New Additions

We are now officially raising 4 baby chick's who will turn into to happy egg laying hens in about 5 months. Yes, we have taken one more step to self sustainability in our urban dwelling. Knowing where are eggs have come from, what our hens are eating, and that they have a happy stress free existence, really matters to us. Plus, they will provide us with a nice amount of manure for the vegetable and herb gardens.



Our chicks are about 5 weeks old now. We first purchased them when they were about 10 days old. We took a trip out to East County to a feed store and picked out 2 Plymouth Barred Rocks (twins, named Daisy & Loretta) a Rhode Island Red (named Blossom) and an Araucana(named Cookie).





We have watched them grow literally over night. They are very cute, and the colors in their feathers are beautiful. Observing their behavior has been a favorite activity around here. We have seen first hand what all those funny chicken sayings mean, and crack up as we use them in our daily language, realizing we have not only heard these sayings, but have used them for years, but now have a new and improved perspective on them ! Here's some....

"ruling the roost", we think Cookie will fill this role.
"flew the coop", Daisy already did this once, luckily she didn't make it very far!
"nest egg", I think that's our 401K.
"chicken neck", I tell Blake to stick out his "chicken neck" while using the neti-pot.
"chicken scratch", turns out they love this scratching thing.
"pecking order", jury is out on the exact order at this point.
"mother hen", that would be me....

I know there are more sayings, so before I google them, leave me a comment with some of yours...

Oh, and I forgot to mention, these chicks are living in a very fabulous and secure two story chicken coop, complete with several roosting area's, 2 luxurious egg laying compartments, a spacious run, and fresh chicken feed & water supplied daily. There is even a storage area to keep all the supplies you need to care for these birds. All this was built by Alan & Blake over several weeks, in August and September. They had a great time working together, and I loved watching them.









Here is a chicken quote I found for Alan, "Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.” - Frank Lloyd Wright

We love our chicks & their cathedral !

The Best Cat in the World!

That's Eddie, who in our eyes, was really the "best cat in the world". After 18 healthy, happy and sleepy years, we had to put her to sleep last week. Her kidney's were failing, something that happens to old cats very often, and up until a month ago she was doing pretty well. In the last few weeks, she became fond of baby food, chicken dinner versions, but we knew she was close to the end when she stopped eating, and became dehydrated, it was obvious her body was shutting down. We had the choice of giving her injections of fluids to keep her alive, but as the vet said, that would have been only for our benefit, not hers, she was ready to go, so I made the decision to euthanize her. I knew this was coming and spent time preparing Chloe & Blake for it, logically knowing it would happen soon, but when it came down to her last day I was not prepared for it. We lost Eddie's sister Wally 5 years ago, to a dog who chased her down and attacked her, and I remember how devastating that was, and assumed since I had been through it once, that this would somehow be easier, well, I was wrong.

I still don't know at this point which part of the loss we were feeling was harder, my grief, or being witness to Chloe's grief. This was her first experience with death & loss. Watching her heartbreak was gut-wrenching. She is a natural with animals, they gravitate towards her, and are always calmed in her arms. She had a relationship with Eddie that I knew was special, but didn't quite realize the depth of it.



We have spent the last week and a half crying, talking, and looking back at pictures of Eddie, & Wally. We have learned that everyone grieves differently, and that we are not the only one's who have gone through the loss of a beloved pet. We talk about how we keep expecting Eddie to walk around the corner and meow at us, but quickly realize she is gone. We also found out how supportive everyone in our network of friends and family are at a time like this. Chloe's teacher sent home a sweet book for us to read, fittingly titled "The Best Cat in the World!"

The most beautiful part of our grieving is the way in which Chloe has processed her heartbreak through an outpouring of drawings, some in the sand at the beach the day Eddie died, and the others on t-shirts that Chloe wore to school during the week, even her Art card's for school and a Birthday Card for her friend reflects our loss. Her drawings have helped us, the love that is reflected is so pure, and I have watched them help heal Chloe's heart.








So here's to Eddie, the sweetest, calmest and most comforting cat I have even know. She was witness to the last 18 years of my life, watching me grow up in a sense, move to California, and start a family, and of course she was part of our family. One of our close friends who has watched over Eddie when we were out of town called her "The Angel Kitty". Such a fitting name, she was an angel, and I am sure she will be someone else's in her next life.



We love you Eddie, and are grateful to have had you in our lives for so many sweet & wonderful years. You will surely be missed !

One Year Later

So, I have abandoned this blog for a whole year now, so sorry to everyone, especially my future self, let's see if I can keep up with posting again. I have thousands of pictures from the past year, along with lots of stories, and I have no idea how I could recapture that here. So maybe I will play some catch up in the coming weeks, and maybe not, no expectations, right ?

What I can say, is we are back to school yet again, Chloe is in 4th grade, and Blake in first. We had an amazing summer, great food, an abundant garden, totally relaxing & fun vacations, a fun birthday celebration for Chloe, a festive labor day party with great friends, and lots of time to chill at the beach, which is what I am missing most at this point. So all I have right now is this picture that I LOVE, it was taken on one of those lazy evenings at Coronado beach while we were packing up and heading home. Sun-kissed and grateful for living just 20 minutes away from the ocean.

Blake's New Hair

Lots of changes in Blake's life. He just started Kindergarten, he has made new friends, he's learned how to swim, he lost his very first tooth,and now he has short hair !!

