rainy days

Hello friends,


Thank you for all the lovely comments on the last post. We did enjoy our celebrations and the boys were so excited to celebrate solstice and the coming of summer. It has not been feeling very summerish these past few days however. We have a fire going in the wood stove today, and it is rainy and very chilly. The plants in the garden look like they are just hunkering down, waiting for warmer weather.

I took these pictures last week- nothing has grown much since then, it just looks wetter now. Though the potatoes are up now, and the peas are growing well. Often the end of June is cold here, we are holding out hope for a warmer July.
(this was last week, when we had some sun- the boys had a mud factory that manufactured mud paint for greenhouses.)


There has been more indoor play the past few days. Playing card games with the kiddos is good fun. Rules are very loose, but they enjoy trying, and then usually end up making up their own game that is more fun for them.

I've been enjoying knitting, though there have been some frustrations. These socks have been partially frogged a couple times with tension issues (different weights of sock yarn...) Though now I am done this one and onto the second. I love this picture though-those little legs! I can't believe how big Dori's feet look in this picture, he's getting so big!

And my yarn arrived before the postal strike, but with a couple disappointments- the one colour I ordered for a half-finished (secret!) project came from a different dye lot and I learned why knitting books always say to order more than enough for the project at hand- the shades are totally different! Ak. So I knitted it up anyway and am trying to find a creative way to cover up the line between the two shades. If all goes well it might end up nicer that it would have been with all the same dye lot. I'm waiting for the buttons to arrive before I finalize my plan of action.


The other disappointment was that lovely blue yarn I purchased for a special project. I want to knit a shawl as a gift to a woman who has been a wonderful support and guide to me. I ordered the wool thinking it was a light greyish blue- a colour I think she would like. But it arrived a very saturated blue- much brighter than she would wear. I've already thought of a couple projects that I could use it for, but now I have to find a good yarn for this shawl. How I wish we still had a yarn shop here! I'm thinking of dying some wool I have with some lichens I gathered last fall. I just need to track down a really big pot to do it in.
We pulled out the summer books and read through them today (by the crackling wood stove!) I love these books. Flower Festival by Elsa Beskow is my absolute favorite. The pictures of all the flowers and plants as little people are brilliant. I especially love the weeds! I could read this one over and over, and this year Ari is really enjoying it too.



I also love Berry Magic by Teri Sloat. It is a traditional Yup'ik Eskimo story about how berries came to the tundra and it really is magic. The story is beautifully told and the pictures are lovely.


I picked up A Day in the Garden at the thrift story- it is out of print I think, but it ist such a sweet, dreamy wordless book showing a family through a summer day in their garden.

Ari and I are reading a Thorton Burgess story book at night and enjoying th antics of the animals. Dorian has been loving the "small" series by Lois Lenski- Pilot Small, Cowboy Small etc.

And we have a quiet weekend planned. A farmers market in the rain and a trip to a farm in a neighbouring town for some raw wool (they were going to compost it!) and then we'll be home by the fire.

Have a great weekend, friends.

solstice

We celebrated solstice and the coming of summer with sun art and grass wreath weaving and flower gathering and and solstice cake baking (yellow cake to represent the sun, chocolate to represent the darkness of the lengthening nights.) The boys wanted to make crowns and played "sun king" for a long time in the sandbox. We tended the gardens and the animals and had a (chilly) bonfire outside. We finally broke in our new picnic table with an outside supper and Ari tended the fire ("volcano") with much care and attention. Happy summer, friends!

this and that

The days have been flying by over here. We've just said goodbye to Perry's parents after a lovely visit, and got lots done with their help- the garden is in (hurrah!) the greenhouses are fixed up and ready to plant, a picnic table has been built and stained, some sewing done, and lots of playing and adventuring for the boys. It has been busy and good. We had some sun- enough to get out some laundry and get all that garden work done, and then it started raining yesterday afternoon and we are having some much needed quiet home days. A few photos to share before I head off to bed- how does it get so late? ::cooking with rhubarb- some for now, and some for the freezer:: ::playing in the dandelions::
::reading with Grandpa::

::eating Nana's chocolate mousse!::

And now that the rain has started, casting on for some knitting- these are some scrappy wool socks for Dorian. I've been waiting for some wool to arrive to finish a project, so this is a good little project to have on hand.
And lots and lots of drawing. They were given these books from their grandparents- they just have simple prompts for drawing ideas and they have been poured over. I don't think I've ever seen either of them- but Ari especially- so focused on a single creative project for such an extended period of time- both of them have nearly finished the books. This little robot, being drawn by Dorian, is just the cutest. I'm glad I caught this picture when I did, as the page has since been filled entirely with colour, and that little robot can hardly be seen under there. I love watching my kids so engrossed in their creating.

And now, bed!

Goodnight friends.

on the farm

It is getting busy up here on the farm, putting in the garden, watching things green up and start growing in earnest. We are enjoying a visit with Perry's parents -the kids are so excited every day to hop out of bed in the morning and race over to the big house to see them.

The garden is mostly planted now, there is just the potatoes to put in and most of the seedlings. It is still cold at night and I can't bring myself to plant out those babies I nurtured from seeds just yet.

The raspberry plants are growing quickly,

The few cabbages I did plant are holding up alright,

The peas are planted, though they have not poked up yet. We thought the teepee style climbing poles would work best for the kids to access easily with minimal soil trampling. Ari has been working on his own creative string- trellis system.

And of course there is always rhubarb. More than we could ever eat. I need to try more rhubarb recipes. I get tired of it quickly, but maybe if I had a new way to eat it?

And our dandelion crop is always prolific!

Seedling awaiting transplanting. They have done really well and are healthy. We hope to get the greenhouse ready next weekend and then we will plant everything out.

Ari has also been busy working on his ice cream stand. He has been playing this game out of the straw bale playhouse for as long as we've had it (and we've sort of given up on it ever getting its final stucco- we are just enjoying it as it is- the kids don't mind,) and today he needed a sign for it. He dictated his business name to his Nana who wrote it on the wood he'd salvaged for this purpose, and then he proudly nailed it up himself. He is very pleased.

The sand gets collected from the sandbox and brought into the shop-
Then it is scooped into a serving dish and carried out on an "ice cream board" which I didn't catch a picture of,
And enjoyed on the outside table. We are quite lucky to have our very own ice cream stand in our back yard!

Our baby chicks arrived this weekend- we went to pick them up in a neighbouring town and brought them to their new home on the farm. They are doing very well. There are 12 of them and they will grow up to be our new layers. The boys are pretty thrilled, though I have been trying to discourage too much time in the coop until the babies settle in and grow up a little, then they will be able to hold them and snuggle them up!

Ari found our neighbours cat sleeping in our woodshed in the stroller. He thought that was pretty funny!

And we've eaten outside a few times- summer time is all about campfires and cookouts. Perry and his dad just finished building a picnic table so we can soon be enjoying eating out behind our house. It is quieter there, and it has the advantage of being situated right beside the famous ice cream stand.

Happy Tuesday friends.

sunshine

A beautiful day at the beach with beautiful friends. It was a gorgeous hot day and the kids played and played and played and us mamas talked and talked and talked. Bliss.

Dorian telling a story. He's telling a lot of stories lately. Here he was telling me that he is a fox, and he used to have a bushy tail, but a monster ate it. He seemed okay with that.
Some days just shine, don't they?