Awesome news!

This spring has been super busy - not only with goat births and getting the garden ready for planting, but also with writing.  I don't know what I'm thinking... writing a book in spring, but I managed to finish writing my book (on cheese making)!  It is currently being edited and sent to a professional for formatting it as a Kindle book!

Another amazing piece of news is that I will be a contributor for "Whole Food Kitchen", an online workshop and month-long lifestyle immersion on healthy food.  It is being taught by a holistic nutrition coach whose blog I have admired for a while.  I took one of her online classes in the winter and absolutely loved it.  For this upcoming workshop, she chose four contributors, and I am one of them!!!  This class is going to be awesome, with lots of recipes, cooking classes, and a groovy online community.  You should check it out and join, then we can hang out together!  It starts April 20.

In the meantime, spring is happening.  Signs of spring:

- goat babies (I've been filling in as midwife for friends), 
- vegetable seedlings growing like crazy, 
- trying to capture bees and installing bee hives, 
- harvesting and drying nettles, 
- flowering currants and blueberries, 
- asparagus emerging from the warming soil,
- thriving piglets...

I messed up my shoulder (rotator cuff) somehow.  Shoveling manure? Double digging compost into the garden? Supporting myself in a crouching position while assisting goats giving birth? Pushing Eva on the swing?  Who knows?  All I know is that it hurts, and that I can't do everything I want to do in the garden right now.  Thank goodness there are young boys around who can dig my potato trenches.  My sons had a two-day playdate with their pal, and I promptly put them to work.  They worked well, but boy, do they ever eat a lot of food!  I baked bread in the morning, and the three of them devoured the whole loaf for lunch.

With all that work around here, I have to make an effort to take some time to relax, and time to pay attention to my littlest one.  Eva doesn't have a sibling who is close in age (Kai and Lukas have each other), so she often has to play on her own.  I have neglected her lately, what with all the writing and busyness.  So we had a sleepover and spa date with her best friend, where we splattered mud masks on our faces and painted our nails.  Lukas wanted to join the fun, too.

In an effort to find fun stuff to do with Eva, we explored our woods and found the old, abandoned tree house.  We cleaned it up and had snacks up there, just the two of us.  What fun to indulge in girl time!

Are you taking time to pamper yourself this spring?