And we're back!

Wow! What a great week! We had a ton of fun camping at Rimrock Lake. We read books, took naps in our hammock, swam, fished, enjoyed shooting stars and campfire songs, ate pudgy pies, hid from the rain, smelled the trees (Ponderosa Pines smell like BUTTERSCOTCH, it's crazy!!), and even tie dyed shirts!  A giant THANK YOU to Jen, Heather, Hominee (and your families), my sister and our neighbors for helping to keep things under control, alive, and in the yard while we were out of town. It's tough to leave everything behind, but we are grateful to have friends willing to help us out!  

We ended up cutting our trip a day short to save our garden from some escapee rabbits and a hose that sprang a (HUGE) leak. We weren't too worried about the rabbits since they are quick to kindle. I was more worried about our cabbages that I've been loving on for five months!! Andy and Matilde ran down four bunnies when we got home, Andy found the last one in the morning, and we had harvested the meat of three of them by noon! It's been a busy day for us on our first day back. Aside from the rabbits, we gleaned and raw packed plums from the vacant property behind ours, unloaded the car and put everything away, set up the tent to dry and repaired some tears, ran errands, washed all of our dirty clothes, and smiled at the end of the day! It's good to be back home. :) 

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Matilde enjoying our walk back to camp from Indian Creek. 

This is a panoramic view from our camp. We tend to set up in the same spot year after year....I bet you can guess why! 

Pumpkin Patch

I don't remember the pumpkins being so clean, lined up, and off the vine when I was a kid. Maybe I have forgotten what it was like, but it seemed more authentic back then....a hayride out to the field to pick the perfect pumpkin and another ride back.

Matilde and her preschool classmates had fun and made lasting memories today, whether the pumpkins were sprayed clean or not! 

Harvest Fair!

Today marked the 26th year for the Seattle Tilth's annual Harvest Fair!  We were invited to share our Oscars (broilers) and help educate those attending about the importance of knowing where your food is coming from and how easy it is to raise chickens for meat right here in the city. We were given advice, gave advice, played, danced, and networked with other urban farmers!  It was a long day. It was exhausting to explain the process with every person that walked up. The girls created a display board that said what breed our birds were and a few facts about chickens and broilers. A lot of people read the board and a lot of people were surprised at what they learned. Good job girls!  

The hardest part of the day was being set up right next to the GOATS!  As many of you know, Matilde wants a goat more than any other pet, so being next to them was tough. She would sneak off and I'd panic for a second and realize she was watching the Eloise and Snowflake. She said (more than once), "I'm gonna get a goat, and I'm gonna name him Douglas!" We saw a lady get squirted by milk, so of course she ran over to check it out. When all of the sudden she was squirted too!  The owner was milking Eloise and pointing the teat right at Tilly!  It sprayed a stream of milk from her feet up her leg and on her face!  Tilly was waiting with her mouth open and screamed with excitement when she was hit!  She ran off laughing and told her papa what had happened.  She is such a goof! 

It really was a fun day, and all of us enjoyed being a part of it!