The three of us

Some day we will get all four of us in the same room with a camera but until then here are the three of us.

Talking to Gramma and Grandpa

Looking like a teenager

Cute face

kisses

Latest Lucca pic

Cinnamon Bun mountain

Nisha made the best cinnamon buns I have ever had. I will get the recipe to post it. I love these pictures it looks like the bun is huge.

It's electric

Does this remind you of a trip to a science museum? haha

I love my family

This is an older picture but today all of the chickens ran out of the coop when I opened the door to feed them. I usually have the portable coops ready for them but for some reason today I just spaced it. I got some of them back in be shacking the empty food bag (chickens are not known for their brain size) but the rest we had to chase around and sneak them in the door one by one. Everyone was chasing the chicken, well Lucca was asleep but everyone else. The dogs I am happy to report just sat watching. It was another crazy morning on the chicken ranch. Haha sometimes I feel like we are totally nuts, out in the middle of the desert chasing chickens. At the end of it all you just have too clean the poop off your shoes and laugh.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

A must read Kingsolver book for anyone who loves the environment. This is the real answer to so many problems. Go local, get to know your food and your farmers. Teach your children that carrots, not spaghetti grow in the ground and watch them become more aware and respectful of food, the planet, plants, animals, water... http://animalvegetablemiracle.com really it's a beautiful thing. Inspirational to see what just one family can do. I loved it. Well I still have a few pages to go. Thanks Cass! It was just what I needed to get my energy and hopes up again.

How Mexican

The Virgen (that's how it's spelled in Spanish) in all her forms. I have seen her on shirts, pants, flags, backpacks, belts, pretty much everywhere, but this is a first. Yup, that's a watermelon. I love it actually.

Great news!

The Santa Julia girls are on board! The girls from the Casa Hogar Santa Julia Don Bosco orphange are going to be a part of our "A Day on the Farm" workshops. Check out their great website http://www.santajulia.org/ I am so excited. We are also working on getting the Mexiquito boys involved on a different day. The workshops will teach the girls not only basic farming skills like growing plants from seed, composting, and animal care but will also include craft hour where they will learn to take materials from the farm and turn them into wonderful things. Yogurt, cheese, gourd crafts, cornhusk dolls, basket making, dried flower art, paper making, food preservation (canning, pickling, and drying) also they will learn to be environmentally responsible with grey water systems, rain catchment, recycling and reforestation. I believe all of these things are so important and basically missing from our traditional educational system. I can't wait to get started.

Remebering what it's all about

Today was the perfect San Miguel fall day. Like my friend said, "one of those classic sunny fall days which just make you want to hike for hours." Waking to a cold morning and a hot cup of tea I tried to forget that I basically haven't slept in weeks. Despite having a beautiful new family member (or a bit because of it) my energy has been low lately. It has been months since the idea of starting the farm has been out of my head and into the air. After so many years of dreaming it I was sure once I opened my mouth people would be knocking down the door to help out. Though we are blessed with really great supportive friends and family our financial situation has made it a lot harder than I ever imagined to get things going. I have been stressed, worrying for months, running like a chicken with my head cut off trying to prevent this inevitable situation that I could see coming along with the birth of our son. We were already too close every week with our budget to have any extra expenses, and I knew they would come. All of that worrying in vain. The time has come, along with the expenses and we are living the situation I dreaded so much. It has not been easy. Add to not sleeping and a generally difficult life style not having enough money at the end of every week... A recipe for a very stressful run. As a result of all off this I really haven't been enjoying trying to get the farm started, and, go figure, it really hasn't gone that well. So this Sunday I gave in. I decided I would stop with the compulsive emailing, begging really, and just stay on the farm. No phone, no email no way to drive myself crazy opening and reopening the same email page hoping for a response that would change everything. So went grocery shopping, got enough food for the week and hunkered down. Today, Wednesday, was enlightenment day. The kids were up at a cruel 5 30 and several times in the night. It seemed freezing outside but it was great for piling everyone in the bed for a cuddle. After Alejandro went to work I started my daily cooking, cleaning chicken feeding routine. I made yogurt, bread pudding, and a big pot of stew filled with organic veggies perfect for a chilly day. Lucca was fast asleep and Adelia out playing in the yard Then all the sudden I could hear her laughing and talking. I looked out and she had pushed down one of the flimsy chicken wire walls around the six chickens we keep in the garden. These were our smallest chickens and they were getting their feathers pulled out by the big bossy ones. So, there is Adelia weaving in and out of the rosemary bushes "chasing" slowly our little friends. She was making those funny squawking/clucking noises that chickens make. She would reach out to touch them, then they would jump and squawk and so would she. She finally calmed down and sat in the tall wheat like grass, chickens all around her. When she came inside she was covered in dirt and smelled like rosemary. We ate big cups of stew and gooey cinnamon bread pudding. I thought, this is what its all about. This is why we work so hard. This will be the gift we give our children and hopefully many others. In a world so lost in the unreal we will bring them back to nature, back to their roots. I kept saying everything will be ok, not really knowing I really ownly half believed it until today. Two beautiful children, a wonderful husband, chickens a hugely supportive family, equally supportive group of friends, and a big pot of stew.
Everything is going to be ok.