Spring is here, and I'm tired.

(Daddy having some late night snuggle time)

It's seeding season here on the farm.  For my non-agricultural readers that is the time of year when us Canadian farmers put some grain into the ground in expectation that it will yield a harvest.  It's the kick off to our somewhat short growing season.  It is the time of year that my hubby leaves with a packed cooler first thing in the morning and then gets home long after the kids have gone to bed.  

Farm life, and it's constantly changing, unpredictable, yet cyclical seasons, has always been a part of my life.  Some farm wives have a hard time adjusting to their life being dictated by things like weather and seasons but it's just natural to me.  I grew up with a farmer Dad, and despite marrying an American city boy...ended up being a farmers wife. 

Right now being a farmers wife means single parenting for a few weeks. 

It's almost comical that the day seeding started this little bundle of sweetness arrived in our home.  Because we can't ever do things the easy way right?  Over all it's gone well.  We are making it through each day...and night.  I was thinking back to my other home-made newborns and neither of us has ever had "maternity leave" or "paternity leave".  Aili was born during harvest....so my husband was back out in the fields the day we got home from the hospital.  Roman was a summer time baby and was born during hay and silage season.  Silas was my winter baby and most likely my husband was around quite a bit more when he was tiny.  Adding another baby into the business of life just doesn't seem like that big a deal.  Baby Annie is our 7th foster child and our 4th foster newborn.

Right now my house is a mess.  My kids and I ate popcorn for supper.  We haven't finished up our home schooling year yet.  My days are a blur of noise, laundry, cooking, breaking up sibling spats, various appointments in various towns, long division, boiling bottles, feeding and burping a baby.  My nights are a blur of catching moments of sleep, rocking a baby, mixing formula into bottles, waking up to squeeks and cries, and falling asleep with a tiny girl on my chest. 

But I get to see moments like this.

I love my sleep as much as the next person...maybe more because it's such an elusive and rare commodity but in the end, 

It's a good trade. 

They're worth it.  Two beautiful precious little girls. I'm so thankful I get to love them.

It has finally warmed up enough to put in the garden. I'm rarely very organized about it but each year we get the seeds into the dirt. 

Roman is teaching little sister how to plant the onion sets. 

Today was the first day that felt like summer.  It was SO warm! 

Warm enough for some water play in the back yard.

 \Yay for green grass!

Big sister helping Elijah fill the water guns. Never too big for a turtle pool right?

This little girlie is so goofy.  Seriously.  She's our comic relief without even realizing she is.

Spring is here. 

 I'm tired

but it's short and beautiful season. 

Someday I'll get all the rest I can stand..until then I'll let Jesus be my Sabbath. 

Playing in Dirt

A big part of my summer is my vegetable garden.   While it's not huge (I often wish I had more space so I could put more produce away for winter) it's big enough to keep us overwhelmed with fresh veggies all summer.  It's also plenty of work, but so worth it. 

There is something about growing your own food that is satisfying. 

It's very practical when you have a little money and a lot of kids. 

I also happen to love the convenience of having a produce section in my front yard.  If I need some veggies for supper I just go out and grab some.  That's a great thing when you live 50 km from the closest small town over priced grocery store.

They're extremely fresh, they're chemical free, and they are virtually free.

I'm not one of those meticulous, hyper organized, map and chart everything that is grown, plant in straight rows or lovely boxes kind of gardeners.  I'm a throw some seeds in the ground, forget where I planted anything until it comes up, replant what didn't come up...or I forgot to plant, keep the weeds down enough that I can find the vegetables, try to keep it alive, and then eat it all kind of gardeners.

Elijah has really enjoyed getting his hands dirty, and his clothes wet, to "help" me pick the vegetables. 

My herb box.  The drawer from and old entertainment unit didn't hold together quite as well as I had hoped.  But it has served it's purpose well for a year. 

I've restocked my cupboard with dehydrated herbs.

I grew kale for the first time...it produced a lot, and was much milder than the stuff I've bought in the store.  However it was more of an early summer green.

The garden in July.

Lots of stir-fry happening.

The closest thing I have to a flower garden is a few marigolds on the edge of my vegetable garden.  

The weeds have been horrid this year.  With the new load of manure, and all the rain the weeds have been hard to keep under any sort of control.   At this point in the summer I pretty much have quite trying.  There is a LOT of thistle this year...and because I let them all go to seed, there is going to be even more next year.  

My peppers and tomatoes did really well this year.  

I think I'm going to have to cook up, and can,  a big batch of Salsa! 

The garden in August.  The dill and the Coriander have created their own little jungle. 

What can you do with too many beets?

