So busy

Things have been so busy around here since we got back, its like i have to do everything now that i missed last week. Thankfully my brother has come to stay for a few weeks to help me get some stuff done.The day we got back one of our Americauna chickens started laying so its been so nice to go into the hen house and find a little blue/green egg with the lovely brown ones.
I started a batch of sour cherry wine this week. I got the recipe from my mom and its the first time i'm trying it. So far it smells really good; kind of like cherry pie and yeasty bread. Its bubbling away now and hopeful it will work. If it dose i'll share.
I must say that the one time i feel at peace with everything that is going on here is when i'm hanging clothes on the clothesline. It must be in the evening while Liam is hanging out with Matt. Nothing seems as overwhelming and it feels like i'm getting something done. As i'm shaking out the wet clothes the fact that the counter is coved in dishes or that i'm not sure what to do with 12 cats (oh yes ginger her kittens) dose not seem to weigh on me so much.

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.

Picking up chicks

Our order of 30 duel propose meat chicks came in on June 22nd with 2 extra. They were so cute and little. I know they wouldn't stay like that for long. Right now they are about 2 weeks old, almost covered in real feathers and are running around in a pen in my laundry room. They are going to have to go outside soon as I am getting sick of the smell and bust. We are planing to slaughter them ourselves so we can learn how. We have some extra hands to help so I think we should be OK. We are going to let them grow for about 11 weeks so that brings the big day to around mid September.
We unpacked then, showed them where the water and food was and left them to grow big and fat! So far things have been going very well and we hope that continues.

My weekend

The weather was very nice over the weekend. I spent two days in a dressed that I dyed with onion skins. I loved the way muddy boots look with a frilly dress. Just thought I'd share.

I planted two hanging baskets of strawberries over the weekend and they're doing very well. They are sending out a whole handful of runners and I'm hoping to have a nice patch for next year. I also got the rest of the potatoes and the broccoli planted as well as half the green house. I know we are a bit late but I figure better that then never.

I tried a new bread recipe this week. Its No knead whole wheat bread and I have to say that I was sceptical. I love to knead bread and I thought it would not be the same but I really liked it. It makes a really nice bread with large bubbles and an almost gummy textured that dose not crumb easily. I think it would be really toasted on a grill pan with brochette or in an onion soup. I'm going to make it again next week with roasted sausages.

Picking

Un-known to us one of the fruit trees off to one side of the property is an early cherry. Matt was scything the grass around the small greenhouse and noticed that one of the trees was covered with ripe peach coloured cherries. We went out and started picking. Matt and I took turns sitting with Liam while the other picked. We sat under the tree nursing and watched the geese circle around us eating the tall grass in-between naps. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the cherries we picked. I'm think about making a pie or crisp, or maybe just freezing them all for the cold winter when a cherry tart would make me smile.Whatever I deicide to do with them I have a feeling that I'm going to get very good at pitting them. We have at least another basket worth of cherries that are not ripe yet from this tree and two more trees that look like they are going to ripen a bit later.

All my little seeds have grown up

Its now time to start moving my seedlings out to their permanent homes in the garden and small greenhouse. I had a lot of success with seeds this year to the point that there are some plants that I have to many to deal with. The only seeds that didn't sprouted were my Stevia plants. So far I have transplanted all my cherry tomato plants into hanging baskets that I plan to move into the small greenhouse with the peppers and the rest of the tomatoes. We purchased the majority of our seeds from Greta's Organic Garden and had about a 99% germination rate. I highly recommend the seeds from Greta's and I think I'm going to get more seeds from them next year.

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.