No words

I don't really need words here, do I? The beauty speaks for itself, doesn't it?

But since I'm not one to swallow my words, here are some:

We've been soooo enjoying spring, with all the blossoming things around us, and the garden thriving, and walking barefoot.

I don't like wearing gloves or shoes when I dig in the soil to plant or weed. I love the feeling of dirt, although I have to admit that stepping on a slimy slug is not so great.

Anyway. At the end of the day, this is what my feet look like.  Also, my face looks tired, because it is. Working in the garden all day isn't as easy as it used to be 25 years ago...

These spring days are so full, so physical, and so welcome after a long, cold winter.  We love sitting at the end of the day, watching the kids frolic outside, helping with chores in the garden, or raking grass, or jumping on the trampoline.

Our friends gave us this trampoline a long time ago when their kids flew the nest.  We we put it over a big hole so it would be on the ground lest someone broke their neck falling off it.  We've gotten a lot of mileage out of that old thing.  The kids love it, and I like it mostly for stretching out on my back and staring up at the sky.

Talking of relaxing: Another favorite thing at the end of the day is sitting on the porch with a glass of our homemade Oregon Grape wine.

Two years ago, we picked 20 pounds of these wild berries in our wild forests and made them into wine, and oh my goodness, I need to tell you: this is the best wine I've ever tasted. Better than the store bought stuff, honestly.

Also, it has a bunch of medicinal properties, so I feel good about drinking it. Ahem.

If you want to try it, come to our Homesteading/Wilderness retreat in August, and you get some.

 Another fun thing this week: driving over the the Methow Valley, just over the North Cascade Mountain Pass on the East.  The road over the pass closes every winter and doesn't open again for six months, and this year it opened super early.

So off we went, because the mountain biking is good in the Methow, and one of our kids is mountain bike obsessed. Since he's homeschooled, we get to do these adventures in the middle of the week when the crowds are almost non-existent this time of year.

Heaven, I tell you. Heaven.

This guy didn't get to go. He was sick. Excuse me for publishing this photo of you with a fever. You're a good sport.

This guy did get to go. Lucky dude.

Typically temperamental - but the garden is going in!

In typical April fashion, she is being temperamental. One day, she's shining the sun down on us and makes the plants shoot up in front of our eyes, and another day, she's dumping rain and makes us light the wood stove.

But while she's having a hard time making up her mind, I'm single-minded and focused: get the garden in.

So whenever the sun comes out, I shovel compost, broadfork garden beds, and plant things.  Peas, radishes, garlic, carrots and beets are already up.  And all our 40 pounds of potatoes are planted!  We've expanded our garden into the South-East corner of our property, since the potatoes get to grow there with a pretty view of some mountains.  Great logic, huh?

Of course I enlist the help of youngsters whenever I can.  Since I plant potatoes in furrows, there's quite a big of digging involved, and by the time rows are dug for that many plants, my back is grateful for the help and company of cheerful kids.

I have a blog post about planting potatoes if you want to learn how to do this.  >> Click here to read it <<

In case you are wondering why I have bird netting over my garden beds, it's so that the pesky birds can't pull up the emerging, succulent green sprouts.  So there, birds!

Springtime is such a lovely time of the year, even though she can't make up her mind about the weather.

Cherry and plum trees are blooming in full force.

Foraging for wild food is abundant.  I have already gathered and dried a bunch of nettles, and I often snack on Miner's Lettuce and Dandelion leaves when I go for walks.

And volunteer kale is sprouting up in a corner of our property where I dumped some garden clippings the year before.  What a treat!

Plus: tulips and trilliums and baby goats! What's not to love!

Spring time also signals bicycling time - one of my great loves.  So whenever weather and time permit, I grab one of my kids and drag them out on an excursion.

Or kayaking and canoeing: We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, and by golly, we will be out in it, even if it rains!  We took the boys and their friends out to Lake Shannon for an impromptu rowing trip in the rain.

Hint: when you take four teenagers out rowing while it's drizzling, bring lots and lots and lots of food.  Treats are a great motivator.

