of 68 and she was not the oldest.

My mother’s empty chair and her unfinished knitting

During my stay I got to know my sisters again and their families. I have lived in Tulsa for over twelve years now and before that lived in France for two only going to Iceland every 3 or so years because of how expensive it is to go there.

At the viewing I was lucky enough to get time with my mother before everyone else came. My mother was different of course but I was happy that they did not use too much make up but let her be the natural lady I knew with light pink lipstick and mascara. When only the closest of family had arrived for the viewing it started and  I had closed my eyes to gather myself and while doing so saw it raining love over my whole family. My mother was showering each and every one of us and it gave me strength to be the person that my sisters and father could come to for strength and love. To welcome their sorrow and hurt and let them feel some comfort in my arms. Even though at times I got sad for some reason I did not really cry while I was in Iceland.

My mother’s Icelandic sweater and slippers. It looks like she will step into them any min.

Planing a funeral is hard but even harder with such a large family. Hundreds of people showed up to the funeral and the wake. My mother was loved by many and will be sorely missed.

At the funeral two of my sisters that did not just have surgery, two of my grown nephews, two of my brother in laws, my brother and I carried my mother in her casket from the church out to the hearse. It was so heavy that it mimicked the sorrow that we all carried. It was almost too heavy to bare but just holding on and trying to put one foot in front of the other was exactly what we were doing in life at the moment. Our steps were ungracious but they kept the pace. It was a slow, painful walk until we got to the hearse but then we got to hand the weight over for someone else to carry like handing the pain to God to be able to sleep. 

My father’s eyes are hard to look in these days as the sorrow flows from them. The hurt and pain is so deep that it was hard for me to leave him in Iceland but know that my sisters are there for him and the socialist system is there to help him with grievance counselors and other support.

My mother’s angel with the view of the mountain she loved so in the background. 

When I drove to my father’s home so that he could drive Alex and I to the airport he tells me to go inside to make sure I get anything that I might have left behind and told me to say goodbye to the house because he can’t afford to keep it. My heart breaks again. I walk into my parent’s room and on the bed sits the teddy bear I gave my mother for her 50th birthday 18 years earlier and with the white scarf I had given her when she baby sat for me when I went to the meditation retreat over two years ago. She had always said that when she had the feeling that she needed to hug the bear that it was time to give me a call because I wasn’t feeling well. Hoping that the bear was still a link to her I gave it a goodbye hug hoping she would feel it on the other side. 

I did the math and realized that if I were to go at the same time as my mother that my husband and I would have already finished a 4th of our relationship. That made me really sad but also reminded me to be kind, thoughtful and tell my husband and my boys how much I love them every day. To be a good wife and a good parent getting my children ready for the real world out there because I will not always be around.

Yesterday I made coffee and cried. I cried the ugly cry with snot and all. I also have lost my voice so I sounded like a frog that was gasping for air. Grief is ugly and unforgiving. It grabs you when you least expect it. I realized that I would never make my mother another cup of coffee in my home. That she would never be back to give me those hugs that I love and that my childhood home is going to be sold. A great loss. Great sorrow.

Be kind to one another. Tell the people you love that you love them and live the life you love and love the life you live. Life it too short to be unhappy. 

Australorp, Buff Orpington, carrots, Cream Legbar, Creme de la Creme melon, eggs, Fava beans, French Copper Maran, grape vine, hatching, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Icelandic chicken, sweet peppers

Confession- Mini Farm Update

Olof
I have a confession to make. I just put seeds in the ground last week and I can’t remember where I put them or what it was that I planted. I just remember that it put down squash, cucumbers and some TamDew melons. Why you ask? I realized that it was JUNE!!!! and I hadn’t gotten these things in the ground. I had room but it all ended up all over the place because my kids were yelling and it was bed time and and and and…………… I guess I will just see how that goes.

Here are some photos from the ‘Farm’.

Buff the Buff Orpington dust bathing in the heat trying to stay cool

Mathilda the Australorp being careful not to get caught. 

