Knitting along again today. Getting a start on the fish hat. It is a funny pattern- this will be the fish's mouth which will fit over the head- there will be fins and a tail and eyeballs and all! I am reading Last Child in the Woods right now in between gardening books and books about pig raising. I think I need something lighter soon. Anyone have any good novel recommendations? I am finding it hard to find books to read that fit my parameters- I want something that has depth but I can't deal with things that are dark or disturbing these days- I need life affirming and inspiring- any ideas?

My wool order arrived and there is lots to get started on. Ari's sweater is most pressing- his birthday is just a few weeks away and I am realizing it is probably not humanly possible to start and finish a sweater by then. I'll get a start on it and see what I can do and be sure to get it done while there is still a spring chill in the air that calls for woolly sweaters. 

And finally some pictures of my love in his finished sweater. I do find the neck a bit funny on this pattern, it is the same one I used for Dorian's sweater - the EZ seamless raglan, and if I ever knit it again I will need to learn how to adjust the pattern to make the neck less wide. But all said- it fits and he seems to be pleased with it and I am glad to have finally got over my fear of full sized sweater knitting. That will make Ari's sweater a breeze and it will just fly off the needles, right?

Happy Wednesday friends!

It was a full, busy exciting weekend, full of egg hunts and projects and spring celebrations with friends and family.

But most exciting of all was the farm trip to collect our new...

Piggies!

They are so much fun and we are enjoying having them with us so much. We are spending a lot of time just watching them- who needs TV when you have piglets to entertain you? 

We were not expecting to have to take them so early, but it has all worked out. And it turns out they love boiled eggs more than anything in the world, so easter is a good time to have them arrive! They have already learned to come running to us when we come close, hoping for a egg snack, which may just come in handy when we need to move them. And Ari is so excited to bring them their egg treats every day. "Now we are real farmers, mama," he says with glee.
I hope you all had weekends full of adventures!

A busy time inside and out this week. We've been bowling,

baking,

crafting,

building,

setting up the pig pen- this time in the livingroom,

(There are classes for new pig owners being offered by farmer Ari in the upstairs bedroom if anyone is interested. He has a lot of knowledge to share.)
-and a lot else that didn't get photographed- biking and visiting with friends and tree pruning and snow shoveling and mud stomping and book reading and soaking up the spring sunshine. We have a busy long weekend ahead too- have a great one, friends! 

We've been working of a few things this week- I am still awaiting my wool order and so am puttering away on little baby knits- they are so fun and satisfying.

The boys worked on several projects, they painted butterflies and then the painting scraps were turned into egg shapes. Ari spent a lot of time cutting and decorating and hole punching these eggs which he wants the string as a garland. He has been decorating each one carefully.

And I have been gathering up wool from my stash to make fish hats with some other local knitters for an anti-pipeline event. I am excited about this project as it is something I can putter on at home and enjoy the process- unlike the other anti-pipeline activity I am taking part in- making an oral statement to the joint review panel- which just thinking of  makes me get jittery and feel nauseous. So I will just focus on this nice safe pile of wool to calm myself down. Deep breath. Phew- that's better. 
And the sun is shining and we are heading out the door to play in it. Happy Wednesday friends!

 Just a few snapshots to show for our weekend on the homestead- it was spent discussing and planning and working out ideas, gathering supplies and getting going on a few projects. We are really excited to be diving in more to our farming this year, with more crops out in the garden, a few more chicks to add to our laying flock, some new plans for the root cellar, starting more of our own seedlings, planting out earlier with some crops, and having 2 piggies (!) to dig up the two big garden sections on the property that have gone to weeds over the last couple years in order to plant a larger garden and berry patch next year. We'll see how it all goes, but it is all feeling quite exciting right now. 

We whitewashed a back out-building that has formally held turkeys, to house our piggies for the time being while the gardens melt off and it warms up enough to have them pastured there. This is all very new to us, we feel pretty inexperienced, but we are reading a ton and asking lots of questions of local farmers who are being very generous with their thoughts and advice. We'll start with these pigs and see where things lead. The boys are petitioning hard for bunnies (and a bunny tractor) as well as goats, ducks, sheep, horses, donkeys and anything else that strikes their fancy. My mom has been giggling about her daughter the former ardent vegan becoming a pig farmer. ahem. You never know where life will lead or what path might feel right to walk down, do you?

