St. Louis Gateway Arch

E got a close up look at the arch today, incredible!

On the Receiving End of a Video Chat

As I mentioned before E got to tag along on the last leg of her daddy's tour. Kinda awesome, right? Not too many kids get to take a week and a half off of homelife and drive from Atlanta back to Seattle in a tour van. She's loving it. I've had a harder time not having her around. I think there were 2 consecutive nights I spent away from her last year sometime, but nothing like this type of separation. Our family is equally divided down the middle; 2 away and 2 stay. Of course we have our multiple daily conversations when I have to interrogate her on teeth brushing and vitamin taking. Every once in a while my phone let's me know there is a video chat afoot; let the silly face making contest begin! Her and her N could have hour long spells doing this: 

We miss her, and cannot wait until next week when we're all back together again.

Fire Hazard

E left her lampshade askew, and this is what we found a few hours later...very good reminder.

The Bee's Knees

Gravenstein Apple

4-Way Cherry

4-Way Pear

I like the idea of keeping honeybees, but I'm not ready for the work. Some year I'll take a class, invest in a swarm, give that golden sweetness away to friends and family, blah, blah, blah. But for now I'm trying out Mason bees. They're docile, solitary, and really hard workers. I threw in a small orchard last fall and my trees are starting to bud; it's crazy exciting! I have high expectations for these little saplings and my duty is to help them and by extension me out in every way possible way; water, weed, feed...and now pollinate!

box-o-bees

La Casa

I purchased a small starter house, tubes and matchbox sized cardboard box with 10 cocoons inside (that are now patiently waiting in the back of the cheese drawer in my fridge). Apparently these things multiply like rabbits, and maybe I have a few hibernating out round the yard already, but I wanted to start out with a few mating couples now. This bee crisis seems to grow while the EPA looks the other way, my favorite pastime threatened, and the good food on my childrens' plate in jeopardy, I'd like to say I'm doing my part.

Crown Bee is a local information source check them out. Help out your garden and our food supplies!

Now, if only the weather around here would stop the massive rain showers and warm up a bit, we'd bee in business.

It's Chick Season Again

To keep up egg production we introduce 3 or so new babies each year. This year we carried 3 Speckled Sussex home. The breed are hearty foragers, and apparently remain consistent layers throughout the winter months. Though right now they are just about the cutest things you'll ever see they will all remain un-named due to the nature of their demise. They will be eaten after they're laying slows (and even sooner if we brought home a boy by mistake). We will not fool ourselves this time and literally give and call them by their flowery names; they are to do their job dutifully, they will be treated with the uppermost respect and care, but hey, when they start dipping into the red, they'll hit the pot.

E kind of laughed it off and started calling them chirppy, scratchy, and pecky and when I reminded her about not anthropomorphising these ones N jumped to their rescue;

"We won't eat the chickies, Mama." he sternly corrected me

"Well, no we won't eat them until they're grown, baby." I conceded.

"No, Mama, these are not for eating."

(oh boy)

Trades

Doesn't the world just seem perfect when you can give part of yourself and receive back an equal part from another? This last year we've become friendly with a really neat couple just down the road from us.

Last winter I watched as a sprawling grassy field was converted into a glorious garden! The couple, Mike and Melissa bought the property when it went up for sale last fall and did what I always envisioned for that space. I was always so hopeful that someone would convert the pristine sunny exposed property and use it for its potential.  It happens to be on our every-day driving route and each time we passed there was something new, something exciting! We'd slow each day while passing and exclaim about the covered rows, or drip lines. And apparently we weren't the only ones; so became Rubberneck Farms.

One day I stopped and introduced myself (Which as many of you know is not typical behavior on my part. I am pretty firmly planted in my comfort zone and reaching out is difficult for me). I let them know we were eager fellow homesteaders up the road with a flock of chickens and a small but hopeful garden. After some sincere conversation it was arranged that for 1 dozen eggs we would take home some of the most flavorful produce you could ever find. Some weeks it's a bag of purple, green and yellow beans, a few zucchini and pound of salad greens. Other days we get to take home a bunch of carrots and tomato's. And I will say that my family eats it with abandon.

This is what drives me to become more self sufficient, this is what I believe it's all about and the thing I earnestly and purposely expose my children to, so that it goes on. We must come back to a place of knowing our neighbors and feeding one another. Not just with food, but with information and empathy. We of course send our texts and e-mails to sync up our trades, but when it comes down to it; when I offer that carton of eggs and they extend their harvest it's putting us out there. We have conversations about our lives, about how our passions have gotten us here. It's what changes my mind about the direction of where our world and country are going, it's what makes my cold and skeptical heart warm a bit; I have evidence: People can be good and can take care of one another.

93 Days in Jail for Planting a Vegetable Garden

Can you belive a 3 month jail sentence is a posibility for growing your own food in your front yard in Michigan?  Read the article.

Weekend Walks in the Woods

My family really enjoys walking through our local forests. They're not strenuous hikes, but we puff up steep inclines and trot down the other side. We splash across small streams. We scratch up our bare arms and legs. We talk about the foliage and wildlife. We stop and chat up other like-minded people with their dogs. We love these walks.

