Summer Solstice Prayer to the Sun

Dear Sun, Thank you for turning all the yellow dandelions 

into white ones we can blow,

and thanks for being warmer and warmer everyday,

and I love you.

-Dorian age 3

The boy's spontaneous prayers to the sun worked wonders in calling her out yesterday, by the end of the day, after a long stretch of cold, rainy days, the sun was beaming down, warming us as we ate our celebration supper and cake in the back yard and read bedtime stories under the willow tree before bed. A glorious day.  The rain is back today, with a big booming thunderstorm, but we soaked in enough yesterday for last us for a bit.
Happy Solstice, friends!

Hi there. Sorry to disappear there for a bit. I realized that I was really needing some time away from the computer- feeling a need of some quiet reflection time after a friend passed away unexpectedly. He was such an inspiring, beautiful human, his passing is such a mix of sadness and gratitude at having known such an amazing person. I wrote this post just before we got the news, and didn't post it then, but I thought I would post it now, and hope to be back here again soon. We have been busy on the farm, I hope to record some of the gardening adventures here when I can. 

Yesterday was a sunny warm day after many days of rain. It was cool in the morning, but warmed up and we made the most of it before the storm rolled in in the afternoon. 

:: tree climbing,

:: chick snuggling,

:: nettle picking

:: cowparsnip sword practice,

::stories under the trees- this one Dorian told was about when he was a water nymph and took care of the ocean animals and had a special mask to wear so he could breathe underwater. Love this boy's stories.

:: sat still long enough to enjoy the sunshine and knit in the grass for the first time this year. It felt divine.

:: drinking fresh nettle-mint iced tea. Yum.

:: test driving the scuba gear,

Today the rain is back and we are having a quiet day, inside mostly. There is more rain in the forecast, so we'll have to start dreaming up some activities to do inside too. 

I hope you are getting some sunshine where you are, friends!

This is what it looks like around here these days:

:: busy boys working on one project or another,

::dandelions 

:: green things to plant out (these are some gooseberries that really need to get into the ground.)

::projects projects and more projects. This is two very excited little boys helping to load wood their papa has just cut with the chain saw into the farm truck. 

:: buckets of homemade organic fertilizer bubbling away- compost, comfrey and nettles.

:: a 3 year old who sometimes just needs to snuggle on mama's back for awhile (And a mama who is still sometimes too cold inside her house to take her hat off!)

:: some much needed rain,

:: rainy day projects- the boys have been loving these simple homemade books for dictating and illustrating stories.

:: biking when the sun is shining,

:: or tricycling as the case may be.

:: fish hat completed,

:: attending an amazing weekend arts festival against the pipeline- so powerful. Also farmers markets, parties, visits with friends- it just feels so busy!

I am amazed every year by how frenetic it gets around this time- I am sure this is true everywhere, but I do think it is heightened in the north where our warm months are shorter and our cold months so long. There is all the farm work and garden projects and  everyone coming out of hibernation and needing to do as much as possible out in the community while the light is long and the days are warm(ish) and we all have the energy for such things. We need that 6 months of winter to recuperate from the frenetic warmer months!

But I do love it- every bit of the busyness is made up of things that I love, and I feel blessed by the green and growing things and the freedom that the warmer months allows us, to spend so much of our time outside enjoying the beauty around us. It is a good life. 

Happy Monday friends.

I'm knitting along today, with this rainbow fish hat I am trying to finish up for an auction at an anti-pipeline arts event this weekend. It is nearly there, just the tail and fins to finish and some eyes to sew on. I had hopes to make a couple, but this is it for me. I look forward to seeing what other knitters have made, as well as all the arts, poetry and music people are contributing. 


I am reading "The Forest Lover" by Susan Vreeland right now. It is a fictionalized account of Emily Carr's life and I am enjoying it, but moving through it slowly as I am just too tired to pick it up most evenings lately. 

The kids have been in this amazing groove of playing the past while, and they played  for 3 hours straight today- off in their own world- while I worked outside pulling up sod for a new bed and picking nettles. Heaven. 


We found some great nettle patches this year, and I've been freezing and drying them and making soup. I am excited to be getting a bunch prepared for winter this year. I have been wanting to do that for ages, but never found enough or got them picked in time, so every jar put away feels like a little victory. And food preservation has a certain novelty in May that is not there so much by September when we've been drowning in food. Right now everything is new and fresh and exciting.

Goodnight friends.

We've been having some glorious weather. This is such a wonderfully busy time of year, with so many things going on and so many projects on the go, and so much we are loving doing outside. The kids have been having so much fun out and about with their grandparents, sand I've hardly had the camera out, but there are a few photos to show for our sunny beautiful busy days.

::giddy with the sunshine,

::working in the garden

::blowing bubbles for the chickens

:: terrific entertainment

:: things are greening up,

::nettles are needing to be picked right now- lots of nettle preserving planned.

::playing outside with friends,

::planning for next years homeschool year

The garden is nearly all planted now, with just some starts still to put in when I feel less nervous about the frost,) We've been planting seeds and digging a berry bed for the front of our garden, and planting out the plants I brought home from the perennial plant sale and putting up the hoop houses for the squash and beans and tending to all the little plant and animal lives we are responsible for this time of year. I am really enjoying these days and falling into bed exhausted from sun and activity. It has been great to spend some time this past week with the Enki grade one materials, getting a lay of the land for next year and starting to plan out the first couple blocks. This is very exciting for me, I can hardly wait to begin this journey with my children this autumn.

It feels like there is much more to ramble about and record here, but for now, my book is calling me from the bedroom and I am remembering some seedlings I didn't get to watering today. 

Happy Sunday, friends.