Out in nature today and a fresh dinner

It was a perfect morning to get out and go for a walk with the family and dog. 

There were a lot of different families out and about.

This is an eagle's nest and if you look closely you can see some young ones in the nest and on the pole. 

We did drive through a storm on the way home with hail and tornado warning. I like that our phones alert us. There was a tornado spotted over our little town. 

After a lot of rain, things began to clear.

 I know a lot of place across the nation are picking zucchini, tomatoes and squash but we, here in Colorado, are still in lettuce and berry season.  We are just planting out squash. 

I started with a basic salad from the garden of mixed greens and our radishes, adding garbanzo beans.

Dude topped his with some of our roasted chicken. 

I topped mine with smoked herring. 

We added some of those in season berries.

I roasted some of the extra radishes with salt, pepper, a small bit of olive oil and balsamic at 400* for 20minutes.  It makes them sweeter. 

I added yogurt to my berries. 

We are tucked in for the night. The storms have calmed down and so have I.  I was stung by a bee today causing my arm to swell. I took an   antihistamine to help with the annoy itch and now I am very sleepy. If we had been close to home when it happened I would have put a baking soda paste on it and it would have healed up quickly.

Giving no till a chance and greenhouse update

My husband is an old school farmer. He wants to till and disc up everything. I am trying to get him to try a new way (an new way for him) to not grind up the ground so much and use a bunch things we have to build UP the soil. 

I laid down card board... another recycle, reuse. 

 We have a large pile of compost... recycle, reuse.

We have a bunch of clean dirt. 

I went through some of my wool.  To dispel a myth.... our sheep are sheared not butchered for their wool.  

This summer I hope to have enough time to really get into spinning wool.

I took all the grungy bits and laid it on the cardboard.  It works as a mulch. 

Then topped that with the compost. 

The final step is the new dirt.  I had to giggle.  When I got home from work, I found Dude had made a "box" around it.   It does look nice and thank you. 

In the coming days I will put my herbs here and maybe more strawberries. I like that it is a large area.

Here's what's going on in the greenhouse. 

Meat hens are growing quickly.  This may be the last time we raise them.  We have raised them for the last 6 years.  The expense, butchering them and going more toward a veggie base life it doesn't make sense to raise so many for us.  We also no longer butcher our lambs. 

Happy Thankful Thursday. 

peace

Tuesday with the Toddler

 I did get the Money Jar finished for the little one.... He loves dinos.  The Stegosaurus helps open up the jar way better than just the lid.   Uh, yes, I got scolded by Dude for having glitter in the house.  If you are married to me, there will always be glitter somewhere.  I have lots of jars of glitter that need to be used up and make the world a bit more sparkling. 

I think he will like it. 

 

I  had a chance to go see the Toddler today.   We did a little bit of painting today.  I brought some recycled cardboard tubes... aka empty toilet paper rolls... grin. 

We cut lots of spikes .  Then the Toddler made sure the spikes all got smooched down. It's a very important job.

Then, after squirting paint onto a paper, dipped the tubes into the paint and  onto a big piece of paper. 

We painted exploding flowers. 

 Beautiful flowers!

It was a fun time. 

We played outside and later he worked in the yard with his Uncle.  I was so glad to have time with them before heading to work!

peace 

What did Dude do last week, an apple salad and crafting a money jar

Dude has been very busy, as always.  I thought I'd give you a peek into what he has been doing. Right now he is off to the hardware store to get grease for the tractor and then turning the compost. 

He put together a chicken coop for someone. 

Stained and delivered.

And how do you think we get perfectly straight rows in our gardens... yes, Dude.

Plus, always fixing a fence somewhere

or making sure our toilets can flush...ugh. 

all this after he rearranges what I have put in the dishwasher...wink.

From that garden I made another salad today. 

Mixed greens, apples, dates, walnuts, and red onion. 

Topped with a little apricot hard goat cheese. 

The dressing was balsamic vinegar, stone ground mustard and small bit of maple syrup.

Put them up for meals during the week.

Listening to... all I can say is...oh...my … goodness.

Money Monday … I wanted to make a money jar for one of my grandsons.  I got an old pickle jar... I save a box of them, we try to recycle whatever we can. Mod Podge the whole thing and cover in fabric. 

I finished the bottom of it when I got home from work.

and glittered up the lid.

Now to let everything dry until tomorrow. Then add a dinosaur to the lid.

I will post how it turns out tomorrow. 

peace