Three of Four

The girls are almost 5 months old now. I'm not sure who is laying the lighter egg. Sahara loves checking numerous times throughout the day. She hasn't dropped one yet.

It has been lovely and warm this week. I have felt like the weather and I were in cahoots with our denial of school's imminent return. But today I had my second faculty meeting, and now it is gray and rainy out.

Soup is sounding good for dinner. Ahhhhh, autumn's arrival is upon us.

Today

I read this and it really hit home.

Despite much preparation and forethought, there are some moments when I lose sight of our reasons for choosing this lifestyle for our family, and just crave a bit of so-called normality, some time on my own, and a nap! At times I have a few doubts about my commitment to living simply, and begin to wonder whether or not mainstream alternatives are so terrible after all… Then as soon as things run smoothly, I find joy in the cream turning into butter or the first blossoms on the stone fruit trees, or the perfect white egg warm in my hand.

. . .

It’s worth taking steps to avoid burnout even if it seems like it couldn’t happen to you. Your children, partner, plants, animals, friends, colleagues and family all need you to be as healthy and contented as possible. I’m reminded of Covey’s idea of “sharpening the saw”. Taking the time to sharpen your saw will assist you in getting through the tough times – in our family it is illness, too little time at home or financial pressures – for you it may be something entirely different. It might even be the build up of many things that bother you. And if you’ve no time for the garden, unread books on the bedside table, a fitness regime abandoned, yoga classes have gone by the wayside or [fill in your own unfulfilled needs] then your saw will be dull. Eat well, exercise and don’t take on more than you can cope with. Take time for you…

Posted by Bel
From Spiral Garden

So even though it was a gorgeous day out and my list was miles long, I went to the gym, alone.
Yeah!

Double yolks

Tink (short for Tinkerbell) has been laying one egg every day this week. They are quite large and are double yoked. Pablo is a bit grossed out by them. I tell him it is a sign of good luck. Lydia is happy to eat them scrambled.


I am still having to buy eggs at the store because I've been doing lots of baking which is a bit unusual for this time of year. Most Augusts the last thing I want to do is turn the oven on. Today is gray and drizzly. Perfect weather for planting the leek and scallion starts I got on Tuesday. Yesterday I made two loaves of zucchini chocolate bread. It is good!

Today I plan on making a batch of zucchini muffins to freeze.

For dinner tonight we'll have a zucchini stir-fry with zucchini salad on the side. Or I could try a zucchini quiche . . . or breaded zucchini sticks. Too bad we don't have a grill. I love grilled zukes.

Harvest

Our second round of strawberries is coming on now. It is perfect timing since our blueberry bushes have been stripped down to green. The girls spend some time every day searching the bushes for shades of red.
With rain in the forecast the rest of this week we decided to begin harvesting our potatoes. We focused on the dark ones last night. We gathered about 9 pounds before it got too dark.


We are going to get a second bid on our small remodel project. We had planned to have it all complete before school starts, but it is looking like our house will be upturned just when classes begin again. A friend pointed out this morning that all our Romas are likely to ripen during that same time period, so I will need to be canning from dawn to dusk. I can't wait (for it to be over)!