Chipmunck the Cream Legbar and Fluffybum the French Copper Maran were not wanting their photo taken today.

No eggs yet but any day now!

Fava beans, Carrots, and red okra.

Creme de la Creme melon

Tomatoes

Tomato flowers

Grape plant

Sweet pepper plant

Bees buzzing in and out. Have to add the second hive body tomorrow! Exciting!

one of my veggie beds. Look at all of the collard greens and brocoli and Kale.

Just finished fencing the porch off from chickens so that we can use it and bleaching and scrubbing the deck. 

Icelandic chicken eggs in the incubator! I’m excited and hope I have learned my lesson.

The bees are busy, my garden is really doing well with what I have planted and the chickens are doing great and I hope to see the big girls start laying soon.

I got Icelandic chicken eggs from an Icelandic girl in Washington state. I hope that they are thriving in there and that I get at least one hen.

The back porch has been fenced off and cleaned so that the family can use it again. It had gotten really gross after the chickens realized that there was cat food on the deck. They love that stuff even though they have plenty of organic chicken feed and free range of the backyard.

I will take some photos of the bees when I open up the hive tomorrow and show you how much work they have done. There was so much honey in there and my queen was laying and there was brood! I’m so excited about how well things are going. If only I could keep up with mowing the backyard too. It’s a mess. I need some sheep or a horse borrowed for a day or two to eat all of this grass.

What is going on in your backyard?

chick, chicken, chickens, egg, eggs, farm, Farmer´s market, hatching, hobbies, homestead, homesteading, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Keeping Chickens, killed, loss, mother, sustainability

Sad and Crushed.

Olof

My mamma nerves are raw tonight.

A little over 3 weeks ago I went to the farmers market to pick up some eggs. When using set eggs I saw that they were fertile eggs. So on a whim I put 2 of them in my small little incubator. I thought since they had been refrigerated that there would be nothing of the eggs and from my reading on the web it said that they would most likely not hatch but I was wanting to give it a try.

Ten days later I candle the eggs and see that one had started developing. I thought this very cool and had this great blog post brewing in my head about how you can hatch out eggs from the farmers market at only pennies on the chick where they would be good layers since they come from stock used for laying.

Anyhow, fast forward to today, day 23 of the chick being in the egg and the normal cycle 21 days to hatch day and I thought the worst, that the baby chicken had died. Crack open the top where the air sack was and to my surprise I see movement. I instantly feel horrible. Baby was still in there and alive and clearly just behind because, duh… I put COLD eggs into the incubator and it took a few days for the temp to get just right.

I hurry up and put the egg back in the incubator and go online to look for guidance. With the information I had given of baby being on day 23 someone told me to pip the egg (making a hole in the membrane) so that the baby could breath. I try and it starts bleeding! I’m horrified! I feel so guilty and dumb. Poor baby I should have just left it alone to do its natural thing like I believe in for all healthy births! I watch until I notice that baby is not moving anymore. My heart sinks. I leave the egg in the incubator until the boys go to bed to investigate. I poke at it and no movement. I watch for anything but the color now is off too. Finally, I come to terms that the baby is no longer alive in the egg and I crack it open to find a beautiful baby that died because I could not wait longer.

Perfectly formed. All the toes and nails and everything there. Just me being a bad, ignorant mother hen. Had I given the baby a couple of more days to finish absorbing the yoke and pip itself then I would have been welcoming a new member to my flock of chickens instead of feeling loss and guilt tonight.

Amazon, Backyard, bee, beekeeping, BeeWeaver, farm, frames, hive, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Ozark Bee Supply, starter kit

How to Start Right With Bees

Olof
As many of you know I was talking about getting bees and ladies and gents I DID IT!!! I am a proud urban beekeeper. I live on less than an 8th of an acre in the middle of Tulsa and I keep both bees and chickens.

Here is the story.

