Its all a bit much.

I have had a very hard time keeping up with the farm chores of late. Liam is determined to not be put down at all and will not nap on most days. Pair that with the start of harvest and the sleep I am not getting and it all adds up to a bit to much. Tonight I'm going to go to bed quite early and tomorrow i'll try to get as much done as I can before it gets to hot and I run out of steam.

We are going away for a couple of days at the end of the week on a bit of a holiday. It will be nice to take a brake for a few days but at the same time I know it will all be waiting for me when i get back, but i'm just not going to think about it.

Anyways on a happier note I got to go on a little visit to a farm two hours away from ours last weekend. I went to Half Caper farm to check out her goats and talk about buying a pair of kids from her next spring. They were so cute; running around the barn and fields. I'm sold!

Planning for next spring gives me the time to prepare without putting the horse before the cart (or goat before the barn). As a bounce she raises geese and rabbits which was great to ask questions about.I have been trying to working on some sewing. I made this banner for my boys. There birthdays are coming up in the next month or so: Matt in August, Liam in September. I got the idea from Amanda Blake from Soulemama. I wanted to make something that would become a tradition for special days rather then just gifts or cake.
The first tomatoes are ripening this week in our garden. But these are not the tomatoes I was looking for! The tomatoes I planted are big and beautiful but very green. We have volunteer tomatoes popping up red and yellow everywhere. On the up side its like a little surprise to see what all the plants are producing and i didn't have to care for them at all (besides not pulling them out). The down side is they did smother my small carrot plants when i was not looking. Oh well, When life gives you tomatoes......make pasta sauce!

Long weekend.

We spent our long weekend Sunday working in the yard. The weather was nice for working outside: warm but not to hot and over cast. We got all the stuff on the list done and got to spend some much needed time together.
We picked all the onions out of our garden. Normally we would not pick them until much later but we had such a warm spring that they were all dieing back already. The shed that we were using to keep the meat chicks in is right beside the the onion garden so we fenced in the garden and let the chicken run around and scratch it up. This will hopefully add some nice nitrogen rich manure to the garden for next years crop. Plus they will eat all the slugs that have been at my basil.
My little guy got very muddy while his daddy and I were picking onions. He had a good old time munching on the onion greens, which did not surprise me as he has taking to eating spicy food with us curries and hot mac'n cheese.
I did a big cutting of our basil plants to keep the chickens from digging them up. I plan to pick the leafs, blanch, chop and put them in the freezer to add to our pasta sauce for the winter. I just finished the stuff from our CSA from last year, which i had turned into more of a pesto with ground nuts and garlic. I liked it but it was more work and I didn't find it any better when it came to putting it in tomato sauce, which is what we did most of the time. We were two months behind in putting in our garden this year so our garlic did not bulb. They look more like green onions that last of garlic. I have not come up with a plan of what to do with them yet but i think i will just leave them in the ground until I need some garlic and then chop them up fresh.

Eating it up

We finally had a couple of rainy days this week after a lot of sun. It was not very nice weather to work outside, but it was great in the greenhouse. I had a chance to get down on my hands and knees and take a good look at the plants. I was so surprised to find the plants much further along then I thought. At the end of my time in the greenhouse it was so nice to stand back and look at how nice everything looked after it had been weeded and pruned.
One of my 3 eggplant plants has a baby eggplant growing on it and the other 2 have flowers so hopeful I will be making eggplant parm soon. Its hard to tell from the photo but the fruits almost the size of my thumb.
I had to do a double take when I first saw this cucumber. Its the first one I'v ever grown and the first thing to come from the gardens here at the farm because we are a bit behind this year. I don't know how it got so big so fast. All the other cuc's are itsy bitsy, but this one was a monster. I'm growing them to make pickles mostly so I don't want them to get much bigger then this one did.
Liam and I enjoyed the cucumber for lunch the next day. I had it on toast with yogurt spread and him straight up. I think he enjoyed his first home grown food. I know I enjoyed watching him eat it and I can say it didn't tasted to bad either.

Holiday

We went on a nice little holiday to my parents house last week. They live about 7 hours north of us, and it was my first solo trip with Liam. The two of us went up a few days earlier with the car and then Matthew follow us up after he got off of work on his motorcycle. It was so nice to visit the place that was my home until just a few years ago. We haven't made the trip since Christmas last year when Liam was only a wee baby and napped the whole trip.My boys had a wonderful time in the hammock one afternoon. I believe we will soon have one in our yard if they have anything to do with it. I am going to have to start hunting for one at the thrift stores.
Liam, I and ante Emma went on a nice walk one of our first evenings we were there. I picked a bunch of daises and made a little flower crown for my little prince. It was a beautiful day, almost just like fall, which is one of my favourite times of year.
It was great to spend time with family and for them to see Liam who was been growing so fast.

