Gathering Moss

i heart spray paint

2010-08-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

I've been on a spray painting frenzy lately. I'm obsessed with covering less than pretty things with a shiny new coat. I also need to learn to stop myself before I spray and take a photo. I'll learn someday. I also never get out my very nice (very expensive) camera to take photos. I just wipp out my phone, and take it at weird angles to get rid of glare (so much for all that Photography school I went through... at least I'm not a perfectionist..).

I've had this frame for years with a photo of my uncle in it that didn't really fit right, and the back panel taped on. I took it a part, sprayed 2 coats of walmart Smoky Grey, had hubby screw the back together, and threw in some lines from our wedding vows in our wedding colors. Ta-done!

Here it is on our picture wall. It's slowly coming together... (And No, that's not a real whale.)

I love this girl.

2010-08-02T12:18:00.001-07:00

This was over at the Styleberry blog. All I have to say is, "I love this girl". She also posted a genius video about her system of modern cloth diapering.

Even though I don't have any children yet, I love studying up on the things to come in my life. I'm also currently a Midwifery student, so I have many people I can share this healthy knowledge with.

Enjoy!

The Mighty Egg

2010-08-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

This morning I read a great post over at a norishing home about eggs and the difference nutritionally between fresh farm eggs and those you get in the grocery. There's even a terrific 'visual comparision' photo.

Go check it out!

The Mighty Egg

CSA Week 2

2010-07-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

So of course I forgot (again) to get a picture of my beautiful box before I unpacked it into our fridge this week. But nonetheless I wanted to tell you about all the great contents! This week we received:

Carrots 1 bunch
Raspberries 1/2 pint
Swiss Chard 1 bunch
Basil 1 bunch
Snow Peas 1/2 lb
Soft White Wheat Berries 2 lbs
Curly Parsley 1 bunch
Red Dandelions 1 bunch
Red Cabbage 1 head
Spinach 1 bunch
Broccoli 1 lb

First, since Johnnie and I had a big jar of Wheat Berries at home, I swapped those for carrots. And some of the boxes were short red cabbage, so I took one of those and got another bunch of carrots! (Yum!) That night I steamed one bunch of them with some left over beets from last week, and when they were almost done threw in a big handful of the snow peas and steamed til bright green. Added a lil butter and salt.. Delish!

Chard, Spinach, and Red Dandelions made a great salad with more carrots and raspberries thrown in. I'm drying the parsley and throwing pinches of it into everything.. that leaves the basil and broccoli. I'm planning on steaming the broccoli with the rest of the carrots tonight, and going to saute the rest of the greens before I get our next box. Any suggestions on great flavors to add to cooked chard and spinach?

Ahh.. the basil. I've been saving that like dessert. Of course I'll be chopping that into some delicious pesto with noodles and peas. Add fresh feta cheese and a red wine... I'm in heaven.

Luckily, Nash's take pictures of their boxes to post on their website. Here's a picture of week one. Hopefully they got one of this weeks too.. ;)

Nash's Farm Share

2010-07-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

So this summer we have signed up for our local CSA. The number one thing I hear from people when I tell them about our weekly veggie boxes is, "I wouldn't know what to do with half of that stuff." So my goal this summer was to not fall into that group and be sure that we use everything we're sent. The online classes from Nourishing Kitchen are definitely helping me find new and better way to cook our food, and I don't think I could do it without Jenny's help!

This week we recieved:
Beets with greens
Spinach
Baby Dill
Fava Beans 1.5 lbs
Cucumber
Italian Parsley
Artichokes 1.3 lbs
Triticale Flour
Strawberries

So for dinner the other night, I made homemade sourdough noodles with the flour and made a fava bean sauce from a recipe I found online. Turns out, I'm not a big fan of fava bean sauce (chickens loved it). At least not the way I made it. However I did eat my fair share of steamed artichokes with butter. Yum!

Spinach + carrots, ground turkey, pickles, and a lil Annie's Caesar dressing was my dinner last night. (Fava beans are also pretty good in salad)

I'm eating a sliced cucumber with my lunch right now! (I plan on using the dill and more cucumbers to make pickles tomorrow.)

Luckily, Johnnie loves parsley so I threw bits of that in all kinds of stuff.

That just leaves the beets and strawberries. Strawberries seem to eat themselves around here, so we have beets left.

I'm planning on chopping up the greens in my next spinach salad and roasting the roots along with the rest of the artichokes for dinner tomorow night.

There you have it! I still have quite a bit of flour in my freezer, but have decided to make all our bread at home now so that will be gone sooner or later. And hopefully I'll have some yummy pickles in my pantry this week!

Strawberries! Oh! Sweet Strawberries...

2010-06-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

So I don't have many strawberries yet, but I did find this beauty!

Our local organic strawberry farm is boasting "STRAWBERRY MADNESS!", so I had to check around my lil patch. These are everbearing strawberries though, so we will be able to enjoy them all summer long.

