obsessions

so lately i have been obsessed with farming and homesteading and gardening (put in tomatoes and peppers this week, maybe a tad bit early but we'll see) so i thought i would put out some of the cool websites i am really loving right now:

nest and the greenhorns have interesting ideas and the greenhorns has a list of farm blogs to last me a year

while tangerine dreams and. farmama.. a little out there for me but still fascinating 

two food blogs: green your plate and dinner: a love story 

from the cookie magazine folks: momfilter and travels with clara

projects i think are great: wwoof the movie and urban roots and the loog guitar.

for you locals: backyard bees and (the vanishing of the bees movie is on my wish list)

hoping for a trip to this farm someday

just finished this book and ready for the show... the marathon starts tomorrow on planet green, set your dvr!!

so all this plus the research i am doing for a future "dream" italy trip and camp fire meeting ideas, i am busy busy busy! hope you enjoy all these websites as much as i have and be inspired as well.

can't wait for the next trip, whatever it might be.

11

emily turned eleven this week and today was our first "coed" birthday party... successful thank goodness!

emily wanted her ears pierced and yesterday was the day. i have to say there was a critical moment of panic attack right before she did it that will be etched forever in my brain. my maternal instinct was on high alert and we both had to push through it together. so thankful we did and she is flying high on the success
when emily declared "it didnt hurt!" her sister wanted to do hers as well... another tricky moment for me. unfortunately lizzie felt some pain and refused the second ear. after 20 minutes of negotiating, a second ear piercing gal earned lissie's trust and convinced her the punk rock look at 7 years old is not "in" at the moment and we got two pierced ears done

even though i work in the medical field and see some horrific things... its hard to watch your kids go through something painful. i am just glad we made it and the girls are so proud of themselves!

happy birthday my first born, love ya!!

hitting the road

growing up my family had a tent trailer and we spent many weekends camping together around southern california, never venturing farther than a couple hours away (i think mammoth was the longest trip we ever took and that was maybe once or twice). i feel nostalgic toward this kind of camping, brings back so many fun memories. my parents pulled the trailer with a little truck my grandparents owned and even with the vw squareback we called "betsy" (so cool!) when i first met chris, we acquired a tent trailer from his parents and took a few trips with it but lost interest for some reason... maybe work and a second kid plus crowded local camp sites? the trailer was swapped for motorcycles and his sister took it with her to nebraska. over the years we have wished we had kept it but it was long gone. when chris mentioned wanting a new trailer recently i immediately began to think of all the trips i'd love to take, short weekend or midweek adventures popped into my head. a quick trip to colorado and new trailer owners we became (thanks to my incredible in-laws!!)

of course chris had to send my this photo with the caption "your new trailer"



our "real" new trailer



vegas here we come! (just kidding!!)

garden prep

i have really let my garden plot go this winter, with my new job and more gym time on the schedule, it's been hard to get over there. i have even thought about letting it go...once again....but just like last year i am hanging on to it for another year. i realized i could get my camp fire kids to help, which was the reason i took the plot in the first place. how had i forgotten my original plan, to teach the kids and get them some hands on experience growing vegetables? so last monday, i invited my older group and a few other camp fire kids to help me get ready for spring planting. i am always looking for new ways to earn beads and looking through my vintage camp fire book, i found 8 beads we could earn together. 

we started out with a ton of weeds and harvested beets and fennel...



carrots found mixed in with weeds, kids LOVE to find them (note to self: throw carrot seeds randomly throughout the year to keep kids excited at weeding)



prepping the beds with manure



more weeding (there was a black widow spider in that shed back there, had to act calm and cool when i was really thinking, holy crap!!)



my beets had really gone to town over the winter and most were too gigantic to eat. we sent the good ones to the food bank



the crew at the end of the morning, lots of smiles and excitement for next months tomato planting... can't wait!!

peaceful

finding a quiet moment during a weekend with a mile long "to do" list

snapshots

making collars

growing up in camp fire, i remember clearly making my indian collar and gown with my mom. it was a long process of planning then making then elaborately decorating and embellishing both pieces. my mom went crazy with the details and made sure all the girls in our group had gorgeous gowns. when we started this fifth year as a group, i realized that next year the girls would no longer wear the vests. it hit me then that they would be making collars and gowns this year, graduating up into the higher levels of camp fire. how did this happen so fast? we just flew through five years (side note, this blog was started when i became a leader so 5 years of blogging has flown by as well!) lets just say there were many teary eyed moms (and a dad) working with their daughters at the collar making workshop. you could feel the excitement in the room radiating off these grown up girls while they worked on something they have been waiting years to make.  

she wore it home and would have slept with it on had i let her.