Hooray for Rainy Summer Tuesdays

Look at our fun rainy day project!!!! Every farm tool has its own special little place now. They love it. I think they are doing the wave, they are that excited. Speaking of excitement......WE GOT OUR FIRST MUSHROOMS OF THE SEASON!!!! YIPPPEEEEE!!

The Donna Neel Art Gallery

We completed the installation of our Donna Neel artwork this weekend. It is very exciting to see such beautiful work gracing our walls. We hear there are more original Neel paintings to be had. We're just hoping we can snag them before someone else does!!

Baby Food

Here's our most recent additions to the family. We have 26 baby bean plants now and the squash kids are mostly thriving on their little squash mountains. Our little hazelnut has made it through an entire year of being cramped in a black plastic pot, moved twice, and left unwatered an unmentionable number of times. And yet....here it is....looking as lovely as ever. The potatoes....what can I say....they're getting so big! And even starting to flower now. But the real champ of the garden seems to be the arugula. It's a veritable cornucopia of luscious peppery greenery goodness. Yum.

Weekend Fun

Our relations from down south came up to visit us this weekend. We of course did the Ferndale farmer's market once again, and saw the great Ferndale Pioneer Days Parade (well...half of it anyway). Then we ventured out to the coolest park structure ever in Lynden, stopping to taste some delicious fruit (and hazelnut) wines at Samson Estates Winery. Back at the ranch, we said hello to our horse neighbors and our people neighbors - we got to meet their chickens and their cows AND take home some TASTY eggs. We played a few games, hula-ed some hoops, read some stories, and captured each-other's flags and then it was time to send the urbanites back home to the big city. UPDATE: We also had LOADS of fun playing with our rent-a-dog, Brindzi, over the weekend. In fact, we had SO MUCH FUN, that we didn't even think of taking any pictures of all the FUN we were having. All we have is this one of Brindzi and Patches looking longingly outside. Next weekend, we'll be sure to get some better pics of the pup!

Fun with Berries

The better part of this lovely misty dewy Friday morning was spent in attack-mode. It was me vs. the blackberries. And let me tell you....it was viscious. There are a few more old apple trees to save from the twisted tangle of those thorny branches, but I think I'm done for today. On a better berry note, check out the raspberries I picked today!! Unfortunately, I cannot say they come from our little patch of heaven (yet!). They come from Together Gardens, a no spray u-pick farm out in the county. Only $1.50/lb!! Thanks to Adam & Erin for introducing us and to Patricia for growing such amazing berries (and not spraying them with icky chemicals!!) We're trying to stock up for winter. So far we have 11 quarts of raspberries (should be 16 after today's batch), 6 quarts of strawberries, and 3 pints of strawberry jam in the freezer. I guess we'll see if it's enough!

Break it Down

Paul takes a break from the farm to try out his hula-hooping skills, thanks to a recent hula hoop acquistion courtesy of the great hula-hoop maker of Bellingham, none other than our very own Aubri. You too can join in the fun! Aubri says making your own hula hoop is easy, and FUN too!!

Hooray for Hula Hooping!! :)

Farm Firsts

We had our first garden harvest today - fresh leaves of delicious arugula and nasturtium!! Out in the front yard, our dahlia and crocosmia had their first blooms of the season. In the kitchen, I made my first-ever batch of hazelnut milk. Pretty tasty, but a little tough to sift out all the hazelnut bits. :)

Chicken Condos

The project for today was completing the nest boxes for the chickens. The previous owners had built the two shelves. I put the dividing walls in to make individual nests. Hopefully the walls will also help with an unfortunate tendency of the chickens to roost on the edge of the shelfs.

Edie's Persimmon Tree

Kendal and Edie came to visit a few weeks ago before they took off for L.A. We planted this persimmon tree along with Edie's placenta. I bet that tree will make some good persimmons. Thanks Edie Em!

Paul's Projects

Thanks to Jerry's expertise with welding pieces of metal together and Paul's handiness with hinges and bolts and drills and post-hole-diggers, our garden patch now has not one, but TWO rotating compost barrels!

Hooray for smelly putrid rotting food metamorphasizing into really good dirt!

The chickens can now come and go as they please! It took a little training (especially for Morgan, Andy & Allie), but the girls are all finally using their new chicken coop access ramp! I guess transportation engineering was a useful degree for Paul after all. That and general handiness with wood, saws and hammers.

Hooray for not having to do any more chicken-wrangling!!

We love the Ferndale farmer's market!!

We rode our bikes to the library and the farmer's market today. CHECK OUT ALL THE DELICIOUSNESS!!!!! :) We made an easy version of chile rellenos tonight with some fresh corn-on-the-cob appetizer. YUM. ME.

Our flock of feathered friends :)

So I decided to finish naming our chickens yesterday. I'm copying Adam & Erin's method of naming them after "famous but obscure" women. Except my ladies aren't really that famous or obscure, but have had an impact on me in some way. Also, our Barred Rocks (the black & white ones) are a little slow, so I'm naming them after a few inspirational men instead. :)

Rosie is the leader of the pack - she was initially named by Becca - but is also named after the great Rosa Parks, who had the strength to stand up for what was right. She helps remind me that one person really can make a difference.




The other Rhode Island Reds are Toni, Jodi, Ricki & Miranda: Toni Weschler for teaching women to listen to their own bodies; Ricki Lake for producing The Business of Being Born; Jodi Picoult for writing great novels about controversial issues; and Miranda July for trying to convince non-artists that there is really no such thing. Then there's Ani, the lone Black Sex-Link (of course she was off doing her own thing, so she's not in the picture). She's named after two Ani's actually - Ani DiFranco for being a fierce individualist and incredible musician; and Ani Phyo - for bringing raw food "uncooking" to the masses.






The Barred Rocks are Morgan, Andy & Allie: Morgan Spurlock for his mind-changing media creations, Andrew Bird for being the coolest whistler, singer and violin player EVER (except for my sister of course - who introduced me to his music), and Al Gore for all the work he has done spreading the news about what we are doing to our planet!


Yay for chickens!!

Our new house!!

Now we're really going country!! 10 acres, livestock on all sides, and an eagle's nest too. It's so quiet and beautiful out here. The moon-rises are incredible. As are the sunsets. We are so lucky to have found a place so perfect for us. Now....if we only had a tractor. :)

Jasper & Patches

Here are our kitties. Jasper is no longer with us, but Patches in on her 7th life, and still has 2 more good ones left!

First Try

This is my first ever attempt at blogging. Here goes. :)