all dress up all the time!

in the coop:

on our evening walks:

in the kitchen:

at playschool:

just readin':

on our way out:
for dear momfilter and cookie mag!

michaelmas festivities}

i awoke to find this beautiful light over the story table i created the night before, right over michael...



our dragon bread ready for the over...he got much much bigger! the children we delighted with that!

I'll be a knight for Michael, too,

And polish my crown to a golden hue.

Ask the gnomes the iron to mine,

Iron from the stars, from the earth, so fine,

To bring to the blacksmith, who with his might

Will make me a sword, so strong, so bright.

{this moment}

{this moment}

weekend washing...

now time to get the woolens out and give them a good wash! cozy socks we are ready for you!

saturdays at home, papa at the farm

how we roll...

over the years i have been asked many times why i drink out of ball jars...or "bell jars" as my husband so absently minded calls them (and em in turn)...and the simple answer is i love them! the long story is more like this:
in college i used my nalgene bottle for everything from tea to water until i learned one day that it was releasing bpa into my drink especially every time i poured hot water from my tea kettle into it--which in college was serveral times a day with very many bags of black tea. and so like many others out there i tried to find a good alternative to the portable drink container---back then there were not many options like there are now and almost NOTHING was bpa free- one day i grabbed an old canning jar and filled it to the brim with tea, milk & honey. and it turned out i wasn't the only one! i would often meet a girl on her bike or someone at the library who hauled out there ball jar with golden lid and took a sip- ahhhhh instant friends! and after years of carrying one in my courrier bag i just got used to the idea. in the past few years many changes have been made regarding plastic and for goodness sake the nalgene bottle is safe now---as far as we know. even cheap sippy cups i've seen around town are toted to be bpa free...but me- well i'll just rock my glass jar. even at home my cupboards are filled with them, and they are my favotire cups, sturdy, utiliatirain, on the go, wide mouthed and simple. now that my little bits is older she get one too- sized just for little hands!

apple time!

many of our apples were lost to the winds of hurricane irene but a few did survive. this week at school we set about to pick the best ones and bring the not so good ones as a special treat for the chickens.
everyones bellies were full!

my chicken girl

little bits has woken up on each day of summer since we moved to belfast and our chicks arrived saying " go see chickens" and how cold i not oblige? there are some days when the dear chicks, good sports as they are, just need a break! a rest from the scurry of little feet and the squealing of happy voices. so we have invented the *watching window* so that em can watch them even when they are tired of her. she can observe and she will....for almost half an hour. what a wonderful way to watch and learn about our girls (and roosters too!)

{this moment}

playing along with soulemama this morning!

the night before playschool and not a creature was stirring...

except this mouse!
so very excited to welcome my class of morning glories tomorrow!
hooray for fall!

adventures in canning...a duet

dear friend ~s~ had me over for a canning extravaganza this weekend and it was all i imagined it would be! we met on friday at the farmers market to load our baskets full of fresh farm goodies. the trip was short and sweet with both our little ones in tow (complete with their own baskets!) and our mothers were appened to be visiting too..fancy that.
little bits downed half a cookie and half a box of sungolds (so her mother's child!)
in any event we ladies spent the better part of saturday canning away. i learned so much! i have canned in the past with friends--jams, jellies, sauces...and watched many many seasons of beets go through my dad's kitchen...but this beets canning was much more hands on and less intimidating than with dear old dad at the helm!
many thanks for a lovely day!!!
and said friend was nice enough to break open a jar of beets from last season so we could get a quick taste! yum!