the short winter.

{rhubarb coming up}

 

...as opposed to a long one.
Which some parts of our fine country have. A long winter that is.

As February ends and March rolls in, the chances of snow pretty much disappear her in the PNW. We had 5 minutes of snowfall this winter. It melted the moment it hit the ground.
Heck, we really didn't have a winter at all.

No major storms, no cold snaps, no power outages. Strange, but nice I suppose.
I prefer to experience the seasons a little more fully though.

Last Sunday, Eric turned the soil in our raised beds. Is it really that time already?
Early Spring is upon us for sure. I can see my rhubarb bursting out of the ground. My fruit trees and berries are budding. There are flower bulbs emerging everywhere. My chickens are amping up their production. There are days when a nice wooly sweater do nicely instead of my parka.

I really should not complain. I know there are areas that are buried under snowfall for months.
We never have that here.

I am sure that an early Spring means rain. Always the rain.

Have a blessed day, Tami

weekend work.

 

 

Early Saturday, the fun task of ripping out a ton of English ivy that was threatening fences and trees.
I always have 2 very willing participants.......the same every time.
(Gage was so willing, he came out in his jammie pants, God bless him.)
The other two children ?
Tucked away somewhere Minecraft(ing), reading, listening, thinking.

Gage and Anya (and Daddy of course) you did a great job!

Have a blessed day, Tami

this & that

Okay, so I have tattoos.
4 over the span of 20 years. Eric has them too. We like them.
My newest was his 20th anniversary present to me.
Is that weird?
It doesn't seem weird to us.

I am still knee deep in geneology stuff.
Oh my goodness, is this a lot of work.
I bought 1 month of membership to Ancestry, and I am getting as much out of it as I can. I am extremely frugal, and it was hard to hand over the bucks for that. I also paid $20.00 for a copy of my great-grandmother's death certificate. I feel like it is my last hope in finding out who her parents were. I have exhausted all other (free) resources. I should be getting the certificate in the mail any day.
I have discovered that Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) is blood related. We share a  grandfather. Mark Twain's paternal grandfather (Samuel B. Clemens) is my 5 times great-grandfather.
I have relation to the Ingersoll family that came over on The Mayflower II in 1629.
Cool.
There is so much more too.
I am putting together a hardbound journal of sorts. I hand drew an ancestral fan chart that goes back 10 generations. I am also writing the individual lineages of some of the more historically notable lines.
Lots of work. But important work, for future generations.

The rain has come.
Talk to me in March when it stops. I actually missed it. Come March I will be so ready to dry out.
I picked most of the tomatoes and raspberries, everything else was done for the summer. Overall we had a great growing season.

We are deep in the fatigue of Fall sports. We actually had a night off last night. Nobody had to be anywhere. It was weird. And nice. I went to bed early.

That's about all.
I am staying home today and being cozy.

Have a blessed day, Tami

a tomato year

Oh my goodness.
The tomatoes are rolling in nonstop.
We have had precisely 2 half days of rain in the last 2 months. With the lack of rain our tomato season has been really extended . It has also been in the 70's, also good for the tomatoes for sure. The rain is supposed to start in 10 days or so. It is my goal to get most of the harvesting done before then.

I have stopped watering altogether in hopes of getting them to ripen faster. It looks like, for the first time, I might actually put up enough tomato sauce for the year. This is a great savings to my family. To avoid BPA, I had been buying organic tomato puree in glass bottles that came from Italy. Ouch. $3.29 for 24oz. Ouch. And then there's the organic tomato soup in the cartons, expensive also.

I am going the easy route. I am roughly cutting up the whole tomatoes and tossing them into an 8 quart stock pot with onion, garlic, olive oil, and seasonings. I cook that down for several hours. After it cools, I use my stick blender to puree, and run the sauce through a mesh sieve to remove the seeds.

So easy.

I will freeze most of the sauce because I have space in my freezer, and can the rest.

