harvest bounty

Holy moly it has been busy around here. There has been lots to invest time and energy into not the least of which is the harvesting and processing of our garden bounty. We have been having wonderful visits with family and friends visiting and there is just so much on the go. There is also a little boy who is going to be 3 in a few days and a mama who has a whole lot of sewing to do to be ready! Though I still aspire to be a good blogger who posts regularly, including my plan to do themed posts on certain days of the week, I am really needing this little blog break as we run about readying ourselves for winter. So for now a quick peek in at our harvest and then I'll get back to it. I expect I'll be back again sometime next week as things start to slow down a little.

:: Ari's apple tree has been boutniful this year with many bright red fruits. Applesauce is bubbling on the stove full of apples from several local trees.

:: Most of our tomatoes did not ripen on the vine, but we've had good luck wrapping them in newspaper to get them to ripen up. We'll get these ones wrapped up soon.

::the dehydrator (our big investment last year,) is humming away in the porch.

:: more cucs for pickles. Most of these we got from the farmers market as we were eating ours as fast as they were coming out of the greenhouse. We are also digging into the big batch of pickles I made earlier and are going to need more for the winter. This will be an experiment to see how long the lacto-fermented ones will last. So far, adding in horseradish leaves to the jars is making for some very yummy crunchy pickle goodness. 

:: and endless supply of zucs. We are eating a lot, and I will freeze some in chunks and grated, and I am trying drying some for soup.
:: dried tomatoes are heaven. Ari eats them like candy. They are so very good.

:: apples apples everywhere. I think I will freeze a bunch of peeled slices for later cooking and keep going with the applesauce. I also dried a bunch and they are dissapearing fast. There are also unphotographed piles of potatoes, carrots, turnips and onions stored in the root cellar (thanks Nana and Grandpa!). Oh, and peas and calendula in the freezer (thanks Annie!) Nice to have visitors who dig in with the garden tasks. Pun intended, of course. Happy Tuesday friends, I'll see you again soon when the harvest frenzy lets up a little!

apples and kites and things

 I've been having a hard time getting here the last little while, but when I looked at the camera I found it full of pictures of all the things we've been up to, so a quick tour through the last little while up here on the small wonders ranch:

flying kites

going for walks

visiting the river

saying goodbye to the sandhill cranes

picking the last of the raspberries

drying apples

building a hospital in the livingroom

blessing a dear friend who will be welcoming a baby soon (the wine was as an offering, not to feed to the mama!)

and the internet is so very slow I am just going to post this while I seem to have a quick chance. Goodnight!

friday photo

Sprinkler!

sorry to have dissapeared this week, it has been a long one. I hope to be back with more posts next week. Happy weekend friends.

week's end: summer in september

Well, it seems that summer has finally arrived to our little mountain home, just as autumn equinox is around  the corner. We have been enjoying the sunny warm days, and bringing out the summer pjs and the skirts and shorts from the backs of the drawers. We've been:

:: reaping the first fruits of homeschooling this week as we spend time at the beautiful and empty beach during school hours. And we covered some curriculum too- discussing and observing water birds: science. Making elaborate sand sculptures: art. Spending hours chasing an inner tube down a hill and launching a stomp rocket: physical education.

:: finding our garden so interesting with all the strange weather we've been having. We are harvesting many early summer crops like spinach and peas and raspberries, and then some autumn ones too, like potatoes and apples. It is odd to be harvesting raspberries in mid september, but we are enjoying them ever so much. Freezing lots and eating lots. 

:: amazed at how much my boys are eating these days. They are constantly hungry and putting away amazing amounts of food. It is nice to have an appreciative audience for my cooking!

:: watering the garden - for the second time all year. The kids love the sprinkler. Also loving that the flowers are all bursting into bloom at the same time. There might be a wild jungle of weeds out there, but the flowers make it a beautiful wild jungle!

:: excited by all the babies being born around me, or who are due soon. Feeling the urge to knit tiny things and to cook extra quantities of meals so I can have something to offer new mama friends. 

:: feeling pleased at the end of the first week of homeschooling, with the new rhythm and the feel of the days. Trying ever so hard to work against my disorganized nature and keep things in order. It is hard work, but it feels really good.

and I am planning on getting a full night's sleep tonight, I hope the kiddos are planning the same. Goodnight friends!

friday photo

The weather has been warm and we are outside all we can, weeding, harvesting, playing at the beach, knitting. Soaking up all the sun we can before the leaves begin to fall.

learning at home

It is a little funny how much I have been thinking about homeschooling lately. After all, we are starting with Kindergarten- a year that is about play more than anything, and a grade that is not even mandatory. As well, I happen to hold the belief that kindergarten is too young for academics, and am using a curriculum that also believes that waiting until the child is at least 6 until reading and writing is wisest. Because of this we so we will not be doing any direct instruction of letters or numbers this year or other things regularly thought of as "schooling." Really, our days will change very little from how they looked before we were officially homeschooling- we will read books, sing songs, play games, bake, do crafts, spend lots of time outside. But somehow this year feels like a big one. Everywhere we go people say to Ari, "Oh, you must be starting school this year!" and all of a sudden we have to declare a new status, or rather he does, as he is more than happy to do so- "Ya!" he says "I'm a homeschooler!"

So there it is. He is a homeschooler. We are homeschoolers. It has been a bit of a journey to get here, to the place where we knew this was right for our family. I have been interested in alternative education for a long time, and knew, while I was in university  working on my undergrad and then my teachers certificate, that I would not be teaching in the public system. But I always imagined I would be a teacher at an alternative school. I thought I would be part of starting one in our little town. And when I had kids, I thought, they would be part of this little school we would start. But somehow I have a school aged kid and there is no little school. Not yet anyway. Maybe someday. But starting a school is no small feat, and it isn't something I could take on alone. And when it comes right down to it, I don't want to send my kids off anywhere just yet, even the perfect little school.