Pickle them.  Yummers.

This week kicked my butt

 It had the same effect on my garden.

Although my garden resembles a bit how I feel , it's state of being mostly dead was brought on by a sudden change in temperature.   Last Sunday we had a 30 degree Celsius (86 F) hot summer day a couple days later we reached -8 (17.6 F).  My garden didn't like it so much.  I'm not that thrilled with the climate change either.  

However, my own state of mostly dead was brought on by these hooligans...and a mischievous 18 month old. 

It's my own fault really.

I tried to take them from this... 

to this.  Cold turkey.

{yes her hair always looks like that}

I was prepared.  I had been reading about educational philosophies, methods, and strategies.  I had wonderful plans, schedules, and ambition for our first full week of educating my kidlets.

 I'm pleased to report that it all went perfectly as planned, the children were eager to do their morning chores, and they studied with intensity from their new school books...

for the first 10 minutes.

It went great.

Then the 1 year old grabbed all the pencils, snuck off with the markers, chewed up the eraser, dumped out the flashcards, and turned a library book into her sketch pad.

My pre-schooler eagerly practiced his letters 

until he began a farting noise competition.

Aili won.

I bet you didn't know that kids could eat breakfast at 8 am ...

and then be STARVING at 9am

about 2 minutes after picking up their pencils.  

5 days

have never felt so long.

I may not survive.

Next year I'm adding a large bottle of of wine and a long straw to my first week of school survival supply list.

Maybe it would be better to ease back into incorporating curriculum/ book work into our day rather than to jump in with all 10 feet.  

I must remember for next year that the first week is going to suck and not to even bother with my white board until after harvest.   

I think if we didn't have such extreme weather I would prefer to reconfigure our home learning year into 3 months on, 1 month off.  That way we get breaks more regularly and none of them are long enough to completely forget everything.  We may work towards something more like that in the future. 

 Flexibility is a perk.

I hate how I'm already battling the insecurity, doubts, guilt, fear, and inadequacy that seems to come with  outside the box motherhood...or motherhood in general  There are moments when I am confident we'll get our act together, and I see so much value in our family integrated education.  Then there are moments when I want to drop them off  boarding school and drive far far away.  

  Seriously.  

This week I said at least three times "Knock it off, and get to work, or I'm putting you back in regular school!"

Knocking the dust off these summertime brains has been harder than I anticipated, I think it's been more like sanding off rust.  

This harvest season is getting old.  My husband is burnt out from working long hard hours in the field.

I'm burnt out from parenting long hard hours at home. 

We're getting less sleep.

 Tempers are short.  

Exhaustion is setting in.  

On the bright side we've got a long winter to look forward to.

Sigh.

Thank God it's Friday..and next week is a fresh start.

Swiss Chard, Goony kids and Family memories

A peak at some of this years garden and Silas in half his pajamas.

Foraging for breakfast in the Swiss chard?

A nice little hiding place...the mosquitoes like to hide there too.

 The kids are loud.  The house is a mess.  The laundry won't leave me alone.  The raspberries need to be picked almost everyday.  We're going through food faster than trips to town can keep up.   Life as usual.

We're keeping cool with Mr. Freezies...lots of them.  We use them as bribery actually.

Our household of 8 has meshed together quite well for the last month.  

It will be strange not to have them here next week.

I was just peaking at last summers posts with our Seattle relatives.  Last summer was their first visit to Canada and our first time seeing our nephew.  They have all grown SO much since last year.  Well, except for the amazing shrinking Auntie who has lost 100lbs in the last 2 years and just keeps dropping.  Every time I see her she has shrunk a few sizes!  You can reminisce with me here and here if you want to.  

Only 3 days left with our summer visitors.  It will be nice to try to restore some semblance of order and routine to our household...although I'm really going to miss having another live adult human to visit with during the day (not to mention help me with all the above mentioned tasks).   Please don't leave me...

This is my cutie sis-in-law and me enjoying some quiet time at the end of a day. 

Late evenings are my favorite. 

The three of us adults have had a lot of good belly hurting laughs , movie nights, and  story telling to fill in the gaps of all the missing years.  Too many late bedtimes.  

It's been a good summer. 

Harvest time begins

This is a busy time of year.

Hubby is out cutting Canola until late every evening.

Harvesting the food in my yard and garden before frost is becoming a full time job.

The maintaining of my household has not become any less demanding.

There are more apples to pick,

mountains of laundry waiting to be folded and put away,

meals to make,

dishes to wash,

jars to fill

more canning to do,

more berries to pick,

BUT, it can wait for a few hours...

because...

Childhood is short

......and our Canadian summer is even shorter!