Give Big - June 23

"GiveBIG is a communitywide giving challenge created by The Seattle Foundation that will increase the size of your donation to a non-profit (of your choice). This new, one–day, online charitable giving event will rally together our community on behalf of the amazing nonprofit organizations in King County." There's loads of good organizations to give to  like our zoo, Seattle Tilth, etc. Help out!

* Quote from zoo.org

The Underbelly of the Chicken World

* I try and keep this blog as PG as possible, so I will not post photo's here of events that transpired, but a word of caution...there is descriptive carnage in following post.

I awoke with a start this morning.  There was some gruesome sounding squawking going on in the coop. There I found one of our 2-month-old-babies (Daisy, the Buff Orpington) with it's head in a hole (not unlike an ostrich) breathing deeply but otherwise not moving. My heart sank, I gently lifted her to my chest and quickly saw that the feathers and skin had been pulled back from her neck. She was horrifically mauled by her own kind. The older ones have been pushing the younger ones around some, but they must have cornered her and really went for it. Things were pretty heated a few weeks ago, but I was under the impression that they had worked things out. Thankfully I have my most knowledgeable chicken friend on speed dial and frantically woke her from her sleep shortly after 7am. She confirmed that I should separate her from all others, gently clean wound, medicate with Neosporen and let her rest in the quiet garage with the heat lamp.
Daisy has been eating, drinking, pooping, and chirping so I think she'll make it, but oh, I do not want to go through that again. I will take more precautions next round of chicks, and have already altered the coop so I can manage the two flocks easier. We were all pretty shaken, but it's a bit of a reality check; they are animals, they have instinct and no amount of anthropomorphising on our part changes them.

Living Social + Red Cross

Donate now and Living Social will double your money toward the Japan Earthquake & Pacific Tsunami Fund through Red Cross.

4-H

E joined 4-H today! A new group has just formed and we're taking advantage of it! E will be working on showing poultry. It was a crack up to see all these city-farm girlies with their hens and rabbits today. We all me at the leaders home in the Wallingford District, received instructions on how to show chickens, what judges will look for, and what judging is like. It was so fun!

Here is E with our Blue Laced Wyandotte, Petunia (iPhone pic's sorry).

Grand Canyon

We made a family trip to the Grand Canyon National Park.

It was a chilly view, with snow on the ground and a bit breezy.  I accidentally left my good camera at the hotel, so had to rely on Auntie Rochelle and my iphone...but you get the idea, we'll definitely make the trip out again, hopefully in the spring when the weather is warmer.

Miles for Midwives

Come support a very improtant part of our community!

2.8 mile Family-Friendly Fun Run/Walk

Saturday, October 9, 2010
Seward Park in South Seattle
5895 Lake Washington Boulevard South
10 am to Noon

*find their website here

Seattle Chicken Coop Tour 2010

* Hosted by Seattle Tilth

This is your chance to visit folks who are keeping chickens, as well as goats and bees, right here in the city of Seattle. On July 10, you can take a look at how people are raising urban livestock and incorporating animals into their home landscape.

In this self-guided tour through Seattle neighborhoods, you will see simple coops built in an afternoon and elaborate houses that took weeks of planning and building.

Learn from seeing what your neighbors are doing. Ask questions about building coops and shelters, daily chores and other questions you have about keeping chickens or urban livestock. This tour might be the inspiration for you to build your dream coop or begin a fun and rewarding new hobby!

Celebrate Earth Day's 40 Anniversary with a Carbon Neutral Blog

Did you even know your blog in effect gives off CO2?  "According to a study by Alexander Wissner-Gross, PhD, physicist at Harvard University and environmental activist, an average website causes about 0.02g (0,0008oz.) of carbon dioxide for each visit. Assuming an average blog gets 15,000 visits a month, it has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6kg (8lb.). This can mainly be tracked back to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers, and their cooling systems."  For every single blog that participates in this project, “Make it Green” and “Arbor Day Foundation” will plant a tree in the Plumas National Forest, which is situated in Northern California and was devastated by multiple fires in 2007.  This program originally started in Germany with a goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  They plant a tree for your blog and thereby neutralize it's carbon footprint for the next 50 years! Everyone can make a small contribution to the environment. Every tree counts!

Visit the Make it Green website and see how you can join, Arbor Day is April 30th.

* Quotes from Make it Green website
* Photo from  PLAY Green

:::::

This is the response I recieved after my request was submitted:

"Thank you so much for participating in our initiative and making your blog carbon neutral! Your tree will be planted this month by the Arbor Day Foundation. The scheduled start plant date was Monday, April 19 and the trees will be planted by a contracted crew. The roads are being plowed, all contracts solidified, and twelve shipments of 150,000 seedling each are being assembled. We thank you for the support!

There are still some trees looking for a sponsor. So if you know some people who have a blog or website, pass it on and we'll make their blogs carbon neutral too!"

Museum of Flight

Today E's school class got to visit the Museum of Flight. It was my first ever visit, which I guess is kind of strange since I grew up in this Boeing-infested area. It was fascinating and very overwhelming. I'd like to revisit with more time to read all the info. E spotted her dream come true; a flying car. She laments each time we're stuck in a traffic jam (and who doesn't?) that these are not a prevalent commodity.


*Forgot to grab my camera on the way out, so all these are via my phone...

Happy Girls' Day

Today is the Japanese Girls' Day (3rd day of the 3rd month). E's class celebrated it and will celebrate Boy's Day this May (5th day of the 5th month).