New summer clothes

I made Liam some new clothes this week. I found the cloth in a remnant bin a couple weeks ago. The shirt is call The 90 minute shirt and the pattern for the shorts is the same that I used here, but shorter. I have to work on the pattern a bit because I found it a little tight in the arm pits and wide in the neck but it worked out well for a first try.

Its been a big couple of weeks for Liam. He is sitting up very well now, pulling himself up and standing every chance he gets and he just cut his first tooth! Its so much fun to see how excited he gets moving around but I must admit I'm having a hard time keeping up with him. He is into everything: dumping the cat food, climbing into the broiler in the stove, trying to eat the stereo. My baby-proofing is going to be tested under fire.

Rolling and shaking

Our little Liam has been on the move this week. Not only can he now roll from his tummy to his back but vise versa and is almost sitting up for a minute before falling over. I fear it will not be long before he is crawling away, so this is the perfect time for us to start baby proofing the house. We as parents realize that "no" must be said sometimes, but we are not interested in chasing Liam around the house the whole day ripping things out of his hands. My plan is to move things we do not want him to touch or are unsafe up out of reach and to move his toys to floor level. Turning our house into a happy baby zone is going to take some time (a lot of our electric plugs don't even have face plates let alone baby covers) and we don't have much time but in the long run i think it will make everyone a whole lot calmer.

A kitty for Liam

There is a new cat at the farm. We found him in the barn about a week ago and have since invited him into the house on a part time basis. We have named him Mr. Blue and we think he is about 3-4 months old as he still loves to play and has not quite grown into his paws yet. He spent the day yesterday sleeping at Liam's feet and begging for bacon. I think he will be a wonderful addition to our family.

7 Chickens
5 Cats
3 Humans

Un-toy of the week

This weeks UN-toy is an empty wipes container! Liam's has spent a good amount of time playing with this white container while on the floor. I think its funny how they make all kinds of baby toys and he would be just as happy playing with whatever he can find on the floor. Thinking back to my childhood i do remember playing with very simple things the most, i turned my blocks and a set of bongos into everything from doll furnished to stilts. I love that he is so curious and hope that i can help him hold onto that as long as possible.

To bed or not to bed

After getting up to help get Matt off to work this mornings daily choice to go back to bed with Liam or stay up and get packing done was a hard one. Its too tempting to crawl back into back for early morning cuddles, even though i know i have a lot of packing to do and the time when both of my hands are free is limited. Going back to bed inevitably leads to Liam waking, but that only means we can nurse and read together, which is hardly a drawback. I feel like its time missed; he's growing so fast and i want to saver every last minute with him. On this morning i will do laundry and sweep the kitchen while he sleeps, two jobs he less then enjoys being hauled around for. I'll wait to hear the faint stirrings on the baby monitor so i can rush in and claim my sticky baby kisses.

New clothes for Liam

I just finished some new clothes for Liam this week: a cute crocheted gray wool vest with wooden buttons and cotton lined green wool pants to keep him warm and dry this winter. They look so nice on him. I found the Pattern for the pants Here .
I had to add some extra space around the hips to make room for his cloth diaper but besides that is a really good pattern and I'm going to use it again.
I couldn't find a pattern to make the vest so i had to just guessed but i think it turned out wonderful. I'm planing to felt it sometime this week because its a little big and i think it would look nice.

Holidays

We went to see my parents on their little farm for a few days before Christmas. It was great to see them and be in the country. It was also nice for Liam to spend some time with his grandparents and great grandparents. My mom roasted a Turkey breast with beacon and veggies, and for dessert: maple shortbread. It was so amazing! I could not believe how big her birds are, her last turkey was over 35 lbs. We came back Christmas eve and enjoyed waking up together for Liam's first Christmas. He seems to really like his Waldorf-like doll i made him, he was hugging it for some time.


Reading right now:
Farm City:The Education of an Urban Farmer, by Novella Carpenter

Starting off

I, Sophie, my husband Matthew and our 3 month old son Liam want a farm. We want to sell our house, buy 10 acres and grow lots of yummy food on it. Until then we are going to make the most of the small city backyard we have. I was raised on a hobby farm and have always loved to cook fresh food. My husband is new to the idea of growing things but is really coming around to the idea. At the moment we have 4 laying hens, 2 cats, 4 gardens, 3 fruit trees and berry patches. This blog is to document are work towards homesteading, cooking good food and raising Liam.