Jamin's Housewarming Party

 We have no September birthday, but the 3rd Saturday of the month IS our monthly family celebration. I suggested we all meet at Jamin's new house and have a housewarming. He agreed this would be fun and off we went.  Jamin provided the lasagna and we all brought sides.  It was a beautiful afternoon/evening to be outside.  BreZaak, KrUke, and Nolan weren't able to make it, but the rest of us enjoyed being together. The kids immediately began to put his big yard to use. 

Little Buddy, Danny, Benny

Danny chases the ball! 

There were Frisbees and bubbles. 

Little Buddy, Benny, Jamin, Cory, Stacia, Allie and Arielle 

Danny, Livie, Benny 

"Red" and GG

It's always more fun when Dad plays! 

Little Buddy and Danny are becoming great buds! 

Cory had Little Buddy laughing hard! He jumped over him. 

Little ones do love balls! 

We used to play kick ball as a family when the kids were young! I was thrilled to come outside and see they'd begun a rousing game of kick ball. This is one all ages and skills can participate in together. I don't know WHY we haven't played it at our place before...This brought back such fun memories of when the Gherkins were all younger. 

Jared, Michael, Josiah, Arielle, Liv, Benny, Alex, Allie

Stacia, Alex, Jared, Liv, Arielle, Benny, Jamin, Michael, Allie

Josiah

Benny LOVED playing with everyone!

Get him, Michael. 

📷by Larissa

Run, HOME, Benny! 

Meanwhile these younger two think there is NOTHING funnier than having Dad jump over their heads! 

It was a really fun day! We were blessed by a clear, fall day to enjoy one more gathering outside! We'll see what happens in October.  Thanks, Jamin! We're happy to have you as a "neighbor." 

Arielle, Cory, LIttle Buddy, Benny, Danny, Jamin, Stacia, Allie 

A Day Around Home

I LOVE this view. New this morning is the snow on the peak above our house (#2). THIS is most likely termination dust and will thaw and come again? The snow on #1 is here to stay. Stacia was sweet to stop and start a zillion times until I got one photo I could use. 

This morning when Stacia and I left for breakfast study it was 36* in our driveway. It was cold. I am guessing if it were 36* at 7:15 a.m. we had frost last night. Right? I decided it's time to do some harvesting - that and the fact that the moose have been enjoying the garden buffet way too much. 

Twelve eggs this a.m. (6 more at night). We are in egg heaven! After the long dearth of eggs, it's WONDERFUL. How do we use the eggs? I boiled a dozen eggs - we are all enjoying having boiled eggs readily available for a quick snack. I sent a dozen eggs to both CoRielle and BreZaak. I used 6 eggs making brownies and another 8 eggs making cheesecakes...and of course Dad's breakfasts. Someone commented it may be time for me to find customers again. LOL They're still a bit small.... but quite a few of them are getting close to the 2 oz large egg measure. 

Such a pretty sight

I previously left all the greens from the moose damage in the chicken yard. Less than 24 hours later this is what was left. I grabbed the tiny beets and thick stalks for the compost pile. The chickens are pretty impressive. 

I went through the squash patch today. I trimmed back the vines that didn't have viable squash on them. We still have only the one delicata squash on the vine. I left about 4 or 5 kabocha squash on the vines. I googled and heard one picks kabocha when the tendrils are dry, and the vine starts to wither. I picked a couple that seemed to be at that point, and one fell off while I was pulling vines. I picked all the yellow squash and pulled all the vines - we've been eating these all summer.  The cumber vines were DEAD - it's been cold even in the hoop house. I didn't find mold and that made me happy. I pulled all the vines and harvested the cucumbers. I did NOT want to pickle any this year. I just wanted enough to EAT. We have been eating and still had quite a few to harvest. I made some of the dragon eggs into refrigerator pickles and will give as many away as I can.  I pruned back tomato plants leaving only vines with tomatoes on them. Several tomatoes fell - and so I have green tomatoes ripening on the windowsills. 

