Because you asked about the carrots

I did plant carrots this year!

I used up all the remaining seeds I had from years prior, a good sprinkling of purple carrot seeds and not quite as many traditional orange. They weren't planted in the purple bin from years ago, nor in the bin that followed. If you have old plastic storage totes, or happen upon free ones they work  REALLY well as garden planters BUT I can only say as much for one, two, maybe three years max if you treat them really well. Between the frigged cold winters here (making the bins brittle) and my exuberant son dueling with them, sticks as swords, those prior two bins are long gone.

This year I used the planter I had my first strawberry plants in. 

So, I used up old seeds, utilized an empty planter, filled it with remaining dirt I had from filling in puppy dog holes in the back yard and then... well, puppy dog jumped my garden fence and had a good dig in a bin full of tiny carrot sprouts.

I love this photo because one can really tell how playful he is in it. The fuzzy black dog will be ten months old in four days (the yellow lab belongs to my in laws). Our pup has been A HANDFUL!!! But he's overflowing with love, affection, and puppy-ness. He is a sweetie. None the less, long legs Party jumped my garden fence and demolished the carrot bin. I was really upset but I salvaged it and we just went on with the summer. I think we've picked a total of three orange carrots from the bin this year but there have been many more purple ones. Considering the catastrophe it's been a really nice year for carrots in our garden. It was also a decent year for zucchini and tomatoes. Now beans, that's another story. I have green beans taking over the world here!!! Beans! Beans! Beans! 

Our tiny garden: a really bright spot during 2020.

Wren is Two

 In June, wowwy that seems like a million years ago, the baby sister turned TWO!

I last posted about my Abe in May so here's a quick update about our little feisty Wren.

And feisty she is! It's fun raising a second little one, observing the similarities and the vast differences between her and her big brother. In truth, it appears that many of their shared traits, thus far she's learned from him. But it's wild how different they in fact are.

She's talking up a storm but she's pretty difficult to understand (at least if you don't live with her) and actually she's made up a little language of her own. Like how she calls a blanket - met, our dog Party - Neigh neigh, and her brother - Amm. She also likes to babble, even though she can speak real words, and sing made up songs. Her brother was a very clear speaker at a very young age and I don't recall him making up any words for things.

Abe also NEVER opened doors, until he was much older and allowed to. This little lady has been opening doors almost since she could walk (at around 12 months). Her brother NEVER climbed out his crib. Actually never, not once. She can climb out and in! He detested coloring pictures and she lives for the activity. I suppose it's unfair to compare the two but it's fun and fascinating both.

This little lady is overflowing with energy. She can run faster than me. She is silly as silly could be. She takes a good solid nap everyday but apart from that she NEVER slows down. She loves life, has fun with everything, and (another comparison) her big brother never went through the terrible two's thing but our small Wren has perfected the tantrum. Even down to calming herself down so that she receives praise and admiration. Daniel Tiger taught her how to "count-down to cool down." She can only count to two so the sweet little thing will be as upset as can be imagined, will stop herself, tears filling her eyes, put her palm level with the ground and say, "One (short pause) Two (short pause)." And then slowly sigh, with a big pouty lip and puppy dog eyes turned up towards you. Oh be still my heart!

She is wild. She is determined. She is silly, crazy, sweet. She is 100% a blessing!

Digital connection, social media, world wide web of disaster

How do you navigate the intense political discourse thickening/ darkening the atmosphere like a billion hungry bats out for blood?

The two sides are so unbelievably polarized that they've literally taken to the streets. Buildings are being burned down in the name of politics. People are being attacked (killed even) in the name of politics. The "system" is so critically broken that it needs to be quite literally burned down and in the meantime the great USofA is tearing itself apart??? While the peaceful masses hold onto their seats in hopes of the world calming the crap down we're very, dreadfully aware that's it only about to get worse.

