Category — chickens

Summertime arrived recently and brought the sun and roses with it.

After several days (weeks?) spent sandwiching work around trips out with the rambunctious-almost-4-year-old to the park and so on, I discovered that I pick up a great wireless signal from our very own backyard! I’ve pretty much lived out there since, trying to get work done while the chirrun’ do wat dey do (that’s Vivian language for, “children do what they do”… which I decided needed clarification.)

And what do the “chirrun’” do? Well, let’s see… Ethan gets wet and dirty. He collects eggs, waters plants, plays with the hose, takes off his shoes (and gets scolded and chased around for this as he doesn’t get how GROSS IT IS TO STEP IN CHICKEN CRAP!), begs for food throughout the day, lays on the blanket to look at books or color or pretend he might go to sleep for about 5 seconds before he is ON THE GO again. Verity nurses, poops, farts, burps, looks around for awhile, and then naps with her butt in the air on the blanket. This is a great deal better than when I work in my room. When I work in my room, she normally does all of the above, only she adds SCREAMING to the mix. She is definitely an outdoorsy gal.

We’ve had several BBQ’d meals out on the lawn with the roomies, trying to stay outdoors where there is a breeze (houses here don’t have AC like they do in Florida!) until the sun is practically down (which is lately passed 9pm). Our TV went bazurko on us last week (much to my gratitude, it waited until the Lost season was over!) and looks like a bunch of crazy tripped out streaks across the screen (what is with us and faulty electronics lately?). This is one more reason NOT to stay indoors.

Okay, well, I don’t have much insightful to say because my brain has been lost somewhere on the road between Child Rearing Land and Work at Home Land — but, as predictable as it is, here are some pics!
(again, this slideshow may not be viewable from feeds, so come here to see it!)

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I wish I could upload pictures but I’m at a coffee shop getting a bit of wifi:
The weather is so nice today. After a looong weekend of moving in the rain, and being sick and pregnant too, I can’t tell you how nice it was to wake up this morning with the sun shining, collect the happy chicken’s eggs, fold some laundry, open the windows… ahhhh… nice isn’t even the right word – it’s FANTASTIC!
More soon, when I can get some pictures on here!

Lacey shot some good ones while we walked around it yesterday – check them out!

I’ve reworked our budget according to some new figures, including lower rent and some utilities, sharing food and bulk items with our home-sharing family, so on. I am delighted to see our budget starting to look more realistic, and with positive numbers showing up at the end! With a low guess of my monthly income, we should have enough to put a little in a savings account (WHAT? Did she just say SAVINGS? What’s THAT?), a little to give away to those in need, and $350 a month for the birth (if it isn’t all covered by April, I’ll owe another 350 each month until its paid off, so I’m planning for that now).

I think my biggest challenge will be in keeping grocery and food costs down. I currently have our limit (family of 3, one pregnant) at $300 per month. I want to drastically reduce my need for the weekly grocery trip, instead ordering my reoccuring items in bulk from Azure Standard through a local portland parenting group and splitting a large Organics to You bin. I still need weekly items from the grocery store, (milk, eggs, occasional “treat” ) but I read on another blog that when trying to reduce the need for the grocery store trip, limit yourself to $10/per person/ per week, so that you don’t spend more than 50 bucks more than you budget for each month. Our limit will be a little higher than that, but it’s a good place to start.

Cup&Saucer yummies




You know you’re moving when your living room looks like this!

You know you’re having a baby girl when she owns more clothes UNBORN than your 3 year old boy does!

Lacey and I went out to turn in our lease yesterday, had a meal at the Cup and Saucer Cafe on Denver, and walked around the new place a bit, scoping out plans for the yard. There’s an ideal corner for the chickens that we will keep fenced in so they can roam a bit but not get into the veg beds and clothes drying lines. There’s a big ol tree that I can’t wait to rig a tree swing to for the boys. The front yard looks like it might have a great sunny spot for a small square bed for herbs, but we really can’t tell until we move in and see the sunlight throughout the day. A funny moment when both of us stood in front of the house looking up at it like it was one of the 7 great wonders of the world , took a deep breath, and tore ourselves away to get back to the reality of packing and moving and dealing with the “past” before we can move on.

We are starting to think that Hubby and I can have us in boxes/bags by Saturday morning, and the landlord is good with us getting keys then, so if we can get a few guys together and a truck or two, we are hoping to get most of our moving, if not all, done on Saturday. That will give me a week, at least, to get back over here and clean, Hubby can paint the kitchen, etc etc. The sooner we get our current place move-out ready, the sooner we can get back our hefty security deposit, so we are motivated! Yesterday we rolled up carpets, spot cleaned the rugs, replaced a cracked medicine cabinet mirror with a $5 piece found at the Rebuilding Center (holy cow- awesome!), boxed up Ethan and Verity’s clothes, Ethan’s toys, etc. Our room is next – not looking forward to it. Kitchen will be last for me and tv/electronics will be last for Hubby (Friday!).

