storms and suits

A couple days ago a big storm rolled through. The house creaked and shook and sounded as if it would fall right over. It blew off our chimney cap and toppled a nearby tree onto the power line. The garden and hay fields looked as if they were being stirred and shaken in a giant mixing bowl. With the power out there was nothing to do but watch the storm through the window and listen over the wind for the sleeping baby.Who slept right though without so much as a peep. Now if only he would sleep through the night that way.
This little set went to one amazing mama and her sweet little baby girl. Bibs are fun to make. I think I'll make a whole bunch more once I have my sewing machine set up again.

shelter

Well, we are settling back home on the farm, or trying our best to settle in anyway. Ari was hit with a nasty bug on our trip (the doctor blamed the plane, saying the recycled air ensures everyone in the plane gets to bring home the same germs,) and lots of the trip was just laying low taking care of a sick baby. Now that we are back (and mostly recovered, just a bit snuffly,) we are gearing up for the big construction, which is, of course, behind schedule. They always are, no?

And meanwhile, the farm kids have been doing a little construction of their own. I have been eyeing these tree blocks for awhile, but it seems crazy to spend so much when all the materials are in the back yard, so when part of a willow had to be cut down I asked the chainsaw wielder if he could make some thinner slabs for blocks. Voila! Our first set! They need to dry a bunch and I'll sand them down so they are not too splintery, but the kids tested them out right away, making towers and "bug houses," and generally making me feel a bit giddy that toy making from local, natural materials can be so easy. I have a pile of cherry branches from my parents tree that fell in last winter's big storm that will be the next set. Those should make some nice small blocks. And it feels special to know the trees that the wood came from.

I have a ton more to post about, special mail and WIP's and gardens and baby feet at the beach, but it will come. I've gotta catch what little bit of summer we have left and not spend it in front of the glowing box!

away again

Ari and I will be leaving the garden and the farm for a week while we visit my sister. Another plane ride with a toddler, this one all by myself. I'm a wee bit nervous about that part, but I have my carry-on stuffed with entertainment- stickers and playsilks and an old wallet, and books and more books. And once we arrive it will be all on toddler time- walks and trips to the park and lots of Auntie and Uncle snuggles.

The idea when I planned the trip was that I would be leaving when the big machines came to make noise and tear apart pieces of our home, but unfortunately the contractors have been waylaid and we will be arriving back just in time for all the noise and action. And the delay will also mean the work going well into the school year which means us living out of boxes while Perry is back at school, which wasn't really the plan. But these things don't ever go as planned, do they?

The garden should be brimming with good things to eat by the time we are back. And I'll have to dream up something to do will all this kale when I get home.

little hands, big help

One thing we inherited with this farm is a whole lot of lawn. Although it is nice to have when the little ones want to play a game of soccer or turn some cartwheels, mostly it is just a whole lot of noisy smelly maintenance. And we seem to go through lawnmowers pretty fast with all the mowing that gets done. So we decided to add a quieter, more ecofriendly mower to the property collection, one that should work well so long as we don't let the grass get too high. And we'll get a workout while mowing- which at this point sounds like a bonus- we'll how we feel about the workout part after mowing acres of lawn.

Ari was keen to help set up the new contraption, and, with his modified screwdriver, worked steadily on all the screws he could find.
::those little hands just melt a mama's heart::

And, amidst the packing and chaos around here, I've been sneaking in a crafty moment or two. This little bag will go to Asha, big sister of the new little bird-shoe-wearing baby boy.

travelling pup

And the winner is...

He managed to pull out one name (quickly followed by all the others,) but got mad when I tried to get him to sit still long enough to take a picture of him holding it. So there it is. This little friend will be in the mail shortly, emily (just need your address I guess.) She is looking forward to a trip to the city. She fancies herself a high living city girl, though she's never left the farm,

and she carries her security pup with her wherever she goes.
Happy monday! (happier still if only the rain would stop and the temperature would go above 12 degrees...)

construction, deconstruction

I don't think I've written here about our house plans, as I've been in a bit of denial about just how much there is to do and how soon the big machines will be rolling in, but this weekend I actually started packing boxes, so there can be no more avoiding the matter. In just over a week we have to packed up and out of our little house so that the construction (and before that, the deconstruction, as the post title implies,) begins.


When we first moved onto the farm with the other families, the existing houses were of varying size, and in various states of disrepair. We agreed as a group to the financial commitment to get all the houses up to the same baseline level -the size and quality of the largest, best built house- (which is still very small and basic by modern western standards!) We are the last in line for this renovation, and have been living in a less-than-ideal house for nearly 5 years now, so we are looking forward to the additional space and the stability of having a foundation that is not sinking into the earth.


But in the meantime, we will be moving into the "big house" for the rest of the summer while the big machines tear off a section of the house (that was brilliantly built directly onto the earth with no foundation at all,) dig around the entire house to secure the existing foundation (built on firewood rounds that are now rotted completely,) and build a 2 story 20X14 ' addition that will include a mud room, (yeah! no more piles of dirty boots in the corner of the living room!) 2 small bedrooms (in addition to the one we already have, ) and a little sewing area for me (yipee!) We will also take down a wall to make the living room more livable, as it is now more of a glorified hallway.


So, packing. I hate packing. I have moved so many times and that feeling of disorder and rushed, unhappy chaos, the stacks of empty cardboard boxes and the smell of packing tape and dust, that late night push to get those last few boxes packed, those little things at the end that are not really garbage, but have no real purpose or place, are all so familiar. But I just have to keep telling myself that this is different. This is not really a move. We will be back in this house in a few months and the boxes only have to travel across the driveway. It wont be that bad. And we will have a proper house at the end to look forward to.