While I'm waiting, I plan on going to pick a few bucketfuls at the farm to make some Strawberry-Honey Jam and more than a few servings of my Spectacular Strawberry Shortcake.

I also noticed one of my cauliflower plants doing something crazy funky... I'll be sure to post a photo later. =)

What's Soakin' ?

2010-06-12T22:52:00.001-07:00

So I have been taking The Nourished Kitchen's online cooking class, and lesson 2 is about soaking your grains. Tonight, I'm soaking to make some breakfast porridge, scones, and a rice pilaf for dinner.

I decided I needed some new kitchen tools, and bought this beautiful teal crock at a second hand store for $1.75! I found the green daisy bowl (I collect these) for $2. Score!

Brown rice in the teal crock, organic rolled oats in the green dish, and walnuts in the little jar.

I've had this ground wheat flour in my freezer for awhile, and decided it was time to use it up. It has gluten in it, so technically I'm not supposed to eat it. (Or the rolled oats for that matter..) But I'm going to give them a try.

Flour soaking.

I'm using Bragg's apple cider vinegar as my acidic medium for this soak. I plan on also using apple juice to cook the porridge. I'll let you know how they turn out!

Spring Harvests!

2010-05-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love spinach. I especially love it with tuna salad. (Yum!) I have never had it home grown however. OH EM GEE... it is delicious! I couldn't believe how soft and almost spongy it is when it's really fresh. I'm addicted. I think my mom is too.

There's lots more where this came from...

See?

(PS I weeded after this.. was going to get an 'after' photo.. but I got rained out)

My super sophisticated harvesting tools.

Aren't these beautiful?

I sliced the radishes over the fresh spinach, and then mixed up some tuna, safflower mayo, mustard, S&P and dumped that over the greens. Yum! I ate it at bingo today.. and I definitely saw some jealous looks from people eating all the gross fried casino food.

And another high note! (not eating fried food reminded me) I went down another pant size! I now am in jeans I wore in High School.. score! So my bingo neighbors could've been eyeing my awesome lunch, or it could have been the terrific jacket I now fit into (been in my closet for years). Either way.. I was pretty proud of myself today. =)

Jenny's Ecourse on Real Food Cooking

2010-05-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

Jenny, at The Nourished Kitchen , has a great website and blog I've been following for a few months now. She also recently launched her new online cooking course. She's going to go over 'the basics' in cooking whole, real food from scratch. When I read her post on Facebook about the class she was offering, it was like she made it just for me! I've wishing there was someone out there that would be willing to show me how to do all the 'basics' of natural cooking that I just haven't been able to master on my own. I'm especially excited about the classes about sourdough bread, sprouted grains, fermented veggies, and coconut milk yogurt. Check out this video she put together below.

Click here to learn more about each individual class and to sign up!

Garden Update!

2010-05-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hello! We have finally had some nice weather this week, and I think the freezing temps are finally behind us. I even got a little sunburned this weekend. =) So here's a few pics of the garden I snapped yesterday on my phone. I spent most the day weeding, and *almost* have 6 beautiful, clean beds!

My Rainbow Carrot starts! I'm also growing Little Fingers and these loooong guys that can grow to 11 inches! I have those planted along the edge of my 1/2 barrel.

2 Potato rows and a row of peas along the back. Once I cover these potatoes up a little, I'm going to plant another row of Blue Potatoes I got from Nash's Farm.

Here is the bench Johnnie made for me from a fallen tree. Cool isn't it?

And in this corner... I have my Petit Pois in the back tub. They are just about to start flowering. Then Rainbow Chard in the terra cotta pot, and some strawberries hanging. I still haven't completely decided what I'm going to put in my big pot. I'm thinking of doing a tomato plant, some basil, and other herbs. A sort of 'marinara in a pot'. =)

My peppermint is still going strong! And my violas are finally producing more flowers. Thyme is still doing awesome, and my sage has gone to seed. lol I planted some Zinnias in the flower box awhile ago, but I think the temps got too cold to germinate. I may throw some more seeds in there later today.

So that's how things are shaping up around here! My cauliflower and broccoli plants are getting bigger with more leaves, and my first set of radishes are all about ready to pull. Spinach has some baby leaves on it now and they are tasty! Now that the soil is warmer, I'm hoping everything will really start to take off. =)

First Crop at Our New House

2010-04-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

The first edible fruit of our labor!

This one's a little dark.. but still pretty! Johnnie and I each had a half with some butter and salt. MMmmm....

Help Stop Chicken Cruelty!!

2010-04-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a great article that tells us what exactly all those labels on grocery store egg cartons mean, and how to get the healthiest eggs.

How to Buy the Healthiest Eggs

After readying this article myself, it made me want to do more than just personally decide to eat eggs from healthy, happy chickens. 90% of grocery eggs are from caged chickens, a horrible life! This reminds me of the 'Puppy Mills' that have recently had a huge amount of media exposure, and therefore people fighting against them.