Pregnancy is going really well, btw. Verity is super duper active, keeps me up at night a lot but mostly its fine. My anemia seems to be doing better, but my leg cramping is worsening. I’m taking cal-mag citrate but its at the point that if I flex my BUTT muscle while sleeping, it will get a charlie horse. (Who knew you could get a charlie horse in your buttocks?!) I know its the last stretch that is the hardest, so I’m very grateful that moving will be underway and finished by the time she is due. I’m excited for my sister, who is due in just two weeks, with her first! I can hardly believe it!

Ta ta for now…

Hmmm… we’ll have to discuss the nickname for our new place…the “Ort-Hol Community House”, but that just sounds, I dunno, a bit like a dirty reference! LOL

OKAY! I wrote earlier that we were hard at work finding a place. Well, place found! We saw it yesterday, (three times to be exact), and turned in apps and they were approved today and we are signing leases and getting keys for March 1st. WOAH! When things work out, boy do they work out! Sheesh.

I really like this little place. It’s a small, 3-level home in N. Portland 5 blocks from the Lombard/Interstate MAX stop. Built in 1924, it’s got a bit of character but also lots of upgrades for energy efficiency and so on. Two levels have 2 beds/1 bath each, with a 3rd level that is like a long loft/ family room/ guest room. Fun stuff. Oh, and the landlord is a firefighter who lives nearby and is the most easy going guy I’ve ever met, its almost laughable. We get to keep the chickens and the kitty, without even needing a deposit. It’s fairly miraculous how it is all working out so far!

Bing, bang, boom – folks. We start relocating in 2 weeks. So you may not hear from me much due to working and packing and so forth, but I’ll do my best to keep ya posted.

Please continue to pray for us and for the other family as we take this step…

At long last: The last month highlights – in pictures!
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And my ode to soup:
One of this winter’s many gifts to me was discovering just how much I love soups and stews. And here’s why:

• For one thing, I can usually make a delicious, hearty soup with a few random, cheap produce items and a bean or legume, some spices and water and wa la.
• But it’s more than how cheap, nutritional, and filling it is. I love how Portland is cooler in the winter than Florida was all my life (an understatement?) because I never before felt this drive to eat something warm and nutritious like soup after a long day. How you can actually feel soup warm your bones and satisfy your tummy is such an amazing comfort.
• In a picture above, there is a stew I made earlier this week that was surprisingly more delicious than we anticipated, (I can’t share the recipe because its copyrighted). What I was really *tickled* about was how much like beef stew it was- (I really love a good beef stew!). This one used spices like ginger, curry, cinnamon, all spice, and cumin, and the main ingredients I used (some called for, some just had on hand) were sprouted french lentils and red russian kale, along with potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery.
  I think the main reason I needed this soup was because of my anemia. Lentils, kale and potatoes (with skin on) are a great source of iron. A friend was just telling me how she craved liver early on in her pregnancy and only later discovered it as the highest source for many of the vitamins needed during that time. Our bodies truly do know how to feed themselves, if we’ll only listen!
• I’ve gone directly to soup recipes for months now, for all the reasons mentioned above and more. (For more reasons: I love one-pot dishes and soup is just that – easy prep and clean up. I also love to effortlessly double recipes and give half to Hubby for his lunches all week, which soup lends itself so well to.) While I seriously can’t wait for warmer weather (mainly for the greenery and gorgeous spring flowers!), I also see why I don’t mind winter at all. It’s my hibernating-soup lovin’-shorter days-warm blankets time!

We’ve been doing lots of livin’ and learnin’ around these parts lately. I got to hang out with some girlfriends this weekend, do some more knitting, though I realized that my anemia was very likely the reason I was so (SO!) tired and foggy this passed week. I had started taking my prenatals (finally) for the iron in them when my last midwife visit reported me low on iron. But little did I know, I was not getting much of the iron because I was drinking the supplement down with kefir (calcium). Anyhoo, when I noticed my nails and skin were really pale and other strange symptoms, I did a bit of searching and figured out the big mystery. I’ve been doing the prenatals with EmergenC infused water now instead, and eating more iron rich foods like edamame, etc. I’m happy to report I am feeling much better this last day or two, though, so hopefully it’s all good!

Let’s see, I just did a rough draft of our tax forms and it looks like, low and behold, we won’t owe anything! A very small return, actually, which is better than I expected. I’m also in the process of seeing if the state is going to be willing to help us cover the cost of the birth, because with Hubby’s reduced income we are in the income limits for state health coverage. I should know more in about two weeks, so keep your fingers crossed!