I also have 4 big beautiful heirloom tomatoes (Old German), and more to come.
These beauties are destined for lacto-fermented salsa. Yum.

The rest of the garden is slowing down.
I found a ripe strawberry yesterday. Weird.
The raspberries are still going strong. The pole beans were a bust. Zucchini was so-so. Rhubarb excellent. Potatoes okay.

This is a tomato year.

Have a blessed day, Tami

summer's last

 

It's just about done.
The last of the blossoms make way for the glorious colors of the leaves as they begin to turn. Soon the trees will be on fire with color.
I can't decide which I love more.
Truly. Autumn is my favorite season.

Have a blessed day, Tami

harvest

We've been picking and harvesting bit by bit each day. Most of this yumminess gets eaten right up. The tomatoes are being stockpiled for my roasted tomato sauce. I think today is the day for that.

I have frozen a lot of the berries to enjoy in the winter months. We had beautiful raspberries this season. I have an everbearing variety and am picking the second harvest, and plan on freezing those as well. We let the chickens root around in the vegetable garden sometimes, and it is hilarious to watch them jump at the raspberries.

My big, heirloom Old German tomatoes are starting to ripen. I pray it happens quickly, the rains are sure to come soon.

My volunteer tomato plants ended up being Roma's. What a wonderful surprise these vigorous plants have been. They took over and entire garden bed. I decided not to stake them, but put straw under the fruit so it wouldn't rot. I love seeing their true habit, sprawling all over the ground.

We have a small espalier apple tree that didn't bear much fruit this year. Most of our apple picking came from foraged trees in our neighborhood. And the plums, same deal. Gotta love it!

I plan on spending most of the day in the kitchen, getting a jump on baking and cooking ahead. I love days like this, it makes me feel quite productive.

Have a blessed day, Tami

catch-up

I have had a busy couple of weeks.
It is time to breathe now.

I have quite a bit of putting up to do. Such a lovely problem to have tomatoes coming out of my ears. My big heirloom Old Germans are starting to ripen. They are going to be delicious.

I have been reading for sanity A LOT lately. I just finished book 3 (Voyager) in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I really just can't put it down. These are big 1000 page books. Such a wild ride.

A few weeks ago I promised some pics of our chicken garden redo.
Here we are.

{Before- one big space}



{After}

{After}

We split the space in two, diagonally, to allow access onto the back patio, but still give the chickens maximum room. So sad.....no more chickers at my back door :~) -I really do enjoy not having chicken poo on my patio.

{Happy Girls}

{Happy Boy}

We used mostly reclaimed materials to build the fencing. I love that part.
Since these pictures were taken, I have planted some shrubs and perennials near the back fence. As they mature, it will be a great little shady place for the chickens to sit.

I have a lot of garden and harvest photos to show, so many beautiful and bountiful plants this year.

Oh, and PTL, it is finally raining this morning. We needed it. These northern parts are not used to a month without any rain.

Have a blessed day! Tami

:our week:

Wow, this has been a busy one.

We reconfigured the chicken garden.
It took all week. I am beat.

Redoing the chicken garden was a priority. We really needed to reclaim our back patio from the poo. It is now beautiful and clean, and ready for a party (and I am ready for a nap on our outdoor sofa).

I am proud to say that we spent a meager $15.00 to redo the chicken garden. We bought a wire panel for the fence and 3 post caps. All of the remaining materials and supplies were salvaged. I would really like to do a bit more planting in there, but for now they have a Rhody for shade and a little pear tree that will take awhile to mature.

I have a ton of photos to show and will do so as soon as Photoshop is back on my machine.
Oh yeah, we also had to reformat our computer this week........so no photo editing for me this week.

I have also been busy getting everything done for our big 20th anniversary party on Saturday.
We share this 20th anniversary year with my mom and step-dad, and my brother and his wife. We are having a triple-20 year party! Yay!

