Fruit Week

Breakfast this morning.

I guess this week is fruit week for us.

On Monday, I was able to pick 40+ gallons of slightly (and completely) bruised or rotten apples for free.
Great, right?

Just what everyone wants for Christmas.
I ended up with a very very VERY full garbage can, some intensely excited chickens, and 5 gallons of actual usable apples.  We got four quarts of applesauce out of it.

Then, last night, I found a deal for free grapevines and fruit trees on Craigslist, so at 8:30 p.m., Michael and I went out to our backyard and plotted and dug some massive holes.  In the dark.

Michael and my dad picked them up before supper tonight, as our van is currently out of commission... (Next week it gets fixed! We've been budgeting for over 12 weeks for this one...I'm so excited.)

It's a dwarf Liberty apple tree; we couldn't fit much else.

Grape vines before trellising.

Apples from our very own apple tree.

Grape vines after trellising.  Edelweiss and Fredonia.

Then on this coming Saturday, we have plans to go over to a friend's house and glean pears, apples, and grapes from them.

I've been battling fruit flies like crazy in our kitchen, but thinking about homemade hot applesauce in the winter, I think they're really a small nuisance to bear.  I'm looking forward to potentially trying to juice the grapes we glean this weekend.

It could be a disaster.  We've never juiced grapes before, but it's always fun to try something new.


I do have some news about my wingback endeavors (or lack thereof.)  I'm thinking about sending the third chair to savers or goodwill and just looking for a free smaller chair that I can use the fabric on. (I have an inquiry in on a free one from Craigslist.) Something that just requires paint and sewing.  I enjoy upholstery, but at this point in my pregnancy, it's just not going to happen...and I don't want an unfinished project sitting in my kitchen and mocking me for the next....year.  I also think it would look a little odd to have three pieces of large-ish furniture that are the exact same piece of furniture in such close proximity to each other.  So there's that.  I'm likely a quitter.  But I'm giving myself grace.

Garden Update: September

I realized I was perhaps a bit behind in posting some garden pictures.  

And I never updated you on the state of our rooster.

He is happily residing in a seasonal zoo at a local apple orchard right now.  At the end of the season, the orchard owner will be giving us a few hens in exchange.  I think we got ourselves a great deal.  

Our garden took off like crazy this summer, despite the odd summer weather.  June was beastly hot, and then July and August never really touched over 80, and they were cloudy and rainy.  

This is supposedly my "pathway" behind the garden.

Mystery flowers.

I was negligent when it came to brocolli and cabbage.  The chickens haven't minded getting overgrown produce for food.

"Mama, the colours are so beautiful.  They make me want to blow God a kiss."

a little butter and honey makes experimental whole wheat bread go down more smoothly.

I e-mailed our DNR to get a few posters from an old 1950's series.  They sent the entire series for free since it was for educational use.  I wasn't, however, anticipating that they be so large.  We could probably wallpaper the entire area I'm planning on using as a homeschool area.

I've been taking online surveys to earn money for Million's homeschool books for his kindergarten year.  It's slow going, but it beats getting a part-time job.  When we get a new book in the mail every two or three days, it's fun to see his face light up.  I actually briefly contemplated going back to some transcription work, but I much prefer surveys because interruptions can happen without penalty.  And interruptions happen around here.

I might try to open our Etsy shop again after Jubilee is born, once we've established a bit of a rhythm.  I really miss selling handmade items.  I do have some other ideas that require me budgeting for a sewing machine, but with everything we're trying to do,  a sewing machine falls under the "want" category.  However, we do know what kind we're looking for, so I've been watching Craigslist for lightly used ones.  If I can only sell off some of our unused instruments, then maybe we'll be able to consider it.

Blueberries, Tomatoes, and Raspberries, Oh My!

Photo Post

My two kitchen "helpers."  The Bonnie Prince cried when I took his apron off.

Michael mentioned to the neighbor lady that he was going to start using panty-hose to hang up his squash.
She gave him an entire bag of used ones.  I told him to write a thank-you note, but he thought that might be awkward...

We're back to thinking the gender confused chicken is a hen.  Apparently hens can crow.
And it might just be an alpha-hen that grows more quickly than the others.

Heirloom purple beans.  Michael and I enjoy them.  The boys try to sneak theirs to the chickens.

Yellowing! Hooray!

Million has renewed his interest in crochet once again.
I let him pretend because I'm not a skilled teacher in things that I pick up easily.

"First fruits" of the summer squash were harvested yesterday.

