The last two weeks have been busy.  Several trips to Mayo clinic but also Easter egg dying, plenty of yard work, sheep shearing, play dates, school projects, birthday parties and Earth Day road clean up too.

It’s funny how even with the knowledge that the time has come again to do something decisive about this cancer, we can go about out days holding fear and contentment together as one.  After two and half years it’s difficult to separate the two.  I’ve learned to live with both.

Tuesday we go back to Mayo and Andy will have surgery to remove one of the lung tumors for DNA sequencing in hopes of finding a trial drug.  We expect the surgery to go smoothly and the recovery to be fairly quick.  Then we wait on testing results.  We’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime we’ll continue to love this life.  Because waiting really doesn’t make sense when what we have is the moment now.

warm

With snow still on the ground, it’s finished!  A project long in the making, so good to see it warming him and his heart!  Robin and Primrose you are worth your weight in fleece!

proof

It feels like it has been a seriously slow start around here.  As I type there is a fire going in our wood stove (shhh, Andy is in denial about that).  But despite the cool temps things are moving into spring.  Truly they are.

Our current favorite proof:
*After dinner bike rides
*Shorn sheep
*Annual tree planting
*And ah, yes there they are.  Morels.
*Fried with fresh asparagus. 

Hello lawn grass and garden weeds.  Bring it on we’re ready for you!

family work

Last weekend was a true work weekend around here.  We plowed through stuff–literally, well at least until the tractor broke down in the field, (you can see its sorry self below).  The weekend started off with horse hoof trimming, quickly followed by sheep shearing (yes sir, two bags full).  After we recovered from the news that our sheep (o.k. and pony) are um, chubby and need a serious slim-down regime (where’s that farmer, I need to talk to him!), we moved on to other work.  We had just received our sometimes annual order of nursery trees, so we plugged away at planting the bundles of tamarack (in the wet bottoms) and elderberry, serviceberry, wild plum, dogwood and hazelnut into any corner we could tuck them. 

Then we worked on the gardens, weeding, planting, and weeding more (boy that quack grass gets an early start).  

Meanwhile, where were the girls you might ask?  Hmmm, good question.  Perhaps busily hauling chickens around from place to place.  Or maybe, changing clothes for the 18th time (as witnessed by the pile on the floor of their bedroom), or perhaps being overcome with a urgent need to brush each others teeth while washing something very muddy out in the bathroom sink (as witnessed by the toothpaste cap laying in dirty sink water), or very likely nibbling leftover pancakes from breakfast (as witnessed by a small pile of half-eaten pancakes on the kitchen counter, sans plate). 

What messy children you have, one might say.  But yes…and what independent and self-sustaining children they are….suddenly.  More than one time this weekend I made a trip to the house noting that the door was wide open and there were at least 12 pairs of shoes lying on the rug (one must need a different pair each time you got out), but I resisted, yes I did (!), the urge to nag or lecture or even discuss the multitude of messes.  You see, this here, I believe, is the first spring season of freedom.  Freedom for them to explore and create and build and haul and dream on their own. (Don’t you remember:  Us on the way through the house:  “Mom, can I have the stapler, a wooden spoon and eight marshmallows?”  Our moms busy at their work:   “Yes, in the top drawer”)  And yes, for us, freedom to work uninterrupted for lengthy periods of time, time to pull quack grass and chat farm dreams with your love who you feel like you haven’t really talked to much in the last, well, 6 years! 

O.k., so it was only one weekend.  But man, we kicked it, and yes there were messes that at the end of a long hot day had to be cleaned up.  But you know, you turn on a little Ana Popvic (thanks, Dad!) and everyone gets to work cleaning (and dancing) and it gets done in no time. 