I will leave you with images of more spring:

Naturally dyed easter eggs - dyed with cabbage.  I have a tutorial on how to do this on my blog.  >> Click here to read it <<

I finished knitting my skirt (called "Bee You Skirt", found here on Ravelry):

Our pot hole filling neighborhood party was a great success! Our one-mile-long unmaintained forest service road had gotten impossible to drive without throwing our backs or necks out, so now it's easy going again!

What's blooming in your part of the world?

Why yoga with goats is a really bad idea. And: a great spring resource for ya!

Have you seen the viral videos on Facebook of people doing yoga with goats?  Yes, they're cute, but do people realize that if they did yoga with goats, their yoga mats would get peed, pooped, stepped, and chewed on?

Also, have you ever had a baby goat jump on your back?  It hurts.  And not only do they step on your sensitive vertebrae, but they also chew on your hair without you realizing it, and then you have strands of spit hair sticking from your head like a crazed Medusa.

Still.  We sometimes do yoga with goats.  Here are Luke and Eva while visiting our friend with mini Nubians.

Please note the muddy hoof prints on Luke's shirt (another side effect of doing goat yoga: lots of laundry).

This photo op happened when we shopped for goats.  I considered mini Nubians.  They are incredibly gorgeous.

Then, I fell in love with actually owning goats with ears, as opposed to the ear-less La Manchas I've been raising for over a decade.

The white goat below is Fiona, a Saanen I bought from a friend.  I adored Fiona, and she stayed at our homestead for three weeks, until I had to return her because I was ready to slit her throat.

Every single day, she would scream and yell and maaaaahhhhhh very loudly all day long as soon as she lost sight of me.  I spent hours in the barn and pasture to comfort her, although she also had another goat companion, but in the end, I had to return her.  I cried when I dropped her off.

We sure loved the taste of her milk.

Alas. 

I've been making Chevre cheese, yogurt and Feta cheese with her milk.  Oh so good.  And my morning coffee with creamy, raw goat milk?  Ohhhh!!!

You do know I teach a self-paced online course on how to make cheese at home, right? It includes how to make Greek Yogurt, Chevre (or Farmer's cheese if you make it with cow milk), Gouda and Cabra Al Vino.  

And a recipe for the best cheese cake you'll ever make (made with the Farmer's cheese I teach).  My son makes cheesecake all by himself, and he's only 13.

You can check it out by clicking here <----

Spring time is in full swing, despite the record rainfalls we've been plagued with here in the Pacific Northwest.

Despite the rain, I got my potatoes planted!

And my daughter helped me start all kinds of seeds in the greenhouse, and they are all sprouted and growing happily by now.

Best of all, flowers are already popping up everywhere, and the wild natives are blooming, too.

Our six little chickies are growing very rapidly.  They are looking less and less like little fluffballs and more like... you know... dinosaurs.

And of course, you also know I teach a self paced online chicken raising course, right?  In it, you'll learn everything you need to know to raise chickens in your backyard, even if you live in the city.  It also includes a video and step-by-step instructions on how to build the kind of chicken tractor we've used for over a decade to keep our birds safe and happy.

You can check it out by clicking here <----

We spent an hour to clean up our neighbors' chicken coop the other day, so we could move our two big laying hens up there while the little ones occupy the chicken tractor.

The kids had to help and weren't happy about it, but oh well: if you wanna eat eggs, you gotta help clean up chicken poop.

In closing, I'll prove to you that we don't just work all the time.  We take time to play, we really do, and we think it's important.

One day, when it wasn't raining (surprise, surprise), we took our canoe out to Puget Sound and found some magical spots.  

And then we warmed up at home in front of the wood stove.

By the way?  I put together a resource of spring-related tutorials I made, mostly videos.  One series of tutorials is about growing your best onions ever organically, the other is how and why to use a broadfork instead of a rototiller to prepare your garden, and the other is my little movie tutorial on how to make nettle pesto.

You can get the list right here on our Patreon membership site.  By paying as little as $1 a month (and as much as $20, and with that you'll get a traditional long bow Steve made), you get access to membership-only stuff I produce.

Plus, it supports us, so that's nice, isn't it?
Head on over to our membership site to do just that and grab your list for spring!