It's About Time!

My time tonight is short (I was ready for bed 2 hours ago!) so I am mostly posting in pictures. I intend to post on a regular basis by the end of the year as my youngest gets a bit older. I hope you enjoy, and maybe get inspired too!

Our first chicks hatched naturally. Three black and three brown.

My kind of fast food. 

You are looking a almost a month's worth of meals, most of which can go into the crock pot. Prep time was about one full morning plus a little extra here and there.

My freezer door is usually more filled with chicken broth, but this is it tonight. 

Applegate products are a treat we enjoy sometimes. Wild rice and garlic are leftovers from a meal this week. I made enough to serve again as sides with two different meals.

Fermented a batch of my favorite salsa for wild salmon- blueberry, pineapple and cilantro. So far two fish haters have eaten my salmon prepared this way and liked it.

My dancing, beautiful oldest is turning four in a few short days. Happy birthday sweetie!

We were happy with my recipe creation for braised short ribs. Recipe will follow!

She just started eating solids! My little baby is our earliest and most mature baby eater. She loves her cod liver oil, egg yolks and a little banana. And she cries if I don't feed her fast enough, just like I did. 

Our middle girl. This is what happened when mom and dad tried to have a ten minute conversation: 40 eggs got cracked. A huge bowl of eggs was the result with only three eggshells in it. Oh and about five eggs met the carpet. I am glad they are used to cracking eggs with me! Otherwise... it could have been full on disaster. I am now appreciating the old saying, "Don't keep all your eggs in one basket." Because, just maybe, your little darling will easily pull it out and go to work.

Once we got rid of some extra roosters our lovely hens started laying more eggs. Let there be peace in the hen house! My favorites are from copper marans who lay the darkest eggs. We had 12 hatched in an incubator and 10 were roosters. Go figure.

The fruit of a couple hours of labor: 1/2 gallon hot salsa, 1/2 gallon mild salsa, raw whey and cream cheese, blueberry pineapple salsa, sourdough starter, two jars of sour cream and one jar of mayonaise. This is all lacto-fermenting.

I have learned a lot about adoption through this momma. All the other hens laid their eggs and left but she stayed and kept them warm, made sure the humidity was right and turned them three times a day. And so they call her mama and they all love her and feel safe with her. A happy little family.  

I have started blending a yummy concoction that varies each day- a powerhouse of nutrition. Organic berries, bananas, organic chard, plain yogurt, raw honey, raw milk, acerola powder (natural vitamin c from cherries), butter oil, nutritional yeast and coconut oil. And whatever I feel like throwing in. Today I added apples and carrots. 

Fish is one of my favorite quick meals. A friend who owns some fishing boats in Canada gave us this salmon he caught- and even some white salmon too! This meal took 20 minutes tops.

With one little cluck from momma they knew what to do... search the ground for food.

Home made raw cream cheese.

Beautiful, I know... but these rooster feet make the best stock in the world. Thank you roosters for your gift of nutrition to our family! There are three birds in this huge stock pot.

Lemonade day. Our oldest made above minimum wage in one hour selling organic lavendar lemonade sweetened with white sugar and  organic lemonade sweetened with rapadura. Check out the piggy bank she used for her transactions! So cute. And she is really good at waving.

A little front yard color.

This was my first batch of ground organic corn meal. I love grinding my own flour! 

It's so easy with the right equipment.

Oh yes, children are a gift!

She makes me smile all the time. 

She was recently the birthday girl!

They love their glasses!

They've got some cutie girl style going on for their evening walk.

And this one couldn't last.

This is the first time our baby saw the snow, and the first time our second really got to play in it.

And so they had fun.

This is the renovated little home on a beautiful two acres we considered buying earlier this year.

This is the big home on a small lot that we almost bought last month. We backed out the day we were to sign our final papers and go about getting the key. We found some more issues and decided we were done. I am so happy we are still renting! And I have no desire to look again for some time, but I learned a lot in the whole process about buying a home for one, but also trusting God, recognizing the presence of peace and following God's voice one step at a time.

And so, this is my life so far in 2012. I'm blessed.

Birthdays and Babies- Minimize Stress and Get Creative!

Anyone can create a birthday party for their little ones that they love and it doesn't have to cost much, or anything at all, if you are willing to be creative. A friend mentioned the other day how it seems almost every child these days has a character themed party. While characters have their place, and by the way their napkins, cups and plates are expensive, they don't have to be around to have an amazing, small sized bash. Following are some tips to keep get your creative juices flowing and suggestions on minimizing the stress that can accompany planning and organizing a party.


Simplicity

Small Guest List: My firstborn's birthday party was huge. It was fun, it was beautiful, but it was also tiring. We enjoyed seeing lots of friends, but on a day to celebrate her, I don't think she would have minded if anyone was there or not! Since then we have scaled way back for adult and children's birthdays. If you have lots of friends with children, invite the ones your child plays with most often, or the families with a child the same age.  It is a lot different feeling if you are running late on food preparation with 30 people waiting than having your best friend over who you know will understand and will not mind helping at all. Smaller parties can definitely cut cost and stress.

The Cake

To Bake or Buy: From experience, I would say a birthday is not the time to experiment with new cake recipes, but if you choose to bake something you have enjoyed before it will be hard to go wrong! Sometimes when time is an issue you can save yourself some stress by simply ordering a cake. Although you might be compromising on ingredients, it is only once a year, so who cares. And, you want to enjoy the process of your little one's birthday! Baking your own can definitely save money. If you are artistic even in the slightest you can also decorate it as you desire, but if it tastes good and their is love in your family, you child will have a great day no matter what it looks like.