I hauled 3 more wheelbarrows full of greenery to the chicken yard. I composted the tomato plants as I read chickens shouldn't eat them. 

The lasagna bed is sporting another layer of green. It breaks down fast. Soon I'll be able to make brown layers from the leaves. 

Several have asked about the chick. This is my best attempt at catching a photo of her.  Mama is ready to be out and about. I fear this little one won't make it with the weather changing. She's too small to be put with the flock. I suspect she is heading for garage care in the near future. The hen Michael raised by hand last year is doing great. 

I made some fun discoveries in the garden. I found the potato patch is growing, surrounded by stinging nettles. We used the Ruth Stout method this year and it didn't look like it was going to do anything...some blossoms have died off...maybe some will have time to mature...we'll keep watching. 

The Connecticut pumpkin is still hanging around. The early variety is a dud! 

The dahlias planted in tires along the back of the garden are blooming. The moose haven't found them. 

I found THIS pumpkin in a tire where I was harvesting yellow squash. LOL It is bigger than the ones in the pumpkin patch which were carefully nurtured. LOL  I am not giving up on my pumpkin patch plans - but this wasn't a good year for it. I'll try one more time next year. LOL Maybe I'll try corn again too. Maybe. 

How do you fight weeds like this? This nettle is growing through black plastic AND a board. The entire north side of the garden is like this, although the weeds are about thigh high. I hope to cover it all in a couple of weeks and kill everything...I am desperate enough to consider herbicide and just not use the ground for a few years - but I'm not quite that desperate yet.  We've worked so hard to beat back the weeds and jungle without herbicides. 

It's fun to watch the chickens. They all scatter when anything is left in the yard. One brave hen will approach.  They all rush in once she's given it a few pecks. They are either emboldened by her or jealous of her. Either way - that'll preach. 

Real food comes dirty; I set up a table to hose everything off before bringing it into the house. I left it all to dry. 

Michael came in and commented it was nice of me to lay out a smorgasbord for the moose. I kept a close eye on everything and got it in before they were discovered. 

Speaking of wildlife - there's been a Grizzly in the area. He was on our side of the river, crossed over to town and now he's back on our side. He isn't afraid of dogs, is beating down coops and making a mess of things. A neighborhood group had a post from a man claiming to have wounded him - but didn't stop him. Here's a story about the Grizzly.  I NEVER thought I'd say this but I'm ready for winter - the season when all good bears go to sleep! 

I was able to spend the day in the yard as Allie and Stacia were happy to stay inside and watch GG. Michael and Alex ran a couple of errands, enjoyed a lunch study, and did some work on Alex' new car. Allie ended up getting called in for a few hours. Stacia and I spent the night making desserts for tomorrow's family event.  

A Blessedly Normal Day

 Food. 

The day began with breakfast, tea and study with Allie. We discussed week 2 of our study "Choosing God instead of the World."  I love participating in the varying discussions with various groups of women. The online discussion is daily, more back and forth as we figure out what we think of the passage. I meet in person with Stacia and Allie...individually for these six weeks. The topics which come up are totally different than the ones in the online or local group - valid, good, real and tough. I also am leading a group of local ladies through the same study.... we've just begun, and I was encouraged to see all ages show up for the study. I think studying with the girls is good as it helps me have new ways of looking at the things and provides a glimpse into topics younger moms may want a heads up on. Going through the studies with the online ladies and the young women in our home has become an integral part of my prep to lead our local group. I continue to be amazed how the Holy Spirit illumines things so individually for each of us, and how we can read the same thing and have such wide application. It's good. 

I did some more clean-up work in the garden. 

I took leftovers and turned them into tonight's dinner. I always feel like I'm on the right track when the aromas draw onlookers to volunteer to be taste-testers. 