And I will keep on constructing things myself to keep me sane through it all. I made this for a friend's new baby boy. More of that beloved bird fabric which I am using so carefully because I don't ever want to see the end of it. This was my first attempt at baby shoes- they are so fun to make! I used Jojo's tutorial over at star dustshoes and it worked out really well. Thanks for the great tutorial Jo! I'll be making more of these to cover little babytoes in the future.


ps. I have not done the draw yet, so if anyone else wants to enter, please do. I'll draw the names tomorrow. Just leave a comment on the "blog party" post and I'll enter you in. And nice to meet those of you who have dropped in already!

rhubarb and other wild things

Okay. We have way too much rhubarb. As in an entire forest of the stuff. Walking into the garden is becoming difficult and I am afraid of loosing my baby somewhere in the jungle. Anyone need any rhubarb? Or rhubarb plants? We'll be reducing our crop down to about 1/10th of what it is now.

Rhubarb is one of the few things that grows in our cold climate without any work or coaxing. That and dandilions. Some friends started a Rhubarb Growers Society as a joke awhile back, complete with a mascot (Rhubarbie) and annual general meetings (potlucks where all the dishes had to include rhubarb.) Despite hosting one of these events and winning a prize for our rhubarb entree, we still don't seem to know what to do with all this pink stuff. Crisps and cakes and crumbles. And lots chopped in the freezer for more crisps and crumbles. And maybe I'll even dig out that rhubarb pilaf recipe if I'm feeling really desperate.

Other wild things? Max and his raucous friends are a big hit around here. Ari's Nana sent him a gift of a Max and a Wild Thing doll after she saw how much he loved the book. I was surpried by how taken he is with the story; I would have thought he was a bit young. But he loves it, especially the wild rumpus. He waves his little arms about and says "dance, dance, dance" with great excitement. So, many a wild rumpus is being had around here. And the Max doll's white wolf suit is already a little less white.

blog party

I am sitting at the computer looking out the window at the blue sky over my favorite mountain. It has been a slow quiet morning and it is time to head out the garden to pull more of the weeds that proliferated while we were gone. I love the view from this little window.

This is my 100th post and to celebrate I would like to follow the crafty blogger tradition of a celebration draw. Here is a little sneak peek of the prize...

Blogging has become such an important part of my life over the past while, and it feels good to celebrate it a little. Keeping a blog has given me a creative outlet, and helped to sharpen the focus on my life. I look closer at the world around me to see what might be photoworthy, or worth recording. It helps keep me focused on creative projects, and I have developed a daily creative practice of sewing and crafting that is such a joy. It has connected me to other people of like mind from around the world. And the blog has been a way to record the daily joys and challenges of my new life with a baby. I feel lucky to have this little outlet for my ramblings and random thoughts.

So, a celebration of the blog, and the people who read it. Because it's the knowledge that there are people out there reading (crazy that it seems that people find these rather mundane posts worth reading!) that makes me keep doing this. So enter my little draw and join the blog party!

In order to enter, just leave a comment (ha! I've got you lurkers! I know you're out there- my blog counter tells me so. But don't fret, after this one quick introduction, you can go back to lurking all you like.) and tell me what the view is from where you are. I'll give you until the weekend to leave a comment, and then I'll enlist the help of someone small (maybe another farm kid since my little one might want to eat the paper,) to draw the names from a hat. I look forward to meeting a few more of you (and saying hello to those of you who leave comments regularly and whom I love and adore and appreciate...) Good luck!

meet Betty and the baby thief

I took part in my first swap awhile back, but I wasn't able to blog my contribution until now as my swap partner Di at Woollie Wanderings, didn't get her package until just before I left. It was such fun to create things to send all the way to Scotland: a sewing kit for her to take on her adventures, some vintage woollie patterns, a little bag (with a few treats inside,) made from a fabric she commented on, and and Betty the Beaver.
Betty has been waiting to say hi for so long. She's made of wool felt and stuffed with local wool and is holding a little stick she's just gnawed. She was inspired by a creature from this great kids book- One of Ari's favorites. I miss her a little, but I know she's in good hands (hi Di!)
And here is the baby thief. Stealing plant identification cards from the botanical garden. He tested his parents plant IDing skills when they had to put them all back.

home again

:: swallowtail butterfly on valerian at botanical gardens ::

We're back! We survived the epic journey with the toddler and are back to tell the tale. We over planned ourselves badly and had to cancel a bunch of visits just to stay sane. Ari who had never seen a freeway or a city bus or a condo or a big box store (not to mention not ever really having experienced *heat* before!) was rather overwhelmed by the whir or activity around him and we all burned out a bit trying to cram too much in. Until we remembered to listen to the babe and slow down to his time. Babies are little zen masters are they not? Pulling us back to the moment and reminding us about the wonder to be found in water and sand and pigeons and kitchen cupboards. And really, who could resist a face like that? :: splashing on Nana and Grandpa's back porch ::

We were sad not to visit all the friends we had hoped to, but we enjoyed the ones we had, and had some really lovely days. We attended a friend's wedding on Toronto island, and it was just terrific, a beautiful setting, wonderful weather, lots of folks we hadn't seen in ages, and a moving ceremony celebrating love and abundance and two people joyfully in love. Here is a picture of our happy little family at the wedding... Though there were a few of these to get the smiley one. Watch out for that croquet mallet!

I'm so glad to be back, and will keep posting with the backlog of photos I've got filed now. And I am scheming about a way to celebrate my upcoming 100th post, so stay tuned!