It's time we saw the truth of where our food is coming from, and stopped this absurdity.

No animal should suffer a lifetime of pain and frustration so we can get a few more eggs on the shelves (which will likely be thrown away from spoiling).

Stuff's Finally Growing!!

2010-04-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

Check out my beautiful mint! I wish I had a photo of it earlier in the year.. I thought for sure that I'd have to dig it up and start over. (Good thing I was lazy about it!) It's gotten huge over the past 2 weeks.

Peppermint

My strawberry plants are also finally starting to show growth with new sets of leaves and these little guys:

You can see where buds are starting to form!

Here are some photos of things that are beginning to sprout in the raised beds. So many of them look the same.. so it's hard to tell what everything is. But hopefully we'll get some more sun soon and they'll get their second set of leaves.

Spinach rows

Peas!

More peas! Next to my potato rows. (no sprouts there yet)

And the mystery bed! I planted chives along one edge, but it's become covered with sprouts everywhere! They look a lot like most the sprouts.. so I can't tell if they are fly away seeds.. or weeds. I thought about pulling them all.. but I think I'll wait just in case.

Here they are close up.

So that's what's been happening in the garden. Like yesterday.. It's rainy and cloudy out. I heard it's supposed to be dreary like this for the next couple days... so here's hoping for a sunny weekend!

Rainy day..

2010-04-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

Today the weather decided to go back to it's dreary ol' self. So I'm hiding indoors until tomorrow.

I did get my cauliflower, broccoli, sweet pea, and 1/2 of my petit pois plants in this weekend, so the rain is probably good for them. I still have 4 petit pois and 4 fava bean starts to put in, plus all the berries. We're trying to decide if we want them in raised beds or over by our fence. (so far, raised beds has been our vote.. but that means we need to get them built!)

Broccoli and Cauliflower starts, then you can see my radishes and rows of spinach coming up! On the far end I have Little Finger Carrots and onions. =D

Our sweet corn seeds have germinated enough to plant into peat pots, so I plan on doing that today. I'm also soaking Abenaki corn seeds. The plan is to dig up a section of our sunny backyard for the corn field.

Other than that I think I'm just going to watch youtube gardening videos, and catch up on my favorite blogs and forums. Wish I had more to post! I'll leave you with a picture of Johnnie and I on a bike ride/hike we took on Saturday night.

Hope the weather is nicer in your backyard today!

Lemon Chicken and Root Veggies

2010-04-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

Last night we had my in-laws and grandma over for dinner. I made my version of lemon chicken and veggies, and it looked beautiful! I meant to take a photo of it last night in the baking dish, but forgot. So here it is in my lunch container for today. :)

Yum! It was so colorful and gorgeous!

I ordered a 5lb bag of root veggies from Nash's Organic Produce on our Sequim Locally Grown website. They gave me parsnips, tuber beets, Jerusalem artichokes, and 2 huge leeks. I diced the parsnips, J. artichokes, and beets (which gave everything that beautiful red-pink color) and added some red and Yukon potatoes I had.

I put some coconut oil in my baking dish, and put it in the oven while it was preheating to melt it. Then threw in my diced veggies and tossed them in the oil. Drizzled some olive oil on top with S&P, parsley, basil, and chopped garlic. Tossed again.

I rinsed off the fresh all-natural chicken parts, and placed them on top of the veggies. Drizzled a little more olive oil, and took a lemon and squeezed it all over the chicken. Then I cut up the squeezed lemon, and placed it around the chicken in the dish. Added S&P, parsley, and a generous sprinkling of lemon pepper.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour (until the chicken is done and has some nice charred spots on top of the chicken)

That's it! This dinner is so easy to update and switch up with different flavored chicken and other veggies. This time the veggies were the best red, purples, and pinks from the beets, and the yellow lemons looked so great against them. You can also do it with all orange veggies, just potatoes.. get creative!

I always make something along these lines when entertaining because it's something I can safely eat, but they will enjoy without even knowing it's in line with my specialty diet. =)

2010-04-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Today the weather is nice and sunny. It's what I call, "Light Sweater Weather" (my favorite). So I decided to continue my spring cleaning spree I started yesterday, and open all the windows to let the house air out. When I went to collect eggs and check on 'The Ladies' I noticed that Rubi was still in the nesting box. She'd been in it all morning. Hmmm... She went broody earlier this spring, but it looks like she's at it again. I started to push her out of the box when I thought, "They could use a day out of the coop..". So I threw 'em in the tractor! Hopefully this will be a good distraction to keep Rubi out of the nest box.

The Freitas Flock enjoying some fresh grub.

I love this tractor Johnnie made!

