small wonders

We've been outside as much as we can be this week. Bare toes in the grass and little boys petting pigs in their PJ's- what could be better?

 These pigs are so much fun- and look how well they dig- it is amazing really. They are still so small, yet have nearly dug up the pen we have them in (the coop we used for turkeys in past years.) We will move them soon to the old gardens and take advantage of their amazing rototilling abilities, but we have to build some kind of easy portable house for them, and are still trying to settle on a design. One pig got out today- he didn't mean to get out, he just got really excited to see the boys with the treats and ran right through the electric fence, poor fellow. He was desperate to get back in and we were able to get him in pretty quickly, thankfully. The kids proved to be good pig herders, a skill we will need as we get them moving about on pasture.

There has been lots of farm and pig inspired play lately. I love it.

I am working on another hugelkultur bed, this one in the front yard around one of the fruit trees. I have been wanting to get rid of the grass around our house and have a bunch of raised beds instead, so this is a (very small) start. It is good to have helpers.

Even if they are quickly distracted by the wonderful kite flying wind we've been having- it is entertaining to watch as I haul sod and shovel rocky soil.

We still have a fair bit of food in the freezers and pantry to move through. We found a box of frozen fruit in the bottom of the freezer much to our delight and have been eating strawberries with just about everything. Next year I aspire to using my brilliant friend Jules' wonderful food organizing system- sharing out each item we preserve into boxes divided by month and bringing out a box at the beginning of each month- I love this idea!

There were some rainy days this week and some silliness ensued inside. The above game is called "duck bomb," for no reason I can tell other than it is exciting to yell "1,2,3 duck bomb!" while leaping simultaneously onto your beds over and over and over.  

Dorian really wins the silliness awards around here though. He just loves to be goofy and make faces and tell jokes and make us laugh. 

 Though he also is quite happy sitting in a patch of sun cutting paper.
And now we are getting ready for an evening out- the boys are having a PJ party at my parent's house while Perry and I go on a date to see the students at his school perform "Flashdance"- should bring back some good 80's memories!
Happy Friday everyone!