Archive for January 26th, 2010

I was tickled to death today when I found in the archives of Twitter a message that I had been tagged for an Honest Scrap Award by @AlisonKerr of Loving Nature’s Garden.

To accept this award (which I do!) I must reveal 10 honest things about myself that you wouldn’t know by reading this site… hum…  And then I must tag 7 blogger buddies.

To those I tag, I apologize in advance if this kind of thing is terribly inconvenient. I have enjoyed reading the lists of others and am excited to share about myself.

1) I spend most of my time with children; I am very uncomfortable in a room full of adults. I do love to socialize, but do so carefully.

2) Half a margarita and I am wasted.

3) I have lived in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Illinois, Michigan, New York, New Mexico, Arkansas, Texas, Guatemala and Australia.

4) I am a Grey’s Anatomy addict. I record every show and watch them endlessly.

5) I support local businesses and think large chains are damaging to a healthy society… that said, I LOVE Starbucks coffee.

6) I am ignorant to pop culture; I grew up without TV and often feel like a total social outcast cause of this. Thus #4 is particularly interesting to me.

7) I have a problem with books… I buy too many, own too many, and need to build an addition onto my house to accommodate them.

I don’t know how to turn off smiley faces in word press, so since this is #8, it has a smiley face. (If you had paid attention to my other lists to might know this, but I find it amusing). Can anyone help me?

9) I am in love with Matt Damon and have watched Dogma too many times.

10) I have a weakness for chocolate (I like if it’s organic, milk, dark or white  … if it’s chocolate I’ll eat it) and Ben & Jerry’s Mint Chocolate Oreo.

Drum role….

Tag… you’re it!

1) Erin of exhale. return.to.center is a neighbor and wonderful blogger. She is full of helpful tips, thoughtful reflections and exciting adventures shared with her family on their small homestead on the rural edge of suburbia.

2) Debi of Go Explore Nature is a woman after my own heart. She writes of her nature adventures with her boys in southern California. She is full of energy, great ideas, is a prolific blogger and I bet if we lived closer we’d likely go on a few adventures together.

3) Amber of strocel.com I am in awe of her. I seem to “run into” posts of hers all over the Internet. I can’t believe it. Plus, she comments everywhere. I know from reading her blog that she occasionally forgets things, and has two small children, but I am amazed at her writing, her insight, her vast energy and am intrigued to find out more!

4) MJ of TurnItUpMom I love the byline of her blog. “May you be happy, May you be free…” The next part’s my favorite, but you’ll have to stop by and check her out to see what it is! We are kindred spirits of sorts as we love to dance with our children.

5) Suz of Slow Family Online, her pictures are amazingly beautiful and her blog is full of inspiration and surprises; with a wealth of experience raising children in a slow family kind of way.

6) Jaime of Steady Mom is a recently publish author, with three kids and such grace in parenting that I often wish I could be a fly on the wall in her house to observe with out intruding… and see how she does it all so beautifully. I can’t wait to read her book or find out some “other” things about her.

7) Suna of Lobster Monkey is an “old” friend from college. I was ecstatic to find her blog and be able to follow her through her days… but the reality is I barely know her despite this connection, she has become this inspiring, crafty, mindful, dedicated mother and I’d love to know a more about her.

That’s a wrap. I realize that I have only tagged mothers, women like me working to get through the day with children, be true to ourselves and our families. So please take it as a compliment that I am so interested in finding out more about you… and sharing a little bit about myself too!

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The sun is shining , the air is warm and I can feel a hint of spring. I let the chickens out early today and they are wandering the yard looking for tasty morsels.

Dare I say, “Spring is in the air?”

It is, yet this is the JANUARY thaw, nothing more. I know it, it happens every year and I get so excited I head out the back door to work in the garden, I want to put seedlings in the ground TODAY, and plan for baby chicks.

I am like a little girl in a candy store about the January thaw. But this year I am taming this excitement (a little) and have made a list of backyard projects and I want your input!

Project #1- Build a chicken house. I love my chicken tractor, but it’s hard for one person to move and it only accommodates 5 chickens. I want more. Here’s our chicken tractor under the snow of the blizzard of ‘09.

Project #2- Expand my garden. It’s probably a little hard to see under the snow; but out there, is our garden. There are 4- 30 foot rows. It’s a nice size, but we need to expand for a good corn and potato crop and I’d like to plant some asparagus.

Project #3- Build a nature path. The pine trees in these two pictures mark the edge of our property line (although we have such great neighbors that it’s no problem to go a little outside the “boundary”). This is a project I have been dreaming for 3 years and now my son is old enough to help.

Project #4- Plant a milkweed garden. (An extension of #3) The last part of the nature path will go through our small back field. I want to plant lots of milkweed and butterfly bush* weed in hopes that our backyard will become a safe spot for migrating monarchs.

There are so many more projects that I have cooking up. These are the ones that are at the top of my to do list. This week we’ll be ordering seeds in my attempt to realize #2. I’d like to head out today with some strips of material to mark our nature path. And we’ve saved lots of butterfly bush and milkweed seeds.

Bring it on 2010. I can’t wait to get my hands dirty, brow sweaty and see what magic nature will bring.

I am excited to open my backyard project list up to my readers too. Those with tips and tricks to help me, please send links and I will post ‘em here!

Have a great day and enjoy the sunshine!

This is part of the Steady Mom 30 minute blog challenge. I must confess, my writing was interupted multiple times, it took under to write with these “breaks”.  Next week I’ll write at night rather then first thing in the morning. I thought I’d get away with it today.

*Many thanks to Alison of Loving Natures Garden for correcting me… on butterfly weed vs. butterfly bush. Read her comment below for why.

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