Mommy Miracle

I know I've been a horrible blogger lately, and I fully blame summertime fun, new local friends, and busyness in the garden for that. I also know that I will probably jinx myself with this post, but I must commemorate this giant achievement before it passes. 

About a month ago, we made friends with a new-to-the-area family with a little boy just about Joe's age. It has been wonderful to see both boys play together and develop a little toddler friendship. It's even better that I now have someone to trade babysitting with, even though it has been relatively (knock-on-wood) easy to watch both boys at once because they keep each other occupied.

Right now, at this moment, BOTH boys are napping. I know. Insane. Two toddlers down at the same time? Also, they've been napping for over an hour so I have actually gotten WORK DONE. Crazy.

I know as soon as I hit publish they will both wake up, but I feel such a ridiculous sense of accomplishment at having gotten them both down.

We've Been Busy

There are a LOT of peas out there to eat right now.

Mother's Day

I'd do anything for this kid.

Silent Sunday: Joe Deere

I know it's in his gene pool to be obsessed with cars, but I didn't really anticipate that translating to lawn equipment, too.

 

Happy Easter, everyone!

Dear Family

I realize I might have caused a bit of a stir with this post in which I discussed the mudswallows that nest outside our front door. Let me clear up any confusion caused by my poor writing by clearly saying I AM NOT PREGNANT. Sorry. When we FIRST saw the mudswallow family, we really wanted to be pregnant, and unbeknownst to us, we were pregnant. Two years ago. I guess what I was trying to say was that I felt karma rewarded us when we didn't knock down the bird's nest by giving us the pregnancy we were hoping for. Two years ago. Not now.

Geesh, that was kind of embarrassing. In case anyone was wondering, I am much too busy chasing after this little guy to think about adding to the brood:

Quick Note

In case you were all hovering in front of your computers with my blog open hitting the "refresh" button 10 million times and wondering why nothing new was being posted (you were, right?) you should know that my little pride & joy broke the screen on my laptop. It was incredible, actually. He shattered it WAY worse than his dad did a few years ago. Ah, the male drive to best one's own father.

Anyway, I should get a replacement screen tomorrow, and then I'll be able to upload the pics I've been taking. In case you were wondering how the garden survived the Saturday's blizzard, be soothed. Almost everything made it through just fine, including my nerves.

Also, I just had to share with you that while on Saturday the temps were in the teens and there was several inches of snow on the ground, a mere 72 hours later I was gardening in shorts and a tank top. Gotta love Oklahoma, I guess.

Quad 1 Update

Our plans for Quad 1 changed slightly, but not as much as I thought they would. The original layout included 4 rows of peas, which stayed, and a row each of lettuces and spinach. We cut the lettuce row short and planted onions at the end:

It turns out that I might have more onion sets than I could ever hope to plant. I've planted out another 2 rows in Quad 2 and will probably add some to Quad 3, though I don't know if that will be pushing it in terms of proper planting times for these.

It's nice to know that we will eventually be eating snow peas:

This row is chock full of sprouting Oregon Snow Pod 2 plants. I just hope that they truely do have a bush habit, instead of vining, so we don't have to put up a trellis for this row since we'll be building 3 other trellises. I think they are doing so well because a) the temperatures have been perfect for pea-growing and b) we used Joe food to fertilize them:

I really don't know how this cheerio got all the way out there by the peas, but there it was. Cheerios appear in the most RANDOM places here at the WatRanch.

Other Quad 1 news is that we will soon be attempting to transplant the lettuces that we sowed in milk jugs. I'm not seeing a lot of germination in the planted rows, so it's reassuring that the wintersown seeds are doing so well:

These are the "Flame" seedlings that will grow into pretty red leaves. I can't wait for the first salad!