Lil’ E made use of a camera his nana sent him and took some pretty cool little pictures this week. It was funny to watch him take over his camera so seriously, learn to zoom in and out, flip through modes, and turn it off safely when he wasn’t using it. When we went on a walk, he would say, “Wow, look at that beautiful house, let me have my camera now!” lol Below are a few of my personal favorites. I love his perspective, he really took ownership of this experience. (I am NOT showing you the dozens of my big red face that he took )
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As I have shared, the books I have been reading are SO interesting and I am really feeling passionate about Lil’ E’s natural learning process. I’ve been keeping a journal of what he’s learning and interested in through out the day, without any special curriculum or coercion from an adult. He asks questions all.day.long. Questions like, “Why does the kitty have brown gums but we have pink gums?” or “Why do sidewalks break?” And he makes fascinating statements like, “When I grow up, then I will like onions like you and dada. And I will also know how to find my way home by myself!”

He gets into all kinds of things and I make observations of what he’s “learning” as he does them. From the last few days, here’s a handful of the dozens of learning activities he has accomplished:

• Arranged domino’s into letter shapes to spell his name. Pointed out imaginary characteristics of each letter, saying “E is looking at the T. T is looking in the mirror. H is running. A is dancing. N is jumping rope.”
• Used scrabble game pieces to make up words and ask us if he has spelled something.
• flipped through a grown up book of mine to count pages in the corner. Recognized numbers 1-30 almost seamlessly.
• Learned that orange juice is made from squeezing oranges.
• Read two books about Valentine’s Day
• Looked at illustrations of a 30 week old fetus and counted how many week’s until his little sister is born
• Sang many songs, but mostly repeated “This Old Man” and “Do a Deer”
• Listened to oldies on the radio with mama and danced. One began with lots of bongo sounds and he recognized it and went to get his bongos to play along, with decent rhythm!
• Learned about heat from candles and fire safety
• Sorted his sea shell collection according to shape
• Valentine crafts – drew distinct facial features on hearts, recognized every other red/pink pattern in paper loop garland, wrote out by himself the letters/words “Ethan loves Dada” and “Ethan loves nana betsy and papa” and “Ethan loves pawpaw and mawmaw” in his valentine cards
• Out of nowhere, asked why the letters “T” and “V” spell “TV” but the letter “Y” doesn’t spell “WHY”
• Helped with chickens, observed that chickens are birds like in the trees but they don’t fly as well and they are bigger. Discussed that some animals have feathers/fur/scales/hair.

It’s really amazing to just be present with him and observe all that he takes in. Such a variety of topics are included in his curious little world, without me having to do much of anything except facilitate an environment in which he can learn. So cool! I love that he has a desire to learn new things (as we all do, inherently!) and that when I step back, he can really TAKE OFF!

So yeah, like I said, livin’ and learnin’, not a lot new that other than this. Hopefully I’ll have some interesting things happen and smack ya with a really cool post soon

There’s some things I really have to chew on for years, digesting only what my gut is ready for, one phase at a time.

I have a memory of a phone conversation 3 years ago in which I was commiserating on the benefits of an all fruit/veggie detox with my mom-in-law, and remarked, “I guess … wouldn’t it be better to do organic fruits and veggies? I mean, can you really detox with pesticides and everything on your food?” I sincerely wasn’t sure, just suspected the whole organic thing would be imperative to a true detox. At that time, I was all about “The Grocery Game”, clipping coupons, utilizing Walgreens rebates, shopping at the produce stand around the corner from my house (which consisted of extra cheap, extra ripe, extra sprayed produce that the supermarket wouldn’t take!). I had our grocery bill down to less than $40 per week! Everything I ate was cheap and on sale, as the most important factor was frugality. Albeit slightly “well-balanced”, we definitely did NOT try to eat chemical free.

But the little thought I had in that conversation lead me to do a little more research, which caught on like a bug. Over the years I discovered, somewhat organically (pun intended:)) the horrors of drinking cows milk (and wasn’t surprised, since I’m allergic to milk anyway) and then there was this post on the difference between refined vs unrefined eating, and this one when I discovered a local organic farm to pick from in central Florida. I got my hands on organic, raw, and vegan cookbooks to learn a bit more. (This eventually led to rethinking the toys we own and other homemaking thoughts.)

In the process, for this and many other reasons, we packed up and headed to the Pacific NW, where a world of new ways to live awaited me!

In Portland, I was able to embrace things I only dreamed about during Sara Snow shows, like a large farmers market of local and organic produce, co-ops, delivery bins, fresh bakeries, backyard chickens, oh my! It is sooooo fantastic to live in an area like this, (and yes, I know Portland isn’t the only one ). So, slowly, I’ve gotten a bit more comfortable with ever more “radical” ways to eat and live. As I said, these things happen over time; I’m not a Burger King to raw vegan overnight kinda gal. (And neither is Hubby, who still thinks there’s something funny about goat’s milk- though it was around longer than cow’s and is much easier to digest than cows, AND he loves goat cheese– go fig!)

