Strawberries!

Our CSA has strawberries!


And they're all you can pick!

Girl of the House and I picked over seven pounds and headed home, feeling greedy.

The berries were perfect and delicious.




For the first time in our lives, Paul and I canned strawberry jam.

We tried two recipes and made 17 eight-ounce jars of jam.








Girl of the House exercised her baking talent, and made a fabulous strawberry pie.

That pie didn't last very long!

Take a deep breath

We've been soccer parenting like crazy.

Six games in seven days.


Tonight we didn't have ANY soccer. Ahhh, take a break.




After a leisurely grilled supper, Paul and I took a walk in the arb with the dogs.



There are more new prairie flowers and even some berries. It's good to step back once in awhile.

If I were to buy a car

rather than another truck (more practical for living in the country), I'd get a Mini painted up like this one!

Way cool.




From The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster



A happy weekend to you all - we'll be soccer tournamenting.

Bad Dog part two, or was it three? Or maybe even four...

It's always nice to come home to a package in the mailbox.

A new Emily spindle from Adam's Workshop (Mielke's Farm). Love the quick service, love the spindle!

With your sharp eyes, I bet you can detect why there was a spindle in the mail. The new Emily is to replace the most recent no-no-bad-dog disaster.


We thought we had dog proofed the house, at least enough to leave the younger dog out of his crate during the day. The big dog has never been a chewer.

My spindle bag was left on a side table. When we came home, he had taken the bag down, ripped it open and scattered the contents through the house. He chewed up my favorite spindle. He chewed up my lovely little niddy-noddy. I just can't believe he ate right through the bag!






Paul sent a photo of the ski team up on Beartooth pass.

They're having a blast.

Doesn't look much like June, does it?

TMI?

I rode bicycle to work the past two days. The internets said it would be nice. They (mostly) lied.

Finally, today when I came out of the hospital, the sun was shining. YAY for spring, even if it is June 11! It was actually 70 degrees.

You know it's been a long spring when you put on capri tights to bike in, and you can feel your hair blowing in the breeze. Yeah, my leg hair. I'll spare you the picture. It wasn't really that long, but I could certainly feel it this afternoon! Luckily, it's blonde and not that obvious to the casual passerby.

Let's just say it's been a long cold winter...


Anyway - this morning, going across the bridge down the hill, I spotted an eagle. I only had Girl of the House's little camera with me, but I got a quick picture.



It was a great start to the day.

Back to the prairie

They made it to Red Lodge safely.
Their house this morning, down near town.

Up at the pass, they had 10 inches of fresh powder. That's what they're there for, so let it snow!






I headed back out to McKnight Prairie to see if the cactus had bloomed. It rained almost an inch here on Saturday, so the tall grasses were wet.


The dogs and I got soaked.












And the cactus isn't blooming yet.















Plenty of other prairie flowers are blooming!





















Back home, in the pasture, the raspberries should really go to town now they've been watered!

At least we shouldn't drive through snow...

Paul and Girl of the House left at 0500 this morning, driving to Red Lodge, Montana.

They're headed to a week of ski camp with the high school ski team at Red Lodge. The team is caravaning out with the adult chaperones driving their own vehicles.

It's a 13-14 hour drive, but Paul was certain it would be easier than our usual ski trip drives. "At least we shouldn't drive through snow."

Yeah, so look at the weather map in North Dakota. No-one to blame but himself - he jinxed it.

He texted me me from Bismarck. "Snow is visible on the grass. 34 degrees."

I checked the weather. They are expecting 2-4 inches of snow on grassy areas in Dickinson.

June 6. "At least we shouldn't drive through snow."

Fresh from the farm

After a year of being on the waiting list, we are IN!


I picked up the first installment of our CSA (Community Supported Ag) allotment Wednesday, on my way home from work. (Another cool thing - the farm is on my route between the hospital and home. I can watch this stuff grow all summer!)

There were tons of fresh greens, some for salads, and some for cooking. Some spicy greens and some mild greens. There were fresh scallions and garlic, and the nifty white things that resemble radishes, but aren't radishes.

I'm going to have to take notes when she explains what everything is so I can tell Paul and GotH what they're eating. It all made sense when she explained the veg, and they were labeled. But I don't remember what they all are!


I can't remember what she said the greens with the flowers are, but I DO remember that they are for stir-fry, and the flowers are supposed to be included. Now, that'll be a change for us!

Thanks to Open Hands Farm!

Success and failure

Some of the deck garden veg pots are doing well.

The potatoes are emerging. (I guess that soon I need to cover up most of these greens with more soil so they produce more potatoes?)






The tomatoes are growing like crazy.











The parsley has filled the pot. Should have used a bigger pot?







And then, there is the basil.

Who'd have thought you could overwater basil? At least that's where I believe the problem lies. These look worse than they did the day I potted them!






And, you'll notice, there are no pictures of the poor nibbled up tomatos and peppers from the garden out by the shed. They are very sad to see.

A battle with gauge, again

Several inches into Bekky's sweater, I realize it's going to be too small. She's a tiny little thing, but this would have been a very snug fit.



So I battle again with my old nemesis - gauge.

I'd been using the size five needles called for in the pattern. I believe I'll have to go up to a size seven to accommodate my loose knitting.


Goodbye sweater number one. Here's hoping there is only a sweater number two; not a number three, or a number four.




I've been gradually plugging away, washing the Coopworth fleece.










It has a wonderfully long staple,









and washes up a beautiful soft white.









Girl of the House has a soccer problem. She's addicted, I think.

She got a last minute call this evening. "Can you play up with our team? We're short several players." They literally discovered they were short when they turned up at the soccer field.

She threw on her soccer duds, and we were off to the game. Luckily, it was a home game!

She has practice Tuesday evening, she'll play up with the U14 team again Wednesday evening, she's off to a game in Rochester on Thursday, and practice Friday evening.




It's gotta be love.