A long Couple o' Weeks Ahead of Us...

From the City...

So the boys left for the west today.  The very packed van was gassed up, outfitted with new tires, snacks, movies, music, laptops, books and I'm sure no shortage of conversation that only boys in bands say to one another..I shudder at the thought.  The first leg of their trip is the longest, two 16 hour days to the first show in Winnipeg.  After Winnipeg, it's off to Regina, then Saskatoon, then Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and home.  

So it's up to Theo and I to hold down the fort until the Papa bear gets home...so what to do?? A girls weekend coming up which should be nice, some dinner with friends, a duty parent day at daycare, work (ugh),  balcony gardening and hopefully a sleepover here in the city with my sister...are you reading this Laur???

I'm also on the hunt for some kid friendly vegan recipes for the daycare as I am now the Thursday lunch person so if you have anything good up your sleeve, please send them my way.

-amelia

Seriously Outnumbered.

From the City...

So I'm in charge of the little Millie Monster today while her mama is at the market with her bro's and her dad are selling his goods to the restos here in the city.  Simon is away playing at a wedding so it is just me and the little ones, holding down the fort....dare I say, two babies are easier than one fussy baby?    Getting places was a challenge, yes, but once we were there (the park) they were amazing.  When we got back home the two had a huge lunch followed by a session of destroying my newly planted balcony garden and chasing each other around the apartment.  Amazingly there has not been a single tear shed all day, I kid you not.  Now one is sleeping while the other is looking up at me like she just might need a cuddle and a snooze.

(literally three minutes after the above post was written)

-amelia

What a Good Long Weekend Looks Like...

From the City...

Lots of playing with cousins
First swims in the kiddie pool
Cuddles with aunties and uncles
Yard sales galore (may the season BEGIN!)
Deck party time
Fish and Chips....you don't even have to ask, there was lots of vinegar, tartar sauce and ketchup involved
Dirt on feet, dirt on hands, dirt on clothes, dirt in hair.....just dirt, everywhere.
Our first crop of mosquito bites
Family baseball games
Hunting for wild asparagus
And a looooong, much needed, nap on the way home.

...just the best long weekend.

-amelia

Beans.

From the country...

coming to market next week!

Fur and Feather Auction

From the country...

The crowd awaiting the auction... in anticipation.

Some of the goods- Guinea Fowl and Ducks

Last Saturday was the Fur and Feather Auction put on by the Fur and Feather Club of Fenelon Falls. So I packed up the kids, roped in my Auntie Ann and headed on down for the day of spending money on poultry and the like. There was a lot of poultry indeed- chickens/chicks of various breeds, Guinea fowl, turkeys, ducks, bunnies and quail.

Now I would like to say that I am a good candidate for auctions. I would like to say that I bring my best sneer and get what I want at a reasonable price, that I intimidate the person whom I am bidding against and I get the item in the end. Not such is the case. I am a crappy bidder and the auctioneer always sways me to spend more then I intended. My palms sweat, I get all flushed and I often lose the item that I have waited for all day long. What is the auctioneer really saying anyway? Seems to me a whole lot of gibberish to get you confused...and in turn spend more cash.

Needless to say I spent $60 out of the gate on 4 poultry waterers that after further investigation I realized I could only use two. Since I only brought $80 bucks with me, I had little budget left for actual poultry. Since the auction only took cash I was out of luck. I did however bring some of my goods for sale and was pleasantly surprised when my 6 Ameraucana chicks fetched $5.50 a piece and my 12 Red Bourbon hatching eggs totaled in $10 bucks.

Suddenly I was up again and back in the game.

In the end I bought 2 new little Narragansett turkey poults- the same breed as the mighty Tom turkey we have around here. If I had had more cash things would have ended a little differently.

This Saturday is a farm auction sale that I have in my sights... now if I can only get the gumption, put the big girl boots on and get what I want...at a reasonable price.

 

New Market Sign, Poultry Shots and Eating All Things Green (in photos)

From the country...

One of the two new sandwich boards we are rocking at market- made by yours truly

New quail- love the dirty knob knees wearing rubbers in the background

Almost three weeks old- they were the size of a bumblebee when first hatched

New chicken shots

green beard from pasta with a spinach,ramp,dandelion, and green onion pesto

A Recap of April...something new I'm trying

From the City...

Heather Pollock Photography 

Things that happened:

-Theo and I tagged along to The Strumbellas photo shoot and the ever lovely and wonderful Heather Pollock offered to take some family pics for us.  We're real happy with them, they're a bit gritty and dark and different, which we love.  Theo also didn't fail to deliver on his array of snarky expressions. 

Heather Pollock Photography 

-I'm finally getting into the groove of work. I won't lie, there have been some hurdles but slowly we're getting into finding some balance between life and baby and work.  