Months ago I got the bee bug. I was very interested in starting my own hive so I started reading, watching YouTube videos, talking to people I know that keep bees and surfing the web. I learned a lot about the bee’s life cycle, the different problems that could arise and the different illnesses bees can get.

I contacted BeeWeaver and Ramona said that they would sponsor my queen bee and then I started looking for local bees as worker bees to start my hive. I went on craigslist.org and found Ozark Bee Supplies and the man that runs it, Greg, was very helpful and full of information.

I started doing my research on where I could get a starter kit which includes the hive, a head vale, a hive tool, leather gloves, 10 plastic base frames and a smoker. I found one through Amazon and since I have Prime I didn’t have to pay for shipping on it. I also bought another deep super to put on top of the 10 frame hive so that the bees had plenty of space for brood and honey through the winter. I’m told I won’t need a honey super this year.

A little over a week ago on a Friday I got my queen bee IN THE MAIL from BeeWeaver apiaries. Yes you read me right I got her in the mail. She came in an envelop, but in the envelop she and some of her companions were in a sturdy wooden enclosure. The post office had tried to call me to pick it up but the number was wrong for some reason on the envelop but the nice lady at the post office delivered it to me on her way home from work.

The BeeWeaver queen and her attendants in the wooden box she arrived in.

I had gotten my hive ready the week before. Set up in my veggie garden and talked to Greg. a local bee keeper of Ozark Bee Supplies, that was willing to part with three frames of brood (baby bees), honey and worker bees for $20 dollars a frame and he keeps the frames from my hive that he is replacing.

So since my queen was there Greg told me to bring my hive, my queen bee, and a strap to keep the hive together for the drive home. I drive out to Jenks, OK to pick up my worker bees and frames and meet Greg for the first time in person. He was exactly what you would think a cowboy would look like but with a bee vale instead of a cowboy hat. Just wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. He put the hive strap on my hive to take it to where the bees are and he doesn’t put on any more protective clothing. I put on a black army jacket on and he tells me that Black is not a good idea and that I should probably get something more Bee Keeperish for the future.  I wish I had gotten photos of this experience but I was so excited about getting my bees that I forgot to take the camera with me. He takes me to the bees and opens my hive and then opens a nuc that has the frames that he was going to put in my hive. He did this with his bare hands and doesn’t get stung once. I was in awe. At first a little stressed with ALL the bees buzzing around me but then when I realized that they couldn’t care less if I was there or not I relaxed and just enjoyed the sounds and sights of the bees.

He put the three frames in to the hive and then just knocked the rest of the bees out of the nuc into my hive and put the queen in her wooden cage into the hive between the frames he put in my hive. Then he closed up the hive, secured it with the strap and then taped the entrance closed with duct tape so that they couldn’t get out! Then I asked my questions about how long to keep the queen in the cage and so fourth and the hive went in my Mazda5 and I drove home with a hive full of angry bees in the car with me! Very exciting but also I was very aware of EVERY bump in the road and prayed that I would not get in a car accident on the way home and be stuck in a car full of angry bees that have escaped their hive because of the accident.

I brought my hive home put it in place where I took the duct tape off and let the bees be bees for a little over a week. Only feeding them some sugar water to help the workers accept the queen and help with a stressful transition. Watching them come back from foraging with their back legs FULL of orange and white pollen. They have been such good bees.

Bees busy being bees.

Yesterday I let the queen out of her cage so that she can start laying her eggs again and my sister in law was nice enough to document it with her iPhone. She did not have a bee vale and even though it was a bit windy (not ideal) my bees were only a little unhappy when I grabbed the queen cage out of the hive. Had I not had gloves then I had been stung a few times. But when I was messing with the frames to see what sort of work they had been doing (they had been very busy bees and built up great comb) they couldn’t have cared less. I also opened the opening up to its next size up to make it easier for my bees to get in and out of the hive to bring in the pollen and honey.