And then at the end of it all, you throw bedtime to the wind, just a little.  And you hike up the hill to climb a tree and hunt for mushrooms and you look down at that little homestead of yours and you know that growing kids is a bit like growing a farmstead; it seems to take a lot of time and patience, and quite a few messes (and broken tractors).  But every once in awhile you remember to stop and look and you realize how much love has gone into to all that growing and you figure it will all turn out right.

weekending

 Early morning german pancakes, always a good start to a weekend.

And then, by the fire I watched Iris read to Mae and I found myself worrying that maybe when she really learns to read, she won’t read so much.  I so love these long sessions of snuggling, just the two of them, while Mae hangs on every word that Iris reads/remembers/creates.  So sweet it is.

Fun and snuggles by the fire aside, we installed the “project desk” late last week and settled into it this weekend.  I still need to thrift a couple of desk lamps and maybe a few more baskets for holding odd art materials, but in the meantime it’s ready to roll.  The girls took to it right away, crafting, drawing, creating as usual, but now in their own space instead of the middle of our dining room table.  I loved having them at the dining room table, right in the thick of things.  The trouble was, just as artistic creation began to reach its height, it was invariably time for dinner and the creation had to be cleared (and was seldom picked back up).  Oh how I know that feeling, its hard to get back in the groove once you’ve been interrupted.  So we found space for a rather long desk (you can’t be crowded by a sister when you are doing important work) tucked into our already cozy study.  But it feels just right there.  Art materials, and books and all kinds of inspiration.

To help that inspiration along the girls and I did a quick bulletin board project.  A few squares of cork, some hot gun glue, thumbtacks and buttons now

make for an easy place at the project desk to pin art, scraps, ideas, and whims.

We also relocated the dress up hooks under the shelf at the base of stairs that lead to my little studio space.  A few tote bags on tree branch hooks and the space was instantly more organized.  Ah.

Further weekend adventures found us in Houston MN, picking up our wool from Mary at English Gardens Fiber Mill.  She was kind enough to give us a tour.  She even showed us how to skirt a fleece properly (I’ve still got a lot to learn!). 

Our two little sheep brought us over 35 hanks of yarn this year.  Beautiful dark and light heathers, a combination of the wool from our black sheep, Robin, and our white sheep, Primrose.  My mom and I will split the yarn and she’ll likely get right to work!  Iris and I are eager to try our hand at dying some of the wool this year.  Apparently these heathered yarns take well to dyes and Iris already has her eye on a shade of blue just like Pelle’s. 

Last year’s yarn was knitted up into these two gorgeous sweaters by that amazing Nonnie.  The girls seem to really feel the magic of wearing clothes made from their own sheep’s wool and they pull these sweaters from their closet quite often.  

As for me, like most projects around here, progress is slow, but row by row….Andy may too have a vest from our sheep’s wool one day.  

Have a wonderful week all. 

sure signs of spring (continued)

Spring continues to roll in around here as witnessed by:

Toes in the creek.
Lists to ready for the new baby chicks (“peeps”) coming on Friday.
A trip to the magical gardens of Fanny Gingrich, amazing Amish perennial grower.
Snakes!
Sheep shearing time! This year the sheep shearing happened at our place. Afterward we invited the shearer to dinner. The girls were entranced and hung on every interesting word this guy uttered. He stayed and chatted til 9. A reminder that spontaneity is good, and life is full of opportunity.

Happy Tuesday all!

in the works

A couple of weeks ago we picked up the yarn made from our sheep’s wool. Last spring, after shearing, we decided to have the wool processed into yarn at a local mill. We are quite happy with the results. The white turned into a soft, thick worsted weight and the black, which we had heathered with the white, is an even softer, finer yarn. I love it. Lots and lots of yarn.

The planning has begun for all sorts of things to put on the needles. And even though my mind and hands are on holiday crafting, I can’t wait to get some knitting in the works as well.

