Category Archives: Kids

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Happy Autumn!!! and other things…..

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Today is the Autumn Equinox!

We are all very excited for fall here at Merry Magpie.  Too bad it’s 95 degrees outside today!

Our school lessons today revolved around learning about the various harvest and equinox celebrations around the world and throughout history followed by crafts.  All three girls knew that papier mache was on the agenda and they could barely contain themselves to sit through the lessons first.

Martha Stewart came through in a big way for us today.  I have, like many of you, a love/hate relationship with the eminent Ms. Stewart.  I won’t get into that right now except to say that all of the ideas I took from her books and magazines today went off without a hitch, beginning with the aforementioned papier mache.

We glued black and orange crepe paper onto balloons and hung them to dry.  Once they are done, we can pop the balloons inside them and they will hold their shapes.  The black ones are destined to become cat faces with open mouths to hold candy.  The orange will become a pumpkin.

It was extremely messy,but remarkably easy.

Next we assembled crowns of leaves made from rubber stamps, black tempera paint and colored construction paper.

Oona hasn’t taken hers off.

After our school day ended we celebrated by watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and eating Ghost Toast with Boo-nilla milk.

When you get right down to it, none of us will be the least bit sorry to bid summer 2010 adieu.  It’s been brutally hot and dry this year.  The only sadness is closing the pool for the year and saying goodbye to fresh summer food.

Luckily, I really enjoy cold weather foods as well.

Fresh pumpernickel anyone?  Or how about the delectable Pirate Peaches I made the other night?  Next year I will be certain to make at least 100 jars of it once peaches are in season again.

We mustn’t leave out Martha’s puff pastry pumpkins I tried out as well.  I didn’t have a pumpkin cookie cutter (go figure) so I had to use an acorn shape.  They are filled with gruyere and dijon.  So good!!!

Emily especially liked these.

The coming of autumn means the animals should be more comfortable, as well.  They’re definitely more playful when it’s cooler.

You can see Milkshakes is getting a bit shaggy.  She’s part Cashmere – I don’t know what else she might be, and for all I know she could be ALL Cashmere.  Either way I am going to try and comb her and see if I can get some of that shagginess taken care of.  She is beginning to put on some weight as well, which will help if we breed her.

Jerry’s wool is growing in very nice as well.  I am going to try and do a better job of shearing him in the spring so I can spin the fleece.   Or at least sell it to someone else who’ll want to spin it. I have more than enough knitting and yarn projects to keep me going through the next millenium. And really I do need the cooler weather for those.  Sitting with a huge pile of wool in your lap is not the most comfortable summer activity.

At least it looks like fall out there.

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Clams and Mussels, Oh My!

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You can’t say my kids aren’t adventurous.  Neve upped the ante this past weekend by attempting to expand her culinary experience.

My aunt Leisa was in town so we all headed over to my parents’ for raw clams and steamed mussels (and pizza for the kids) .

Emily declared herself unable to eat something that was rather alive at the time of purchase (she’s a vegetarian but will eat fish…..as long as it comes frozen in a box).  Neve was fascinated by the shells and the whole process of cleaning them.  As the adults started scarfing them down (with a dollop of dad’s fabulous cocktail sauce) we could all tell Neve was trying to summon up the courage to try one.

She liked the sauce and really wanted to see what raw clam tasted like, but she was also a bit nervous about the whole thing.

So we did what any other good family would do.

We bribed her.  A bag of M&M’s would head her way if she’d try a clam.

It took her all her courage and quite a few starts and stops…….

She did it!

She got it part way down her throat and then…..

Back it came.

At least she tried.

The amazing thing is, we got her to try a steamed mussel a little while later.

It came back, too.

Maybe when she’s older.

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A House Peeg

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Y’all, brace yourselves.  My friend Susan got a pig peeg.  An adorable, plump, tiny little oinking bundle of cuddly cuteness that I think just killed me.

I took the girls in to meet him the day we picked up Paddy the duck.

He’s a mini pot – bellied peeg.  He’ll get to be about 30 compact pounds.  He’s litter trained.  LITTER TRAINED!!!!

Susie named him Charley.  My kids loooooooooove him.  They keep asking every day to go over to see him.  You know what this means.

I need my own house peeg.

Incidentally…..anyone who hasn’t been over to Susie’s site to see the cuteness that is Charley should check out her video of him.  Just make sure you’re careful – this kind of cuteness kills.

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School Days

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We’ve had a busy week! A mommy- daughter book club meeting Monday afternoon followed by our first day of school (at home!) on Tuesday and my birthday yesterday.

