mmmmmm worms...

I was giddy when I saw red worms at the farmers market today. Ive been wanting to get a worm bin going for quite some time but never seemed to get around to ordering the red wigglers through the mail. It was so convenient to just pick some up at the market. I just finished getting their new home set up and after letting the kids hold them a bit Ive gotten them all settled in and fed. Im thrilled to be able to continue actively composting even when the pile outdoors is frozen solid in the middle of winter. Yay for worm castings!

the one where they got closer to buying the farm

Today we officially became homeowners! It's far from being our dream home but we're not complaining. The papers are signed the checks are issued and we now own our house. Well our name is on the title anyway and if we follow the schedule this house will be paid of in 2023.

We don't plan on living here that long though. This house is a means to an end as far as we are concerned. The goal is to sell this house within five years and use the profit (which should be substantial considering the sweet deal my mom cut us on the place) to buy some land where we can be away from the city and live a more sustainable lifestyle. Grassfarmers perhaps? I read (and hubby is in the middle of it) Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and we are both inspired by the story of a farm called Polyface. I've had the itch to try farming for a while now but this is the first time that Brett has expressed interest in it and I'm thrilled.

She crawls!

As of yesterday Meara is mobile.

my wee bonny lass becomes less wee

Yesterday Meara figured out how to push herself backwards from her tummy up into a sit. I wondered if it was a fluke and so I put her back on her tummy and she did it three more times within 15 minutes. I said "Yay!" and gave her a round of applause and she just grinned with the proudest little smile I've ever seen from her.

It's a truly bittersweet thing to see. On the one hand I'm thrilled to see her accomplish new milestones and grow into herself but on the other hand I mourn the loss of my tiny little baby that is no longer. She's already nearing the "big baby" stage of crawling all over the place and I will miss the itty bitty baby that she was.

the market and alien-eyed creatures

Q, Meme and I returned from the Farmer's market with full tummies. (Well maybe not Meme, hers was filled up with mama's milk before leaving.) Quinn ate his favorite thing- a lemon cream tube pastry thingy that is delicious.

I had my very favorite thing- a pita falafel.
mmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Quinn was hungry enough that my sounds of happiness while devouring it were too much to handle. He actually tried some. It's quite a feat for this little guy. He's a very very picky eater and doesn't brave new foods very often unless he's highly pressured or bribed to do so. This was one of those magical moments that doesn't come very often where he actually asked me to describe what it tastes like and then gave it a shot. His first two bites he gave a thumb half up half down.. then the second bite it was two thumbs in the middle zone.. kinda good kinda weird. Then by the third bite the thumbs were up and he finished the thing off. Of course I had to eat all the vegetables away from the sides of the falafel but it's a start. He did let the lettuce stay, so that's something green I suppose. All in all I was very proud of my picky eater today. I'm going to have to make some falafels at home now to keep this on the menu of stuff he'll eat.



Yesterday I made a quick stop by the cemetery to check on the wee ones. Mamabird was sitting on her nest. I snapped a few shots of her before she got mad at me and flew up to a nearby tree to yell at me. I felt bad for bugging her but I couldn't resist seeing how much the little ones had grown in the few days I'd been away. I know they change fast and I just had to see.


Sure enough they had grown noticeably larger and more feathers! Still in the freakish-alien-like stage but getting closer to looking like birds.

Mamabird was happy when I left and hopped back on over to her babes while I watched from a distance.

outings

blech. That cold weather snap left everyone in our house besides Q with an annoying little cold. Sore throats and congestion. That's not supposed to happen in the summer. arrrgh.

Ah well... life must go on. Zay just went on her first outing with a friend. The girl across the street is five and invited Zay to go to see a Sesame Street stage production at the Carlson Center. It was last minute.. they were literally heading out the door for it but Zay really wanted to and is pretty comfortable with the neighbor mom so I let her go. I think she'll have a good time.

Quinn's buddy headed upriver with his uncle today so he's bummed that everyone is doing something fun but him. So we're going to head over to the farmer's market for something yummy.

The sun returns!

After some of the coolest summer days I can remember the sun is finally back out and temp is about 70. For the last few days we were seeing day time temps in the low 60s with rain and wind and night time lows in the mid 30s.. I actually had to turn the heat on and I don't usually do that until August. Its been a very strange summer weather wise. I was actually afraid that my tomatoes might freeze before they had a chance to ripen. I think they made it through alright though.

I took the kids and bought some perennials on sale and went and planted them on my great-grandmother's grave the other day. I never knew her but I like to tend to resting place and reflect on my ancestors of this land. While we were there Quinn made this discovery-

Zay was especially fascinated and had no problem understanding the importance of not touching them.

"Baby Ah-Ahs!!" (Her names for animals are often simply the noises they make.. like "meows" and "woof woofs".. "ah-ah" is her impression of a raven call.)