The poppies are the scarlet beauties of the garden right now. The legion poppies have been blooming the longest, but every week a new kind is blooming, delighting us with new colors and shapes. They are so proud and bold among the grass, yet so delicate with their ruffled petals like fine silk that glows…
Tag: children
Easter
This was the first year we were able to dye eggs with all home grown dyes: turmeric, beets, red Brussels sprouts leaves, mulberries and spiderwort flowers. The natural dyes are so subtle and beautiful. They blend in beautifully with nature and are really hard to find. I woke up early to cut dewy grass and…
Birthdays
This past week was full of rushing here and there and the birthday celebrations of my oldest – now 14, and my youngest – now 6. We made homemade corn dogs (hotdogs dipped in corn bread batter and fried in home-rendered lard. There were a few presents wrapped in paper feed bags and tied with…
Sick
Everything has been taken up this week by sickness, sore throats and snot. With Ethan out of town, and my teenager off at middle school instead of homeschooling (I tried to talk him out of it), it has been a fevered blur of sipping huge steaming mugs of ginger tea, struggling through dew-soaked grass hauling…
Spiderwort Soda, A Magical Elixir
I have always been enchanted with the herb Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohioensis I think is the Latin). The thin, succulent leaves, like grass leaves, poke out at a pixie-like angle, and the luminous blue three-petaled flowers, each petal delicate like a fairy’s wing, whose color delights the eye and changes even as you stare, shifting between blue…
Disappearing Goats, or Adventures With Fencing
I’ve been trying to think of this summer of just me, the children, and the farm while Ethan is away as an Adventure. I have, as much as possible, tried to make adventures a part of my life, thinking that they will give me something to look back on when I am too old and…
Yarn Along: Roses for Rosie Crochet Shawl
This, I am so proud and pleased to say, is actually Rose’s yarn project. When she was little, she loved braiding and finger-knitting, but when we tried knitting-on-needles, she was rather bored with the whole thing, and found it difficult to manage the needles. I let the matter drop, but one day (when I was…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 