These days

Did you know Smokey the Bear has been around for 80 years? 1944 is when the campaign started, so we read the story at the library about how we can help prevent forest fires.  The librarian had a craft to make a flat Smokey (like Flat Stanley, which is a laminated cartoon character on a popsicle stick, and you can document the adventures you go on with photos, or draw, or write what you do together). First stop was the lake! 

Second stop was visiting Dad at work!  He's with 2 other guys painting a bed + breadfast this week. Cream and a pale dusty rose color.

I made queso fresco and added delicious chive blossoms on the top. Below, you will see the hive my husband has built.  We'll get bees this week!  We all love honey.

We made a dozen cupcakes for a friend's birthday.  I made homemade whipped cream, by skimming the cream off the top of our raw milk.  I've had a Kitchen Aid mixer for a year now and it's easy to make whipped cream, butter, cookies, cake batter, yeast bread dough (although I DO like kneading by hand), etc. I keep thinking about getting the ice cream bowl that you can freeze and the special paddle attachment, but am just not sure.  

Here, the chicks were 1 week old.  Now they're 2 weeks old. Out of 20 eggs only 7 hatched, so we put another batch of eggs in the incubator.

We started a wilderness class and this week, focused on learning knots and how to use them when camping, setting up a clothesline or to tie your drawstring pants in a way that will be secure, yet easy to undo.  These videos by The Bear Essentials are great!

This was Sunday afternoon at the lake. Two families who we are friends with also came later, which was really nice.

My mom commissioned this icon of St. Elijah from Father Paul Akmolin.  Isn't it just beautiful?

Smile

Family was in town last weekend and this past weekend, too.  We went to the lake several times, walked around the farmer's market, got mango lassis at a Tibetan restaurant.  Our baby bunnies are now 3 wks old.

Paddleboarding, swimming and playing in the sand at the beach on the lake on the 84°F day.  Earlier in the week, it was 95°F but we had a new homeschool wilderness class that started that day.  The kids learned of plantain and it's medicinal uses.  They collected about 2 quarts and chopped, then simmered in coconut and olive oil.  We'll add beeswax and make a salve with it, tomorrow.

We got Hawaiian pizza after the lake Sunday evening. I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I do have a cup or tea or two a day.  Matcha, black or herbal are my favorite.  Olivia saw this box of Pukka teas for $3 at the discount grocery store. I bought the coffee for less than $1 per bag and gave one to my sister and the other to my friend, Joanna.

Here are the chicks after 4 hatched! Now they are all in a bigger bin with a heat lamp to keep them warm.

Last week was myrrhbearer Sunday and so we three celebrated our Nameday by going out to a coffee shop for a couple hours and chatting.  Little Elijah came, too.

My sister got Elijah a new outfit that came with this stripe shirt, and matches Liza.

Newborn calf

Our short horn cow, Bella, just had her calf 3:00 a.m. this morning.  We specifically bred her to have a Hereford calf, a good meat breed.  While he's adorable now, we know that he will be big, excellent for food, having had a life with his mama and green grass, sunshine.  To know the source of your is a gift, in this day where huge farms are popular and livestock spend their life indoors and factories are abundant, for processing meat.  We have bmeen having an Amish man do our beef butchering.  Rob has done smaller animals, like the lambs himself. And we will have fresh raw milk again!  We'll let the calf have as much as he wants, too. 

Our apple tree is full of tiny pink buds and flowers right now, here's a wee video clip of the boys enjoying the tree. Another video of Elijah in the jumper!

There are four baby bunnies, although I thought just three!  They were born on Pascha, May 5th + they just opened their eyes this past week.  We've been holding them now and they are mostly in the nest, but come out to nibble on the mint, clover, and dandelion greens we give the adult bunnies. And below, here, you'll see photos of our recent rhubarb harvest.

All the kulich and cheese Pascha has been eaten now.  Paul lost his 10th tooth while eating some just like this!  We still greet one another with "Christ is Risen!"

Baby bunnies

Look how pink + tiny these bunnies are!  The mother made a furry warm nest for them and we fed her dandelion greens on the side, so we could get a good look at the babies.

We celebrated Pascha this past weekend and yesterday was St. George day! Everything was exhausting, yet so beautiful!

Holy Saturday we went to Liturgy in the morning, came home, we decorated our kulich and cheese Pascha, took baths and went to bed to sleep a few hours before the midnight service.

Paul did the letters XB with raisins for Христос Воскресе, which means "Christ is Risen" in Russian.

Holy Friday we were at Dormition chapel in the cemetery for the evening Lamentations.

There are now 15 lambs, as one more was just born this morning! These are Jacob's sheep.

We brought 1 inside for a little, just to take photos, otherwise they are with their mothers, all are nursing well.

The cheese Pascha is now half gone. It was 2 pounds in all.  I will make another batch this week.