Jello Playdough

One of my absolute favorite playthings as a kid was playdough. Who didn't love that stuff, right? I'm a purist, so I liked to take time to really enjoy popping open a fresh tube of dough and admiring the smoothness of it before mashing it into an unrecognizable blob. I was never really a fan of the colors, though, because it was IMPOSSIBLE to make a realistic looking playdough hamburger or playdough cherry pie using neon pinks and florescent greens. (Yes, I was one of those kids who made playdough food. Sue me. I was no good at making animals because I could never get uniform legs). 

Anyways, my babysitter reminded me a few months ago that now would be a great time to get Joe playing with playdough as a tactile activity, and I wanted something to break the monotony of the large plastic toys and educational videos. I found this recipe online (recopied below) for non-toxic dough made from Jello, and since it was imperative for me that it wouldn't stain hands, clothes, carpet, tile, I gave it a shot. Plus, I already had all of the ingredients in the pantry. Bonus!

Ingredients:

1 cup white flour
1/2 cup salt
2 T. cream of tartar
2 T. Vegetable oil
1 c. warm water
1 three oz. pkg. jello (any flavor)

Directions:

Combine ingredients and cook over medium heat until it thickens and pulls away from the sides of pot and becomes dull. * Note: it burns easily so don't put over too high a heat and keep stirring. Mold and knead until cool enough to touch. Store in a closed plastic bag.

  

The kneading part was, of course, my favorite even though it can be pretty hot right out of the pot. I had to work fast to get it to cool down because I had a hooting and hollering little boy aching to get his hands on the stuff.

You'll find that it makes about 2 cups per color, so be sure to share with a friend! We spent this past rainy Monday whipping up a batch for our neighbor up the street as a birthday present. The colors aren't as neon as the store-bought stuff, but it will smell like the Jello flavor the first several times you play with it. It's not really edible, unless you have a serious sodium deficiency, but it's non-toxic for sure. 

Mutt Monday: The Cleaning Crew

Where there is a baby in a highchair, there is a cleaning crew of mutts waiting like moat monsters beneath it to devour the castoffs. And where there is a 1-year-old's birthday, there is airborne cake.

These dogs are probably the most efficient vaccuums I've ever seen. I keep trying to convince Bill to let me get a Roomba, but he keeps pointing out that as long as the floor is soiled with food, we don't need one.



*Note, BD is still with us, though he was out having a romp while the girls remained vigilantly by the door. They know what it means when we take the baby's shirt off to eat...

Dear Joe: Year 1

Dear Joe,

I can only imagine what tiny, multipurpose device you may be reading this on in the future, but I know that your dad and I didn't pay for it.

That's not a good way to start this. Let's try again.

The past 12 months have gone by faster than any single year of my life. I think before you were born, time lumbered along in no big hurry to get anywhere. I waited what seemed like forever for you. Long before I was pregnant with you, even before I imagined how you'd have your father's nose and ears, I couldn't wait to meet you. My first born. I used to dream about you and could almost remember what your face looked like when I woke up.

When we found out you were on the way, I felt like I'd known you forever. There were things I will probably always regret about your birth that I had no control over. I admit that because even though things didn't turn out the way I planned and I wasn't awake the moment you were born and your father couldn't be in the room, you did just fine on your own. I learned on your birthday to have faith in you.

I'm so proud of both of us for getting through the tense first weeks of nursing and sticking with it for a full 12 months. I have you to thank for helping me achieve the greatest physical challenge of my life, and your future siblings have you to thank as well for making sure they'll have a chance, too. But don't think for a minute that I won't bring up the pain when you're in need of a good guilt trip one day, mister.

This year you've flown across the country four times--8 plane rides with countless layovers--and you're gearing up for more in your second year. You've been visited by your Gramma & Oppa, MaWat, Aunt Pookie & Uncle Sean, Aunt Andra & Cousin Grace, Aunt Diane & Uncle Ben, and Nonnie & Great-Grampa here in Oklahoma. You bring a smile to everyone's face because of your bright eyes and dimples, so much so that I have to fight off old men in the grocery store who want to hold you. You're a healthy kid, too--this past year there was a swine flu epidemic that you didn't catch (thank goodness) and you were never colicky or sensitive to anything.