What am I getting at? you ask.

(Good question. Like all my post’s, I don’t format or edit them for more than about 2 minutes so you get what you get.)

My long introduction is to eventually get to my point about new things I am trying, venturing into, and sold on. Things like making my own breads, kefir, and oat milk (info/recipes in the links) like I mentioned in my New Year’s Resolution post. Things that take a bit more time, taste a bit different, but the making of which benefits my family’s nutrition AND pocketbook. Being an upset digestive system (IBS) sufferer, I especially like the idea of furthering the journey towards homemade, organic, beneficial bacteria, whole grain eating.

Now NeoHippieMama’s got me thinking again about making my own soap and lotion, something I invested in waaaaay back when, but had to leave all my bulk supplies in Lakeland. Perhaps after I’ve gotten used to making the food stuff, I’ll tip toe into this other area, including simple, natural homemade laundry detergent, toothpaste, shampoo and dish soap, so I can buy bulk supplies, mix up batches, and wa-la. (Note: also want to make natural art supplies for me and E.)

Total aside, can I just say: Trader Joe’s – I love you. Let’s have babies. Thank you for supplying me with brownies I can make really fast and don’t have to feel guilty about (No-Pudge Fudge Brownies). I really needed a “treat” tonight. I discovered the lonesome box in the back of the pantry, added 3/4 cup of yogurt and enjoyed 35 minutes later with cinnamon sprinkled on top, accompanied by tea and a good book. Mmmmmm…

(I’ll have to tell you more about the book in this picture, Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child. It’s one we began to read 5 months ago but had to focus more on the marriage than parenting at that time. We’ve been reading aloud at night and so far it has been a wonderful resource in recognizing our faulty parenting styles and how to get better. One of the best parenting books I’ve ever read, actually.)

For more ways to embrace natural homemaking (frugally) check out some of my favs:
Sustainable Living on a Budget
Not Milk
No Shampoo Revolution
Passionate Homemaking: Natural Living on a Budget

(and all the links in the post content)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!

Oh, the snow sure was purty today… from my window, anyway…

Having to go get chicken food this afternoon? Bleh. Wrapped up like a tortilla in layers of maternity clothes, with nothing but my eyes exposed, yet the temps turn my toes (from inside snow boots) into numb ice cubes and fingertips (through two pairs of knit gloves) into useless burning tentacles! Oh, and let’s not forget the lovely build up of SNOT that drips into the scarf wrapped tightly around the lower half of your face, (yum.) Lil’ E and I hold on to Hubby’s arms for dear life since we both stand to lose our lives (yes, I’m a drama queen) slipping on slick icey sidewalk. By the time I get back to the house, I’m walking on my heels in hopes that the .5 inch distance from the ground will keep my toes from needing to be amputated! (Did I mention I lived in Florida MY WHOLE LIFE?)

But, seriously, had you seen how cabin fever we were today, you’d know that I complain only in good heart. We woke up BEFORE the butt crack of dawn for Hubby to decide whether or not to take a PTO snow day, so I got to workin’ super early only to lose my internet access a few times. By noon we had exausted ourselves with munchies and daytime TV in the background, while Hubby and Lil’ E resorted to pillow fights (with lots of lovely shrill shrieking from the 3 year old). I put on LOST season 1 when the soaps took over network television, after giving up hopes that Hubby would play me in a hearty game of scrabble (I think I wooped his arse a bit too hard this weekend – hurt his ego). Finally, we just had to leave the house. Sanity depended on it.

Sometimes I feel stir-crazy like this from a normal week, snow not included. When work assignments are slow and there’s no one to chit chat with save the incessant narrative of my WAY TOO VERBAL toddler, I tend to get a bit nuts. It’s that fine balance between staying open enough with your schedule that you have time to raise a child AND take work assignments simultaneously, verses getting your plate productively full and risking overload. There are nice long work days that make ya feel like a normal adult again, (pleasantly exausted), and there are other days when life has been set on slow-mo and you are making up songs to sing while you lay on the floor. (When I said nuts, you believed me, right?)

But, then, what is there to complain about, really? Ha! Nuthin, sweets! Keep on keepin’ on.

I have thrown together this very basic picture guide to showcase the highlights of our chicken coop in case any one wants to build something similar. It was designed and built by a friend of ours, though we pretended to be useful, and made of almost entirely recycled materials. It is big enough for 3 backyard hens and of course does not need to have a rabbit hutch on the first floor. Download The Hen House here for free Enjoy!

Of course, if you’re feeling particularly generous, you can donate to my paypal below by clicking on the beer mug