So it Begins

The first big virus has hit our family. It's been cycling through the kids and finally got me a few days ago. It's a rule in our family that we don't go spreading our germs so we have been hunkered down at home while we do our best to kick this chest cold to the curb. It seems mild enough until night hits and everyone begins coughing. Sleep has been difficult to come by this week.

We have been trying to keep April (and everyone else) from going stir crazy with simple activities. Lots of stories are being read, lots of pictures drawn (the autumn coloring sheet is from Little Acorn Learning's Facebook page), lots of warm baths. The weather has been fair so April and Jon have been working together to collect leaves from the yard for our compost. It's been a relief to get outside, no matter how briefly.

It's also been important for me to work to build up our immune systems. They need as much support as possible to help us fight off this bug and the many more we will encounter this autumn and winter. I've had thieves oil in the diffuser and humidifier all week. I plan on making some thieves soap too. I have a batch of healing bone broth in the slow cooker and we've been sure to add as much garlic to our meals as we can stand. It's also the time of year for elderberry and echincea. I find the best way to get all that immune boosting goodness into the kids is in popsicle form.

Here is my recipe for our Immunity Popsicles.

2 cups elderberry juice (I make this by soaking dried elderberries over night and staining before use)
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 tbsp powdered probiotics
1-2 tsp liquid echincea
7 drops of liquid vitamin D
1-2 tbsp raw honey (DO NOT add this if you are giving to children under 1 year of age)

Add all ingredients to blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze overnight. Enjoy!

Smoothies are the next best way to deliver nutrients. Strawberries are a great source of vitamin C and smoothies are easy to hide supplements like probiotics and liquid vitamins in. I've also been please that April has had a couple cups of hot water with lemon and honey. I'd like to add ginger but she says it's spicy. Jon just harvested some honey from our hives so we have been taking advantage of the benefits of that raw honey for our sore throats.

Wish everyone a health autumn and please share any other immune boosting tips you might have!

Applesauce Afternoon

 

September is here and it's apple season. In all honesty our apples were ready weeks ago but we were waiting for more autumn temperatures to get in the kitchen to make a batch of applesauce. I apologize for the photo quality, my kitchen has terrible lighting. I did design this project however for just April and myself so I wanted to capture so images. One-on-one time with April has been a challenge so I love to savor the moment.

Most of our apples were picked a few weeks ago and sent to the juicer. It's what we do every year. It makes our apples last longer (we have organic apple juice from our own yard year round) and nothing is better in the depths of winter than boiling a pot of homemade apple cider. There were still a few left on the tree and some had fallen into our yard from our neighbors neglected tree. We managed to collect a full basket together.

I think the actual operation of the apple peeler was a bit challenging for April. You can't go too slow or the peeler cuts to deeply and if you don't get the apple on quite right, the core breaks and the apple falls off. So mama did the peeling and April put the slices in the pot. She took her job very seriously. We had some fun too though. April stood on a stool near the peeler and tried to catch the juice droplets that were flying into the air with her tongue. After all that peeling and slicing, April indulged in the one leftover apple. She told me "Apples are my favorite. They are soooo tasty."

Only a few more tasks remained for my sweet girl. As we let the applesauce simmer (with a bit of water, a lot of cinnamon and a touch of coconut sugar), April collected all the "apple spaghetti" aka the peels and took them to the chickens. She used the peels to decorate their run. We let the applesauce simmer for at least an hour while we ate dinner. We made sure that April was the official tester. She declared that it was yummy so we knew it was ready. Breakfast the next morning was oatmeal with our special mama/daughter applesauce.

August Bounty

August is always a good month for garden bounty. It's the month when we harvest the most zucchini, beets, cherry tomatoes, greens, beans and potatoes. We've been so fortunate to enjoy a vegetable from our garden at almost every meal. August also brought us pears and apples.

As we almost always do, the apples were sent off to be juiced. The apples from our tree are very tart and not great for munching straight from the tree. I always turn a few into applesauce but almost all are juiced. There is nothing more comforting in the winter as getting a jug of that apple juice from the freezer and boiling it with spices to make the best hot cider. I look forward to it every winter.

We've been dealing with our usual bumper crop of pears. They are beautiful this year, almost no bug damage. My family isn't a fan of pears sliced so I've been making pear and yogurt popsicles (I have two dozen of them in my freezer). We've also been sharing them with friends and neighbors. It's always nice to have a big harvest to share with others.

September will bring us hopefully another lovely harvest. Carrots, roma tomatoes, grapes, chilis, delicata squash, perhaps a few brussels sprouts and hopefully some radishes. I'm planning on planting a lot of spinach. My spring spinach just bolted so I didn't get any this year and spinach is one of my favorite garden greens. Let's hope September is good to us.

Good Fibrations

This festival is exactly my idea of the perfect summer afternoon. Fibrations is a feast for the sense. The colors always blow me away. I somewhat expect to see the same things as the previous year but when I arrive I'm dazzled. New colors, new designs, new art. Really, that is what I see here. Art, in endless forms. From the way a yarn is dyed to the woven cloth to the felted figures, it inspires me.

As a knitter, I'm hopelessly drawn to the yarn. There were so many yarn vendors this year. As I said, the colors were amazing. It was all I could do not to run from stall to stall, snatching up armfuls of luscious yarn. Some shimmered, some self-striped, some was totally raw. There was mohair, merino, alpaca, silk, linen and probably more that I missed. It made me want to run home and knit like a madwoman. I had the urge run my hands over all the yarn. It was pleasing not just to the eyes but to the touch and that beautiful wool smell.