Well, that's not true. You are the lightest sleeper I've ever met (where do you get that from?!?) and your father and I have employed all kinds of soothing white noise fans and gentle music to try to keep you asleep. You wage epic battles to keep from going to sleep if you think there is fun to be had by staying awake. I hope this is something you grow out of next year.

Speaking of growing, you grew 8 teeth in your first year. You eat like a bottomless pit, though lately you've taken an interest in feeding the dogs from your highchair or slowly tossing bits of food onto the floor to see if I'll notice and stop you. You're very much into playing games these days--how many CDs can you pull out of the case before we stop you, how many buttons on the keyboard can you push before we stop you, how long before I make you stop chewing on my cell phone. I've gone through 3 cell phones in your first year, by the way. It's hard to be mad though, because your face lights up at the end of the day when it's time to call Daddy at his office and you can hear his voice in your ear.


We took thousands of pictures of you and recorded dozens of videos to send to our family and friends back East. It's not easy being so far away from them, but you make Oklahoma much less lonely. I hope we can keep up with the picture and video taking, but if we don't, it's because we're too busy having fun with you to stop and grab a camera. I hope you remember those times without needing a picture or video.

Just like I didn't really understand love before I met your father, I didn't really understand joy or fear before this last year with you. I see so much of myself in you now--something I didn't expect at all--and it makes me want to be better for you. You've turned me into a full-fledged tree-hugging green monster because I want the world to be a better place for you.

You've accomplished so much in your first year, and I'm looking forward to the ride we have ahead of us in Year Two. I'm not just proud of you, I'm inspired by you and I hope one day you'll understand that when I set boundaries for you, it is because I respect you.

I love you, Bubba.

-Mama

Silent Sunday: Progeny

Here I was, thinking I was being really great with the semi-regular postings on here this week, when I get the following, albeit subtle, email from my mom:

"We have seen pictures of plants, pots, and puppies.  When do we see pictures of progeny?

Love you

mom"

So. Here are some extra shots from recent months that haven't been posted elsewhere.

Kitchen Herbs or Meet Joe Dirt

Folks, I don't know if I'll make it to spring. I'm kind of an impatient mess right now. I had such high hopes of being able to start seeds for the garden soon, but I'm just not certain that the coldest winter weather on record is going to bear out my hopes for an early frost-free harvest. This past weekend, I convinced myself that 40-degree weather wasn't really that bad and did some clean up and worked on the compost pile for a little bit. Not that I was very successful as it was pretty much a frozen-solid block of kitchen scraps.

Thankfully, my dear friend across the way gifted me with a kitchen herb kit. (I am seriously considering changing the name of this blog to "Thanks Again, One Acre Homestead.") I decided it would be a fun, tactile activity for Joe and I to undertake to try to chase away the cabin fever and to distract him from the pesky cold he had last week. It was an excuse for me to exercise my green thumb and an excuse for Joe to throw dirt all over the kitchen floor--good times.






In the end, we planted 5 pots of thyme, parsley, basil, chives, and cilantro. Whether these actually sprout or not, only time will tell. The directions merely say to position them "near a sunny window," but in my current research about seed starting for the outdoor garden, I'm quickly becoming convinced that nothing will grow without significant investments in grow lights and heating mat contraptions.


This arrangement will have to do for now: sunny window+frequent repositioning throughout the day+cosmetic mirror. I'll keep you posted.

It's My Birthday and I'll Post What I Want To

The scene: A basket of freshly shredded papers left over from a freelance project intended for the compost pile. I had just discovered that there were no clean cloth diapers and we were out of all spare disposables except for a few swim diapers left over from the summer. New toys from Christmas strewn throughout the house, completely ignored. Late afternoon, general restlessness afoot.