-We found out that Simon's band got into The Hillside music festival! Definitely something we're looking forward to.

-Mustered up and did some spring cleaning, washed floors, windows, organized shelves, cleaned bathroom...ugh.

-We went to a whole bunch of daycare meetings.  Things are happening.  The little co-op daycare that we're apart of starts on Monday.

-Theo was sick, teething, cold, cough equally one unhappy baby and two equally unhappy parents. 

What I learnt this month:

-Theo can and will eat his weight in dirt if you let him.  

-This mama requires at least 6-7 solid hours of sleep, watch out if I don't get it!

-How to make gnocchi 

-A clean and organized place to live makes my life function better 

-Our new neighbour down the hall is an opera singer and practises almost every night for about an hour.  

-Theo slept all night...to 5:30 am to be exact.  It was blissfully amazing and wonderful, I haven't slept that long and uninterupted in more than a year, we've digressed a little since then but that one night made me realize that good long sleeps are just around the corner.

What I'm looking forward to in May:

-Daycare starting for Theo on Wednesday.  Hold back the tears.

-A seed swap

-Starting our balcony garden...lots of salad greens, herbs and tomatoes

-Trying some new recipes and hopefully eating some early asparagus 

-Theo walking, we're so close... I think May's the month it's gonna happen.

-A girls weekend with my all time favourite best friends.  It should be a good one. 

-Mother's day! wahooo.  I've already booked myself a little massage (paid for by insurance, not out of pocket) and possibly a haircut to go with it.  I have such a hard time justifying haircuts but I found a woman in Little Korea that I love and the whole thing with tip is $50.  I know, I gasped a little too.  But you get a really good wash, head massage, style, cut and dry.  Plus, she's so great with Theo.  She talks to him in Korean the entire time and he giggles and flirts with her.  Its pretty cute actually.

-Let the yard sales begin!

-Hanging with fam on the long weekend.  Getting some cuddles in with the oh so cute nieces and nephews. 

-amelia

This Weekend's market and a trip to the fiddle patch

From the country...

Millie's first trip to the fiddle patch,

Leopard and Bull Frogs in a bucket,

Stuck in the tree,

the avid fishermen,

the end result.

This weekend is the first spring/summer market at the Evergreen Brick Work's farmers market and we have been busy down at the fiddle patch harvesting fiddle heads, dandelion greens, stinging nettle and garlic mustard. The new Evergreen Brick Work's website just launched recently and it features a place where the vendors can put a profile of their farm and a tab where you can list what you have available for the upcoming market. I have been working on our profile and I think it looks pretty neat- check it out!

On the farm we have been scurrying about planting onions, lettuces, pea shoots, seeding countless seeds and on and on. We have also been tending to our new brood of chicks, ducklings and baby quail. The incubator has been running non-stop for a while now hatching out this years batch of poultry (photos to come). I have been to the public school showing/educating the kindergarten classes and the grade 1 class about the hatching process and I brought along my cardboard box of chicks. As soon as the top comes off- the children just dive for them- it is so great to watch these little people get as excited about chicks as I do. The planter gardens at the school is what's on for next week.

Farm life has really taken hold right now- so much to do and not enough daylight hours. Our backs/knees are sore and fingernails are compounded with soil. The spring peepers are back, each night they lull us into some much needed sleep and the black flies are starting to make their presence...May is here!

Reading??? Reading?? What's that?

                                                             From the City. 

Alright, I'll admit it, I haven't read a book in three (er, 5) months.  Haven't even tried to get through one.  Since returning to work, all I do in the evenings is melt into a pile of mush on the couch watching tv and working on my laptop.  Horrible right? I can't even use our sleeping arrangement as an excuse anymore because Theo now sleeps in his own bed.  

So i've decided something's gotta give. 

The book is Free for All by Janet Poppendieck and the timeframe is exactly one month starting today. It's like 10 measly pages a day, nothing right?? Try telling me that when the new season of cougar town is on. 

In other news, here's a really good soup recipe.  Kale, potatoes and sausage, gooooood.  

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves minced

2 Sausages minus the casings

2 large potatoes cubed

1 large bunch of kale, washed and chopped

3 cups stock or water

1/2 cup cream

salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic with sausage (minus the casings) for 3 to 5 minutes until sausage is no longer pink.  

Add potatoes, mix well, making sure to get that good pork fat all over those taters.

Add stock and kale.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.

Allow to cook for a good 45-50 minutes so all those good flavours can mingle.

I pureed the soup for just a minute or two to make the kale easier for Theo to eat and its also a good way to make your soup creamy healthily.  

Add cream or milk or soy (whatever you like and have on hand)

Season and enjoy.

happy tuesday everyone,

-amelia