For our book club we were supposed to read Ann of Green Gables. Despite the fact that we had most of the summer (we skipped a meeting in July) we never got around to it.  I blame too much summer fun and pool time.  Instead the girls and I stayed up Saturday night and watched the movie.  It’s always been one of my favorites so I was very happy to finally share it with them.  They’re even asking for me to get the sequel!!!

On Tuesday we finally started home school!  I have been anxious about this all summer so I was ready to jump in and see how it was going to go.  You know what??  WHY on earth did we not do this sooner?  It’s been great.  I know it’s only been two days, but.  The girls are excited about their lessons (we’ll see how long that lasts!), the text books are set up so incredibly well that even I can teach math – and understand it!!!!  Oona tends to float in and out of our classroom space, but when she’s “in” she has been enjoying coloring and tracing shapes and playing with flashcards with me.

I am glad I chose such a well – structured curriculum; I never feel at a loss for what to do next or how to instruct, and we have a definite sense of accomplishment at the end of each lesson.  We’ve even been finishing up right around lunch time each day; sometimes later depending on how much reading I have them do.  We get to sleep in a bit later than if we had to catch a bus, and we can make after – lunch trips to the library anytime we want.  Plus Emily is home all day to help out with any animal – related issues.  I even taught her how to make pumpkin waffles on the waffle iron so she could make my birthday dinner.  Let’s hope it keeps  being great!

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Wooly Brother

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My brother and his beautiful girlfriend came to visit us this past weekend and meet all of the animals for the first time.  It seems crazy saying that, but that’s how long it’s been since I have seen him.  He lives up in Connecticut and the few times I’ve been up north we’ve missed connecting.

We had a fun visit – the kids just shy of driving us all nuts while piling on KB and Eleanor and demanding their full attention.

I made a yummy Lime Chiffon Cake for dessert Saturday night to set off the black beans and rice and homemade guacamole I made for dinner.  Now I am salivating again.

We also made lots of watermelon margaritas and fed all the leftover watermelon to the animals.  I love how the goats’ little beards get all stained red from it.

The boys are getting nice and fat and I think they are letting Milkshakes have some peace and she looks like she is finally putting some weight back on.   With luck I’ll be able to breed her to Susie’s Angora buck in the fall.  Speaking of Susie……..we donated our lovely Clem the rooster to Juniper Moon Farm.  Susan mentioned wanting a rooster and I have an over abundance of them.  Poor Clem was the low man on the totem pole so I am sure he is much happier now.

We’ll miss him, but he’s got his own harem now!

After dropping him off on Sunday we stuck around the farm a bit to see the baby goats get sheared.

Feenat got sheared, too, not long after this picture was taken.  She’s going to be bred this fall for the first time.  I can’t wait to see her babies next spring!

I love this spot at JMF.  Just lovely.

Watching the shearing.

Oona was happy to sit quietly and watch the goats as long as she was with Eleanor.

It was lovely, and now I really can’t wait for the fall shearing festival.   I was glad I finally got my brother out to see Susan’s farm, since I respect and admire her so much, and he and Eleanor got to see the kind of life I am working towards.  He is hands down the most supportive man in my life.  He’s also great with my kids. What other uncle would enjoy a nice facial with his nieces?

They had an absolute blast and were very sad to see their uncle and auntie go.  So was I!  I can’t wait for our next visit!

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September!!!!

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I am so happy to be able to say that!  This marks the first day of my favorite time of the year.  It’s when I am always at my happiest and the weather at my most favorite.  Before long we’ll see the leaves turning and the air will be crisp and there will be soup and bread and cookies going non – stop in my kitchen.  It also means Halloween is around the corner – and we looooove Halloween here.  If I can get my act together and get organized enough I may try and throw a Halloween party.

There are lots of projects going on here right now as I make my final push before home school starts next Tuesday (any my birthday on Wednesday, woohoo!).  There are dresses and shirts and sweaters started for all the girls.  I am actually even running out of fabric!  Imagine that!!!!  I’ll need to start buying more!

Among the finished projects are these:

I  made each of the girls a shirt with one of our animals on it.  Oona got Finnigan as a newborn.  Neve got one with Jasper cat and Emily’s has Big Jim the rooster.

Each girl also got a pair of these baggy black linen capris with lace trim, from the book Carefree Clothes for Girls by Junko Okawa.

I also finished another yoga suit for Oona.  I am really thinking I am going to work out a way to make this pattern for adults as well, since it looks so incredibly comfortable and flattering!