I enjoy my time with my children immensely, and I see them thriving at home. They are learning so much every day and I feel blessed to witness it and be part of it here at home. I don't think it is going to be easy, I hardly have the kind of kids who are going to sit politely with their hands folded on their desks, waiting for instruction (do those kids of kids actually exist?) I know there will be struggles and conflict at times. But we will be working things through together, figuring it out together, growing and learning together.

And it wont be just us either. It takes a village to educate a child, right? There will be friends and family and neighbours and community members. There will be other kids, lots of them- homeschoolers and schoolers, to play with and learn from. There will be communities found in sports or music or other chosen activities. There will be communities for me the homeschooling mom to be part of- other mamas and papas to talk with and share ideas together. There are the Enki discussion groups I belong to, and the people I value in my life to give good advice and steer me back in the right direction if I veer off course. We have a good team I think.

And then there is this child. This first-born, this beautiful free spirit who I will be learning beside. This boy who is so full of wonder and exuberance and delight in the world that watching him learn is a blessing. Though I will be guiding him on this path, we will be walking it side-by-side, me providing the compass, he pointing out all the beauty and splendor along the way.

It is good, I think- this choice we made. It is just the right one for us right now. Someday there likely will be other choices to be made, but for now we will be doing our learning at home, right where we all love to be.

love and all

a bunch of random photos from the past while, and some things I've been loving :

:: the creativity of my kiddos, how their days are spent building, singing, drawing, painting, inventing, creating, dreaming. It is such a joy to witness.

:: our garden. Though I had such high hopes and we are not getting all the food I had hoped for, still, we can go out and gather the ingredients for a meal, and oh, it tastes so good! And my kids can spear a cooked carrot on their plate and say "I picked this one!"

:: Knitting. Oh how I love it. I regularly proclaim it to my family- "I love knitting!" or "knitting makes me happy!" they hardly even notice anymore. I am working on a seamless stripey sweater for Dorian's birthday and having so much fun.

:: the wheat-less, dairy-free, egg-free, naturally sweetened, purple-iced (with natural food dye,) carob cupcake I made my boy for a birthday we attended. They were actually good and he didn't complain at all about having one that looked a little different. He did wish he could have had some smarties though, poor chap.

:: the full jars starting to gather on the pantry shelves. Pickles, jam, peaches, apricots, tomatoes. Apple sauce is next on the list. The boys want me to make a lot. Like 328 jars or so.

::  my dear friends. Feeling so blessed with the kindred spirits that I have the incredible good fortune to know and share this crazy life with. I'm just so lucky.

:: how my boys call each other "friend" when they are playing. I'm not sure where this has come from, but I smile to myself all day long listening to them talk to each other- "come on friend, let's built a road." or "friend lion? are you hungry?" Of course the friends don't always get along, but that is to be expected I suppose.

:: also loving the knock knock jokes they are telling. Usually something like- "knock? Hey- I said knock- you say who's there." "who's there" "orange orange" "orange orange who?" "orange orange banana!" and they kill themselves laughing. There is also a version with a snowman smelling carrots that they think is very funny.

:: that I am not sending my 5 year-old off to school tomorrow. I really can't imagine being without him 5 full days a week, or him being ready for such a thing. Tomorrow we will sleep in if we like, and have a slow morning together and a day full of playing and making and stories and songs. Oh, this really is just right for us.

:: that the house is quiet and relatively clean and I have a few minutes to pick that knitting back up before hitting the bed myself. Goodnight friends.

weeks end: blue lake

This last weekend before school begins- both for us new-to-homeschoolers and for Perry heading back to the classroom- we crammed in lots of good fun. This canoe and cookout adventure with dear friends was just grand. There was also garlic harvesting for our CSA co-op hours, the farmers market, a little friend's birthday party and board games and books and knitting and other goodness. I've been trying to get things in order to feel ready for the homeschool adventure. One more day till we begin!

friday photo

Perry made a big chalkboard to hang in the space between our kitchen and living room. I am hoping this is going to help us keep track of things a bit better around here. The kids are keen for the giant art space.

radio days

When Perry and Ari are off doing this (And Ari is sounding ever so cute as a DJ!)

Dori and I are at home, listening and dancing to big brother's music. Ari and Perry have some time together after their show too and Dorian and I spend the afternoon together.There is always some a treat involved (usually something involving chocolate, and other things his big brother is allergic to which he doesn't get to have at other times!) He usually starts playing by himself the minute the car leaves the driveway. He immediately sinks into creative play that has a very different feel than the kind of play he and Ari have together. His little people (or buttons, or pieces of toast, or whatever he has handy,) talk to each other and go on adventures and say the most adorable things in his little voice. This week we got to painting together and I took about a million pictures of him up in the craft table.

Oh those little hands- those little feet! It is all I can do to keep myself from nibbling them.

He kept on drawing and painting, working on an entire series of grasshopper art works and I took my knitting to the couch and basked in the peace of knitting and watching my happy boy play.

Then we headed out to the garden to collect some food for supper. He likes to race me. "I'll win you!" he says. And he always does.

We cooked together and snuggled and snuggled and snuggled. Such a treat to have a little one-on-one time with my littlest boy. He is such an incredible little guy and at this perfect age where he is still so little- still a baby in some ways (though he would deny that with great fervor!) but so full of big ideas and stories and adorable expressions. He is pure sweetness this little one, and I feel so blessed to have him in my life. And blessed to have him just to myself now and then!