Before you were born I carried you under my heart. From the moment you arrived in this world until the moment I leave it, I will always carry you in my heart. ~Mandy Harrison
What devoted blog readers you are to come and visit today.
Thank you!
I'm sorry I haven't been posting much this spring and early summer. As you may know, if you are a follower, I was blessed again to be rehired back at my gardening gig for 8 weeks this spring. Between work and my mom/homestead duties, my days have been blissfully, abundantly full.
As much as I enjoyed every single moment of my time at the gardens, (I have amazing work buds, waving "Hi"if any of you are reading today) it's nice to take a moment to contemplate life, my dreams and the summer ahead. Before another season flies by though, I wanted to take a moment and tell you about our baby chicks.
News Flash! Chickens grow up REALLY fast.
They are not sweet, fluffy 'lil chicks any longer. Nope! But they are sweet big pullets and cockerels. Yes, that's right, it looks like we have cockerels, as in roosters. I was pretty sure a few were turning boyish, as they were growing alarmingly fast and getting red combs and wattles. Also, having raised 8 kids myself, I know the chance of having boys is usually a 50/50 chance. In my case, for many years an 75/25 chance, until Grace and our twin daughters evened things out. Anyway, we took the risk that we may have a few roosters, as we did the "hatch a chick program" at my son's grade 1 class. As far as I know there isn't a way to determine the gender before the egg has hatched.
The inevitable happened this past Monday morning. I was half asleep, pouring breakfast cereal for my three little ones when, "Cock a doodle Doo" floated in loudly from our open kitchen window. Now, this wasn't an adolescent learning to crow. Oh no, this was a full blown doodle. For a moment I smiled as this is what I would love to hear IF, I were living in the country but no, the reality is that I don't live in the country. I live in an urban type yard and I needed to muzzle that sound or we would quickly be discovered as having chickens. Even hens are not a welcome backyard pet in our area....yet.
Ahhhh! I quickly, pulled together an enticing tray of yummy food for our chickens; rolled oats, raisins, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, some left over brown rice from our dinner the night before and then as I flew down to the coop wearing nothing but my nightie. I gathered a few strawberries along the way and some herbs; parsley, lemon balm, oregano, thyme and finally sweeping by my lower garden gathered up some of their fav grub; kale leaves. I was figuring a chicken eatin', ain't a chicken talking. When I arrived at the coop all in a flap, my 5 chickens were all gathered at the door, looking innocent. No one particular was fessing up over calling the alarm for breakfast. Every day since, our roos voices are growing stronger, thankfully never at the same time. Sadly, it looks like we are going to have to say goodbye to our three beautiful boys. I will not be able to keep them in our urban backyard much longer. (Thankfully, I may have a country gal willing to take them)
Bittersweet really.
I have wanted chickens for so long. I've read everything I could get my hands on regarding their care, that I thought I would enjoy the experience but I had no idea, I would LOVE just being close to them. They are meditative of sorts and funny to watch as they have big personalities in their little feathered bodies. It's interesting as they go about their day eating, socializing, scratching, being curious about the world and what is going on around them.
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| The little dark one we called Coco Chanel and it looks like she is going to be one of our hens |
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| Aren't they the cutest! Here they are all 5 of them, spending some morning time with the kids in the family room...they are getting their little feathers |
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| Will just loves holding them and it has been interesting to see how the various fluff balls matured over the last 3 months. They really do grow up FAST! Those aren't droppings on the paper towels, just little pieces of parsley. |
Our little fluffy feathered babies remind me why I love being a mom to little kids so much 'cause little ones are the same in so many ways. They love to experience eating new foods, socializing, making new friends, and are curious and interested in everything happening around them. Watching babies grow is like discovering the world for the first time through their eyes. Magical!
Here they are at last out of the house and into their new home. It's been such a ride. They lived in our laundry room in the brooder box for about a month as it was cold outside when they came to us at the end of April. Then we moved their brooder box into the garage for another couple of weeks and finally at 6 weeks old we moved them out to the coop. They were fully feathered and getting really big at this point.