Unfortunately it has been way too hot to do much work outside.  We’ve gotten some good swim time in since there’s been no rain, but I am hoping to get some yardwork done before too long.  My raised garden beds need some weeding.  The good news is my acorn squash is doing well…….AND the arugula I planted in the spring has re-sprouted and is growing in again!  Hooray for September!

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The Farm Report

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Such as it is!

In the spring I planted three gardens: the large back one, and two raised beds out front.  I’ve had varied success.  Out back I planted three kinds of potatoes, butternut squash, and corn.  I’ve never planted potatoes before, and in my inexperience I didn’t get as good a harvest as I could have.  I now know that when you start to see them poking out a bit from under the dirt you should put more dirt on top of them, unless you are ready to harvest them.  Instead I harvested them all.  Some were just fine – the red potatoes ended up mostly being the right size, but I also pulled out quite a lot of very small ones that could have given me higher yields had  I left well enough alone.   The fingerling and yukon potatoes?  Not so much.  I think I got maybe three usable yukons, and the fingerlings never produced.  I think it may have gotten way too hot way too early in the season for them.  Either way, next year I will know better.

The butternut squash was victimized by both the extreme heat (record breaking, in fact) and the fact that I had planted squash in that same location two years running, with the result that I ended up with hordes of squash beetles that wiped out my entire crop.  Next year the squash will have to go out front.

The corn did very well at first, with about 30 big green stalks looking rather majestic on the back 40, if I do say.  I got about 6 nice crispy ears off before the heat crispified them all to hell.  Even regular waterings were no match for weeks of brutal 100+ temps and full – on sun.

Out front my success was marginally better.  The arugula and black seed lettuce did spectacular.  It over – produced to the point that it went to seed, as I couldn’t keep up with it.  The snow peas flowered and then died.  In the herb garden the heat claimed my cilantro, but my tarragon, dill and rosemary look great, and the sage and thyme seem to be recovering.  I let my basil go to seed because I didn’t know any better, and trust me, I will never do that again.  I worship pesto far too much to be lacking one more summer in its goodness.

I’ve ripped out the weeded- over lettuce and arugula and have planted some late – harvest beets and acorn squash.  Hopefully they’ll work out.

The chickens continue to produce a nice cache of eggs daily, apart from Muriel who was been sitting on a lone blue egg for the past few weeks.  I allowed her to have that one, in hopes that it will hatch out as an Ameraucana hen.

Meanwhile our earlier hatchlings are frolicking the days away out in the front pen.  Or rather, around it, as they refuse to stay in.

Honestly I’d prefer to have all of my chickens free- ranging.  They don’t do as much damage, you don’t have to feed so much grain, and it’s fun watching them run around with the kids.  There’s always the danger of them running off, though, or getting eaten by a predator or roaming cat or dog.  I really need a fence.   I am impatient for a real farm where we have room for our chickens and goats and llama and sheep to roam and not be penned in.  They’re much happier and healthier that way.

Emily has named the three we think are females. They are Fran, Sylvia and CC.  The two boys will have to be given away.  We’d probably try and use them for meat, but Emily would never allow it.

The goats are doing well and today I’ll be giving everyone a dose of de-wormer.  Milkshakes and the boys get theirs orally, and it’s relatively easy.  Jerry gets his via needle.  Should be fun.  The boys continue to try and nurse from their mama, even though they are practically the same size as she is.  It’s made it tough to keep weight on her, but it’s kept them nice and fat.  Hopefully we can solve that soon and get some weight on her by fall so she can be bred again.  In the spring, bottle babies and chevre.  Hooray!!!!

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Birthday Weekend

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This weekend was bookended by two birthdays – Emily’s and my brother Caleb’s.

Emily turned 11 on Friday (and saying that just kills me) and spent the day swimming and enjoying a visit with her BFF Jasmine.  Those two were in kindergarten together and took an immediate liking to each other.  Jasmine even convinced her father and step mother to name her youngest sister Emily!

Emily & Jasmine at birthday number…..6?  7?  I can’t recall.

I am still working on Emily’s petticoat skirt – I don’t think there’s enough chiffon for it, even though I ordered the 8 yards called for in the pattern.  We’ll have to see how short I am and then I’ll be ordering more.

Emily’s always been my kindred spirit.  She’s artistic,sensitive, emotional, an animal lover, and a knitter.

Not that I haven’t had my trying times with her.  She was the only one of my children who decided that the solid matter in her diaper made a great paint for her crib and the walls.  She’s also the only one of my children to ever sleep in a crib.

