Sprawlings on Napkin Scraps with Crayons

kids time five!

2009-06-07T07:45:00.006-04:00

Bella had triplets--2 girls and a boy. I thought she had 5 or 6 in there she was so wide but I was wrong! They are all brown with white and black markings.

Charlotte had twins--a girl and a boy. Both white with beautiful markings. This is Calico. We missed both births, but obviously the mamas didn't need us.

The girls are over the moon!

cowbird fledged

2009-05-22T07:58:00.002-04:00

The cowbird fledged. The chickadee was alive when the cowbird fledged, but we think the parents stopped feeding it in the nest at that point. They called and called but the poor little thing wasn't ready and died. The cowbird is adorable in an ugly sort of way. It hung around for a few days being fed by the parents before flying away.

cowbird update

2009-05-21T21:44:00.000-04:00

feathers on the birds and . . .

one very pregnant, double wide, hot and grumpy goat!

the cowbird and the chickadee

2009-05-14T07:49:00.006-04:00

So we have nesting chickadees in our front nesting box again this spring. We think it's the same pair, learned to tolerate us, because when we take down the box for a look, mama no longer flies away. So mostly what we've been seeing is the mama bird.

But a few days ago Sophie saw her fly out and went to look at the eggs. This is what she saw:

One of these does not look like the others! Although our web research tells us that cowbirds rarely lay an egg in a cavity nest, one sneaky cowbird did just that. The bigger darker egg is a cowbird egg, inside is a future cowbird nesting destined to hatch first and out compete it's chickadee "siblings". My first instinct was to lift the egg out with a spoon but they are native birds and they are protected so I let it stay.

Yesterday we saw this inside the box:

One hungry cowbird with it's mouth open waiting for lunch, sitting on top of a smaller chickadee. The cowbirds are not only first out of the egg, bigger, and stronger, but their mouths are red which guides the parents to feed it first.

We put out some meal worms to make it easier for the birds to keep up with the needs of all the nestlings and are hoping for the best.

the chicken and the hawk

2009-02-07T13:26:00.005-05:00

vegetable dying

2009-01-25T13:46:00.003-05:00

Aren't they pretty? Rebecca is doing her 4h visual presentation this year on vegetable dying. She did these with beets, red cabbage, charcoal, tea, and tumeric.

Sophie's half birthday

2009-01-24T08:50:00.005-05:00

Sorry to have disappeared like that--I've discoved the fun and time suck that is facebook. But I'm back with this photo of Sophie on her half birthday with her half cake. She was so excited this year for her half birthday to come and really had fun with this cake.

yeah we'll just go with this one

2009-01-12T19:19:00.001-05:00

becoming a mom makes you smarter . . .

http://blissfullydomestic.com/homeschool-bliss/mommy-einstein/

snow snow snow

2009-01-07T09:49:00.001-05:00

It's snowing here again. I love snow! I've been cross country skiing up a storm.

Right now we're eating snow icecream!
http://www.larksongknits.com/?p=1029

noro scarf

2008-12-17T10:01:00.003-05:00

Inspired by the Yarn Harlot and just about everyone else in blogville who seems to have knitted a noro scarf in November, I ordered the yarn from WEBS and made one up for my mom.

I kept interrupting the kids to show them the way the "colors look now". In the beginning they were able to feign interest, but after awhile it wore a bit thin for them.

. . . but look at the way the colors look now!

it's hard to eat when . . . .

2008-12-13T21:21:00.003-05:00

you're missing 8 molars!

do i need a pet owl?!

2008-12-13T21:17:00.001-05:00

more on the lemon tree

2008-12-10T16:18:00.001-05:00

In my last post I was talking about how much I liked The Lemon Tree. Here is the NPR link to the original story, sent to me by my friend Paula who is also reading the book. It's great to hear their voices!

http://sandytolan.com/the-lemon-tree/on-writing

4 books and a pair of mittens

2008-12-08T14:08:00.004-05:00

My nephew Jonah is turning 4 (four!!) and the girls and I made him this pair of mittens from a felted sweater from Morgies (Good Will). I got the idea for combining it with the book The Mitten from Write Mama Write http://writemamawrite.typepad.com/blog/2007/11/mitten-tutorial.html

I've been reading a lot of great books lately:

The Heretic's Daughter--great historical fiction about the Salem Witch trials written by a descendent of one of the accused--I got to hear her speak at Porter Square books--fabulous!
The Lemon Tree--the story of the Israeli family who moves into an old Arab house in 1948 and the Palestinian family who were forced out
The House at Sugar Beach--a memoir about a Liberian childhood
The Zookeeper's Wife--true story of a Polish couple who hid Jews in their Zoo during the Polish occupation, beautifully written

another thing to be angry about

2008-11-09T13:53:00.002-05:00

The Beverly Birth Center may be closing. Where is the outcry over the limits being imposed on this reproductive right?!

http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_312222245.html?keyword=topstory

we the people

2008-11-08T08:41:00.001-05:00

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/cartoons/11_03_08_inktank?pg=12

happy not to have to move to Canada

2008-11-07T14:17:00.003-05:00

Check out the future President of the United States in cupcakes--how sweet it is!

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/11/cake-headlines.html

and as usual the Onion is right on the money:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/black_man_given_nations

got your vote

2008-11-04T15:41:00.006-05:00

I went and voted--no lines and everyone was so cheerful, like we're all doing something good. A much more cheerful civic duty for people, it seems, then when I had jury duty last week.

