Photo of the tree in the front yard that appeared on my camera after Chris borrowed it for the afternoon.
Category: farm
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Farm Day 5
I have to say up front that all these pictures were taken by Chris, since I didn’t take a single photo this year. I never even picked up the camera. Next year I’m setting aside a block of twenty minutes to just run around and take photos. I swear.
We had, quite possibly, the most perfect fall weather. The leaves have just started to turn, and with just enough rain in the last week, the grass is green again.
This year, instead of making shirts ahead of time, we had everyone print their own. From little kids to senior citizens, nearly everyone made their way out to shop, rolled up their sleeves and took a turn on the press. I love hearing Neko’s compadres point proudly at their shirt and exclaim, “I did it!”
Of course, the food was fabulous. Kate D., I wish I thought the bacon-wrapped dates would have survived FedEx. I thought of you as people kept gushing over them.
Tom cut a long path through the tall grass for the kids. He sent them on an “adventure hike” through the path with buckets of goodies along the way. The kids loved it, and went running headlong from start to finish.
Even though it’s a boatload of work to prepare for, I love that we do this each year. I look around and see our house filled with such good people and I can’t imagine any place I’d rather be.
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In the Trust we trust
Today was a big day, from beginning to end.
It began with waking up tired from my adventure in the ER last night. I yanked on some clothes and pulled things together enough to take all three kids to the dentist. Well, really just Neko, but everyone else came along for the ride. Thank goodness I conned my dad into coming, too. Neko was getting a filling, and, well, that just gets difficult, especially with two other kids climbing on me. Long story short, mission accomplished.
Straight from there to JJ’s to pick up Ellery’s prescription and a few other supplies. Yes, the grocery store with three kids. Thank goodness for the built-in Starbucks and shortbread cookie bribe.
Then dropping off groceries at home and hastily pulling together a packed lunch so we can make it to playgroup. Make it through playgroup without major melt-downs, and come home for quiet time.
An hour or so later, we gather up and load the kids back into the car and make it just in time to sign the paperwork to put our farm into a conservation easement with the Trust. This has been a huge thing for us this week as we try to finish the easement before next week’s city council meeting where the whole thoroughfare hoo-ha gets decided on.
After a few moment of celebration and the acquisition of a coffee drink, it’s off to dinner with my uncle Mark, who’s in town from Germany.
I’m exhausted. But lots of good stuff is checked off our list, and we hope to have ensured our ability to wake up to our pastoral views for years to come.
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Freshly mowed
When everyone went down for quiet time, Tom told me I should go mow. We haven’t had a chance to mow for weeks, and everything was overgrown. Plus, today was that perfect almost-fall weather, so it seemed criminal to even think about staying inside.
Time on the mower is kind of like therapy and yoga all rolled into one. When I’m done I feel relaxed and accomplished and like I’ve boiled life down to its simplest elements.
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Fireflies
I always loved fireflies as a child. Spending summer nights with a jar, trying to catch just one. I remember watching them blink here and then there, in awe of this bug that could actually light up. But living in the country has propelled watching fireflies onto a whole new plane.
I had actually gone to bed on time, but Tom was working late in the shop. He came into the bedroom, woke me up, and whispered, “You have to come see this.” I stumbled out onto the porch, expecting to see some part of the display he was putting together for this weekend’s festival.
Once my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw it. I can’t even begin to explain, but in the country there are just thousands and thousands of fireflies. As far as your eye can see, there are dancing lights. It’s mesmerizing.
I tried to capture it in a photo and on video, but neither worked. Maybe that’s Mother Nature’s way of saying it’s just something you have to see in person.
Great music for firefly watching: Fireflies, by Lori McKenna
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The great outdoors
The weather is perfect these days, so we’re spending as much time as we can outside. With the sunshine, we get nice surprises, like my dad showing up with a snake he found in their yard. Neko and Shep were beyond excited about it, and Neko tried to convince my dad it could come live in the frog’s aquarium. (No thank you.)
I bought flowers for the swingset flowerboxes, and Neko and I transplanted them into new pots and put them in place. I was amazed that she was so gentle and was able to do it the right way all by herself. I keep forgetting to give her a chance to do these things. But she did great and was so very proud of herself.
I know the humidity and 95 degree days are coming, but for now, this is glorious.
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Toad goes home
It was time to let the toad go home. Neko was hesitant, but we let her spend some time holding the toad, and then we let her be the one to let her go. She did it without a tear or a tantrum, and Shep backed off and let them be.
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Toad update
The toad is a girl. And only eats live food. Like crickets. Which must eat something in order to keep them alive. Something we don’t keep on hand, I’m sure.
We will be having a discussion about how the girl toad’s family really misses her and that she needs to go home. In fact, I think I hear her mother calling her now…
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Toad
On the way into the house Tom took the kids to see if we anything growing in the garden (sadly, nothing to report), and I took the stuff inside. On the way in, I saw a hopping out of the corner of my eye. It was a little toad, so without thinking too much, I scooped it up and popped it in the bug cage, thinking the kids would like to see it.
They did not like it. They LOVED it. Neko can not stop talking about it. She and Tom went to the store to get a cheapie aquarium, and came back with this lovely flourescent toad hut. In the evening, we walked down to the pond and got stones and pond water so the toad would feel at home.
I would also like to point out that in a true act of Motherhood, I stopped Shep from juggling the toad home, which would have resulted in its inevitable demise. Lordy, that thing is ugly.