The tractor was super easy.. we just put it together out of some old 1x2s we had laying by the house and poultry wire left over from the coop last year. One end is open, so we just put it against the fence for now. Once we find a board to recycle, we'll make that end into a door so it can stand free. But for now, this works just fine. =)

2010-04-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

How beautiful are these? Every single day I collect them they look (pretty much) the same as the day before, but it always feels like a surprise. I made sure when I was choosing my breeds that I would get 3 different colored eggs. The blue one is from Fern, our Americauna. The orangeish-brown is from Willow, our Barred Rock, and the large pinkish-brown is from Rubi, our Buff Orpington. (we think.. we could have the 2 browns mixed up for all we know. lol)

I can't get enough of these beauties!

Here is my temporary 'Spring Garden Center'. We usually have this cart in the garage, but we put it here to use for the spring season. (We also call it "Clutter Corner".) Once it's warm enough outside, it'll go out on the patio to start hardening off my plants. We may also try growing vining plants in containers on the top and see if they'll trickle down for easy picking. (Plus, I'll get my library corner back!)

Here's the babies! They're a little tall, but for the past week or so they haven't been growing up and have started to get their 2nd set of leaves, so hopefully the stalks will start thickening up. I've decided this is my final attempt at these 'cell containers' This is my 3rd try, but it's looking like I'm finally going to be successful. I think I just didn't have the proper lighting before. If they do okay though, I'm going to buy a heat pad for next year. I think that may make all the difference.

Summer Squash! MMmmmm we love zucchini, and these guys are getting big fast! I have one more in the cells that needs transplanted into a bigger container. So far, these look like winners for starting by seed.

I've been thinking about starting a cantaloupe inside now, so that it may actually have a change of giving us some fruit. I did start one Sugar Baby watermelon in the cells, and plan on just putting in the ground in a corner of the 'big dog' yard to see how it does. Finger's crossed that Jake doesn't get curious about it!

On Thursday I'm picking up some plants I ordered from local growers on the Sequim Locally Grown website. I'm getting Sweet Peas to grow on the big fence by the patio table, 3 thornless blackberry plants (1 Lochness and 2 Triple Crown), 3 Tulameen raspberries, 3 Belstar Broccoli, 3 Charming Snow Cauliflower, 6 Windsor Fava Beans, and 6 Procoville Petite Pois. I'm really excited to try the Petite Pois, they're mini french peas. I've never grown any of these plants, so I'm hoping for the best!

A friend of mine called yesterday, seeing if I wanted blueberries. I couldn't say, "Yeah!" fast enough. So tomorrow she's bringing me 4 blueberries (an early, a mid, a mid-late, and a late). How awesome! Now I've just been trying to figure out where I'm going to put them all...

"Johnnie? Can we go get some more wood?"

A booboo, fence, and food.

2010-04-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

So today Johnnie and his brother went snowboarding and I decided to stay behind and spend this gorgeous day filling all my new veggie beds with seeds. So this morning I got dressed, gathered my seeds, and got dirty! I was feeling pretty good about it until tragedy struck...

Today I gave my garden 3 kinds of carrots, peas, onions, garlic chives, spinach, cone flowers in purple and yellow, and radishes (not to mention 'love'). This is what my garden gave me. I tried 'walking it off', but instead decided to boycott my garden for a couple hours and post some pictures while the neosporin seeps in.

Here's some photos from last night. We finally got the garden fencing up! Hopefully tonight we'll make the 2 gates we're putting in. But truthfully.. by 'we' I mean Johnnie.. lol and he'll probably be pretty tired from snowboarding.. so we'll see. ;)

First we dug all the holes and put in the posts, lining them up with a string line (the culprit of my battle wound!).

Then we filled in the holes with rocks and dirt (no concrete this time), stapled rabbit wire along the outside of the posts, and ...

Ta da!

Now that the 'big dogs' don't have free access to the garden, I can finally put in all my plants and seeds without Jake digging them up. Woo hoo!

Food Post:

Here is my lunch for today. I'm trying to make sure about 1/2 of my food intake is vegetable. I heated up some left over naturally grown Yukon Gold and Red potatoes roasted with some coconut oil, garlic, S&P, and basil with some steamed broccoli. I think I may pair it with an organic banana and some left over lemon chicken. Pretty good!

Finding Food I Can Eat..

2010-04-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, I've been eating a restrictive 'hypo-allergenic' diet. I've been doing it for about 2 months now, and am getting much savvier at coming up with meals that are actually satisfying, and healthy for me.

When I started I could not consume any of the following:

NO dairy, sugar, gluten, wheat, citrus, nightshades (cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers), bananas, strawberries, soy, peanuts, almonds, onions, garlic, preservatives, dyes

I could eat: Meats, white and brown rice, most fruits and vegetables

Well.. it's been quite the adventure! I am on this diet as a recommendation of my Naturopathic Doctor and Acupuncturist as a treatment for my very severe asthma. She asked me to do it for a week, and see how I felt. I agreed, and the first 2 days were horrible! On the third day Johnnie and I took a day trip to Seattle (food everywhere!) and by that afternoon I was grumpy as ever. I couldn't eat any of the yummy stuff surrounding me. But... I realized that I was walking all over town, up and down hills, on a very cold day.. and.... NO INHALER! I felt totally fine. Sooo... I decided I like breathing better than food. (For the most part... lol)

Now that I've embraced this new super healthy eating lifestyle my garden is going to be one of my main sources of food. I'm also going to be figuring out how to preserve all of it.