Here's some info about election day cake:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/ElectionCake.htm

Here's some info on why Starbucks can't give you a free coffee because you voted today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/04/AR2008110401899.html?hpid=topnews

halloween

2008-11-02T10:36:00.006-05:00

It's hard to see--but here are the kids at the barn in a costume parade. Sophie got the prize for funniest and Rebecca for best matched to her horse.

A fairy house pumpkin complete with fleece smoke carved by Miss Sophie.

Here we are all decked out to go to Salem. I've always wanted to go for Halloween. There were between 150,000 and 200,000 people, most dressed up. We saw some great costumes--I wish I had photos to show.

a big day at our house

2008-11-02T10:33:00.005-05:00

Eli asked at the door to go out and then peed outside! While Rebecca was out with him Sophie made this sign.

hangin' out at home

2008-10-27T12:48:00.000-04:00

The weather has taken a turn for the cold and I twisted my ankle and well, I already mentioned the puppy, all of which are conspiring to keep us at home. I've been reading The Heretic's Daughter, which is excellent, historical fiction about the Salem witch trials written by a descendant of some of the accused and The Magic of Fire, a beautiful book about hearth cooking, with lots of recipes and folk lore. We made cookies and bean stew with beans I ordered from Rancho Gordo.

Rebecca sewed a skirt using the free pattern at http://www.oliverands.com/.

I made 2 pairs of mittens and one pair of fingerless gloves out of felted sweaters. The mitten pattern is from Warm Fuzzies by Betz White.

Sophie woke up one morning recently and said "I want to sew a pair of pajama pants!" And competent kid that she is--here they are.

the girls fiddle at a halloween party for twins and the puppy comes along

2008-10-27T11:52:00.006-04:00

Eli was so good and calm in all the noise and chaos of two hundred small children in costume and their families.

Some of the kids were in matching costumes--so adorable!

a blog on a Northstar dog in action

2008-10-23T20:05:00.002-04:00

http://charliethenorthstardog.blogspot.com/

Read about Charlie and the awesome work he's doing with his boy Tim in California.

birth bumperstick fundraiser

2008-10-17T11:48:00.003-04:00

I just bought a bumper sticker to support birthing women in Africa.

"Keep your kids off drugs....Choose an unmedicated birth" (an adorable pregnant belly drives the point home)!

To buy one http://babysbirthbenefits.com/events.aspx

More info:

My passion for birth has led me to pursue my degree in Midwifery and I'm well on my way!
As part of this journey, I have been offered the opportunity to intern at a hospital in Malawi Africa. Embangweni Hospital was founded by International Health Ministries and is a Peace Corp. partner with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. It serves a rural population and has 2000 births per year. There are only a handful of care providers, and 3 Staff members. I plan to serve birthing women of Malawi in March and April of 2009. In an effort to raise funds for this mission and to bring supplies and gifts, I am offering these bumper stickers for a MINIMUM donation of $5.00 (of course anything over $5.00 would be extremely helpful). If you make a donation, I will promptly send you a bumper sticker. Donations can be made by paypal to liljoy143@aol.com. 100% of your donation will go toward this mission. I sincerely appreciate your support.
My Best and Many Thanks- Student Midwife, LaNette

saw the yarn harlot when she came to town

2008-10-16T11:11:00.003-04:00

I saw Stephanie Pearl McPhee in Cambridge last night. Great fun to see her in person! I feel like I know her from reading her blog. I covet her job! My favorite part was the Q and A at the end. My favorite new tidbit--put your keyboard on the floor so you can hit the space bar with your foot while knitting and reading knitting blogs.

Here's what Stephanie has to say about the Cambridge reading:

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/

cool fossil discovery

2008-10-16T08:18:00.005-04:00

Here's the story on the oldest flying insect fossil discovered in Mass!

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/10/16/mall_sprawl_site_yields_a_treasure_from_eons_past/
And here's a cool photo of it:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/10/worlds_oldest_f.html

foster therapy puppy

2008-10-15T11:34:00.006-04:00

He's here! Our 10 week old Golden foster therapy puppy has arrived. His forever home will be with a teenage boy in Maine who is on the autism spectrum and wants a dog to cuddle. The runt of the litter, he's tiny and he's a cuddler! He came with the name Eli, but that may change. He's part of the Northstar program, http://www.northstardogs.com/, the same program we are hoping Honey will be a breeding dog for.

Sophie figured out how to video on my camera so here's our first uploaded video.

linus blankets

2008-10-13T21:00:00.003-04:00

My girls finished their blankets for the Linus Project (www.linusblankets.org). An organization that gives blankets to kids in need (in the hospital, in foster care, etc.). Their blankets are going to a refuge family from Africa. Kids helping kids!

Fall in New England

2008-10-06T13:16:00.010-04:00

We're having a glorious fall. Here are some poke berries and some milk weed seeds in midfluff.

The girls are on a walk with Honey to the river today.

We've been drying apples with a borrowed dehydrator. The peeler/corer/slicer is great fun.
Yes, another goat photo . . .

We went up to Common Ground Fair in Maine. All the food there is organic and grown in Maine--no chocolate, no coffee. We had yummy raw milk icecream. These photos are from the farmers market there. We took classes on rug braiding, mushroom wildcrafting. and dowsing.

And what would fall be without apple picking??!

why didn't I think of this??!

