Snapshots...

A quick overnight trip to visit the redwoods and dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean... always breathtaking!

Change of scenery...

On the road...

We're on our annual trip out west to visit family...

Packing light... 3 people, 3 weeks!

The girl and I are learning how to cross-stitch... perfect airplane entertainment!

Three planes and 13 hours later... we arrived at our final destination!

Early mornings at the park... hello jet lag!

In the garden on the solstice...

The ladies...

If there was a market for chicken portraits, I'd consider changing careers...

This and that...

Totally addicted to this... why haven't I ever grown basil before?!

The first batch of rose petal liquor turned out amazing... especially poolside.

The Tofu King actually went to this camp... I heart thrift stores!

The garden... looking a bit naked without snap peas and broccoli plants.

Backpacking pillow...

It was my daughter's idea to make the Tofu King a hiking pillow for Father's Day.  So I whipped up a small pillow out of some leftover fabric (sheets) and filled it with super lightweight stuffing.  I modified the little bag the sheets originally came in (Yes... I keep everything!) so the pillow could be squished down into a super light, compact package.  It won't take up much room in his bag... and I am quite certain it will be cozier than a balled up jacket.  Plus, it is filled with a whole lot of love from home when he's out on the trail.  

Reminder...

A powerful storm came through on Thursday evening and we were left without power for 24 hours.  It happens pretty frequently where we live... and I always get a bit bent out of shape. The Tofu King, however, didn't skip a beat and cooked up dinner on his camping stove.  We put the kids to bed by candle light.  And then we sat out on our patio, sipped a cold beer, and watched the fireflies. It was quite a show.  I had forgotten how magical those little bugs are... and it shouldn't take a night without electricity to be reminded.  I was glad when the power came back on the following evening, but I'm definitely going to try to unplug more often...

Cheers!

Remember this?  Well it turned into a delicious liquor... just a hint of rose petals and lavender with a deep minty flavor.  It is good enough to sip over ice (or with a splash of club soda if you prefer).  I also thought it might make a nice Mojito-style cocktail to further enhance flavors.  I started with a basic Mojito recipe (found here) and then substituted rose petal liquor for the rum.  I'll admit that the first time I "crushed" the mint leaves, I went a little beyond bruising them to release the juices.  The resulting cocktail was filled with tiny floating bits of mint... not what I had in mind (it was drinkable... so not all was lost!).  After learning how to properly muddle the mint, I was in business!  This really worked well with the nice flavors of the liquor.  I didn't get quite enough of a rose petal flavor with this batch (next year I think I might try just rose petals and lavender?), but I'm excited to break into the other batch (coming soon!).  

In the garden...

The weather has been crazy around here... so much rain!  It hasn't gotten too hot so the broccoli and snap peas keep on cranking out goodness (which is pretty amazing).  Also, the green beans have come in like gangbusters and that is an exciting new development (exciting for us at least... we love us some green beans around here)!  I finally got the peppers and more tomatoes in the ground a week or so ago, but they have not been super happy with the constant flooding and cooler temperatures.  We shall see.  I dream of growing tomatoes, but have yet to figure out how to make that dream a reality.  I wish our guard owl had some wisdom to share.

Take it easy...

And some things are effortless... like Zinnias!!  They are like magic... the kiddos put seeds in two big pots and two months later, we have Zinnias growing up to the sky.  Everyone should grow these beauties... it is just that simple.  Whenever the rest of the garden seems too much to manage, there are always flowers that need nothing more than sunshine and a little water now and then.  They give back so much more than they take... and a bouquet of these babies can cheer just about anyone.  Hurray for Zinnias!

Tending the flock...

Like with gardening, raising chickens has some ups and downs.  Lately, we've had to be more hands-on in caring for our flock (keeping mites at bay, nursing sick chickens back to health, and general flock-maintenance).  Most of the time, raising backyard chickens is super easy, but I've spent more time in the last month in rubber gloves doing things to chickens that I never thought I'd do.  Once I got over myself, I felt like a true farm woman (at least for the day)!

The good:

• the eggs are amazing!
• most of the time they are the easiest pets in the world.
• they de-tick our yard!!
• they eat all of my garden pests and turn them into delicious eggs!
• did I mention the eggs?!
• they are cute and personable.
• they are quite entertaining.
• they don't usually require much attention... going away for the weekend is no biggie.

The bad:

• they poop everywhere and a lot!
• cleaning the coop (every few days I clean out most of the poop and about once a week I clean out the whole coop and replace the bedding).
• it is a pain when the get scaly leg mites... diatomaceous earth helps keep them at bay (and a clean coop).
• they die... we've lost two (one to an injury and one to old age or illness).  It is sad and also gross.
• when you add up all of the food, bedding, medicine, and chicken-related stuff, they can cost a bit of cash.
• then you look at that egg and think, "This one little egg cost $72!?" 

But the truth is that it isn't about the money for us, it is about having delicious, healthy, local eggs... made by super happy chickens.  And once again (like with gardening), I have come to realize that all of the work is worth it! At least that's what I keep telling myself ;)

Worth it...

This is usually the point in my gardening journey where I begin to feel overwhelmed.  Everything seems unruly and overgrown, the weeds are taking over, the pests are showing their ugly faces, and my inexperience becomes a serious problem.  And then I take a deep breath and remember to approach it all like a great big experiment.  Sometimes it seems crazy how much time and effort I exert... only to harvest a small amount of food.  Then we're sitting down to a stir-fry and my daughter tastes the broccoli and snap peas from our garden (that she helped plant and tend) and she says, "I don't like vegetables... I LOVE them!"  And instantly every single carrot or radish or tomato or snap pea is so completely worth it.

I'm actually amazed that I have a few heads of broccoli actually coming in (delicious!), but these little caterpillars are everywhere.  Twice a day, I'm picking them off my plants and feeding them to my very happy chickens (and I have to say that there is nothing more satisfying than seeing these pests devoured by my hens... I'm not sure what that says about me!).

And here is the current state of things in the rest of the unruly garden...