My ladies have been busy on this new frame.
One of the frames I got from Ozark Bee Supplies

Now I must wait 10 days before checking on them again to make sure my queen is laying eggs. I’m SUPER excited! Can’t wait to see how much work they will have done in another 10 days.

BeeWeaver, that sent me the super nice queen bee, also has a new store that sells bee related products. You should check them out. The store is called BeeGoods.

ANKESTRICK, giveaway, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, knitting

New Favorite Designer ANKESTRICK and Giveaway!

Olof

ANKESTRICK which goes by the  username fallmasche is my new favorite designer on Ravelry. I stumbled upon her while I was surfing patterns on Ravelry and had to stop by and tell her how much I enjoy her creations. Here are some of my favorites….

Mrs. Garter

Revival

Theory

Versio

Walnuss

What
Her designs are elegant but wearable. I love her natural colors and flattering designs. 

Anke was nice enough to answer some of my questions.

Who is Fallmasche?
Hello, my name is  Anke. I wanted to knit something after several years of not knitting and was looking for a shawl pattern on the internet. There was a nice one: “clapotis” on ravelry. Because clapotis was made out of dropped sts “Fallmaschen” in german, I took this name as my username. I was hooked on this pattern and made 5 or 6 of them.

How did you learn how to knit?
I learned it from the women in my family and in school. I always like to craft and from time to time knitting was my favorite for some months, maybe years.

When did you decide to start designing and why?
During my knitting times, I always made my own designs, but I hate sewing and could not get the shape I wanted when sewing. When I learned the top-down seamless knitting from all the talented ravelry designers I knew immediately, that I would be able to make the garments I like to wear. I love to see how it grows and being able to test the fit at every stage of the process. (especially the neckline, my favorite part of a garment)

What is your favorite pattern and why?
My own or in general? My own favorite is always the next one I have in my mind. My first and all-time favorite on ravelry (after clapotis 🙂 is Snowbird by Heidi Kirrmaier and than  Holl by Kirsten Johnstone. Some day I’ll knit them …

Who is your favorite designer and why?
I love the cool plain style of Kirsten Johnstone (assemblage)  design.
I could feel the joy playing around with knitting possibilities itself in the pieces of Heidi Kirrmaier and I love how she modeled them.
I admire the output and nonchalant style of Isabell (lilalu)
I admire too the simple but still charming pieces from Veera Välimäki.
And I like to put Nicole (chirimoya) on the list. Even if she didn’t publish here own designs, she always interprets a pattern with her own sophisticated style.

Where do you find inspiration?
Sometimes from the enthusiasm of trying to tape the full potential of seamless knitting itself. Sometimes from designs I saw on the street or in shops.  Sometimes it is just enough to touch a nice yarn and the garment appears on my inner eye.

What are your favorite colors and fiber to work with?
My favorite thing is to knit with two threads of different yarns and colors to make the garment more lively maybe a little mysterious. I prefer to use natural based fibers.

You designing something at the moment and when do you believe it will be ready for the public?
I am planing to release my “Birdsong” ebook with several patterns. They all will use my new favorite neckline in different shapes. Very easy to knit and made for the warmer period of the year. I finished two (Tschilp and Zalp) of maybe 4 patterns, so it will take a little time until I will be able to publish it.
I have to say I am pretty excited to see what these new designs will look like! 

Anke has been so generous to offer one of my readers a pick of her patterns. You get to go look at all her patterns and decide which one you would like. My personal favorite is the Walnuss since it is so versatile and usable. 

This giveaway will be open til Monday, May 20th 2013. 
chevron, cowl., giveaway, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, interview, Krista, rain city knits, Yarn

New Sponsor- Rain City Knits

Olof
I am so happy to introduce you to Rain City Knits Yarn. Krista, the owner, was nice enough to answer some of my questions.

This is Krista. Isn’t she beautiful?

Tell me a little about RainyCityKnits and how it got started.

RCK is a very small hand-dyed yarn company based in the heart of Vancouver , in a vibrant neighborhood called Gastown. RainCityKnits was born out of a love of bright colours – an antidote to the the endless grey season on the West Coast.