2008-10-06T13:13:00.003-04:00

A nipple hat--no breastfeeding baby should be without! I can't believe I've been knitting strawberry hats!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_4&listing_id=8421966

is this ok?

2008-09-14T18:54:00.002-04:00

hmmm . . . .

2008-09-14T18:53:00.001-04:00

If this applies to deer and cows, then it should apply to goats too, right?

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/08/26/data_suggest_cows_can_find_north_and_south/

Wendell Berry quote

2008-09-08T20:23:00.002-04:00

Laugh. Laughter is immeasureable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. . . .

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy a woman satisfied to bear a child? Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth?

update

2008-09-07T21:20:00.007-04:00

Last week we went camping in beautiful Vermont and enjoyed a 3 day pottery class with some friends. I'm thinking about getting a kiln, as Sophie especially loves working with clay and this would enable her to be able to work as much as she wants at home. Vermont was great--we picked bags and bags of organic blueberries for free, swam in the West River, hung out in Brattleboro, and went tubing on the White River.

This week has been difficult--we just make the decision to put down our beloved 13 year old cat Baxter, who apparently had liver cancer. He was the in-your-face (not the under-the-bed) kind of cat, very loving and friendly. The kids have had him their whole lives. I've been thinking back a bit to my life 13 years ago when I got him. We found a vet who would come to the house, and he's buried out in the backyard.

One of the things I love about homeschooling is not sending my kids off to school in September. For a good laugh check out this Onion article on schools. http://www.theonion.com/content/news/6_year_old_stares_down_bottomless

And if you want a gentle hug here's some Dar Williams. I've seen her live a couple of times--she's so great. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lciR7aBzpmc

Here, There and Just About Everywhere

2008-08-26T18:24:00.002-04:00

The weekend before last was a rare weekend when the kids were with their dad and I wasn't teaching. I went up to the Fiber Revival (http://www.fiberrevival.com/) and took a shibori class. Yeah, I didn't know what it was either. It's a Japanese word, and I think the latest meaning is felting into shapes. Like tying objects in before felting to get different textures. There's an effect where you knit a scarf in alternate rows of wool and silk, then felt, and since the silk doesn't felt, it gets pulled into lacy shapes--really cool. The festival was at a beautiful old farm, where I saw my first fall leaves on the ground. Not hard to believe when (here visiting the Cape today celebrating my dad's 70th birthday) the highs were in the low seventies. I also made it up to the Lowell Farmer's Market where I bought some mysterious (to me) Asian vegetables and over to the Lincoln Farm tour.

This weekend was the Women's Herb Conference in New Hampshire. I feel so filled up--drumming, dancing around the fire, workshops on plants, folk singers. Sophie's favorite part was learning how to weave wheat. Rebecca liked the herb walks. The conference is on 700 beautiful acres with a lake for swimming. The whole thing was as always, very inspiring, and I have all sorts of herbal projects in mind now, from making acorn flour with the kids to more wheat weaving to getting Honey off Advantix and onto an herbal flea and tick and making some herbal cordials and planting an elder plant. (Last year the conference motivated me to make mead and elderberry wine, which is still fermenting and needs to be bottled!)

summer ramblings

2008-08-13T22:24:00.004-04:00

Well summer is flying along and I finally got my rain barrels from www.nerainbarrel.com. They are totally nice there and they work to keep rain barrels affordable--at $66 they are half what they are other places, but you have to pick them up at one of their drop offs. They're almost done for the year, but next summer . . . if you need a rain barrel . . .

I totally recommend Merle's Door--maybe the best man and dog book I've read. I got the cds of it out of the library and now the kids are listening to it too. Totally makes me want to move to Wyoming. I also really liked Goat Walking about how to head out into the desert with just a couple of goats and what smart animals goats are and how to live with them.

I finally went to the www.montaguebookmill.com. "Books you don't need in a place you can't find." Definately worth a visit if you're out in western Mass. It's a beautiful old mill. They have lots of used books and comfy chairs to sit in while you check them out.

Rebecca's Quilt on Display

2008-08-13T18:00:00.004-04:00

That's Rebecca with the quilt she hand pieced and hand quilted at the Lowell Quilt Show. Her quilt, as you can see, is beautiful. The show was fantastic. There were some great quilts that are part of the Journal Quilt Project, inspired by the book Creative Quilting. I just got it out of the library and am enjoying it.

live in Mass? act now to protect midwifery

2008-07-21T16:53:00.002-04:00

Please help protect midwifery in Massachusetts and a woman's right to choose where and with whom she births (yes that would be protecting our right to choose the reproductive choice that NOW and others have been so silent on). Please do this right away--by July 24th, or the bill will die and need to reintroduced yet again. Then please tell everyone you know about it. All the details can be found at the MFOM link below.

http://mfomnews.wordpress.com/lobbying/

feminism and younger motherhood

2008-07-12T12:11:00.002-04:00

Sarah Edell weighs in on the teen pregnancy cluster in Gloucester, much more articulately than I ever could. http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080709/OPINION/807090312/1076/OPINION03

quote of the day

2008-07-02T13:24:00.001-04:00

12 Rules to Live By - Robert Louis Stevenson
Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.
Make the best of circumstances. No one has everything and everyone has something of sorrow.
Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Don’t let criticism worry you. You can’t please everybody.
Don’t let your neighbors set your standards; be yourself.
Do things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt.
Don’t borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than actual ones.
Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish enmities and grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.
Have many interests. If you can’t travel, read about places.
Don’t hold post-mortems or spend time brooding over sorrows and mistakes.
Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.
Keep busy at something. A very busy person never has time to be unhappy.