Andy too has some projects in the works. This fall my dad got permission to cut down a dying American Chestnut in his neighbor’s yard. The American Chestnut is virtually extinct in the United States, however ongoing restoration efforts are in progress. Dad’s neighbor was kind enough to offer the large logs to Andy for use in woodworking projects. Well known for its usefulness in building anything from fine furniture to shingles, American Chestnut wood, once plentiful is now a rare find. We’ve watched this particular tree over the years realizing that its days were growing shorter. It certainly feels like a bit of an honor to have the opportunity to give this tree a second life. So, after much winching, rolling, and coercing, the logs were in the truck, and are now at our Amish friend’s sawmill to be turned into boards. We’ll keep you posted on that project!

And at last, more work on the barn! The upper and lower doors are going up! Once that is done the barn will be closed in and work can begin to insulate the upper story to be Andy’s woodshop. There is still much to be done, but the momentum is exciting.

It’s so good to have projects in the works. Hope you too have something fulfilling to do!

mother hens

While I was at work today papa and the girls did what we do most days around here now. Play house. Hen house.

To say we’ve been spending a lot of time in the hen house is an understatement. The girls spend hours moving feed pans around, dumping water and getting fresh, coaxing along the egg layers in the nests, settling chicken squabbles, fixing ruffled feathers (literally and figuratively of course)

and pounding together ornate feeding houses so that they can move chickens in and out and in and out. You can see one in the background here (it had to have a peaked roof). Mae is about to catch Jingles (the black chicken) and insist she eat in the new feeding house. Thank goodness chickens are kind and patient creatures and fairly greedy so they’ll do just about anything the kids insist upon as long as food is involved.

Note: For those of you who are wondering, the blaze orange hats are because it’s deer hunting season. Not that we think we’ll get shot at in the barn, no, it’s all about getting into the spirit you see…the girls are determined to be just like everyone else… in the trucks going by, at the post office, in the grocery store….observant little ones they are, but then I guess the blaze is hard to miss.

Elsa Mae’s gift is definitely chicken whispering. Everyone has something.

And I’ll leave you with my favorite two photos of the day (courtesy of papa). He has no idea what little animals he is raising! (Look closely at the black sheep and you’ll see what I mean!)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. May your week be full of many moments of gratitude.

morning chores

Yesterday a good winter storm blew in. Although it foiled our plans to take Iris to the Nutcracker, we settled in for some holiday baking and crafting and all was well. This morning we woke to a winter wonderland with drifts piled high. The kids couldn’t wait to get out so we all bundled up for morning chores.

Digging out the chickens!

No morning is complete without a bit of mouse hunting, of course.

Fresh hay and grain for all.

Tonight the soup is on, the fire is warm and all is snug. Hope you enjoying your winter nest too!

bit by bit

Around here if we measured our lives by the “work” getting done we’d have a lot of tape still rolled up in the measure. Sometime I have to reel myself in from that need to “get something done” and remind myself (o.k. over and over) that right now our “work” is something different. It’s playing in the sandbox and searching for tree elves and eating raspberries by the handful. And that is good. So good.

Oh, but still, being “productive” feels good. Really good. I can’t deny it, progress is a bit addictive. So, the couple of days that Andy found to begin putting the roof on our barn…progress! What a rush! This little farm is growing in so many ways.

Critters growing too. Check em out. The lambs rendered so sweetly last spring by my friend Monica. You can see more of her amazing work here.

And now… SHEEP. Fat and woolly and full of burs and still pretty dang cute, even if they did up and grow out of their funny little lamb selves.

And talk about growing! Goodness. These two are playing together. Shhhhh, don’t tell them how thrilled we are.

Here they are with their babies in slings. Just after this they started “bouncing” them around (“to get them to fall asleep”) and Elsa was doing these hilarious deep knee bends that knocked her baby right out of the sling. I was giggling too hard to get a photo that wasn’t blurry.

(Now don’t go thinking it’s all love and fun around here. I’m sure right after this one of them grabbed the other’s baby and there were tears. We are normal you know!)

Happy Monday to you.