How? How do you get through a single day without dread? How do you look at your small children and have hope for a better, brighter future? How do you connect to the internet without nausea? There is a very real, very strong possibility that the toxic spewing on social media (a dimension that people spend multiple hours a day residing in) has triggered the unrest that's now oozing through the streets.

I'm not on instagram. I'm not on twitter. I have never "watched?" a ticktoc, been on skype, or zoomed... facebook and blogger are my only glimpse into the social connect and I generally don't have enough time to stop by blogger. But facebook... oh...

I love the local home school field trip group that we utilize regularly on facebook. I love watching my friend's children, essentially my friend's lives progress on the other side of the world or half way across this enormous country. I love seeing silly photos of people's dogs or cats. And truly funny memes, non-political funny memes. Yes please!

I have actually "unfollowed" some of my, no MANY of my closest friends because I can't handle the toxic political spewing that comes from their posts like 10 to 20 times daily! I can't. But then I find myself, once a month maybe, stopping by their facebook page to see if they've posted about their real life. Politics is important. I have my own VERY strong political views. It affects real life. BUT my world, people I literally interact with on a weekly basis, my place of employment, my home, and yard, and friends are REAL life. Politics is an extension of that, like news about my hometown, my state, my country. Like news about the lake or the oceans. Weather events worldwide, etc; Real life, by my definition is something that I can touch. So, I stop on by these close friend's pages to check on them, people I care so deeply about who live quite far away and I can only find three snippets about them amidst 30 political posts that make my stomach turn. I "like" the three bits I find among the thirty three and I leave sick to my stomach, feeling gross inside for a few hours, and wondering how we've become so unbelievably polarized.

I have my own very strong views. You have your very strong views. We possibly don't agree on a single thing politically but when did we stop agreeing that both view points matter? Both view points are important? The person on the other side of your opinion 99% of the time isn't a bad guy. He or she just has a different world view. That's not a reason to attack someone. Intense differing view points are actually a reason to have a really polite, mature conversation. But it seems we've gotten to a place where that can't happen, or at least can very VERY rarely happen. And those of us who choose to post 10 or 20 times daily about their intense political viewpoints (remember, I do have my own too) aren't encouraging mature conversation they're really just insulting people who disagree with them. <big deep sad sigh>

I don't know what to do. Is keeping up with people I care about via the interwebs worth it? How do you navigate the intense political discourse thickening/ darkening the atmosphere like a billion hungry bats out for blood? How? 

It's That Time Again!

This year has been... yeah, um. Anyway, the summer here was quite hot. Today at the tale end of it all, when glimpses of autumn are beginning to peak through, the breeze was cool, storm clouds were lingering and I was able to keep the windows open all day long. It was fabulous! The most perfect of days for simmering a hearty fall meal on the stove top from early morn to early eve.

That's right, it's goose stew time once again in our home. Wild goose is such a tough gamey meat. It can be next to impossible to prepare to deliciousness. BUT a six hour stewed pot of goosey goodness is a once a year treat in our home that marks the beginning of the most wonderful time of year here. My father in law was excited to bring over the geese knowing how much we enjoy it. I can safely say it will be a twice a year meal for us in 2020 as he brought a lot this time round.

Our stew consists of water, goose breast, LOTS of onions, LOTS of sweet potatoes, a handful of fresh garlic cloves, sage, and salt stewed for hours on the stove top. No thickener, as I've learned that stewing sweet potatoes from the start thickens up the pot so well and makes the meal so unbelievably delicious that I don't need to add flour or corn starch. There's also no broth added. The meat and veggies, sage and salt take care of that on their own. An hour before we're ready dine I chop up a load of veggies. Today's goose stew hosts more sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, corn from the freezer, pole beans from the garden, and large chops of baby carrot.

 

Goodbye summer, lovely fun, sweaty, busy, odd as it may have been summer.
Hello autumn, attempt to salvage a rotten year, season of pumpkins, apples, goose stew and thankfulness autumn. Oh, and candy corn. Can never forget that little joy!