strawberry picking

we took the kids strawberry picking at froberg's farm.  as always, it was a great time (the fried pies in the store are Amazing, don't get just one).

the fields were very muddy when we went.  i love these photos of the boys tackling the mud to pick berries.  each boy's personality is represented so perfectly.

bread!

as i type, my third loaf of bread in three days is baking away in my oven.

this is significant because bread-making has been on my list of do-it-myselfs for about a year.  and finally i did it!  there will be no negative self-talk about procrastination.  go me!  (next up: juicing.  ssshhhh  don't tell my brother i haven't mastered the juicer he gave me yet.  i have admired it, it is one cool looking machine.)

second egg

once i came home from mexico i did get the thrill of finding an egg in the nesting box.   i was so excited!  there it was. our second egg.  simple perfection.  resting there in the hay, a tiny gift.  a wonder really. 

close call

we thought we lost clementine to a hawk. 

andy was working outside, watering plants.  i was inside, changing a diaper - again.  even inside i heard the commotion of alarmed chickens squaking, wings flapping, and large birds running through bushes.  andy came to tell me to get outside.  he knew he had seen the hawk, but he wasn't sure if it had gotten any of the girls. 

halloween 2011

nico admiring our giant squid and turtle

i realized this year that my own picture of an idyllic family halloween comes from the movie E.T. .   

make your own happiness

i do a lot of wishing that i had more time to do the things i think will make me happy.  the truth is, i have 3 kids, and a job, and a husband and we all need to eat and someone, someday has to clean this house.  so time isn't always easy to come by.  but here are few things that are making me happy lately:

chicklets move out

punk rock luna - 4 weeks old

the little chicklets are not so little anymore.  they are like awkward teenage chickens - they are getting their feathers but still losing fluff, their feet seem way too big for their bodies, and they are starting to fly around and challenge each other.  they have sufficiently covered our house in dust from scratching in their wood chips.  so we decided to relocate them to the coop with the big girls.  

chicken eviction

the big chicks moved out!  they got their own place, and we couldn't be happier.

though i am still crazy about them, the chickens were really wearing thin their welcome inside the house.

first, nico had a small injury and had to be separated from the rest of the flock.  but they all hate being separated and they screamed and cried and made so much noise!  then, because they are getting so big (and possibly also because they were trying to get to nico) the big chicks figured out how to fly up and roost on the sides of their brooding pen!  the pen is just made of sheets of cardboard.  i'm shocked that they could stand comfortably on the very narrow ends of the cardboard, but they did.  all night long.  and they pooped all over my wood floor.  so the time came for them to go.

lots of firsts and ginger cookies

greyson is already a pro at first grade.  he loves it.  he loves school and his teacher and especially lunch time because he has a new buddy.  apparently he and his buddy make jokes and weird noises and crack each other up.  first grade is awesome.

with greyson settling into his second week of school, it was time for Asher and Quinn to start mother's day out.  this is quinn's first time at "school".  first time away from me.  it's a big moment.

asher has not been in school since we moved last year because each time we visited a potential school he made it clear he did not want to go there.  i caved.  i figured he'd had enough change and could spend some time home with me.  i had also had enough of change and his company sounded great.  this year, mommy needs a couple of days a week to work.

come the first day, asher was no more enthusiastic about school.  he did love his new backpack and shoes.  i played on that love to get a few smiley first day photos.  note: quinn is 13 months old on this day and is wearing shoes for probably the second time ever.

i had prepared myself for a messy, wailing separation, but both boys went to their new school surprisingly easily.  no fussing, no clinging, no tears.  from the kids anyway.  i was just proud i waited until i got back in the car.  why was i crying?  i've done this before.  i did the checklist to calm myself: school is great for them, they love being with other kids, it's only for a few hours, i know they are safe, blah, blah, blah....  i realized that my tears weren't for the kids.  they were for me.

without the kids to focus on, i become the focus.  i have to establish some kind of new routine.  for a long time there has been a disconnect between what i am doing and what i want to be doing, but having a new baby has been a beautiful distraction.  my baby is one! now what am i going to do?

i pulled it together and got some work done, drank too much coffee, and vowed to stay off of facebook during "work hours."  i'll deal with the harder stuff a little at a time.

asher and quinn were both all smiles at pick up time.  asher said he couldn't wait to come back tomorrow!  he also immediately asked me what his special treat would be, since greyson got blueberry pies.  (they remember everything.)

at asher's request, we went home and made ginger cookies.  my kids love ginger cookies of all kinds.    these are the thick, crisp, spicy, just-sweet-enough variety.  we rolled them in brightly colored sparkling sugar to make boys smile, and they were quite a treat.

this recipe is adapted from one i found in Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunch Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich. it is a really fantastic cookie cookbook.  384 pages of just cookies.  the best part is that recipes are arranged by texture!  so you can flip to chapters for "chewy" or "flaky" or "chunky" - you will want to try every single one.

happy 1st day ginger cookies
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp aluminum free baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt (if you use salted butter, omit the salt)
1 stick butter/dairy free butter, melted
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1/2 cup natural cane sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, diced very fine
sparkling sugar or granulated sugar for rolling

preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
mix the flours, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt (if using) together in a bowl.  in another bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine melted butter, molasses, sugars, egg, and crystallized ginger.  mix until combined.  add flour mixture, mix until evenly combined to make a thick dough.  scoop out the dough and roll into 1 inch balls, a teaspoon worked perfectly to make even 1 inch balls.  roll  each ball in sparkling sugar.  place cookies about 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets.  bake for 12 minutes, rotate the cookie sheets and swap top and bottom racks half way through baking. the cookies are done when they have flattened out and cracked on top - watch them, though, because of the dark color of the dough they are easy to burn.  cool on wire racks or lift the parchment off of hot cookie sheets and cool on the counter.

i hope you enjoy these as much as quinn did!

quinn's first cookie, 13 month birthday, 1st day of school

asher's treat

this is an amazing photo because all 3 boys are clean at once.  

also, it was quinn's first bath with his brothers in the big tub.