Prior to launching RainCityKnits, I worked internationally on issues of sustainability and social justice. My passion and commitment to these issues help guide my business decisions. For example, I only use food-grade dyes to colour my fibres in an effort to minimize my impact on the environment. I also source my Uruguayan Merino Wool from a worker’s collective, where workers are paid a fair price for their yarn.

How and where do you get your inspiration?

As mentioned, I really adore bright colours in juxtaposition to the cool colours that characterize Vancouver’s landscape.

I’m really inspired by current trends in colour and I think that my time living in London, UK has a lot to do with this. Londoners, on average, are very fashion-forward and know how to combine colours without appearing garish, which is a possible risk when working with a super bright palette.

Locally, Gastown is a real hub of creativity with fashion boutiques, furniture shops and lifestyle stores lining the streets and that too inspires me.

Who are your favorite designers and why?

I’m guessing this question refers to knitting designers. I opt for clean lines in designs and am really attracted to Nordic and Japanese designs.
A few of my favorite designers are Julie Hoover (USA), Ririko (Japan), Jane Richmond (Canada), Rena Varsakis of The Red Fox and Gown (Canada) and Isabell Kraemer (Germany).

What does a normal day in your life look like?

Cliche as it sounds, every day is different. That’s one of the things I really love about running RainCityKnits. On a given day, I will be dyeing yarn (of course), skeining, packing orders, writing for my blog, Tweeting and taking photos of things that inspire me.

My husband and I are also raising a BC Guide Dog (for the Blind). She’s 8 months old. A part of my day is dedicated to her training too.

What is your favorite knit item at the moment?

Relax by Ririko. I’ve never knit myself a sweater – though I’ve made several for others – and I’m really looking forward to the end result.

If you could have dinner with anybody dead or alive, who would it be and why?

A bit of a heavy choice, but I’d love to sit down with Malala Yousafzai, the young girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban. I’d love to hear how she finds the courage to continue lobbying for the rights of girls in the face of such an oppressive and frightening regime. She is truly an amazing young woman.

What is your dream in the future for RainyCityKnits?

My dream for RainCityKnits is to continue to be able to make a living while making things I love. It’s a simple dream but one that can be a real challenge to achieve. Hopefully RCK will continue to grow and bring happiness to those who encounter our products.

I have to say, with this as the view from our studio, I have a pretty great reminder of the importance of treading lightly.

Thank you Krista for answering all of those questions and what a view! I´m super jealous. I miss the mountains and the ocean!

I was lucky enough to get to play with 2 skeins of her DK weight in natural and Fried Egg color and this is what I came up with. 

This is preblocking.

Working with this yarn was divine! I REALLY loved the yellow fried egg color. It really does look like a fried egg from a nice organic chicken and I wish the camera could catch the color so that you could she the high and low lights in it. The yarn is soft and fluffy and very nice up against the skin. I would love to make a whole chevron blanket out of it to cover my bed.

 Alright beauties, Krista has so generously offered a skein of her amazing DK yarn in a color of your choice (I know it will be hard to choose).  I will also be offering 3 of you my design for free. It comes in 3 different sizes, the one in the photo being the largest.

Here is a sample of the awesome colors she has!

To enter leave your email address and a name in the box below and then start going through the many different ways you can enter to win. You can do just one or them all! It is up to you! Now off you go to enter the giveaway! Good luck!

If you want to head over to Rain City Knits and make a purchase then Krista is offering a 10% discount to everyone if you enter OLOF10 at checkout. 

cascade, ecological, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, itty bitty toys, knitting, Mitered Cross Blanket, odds and ends blanket, recycling, spinning, the wacky windmill, turkish spindle, Yarn

Knitting Update- Blankets and Spinning

Olof

As you can see on my to do list today is write a blog post and I realized that for being a blog with knitting in the title I have had very few posts about knitting lately. I have been busy the last 2 months designing things and making very large changes to my home and family for the better. But as I finished my last design project (having a giveaway tomorrow), I started revisiting some of my unfinished projects.

