Blueberry picking

We picked 25 pounds of blueberries for $4/pound at Ingall's organic farm on Sat.

My youngest aunt, Sarah, came, too.

Days at the lake, the best place to go when it's hot and humid!  

There's a lavender farm where you can cut your own bouquet, 100 stems for $10.  The whole area smelled beautiful.  Honey bees were on the lavender blossoms. Can you see the bee?

I would like to get a chicken weathervane like this one for the top of our barn.  Oh, our little chicks have grown so much these past 3 weeks.  I'm certain the white one is a rooster. I hope we can have a peaceful relationship with two roosters. The adult rooster we have now is much kinder than the one we had last year.  He finds something to eat and calls the hens over.  So, now we have 32 chickens in all.  We're getting about 20 eggs/day.  When the hens start to molt and stop laying for a few months, the "teenage" hens should be old enough to start laying.  I have water-glassed eggs to preserve them.  If you have hens and haven't done this, it's pretty easy. Just 1 oz. hydrated lime mixed in 1 quart water and gently place clean, but unwashed eggs in, and cover and sit at room temperature in a dark place.

This kitten is Pumpkin.  He is 3 months old.  We got him from a family whose baby was just baptised this weekend.  We also had a graduation party to go to again this weekend and they had sparklers for the kids as dusk came.  

Summer concerts in the park, FREE and fun.  Last week was polka music!  

I just made a blueberry pie filling using arrowroot powder. I haven't been baking much, but the temperature has cooled off a bit, which is really nice.

Digging

My husband has an excavator and has been digging trenches to run water lines 4 feet deep (where they shouldn't freeze), to hydrants near the pasture where the sheep and cows are... Should make this winter a little easier.  Their water trough freezes, our hose would also freeze, so we had been hauling buckets out to them.

George found a pretty stripe feather.  He collects eggs:  https://youtu.be/ub0CDLl_bP8

Our cows like to eat burdock leaves.  Here's another video:  https://youtu.be/ne8hG7GSquI

A friend gave us this bouquet of flowers from her garden.  Aren't they beautiful?

Strawberry rhubarb

we'll be trying out a strawberry rhubarb crisp recipe and making jam tomorrow!  Below, is the rhubarb patch and I've plucked off several flowering stems already.

Have you had carpal tunnel issues?  I'm dealing with it now and it's worse at night.  I've used ice packs, amber bracelet, cypress essential oil, magnesium supplements also magnesium flakes dissolved in water to apply to my wrists and hands.  I had this with my previous pregnancy and am pretty sure it's due to my weight gain and the extra blood for the baby and placenta.  My midwife said it will likely go away after baby is born.  I haven't been crocheting much as any repetitive action makes it worse.

We've had days in the 80s, but cool mornings in the 60s.  I got these new wool socks at a fiber fest near us!  We talked to two people who can process the wool from our sheep, into fleece, roving or yarn, but it is expensive.  

I've made this quinoa salad a few times recently.  It's wonderful as a cold summer salad.  I add chopped peppers, red onions, cucumbers, lemon juice, olive oil and salt.  Any summer dishes you've made that you can share?

Festivities

Saturday evening, Sunday and Monday were feast days at our church, for Pentecost and the day of the Holy Spirit.  I didn't take many photos, but wished I had.  

Saturday we went to watch friends who had a folk dance at a festival.  We didn't spend any money there!  We're trying to save, so we can buy kitchen cabinets.

This book was FREE from the Chobani truck at this festival we went to this weekend.  The man behind Chobani yogurt is in this book.  We got stickers, several cups of yogurt and smoothies, also FREE.  

I decided not to crochet a granny square blanket, but a zig zag, for an end result that will be tighter and warmer.
 

Crocheting

I'm starting on a baby blanket.  This yarn is superwash wool, called Gandalf the Gray!

Three clumps of rhubarb growing well.  Each had a flowering stalk growing out of the middle, which I plucked off, so the most delicious part of the plant can grow.  I made several batches of rhubarb sauce and then a friend gave us fresh locally grown strawberries, which I added to my most recent batch.

We also have strawberry plants in our garden, but no ripe fruit yet.

This is some our favorite cheese, Guggisberg baby swiss.

We wrapped up 1st grade with one child.  Below, are the watercolor paintings the students made before doing a fresco, where they used powdered pigments from Italy to make paint and applied it to the damp plaster:

My sister and her family came to visit last week and we had a memorial service at my father's grave.  It's been 8 years now since he passed away.  

Baby

A week ago, I had the ultrasound done and was so amazed at all that could be seen on our baby!  The photo below shows the baby's nose and 2 nostrils with mouth open!!  Isn't that neat?  Baby is measuring in the 93 percentile for growth.

I got my very first KitchenAid mixer!  Our cow has been producing more milk since we moved her our to pasture.  We get about 2 gallons every morning AND evening.  I use the ladle to skim off the top inch or 2 of cream and put it in the bowl to make whipped cream.

I also tried to make butter, unsuccessfully.  I'll give it a try again.

Two eager helpers!  I scooped the cream on the top of my matcha latte I made.  

Our two old apple trees are blooming.  We got 9 new apple trees that we ordered from Fedco in Maine.  

Hope you have a great week!

Big news

Most weekends we attend church services at the monastery near us.  The magnolia tree on the right is blooming now!  Friday evening and Saturday morning we went for the feast of St. George, namesday for one of our boys.

I forged in the drizzling rain, in the forest for ramps with our youngest on Wed. while our older son was in his church history and art class.  We chopped them up and cooked them with eggs.  I was going to make quiche, but even with scrambled eggs, a delightful flavorful addition. 

So, what are the children doing in their class?  They did printmaking, carved out several designs and printed them.  They just finished making a Liturgy book.  It's the 3rd book they've bound in that class. First, was one about the Kursk Root icon, then a compilation of all the students prints, then the Divine Liturgy. This time they also marbled paper to put in their Liturgy book, inside the front cover.  Next, they will be making frescoes in plaster.

We now have 10 spring lambs!  The oldest two are a month old now, several in between and one was born just 5 days ago.

I just ordered my 1st ever Kitchenaid mixer!  I would've gotten a sky blue one, but Costco has only red or silver and it costs less in the end ($299).  I chose red.  If you have any recipes you use yours for, please share.  I plan to make whipped cream, butter, brownies and bread... I'm considering the ice cream maker ($99) that's sold separately.  We have a lot of milk, from our dairy cow, so I think it would be used enough to make it worthwhile.  When our fresh milk sits, the cream separates and sits on top and so I can ladle it out to use for something special.  Most often, we shake it up and drink it as is.  

The big news is that I'm expecting!  Our oldest daughter is 21, in Oregon, then our 19 year old is in Ohio.  I miss seeing them on a regular basis, but we had a wonderful and quick visit with them in January.  I hope they will be able to come to New York when, or shortly after the new baby arrives.  As much as I liked having a homebirth, this time we live further from a hospital, if there's an emergency mid-labor, and I'm much older, so we'll have a midwife and hospital birth.  Please pray for me.  I have an ultrasound this Wed.