I hope your weekends were full of good projects and happy surprises, friends.

Our seeds arrived this week with much excitement. We are all dreaming about the gardens we will grow.

The boys were especially pleased to find the flowers they had chosen. Sunflowers for Dorian-

and "dragon snaps" for Ari.

We have been heralding the signs of spring:  "bird parties" at the feeder, some patches of grass peeking out from the snow,  a bluebird, a few robins, and pussy willows!

I finally pulled out the wet-on-wet painting supplies. The boys really enjoyed it and painted quietly and with great focus. I told the Enki painting story "Brushtail" the week before- a magical story about a bird who brings colour to the world, and it has a verse in it that can gently remind about rinsing the paintbrush in between colours. This worked well to keep it from feeling to "rule-ish." 

The boys rediscovered this pop-up tree house book their grandparents sent awhile back. It came with bug characters, but this time it was populated with gnomes. This game went on for several days.

The joys of a basket of new chalk, 

And Ari lost another tooth! And the other front one is nearly out. He's growing and changing so fast these days!

He is such a bird lover and rescued this chickadee who must have hit a window. He cared for it so carefully and then Perry helped him set it up on the feeder and it flew off a little while later. He is certain that it is the one chickadee that stays at the feeder when the others fly away because it remembers him- which must be true! He was also thrilled to hear the first red-winged blackbird today. These have been his very favorite birds since he was just tiny and he lead me out to the back willow very quietly to show me where they were, so glad to be welcoming them back home.  

We are all so excited for these signs of spring. We have several farm projects planned for the weekend, a trip to the garden store, some hoop houses to build over those cleared beds and readying an area for two little baby farm additions next week (hint: they are going to be our rototillers in the old neglected gardens and have curly tails!) 
I hope your weekend is full of excitement too, friends! 

I've decided to join Ginny's yarn along for the first time with the shawl that is coming together more quickly than I expected. It should be done fairly soon, and I will be appreciating the warmth through the spring and for summer evenings too, I'd imagine. I've never actually worn a shawl, but I've been wanting to make one for awhile. If I like wearing it I may make myself a lighter weight one as well- but only after I manage to tackle the cardigan project.


I don't have much else on the go- I am awaiting a yarn order for a few projects to get started. Ari has requested a sweater for his birthday like the one I made Dorian for his birthday, only with gray and red stripes, and I am only happy to oblige. And just the suggestion of his brother wanting a sweater like his had made Dori suddenly interested in wearing his sweater, making me cheer inwardly with delight. Outward cheering could throw his interest right out the window- he is three after all!


I have no great literature to share, I am still devouring stacks of gardening and homesteading books. I bought the Backyard Homestead book for Perry for his birthday and have been flipping through it, but am a little disappointed in how basic it is. There is little here that is new to us and I am still seeking the perfect homesteading bible- any suggestions? Ari and I are reading Little House in the Big Woods together (I am reading ahead on my own to be ready for any scary parts or editing that might be necessary,) and enjoying it a lot. This is a big parenting moment,  as these books were my absolute favorites as a child, and really made a big impact on me- I think I called my parents Ma and Pa for a good year while I was reading them! They are their own sort of homesteading bible, really, we are learning a lot as we go. If we ever need to know how to salt our own fish or make a ball from a pigs bladder, Ari and I will be ready.


Happy Wednesday friends.

I wrote briefly about Nathan's leadership bid in the last post. He did not win, but he did so very well, getting his progressive ideas out there and giving so many of us hope that politics can be done with honesty and integrity. We are glad to still have him represent us in Ottawa and I am sure that some time spent with his beautiful young family will be much needed.

It is feeling a little bit more spring-like around here these past few days. Though there are still mountains of snow, the weather has been sunny and warm and raising our spirits dramatically. It is a funny time- skiing and biking are both equally possible. And speaking of biking, Ari learned to ride a 2-wheeler this week! He just hopped on and started riding. I love this kid. He does things in his own time, when he is ready. And when he is ready, he does them so well. I don't have any pictures of the biking boy yet- there are no snow-free biking spots up here on the mountain yet, but we will head down into the valley this week with the camera to document the excitement.


I do have pictures of the millions of ferments I have bubbling up on top of the fridge. I found this great tutorial on making lacto-fermented veggies and it is so much more straightforward than what we had been doing. I am hopeful that these will turn out well as we go through pickles and sauerkraut very fast around here! 