But.. in the mean time I'm a health food store junkie and have been coming up with new recipes every week. Hopefully by sharing them on here, I can help someone else trying desperately to find anything (ANYTHING!!) yummy they can safely eat. =)

This is the first meal I made. It's very easy! I found whole fryer chickens at my local health food store that are "Natural" (no antibiotics, preservatives, and.... something else lol). Organic chickens were very expensive! I try to do organic whenever possible, but for my purposes, "Natural" chicken is good enough for me.

Then I bought organic carrots, a butternut squash, and some yams. I cut them up into about 2 inch chunks, threw them in the bottom of my deep skillet, drizzled with olive oil (I now use coconut for high heat), sea salt, pepper, and a little rosemary.

I then washed my chicken, rubbed on some olive oil, S&P, and rosemary.

Bake at about 375 degrees for 45 minutes, or until the chicken has heated enough.

Ta da! Healthy dinner that I can eat.. and Johnnie doesn't feel like he's on a diet. :) Winner!

Backyard Progress

2010-04-10T09:07:00.001-07:00

Well, this week we have had our lovely chickens for an entire year. We adore them! They are such a joy to watch, and their beautiful eggs are a nutritious bonus. Not to mention the compost fertilizer they produce, and help they give us in the garden!

Here is my favorite hen, Rubi, waiting eagerly for the worm I was bringing over. Aren't they big?

Sadie, even a year later, still isn't too sure about the chickens.

Our fence! I think it looks great. We still need to trim the tops of the posts, but that's on the list for this weekend. We're also hoping to get our garden fence up so I can finally stop chasing Jake out of the beds.

Johnnie and Jake, digging out a spot for my pea/bean wall. We're going to put posts along the wall and drill holes through it to string twine back and forth for the peas/beans to grow on.

I'm going to use this tower for more peas and beans. This one's in the middle of my strawberry patch.

Here is the photo of my pallet picket compost. Looks great right? I love it. :) We filled it about half full last night with lawn clippings and some recycled mulch I got last weekend from my Mother-in-law. I think it's a great (and recycled!) way to make an attractive compost pile.

The beds are filled with dirt! So far, I've only planted some peas and strawberry plants. Once the garden fence is up I'll get the rest of my spring starts in.

I think it's finally starting to come together! After months of cold weather planning, it feels great to see it taking shape. I have even more plans for this weekend, so hopefully come Monday it'll look even better!

Easter Weekend = Dirt, Dirt, Dirt =)

2010-04-09T15:00:00.001-07:00

In addition to my home massage practice, I work at the Port Townsend School of Massage part time. I usually work Fridays and Saturdays, which has put a damper on our weekend productivity. But, on Good Friday the office decided I didn't have to work that Saturday if I didn't want to. So, with this lovely Easter blessing of time, we got dirty!

Johnnie and I built a 2ft x 3ft box out of 2x4s and lined the bottom with 1/4 inch wire.

We loaded Johnnie's Dad's dump truck twice!

And this is where we hung out all holiday weekend. I'd scoop dirt into the sifter, Johnnie would shake it, I'd grab any big dirt/plant clods for the compost, Johnnie would dump the rocks into another wheel barrow... repeat... a lot.

We filled all of our boxes and most of the big containers with this lovely stuff. We used all the rocks we sifted out, which was a lot by the way, (We live near a river bed) used them to fill in our driveway, and made a nice 'rock garden' next to the house. I'll be sure to get some new photos of all the work we did. =)

Some other projects

2010-04-09T14:19:00.000-07:00

One good thing about winter is it's a great time for planning, planning, planning. It has been warming up enough to get outside and get some stuff done, but night still comes a little early. So we've been utilizing our garage space, trying to get a few things on our list done before the warm weather gets here. =)

Here is my tomato tower! I'm hoping it'll be about the right size for some of my determinate plants. I think I'm also going to use this one for some peas. I'll let you know how it does. Last year I used some of those wire supports you find in garden stores. Later on I learned about determinate and indeterminate tomatoes and had some pretty floppy bushes. I think I'm going to try these in one part of my garden, and try a triangular obelisk style in the other and see how they do. This one (I hope) should also work well for peppers and eggplants.

Here's Johnnie putting together our chicken tractor. We used poultry wire along both sides and one end. We'll get a piece of wood for the other end and use hinges on one side for easier access to the birds. For now, we just toss 'em in there and put the open end against the fence. They were stoked!

We made sure it was the same size as our larger beds so in the spring and fall after harvest we can use them to eat the remaining foliage, stir up the soil, and fertilize all with out much work from us!

The backyard

2010-04-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

After moving in to our new house, the first project we started on was the backyard. We were blessed with about an acre of grass behind our house, and have some big plans in store for it. Here's some photos to bring everything up to date. =)

Here is what it looked like before we moved in.