Emily made us grateful for modern medicine in a way we never thought we would be.  When she was 5, she came down with a severe case of pneumonia / empyema that required a lengthy hospital stay and two surgeries.  She still bears the scars from the drainage tubes that were attached to her for almost a week.

Emily also taught us to be better listeners.  After a few weeks of telling us in a casual and funny  way that she had rocks in her ears (Hey!  I have rocks in my ears!!!)  she went to the doctor for a bout of fever / nausea where the doctor discovered that she did, in fact, have a small rock in one of her ears.

Emily is our chicken whisperer.  No one takes it harder than her when one of them is sick or injured, and no one is able to commune with them the way she can.  One of our hens used to ride on her shoulder!  Of course, all of the chicken wrangling and sensitivity have translated into a vow of vegetarianism.  She hasn’t eaten chicken in almost a year and gave up all other meats this spring.  While it’s not always easy to accommodate in this family of meat – eaters, she manages well and has our full support. Part of homeschooling her this year will involve teaching her how to prepare vegetarian meals that will fulfill her nutritional needs.

Then there is my brother, for whom I can somehow find no embarrassing childhood pictures at the moment.  He’s 7 years younger than me and our relationship has not always been easy.  We had some spectacular fights.  Picture an incredibly clever, quick witted 6 year old who knows all of your buttons (oh wait…..I have a couple of those now….).

He’s still incredibly clever and quick – witted.  He’s also one of the funniest people I know.  He sings like a rock star and has way more artistic talent than I could ever dream of.

Stories and jokes he tells me always make me laugh, even months later.  Sometimes no one else gets our humor, but that’s ok.  We’ve grown into siblings that get each other and that has made all the difference.  I love that whenever my kids do something weird, geeky or off – beat I can always say Your uncle KB would be so proud!!!

Happy birthday to two of my favoritest people.  I love you both.


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The Case for Fresh and Local

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I’ve known the benefit of farmer’s market and home- grown produce for years (just try a garden – picked tomato vs. a store – bought one) and the taste difference between  free – ranged, pasture –  fed chicken eggs vs. a factory raised bird is unbelievable. Besides the taste, eating local has less environmental impact (think big gas- guzzling trucks hauling your veggies all across the US). These things I’ve known for awhile. But quite honestly, I’d never thought about similar implications with dairy products. I’ve always bought organic milk at the grocery, and that was that.
Now that I own goats, however, and people have started asking if I milk them, I’ve begun to consider the benefits of goats’ milk over cows’ milk (goats’ milk is far easier to digest than cows’ milk and is the preferred option for the lactose – intolerant) , and how much of a difference fresh can make. I don’t currently milk my doe; I simply don’t have the space for a milking stand or for storing supplies. I’ve also wrestled with the idea of dairy goats vs. fiber goats, since I am, after all, a major fiber enthusiast.

Enter Brad Kessler, author of the book I just finished reading – Goat Song. In it, he chronicles how he and his wife started their own small dairy in the mountains of Vermont and fed themselves with fresh milk and cheese from their small herd of Nubian goats.  He even travels to France at one point to learn from an artisan cheesemaker her age – old craft.

What really struck me, however, is what he shares concerning the taste and  health benefits of eating fresh, raw, unpasteurized milk, something most Americans will never even consider in their lifetimes, and it’s a real shame.  To paraphrase, he states that basically pasteurizing fresh milk kills over 99% of its’ bacteria and enzymes, good and bad.  Some of these enzymes are what inhibit the bad bacteria, which means that basically, pasteurized milk has more of a chance of developing these baddies than fresh milk, at least as far as cheese- making is concerned (since the milk and its curds will age).  It also kills all of the “taste” that would factor into the finished product, which is why French cheese is far superior to American.  In addition, a European survey of children conducted in 2007 found that those raised on fresh, unpasteurized milk were healthier and virtually allergy free, which was not the case with those raised on treated milk.

That last line really hit me.  This is not what we are told in the states.   I dog -eared that page and knew I needed to really look into that, and more importantly, share it.  It helped me come to the decision I’d been putting off. Yes,I need to keep at least a pair of dairy does in milk.  We won’t be able to sell any milk or dairy products due to Federal regulations but we can certainly feed ourselves (and likely reap great health benefits in the process).

I can’t believe how happy and calming it has been  to be on this road to micro-farming after struggling so long to find my fit in the “conventional” work place.  I certainly have my frustrations and bad days, but on the whole, this life has been so much better for us all.  If you have kids, I really urge you to take them to a local farm, just to see the animals and get an idea where food really comes from.  Not only do kids love watching the animals, but it makes everyone more appreciative of what goes into what’s on our plates.