Tuesday, February 16, 2016

It has begun

I'm calling this post "It has begun".  Here is what has begun:

*** Our planting season: I intended to show you beautiful pictures of my kids planting garlic in our exceptionally fertile-looking, dark soil.  But I had deleted my garlic planting pictures on my i-phone to make more space for shooting demonstration movies for my upcoming fermentation course.

I'm bummed out about deleting my garlic pictures.  You can still find some on my instagram feed, if you don't believe me about our Martha Stewart-worthy-looking soil.  Anyway, the important message here is: we planted our garlic!  Spring is coming, it really is!

Instead of the garlic pictures, I'll show you pictures of our big bamboo burning, which happened the same day we planted garlic.  Have you ever heard bamboo popping when its inner chamber explodes?  It's very loud, like gunshots, and our poor small town probably thought some idiot was shooting guns all afternoon.  Sorry, neighbors.





We also found out that our puppy loves chomping on the kale and collards leftover from last year's garden.  Good girl, eating her vegetables...I think.  I do, however, believe that I need to fence her out of the garden when my first little transplants are growing in earnest, otherwise that dog will eat everything in sight.



The same day as planting garlic and target practicing burning bamboo all day, the kids built a fort in the woods.  It was the first sunny day in a week, and little Eva insisted on wearing a bathing suit and going barefoot.  I was too busy planting, burning and chasing the puppy out of the garden to play fashion police, so she got away with it.  She now has a wicked cold.  Bad, bad Mama.



Once the sun comes out, we stagger around like blinded lemmings, and then decide to soak up some vitamin D and head for the creek.  Having a new puppy forces me to take two walks every day, which I love, but I also love having all of us together, kids, puppy and adults, to go exploring.  And after we get good and cold, there's the cordwood sauna to sweat in.








*** New beginnings: Baby goats.  Not from my own goats, not yet, but from our friends'.  The puppy had fun meeting the goats, but I don't think the feeling was mutual.


*** More new beginnings: baby chicks.  Or more accurately, soonish-to-be baby chicks, which are now incubating and will hopefully hatch in 19 days.  


Now.  Let's talk about Mardi Gras.  It's an occasion that is enthusiastically celebrated in our little town called Concrete - to such an extend that dressed up folks from as far away as Seattle come join the party.  Maybe it's because February is such a grey, depressing, boring month in our part of the state, and Mardi Gras adds color, excitement and, well, who needs an excuse to party?

We do it right, is all I can say.  I love the small town feel of community dancing on Main Street, our local band called "Jumbled Pie" making us kick up our heels, the goats and puppies that get to join the parade.  It's all really fun and heart warming and lovely, and it makes me proud of being a part of Concrete.







I will leave you with some of my favorite images from the week.  A sunrise in our yard, a smiling puppy, and fixin's for made-from-scratch whole wheat crackers.







14 comments:

  1. I had to smile when I read that you think your February is cold and grey -- I'm awed at the amount of green I see in your pictures! Living in New Hampshire, we just emerged from our -19 degree days and are looking at a whole lot of white out there. Thanks for the uplifting post!

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    1. Yes, we are lucky that things are at least green. Sometimes I would prefer snow to our grey rainy grizzle. I grew up in Germany where we got lots of snow, but at least the sun came out a lot while it was cold... Sorry to hear about your crazy cold snap!

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  2. Love the sauna. Love love. Love the deranged dog face. Gave me a laugh.

    It's coming on spring here, too, and I hope I can carve out some time in the move next month to dig a garden and start planting, too.

    Love Mardi Gras. You've got a great community. Ours is going to be Hispanic and we will really enjoy Cinco de Mayo when we're there. The latinate cultures really know how to party (french, italian, spanish, etc.) but now that I think of it germanic culture does, too. Oktoberfest and steins of beer the size of one's head. How can anyone drink a pail of beer? Oom Pah Pah music.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, trust me, one CAN drink a pail of beer. The question is: can one walk afterwards?

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    2. I think I can answer that. No Way Jose!

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    3. Yes, you can..... but you need 2 to do it. In tipi-formation; shoulders & heads together, legs wide apart. And preferably no obstacles on the way. Cause that messes up the formation.

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    4. Nah, laughing's good for yah.
      And don't ask where I got my tipi-wisdom from......

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  3. In case you don't know - you can embed your IG photos in your blog and save them to your laptop or phone from there. Go to the three ..., click embed, copy and paste the text into the blog, and there you go.

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    1. Hey Robin... what are IG photos? See how clueless I am?

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  5. OK Corina I would love to buy your online course about all the fermentation but the house is in chaos with packing and then when we get to the new house... more chaos of unpacking! 2 months of chaos for a good purpose. HOWEVER when things settle down I will be right back into making that house a home. I do NEED goat milk soap. I finally am on my last bar of store bought soap. Do you still make soap? You soap is fantastic!

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    Replies
    1. Don't worry - the fermentation course is an evergreen course, meaning it is always available, and you can start whenever you want!
      About the soap: I have to make more. In fact, thanks for reminding me... I'll make more today. Then it has to cure for one month... Ask me again in a month, and I'll send you some!

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    2. Yippee! I have it noted on my calendar on March 18th.

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