1st day blueberry pies

greyson started first grade today.  first days of school are a swirl of emotions aren't they? i've experienced first days as both a student and a teacher. for the past few years i've been the wife of a teacher.  now i'm the mom of a student.

i'm the mom of a tall First Grader whose enormous permanent front teeth are finally coming in, erasing any trace of baby.

greyson had been asking me for a few weeks if we could make "mini blueberry pies." i'm not sure where he got the idea, but it sounded good for a first day treat.  they were hot when he got home and he was thrilled.  the bubbly, crumbly little pies were a celebration of a perfect first day.  the smell of blueberries and lemon zest in the oven was also a happy comfort on a day when my son casually told me that first graders don't need their moms to walk them to school anymore.

the pies were far from perfect, but they were delicious.  i referenced this blueberry pie recipe from Williams-Sonoma.  a friend of mine recently made this pie and it was fantastic.

this index card is my mother in law's crust recipe written by my husband.  i love it. i hope one day my grand kids are making crust from this card.  this was about my 3rd time ever to make pie crust.  i'm not great at it.  there must be some magic i'm missing with the crust.

here's what i did, let me know if you have suggestions:

1st day blueberry mini pies
crust
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup organic vegetable shortening
ice water

preheat your oven to 350 degrees. combine flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. cut shortening into small pieces and add it to the bowl.  (though my mother in law's recipe says to combine ingredients by hand with a pastry cutter, i used my stand mixer because food network said i could.) mix on low speed until the mixture looks like coarse corn meal.  add ice water one tablespoon at a time until dough just comes together - i only used one tablespoon of water.  it should be wet enough to hold together, but not sticky.

to make mini pie crusts, form the dough into about 12 2 inch balls. start by pressing each ball into a flat disc, then press each disc into the bottom and sides of a muffin tin.  my crusts were a bit thick, i'll press them thinner next time.

prick the bottoms of the crusts with a fork.  bake empty crusts for about 10 minutes, until just barely golden.  remove and fill with delicious blueberry filling.

blueberry filling
3 cups fresh organic blueberries, rinsed and picked over
zest of 1/2 a large lemon
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup pure cane sugar
2 tablespoons organic cornstarch
pinch salt
pinch cinnamon
butter*

*my husband and boys do not eat dairy.  we use a dairy free butter from Earth Balance called Buttery Spread. it comes in sticks or a tub.  it is vegan and they have an organic version, a soy free version, and probably more. it works great in almost everything in place of butter.

combine all ingredients except butter and toss together well.  spoon into crusts, pile each crust really high with berries, they flatten as they cook. drop a small pat of butter on top of each pie. bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until filling is bubbly and the edges of your crusts are golden.

my pies smelled amazing, but they were messy and the crust was crumbly.  i didn't fret about it too long - turns out First Graders don't mind messy.

important side note:  i am a little self conscious about posting recipes here.  i'm not a chef.  i only decided i like cooking about a year ago - now i love it.  i've never written out a recipe of my own, are there rules about recipe writing?   i very rarely come up with something all new and original, usually i work from a recipe a great chef did post on some other blog.*  but i do make some really tasty dishes.  and the purpose of this is to learn to do new things.  and i love to share. so i'm going to.  

*i will always credit the original source of the recipe.

welcome and chickens

right now there are six chickens in my house.

they are tiny, only 2 weeks old, but still - chickens! in my house! crazy.  the strangest part is how ridiculously excited i am about the chickens. completely over the moon!  a year ago i would have just laughed if you told me i would move furniture to make way for a chick brooder in the nicest room in my house.  and yet, there they are.  set up in the sunroom, right on the shiny wood floor.

the chickens have been here for two weeks now.  they are doing their chick things:  eating, drinking, scratching, chasing each other around the pen, and then adorably piling up and falling asleep face first in the bedding.  we swear they grow overnight and i already wish we had taken more pictures on the day they arrived.

our neighbor kids and friends love to visit the chickens and talk about how cute they are and which is their favorite.  the chickens are fun and quirky, but to me they are thrilling.  they are like tiny promises for another kind of life.  for our family, collecting eggs from our hens one day will be a small move toward self-sufficiency.  one thing we can provide for ourselves.  i imagine it's going to feel great.

since we first began to consider keeping "backyard chickens" i've been reading every chicken book i can find.  i'm absolutely a suburban kid.  i have no practical knowledge about any farm animals or farm work or farm...anything (though i now have an unreasonable amount of book knowledge about chickens).  i grew up hearing stories about my great-great aunt Lennie who had a farm with chickens and geese who were so mean they once chased my mom into a tree as a child.  as i read and learn about caring for chickens i've felt a growing connection with my long-passed relatives and a nagging desire for a simpler life.  besides chickens, what else do Lennie and i have in common?  what skills did she use everyday that were lost through the generations?  did she knit?  quilt?  bake bread?  grow vegetables?  make clothing?  i dream of one day being able to do all of these things.  chickens are just the start of learning to Do It Myself.  and a that's one huge empowering idea wrapped up in these six little balls of fluff.

so, welcome to this new blog. not all the posts will be about chickens.