(cauliflower and brussel sprout starts from the farm store)
(the tiniest egg that ever did come from a chicken)
(Kentucky pole beans)
(green fleshed pineapple melon) I promise that right after I took the picture I made Beatrix get off the table and eventually, she got dressed again too. I suspect that this was right after her dress got a drip of water on it, so obviously she had to take it off. Oh the outfit changes that happen in a day between those two girls.
He did not want to give up that pumpkin, and carried it all the way to the house.
With all the busyness that is going on in the garden and hen house right now, my kids, and especially Larkspur have become excited about a concept they heard about in a story they listened to last week. Larkspur wants to have a “Little House Day,” a day on which we eat only that which we’ve grown ourselves or can obtain within walking distance. The exceptions I believe are salt, pepper, and (thank goodness) butter. We have to wait a little while though; we’re not quite ready. According to Larkspur we’ll have our Little House Day as soon as the big watermelon is ripe (and who can really say when that will be?) and the chickens are laying more eggs (we got five yesterday!–and that crazy teensy one-did you see that? not much of a meal there though.) In the meantime we are eating as much as we can from the garden and I am pushing those trips to the grocery store off as far as I can. Last night our soup pot contained garlic, potatoes, green beans, and black eyed peas from our garden (along with carrots from Costco and stew beef from a local farm.) As we recounted all that we’d grown ourselves, I hoped that the excitement of it would encourage Beatrix to eat the green beans. It didn’t.
p.s. Our first butterfly emerged from its chrysalis! (I had to stop myself from typing cocoon. Don’t you just want to call them all cocoons? Seth is very quick to correct me.) This is a variegated fritillary. I shared a photo of it in the process of creating its chrysalis last week. We didn’t expect it to emerge so quickly!
Love every part of this! Last night almost everything on the table was home raised – chicken, potatoes, and green beans. It was really neat.
Oh I love this post. Your beautiful pictures remind me to find contentment in the little things.
On a side note, your last pictures remind me – have your kids ever read “The Melendy family” books? Especially the second book “The Four Story Mistake” as it has allot about the youngest boy’s interest in moths and butterflies. He hatches them out in their house. My kids thought that it is a very good read.
Yes! Seth and Keats have both read all four books in the series!
We had a teensy egg like that last week! Ours was almost yolk-less. There were three little drops of yolk in there. Lupine reported that it was a “three-bite egg”. She was stoked.
ours was definitely just a one bite egg. so exciting. a friend brought us a bunch of quail eggs yesterday so my kids have been eating them fried and boiled and have declared them even yummier than chicken eggs!
Ginny,
That tiny egg is too cute. And I love the pictures of Silas with the pumpkin. A Little House Day is such a great idea. We usually stretch of grocery store visits as far apart as we can 🙂
Love, Taryn
Beautiful!!!! ♥ Herma
I love the idea of a Little House Day! We’ve been eating from our “gardenless garden” and from local farmer’s markets, we are lucky to have lots close by. The exceptions are bananas, avocados and any citrus. Love this time of year!!!
Your butterfly is beautiful, how exciting!
xoxo
~ joey ~
I love coming to visit your blog. Your children are just beautiful and I love the things they get up to. You know, every time I see Larkspur I am reminded of Little House on the Prairie, (don’t ask me why lol I have no idea). When I saw the little house day title I just knew it would be something that she had thought of!
Oh my goodness. Silas and his pumpkin-I could just eat him up!!
Baby and pumpkin are breaking my heart today. So sweet!
Silas is starting to look so much like you Ginny! Lark is such a gorgeous little soul – love the idea of a little house day!
I love the stories of you children. So like my children…the outfit changes in particular!
The photos of Silas with his pumpkin are beautiful. I love those baby legs.
Silas is just wonderfully adorable! Pretty pictures… happy family! +JMJ+
So strange, we were having the chrysalis/cocoon discussion last night! (was Eric Carle inaccurate all along?!)
Love the pic of Silas standing with the pumpkin by the door!
I just adore photos of Silas doing little baby things (like carrying the pumpkin all the way to the house). He reminds me of my Little Man when he was younger (as he’ll be 2 in November). He still does stuff like that but it reminds me why I want another one 🙂
Do you have a bantam chicken that laid that teeny egg? We had one for a bit that would lay little eggs like that. Even though they weren’t much for a meal, I miss them.
No! We don’t have any small breeds, so this was unexpectedly tiny. There wasn’t a yolk inside, just white with a speck of yellow.
My grandmother told me that this is how it looks the first egg laid by a chicken at a reproductive age. But apparently not all of them make one! When I was a child, I found one tiny egg like yours, and traded it with bubblegum 🙂
(sorry for my english)
oh wow the butterfly is lovely!
i love the idea of a “little house day”, although right now our meal would consist of a spider and dirt. so i don’t think we are there yet. LOL although you look super close.
and the wee tiny egg! i love it. did it end up having a yolk in it??
not really–just a speck of yellow.
a little house day… not such a bad idea after all 🙂 The pumpkin is perfect for his little hands – I can understand the need to hold it close 🙂
m.
the clothes changes ~ oh my goodness! We do that here, too. sigh.
the pumpkin & Silas pictures? Love!!
Great shots
That pumpkin is perfectly sized. Of course he would want to help too. It does seem fast for the chrysalis. Beautiful specimen. I noticed the other day while folding laundry that the three small people have almost four times as many clothes in the wash. Many outfit changes here too.
I would love a slice of pineapple melon 🙂
Oh us too! My boys are hankering for a little house day after hearing that story too!
Your Silas and his legs. . .. he’s a perfectly scrumptious baby!
Love the Silas-pictures! I admire you for all your hardwork gardening. I buy everything fresh in the store I’m afraid. This year even our apples, pears and blueberries aren’t florishing.
love the idea of a little house day, your photos are so romantic, just beautiful
the miracles of nature…..the butterfly, the garden, the children!!! (those shots of the pumpkin and your ‘little’ is absolutely the best!!!)