On turning 12, a 9 pound salmon, and 15 gallons worth of apple cider

This guy turned 12.  Luke, my middle child, fishing-obsessed, drumming-and-electric-guitar playing son who almost died when he was five.  I wrote about his terrifying bout with Kawasaki disease here, in case you want to know what happened.

Despite (or maybe because?) of his near-death experience, he is one of the most athletic kids I know, running through the woods with complicated parkour moves, backflips, twists and turns, doing pull-ups and push-ups daily (he keeps a tally sheet), sprinting after the football when he plays with his pals.

For his birthday, I made a complicated sour cream coffee cake - the same cake that every single one of my children requests at their birthday.  Eva "helped" to make it.

For his birthday, the whole family went fishing.  The Silvers are in the river now.  Two days before that, the kids and I went fishing as well, and I didn't expect to catch a fish myself but was happy to just throw in the line while taking some nice deep breaths, admiring the scenery around me and enjoying the company of the kids.

So when my line tugged taut and I realized that I was not snagged but actually had a fish on the line, I panicked and yelled for Luke, who expertly coached me on how to reel this thing in.

He scooped the fish out in a net for me, and as soon as we had it on shore, Luke started screaming because it was so big.  Turns out I caught a 9.1 pound Silver Salmon.  My first one ever - and I have bragging rights, don't you think?

Sure, it's a little on the red side, but the meat was firm and bright pink and delicious.  I made salmon stew with it, and everyone raved about it.

Luke cleaned up and filleted the fish for me, since I don't know how to do it.

What with all the fishing and birthday celebration, you might wonder if we get anything done.

Oh yes.

Our homesteading and wilderness weekend retreat is officially FULL, and there is a waiting list for next year.  We are busy planning and cleaning and shopping and preparing for the weekend and are really, really excited about our house, homestead and shop bustling with people.

There's still lots of homestead-y stuff to do around here. 

Making sauerkraut, harvesting veggies from the garden...

At a cider-pressing party with the neighbors, we pressed 15 gallons worth of apple cider.

In celebration of Luke, I'll leave you with images of a run in the neighborhood he and Steve went on a couple of weeks ago.  Yes, this is our neighborhood.

Happy birthday, Luke.  I'm so glad you are alive and well.

And how are you celebrating fall, dear reader?

Morning scenes...

We are up to our eyeballs into our homeschooling routine again.  The easy rhythm of summer days has given away to more structure, where the kids sit down at the kitchen table after doing their morning chores and start on schoolwork.  By the time the boys have finished math, language arts, social studies, science and German, it's lunch time, and they are done.  Yep, done.  The whole school thing takes them three hours instead of all day (our kids would have to ride the school bus for a total of three hours to attend public school), and the rest of the day is free to do whatever they want ("Wanna help me muck out the goat barn, boys?").

Lately, this free time has involved fishing.  We are waiting for the Silvers (salmon) to come upriver, but so far they are not complying.  We know the sunny days and blue skies are numbered, so we really take this task seriously.  As seriously as it can get, basking in the sunshine, bald eagles flying overhead, water twinkling, mountains showing themselves off in the distance...

I told you that I have been bitten by the fishing bug, right?

Instead of catching fish, Luke catches Eva

As always, I'm very focused on food: growing it, tending it, harvesting it, preserving it - and eating it!  The other morning, I was struck by its beauty.  Chevre drained by the sink, Greek Yogurt hung above it, oatmeal with blueberries and blackberries picked months before bubbled on the stove, and a frying pan with greens from the garden and our own brilliantly orange duck eggs finished up the still life.  Beautiful food!

While the boys do their schoolwork, I make cheese, do dishes or finish making pickles.  One of my friends gave me her cucumber pickle recipe, which our family has fallen in love with.  I store the finished pickle jars in the fridge, because although they kind of seal, they are not really canned.  These dill pickles are super crisp and super easy, so I cranked out a total of 25 quarts one morning.  That should keep us in pickles for a while, although the kids eat a jar a day.

Yes, yes, life is busy, with homeschooling, farming, finishing up my online cheese making class, and trying to keep the house somewhat clean (good luck with that).  I try to find a quiet, peaceful moment whenever I can.  So the other morning after milking the goats, I wandered in the yard for a few minutes, while Eva helped do chores.  I found some peaceful fall scenes I want to share with you.

With all this business and attention on the boys, I make it a point to give Eva some quality time.  She plays contentedly by herself for hours, so it's important to do something special with her every now and then, don't you think?

Yesterday, we walked up the dirt road behind our house.  Here is where it led us.  Not bad, eh?

Fishing fever, or "Why my sons hugged their weeping mother at the river"

I have a new addiction: fishing.  Wait!!!  Before you roll your eyes and turn away from this blog post, thinking "booooooring", or "I don't want to look at a bunch of dead fish", bear with me for a minute, will ya?

It started with Lukas, my ten-year-old son.  He caught the fishing fever.  Bad.  Then it hit his Dad, my wilderness-mountain-man-husband Steve, because he had to keep up with his fish-obsessed son.  Our twelve-year-old son Kai is kind of into fishing, but not as whole-heartedly and obsessively as the other menfolk in our family.

They keep bringing home salmon from their fishing excursions, which I either make into a delicious dinner, smothered in olive oil and garlic, or Steve transforms into heavenly smoked salmon.

One day, I tagged along with Kai and Luke and got curious.  I threw the fishing line in a few times, dreamily admiring the scenery.  Then a fish bit the lure.  Fish on!!!  What a rush!  I shrieked for help, and Lukas sprinted to my side, coaching me on exactly what to do.  When I landed the beautiful fish, Luke asked me if I wanted to kill it.  It somehow felt important that I did.  When it was over, I cried.  Both my sons fell into my arms, held me and reassured me what a great job I did.

So why do I fish?  Yes, it's great to provide fresh meat for dinner.  Yes, it's wonderful to breathe fresh air by a wild and scenic river.  But really?  I fish so I can spend time with my sons, to let them mentor me in a craft I don't know much about, to feel their arms around me when I succeed, to hear them cheer me on and encourage me.  I love these boys of mine.  And yes, I love the salmon, too.

Lukas, the master fisherman

Kai with a big one

Steve with his huge silver salmon

The scenery, as I already mentioned, is breathtaking around here.  There is early morning mist, there are spring-like downpours drenching us and sun heating us up minutes later, there are rainbows blessing our hunt for salmon, and there's little Eva, bless her heart, patiently playing in the sand while the rest of the family fishes. 

I keep winking at the boys as we reel in our fishing lines, telling them, "You could be sitting in school right now."  They roll their eyes at me, but I know they are grateful NOT to be sitting in school right now.

We did start up our homeschooling schedule, though.  They have to do formal schoolwork for about three hours in the morning (unless we are fishing, ahem, then they have to do school work in the afternoon).

With fishing homeschooling in full swing, life is busy.  Since the days are shorter and it gets darker sooner, I do get quite a bit of knitting done.  Eva asked me to knit her a mouse, so I did.  And I just finished a lovely hat for myself, to keep my ears warm at the river.

Let me leave you with a heart full of gratitude for Mother Nature.  How blessed we are to live in the boonies.