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| Here's a picture of the two roosters enjoying their new coop with the cool birch branch roost my husband D made for them...the white one we called, "Pearl" but it looks like she is Captain Pearl now. |
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| Here's the new coop and run. Since our yard is sloped we had to build it in two sections. The first section holds their coop which is really cool and has some easy to clean features. This was put in place first and then D built the run to the left. For those of you who are interested, I am going to do a post soon ALL about the construction of the coop, as when I was in my quest for chickens, where to put them was a biggie You can see how big they are now |
As our chicks turned a month old, our twin daughters, Kathryn Mira and Victoria Hope turned 5 years old on May 20th (The Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada). As I write this they are 5 years and 2 months old yesterday. I've been meaning to write this blog for 2 months! I can't believe my babies are growing up and will be off to kindergarten in the fall. It just seems like the other day I was carrying them around in each arm.
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| Sadly, I've lost a lot of baby pictures of the girls (on a flash stick somewhere) but here is one sweet picture. Victoria is on the left and Kathryn is on the right...back then they were almost identical |
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| Here's Victoria still snuggling into her twin. Kate is on the left here and Tori on the right 5 years old |
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| Kathryn and Victoria on their birthday....a kitty for Kate and a puppy for Tori are in their new bike baskets |
When my family celebrates an occasion we usually do so with a dessert and I thought this was the PERFECT time to share my lemon square recipe. I started making this years ago when our older kids were in our local Carriage house string Orchestra. The moms would take turns bringing snacks for their "break bread" and socialize aspect of their practice. When it was my turn to feed the 20 something group of kids, I always brought healthy veggies, hummus, fruit, taco chips and various dips but the big hit was always when I brought my delish brownies (stay tuned as I don't think I have posted this recipe) AND these lemon squares.
I've had so many people over the years ask for this recipe so I thought I would finally include it in this blog, even though it's not the healthiest of desserts. Sometimes dessert is just SWEET. Summer time is also THE perfect time for lemon desserts don't you think? Light and tart....goes great with Greek type food. If you are looking for an easy dessert square for a special occasion, check this recipe out.
Lemon Squares
(This recipe is from the Company's Coming Cookbook by Jean Pare)
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated Sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
3 tbsp of lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup coconut
1/4 tsp salt
First layer: Crumble first 3 ingredients until mealy. Press into un-greased 9x9 pan Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes
Second Layer: Beat eggs slightly. Stir in remaining 6 ingredients. Spread over first layer. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes until set in the center and light brown in colour. Cool and frost.
Frosting:
1 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp butter
4 tsp lemon juice and if you like you can add some real lemon zest
Directions:
Combine all together in small bowl Beat well, adding more lemon juice a bit at a time as needed for easy spreading. Spread over cooled bars. Allow to set. Cut 36 small squares.
Thanks so much for coming by for a visit. Before I close though, I wanted to share a song/vid that I have loved for years now.
WAY back before our daughter Grace was born, I wanted another baby. Hopefully another daughter. We had our oldest, a daughter and then were blessed with 3 beautiful boys. Our oldest daughter asked for a baby sister for every birthday and holiday. It was a LONG journey though, as I was over 40 at that point and my fertility had taken a nose dive. We lost a baby along that journey and after that loss, I realized ANY baby would be welcome, not just a daughter. So many people have preferences over gender and having a loss made me realize that boy or girl, it doesn't matter. Our babies are precious gifts and teach us so much about life. (And I guess that is why I love my Roosters so much too) I just wanted to be pregnant again and hold another baby in my arms. When I heard this song by Leanne Womack before we finally got pregnant with Grace, I cried and cried. I was surrendering my dream of having anymore children and yet the Universe had other plans.
Now I am the blessed mom to 8 children. Four beautiful boys and four lovely girls and all I want for them is to live fully and experience all this world has to offer them. I want them to dance.
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| Our girls dancing together through life |
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| The girls had their very first ballet performance in June. The theme was circus and they were dancing ponies |
I hope the experience I went through losing a baby, trying to conceive for years, also influences all of our children. They know they were wanted long before they ever came to earth. Hopefully, that energy flows from me and feel deeply loved and wanted.
So before you close my post, check out Leanne Womack's video, "I hope you Dance." If your dream is to have chickens, get chickens....best experience EVER. And if your dream is to have a child but you are facing infertility, hold your vision and move in the direction of your dream, staying positive and trusting the Universe to show you the way. WHATEVER your dream, "allow miracles to happen," move in that direction and most of all, I hope you dance. That is what I wish for you today. (if you can't see the video below, check out the hyper link above)
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope
