Despite our years of neglect, the orchard seems to be having a good year so far. The early blueberries are just beginning to turn purplish. No one can wait until they are properly blue. The girls go through every day and pick every one that even thinks about turning color, and offer up a handful…
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The past few weeks have been an absolute crush of work – the garden must be finished, and the KonMari-inspired, once-in-a-lifetime spring clean is nowhere near complete. And we are still homeschooling for several more weeks. Every day there is just so much to do. The weather has been beautiful, which has made…
The Snapping Turtle
On Saturday we went to the BugFest put on by the UF Entomology department. They had cockroach races, an arthropod petting zoo, beautiful specimens displayed, all kinds of food made with bugs to taste. We had a good time, but the best thing was the huge snapping turtle we found in the parking…
Spring Cleaning
I thought I might report back about the epic spring cleaning, continuing along with the KonMari method. It’s going well, but I was so tired yesterday, I had to take a break. I started out this week going through all my clothes. The way the KonMari method of tidying works is that you go through…
Surrounded by Stuff
I’m sitting here, surrounded by stuff. Stuff I don’t like, don’t need, and don’t want, mixed up with stuff I do like, need or want. I have to go through and decide. Last week I finally got a copy of The Live-changing Magic of Tidying up: The Japanese Art of De-cluttering and Organizing from the…
Oxtail Soup
Everything went well on Friday – and yes, I do have a pot of oxtail soup on my stove right now! I made some changes to my usual recipe and used soaked cassava instead of potatoes, pumpkin instead of carrots, and Shungiku (an edible chrysanthemum) and cutting celery instead of celery. It made me happy…
The Baby On The Wall
On Monday Ethan was off of work, and we met some friends at the park. They brought along an out-of-town sister-in-law with two children, and we had a mass of children running all over the park, along with what seemed to be two bus loads of disaffected high schoolers, for reasons not entirely clear, as…
Planting Potatoes And Sharing Beans
This morning my great uncle called. Years ago he had passed along a bag of long beans that he had grown. He originally got the seeds from my great-grandfather, and has been growing them ever since. He was calling because his basement was repainted last fall, and in the muddle of re-painting, his collection of…
First Attempt At Bacon
Inspired by the River Cottage Curing and Smoking Handbook, Ethan cured some bacon last week. It’s good, but not quite what we expected – it’s a little heavy on the juniper berries and bay leaf. Not bad at all, but I guess we’re used to Southern-style bacon. We’re going to try it again with…
Quiet Day
It’s raining this morning, so we will probably have a quiet day today. Some out-of-town friends are going to be visiting this afternoon. Yesterday we went to look at a new buck. He was beautiful, and I think we will buy him. He’s already grown-up and knows what to do, which is kind of what…
Signs and Portents
This is gruesome…but an interesting story. Ethan had dropped me and the girls off at the gate on the way in to the farm, because they like to walk along and look at Star’s piglets. They were lingering, loitering, moving very slowly, and I had a lot I wanted to get done, so I ran…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 