We had beautiful cottage landscaping planted this year out front.  We just planted a little too early.
So we've had a weedy and seedy looking front lawn in our perfectly manicured retiree neighborhood, because I was hoping that *something* would grow.

Finally we have two little bursts of colour.

 I don't even know if this plant is a weed or an intentional flower.  But it's purple and pretty, so I'm going with it.

Chairs, Chickens, and Circles of Life

Our poor boys will grow up thinking it is completely normal to keep wingback chairs in various stages of undress in the middle of the kitchen.  Michael set a goal of August 20th for the grey chair.  Then I'll need to hop right on the blue-green chair, or it just won't be happening until maybe 2017.  After the three chairs, I only have two furniture projects left before I start in on Christmas presents. (Please think of me kindly when I uttered those last few words.  I will be 39 weeks pregnant at Christmas.  Presents just won't happen unless I start early this year.  Or I'll be buying incredibly inappropriate gifts like compression stockings and postpartum pads for everyone on my list.)

I got a little inspiration a few days ago from this post.  (Confession: I'm looking at making some rugs for around the house...Because I obviously need some more hobbies.) I was initially thinking of getting a new glider for when the baby comes, but both Michael and I prefer the idea of a bit of an oversized chair.

My mom found this little green end table on the side of the road.  It's seen better days, which you can't really see in the picture...but she thought it reminded her of a project I would take on.  We agreed.   A little sanding, some paint, and some new hardware, and she'll be as good as new.  The dresser, I mean.

Our squash plants are doing very well.  I'm so pleased.  Michael goes out and counts the pollinated squash blossoms each day.  

In chicken news, there is a concern that one of our hens may actually be a rooster.  Shhhh.  It's not legal here in town.  And we're still in the confirmation process, since the chickens are in the tweenage-developmental phase.  I guess we may be giving the educational talk again about the circle of life that moves our chicks through despair and hope, and onto the dinner plate....

And lastly on a gender identity note, we'll be finding out what gender the baby is next week.  I'm chomping at the bit a little, since it's nearing the end of garage sale season, and if we find out that it's a female (all three guys are hoping for a Jubilee), I'll need to hit some garage sales up.  

First Dates

Tonight was my first date with the staple gun.  Michael brought the chair down to our basement construction zone, so the boys hopefully wouldn't hear the air compressor so much.  I only have five more pieces of fabric (and the bottom piping) to put on, and two of them are the largest pieces of the entire project. I'm learning all sorts of tricks to employ when I do our two "public" chairs.  And I am just choosing to be okay with minor imperfections.  For the other two chairs, I'll be painting or restaining the legs.

It's that time of year where our garden starts to lose its mind and grow into a wild beast, not at all conscious of borders or neat rows.  Things are a lot more unkempt in their appearance.

We were able to harvest our first beets this morning.  The boys will be genuinely excited when I cook these.  Unfortunately,this morning there was not enough for Michael and I to have on our salads, but we have about 50 more beets to go.

The top paint on this paint strip is the paint colour I chose for Creedence's room.  It's all painted now, but I can't take a decent photo of it.  It's a blueish white, and it looks cozy and inviting----just the kind of place for a Bonnie Prince and his future sidekick to curl up and sleep.  Hopefully I'll get the vinyl decals up this evening or tomorrow.

Since I wasn't able to use the staple gun while the boys were sleeping last night (or right now for that matter), I went back to this project.  These little squares... I'm 1/6th of the way on stitching their borders, and then I'll get to move onto the easy crochet part.

 And since I needed a mental refresher, here are the fabrics for the two other wingback chairs that will sit in our living room.

Tonight and tomorrow night, I'll be attending an online parenting e-conference.  I'm looking forward to being refreshed and inspired.  I'm also beginning a week-long purge in our house again.  I'm going to aim low this time and shoot for only 100 items out of the house by next Monday. 

Trellising

Magical Places

I don't intend for this to be a long post.

It's just to say that I was sitting out on our deck this morning after doing all of the chores.  I looked at all of our progress on the yard, and I thought to myself "This will be a magical place this summer."

I'm not an outdoors person.  But the way Michael has worked to transform our yard could easily turn me into one.

It's so purpose-filled.  And I dig that.

We're going to plant an apple tree or two.  We have chickens.  We have four garden beds and three berry patches.  

And we live in the city.  

I like it a lot.  

My greens box was built yesterday.  Hurrah!

75% done.  It will look cuter, I promise.

Area behind the garage where some raspberry bushes snuck over into our yard.  We'll take them.