Saying "no" to a baby shower

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While both my husband and I are only in our thirties, we have spent years decluttering, 

purging, and generally downsizing our amount of stuff. I firmly believe that 

the fewer things you keep, the more special they are. 

Garlic Harvest - 2012

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With everything going on, this year's garlic harvest kind of snuck up on us. We had a couple meals of scapes, but having three different varieties of garlic meant scapes of different sizes maturing at different times. (for last year's scapes go here) My dear husband rescued some slightly woody scapes and made an amazing garlic scape pesto (yum!) and a couple weeks ago, pulled in all the garlic.

Here they are curing (gettin' their skins on) in the kitchen. We should have a good amount for planting and plenty for eating. We'll see what is our favorite and in a couple months make sure to plant plenty for next year. 

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Two more feet.

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Buff's girls - introducing day old chicks to a broody hen

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We have wanted to expand our flock of chickens for some time and were planning on getting a new batch of chicks in the fall or next spring. In our flock we have two Buff Orpingtons that are known for going broody (trying to hatch eggs) but as we have no rooster, they will never be successful here.

We had one of our Buffys go broody this spring and after a few nights locked in the pen but out of the hen-house, she got over the feeling. When we found one trying again a month ago, we decided to order day old chicks again and see if she would raise them for us. 

Broody hens will sit on eggs for a few weeks to allow them all time to hatch, so we put in our order. A couple weeks later we got the call that our chicks had arrived. (Here's the video from our first batch)

Recovering our Diningroom Chairs

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For my birthday (almost two months ago) my mother and I recovered the chairs to the dining set that came to us almost a year ago. Thanks mum!

The set originally belonged to my great-grandparents (Agnes and Nelson Johnson) and made their way through several lives to our home. My grandmother had recovered them years before they arrived here, and while I have a fondness for anything so "her" the stuffing was showing through and it was time for their next life.