I have been spinning the fiber I got from The Wacky Windmill and finally plied it yesterday to make my first ball of plied yarn! Then I started spinning some more on my Turkish drop spindle. I have plenty of roving left to make more. Can’t wait to knit something with it.

I then had a ball wound up of odds and ends and in the spirit of not wasting yarn I crotchet it on to my odds and ends blanket. For this blanket I don’t care about the weight of the yarn. All I do is tie the ends together and then with a large crotchet hook, I just single crotchet it on. I love watching this blanket come together because each strand reminds me of one project or another.

Finished another block of the Miter Cross Blanket and started another. I have now finished 7 blocks and only have 3 more left to make before putting it together. The colored blocks are all made from leftover yarn from when I knit the Princess and the Pea while I was knitting through the Itty-Bitty Toys book by Susan B Anderson. It’s Lambs Pride worsted and the outside is Cascade Ecological wool.  I’m trying not to have to purchase anything to finish this blanket but I might need to unravel a vest that doesn’t fit well to use the yarn to finish this blanket. Have any of you ever done that? I’ve been thinking about that a bit lately. Unraveling and re-purposing yarn from projects I no longer love.

What do you have on your needles these days?
7 months, Baby, Black Copper Maran, chicks, Cream Legbar, garden, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, peach tree, permaculture., sick, vikings, warehouse 13

Mini Farm update

Olof
After I posted on Monday I started feeling icky and on Wednesday morning I got the stomach bug that the boys had had. It wasn’t pretty. My husband took the day off and took care of my children only bringing Alex up to nurse (yeah I was loosing liquids but still had to feed my giant baby). I spent the day in bed. Ached all over. Not doing well at all but for some reason not able to sleep. When I gave up on laying with my eyes closed feeling like poo I would turn the TV on for a few episodes of Vikings and Warehouse 13 and then turn them off for a while and just lay there trying to sleep even though sleep did not come. But after all of this I woke up yesterday feeling renewed. I felt grateful and happy and ready to take on my day. Here are some of the images from my beautiful day yesterday.

Alex turned 7 months old yesterday. Weighing in at 29lbs and 30inches!

Magni enjoying a snack of veggie straws on the back porch.

Odinn playing with the baby chicks Sassy and Chipmunk while they had their first day outside.

Sassy the Black Copper Maran 2 and a half week old chick.

Chipmunk the 2 and a half week old Cream Legbar chick

My Peach tree that didn’t make it through the winter.

Tomatoes, Kale, Lettuce, Broccoli, and Collard Greens.

My first harvest of the season. 1.7 oz of asparagus that I added to the veggie soup I made last night.

I spent the day just catching up on chores and enjoying my boys’ time. Making mental notes of the things that need to be done around the mini farm in the back yard like digging up the dead peach tree. I don’t know what killed it but it only gave us one crop of fruit and that was last year and the animals ate them all before we could get to it so we never even enjoyed it. Sad to wait so many years for a tree to mature only to have not enjoyed it much at all.

The baby chickens have hit the punk rock stage of loosing their fluff and getting in feathers. It will be an interesting experience to introduce them to the big girls since I have never done such a thing but my sister in law gave me some good advice and we will see how it goes.

Now I sit at home and my poor husband has the stomach bug. I feel for him but I hope he feels as renewed as I did after it is over.

I plan on weighing everything I get in from the garden this year so far I’m at 1.7 oz. from the Asparagus and I plan on harvesting it into the early summer. That is the joy of permaculture. I was hoping the peach tree would be another easy harvest but alas no. I planted a grape plant and hope that in the summers to come we will get some grapes from it and we have the cherry bushes that have just finished their bloom.

If you are interested in learning more about permaculture (the art of keeping plants that come again and again to feed you) then you might be interested in this book.