Peeping under momma hen

celebrate good times

We spent the fourth at home instead of the beach since the clouds seemed to threaten rain all day long. It did sprinkle a bit here and there, but we worked in the garden. Dante and I had turned under his lettuce bed a few weeks ago and that's all done digesting, so we planted some carrots and red kale in there. The broccoli was also finished, so we pulled all that for Dante's new bed. He put in some head lettuce, carrots and I forget what else. Lucia planted some cosmos and her new bed has lettuce and room for more. Luke scraped additional areas of grass from the front lawn, so we started planting buckwheat and clover.

After dinner and a shower, we were planning on doing some sparklers and morning glories I had from last year, but as we we cleaning up, the neighbors started shooting off some real fireworks. So we wandered to the driveway to watch, and did our thing after they were done.

Can you see all the spent firework sticks?

cheery cherries

Kathy wasn't feeling well the other day, so we picked up Lil and Jo and went cherry picking!


First a picnic beneath the not-quite-ripe sour cherries.



The yummiest cherry pie I've ever tasted.

I took this recipe below and just subbed cherries for the strawberries. I pitted and chopped them roughly. The crust was delicious, but you could also do the same thing with a cooked regular 1/2 pie crust, just put the berries in once it's cool.

Raw Strawberry Pie
The Joy of Vegan Baking
By Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

It is best when served within an hour or two of preparing it, since
it is at its most fresh then, but it holds up just fine in the
fridge.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Chilling Time: 1 hour
Servings: 8-12

Crust:
2 cups raw almonds or pecans
3/4 cup pitted dates, preferably Medjool

Filling:
5 cups sliced ripe strawberries
5 pitted dates, soaked 10 minutes in warm water and drained
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Place the nuts in a food processor and grind until they’re a coarse
meal. Add the 3/4 cup of dates (for the crust) and process until
thoroughly combined. Press the mixture into a non-stick or very
lightly oiled pie plate or spring form pan.

Arrange 4 cups of the sliced strawberries on top of the crust and set
aside.

In a food processor or blender, combine the remaining 1 cup of
strawberries with the 5 soaked dates and lemon juice. Puree until
smooth. Pour the sauce mixture over strawberries.

Refrigerate the pie for 1 hour before serving. This will help the pie
set and will be perfect for slicing.

splish splash

After the "last day of pottery" party, Jamie showed us the way to a nearby river through the farm land. She keeps tubes handy, so the kids had a blast walking upriver a little, hopping on, and sailing down past the moms.




After swimming/tubing, Dante and River wandered up the other branch of the river, seeking huge crawfish. Dante found one with a softer than usual shell, and River found a huge one.





We found a black raspberry bush coming ripe along the way. Dante censors his face with "the best skimming rock ever".

pottery barn

Dante has been taking a new pottery class in Andover. Jamie's studio is in an old dairy barn, that's chock full of hay and other farm equipment. She's carved out a little niche and has a couple of wheels, counters and tables for the kids to work out. His first class was at the table on the lawn on a breezy summer afternoon.

Jamie talks to the kids about their pieces, which they're seeing glazed for the first time.

hatching fever

Luna is sitting in the flock's favorite nest box for four days now on a little clutch of eight eggs. Everyone was ignoring this fact and piling in to lay, so I blocked their access to it. Not counting our chickens or anything, but hopefully she'll stay in the "zone" long enough to hatch the eggs!

successful hatch!