Rebecca the dancer

2008-07-01T12:33:00.004-04:00

Rebecca in some of her 8 dance costumes!

Western North Carolina Vacation!

2008-07-01T12:08:00.007-04:00

We are back from our western North Carolina vacation. We were blessed with perfect weather and we got out and saw and did a lot. The vegetation is very similar to central New England, but man those roads are windy! I want to reread Cold Mountain now that I can better picture what it means to go up and down those mountains. There were places where it was one mountain after another with no valley in between, just a "hollow". We saw lots of bikers--they love all those turns!

The photo above is an Appalachian farm that is an open air museum in Smokey National Park.

We had lots of fun with the old growth in the Joyce Kilmer National Forest.

We spent 2 nights backcountry in Pathertown on a llama trek with English Mountain Llamas. http://www.hikinginthesmokies.com/ We are all wearing clothes from Target because the airlines (Continental) got us in a day late and without our luggage so we had to dash around Target picking up some things to wear on the way to the trail head.
There were many awesome waterfalls. We hiked a couple of miles in from our base camp for this one. It's called School House Falls.
The llamas carried all our gear.

I promised Bonnie our waitress at Restaurant 553 http://www.restaurant553.com/ I would mention her on my blog. We had a great southern meal sitting outside in the June sunshine watching all their beautiful hummingbirds.

We spent half a day at Earthaven.http://www.earthaven.org/ They are an aspiring ecovillage. We saw their little hydroelectric plant and some of their permaculture and eco construction projects, and learned about their communal living and environmental philosophies.

Then we went to Linville Caverns a very cool limestone cave network. http://www.linvillecaverns.com/ At one point they turn off the lights and let you experience complete darkness.

I also really liked going to the Native American museums in Cherokee. All the street signs in town are in Cherokee as well as English!

Asheville is a fun town with a yummy vegetarian restaurant, the Laughing Seed. We ate there 2 dinners in a row. And we also went to the Biltmore and marvelled at a private home 4 acres big.

more birthday--it's a goat thing

2008-06-13T20:29:00.002-04:00

The kids made goat themed birthday presents--aren't they awesome?!

yet more bday

2008-06-12T12:00:00.004-04:00

a pinata b-day cake from Paula!
a mallet to smash the pinata b-day cake from Paula
a partially smashed pinata cake from Paula (it's harder than it looks!)
and inside chocolate truffles!

www.serenaderchocolatier.com

b-day

2008-06-12T07:38:00.002-04:00

Yes it's my birthday!

Ogden Nash said:
Well, here I am thirty-eight
Well I certainly thought I'd have longer to wait,
You just stop in for a couple of beers,
And gosh, there go thirty-seven years.
Well it certainly has been fun,
But I certainly thought I'd have got a lot more done.
Why if I'd been waked up and alive,
I could have been a Congressman since I was twenty-one
or President since I was thirty-five.

eat your fruits and veggies

2008-06-11T17:18:00.004-04:00

With all this heat the strawberries are ready early and we went picking this morning!

I'm hosting a CSA drop off site and the first shares came. I am embarrassingly happy about this. lettuce, bok choy, spinach, summer turnips, radishes, arugula . . .There are still a few shares available if you're interested. http://www.picadillyfarm.com/.

hot enough to bake cookies on the dash

2008-06-09T20:16:00.004-04:00

We're sweltering thru a heatwave and today the girls and I baked chocolate chip cookies on the dash of my car! It took about 3 hours and they were so good. Such fun and we didn't have to turn on our oven. I just faced the car west, rolled up the windows and set out the cookie sheets.

bird mystery

2008-06-03T08:15:00.003-04:00

For the last 5 years we have had nesting chickadees in a nesting box in our front yard. They are great fun to watch.
They start off as little speckled eggs. This year we had a nest like this when Sophie checked on Friday.
And yesterday we had this--eggs but no nest. I have no explanation. Anyone want to try to explain where the nest went? We have lost sparrow eggs to predators, so there's been a nest with no eggs. But why the heck would there be eggs and no nest??!

help mothers and midwives in bali

2008-06-03T07:27:00.000-04:00

My friend Katherine, a Vermont midwife, is helping to organize a fund raiser for the birthing women of Bali. Her hope is that every mom will donate a dollar and spread the word. Of course you don't have to be a mom to help. http://www.myspace.com/amillionmothers

herding dogs, song birds, and a pony

2008-05-30T10:16:00.000-04:00

This is Sophie in her favorite sweater. I had to pry it off her periodically this winter to wash it. Here she is having a riding lesson Periwinkle. Look closely, Peri exactly matches the pony on her sweater!
At the sheep dog demo at the Gore Place Sheep Festival the dogs herd sheep, they heard goats, and then they herd ducks! I want some of these ducks. They are called Indian Runners and they are adoreable.

