Wednesday, May 25, 2011

33 Weeks

I guess you can say many things about the last 33 weeks. All I can say to describe it is powerful. This little life inside of me has changed me in many ways. He kicks he tostles and he hiccups as his sister sings and kisses him daily. He loves being a part of our family and will be a great addition once he gets here. I never knew that being pregnant for a second time would be so different. You can see for yourself below.


33 weeks pregnant with Francesca

Again, with Frannie


33 weeks with baby #2
Again with #2



                                 Baby, fetus at 33 weeks - BabyCenter
This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

D.I.Y. Weekend

This weekend, I missed my husband. Not because he was out fishing (the rivers are flooding) or out of town, but because we were working around the house on projects. We tried to fit in some general conversation when the day was done but seemed to lack the energy. Ever have one of those weekends?

So, what we worked on were valances for the windows in the kids room and retrofitting an abandoned dog house into a chicken tractor. Both were something we thought up and felt like getting a jump on over the weekend. I am not sure if our limited time did either of them justice, but we just dont have the money to go out and get premade versions of them. I think both will work better than what we could have bought anyways...

Conversion to Coop in action

Windows are finished

Farmer Frannie is still up for growing her peas and is looking forward to them getting bigger. She wants them to be a beanstalk that Murf can climb, but I think our growing season is too short to achieve that goal. HOpefully, she will be happy with just growing peas.


Farmer Frannie



First steps into the Coop

Trying out the new roost
  

Looking happy on the roost


Flock enjoying some outside time


Frannie watching over the flock and the ant consumption-so glad they eat ants!


Monday, May 9, 2011

Mothering

Words cannot describe how the last four years or so have touched me or what we have experienced together as parents. One things I can say is that I love these children of ours more than I could have even known. Here are a few pictures that capture motherhood to me (including the double chins)






Small Measures


I told Lou last months that I want to make things simpler. To me that is clear, but I think we have different ideas of what simple means. To me, it means keeping life on a slow pace and doing things for ourselves. Like making butter, having chickens, learning about the world around us and not wearing big sunglasses and prada bags. Its hard to do, if you havent tried, and each decision has to be thought over. I found some chicken books at the library and one was called keeping chickens, by Ashley English. Of course, Ashley has a blog or two  http://small-measure.blogspot.com/ http://www.designspongeonline.com/category/small-measures. She homesteads in Candler, NC and writes books for the Homemade Life Series. I think she has made her path to the simple life too (unfortunately I have to work and cant stay home writing books). Here is the recipe for butter we made this weekend:

There are two simple means of rendering butter at home-with a food processor, or shaken in a glass jar. I’ll provide details for both processes. The ingredients for either method are consistent, though: two cups of heavy cream. And that is all. Salt is entirely optional. If you’ve got cream, you’re almost there. Introduce a means of aeration and it’s go time.

Method #1: Homemade Butter, via food processor
Yield: Approximately 1 cup.
The Goods:
-2 cups heavy cream
-Cutting board
- ¼ tsp. salt (optional)
-Food processor

The Deal:
1) Let the cream first come to room temperature, or right around 72-74° F (22-23° C). Simply set the cream in a container on the kitchen counter, put a dairy thermometer into it, and check on it every 30 minutes or so until the temperature rises. This step lets the cream ripen a bit, raising its acidity, thereby making it easier to whip and full of flavor.
2) Put the cream inside of a food processor, secure the lid, and start running the machine.
3) The cream will begin to go through several butter-forming stages: first sloshy, then stiff, then finally dividing ranks and forming separately into butter and buttermilk. Machine times for achieving these stages will vary, but will generally take between 6-9 minutes (I average around 8).
4) Using a spatula, remove the butter from the machine. Place the buttery mass into a sieve put atop a medium-sized mixing bowl. Leave for a few minutes, allowing the liquid (which is real-deal buttermilk!) to drain off.
5) Transfer butter to a medium-sized bowl. Standing at the sink, start running cold water into the bowl. Empty the water out, repeating several times until the water is clear in the bowl. Strain off any remaining water.
6) If you want to include salt, stir it in now with a metal spoon. Otherwise, put the butter mass on a cutting board.
7) Using either clean hands, a rubber spatula, or a wooden spoon, begin pressing the butter repeatedly, allowing any liquid inside of it to drain off. Continue pressing until no liquid is visibly coming out when pressed.
8) Storage depends on when you plan on using your butter. You can either store it at room temperature in a butter crock, chill or freeze it in wax or parchment paper, or a store it in a container in the refrigerator or the freezer.

