Hard to Believe

It is hard to believe that my baby is already two weeks old! He is such a joy. I just love his little hands and feet; and his little ears and nose; and his soft, soft head. He is such a sweet baby, pretty content for the most part. He has become so much more alert, looking at my face and turning his head to hear voices. He loves to be talked to and cuddled and kissed. We love him so much.

Our Second Son

We are so happy to announce the birth of our second born Matthew Jonathan Engell. He was born at 6:41 in the evening on Tuesday August 14th. He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 21 inches long.  My labor went really smooth this time and wasn't overly long. I went into labor around 7:30 in the morning. I kept going about my normal business for awhile. My contractions started picking up around ten.  And everything went steady and smoothly from there. I don't remember when the pushing started but it doesn't seem like it was too long.  And then Matthew was born at 6:41. I felt so good after he was born just relaxing in my bed holding my sweet little son.

Little Luxuries

Sometimes while living the farming life it can be easy forget to make time for little luxuries. Money can get tight so we don't buy extras or we can get so busy that time seems to be in very short supply. Recently I have been enjoying making sugar and sea salt scrubs. I have been selling them at the farmers market but I always make a bit extra for us. They are wonderful on dry feet, hands, knees, elbows or anywhere else. I use them in the shower on any rough spots from working in the garden. Andrew even likes to use them on his hands. So now I am going to share my quick and easy recipes with you. Enjoy!

Sugar Scrub

3/4 cup organic cane sugar

1/4 cup coarse turbinado sugar

1/3 cup sweet almond oil or other light oil

20-30 drops essential oil (I like blending vanilla and lime)

Sea Salt Scrub

3/4 cup sea salt

1/4 cup himalayan pink salt

1/3 cup olive oil

20- 30 drops essential oil (I have been using lavender and grapefruit)

For both recipes simply mix all ingredients together and store in a lidded container. I like to put mine in small cute canning jars.

Just a couple of cautions now. If using in the shower be careful because they can make the flour slippery. Also the sea salt one will sting or burn any open cuts or scrapes.

Real

Come visit our farm and take a look at our garden and you won't find perfection. No, what you will find if reality. You won't see perfect beds with perfect rows of crops free from any weeds. Everything isn't completely tidy and neat. You will find the reality of the never ending struggle with weeds, the challenge of keeping the row fabric on the beds to help crops grow faster, and maybe some empty flats from the last rush to transplant before a rainstorm. You will find real work that has been done and plenty more to do. It might seem a bit untidy with all the grass along the fences and certain corners that look like a wilderness. It can all be so overwhelming at times and yet it is also beautiful. We have healthy, abundant crops in the midst of it all. Lush zucchini, beautiful lettuce, and colorful swiss chard. The pine trees just behind the garden give a wonderful woodsy, mountainy scent, especially after a rain. The little birds sing and play in the especially wild, grassy corner. Sometimes I think that I like a little bit of wildness better than complete perfection. We do continue to work to make things better, we try to reduce the number of weeds, to make the garden tidier overall. But somehow I have a feeling that we will never reach perfect and that is okay with me.

Into the Freezer

Recently I have been trying to get the freezer stocked with some quick and easy meals for the busy days of summer ahead. This week so far I have added one rhubarb pie, one empty pie crust, and four packages of ten homemade pita bread. I am planning to use the pitas for some picnics this summer. We have a delicious recipe for pitas with lamb, cucumbers, and yogurt. I will post it in a future post. For now I am going to give you the pita recipe. It of pretty simple to make and they turn out delicious. The most time consuming part is rolling them out.

Pita Bread

1 Tbsp. Yeast

1 Tbsp. Honey or sugar

2 1/2 Cups warm water

1 1/2 tsp. Salt

1 Tbsp. Oil

6 to 7 Cups whole wheat flour

Dissolve yeast and honey in water. Add salt, oil and 6 cups flour. Knead 5 to 10 minutes adding more flour as needed. Let rise until doubled about one hour. Divide into 20 equal pieces. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick. Let rest on greased cookie sheets for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Just before baking flip pitas over. Bake 8 - 10 minutes switching position of pans halfway through. They are done when puffed in the middle and slightly browned. Sometimes I have some that don't puff completely but they still work, I just have to cut them open carefully with a knife. These pitas are not real big

Rhubarb Pie

We have been enjoying some yummy treats made from the rhubarb growing in the garden this spring. So far I have made 2 pies, muffins and ice cream. Maybe I can post the recipes later.

Cute Cowboy

Morning Sunshine

This morning I went out to the garden early in the morning. The sun was shining and it was already beginning to warm up. It was so peaceful and fresh out there. First I fed all the chickens, then watered some seeds we planted recently. A pair of honking geese flew overhead. I think I need to get up earlier more often and enjoy the fresh new mornings.

Technical Difficulties

This week I was going to post more details about my weekly routine and post my daily planning sheets... but all my info is on my laptop and the cable shorted out. So that will have to wait for now while I look for a new cable.

My New Weekly Routine

Recently I have been working on getting organized. Part of that process has been to create a regular daily and weekly routine for getting chores and projects done. So far it has been working pretty well. It is not super strict, just a basic guideline. I have my week divided up into days for certain household chores. So for example Monday is kitchen day. That means making bread, making yogurt, kitchen cleaning, etc. If for some reason something else comes up on Monday like an appointment in town I can simply switch and do the kitchen work on Tuesday, then Tuesday’s work moves to Wednesday and then I am caught up because Wednesday is town day, but if I go to town on Monday then I will do my errands then and not go in again on Wednesday. It will not be quite as flexible in the summer because we have to go to town on Wednesday for the Farmer’s Market, so I won’t have a catch up day. But the other nice thing about this routine is that if I just can’t do everything on Monday’s schedule this week then the next Monday comes around and it is time to clean the kitchen again.

Here is the basic breakdown of my days of the week:

Monday- Kitchen Day, Planting Day, Sewing Day

Tuesday- Laundry Day, Weed/Harvest Day, Soap Day

Wednesday- Town Day/ Farmer’s Market

Thursday- Cleaning Day, Weed/Harvest Day, Paper Day

Friday- Project Day, Farmer’s Market

Saturday- Office Day, Sunday meal prep day

Sunday- Church, Fellowship, Rest Day

I have tried to keep it simple and also versatile enough to use year round with our changing seasons on the farm. That is why most days have several titles. As the season changes so do the main areas of focus. The household chores are supposed to get done year round (although probably cut back a little in the summer), and the other options vary with winter and summer. For example on Mondays during the winter/ early spring I will work on sewing projects, in the summer I will be busy planting in the garden. I have found that each days household chores take about two hours. I will post more details on the daily routines soon. I got some of these ideas from the book "Large Family Logistics" and simply made them fit better into my lifestyle.