In which Heather becomes a different sort of person.

Earlier this week, I had occasion to ask myself "when did I become the sort of person who chops up whole cow livers?" And I wasn't sure of the answer, but I was glad to be that sort of person.  As I stood in the kitchen with a massive beef liver from a freshly butchered cow from the biodynamic farm I workshare at, I mused over these meaningful life questions.

Maybe I've always been that sort of person, and just not had occasion to express that side of myself.

The next day, I had occasion to ask myself a similar question: "When did I become the sort of person who makes homemade liver pate?" Now, I know that I've been that sort of person for quite a while now, at least 4 years or so. But I had still never done it. Well, check that one off the bucket list!  (I used the recipe from Encyclopedia of Country Living for Chicken Liver Pate)

On a related note, there are now several packages of sliced beef liver in the freezer. If you think you may be the kind of person who would want to experiment with some, do let me know. Because it turns out beef livers are really quite huge. I suppose we will use them up, possibly within a year, but I could be convinced to share some with you. :-)  The cows were born, raised, and harvested on the same farm, and were grass-fed and grass-finished.

I've included some photos here for your benefit. Yes, you heard that right - for your benefit. Enjoy!

Also, Marie, who knows how to do summer right.

one

Happy birthday, Marie!  She is one year old!  We celebrated with a pumpkin extravaganza at the farm. Lots of Marie's friends came, ate cake, sang happy birthday, rolled around in the pumpkin patch, and generally had a grand celebratory day in honor of Marie's birth day.

Marie has been learning lots of new words lately. She now answers "what does the kitty say?" with "aaow" and "what does the doggie say?" with "woof woof". She picked up the latter while we were farm sitting last week and there was a dog. Some other words she says include touchdown (complete with raised arms), kitty, poop, mama, dada, toes, cow, moo, quack...

She also walks! She started taking steps a week or two ago, and yesterday took ~15 in a row. Watch out, Ginger kitty.

Here are some photos of her pumpkin birthday.  It is beautiful to be able to celebrate our precious daughter, and the whole year she has been with us. She is loved!

Our little pumpkin

What.. did you think we were joking about rolling around in the pumpkin patch?

They are all looking at the camera! Miracle! So many boys...

First cake in an overstimulated environment

Surfacing

Oh, hello! We are slowly surfacing from a beautiful, busy, and abundant summer. Marie's first. And how could I have let you miss almost the entire thing? Here is a quick flashback:

 

We helped my Grandma and Grandpa with their extreme garage sale in preparation of them moving.

 Lots and lots of canning... on the list (so far) is lots of dilly beans, dill pickles, peach jam (4 kinds!), canned peaches, canned pears, peach bourbon preserves, salsa verde... what am I forgetting?

 

 Marie's first hike on Mt. Rainier! It was a cold grey September day, but that mountain is gorgeous no matter the weather. Marie's the one wearing the bear hat (purchased in the gift shop when I realized I had optimistically only packed a sun hat for her).

 We had as many beach days we could fit in between everything else.  Not enough, that's for sure.

 Marie's first canoeing expedition, on Bead Lake near Joel's hometown. A secluded little lake in the hills, most of which was wasted on Marie. She wasn't too thrilled with us making her wear a life jacket, and also not letting her fall in the water.  It appeared she wanted a thrilling exciting day, while we had sought a simply subdued one.

 Caring for the garden (on the right, in April when it first opened).

 A family wedding! Beautiful and so well planned it was a delight to attend, and see some of Joel's family we don't see much (read: most of them since our wedding 6 years ago).

Lots and lots of swinging happened this summer. Lots. and lots more. Marie loves swinging! Good girl.  She is almost almost almost walking, picking up lots of things and holding them to her ear like a phone and saying "iowa" (she means hello, we're pretty sure), still sticking every new discovery into her mouth, and getting better and better at communicating. (Baby sign helps! She knows water and all done, and we're working on others).

So that's a bit of what we've been doing. How about you? Anyone newly pregnant? I'm sure you're out there.   School has now started for Joel in 2 out of 3 places, and we (well, Marie and I anyway) are looking forward to life settling down a bit and a decrease in travelling. Hopefully get Marie in some more swim lessons, catch up on dishes, that sort of thing.

Joel and I got married 6 years ago today. Congratulations us!  How different our life looked back then... hard to imagine there were nights in my life that weren't interrupted. I could sleep through the entire night and not wake up once! Whew that is what dreams are made of. Those oft-interrupted dreams. This baby is wonderful at many things, but not at sleeping.  We love her anyway. We'll keep her anyway. We'll defend and encourage and love her at all costs. And her first birthday is coming up this month! Stay tuned...

First parsnip harvest!

I'm so excited I can grow them! Did you know? All you have to do is sprinkle some seeds, be patient, and kabam! Parsnips!

Today's harvest

From the backyard...

Greens harvest: mustard Greens, blue scotch kale, chard, and a few peas

Herb harvest: black stemmed mint, greek oregano, sage, and lemon thyme

Our habit

Many mornings a week, right around the time the baby starts to show she's ready for her first nap, I bundle us up, put her in the carrier, tie on my walkin' shoes, and head out. We walk to Twin Ponds Park, just a few blocks away from home. Once we enter the park, our walk is through the Trail of Cedars, between the two ponds full of ducks, around the soccer field, over the bridge where we hear all sorts of birds we don't know how to identify, through the 'Future Community Garden'* space, around the always-empty tennis court, all over the arboretum, and then back around one of the ponds and back through the Trail of Cedars, to back home. The baby is usually asleep by the "between the two ponds" part, and stays asleep until we reach our door, and my rhythmic walking stops.

Setting out, it is clear we are not out of the urban jungle yet, if you spy the graffiti. Baby Marie's hat is one that was made for one of my brothers when they were a baby - anyone know who knit it? I suspect Grandma Berwold.

Baby woke up earlier than usual this day, and took in some of the return walk.

*I will know Thursday if I get a spot in the Community Garden. I hope so!

Growth!

This is my garlic! I planted it in October and since the winter, I've been entering and leaving the house from the upstairs front door and haven't been in the backyard much, thus forgetting about the garlic, and neglecting the worm bin. Thank goodness both of those are pretty forgiving during the wintertime. Today I succumbed to the overflowing compost bin on the kitchen counter and finally brought it to the worms to work on. While out back, I ventured to the far back corner of the garden, only to be pleasantly surprised that this whole garlic-planting adventure works! Before planting, this area looked like wilderness, really overgrown like most of the backyard, and I had put a lot of work into making it plantable. When I went back today, there were only a few weeds which I pulled! I guess this mulch idea works too. :-)

We planted Susanville and Chesnock Red, and I'm fairly sure the garlic on the right, which is growing much better, is the Susanville. Should have written it down I guess.
In other events, this is Ginger purring away in Joel's arms.