We visited Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island.
We got up at 5 am to milk and drove an hour, but it was worth it to see the song birds up close.
As you can see, the beaches are closed because the threatened piping plovers are nesting there.

beautiful blog

2008-05-29T10:13:00.001-04:00

If you want to read something inspiring check out Tink's blog (http://yarnsinthefarms.com/intheloop/?p=70) about her daughter's difficulty and her path to dangerous knitting. Tink has a yarn store that's so beautiful and inspiring in Beverly, Mass. and she writes children's books. I want to be her when I grow up.

a goat in a coat

2008-05-28T11:01:00.005-04:00

I bought this little coat at Mass. Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend. Doesn't Charlotte look sweet in it? It's really for a newborn lamb or sheep, but because she's a dwarf it fits her fine. It's really too warm for it, but the kids had fun for a few minutes. They are planning to use it as pattern to make her a whole wardrobe.

The Festival was really fun. Lots of great vendors--I bought a beaded orifice hook (if you have to ask what that means--don't google it, I think that would be scary), more fleece and wool (but it was controlled spending), a felted pumpkin, a handmade fireplace broom, and some sari yarn for Sophie's weaving.

If you want to see links for where we went, Paula did all the work on her blog: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=364769806&blogID=398261531

Then Sunday Paula and I went up to Vermont open studios--potters, knitters, and needle felters, oh my. We also put our feet in a river, hiked to some old growth, ate some local cheese, and saw a skinny dipper in downtown Brattleboro. As always, after a visit, I am left wondering why I don't live in Vermont!
Charlotte has a snack with a little help from her mom.

bad blogger

2008-05-26T21:04:00.005-04:00

Sorry, I've been invisible lately. I suffered a hard drive crash (my advice backup, backup) but I'm back with more goat photos. Here are Bella and Charlotte taking an afternoon nap with our chickens. One big happy family.
Yes, they are in our kitchen . . . but just that one time!

who knew . . .

2008-04-12T18:13:00.004-04:00

that goats love banana peels?!

Top dog, errr goat
Charlottes HELLps with the milking
Like mother, like daughter
Can Honey come out and play?

It's official . . .

2008-04-05T16:27:00.004-04:00

. . . I am now a person who stops at the side of the road for piles of pine branches. Rebecca thinks I need a bumper sticker "I brake for pine." It made the goats happy though.

Today I'm making yogurt. Can goat's milk yogurt be far behind?

And here's a gratitude quote I like:

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.~Denis Waitley~

in the milking parlor formerly known as the playhouse

2008-04-04T20:26:00.005-04:00

So we've converted the kids playhouse, that they've out grown, into our milking parlor.

Bella (the milkee?) and the kids and I (the milkers? milkmaids?) have settled in. It's going much faster now.
Charlotte comes too and plays in the shed while we milk.

Say Cheese!

2008-04-03T10:07:00.001-04:00

Checking things off my life list:

Climbed Kathadin, check

Paddled Boundary Waters, check

Had a homebirth, check

Drank straight from a glacier, check

Learned to spin, check

Got published in Hip Mama, check

Learned to belly dance, well sort of . . .

Well I still haven't got a book out there or been to Glacier NP, but today . . .

I made cheese from my own goat's milk, check

It is absolutely yummy, easy and quick. Now we want to make a custard from our own milk, eggs, and maple syrup.

My inspiration for the lifelist idea came from akbushbaby and her blog A Girl and her Dogs http://wannabemusher.blogspot.com/2008/03/loved-everything-more-than-anything.html Great blog, I would love to have a dog team, but I don't know if that'll happen this time around.

therapy dogs in the news

2008-04-02T19:19:00.002-04:00

Today is Autism Awareness Day. Here is a you tube link about therapy dogs and Autism. http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=7212210 The dogs in the green jackets are from Northstar, the program Honey (http://sprawlingsonnapkinscrapswithcrayons.blogspot.com/2007/12/by-definition.html) comes from, that Honey will be having puppies for.

Therapy dogs rock. Yesterday we went out to the Neads headquarters (www.neads.org) and saw some adorable puppies in training and one amazing assistance dog named Molly. Sorry no photos.

Ready or not, here we goat!!

2008-03-30T19:38:00.003-04:00

When in doubt--celebrate everything! This weekend not only did the goats come home, but the kids both competed with their 4H visual presentations at the state level! Rebecca did hers on maple sugaring and placed 2nd and got invited back to the Big E! She also was one of 4 kids chosen to be photographed and interviewed by UMass extension. This was Sophie's first year competing at state (last year she was a cloverbud and they only do club and county). She did an awesome vp on tacking up a horse!

So naturally my mother baked a cake.
The cake baker. If you know how to rotate her please leave me a comment!
They're here! Mother and baby--mom's name was Beullah, we're calling her Bella. The baby is 2 weeks old and so far has no name. We're considering Charlotte, Shadow, Tiny Miny, and Melissa. It's not a democracy, but if you have an opinion please put it in the comments.

We came out to this this morning:

We milked Bella morning and night on our brand new milking stand. We got 2 cups each time.

Ready to Goat

2008-03-27T19:38:00.001-04:00

puppies

2008-03-26T17:51:00.002-04:00

Happy Spring

2008-03-22T19:31:00.003-04:00

The forsithia were forced--there is nothing springlike about what's happening outside. There are still patches of snow and no redwing blackbirds to be seen or wood frogs to be heard.

Here's to all of us finding balance as the Earth finds hers.

I Kid You Not!