Along with the butter, Frannie got a taste of the simple life by watching her first crop come up-PEAS! oh she was so excited to see them emerge from the little container with earth we put them in weeks ago. Another small measure to make life simple and to teach her about the world around-take a peak:



Spring has sprung and there are activities all over the place. We took Frannie to the Migratory Bird Festival so she could see some birds and a rehabilitated juvenile Bald Eagle released. She had fun with the activities and being out at the lake. She was really excited to see an owl and she wanted to put a leash on it and ride it. Thankfully, there was an owl and she found out, not from us, that you cannot ride an owl.

Frannie and 'Shredder'

One...


Two...


Three!!!
I got a chance to use my new Tagine Lou gave me for my birthday. I have always wanted to try to cook this way and see how tender the food would be. It was great! and it looks nice too...


Spring is here and we are enjoying all the new life in the yard and around Helena. Our Forsythia finally opened and the rhubard is curling and starting to take over. We are getting rain for now, but we'll be up to 70 this week. Grow-Grow-Grow


The chicks are doing great and growing up so fast. We took Popcorn and Acorn outside to let them have a little dirt under their feet and to let them hunt for bugs. They are 3 weeks old and almost all feathered out. The little black silkies are still so tiny I dont know when they will start getting bigger...




Frannie could not wait to take the chick on a wheelbarrow ride.



"Olive"



Maybe we should name this one Bleu


Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Last Winter Storm?


This weekend, I think, we had our last winter/spring snowstorm. We thought that it would stop at some point, but it didn't. We went to sleep and it was still snowing that night. We woke up to about 6 inches of snow and sunshine. We wont be seeing that for a few more months hopefully...


First falling on the flowers


The morning after


Good Bye Snow...


The chicks are doing well. They are growing strong, getting feathers in, learning to sit on a perch, but they still are affraid of a toddler. Frannie enjoys them soo much. I too have bonded with them and love their little personalities. Acorn is proving to be bigger than Popcorn and I am strating to wonder if  it will be a rooster and sitting on our dinner table soon...

                            



I had originally ordered two black silkie chicks and they came in yesterday. I brought them home and really regretted disrupting my happy little chicken box. Popcorn and Acorn were like giant vultures compared to their size and were pecking at them constantly. I have to keep them seperated until they grow big enough to tolerate each other. I did not realize how big those two had gotten in one week. I had dreams that they died in the night only to realize they were just as strong as sturdy as Popcorn and Acorn. Here is what a silikie chick and silkie adult will look like.
                                                      

Pair of Black Silkie Bantams




And finally, I have made it to 30 weeks. I was supposed to take a picture last week but it didn't happen. We had Lou's family here and were busy. I guess if I really wanted to see how big I was on the internet I could have made it happen. The next picture will come in 3 weeks and it will blow you all away!



                                    Baby, fetus at 30 weeks - BabyCenter
I have 10 weeks +/- a few left and I am starting to feel like I might not make it. My body is getting ready by loosening my joints and my hips feel like they are floating and not very stable (i.e. painful). I had a waffle with peanut butter on it last night fo dinner so that should tell you I am running out of room in my stomach for really anything larger than a snack. Frannie is having to start understanding that I cannot carry her 38 lb royalty around as much and that she has to start looking for other means of travel...she is not very happy. The baby is great, kicking and using the space he has all to himself while it abounds. If he is not kicking or moving, he has the hiccups. This last friday, I came home early to take a two hour nap and napped again on saturday. I'll get my rest while I can. The baby is up to three pounds now -