This is after we moved in all our 'stuff'. Moving the chicken coop was quite the endeavor. Especially since we basically built it in our old backyard, not putting much thought into how we would ever get it out. But once it was in it's new spot, I was so happy! I love having it closer to the house and right near the patio table so we can watch them while we have our outside dinners.

After a few more weeks, we moved the dog kennel to it's permanent location out of the future garden, and over near our bedroom. We kept them in the kennel while fencing the yard, and sometimes keep them in there at night.

The future garden! We weren't here long before we started building boxes. We plan on using another fence to have around the garden and patio to keep the big dogs out of the boxes.

We took down and moved our pallet picket fence, and had planned on fencing much of the backyard with it. After we did about 20 feet, we realized that Sadie could easily jump over it.. and that its great for short distances, but for the 100 ft we needed, it takes a lot of posts to keep it sturdy. So we found these stained posts at Home Depot for $4 each, and bought farm wire fencing. I love the outcome! (Thank you husband and brother-in-law!) We installed an easy gate (photo later), and once we trim the tops of the posts I'm going to put hanging baskets on each of them.

The beds are in! We then decided we'd use the pallet pickets to fence in the patio/garden, buuuut changed our minds. (noticing a pattern here?) We liked the 'big fence' so much, we're going to do a smaller version around the garden. I did use some of our pallet pickets to make a very attractive composter. I'll be sure to post some photos of it later.

Wow! Long time.. no post. Time to get on the ball!

2010-04-09T11:02:00.001-07:00

With so much happening on the New and Improved Freitas Urban Farm.. I've been meaning to resurrect this blog! Here's a few updates:

Our beautiful chickens have been laying an egg each everyday since last fall.

I gradutated from Port Townsend School of Massage and am now the proud owner/operator of Peaceful Kneads Massage & Meditation!

We moved! We love our new home and plan on (finally!) staying in one place for awhile. Our new place has more space (inside and out) and we have been spending this spring settling in and getting ready for our new veggie garden.

I've also been practicing a new diet. I started by avoiding all foods that could be a possible allergy (Hypo Allergenic Diet) and have been slowly adding more ingredients to see how my body responds to them.

I'm looking forward to posting about my adventures in healthy eating, gardening, and cooking, our backyard make-over, the dogs, and of course, the Freitas Flock.

Hope this finds you in Peace and Health!
Courtney =)

So today's not going so well... lol

2009-06-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

While checking on Fern later today, I noticed that my composter had been attacked! Here's a pic of the mess after I had cleaned it up a bit, and the culprit, Jake.

Lol, I guess those fancy recycled plastic ones just might be worth the money!

From what I've read online at BYC, I think Fern's going to be okay. She probably just got a scratch of some kind, and has been picking at it. I'm going to keep cleaning and applying Neosporin. I'm also going to try to add more protein snacks to their diet, because sometimes when they need more protein they'll eat their own feathers.

Someone else also added that sometimes it can be due to boredom. Oh no! I don't think that's the case, since they have plenty of room and roosts in their coop. But I'm going to try to add some extra toys and treats just in case. Any ideas?

Oh no, Fern!!

2009-06-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

So last night Johnnie and I noticed that Fern had a bald spot on her back under her wings. So we hung out at the coop, trying to get a better look at it, and noticed her pecking and rubbing her beak against it. It also looked like a few scabs were at the base of her tail.

So I jumped on BYC, and it sounds like it could be some kind of parasite, or possibly an inflamed gland? So I cleaned out the coop, and spread DE all over and in the cracks, incase it is mites or something. Another BYC member told me to put a warm wet cloth on the injured spot, and then put some Neosporin on it. It took me awhile to catch her this morning, but finally did. So I locked her in the coop away from the other girls and did that. Here's some pics. If anyone knows what I should do, please let me know!

It looks shiny because of all the Neosporin I put on it.

Please help Fern! I'll keep you updated on her progress.

Our Wine Bottles and Some Inherited Mint...

2009-06-12T10:18:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I spent the afternoon in my backyard patio painting 2 more boxes of recycled wine bottles with chalkboard paint labels. This way, we can reuse the bottles and just write our labels in chalk! It was a gorgeous day, so I also did one of my 'practice client' massages outside on the patio. Great idea!

I also got several more types of mint from my father-in-law's garden. Now we can make mint sun tea, Mojitos, and a Portuguese favorite, Soupas!

Wednesdays are for fermenting...

2009-06-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

Last night Johnnie and I started our Apple-Peach Summer Wine, our Kombucha Mother, and some Honey Rum. I think this is a great and easy way to add some beverages to our One-Block-Meals. Kombucha is also very beneficial for your health, and has been around for a very long time. Here's some info.

Johnnie cleaning wine bottles.

Adding the apple to our Apple-Peach Summer Wine.

Our Kombucha Mother Project.

Johnnie shaking up his Honey Rum.