2008-03-20T17:42:00.002-04:00

One of these little doelings and her mama are going to be ours! I am hoping to have everything all set for them her in a couple of weeks. Here are my kids with the 4 day old goat kids. Aren't they cute!

kidding around

2008-03-14T22:01:00.004-04:00

Beulah (one of our soon to be goats) had quads tonight. I just missed the birth but arrived soon afterwards. The black babies are all girls, the white one is a boy. They are adorable. It was a miracle. They are so tiny, and they were wobbling around and bleating (baahing?) and nursing. Very, very cool.

another day, another gnome

2008-03-14T05:30:00.000-04:00

I knit the second gnome on smaller needles and with doubled yarn to keep the stuffing from showing thru. Sophie made him a little backpack

spring is sprouting

2008-03-11T20:38:00.002-04:00

We're forcing forsythia. (I don't know why I can't rotate the pictures again!)

Sophie hung up this bag of fleece and yarn for the nesting birds yesterday morning . . .

. . . and by yesterday afternoon the chickadees had put some of the green fleece in the nesting box outside our front door. (Sorry it doesn't show up that well in the picture.)

My friend Sandy has a son whose birthday is May 15th, the same as Rebecca's. Sandy just bought a sheep who is due to lamb on . . . May 15th. If she has a set of boy/girl twins, their names will be Rebecca and Hank!

The sap is freezing in the buckets over night and dripping like crazy by noon. We're getting over 5 gallons a day from our 7 taps.

And, ok, this isn't strictly a sign of spring, but Agway delivered the panels for our goats today!

a book and a knitting project

2008-03-11T19:59:00.005-04:00

My latest knitting project. I want to make a village of these little gnomes. http://www.naturalearthfarms.com/ sells the pattern for $2. These little guys are all over http://www.ravelry.com/. (Please note that I was able to post a vertical photo!)

I finally finished Song Not Yet Sung. I was savoring it, and trying not to finish it. It's been a long time since I've done that with a novel. It's a great read!

March weekend

2008-03-01T20:23:00.008-05:00

We went and saw this adorable puppy, Merlot, at the NEADS graduation (http://www.neads.org/). It was very moving to see folks graduating with their dogs. (And yes I still don't know how to rotate photos--can anyone help?!)

We have tapped our trees and the sap is flowing!

And I knit some on my scarf:

http://atimetoknit.blogspot.com/2007/10/holding-hands-feeding-ducks-pattern.html

I love simple patterns that seem complicated!

mothering and war

2008-02-25T07:14:00.003-05:00

"When it comes to war, I think it's the only thing that God would actually damn. I strongly believe that. To have a mother's sensibility you don't need to be female; you don't even have to have children. You just need to have a soul that cares about the future more than you care about yourself. That's what mothering is--laying down your life for the young so they can grow up into full people."
--Sally Fields

face masks and plaster casts on a snowy morning

2008-02-23T07:19:00.003-05:00

sorry--I couldn't figure out how to rotate them . . .

a better acog rebutal

2008-02-08T20:14:00.001-05:00

A well done, point by point rebutal of the ACOG press release on homebirth:

http://saffrondoula-coloradosprings.blogspot.com/

tangled up in blue

2008-02-08T08:07:00.000-05:00

You like? It will look even better once I weave in the ends.

Inspired by the Thrifty Knitter's Stash Shawl http://thriftyknitter.com/?p=135 and my ever increasing stash sprawl I decided to knit a blue shawl. Unfortunately, the process of following the pattern caused tangle upon tangle and so slow going.

Still it did a fine job eating some of my stash and I'm pleased with the results.

ACOG's witch hunt

2008-02-08T07:37:00.001-05:00

First Ricky Lake made a movie, the Business of Being Born, inspired by her own homebirth and actor John C. McGinley (Scrubs) and his wife Nichole had a baby at home and People magazine wrote a nice blurb about it.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20175819,00.html

Then ACOG (the American College of Obs and Gyns) felt so threatened they issued a press release reiterating their "long-standing opposition to home births" http://acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr02-06-08-2.cfm in which they state:

"Childbirth decisions should not be dictated or influenced by what's fashionable, trendy, or the latest cause célèbre. Despite the rosy picture painted by home birth advocates, a seemingly normal labor and delivery can quickly become life-threatening for both the mother and baby. "

Apparently childbirth decisions should only be influenced by celebrities choosing planned cesareans.

ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) has published their response at http://www.ican-online.org/, in which they publicly condemn ACOG.

The Big Push for Midwives also responded calling ACOG out of touch with the needs of childbearing families and accusing them of trying to play the bad mother card. http://www.birthpolicy.org/pushnews.aspx

All of ACOG's press release is infuriating, but to me the low point is when they say in the last paragraph:

"Choosing to deliver a baby at home, however, is to place the process of giving birth over the goal of having a healthy baby."

Not only does this basically call any woman choosing a homebirth selfish, but it creates a false dichotomy by suggesting that choosing the best birth for her is somehow separate from what will create a healthy outcome for her baby. What is good for the mother is good for the baby, and what is good for the baby is good for the mother. It is outrageous to suggest that homebirth endangers babies, when homebirth promotes empowering births for women, without medication (which we know carries risks for babies), and with a much lower risk of cesarean outcomes (which also carries risks for babies). By guarding against the unnecessary separation of the mother/baby unit (which decreases the risk of postpartum depression and increases the colonization of the baby with healthy bacteria from the mother, among other benefits) and promoting breastfeeding, while protecting the mother/baby from the antibiotic resistant germs that are most commonly found in hospitals, homebirth does much to ensure the health of the baby.

