Happy Pi Day!

 

 A day to celebrate with a little preschool math...

 and a delicious gluten-free cherry pie from Whole Foods.

Happy Pi Day!!!

Ready for Spring

 

You know it's been a cold winter when you've barely seen your chickens. Usually when we look out the window or are enjoying time in the back yard (the girls roam freely when we are out with them), the girls are pecking and scratching around in the area under their coop. The girls have stayed up in the coop for most of the winter. I think it's safe to speak for them that they are ready for Spring!

 

(You also know that it's a cozy winter home when other birds sneak in through a little hole in the chicken wire.)

{Gratitude} Lately

Every day I look around in amazement at all the 

beautiful, yet simple, things that I'm so thankful for.

 

Lately I've been grateful for...

a morning of starting seeds at the Food For All Community Garden

orange tulips on sale for $1.67 and a reminder that Spring will soon be here

snow cream makin'

 

the library's used book sale and a bedside table full of new reading material 

 
and although it's probably time for a new one,
for my one and only trusty oven mitt that has
helped with over a decade of home cooked meals

This Lenten Season

"It’s not at all important whether we name this particular 40 days Lent. It’s not important whether we think in terms of a church calendar. There aren’t certain specified activities that must be done. Whatever we do or don’t do and whether or not we give a name to the season, at the end of 40 days, it will be Easter, the most important day of the year for a Christian. Will it sneak up on us, or will we have prepared our hearts?" -- Noel Piper

This Lenton season, I'm looking forward to...

reading through the gospels again
reading this book
this tradition
and our traditional Passover Seder


(If you would like to see how we prepared for Easter last year, click here.)

Waiting is Hard

I asked for one thing for my birthday (Oct. 31st). I wanted to see a property that we had been watching on LandWatch. It had been for sale for a long time. We had already driven to this property once, but I wanted to walk inside the house, inside the barn, and walk the property. Bryan made my wish come true and a realtor showed us the property.

The next month we looked at the property again. We fell in love with it even more. I could imagine the boys sitting in the hayloft. I could imagine ducks waddling to the pond. I could imagine sheep grazing on the hillside, the garden, and picnics by the stream that flowed through the property. It was 17 acres of bliss in my mind.

The next month, right before Christmas, we found out that our current house wasn't worth as much as we paid for it. In order to sell it, we were going to have to write a pretty hefty check. We rearranged finances and had to do a bit more saving.

February rolled around. We had our finances in order, but the house was no longer listed. As it turns out the contract had run out with the real estate agency, but it was still for sale. So we continued with getting all of our ducks in a row. The day had come. We were going to make our offer. And then we were told the family no longer wanted to sell. And we were devastated.

It's been three weeks since that day. We've got friends and realtors looking for another property for us. But there is nothing. No properties with at least 10 acres within our price range. So all of that hurry up, hurry up, save, save, save to buy a homestead has been to wait, and all this waiting is hard.

Local Bounty: Salanova Red Lettuce

I'm not sure a head of lettuce could be more beautiful. This slow-growing variety from Sunny Point Gardens was the star of our market bounty this morning. If cut at the base of the lettuce head, nice, uniformed leaves will be ready to eat. It's just so lovely.

February {LOVES}

this scent

this special treat

this (free) magazine

this recipe

this book