Saturday Morning Small Pleasures

Olivia used up my soap. Shilah gave us some homemade bar soap this spring. I liked it of course. Jay didn't like the tea tree oil in it, but he liked the way it made his skin feel. So the lady at Farmers Market gained a customer with her patchouli scented handmade soap. Well actually she gained three customers. I'm always up for a little pampering, so if Jay is approving I won't have qualms about $5.00 -a -bar barsoap. And little Miss Olivia jumped on the bandwagon too. My bar of soap disappeared very quickly this time because I couldn't seem to keep that bar out of her little hands. This morning's fun was a beautiful fall sunshine and blue sky. (Yes, some people did get frost last night.) The soap, and a yogurt smoothie, and six locally grown tulip bulbs, all purchased at ths Farmers Market.

A Morning's Harvest

Don't worry, Susan. Real update coming soon. :)

I don't think I can complain about these sunflowers. They're making me happy.

Trying Out A New Blogging App

So unhappy with how my pictures are coming through. So I'm experimenting.

Camping at Boulder Creek

     We went camping last weekend. We left Saturday about 11:00 or so and got home on Sunday about 1:00.
     It can be good to leave your house and habits. When we go camping we go where there are no bathrooms or kitchens. It is good for me to get that basic because I become so grateful. I have thoughts about my ancestors being tougher than me. About how they might have seen six loads of laundry on my floor as a chance to see my washer do a days work in, well, a day. But hardly any effort on my part. And as much as I sometimes resent my tiny, unhandy kitchen, really, what can I say? When I go camping, I ask Jay questions such as, "If I were exiled to the woods, how long would it be until I didn't live on a dirt floor?"
     Well anyway, we had a nice time camping. We cooked good food, played in the river, and watched shooting stars. Of course, everything has a special delight when you're introducing your children to it.

Garden Update

It's time to update on the garden.
By now I was hoping for huge plants and lots of produce. Reality check. The plants are growing and we will most likely get crops. But due to the fact that we planted late, the cold spring, and the soil and woodchips getting to know each other, things actually seem delayed.
Jay planted the potatoes in the mulch early in the summer. They seemed to be coming up slowly, so he pulled some of the mulch back a bit to help them along. Well, the ones he didn't help are the tall ones. The plants he helped are apparently stunted.
The green beans are in different stages of growth because, even though they were planted at the same time, they came up in stages. Also, the mulch was laid pretty thickly where the beans were planted, so they ended up being planted in trenches.
All of our squash, pumpkin, and cucumber plants were extremely delayed. I think their roots were too cold.
So, those are the not so great things about the mulch. We're still excited about the absence of weeds and the moisture retention. I think as the mulch breaks down and becomes new soil, that the other problems will go away too. So at this point we aren't discouraged; we're just in the learning curve of making it work.
Next, I'd like to do a post of some of the fun we've had this summer.