kids – Peacock Orchard

Life, as it has become

Staying home has been different. I have so much more time for projects and yet…not. Kids have a funny way of doing that.

I’m doing things I haven’t before as a mother. I’m not used to making their breakfasts or their lunches during the week. Of course I had enough requests for bacon and eggs today that sometimes they’re rather indistinguishable. Home made chicken and french fries is always a hit. Today it was picnic on the floor lunch. This always ends up torturing our giant dogs who sit a respectable distance and wait for the kids to abandon their plates. Oh how many tears have been shed over abandoned plates being consumed by ravenous canines.

I am often lost on how to occupy them as well. I’m anti-electronics, which limits my winter time options. Luckily we have an unfinished basement. Unluckily the spiders loved our unfinished basement. So we fumigated. It did a pretty decent job. Now I’ve simply had to clean up all of the stuff we’ve left down there. It appears that whenever we had something I didn’t know what to do with, I simply put it in the basement. Procrastination is my thing. Things are cleaning up nicely and the kids have all of the things they’d not normally be able to play with in the winter. We have bikes, scooters, roller skates and some large plastic tractors down there. We also moved 1/3 of their toys down there. It’s been a great place for us to go and work off some of this winter time energy.

I’m also trying out this whole kids crafts thing. They’ve finger painted (whole body painted is more accurate) on a tarp in the living room whilst I mudded the new drywall. We’ve done pipe cleaner building. Ok, ok, I’ve built things with pipe cleaners and the demands were pretty ridiculous. They each have their own boxes of personal supplies: pencils, glue, scissors, etc. Things are going pretty well.

Still, I’m struggling. They want TV. It’s blizzarding. I’m out of occupying ideas. I guess one show won’t kill them, or me.

Speaking of me, well I might just drive my poor husband batty. He came home one day to find our bedroom furniture in the burn pit. I did some re-arranging to say the least. Every day he comes home and something is different. Walls are missing, walls have appeared, stuff is in different places, I’ve got a new project. Building trains with the kids had me close to the windows and….

I think I have an idea about what to do with one really tall one. Now to get the right plants and some planters and and…..sigh. Help us!

Juicing facts, why we started and why we’ll never stop

Last year I began watching TED talks. Too many TED talks. Many pointed to the nutritional benefits of whole foods, which I absolutely believe in. The problem is that getting my kids to eat a green bean is extremely unpleasant. You may have seen then gobbling peas out of the shell but if you cook those peas, then it’s as good as poison. They certainly did not get their dislike for vegetables from me. So how to get the good stuff into them? Another TED talk turned my attention to juicing. So we got a green juice recipe and began.

Of course the kids wouldn’t drink it. It actually took months before the kids would try it. They’ll drink my whole glass now (so about 3/4 cup per kid), so persistence is key!

Straws are necessary to the process though. They only get straws when they drink their green juice.

We did alter the recipe for palatability though. We add pineapple, which is a great source of vitamin C so an obvious addition anyway.

I’m not going to lie here, I thought green juice was hideous. I’d drink it all in one gulp so I didn’t have to taste it. The pineapple helped and you do grow to appreciate the flavor, so I like it now. Stick with it through that first week!

The effect has been pretty amazing though. We are healthy. Really healthy. Before green juice we’d end up at the ER with incredible fevers. We got every sickness you could possibly get. Don’t even tell me you have the flu over the phone because I swear I could catch it that way.

I don’t mean to mislead you, we have been sick. We all caught a cold around Christmas. We were over it within a few days and it was never that severe. We rarely go to the doctor anymore. I haven’t had to buy any medication for anyone for a year now. It’s mind blowing the difference juicing has made for all of us.

The kids share a glass. It helps encourage them to drink it when it’s a race.

Our recipe is for 4 people, 2 of them being very small children. This recipe makes a quart of juice.

1/3 pineapple
3 medium apples
2-3 kale leaves
1/3 head of romaine (5-6 leaves)
1 cucumber
1 lime
3-4 stalks of celery

We purchase our juicing stuff weekly. The average cost is $30 per week.

As far as health stats. Our green juice recipe should have the following vitamins and minerals:

green juice

That link is a pdf document.

Staying at home isn’t as relaxing as I thought it would be.

Ok I never thought it would be relaxing. I’m a busy woman and I had projects lined up as far as the eye could see. Still, I thought I’d be able to accomplish things. I suppose I am but it really doesn’t feel like it. Today I ran errands and cooked. That’s it. Where are my beautiful tomato seeds sprouting? Where is my remodeled kitchen? Well that’s a mess. Missing one wall and adding 4. Small walls though, really small ones. I will explain that later.

This rambling has a point I’m sure. Maybe it doesn’t. I’ve been so busy doing I’ve barely had any time to talk about it. Everything is going well. The pigs are growing by leaps and bounds. I still love them. B.L.T. is going to be a biter though, I can tell. He’s already at my legs. I keep something between us usually.

The children are fighting like cats and dogs. Arguing every little thing. Even having full blown arguments about whose mother I actually am. Still, they’re a joy.

I’ve been experimenting with home made bread a lot lately. I haven’t found a recipe I love yet, but I’ll get there. I’ll share it when I do.

As I write this I’m thinking about the wall I need to prime for painting. The shelves I need to stain for the new pantry. The faucet and sink I need to complete before I can move the fridge. Ok. Ok. Must not think about the mountain of tasks and focus on the wonderful things around me. Sounds of our children laughing while they color side by side. The smell of fresh brownies come out of the oven, just waiting for ice cream. The warmth of the gigantic hairy dog at my feet. My life, it’s wonderful!

I quit my day job

I have worked full time for an amazing couple for the last six and a half years. I love my job. It’s varied and interesting. I’m the only employee so I have an amazing amount of freedom to do whichever task I would like to do at a given time. This job has enabled me to buy hundreds of trees and bushes. This job has been something I’ve truly loved.

So, why am I leaving? Our kids. They have been happy in their childcare center and I have been happy with it as well. That is no longer the case. I do not want to move them to a different center. Our oldest will be in kindergarten next year and he does not take to change well. When we weighed our options it became clear that the best thing to do was stay home with our children.

However, I see it more as the eventual career shift we knew I’d be making happening just a bit faster than planned. We always knew that when the farm was stable I’d quit to farm full time. We aren’t there yet. We only have 5 acres planted, so many more to go. My time has been quite stretched though. There were times this spring when I wasn’t sure I could do everything I was doing. I am relieved to know that I will not have to split time between the farm and my day job any longer. I’m also relieved to have before and after school care figured out for our Son.

I’m not all that sure how I will do things yet. Daughter doesn’t much like being outside. I’m not sure where she gets that from. So I’m not sure how I’ll manage all my chores with her. I’m excited to figure it out though. I’m excited to start a new chapter of our life. I’m excited to be able to devote my time and attention to our trees and plants.

She fell in some mud at the barn and was SOOOOO mad!

Things will be slower now. I’ll be growing more from seed. I’ll be grafting from the trees I have established already. I’ll be more restricted with financial resources. I’ll be so freed up on my time though, I think it will even out. I can finally dig that pond we need for irrigation and the pond we want for swimming. I can build more Kraters. I can build a giant hugelkulture to block wind where it’s needed. I can do so many things now.

So this winter I’ll be focusing on the house. It has been sadly neglected and I fear I am going to be purging vast amounts of useless stuff. I’ll be turning our unfinished basement into a winter play area for the kids. I’ll be finishing the kitchen (I hope). I’ll be very busy this winter.

So stay tuned for interesting things to begin happening on the farm!

Also, pig pets!