Amish Friendship Bread Day!

Today was the official baking day for the friendship bread that I started 10 days ago (the starter miscalculation that left me with 10 starters to give away!). All in all, I think the journey from Oklahoma to Danville, VA was successful:
We baked 2 starter's worth and saved 2 more to freeze/give away. I'm fairly sure the reason you can make 2 loaves from one starter is because it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to eat nearly an entire loaf the second it comes out of the oven.

It's fun baking in my mother-in-law's kitchen at Thanksgiving because we always blast the Christmas tunes. It's NEVER to early for Christmas tunes, I think (much to the annoyance of my poor college roommates). This year I danced around with Joe to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" while we waited for the bread to cool off.


I don't know which was better; the bread or the dancing. I think he liked it too.

I hope everyone else's bread turned out well! Please let me know if you were baking today! (Link for recipe is here, in case you need it.)

Nature Adjacent

After a whole day spent in airports/the car, I needed to get back outside and soak in some fall. There is nothing as spectacular as fall on the East Coast, where there is actually TREES and LEAVES and COOL, CRISP AIR and all those things that one traditionally associates with the autumn season. Not that I haven't enjoyed fall in Oklahoma, but it's just not the same.

We decided to take a walk around the now closed Dan River Mill. The old textile mill was the major employer of the people of Danville, VA for over 100 years. Much of the major infrastructure of the downtown area centered around the mill, like housing for mill workers, personnel offices, etc. When the textile company faced bankruptcy several years ago and subsequently was bought by an Indian chemical company, what to do with the empty mill buildings became a subject of heated debate in the community. Eventually, it was agreed to tear down the buildings and salvage as much material as possible to be used in other projects around the country.

We took a walk near the Schoolfield Mill section on Saturday, and I couldn't help but notice that throughout the various ruined structures, there were little glimpses of nature reclaiming the space.
This is the worker's parking lot across from the entrance to the mill. Besides the warping of the asphalt, the growth of grasses and weeds through the cracks is fairly impressive.

I love how the massive pine trees mirror the spacing of the old smokestacks.

This is the turnstile that workers went through every day to get to work. It also reminded me of pine tree branches.

This little tree was growing underneath the mill's electrical substation. It clearly has grown up since the mill closed, which is pretty remarkable considering it never would have been there if the substation still directed power to all of the mill buildings.

I was struck by the almost bovine colors of this rusting structure (housing for heating/cooling? I'm not an engineer, obviously):

See the holes worn into the rusted sections? I made up a little story to myself about how they were broken down by birds who now use them for shelters, but that is probably my overactive imagination again. Speaking of nests:


There were nests EVERYWHERE! I was so surprised--it's as if the people moved out and the birds moved in. I loved the way the seed pods (whirly-gigs) decorated this tree. I took some home with me to see if I can grow my own whirly-gig tree in Oklahoma.

If you look closely, you can see that this pile of bricks and structural elements (which has been there for about a year) is covered in grass. Yes, grass has literally grown up over the wreckage. Will this pile ever be moved, or will future civilizations find it after they excavate the area?

It should be said that we obviously were not able to walk throughout the site. There was a tall fence that kept me walking and positioning myself to try to come up with interesting photo angles (and, alas, hindering my efforts in most cases). I was interested in the way the fence played a role in the following two photos.

It looks as if this felled tree bough was trying to escape the mill, with half on either side of the fence. And this is my favorite:

This gorgeous little vine was growing (and blooming) along the outer fence. I could say something about hope or opening windows accompanying closed doors here, but I'll let you come to your own conclusions.

On a personal note, I snapped this picture of three generations of Cook/Thorntons (Joe, Dad & MaWat) huddled outside of the mill that sustained recent ancestors:

In a few years the rest of the mill will be torn down and our son will be grown up. Of course, I can't help but wonder what he'll find if he ever decides to return to this site.