ACOG propagates the myth that birth is likely to turn unpredictably dangerous at any moment to try to gain a monopoly over the business of providing care for birthing women. The Big Push is right on the money when they call ACOG "a trade union representing the financial and professional interests of obstetricians".

I previously blogged about midwifery in trouble in Iowa and Missouri. Here's what's happening in Pennsylvannia. http://forum.baby-gaga.com/about116222.html

honest to blog or I can't believe I had no camera with me

2008-01-30T08:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was sitting in the ski lodge chatting with my mom and knitting these fingerless gloves while the kids and my dad skied. I swear that I saw a woman whose hair matched my knitting come in. Not only was her hair the same hot pink in places, it was the same gray and and purple. Honest. I promise to never leave my house without my camera again.

an act of faith in my mailbox or why is there a stuffed dinosaur on my kitchen table?!

2008-01-28T17:00:00.001-05:00

Rebecca's penpal in Oklahoma sent us a stuffed dinosaur the other day. His name is Max. Max started off in a 5th grade classroom in Michigan and is traveling the country before returning in May. So far he's been to South Carolina, California, Oklahoma, and now Massachusetts. I love the idea of it. We're sending him on with some photos of his stay here and a magnetic that looks like the sign in the photo.

prayer shawl completed

2008-01-23T11:12:00.001-05:00

it felt like magic

2008-01-12T20:22:00.000-05:00

I finished knitting my bag. I love doing it. It knits up fast on big needles, and I figure that my mistakes won't show after it's felted. I used Webs' Valley Yarns. The Yarn Harlot just talked about what great, cheap yarn it is, and it felts beautifully. This is my third knit to felt bag with it.
The best part was the grafting. I took the two ends of the strap and did this cool thing with a tapestry needle that made it look like it was one knit strip. What kind of genius thinks this kind of thing up?
http://www.knitty.com/issuesummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html
It came out of the washing machine (3 wash cycles on hot later) looking like this. I want to make one every day. It's magic. Shrinking things on purpose--what fun!

one little detail . . .

2008-01-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

I finished knitting my latest shawl last night. I'm very excited. It was scary there in the beginning casting on 1095 stitches (for that ruffle on the bottom) and I didn't quite get how I could decrease on every row and end on the wide/top part of the shawl, but that all worked out. I really like the ruffle and the wrap-around-and-tie-in-back style.

The detail is that there is an i cord decrease, so even though I could tell before the end that I was knitting a tiny garment, I couldn't figure out how to reduce the rate of decreasing and keep the nice i cord edge. It was not my original intent to make a shawl that fits an 8 year old so well. I hope at least she'll wear it.

as the sun sets on '07

2007-12-31T06:56:00.000-05:00

I got to spend a few relaxing days on the Cape this week. This was one of the sunsets we saw over Waquoit Bay.

Here is an Anne Lamott quote from her book Plan B, which I'm using as inspiration not to make any new years resolutions:

"I don't think that if I lie to be eighty I'm going to wish I'd spent more hours in the gym or kept my house a lot cleaner. I'm going to wish I had swum more unashamedly, made more mistakes, spaced out more, rested. On the day I die, I want to have had dessert."

Happy New Year! Enjoy your next trip around the sun!

see the sun returning . . . darkness is gone

2007-12-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

A group of us got up this morning to sing up the sun. Although the clouds obscured the actual sun rise, it's a ritual I do adore. Happy Solstice to everyone.

Raise your hand if you think this is wrong . . .

2007-12-21T10:50:00.001-05:00

So as anybody who knows me already knows, I am passionate about birth and midwifery. Women have been attended by midwives since the beginning of time; midwifery is not the practice of medicine! Home birth midwives aren't in it for the hours (they work all of them) or the money, they do it to be with women. It's a calling really. And here in the US, unlike most of the rest of the world, we harass midwives instead of honoring them.

To hear one woman's story check out: http://www.nofelonieformelonie.org/ Melonie is a midwife in Iowa who can no longer work as one because she's been charged with practicing medicine without a license. Maybe you could buy a tee shirt to help her with her legal bills. Meanwhile in Missouri they're working to change the fact that midwifery is a felony there. (And you thought witch hunts were a thing of the past.) http://http://www.mamaroots.com/FreetheMidwives.html And they are also selling shirts and other goodies to raise money for the cause.

And if you want to hear more about what's going on with our children and vaccines and circumcision check out these great interviews at http://www.Modavox.com/WomensNetwork

Got your goat?

2007-12-16T08:13:00.002-05:00

So I'm still working with my local Board of Health in my quest to get two dwarf goats. As this drags on into it's 5th month, I've certainly got an answer to my original question: "How hard can it be?" Letters of support to the Board are welcome--the public comment period end Jan. 11.

In Seattle it's legal to keep 3 goats in the city! They're registered like dogs--no inspection, no permitting process. Makes sense to me since they're the size of dogs, quieter than dogs, less aggressive than dogs, and their poop smells better.

Here's the article:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/333174_goat26.html

an inspirational quote for an uninspired day

2007-12-11T11:52:00.001-05:00

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
--Anais Nin

Or as Sophie interprets it, "The risk is greater to curl up
and hide then it is to stand up and fight."

good news/bad news

2007-12-10T08:16:00.000-05:00

good news:
http://tinyurl.com/2ttba4
Mom saves her baby's life by holding her after she was born!

bad news:
www.scorecard.org
Plug in your zip code and find out about the types and sources of pollution in your area.