He's been wanting this for a few months now, but Momma & Daddy had a hard time imagining him without out his long locks. After seeing him with short hair, which really enhances his big boy attitude these days, I think it I was hesitant because the long hair still makes it feel like he is a little, little, boy. Oh be still my beating heart!



He was really into sitting in the chair. Suzi the stylist really knows how to give a good boy's cut !



Look at all that hair ! I bet this makes the Grand Parents happy, it has sure made all of us happy, especially Blake.

Summer Salads

Check out this article in the New York Times. 101 Simple Salad Recipe's for your summer veggies and greens. The possibilities are endless !

The Tee Pee's

Chloe's school has an annual Art Night celebration & auction, it took place in May. Each classroom works to make a auction item and this year the kids were studying the art and life of Georgia O'Keeffe. So, we thought it would be cool to make a tee pee and have the kids paint their version of an O'Keeffe flower. We gave them some different silk flowers as inspiration and laid out the tee pee fabric flat on the floor for the kids to work on. I love their work !



The tee pee construction turned out to be more work than I thought, and with most big projects I take on, there is usually some mistake I make that puts me in a panic, but thankfully, in the end turns out to be much better than I could ever imagine. I used this tutorial. I wanted to save some money on the fabric, so I bought pre-made painters cotton drop cloth from Home Depot. I thought the finished measurements met the required one's that the tutorial called for, but after I cut it, it turned up really short on the bottom and very uneven. So I had to wing it on piecing together extra fabric to add all around the bottom, after it was all painted. With the help of some other Mom's in the class we pulled it off, and it turned out really cute. There is a little girl out there right now who's Mommy purchased the tee pee and I am sure she is having a ball in it.



I had extra fabric left, so I made another one for Miss Olivia, & The Circle of Friends preschool. It was our parting gift to the school, Blake graduated and starts Kindergarten in September. We have been with Olivia for 6 years between Chloe & Blake. On this one, we put the tee pee together and let the kids paint on it standing up, it went much quicker and we let the kids paint whatever their hearts desired. It turned out just as sweet.




Now, if I can just pull another one off, Chloe & Blake could have their own. I will add it to the summer project list !

The Blog Slacker is Back!

Alright, I know I have been neglecting this space for way to long. Instead I have spent quite a bit of time outside in the dirt, cultivating & growing as much food as I possibly can. If I am not in my garden then I have been in someone else's. I have to say, I would rather be away from the computer than on it, dirt or clay under my finger tips is much more satisfying then keyboard induced carpal tunnel.

I have however, been taking lots of photo's so I will attempt to catch up in my next posts. For now, I will share with you some of my favorite images that have come from my newest I-photo application that I am loving these days, thanks to my friend Emil who turned me onto it. Its called Shake It Photo, it simulates the polaroid experience I can't believe how well it takes pictures and how beautiful the colors are. If you have an i-phone its a must have app !

What's been growing at my house...

Beets



Green Onions





A salad every night



Green Beans




Our first cucumber



The Beach






The Del Mar Fair









Alan's newest growth... love it



The ultimate kid summer pastime, The Lemonade Stand





Alright then, back outside, hope your summer is great !

The Dreyer Family Band

The best family CD, ever! That's my review.
Our good friends Annie, Matt, Mac, Emmett & Silas, (the West Coast Dreyers, is what they call themselves) just finished this wonderful collection of beautiful songs with the (East Coast Dreyers). It was so lovely to see it all come to fruition last night at their CD release party, held at Plum Pottery. I feel like I was there at the birth of these songs. Last year when I would see Annie in the school garden, or chat on the phone with her, she would sing me lyrics as she wrote them. I would get goose bumps all over my body and warm fuzzy feelings in my heart, I just knew the songs were going to be something special. Well, a year or so later, here it is ! A beautiful gift to us all.... Go listen to it, buy it, and celebrate its messages with your family.

The Dreyer Family Website

Fava Beans

I have been spending my Thursdays at Chloe's school taking her class out to the school garden to dig, plant, grow and harvest food. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed doing this. So far this year we have been continually harvesting salad greens, radishes and carrots. This past week our bounty included two big bowls of fava beans that we planted back in October. First the kids picked as many beans as they could ( it was a fava bean frenzy I tell you !) and then we all gathered in a circle on the grass and passed around the bowls to see how heavy there were. We then proceeded to shuck the beans. The kids talked about how well they worked as teams to pick them, and they really loved pealing back the green flesh to find big fat fava beans inside.



This was the first time I attempted cooking in the garden, good thing I had that handy camp stove ! Before cooking the beans, there is still one more layer to remove, and most people boil them for a few minutes then transfer to ice cold water before removing the layer that gives you the yummy green bean that is eaten. Since we were running short on time, we skipped the boiling step and we sauteed them in their shells with a bit a garlic and olive oil. The heat made the bean pop out and we separated them just before eating. Everyone ate them and really liked there taste. Their are still more beans to harvest and share.




Some of what we have learned about Fava Beans:

~They are a great source of protein & they taste good.

~They are really fun to plant, but way more fun to pick !

~ They take about 4 to 5 months to actually produce the beans, first come beautiful flowers, and they are edible to.

~ Fava's are considered a cover crop, which means you can plant them to cover soil that is not being currently used for another crop and it will keep your soil productive as well as "fix nitrogen" into it. Fixing means the plant actually takes nitrogen from the air and feeds it back into the soil. It as a great plant to put in the soil that you usually grow tomato's in during the warm months.




For more detailed info you can check the Wikipedia entry here, and there is a nice article with recipes written here.

P.S. The last two images above were taken by Emil @ erb photography, I love the fava's in the air !!