I also have pictures of our garden excavation project. This is a sure sign of garden desperation dedication, no? It is a rather epic project, but seeing how quickly the earth starts to melt and warm up in this spring sunshine I am motivated to at least uncover a couple of the raised beds for some early spring crops. And besides, having a project to work on outside in the sunshine makes us all happy.

Knitting outside for the first time this year makes me happy too.

  

I have been meaning to post pictures of the boys room revamp for awhile now. We had been playing a rather extended game of musical beds/bedrooms for some time, and really needed to change things up (and get some sleep!). We decided to move Dorian's things into the downstairs bedroom and make him a sleeping space there in the same room as Ari, with 2 separate single beds in the little room. I knew this would be a big change for both of them (we had various versions of co-sleeping/family bed until then and both were used to sleeping with at least one adult in the bed with them) so I wanted it to feel special to them. I made them wall-pockets for the ends of their beds to hold books and PJs and any essential treasures. Perry found these lovely Chinese astrology art cards and we hung up other art that had been sitting in the closet for awhile waiting for a more permanent bedroom scenario.

They really love the space and we are all sleeping better these days. It feels quite peaceful in here. The boys tend to play out in the living room, and we've kept this room pretty sparse, so I sometimes come in here to work on a project or bring a load of laundry in to fold away from the hubub of the main living space.

And the real clincher in the boys accepting their new room was the magic lamp! Do you guys remember these? I always wanted one of these when I was a kid. The heat from the bulb makes the inner part spin and projects the images on the rice paper lamp. Ours has Japanese farm scenes on it. They are quite magical and a lovely soothing light to get dozy by. 
I'm getting dozy just thinking of it- off to bed myself- good night, friends!

photo from Northward magazine

Today we are excitedly following the NDP leadership convention where our friend and MP is running in the race to be the next leader. I am so inspired to watch Nathan shine in this race- his passionate and authentic voice and belief that we can make things better makes me hopeful. Go Nathan! (and Diana and Isaac and Elliot too!) We love you guys! 

We celebrated the Equinox yesterday, though I must admit I was feeling less inspired this year, as it feels anything but spring-like out there. Perry and the boys spent an afternoon excavating the fire pit in the backyard, making a sort of windbreak around the pit with all the snow and a set of snow stairs to lead down into it (yes, that's right, we need stairs to get down to our fire pit in March- no smirking you southern types who have been out planting your seeds in your warm dirt!) and a table carved from the snowbank to hold our dinner fixin's. We enjoyed our supper out there roasting our local lamb smokies and homemade honey marshmallows and saying goodnight to the sun who decided to peek out at us just as he hit the horizon for a little equinox greeting. But other than that, we didn't do much of anything. It doesn't feel like it is time yet to pull out the spring books or the spring nature table stuff or celebrate baby animals or green buds or such. We are celebrating the return of the light and dreaming about spring's arrival, but not actually feeling the spring just yet. 

I did remember though, that last year I promised you all a little felt egg tutorial after I spent the night before easter thinking up and sewing an alternative to the stinky plastic eggs I had planned to use.  I made this tutorial then but it seemed funny to post it after all the egg hunts were done, so I thought I'd haul it out this year for anyone who wants to make some for their own kiddos. 

You will need several colours of wool felt and some matching or contrasting embroidery floss and a pair of sharp scissors for cutting through that thick felt.

I am not technologically savvy enough to make a printable pattern to scale, so you'll need to draw yourself up a little egg shape to these dimensions on a piece of paper making sure the bottom and top pieces line up nicely, and the two top pieces are long enough to overlap a centimeter or two. Cut out your felt, one of each piece (below I've cut enough to make 2 eggs.)

Line up the bottom piece with the larger top piece and stitch the two together, leaving the top open. If you wanted to get fancy you could blanket stitch them together and finish the edges as well. In this case, you would probably want to blanket stitch the edges first before sewing the pieces together. If you are in a hurry like I was, you can leave them be.

Line up and sew the smaller top piece so that it overlaps the larger top piece, making a pocket. 

Make a bunch more in different colours. I made one per child in each colour so it was easy to make sure it was all fair and square on easter morning. Leave them somewhere the easter bunny can find them so he (she?) can fill them with a few little treats before hiding them around the house or yard.  

Happy egg hunting, friends!