Our Garden!

2009-06-06T17:37:00.001-07:00

Our organic veggie garden is finally in! We still have some touching up to do like make the gate, finish painting, etc. But the plants are in! And the recycled wood pallet fence Johnnie and I made is keeping the dogs out! In these boxes we have summer squash, 2 types of lettuce, green beans, carrots, onions, corn, 2 kinds of peppers, and 2 kinds of tomatoes. I also have several ceramic containers with herbs like parsley, thyme, and sage. More to come soon! :)

My adorable chicken coop that my loving husband made for me! He's going to add a window for light and ventilation on the front, and then I'm getting a sign made that says 'The Freitas Flock". When you lift the nest box lid, it says "Ovos Fresco", which is Portuguese for "Fresh Eggs". I can't wait 'til we find an egg in there!

Our backyard view from the side with the dog house. We spent all of Memorial Weekend weeding, digging, planting, and raking. You can also see the start of our stone patio for our fire pit. We're trying to use as many recycled materials as possible, and so far, almost all of it is!

We also put this fence up to keep the big dogs out of our outside eating/cooking area, and keep them out of my potted plants. We also re-made the stone stairs. I'm loving the new arrangement!

Backyard Make-Over Stage I (the girls move outside)

2009-06-05T18:27:00.001-07:00

So one morning we went into the laundry room to check on the girls, and found this:

The girls all roosting on the edge of their brood! lol Guess they were itching for some freedom. So Johnnie and I quickly finished the coop, and stocked it with everything they would need.

Then after many double and triple checks on the coop, and several trips to the feed store, we were ready for moving day. We packed up the girls in a box and took them out there!

Soon they were toasty warm and right at home. =)

Freitas Flock Week 2

2009-04-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

Learning to use a ramp:

Johnnie made a little ramp in the side of their cardboard brooder. We've been teaching them to use it when we want them to come out and play. Here's some pics!

Here they are checking it out

After some bribing with food, Rubi finally figured it out

Shortly after the other two followed, and they all went straight to Claire =)

The chicks have grown so much since we got them! They're much taller, a little louder, and are flying around all the time. We have several sticks stuck through their box to create a roosting area, and they love hanging out on them. They're also starting to figure out that their food comes from us, and therefore liking us more and more. =)

The Freitas Flock!!

2009-04-15T10:31:00.001-07:00

Claire and our newest additions - Willow, Fern, & Rubi

They're here!! Our beautiful, organic pullets! We have a Buff Orpington named Rubi (she'll produce brown eggs), a Barred Rock named Willow (brownish-pink eggs) and an Araucana named Fern (blue-green eggs). We couldn't be more excited! Claire loves the girls, and thinks they're her babies. She's constantly laying next to their brood and checking each one anytime there's noise in there. If we take one away from the rest.. she freaks out! And goes back and forth checking on all of them. It's so cute!

This weekend Johnnie's going to start building our Urban Chicken Coop. We're hoping it'll look something like this:

We're going to probably make ours a little smaller since we just have 3 girls, and don't need one that big yet. But in about 5 months or so when they start laying eggs, we should be getting 12+ a week! With 3 dogs, tons of fish, our new organic veggie garden, and the new addition of the 3 hens, we really are becoming an Urban Farm! ;)

2009-04-15T09:56:00.001-07:00

Hello Again!

Okay, so this time I promise to keep posting more often. :) So much has happened! In November I was laid off completely, so am now going to Port Townsend School of Massage, and am also working as a Realtor's Assistant in exchange for learning the other side of Real Estate, and a small percentage of the commission when we sell a house. For now, that's plenty to keep me busy!

Johnnie is still working for my Dad at Northwest Log Homes, and traded his Mk3 for a '86 BMW 325 es. So now he's been tinkering with that.

On March 8th Johnnie was working on his ongoing VW Mk1 Rabbit project, and was doing the finishing touches before starting up it's new engine... and a propane heater in the garage caught gas fumes on fire. The garage caught fire immediately. It was a huge shock for us, but we are extremely grateful that we got us and all the dogs out in time. Safe and Sound.

The Rabbit and Johnnie's tool box after the fire.

We had to move into my parent's home for about a month while they did the clean up. We've been back home for 2 weeks now, and reconstruction should be starting soon. We lost a lot of stuff, but lately we've been feeling very thankful for what we do have!

Update

2008-09-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

So after a decrease in my job at Windermere, we decided to put our buying plans on hold and rent again for awhile until I'm out of massage school. The great news is that after about a week of looking at rentals, I was calling the last ad in that weeks newspaper, and it was our dream house!

I looked at this house back in February and fell in love! That day I went to the lenders and it was out of my price range. Ever since then we've called it 'My House'. What luck that we get to live there! I'll be sure to get some pictures soon! We're still getting settled, and are thrilled to be out of the mome. :)

Johnnie's birthday is tomorrow, so we're having a BBQ for him, and then going on his '21 run' on Friday night. But we'll have to get up early the next morning cuz we're flying out to Vegas for a week! We can't wait.. and are so excited that our long awaited vacation is almost here!

