Another nice weekend

This past weekend, we took S to Grand Rapids to participate in the state competition for Michigan History Day. Regionals were last month, and those who qualified moved on to state. S and her two pals did their project on Shigeru Miyamoto, a key designer for Nintendo who was largely responsible for creating Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers. There were tons of amazing presentations there, from kids ranging from ages 9 -18. S and her pals did not win to go onto the national competition, but they seemed fine with that. They were just happy to be there, to see some pals from their school and to swim in the hotel's pool Friday night! Their school did have 4 different winners though, which was really exciting for all of them.

We came home late Saturday night after sitting through rain most of the day. Sunday morning was beautiful. We unanimously decided to skip church in favor of doing garden work and being outside. G turned over the neighbor's gifted lot and turned over the last garden patch in our yard. I planted 3 blueberry bushes and 3 red currant bushes and laid the sandstone around them to protect them from future rototiller mayhem. I planted loads of onions and pruned things. The peach tree which we planted last year is blooming lovely blossoms this year!
I kind of over did it, I think. Because I was too lazy to walk around, I jumped the chain link fence between us and the neighbor. A ridiculous thing to do when wearing Dansko clogs (they don't fit in the chain link holes) and too-big maternity shorts with a nearly 5 month pregnant belly. I didn't fall, but definitely had that: I shouldn't have done that realization.
Also didn't wear sun block, so my back, neck and chest got incredibly sunburned. My butt and thighs were crazy sore after squatting in the onion patch for over an hour. I woke up Monday morning feeling like I did 6 hours of power yoga under a heat lamp.
I also woke up Monday morning being called to a birth. It was a lovely birth with a less than 3 hour labor, total. Another beautiful child born with the sunrise.
And a midwife who winced every time she squatted to help catch the baby! :)
Either I need to start working out again or I need to plant onions every day! I don't like feeling this out of shape!

A brief note on Friday

I don't have a lot to say today. Not much has changed in the garden. The kids and I are leaving this afternoon for S to compete in the Michigan History competition in Grand Rapids (their topic is about Shigeru Miyamoto, one of Nintendo's brainiac artists!). Aside from the competition, we're most looking forward to swimming in the hotel pool! We'll be home tomorrow night, so hopefully I can get a lot of garden work done on Sunday. I have blueberry bushes and red currants to plant.

I have found a blog that I love- written by a local, home birthing mama who is an absolute sweetheart. She always has great recipes, lovely photos and wise things to say. Check it out:

Nourishing Days

Dirt Farmers

First of all, it's National Hanging Out Day. I realize it's supposed to rain for the next four days in our neck of the woods, but I encourage everyone to line dry whenever they can! Check out Project Laundry List to learn more.

It has been lovely and sunny and warm the past week. We've done a lot of garden prep work, lots of laundry on the line, and planting of the colder weather things like spinach, peas and chard. The yard still looks like we're glorified dirt farmers, but I like to document the slow progression from dirt to insane August jungle.

Yesterday, our awesome neighbor granted us use of part of his yard to garden in. We have to clear a little bit and till it, but there's a lot of extra space there. (K, we can probably gift you a small garden share, if you like what we grow. This might be the very smallest of CSAs!)
Unfortunately, our rototiller bit the dust on Thursday. We're unsure if we can fix it. Not bad tho, since we received it for free. G had to turn over the left over part of the garden with a shovel, which is hard work. I worked on making furrows between the rows with a hoe, which kicked my butt and gave me lovely calluses. Tho it does feel good to go to bed at night a little sore, tired and sun burned. :)

The mushrooms pictured above came from our mushroom growing kit. I looked one day and could see the very smallest pin heads of mushrooms beginning to grow. I didn't check for another 3 days and found enormous button mushrooms the size of the palm of my hand. Apparently, fungus can grow very quickly in our kitchen.

Also pictured above are the hops just beginning to grow crazy. They need to be tended to and soon, otherwise they'll totally take over. Last year they began growing inside the garage. G has an idea to string a rope very high up between two trees so that the hops can actually grow straight up to their full potential (which can be 30 feet or so) instead of their current set up which is to grow 12 feet or so before being directed to vine sideways on twine.

Another project in the works is finally building a fort/club house thing for the kids to stand where the forsythia bushes used to be. We've got a stack of library books about kid's forts that G and the kids are poring through. We'll be using primarily scrap wood, so it won't be nearly as fancy as some of the stuff we're looking at. S has ideas of a two story structure with a loft for sleeping. Her pathetic parents are thinking of a square wood building with two windows and a door. :)

Easter Day Clean Up

Today was a lovely warm-ish day and we were all actually home together. I popped our ham into the oven (from my local Saline bought 1/2 a hog) along with some scalloped sweet and regular potatoes then went out to the garden with the family. (We also had Brussel sprouts, broccoli salad and challah. Good stuff! Clearly, not all local. In fact, only the bread was local.)

We attacked our insane forsythia bushes and wild grape vines and removed them all. If all goes well, that space will be used for blueberry bushes and red currants. The entire yard is coming along, though looking quite sparse in all of it's dirt wonder (except for the wee patch of garlic that's beginning to grow- pictured above). It's still too cold to plant much yet. I headed out to a birth in the wee hours of Saturday morning and was shocked to realize that it was a mere 25*.

My dad who resides in Florida for 6 months of the year, always sends the kids a new Easter outfit every year. This year S received a lovely sparkly white sun dress and E received a snappy blue suit, complete with clip-on tie. Both of the kids love dressing up. Unfortunately, their tired mother couldn't get it together to take them to church this morning, so the fabulous clothes were put on anyway and worn in the garden the entire afternoon. S got smart and traded hers for something more comfortable. E however, has worn his crazy pin-striped get-up all day with his red Crocs. It's completely filthy, but it's all good. The suit really helped him be Indiana Jones today. He's been swinging on the rope swing for a good part of the day with his toy whip. Oh, and of course digging for worms.

So it's been a good day. G and I are tired from working in the sun all day, the kids are filthy and happy and full of chocolate and Easter dinner. Soon, I'll push them into the shower and put us all to bed by 8pm. I'm totally whipped and full and content.