In which I brag unabashedly

2007-12-09T11:55:00.000-05:00

These girls are my best work.

Rebecca made this little drawing for me. Both girls made bowls this summer, which they waited until the holiday to give. They are my favorite color--periwinkle. See how they match my kitchen wall.

Sophie spent the last weeks making me this Hanukkah gift with her Nana. It's a family quilt. It was her idea. She did all the sewing. I love it.

cold enough to freeze an egg

2007-12-08T15:34:00.001-05:00

It was warm and sunny later, but this morning Rebecca brought our first (of many?) frozen eggs in from the coop. This could definitely be a problem.

We went cross country skiing

It was such a beautiful winter day and with the dusting we got last night there were lots of tracks and prints.

Oak leaf

Rabbit, squirrel, and Sophie thought this piece of snow looked like a bird.

A book, two dvds, and a piece of random trivia

2007-12-07T10:06:00.000-05:00

So I keep thinking about one of the last books I read, Living Next Door to the Good Life, which is part homesteading memoir, part expose on the Hellen and Scott Nearing. Turns out the Nearings put their best foot forward in their writings, and may have left out some important details about how they got along. Like they had trust funds. Definately interesting.

I really liked the film Amazing Grace about the slave trade in the 1700s. It tells about how one person can make a difference, in this case working to make the slave trade illegal in Great Britian. The song was written by a British slave ship captain. I always thought it was a Southern spiritual.

Last night we saw Around the World in 72 Days: The Nellie Bly Story. How come we never learned about Nellie Bly in school? She was one of the most famous women of her day (late 19th century). She was a journalist who spent time undercover in an insane asylym to reveal what really went on there. And then, inspired by the book Around the World in 80 Days, she set the record for around the world travel.

I went to a wine and chocolate tasting and found out . . . port comes from Portugal. We never learned that in school either!

by definition

2007-12-06T13:43:00.001-05:00

goodog
noun
pronounciation: gu-dog
1. description, especially similar to goodgirl, honeybunny, loveyboo (who's a goodog? what a goodog!) 2. term of endearment 3. reward for appropriate behavior 4. a loved one 5. a superlative example

happy, happy

2007-12-04T11:04:00.000-05:00

Rebecca made this out of toilet paper tubes when she was 2 1/2. I love it. When they are grown I still want to use it every year.

Sophie is 8 and here is her poem:

Hanukah's a miracle

Candles are too

The light from the menorah

Shines over glittering latkees

On most days I am not grateful enough for the miracles I'm surrounded by.

Wishing you all lightness at this dark time of year.

Why didn't I think of that?

2007-12-03T16:06:00.000-05:00

1. How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard. No I haven't read it either, but what a great concept.

2. Carmel in hot cider with whipped cream like they serve at Starbucks.

3. Peanut butter in hot chocolate like they do at Sylvesters in Northampton, Mass., one of my favorite restaurants.

4. The Peepee tipi. Yes it is horrifying that people spend money on this, but if I used the profits for good rather than evil . . .

5. http://www.yarnharlot.ca/ Stephanie knits. And writes about knitting. And goes around to knit shops and talks to knitters. This is her actual job. And she's very funny at it.

6. The baby wearing group Nine in Nine Out. http://www.nineinnineout.org/ Yes, the concept is fabulous, babies love to be worn, there's a reason folks have been doing it since the beginning oftime. But I'm actually referring to their name--it's so cute!

7. The magic scarf. You knit a regular scarf, do a funky cast off, intentionally drop half your stitches, and get a cool lacey scarf. http://spellingtuesday.com/magicscarf.html

8. Dyeing wool in Kool Aid. http://snowangels.typepad.com/photos/kool_aid_dyeing/index.html I've done this with the kids. It really works, you get pretty pastels, and the kool aid, is urr, non-toxic.

9. Intentionally felting old sweaters, or making use of the ones that accidentally go in the dryer to make mittens, arm warmers, bags, blankets. This is addictive really. /http://www.supernaturale.com/articles.html?id=68

10. Serving soup in a whole pumpkin that you've hollowed out. http://partyfood.suite101.com/article.cfm/pumpkin_soup_in_pumpkin_bowls

Does this blog make me look fat?

2007-12-03T15:39:00.000-05:00

I think I'm starting to get this blog thing. It's technologically simple, even for a Sociology major like me, and it's so fun to hit publish and see it come up. But if I start to get out of control with this, somebody, please stop me!

Oh, and if you live in the Boston area. My article on the Cambridge Alliance doula program just came out in Spirit of Change. You can pick it up free at Whole Foods, the library, etc.

You Can't Plow A Field By Turning It Over In Your Mind

2007-12-03T12:45:00.000-05:00

Inspired by the above Eric Carle quote, and tired of hearing myself complain to my friend Paula about my blogless state, I am finally joining the world of bloggers. This should be more fun than writing blogs in my head, where they are really difficult for others to read. They say it takes 3 weeks to form a habit, so I'm going to try to blog daily for 3 weeks. Or almost daily. Or something.

I woke this morning to this:

The first snowfall of the season. Which means I'm no longer behind on raking my yard. It also means that I could go x country skiing this morning. Thanks to my neighbor snowblowing his driveway at 5:30 am, I was awake in plenty of time. I saw rabbit tracks and mouse tunnels. I love fresh snow!