The dogs are doing great and they all love the new house. The big dogs have a large fenced in backyard that lets them be a part of the house through a big glass door that lets them look into the kitchen and main hallway.

Hope everything is well with all you and your families! Namaste : )

long time!

2008-07-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted in quite some time! Things are going well... Johnnie and I have been in the m'ome (as we like to call it!) for about a month and a half. We're paying of debts and saving money, so i think it's really going to be worth it! We have our loan to buy a house, but if we do decided we want to build we'll have to wait until November for our funding. I like the idea of buying an older house and updating it together, and maybe building our next one. But we'll see what the future has for us when it gets here!

I'm going today to walk through another home we're interested in today with my lovely Realtor, Mary Sharman. I'm really hoping this could be a great choice for us!

Johnnie is in Idaho for 2 weeks setting up a house, so Claire and I are on our own for a while! But it's really giving me a chance to catch up on my reading and working out. So i think it's always nice to have some alone time.. for awhile anyways! I can't wait for him to be home tho. : )

I'll have to take a lot of pictures of the house today and put them on here. I've probably already looked at over 20 houses! Hopefully ours will come our way soon. : )

So Funny!!

2008-03-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

Here's what her dad said about the video:

Here is my daughter, age 3, explaining the plot of Star Wars Episode IV.She explained the whole movie to me in much greater detail but unfortunately I didn't have the camera going. When I finally caught her talking about the movie again she delivered this truncated, but still funny, version.Edit: Thank you all for the nice comments. Maybe I will print them out for her and someday and when she's all growed up she'll get to read them herself.A little more about the video: She wasn't coached to say anything, nor was she forced to make the video. She rarely stops talking. Those of you with children understand this: sometimes it's harder to turn the faucet off than to turn the faucet on.Believe it or not, she has the seem the movie only once, and I spread it out over 3 days so it wouldn't be too much all at once for her.The video was edited to make it shorter, more cohesive and hopefully funnier. I did move some of the lines around so it would make more sense.

Claire!

2008-03-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

We have a new addition to the Freitas Pack (we're now a pack, we're outnumbered by dogs!). She's a beautiful 3 month old PomChi. She's so tiny, only 3 lbs.!!

Johnnie thought of the name Claire, so we've named her after Meredith Claire Powell. She's a wonderful dog, and is very attached to me! She only barks when left completely alone, and is very mellow with a big curiosity. We love her!! I've also started another blog just for the dogs! www.freitasdogs.blogspot.com check it out to see what's new in the Freitas Pack!

Quote

2008-03-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

"I have everything in the world that is necessary to happiness, good faith, good friends, and all the work I can possibly do." - Anna Howard Shaw

Green!

2008-01-30T10:16:00.001-08:00

Hello!

As many of you know, I'm all into 'living green'. Well, here's a link to a great blog that has lots of great tips for 'decorating green!'. I think this guy is pretty much a genious. www.dannyseo.typepad.com

I just got back from my trip to the UP Michigan. It was very sad because I was going to my good friend's funeral, but it was nice to see friends and family. Johnnie and I are hoping to plan another trip sometime so he can meet everyone and see my tiny tiny town of Pickford. I'll have to post some photos later of all the snow! Anyways.. everything else is going great...we're planning a Superbowl Party for this Sunday! So that'll be a fun time. The fish are doing good, and the dogs are smelly as ever! Hopefully this snow will melt and we can get them washed again soon.
Hope this post finds you in peace and good health.
- Courtney

New Years!!

2008-01-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

Hello!!

We had a wonderful NYE this year! We went to Port Townsend with some good friends of ours that had rented a beautiful suite above the Brewery that had a huge balcony facing the water and the mountains. It was great to be with good friends and having good times. Hope everyone rang in the New Year with joy and happiness! Good Luck in 2008!

2007!

2007-12-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I was trying to think of a good idea instead of sending a really long "Christmas letter" where you tell everyone everything you did for the past year, I thought it'd be cool to make a collage of pictures from the past year! Here's my rough draft.. i made it using Picasa! Really easy.. anyways.. I thought that was a clever alternative : )

Hello!

2007-11-30T10:07:00.000-08:00

So this is our first post, so I'll introduce us!

This is Johnnie and I waiting to get on our Honeymoon Cruise!!! We just got married, September 22, 2007. I'm sure i'll post some of our wedding photos soon! We also have 2 dogs, a HUGE saltwater fishtank (our baby!) and a smaller fresh water one. Johnnie works as a Logsmith at my Dad's business, NorthWest Log Homes, and I'm the Director of Agent Development for all the Sequim and Port Angeles Windermeres.

In our spare time we like to buy stuff for our fishtanks, host dinner parties, watch Law & Order, surf, and fix up Johnnie's VW Rabbit! Hope you enjoy keeping up with us on our new blog!