I will be back next week with photos of the gardens and the party.

Have a blessed Friday. Tami

{this moment}

{Anya holding our first fruits}

Joining Amanda.

slow

I am laying low the rest of the week. I am the unfortunate recipient of a little spot of skin cancer near my right eye.
All is well, and they were able to remove all of it and get me stitched up rather quickly. I have a humongous bandage nearly covering my eye and a few stitches to contend with.
All in all, quite a bother, but I am glad it is done.
So I am taking it easy for a few days, feeling a bit like someone punched me in the eye.
I will be feeling back to my old self soon.
There are a ton of raspberries to pick. Sounds like a good thing to do today. And knit, for sure.
Kane is home, and we are so glad.

Have a blessed day, Tami

chickadees

This little bird house was hung haphazardly in our plum tree, oh, about 10 years ago. Not a single bird has paid any attention to it until this year.
This year, we have baby chickadees.
As soon as the babies leave the nest, I need to take it down, repair the bottom, and put it up more securely. Hopefully they will come back again.

I really wanted a look at those babies. I stood on a ladder and held my camera up over my head in front of the house to get a photo. I managed to catch one of the babies just as it popped it's head up. I am lucky the photo is even in focus. I must have looked pretty funny taking the picture. I am sure that the mama bird was quite perturbed at me.

We do love little birds. Maybe we will put up a few more birdhouses, and in about 10 years, a mama birdie will nest in it. :~)

Have a blessed day, Tami

Midsummer garden

Our garden is finally growing! We are enjoying beautiful sunshine and perfect temperatures.
Not too warm, just lovely.
I will spend the rest of the day unpacking from our fun weekend. I have lots of wash to hang on the line. I hope to find time to look through all the photos I took at the lake. We had a great time.
Have a blessed day! Tami

just hangin' (finally!)

Seriously. Last Thursday was the first day I was able to hang my wash outside. Anya felt it was a very fine occasion to document me hanging it. She is a very good helper, and is always willing to put the clothespins on my shirt hem. This is the fastest way that I have come up with to access the pins, maybe my new apron needs to have a big ol' pocket just for hangin' laundry. :~)
The next to last picture is a view of the far end of our yard. The house and the little kids on the slip-and-slide are behind me as I take the photo. (the big kid is inside staying cool...) This corner is my favorite. This feels like my little spot, my little wannabe homesteader corner. I love it.
And now a photo of bigtime slip-and -slide fun.

Summer we are so glad that you are finally here.
Blessings, Tami

just maybe

As I sit here typing, I can see the sun starting to break through the morning clouds and make it's way through the very lush tree outside my window. Can it possibly be.....

It feels like we have been waiting so long for summer to come. The wet spring and summer that we are having will certainly have an effect on our short growing season. We will see won't we. Maybe this is the start of outrageously beautiful weather, and all of the rain has given the plants such a glorious start, that we will have the biggest harvest. A girl can dream.
Onto really good news. Rainier cherries are here. They are my favorite. We ate a big bowl of them. It was heaven.

We are heading out Friday morning for a little annual camping trip with friends. At this particular park, we camp in yurts. We love yurt camping! When we arrive, it's like having 2 hours of the work already done for you. The rest of the experience is very much traditional camping, with eating and cooking outside, outhouses, mosquitoes, big bonfires. You know, the good stuff. I can't wait.

We only have two camping trips planned this summer. I feel like there just isn't any time for more. Kane will be leaving in mid-July for a 2 week long mission trip to New Orleans. That is a really big deal and such a great opportunity. Gage starts football practice 5 nights a week during August, so we are stuck around here after that. It makes the summer break go so fast. Blink, and school will be starting. Each year seems to pass more quickly than the last.

We are truly excited to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary at the end of August. We are planning a big family and friends party in mid-August. This will be the highlight of our summer. Well, maybe not for the kids, but definitely for Eric and I. :~)

Have a blessed day, Tami