Tonight, we had a beef/veggie stew (leftover roast and fresh veggies from the garden and co-op) and biscuits. The biscuits look suspiciously close to scones - but I swear they are dill biscuits. 

Alex does not like soup. He doesn't like the texture...but you know...it's SOUP season and the rest of us love soup. 

The snow is moving down the mountain range we watch. It's still contained to the highest peak and the ones behind it. It has not reached the peaks directly above our yard.... I just LOVE this time of year in our area.... all the colors...though it could use a bit more RED. 

The day ended with food... Today's egg haul - 19 eggs!

Allie made an A on her first mid-term. She continues to love both work and college. Stacia knocked her response paper to Oliver Twist out of the park. Michael says her writing is improving quite a bit. She PRAYED in Japanese - without any forethought yesterday. That says something. Nolan continues to work a zillion hours a week while working on college. Krista is visiting troops in Guam - someone has to do it. BreZaak's kids are thriving in swim lessons while Bre grows a baby. CoRielle are busy growing their family and embracing Little Buddy. Jamin is setting into a new home and helping Alaskans settle into their new homes as well. JaRissa are growing a baby and running a campaign. CyRi are busy raising the cutest 9-year-old in Alaska, and Carrie routinely welcomes new Alaskans into the world.... while Cy works to house them.  Alex amazes us with his early a.m. hours...day after day. And my baby brother, Nate? He had a momentous birthday today. I think we are all officially adults, my brothers and I... maybe even older adults. LOL 

That's it for the day. 

More Moose

The moose came back with two of his friends. Seriously. Michael is the hero as he chased them off. The idea of buying a cross bow is looking better all the time. Though it seems rather unsporting to hunt from your back door.  They revisited this bed but trampled the flowers this time. 

They don't seem to care for the asparagus at the end of the bed, but they liked the carrot tops and threw some carrots around. 

I cleaned out the beds. I cleaned up the delicata vines. I plan to cover the beds with black plastic in prep for winter. BTW, I only found ONE delicata squash and I'm not sure it's going to mature before frost. 

I don't know if it was just a bad year for squash due to the RAIN, or if they don't grow well here. I'll probably try them one more year. 

They ate ALL the beet greens this time. It was time to harvest the beets. It was funny that they like the candy-cane swirl beets better than the Ruby Queen. So do we - but it's good to share. 

We've had several meals of beets, moose have gotten into it twice and this is our harvest. I wanted to wait longer, but I'm pretty sure with no tops, it's time to get them safely processed. 

I found about 5 Kabocha squash. I didn't look through the whole row, I hope to find more. I need to research when they are ready to harvest. We loved these in Japan. 

The moose discovered the carrots. I'd like to give them a bit longer in the group. We shall see. The left are the Japanese carrots, and the right are the Scarlet Nantes. Guess which ones we'll grow in the future. 

The bees are ALL over the flowers. 

Another layer of green in the compost bin. 

I put stuff in the lasagna bed I didn't think the chickens would eat. They STILL had a feast! I will compost what they don't eat in the next day or two. 

Ah, well....mostly they motivated me to get out there and harvest, clean up beds, get ready for winter. The DID eat all the baby greens coming up. I'm not sure I'll start more. I'm disheartened. 

Another GRAND Day!

 Hello there, Jojo! 

Jojo was not thrilled when he saw ME this a.m.  He knew Mom would be leaving. He was fine in a few minutes. I watched the kids while Bre ran across town for an appt.  We watched some Veggie Tales on the Minno streaming service. This is a great place for kids to hang out.

Dancing to Veggie Tales

We played a matching game. I got them lunch. 

The weather was nice, so we opted for some outside play. BTW, see the house on the other side of the fence? That's where the cousins live! LOL 

Bre got home shortly after we began playing outside. When I got home, I discovered three moose had paid a visit to the garden. I spent some time in the garden, the girls got dinner on, and then it was time to head to church. 

Eleven eggs today!