There were spinning wheels galore. I loved watching the community helping each other, welcoming on-lookers and nurturing new talent. I was a bit surprised though that I didn't see a single drop spindle in use while I was there. Last year I bought my first drop spindle at this festival and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the young women at the stall walk and chat while spinning with their drop spindles. It gave the festival a bit of a medieval air in my opinion.

This year drew far more felters than in previous years and the talent was amazing. The birds in the picture above are actually music boxes. What a lovely gift to listen to the sweet song while holding a soft and beautiful wool bird in your hands. Many of the stalls had such lovely felted items for children. Beautiful felted mobiles, dolls, bunnies, fairy houses; I could have decorated my children's rooms entirely from what I saw there. Of course, there is no one that can compare to the artistry of Saltspring Wool Art. The owl above was just one of the owls he brought. His talent with wool is mind blowing. The feathers even ruffled in the breeze. He had tiny gnomes and owls with amazing detail. I completely admire his gift with wool.

Another highlight was the children's felting station. Some people might feel nervous about letting their child felt with a needle but it was a great set up. The entire table was covered with a large piece of foam so the children didn't have to worry about the foam moving under their felt. I put the piece of roving on the felt sheet and April used one hand to punch up and down with the needle. Together we made her a little sheep and a purple A. It was so fun for me to share my joy of fibre art with my daughter. I will treasure that little piece of art.

Blueberry Fields

 This post is a bit delayed, blueberry season is already coming to an end, but in honor of my favorite harvest it had to be shared.

We returned to our favorite blueberry farm to harvest fresh berries. Stewart's Blueberry Farm is a family farm and their berries are the best. Unsprayed and organic practices as well as family friendly. April is always thrilled to pick berries. This year she was much better about putting the berries in her basket rather than her mouth. Though she was asking the whole time when she could eat her berries (truth be told, I was having a hard time waiting as well). Their little farm also includes goats and ducks. Our visit is never complete without paying them a visit. On this day the ducks were out cleaning up the rows by removing the dropped berries. What helpful creatures.

We simply couldn't wait until we got home to delve into our baskets of blueberries. I wish I had the words to describe the perfect blend of sweet and tart and juicy and firm that are those fresh blueberries. They were even still warm from the sun. I ate until my stomach hurt. I think this might have been the one case of overeating that I didn't regret. Blueberries never taste as wonderful as they do straight from the bush and they are so nutrient packed that I can't resist eating them by the handful. I had such plans for using those berries. Muffins, jams, pancakes, smoothies, popsicles; all were on my list of things to try with our 6lbs of fresh berries. Aside from one small batch of blueberry pancakes (at April's request), the berries were eaten in their purest form. We didn't even bother serving them with yogurt or ice cream. We just munched away for the next few days.

Blueberry season is almost at a close but after writing this post I'm convinced we need to make one last effort to collect more berries. The season is so brief and out-of-season berries can't even come close. I think I will end this post and start gathering my baskets. The blueberries are calling.

Fairy Boats and Blackberries

What a magical afternoon it was. We had spent a few weeks choosing materials and assembling boats and finally we were ready to launch. Once again our inspiration came from Sparkle Stories (Martin and Sylvia Spring Fairy Boat Race). We built a boat made of wine corks with a felt sail, another made of molding wax with a leaf sail and the last one made of bark with a small fabric sail. We talked about which would be the best boat.

It was a hot, sunny afternoon when we decided to pack the little boats into a basket and head down to the creek. It was a relief to be in the shade for a while. April chose the cork boat to be the first to launch. It was off to a good start. We followed it with the wax boat. It floated well enough but quickly lost it's large sail. Last was the bark boat. It did float and made it's way down the creek until it got stuck on a branch in the water. Daddy came to the rescue and set it free but it was too late. The bark became too saturated to stay afloat and down it went. The cork boat was the all-round winner for sure. We left them to float down the creek for the fairies to find.

Now that the basket was empty of boats, we set about filling it up with blackberries. I was quite surprised that the bushes along our route were not picked over. The blackberries were not in the shade however so Finn and I set up camp under an apple tree and watched April and Daddy fill the basket. Once full we all rested in the shade of that lovely apple tree and sampled a few berries. It was such a lovely way to spend time together. It was magical and delicious. Though hot, we walked home feeling very content.

Lazy Lake Days

It's been hot around here lately. Really hot. So what better why to cope with the heat than to retreat to one of our favorite places; the lake. I cannot think of a more perfect way to spend a summer day with my family. Finn is a totally water baby. He kicks and splashes with a big smile on his face. April is a fish too. She's been taking swimming lessons this summer and any excuse to get back in the water is fine by her. Her swim lessons have given her so much confidence. She doesn't want me holding her hand in the water or helping her float anymore.

We always bring a picnic. I think we all could happily stay at the lake for hours. The sandy shore is perfect for castle building. According to April, lake sand is also perfect fairy dust. You might catch her throwing handfuls into the water. Now that Finn is starting to sit up he is keen to explore the sand as well. Though he usually just thrusts handfuls of sand into his mouth. Not really what mama likes to see.

The lake for me is healing. Jon is wonderful about sitting with both kids so I can swim out as far as I can and float. It's peace. The only real waves are from the odd passing boat and they just gently rock me as I float.  I watch the top of the trees slightly sway and gaze off at the Cascade mountains in the distance. What a blessing this little island is and how lucky that I call it home. The water feels soothing on my hot skin and eases those mama aches. I never leave the lake feeling anything but relief. And although my children sometimes leave the lake in tears, I know that they are healed by the water too.