Memorial Day Weekend Pictures

Little Annah at our Memorial Day picnic.

We've been borrowing two of these tag-along bikes and have been having fun riding around State Parks close to home. For Memorial Day we went to Champoeg State Park and rode two miles to the historic general store for ice cream!

Here is Mira with the doll that Leyah taught her how to make this past weekend. Leyah was visiting from New York. She is helping Mira make this doll entirely out of recylced materials including melted candle wax for the body park and her own hair for the hair. Mira even made the dress from an old pillow case. Mira is entering this in the Marion County Fair this July.

This weekend Mira finally learned to ride a two-wheeled bike by herself. Thanks to my sister Leyah who spent hours teaching her and running along side her. Now if only Leyah would stay for the summer and teach the girls to swim!

Backyard Homestead: Gardening on a City Sized Lot

Since we'll be spending the summer at home this year and not overseas like last summer we've been beefing up our garden in hopes of producing a bunch of food to store away for the winter months. Last year we did a lot of canning and freezing of produce from local farms and markets and this year I'm excited to grow much of it on our own despite the fact that we live on a small 7000 square foot city lot. Thanks to the concept of square foot gardening we are already having great luck. I highly recommend the book and website if you're new to gardening or have a small garden space. You can learn more about Square Foot Gardening here. The libary should also have the book and it is a great resource.


Here is our new square foot garden. I LOVE this because I can grow so much in a small space. Basically the idea is that you divide your bed into square foot sections and in each square you can grow a certain number of plants, for example four lettuces per square or nine beets or 16 carrots. Keep in mind that some of the plants like lettuce, chard and spinach keep producing throughout the summer as you cut them back and eat them so each plant can produce a lot.

Here's a list of what we have growing in our garden this year: Six Swiss chard, Six kale, 22 spinach plants, about three dozen carrots, two dozen beets, six broccoli, one zucchini plant, one yellow squash, one habanera pepper, one green bell pepper, one red bell pepper, three tomato plants, one honeydew melon, six red cabbages, ten potato plants, five tomato plants, three basil, lots of green beans and peas, three cucumber plants, a bunch of strawberries, one rhubarb, 16 white onions and about 20 red onions. Along our side fence we have several blueberry and raspberry bushes and we have two Asian pear trees. We're also growing herbs including cilantro, dill, thyme, chives, rosemary and basil.

The total cost for seeds, seedlings, soil, fertilizer and peat moss was less than $75. We have two big beds, a bunch of pots on the patio for tomatoes and herbs and are using the side flower beds to tuck in extra crops. Although not everything has worked out perfectly (we've had some plants die due to slugs and drying out) so far we're happy with the results. We're still new to gardening on this scale but thankfully we have lots of friends who are sharing their wisdom with us.

Here is the bean trellis, onions, more Swiss chard and our six brocolli plants.

Our peas are growing beautifully and are an easy crop to grow from seed. Just plant in early spring and you'll be eating fresh peas come June. We made two double rows with chicken wire between them for the pea plants to climb.

We also have nine chickens in our small backyard in this coop. We can expect about one egg per day per chicken once they start laying this summer.

And that's our little backyard homestead. Stay tuned to find out how much we actually harvest and stock away this summer from our little garden.

What's New? A Peek Into Our Busy Week.

We had a fabulous week with lots of playdates, a field trip, picnics with good friends and a great visit with my younger sister Leyah, here from New York. We even managed to get all our school work done for the week and are wrapping up our study of ancient Rome and our study on plants. Mira completed her spelling already for the year since she aced not only every word in her first and second grade spellling books but also every word in the third grade book. We're still working on math and will keep up with it over the summer.

Here are some photos from our very busy week.

Yesterday we took Leyah (in photo with girls above) to the farm where the girls and I volunteered last year so she could buy some raw sheep wool. We had a lot of fun visiting with all the animals but this goat was insitent on having her head in every photo! Leyah (an art school grad and artist in NYC) has been working with Mira all weekend on her entry for 4H in the Marion County Fair. Mira is making a doll out of recycled materials using melted candle wax for the body parts (formed in molds), a old cashmere sweater for the body and her own hair (see below) for the hair. The doll is a pioneer girl to celebrate Oregon's 150th birthday (which is the theme of the fair this year). With Leyah's instruction the doll is already looking like a masterpiece. I'll post pics once it is complete.

The Before Picture. Mira has been growing her hair out for almost two years and with the summer heat fast approaching we knew that the time had come to cut it. Mira wants to donate the hair to either locks of love or sell it and donate the proceeds to a non-profit for children. Maybe St. Jude for whom our dear friend Melinda works?

During the haircut. A 12 inch long pony tail was cut off.

The after pictures. These aren't the best photos. I'll try to take a better photo this week and repost it on the blog. Doesn't she look so much older? I'll always miss the Little House on the Praire braids but this will be so much easier to take care of.

Annah's end of the year ballet recital is coming up in a couple weeks and this past week she had her photo taken with her ballet class. Here she is (on the right) with her friend Tirzah. They loved practing their ballet twirls in the photography studio (below).

Last Wednesday we joined our Classical Conversations homeschool co-op for a chemistry field trip at Corban College. The class was very hands on and we all learned a lot about gravity, air pressure, center of mass and acid reactions. Afterwards we enjoyed a picnic with our friends from the co-op and then our friends from Gaston came over for pizza and play.

This week we also received a wonderful blessing! A beautiful piano from our friends Valerie and Dave. The girls have been "playing" songs for me all week. Mira will officially start lessons in the fall. She can't wait and I can't wait for them to play a real song!

Small Town Pet Parade

Our small town has a wonderful old fashioned pet parade every May and this year our girls were so excited to get to take two of our chickens in the parade. They loved pulling the chickens in the wagon and seeing all the funny pets. There were goldfish in fish bowls, rats in cages, goats in strollers, ferrets on leashes, dogs in dresses and every other kind of pet you can imagine. The girls were darling and even got their picture taken by a photographer from Sunset magazine.

Mozzarella Cheese in 30 Minutes

The girls and I made a bunch of mozzarella balls and a few mozzarella braids today in less than 30 minutes. We've been making this about once a week since it is so easy and fun. Here's the very simple recipe for making fresh homemade mozzarella cheese using a gallon of milk and a few other basic ingredients. Fresh mozzarella is so good by itself as a healthy snack or sliced with basil, tomatoes and a little olive oil.

We made all the cheese on the plate above for about $2.50 using a $2 gallon of 2% pasteurized milk from a local dairy. You should use whole or 2% milk for the best results. Also, for this recipe it is important to use pasteurized milk. Using raw milk will not work for this recipe.

Annah stirring the cheese as it curdles.

Rolling the balls or braiding the cheese is the funnest part!

30 Minute Mozzarella Recipe

For this recipe you'll need:

1 1/2 teaspoons citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water
(you can buy this in bulk at the health food store of if you can't find it you can use lemon juice from the bottle).

1 gallon pasteurized milk (whole or 2% is best). Do NOT use ulta-pasturized milk. It will not work.

1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet diluted in 1/4 cup cool, unchlorinated water.
(I buy this at my local Lifesource health food store or you can buy it online from this website)

1 tsp salt

Rubber gloves

A candy thermometer

Step 1
Pour the milk into a big pot (I prefer stainless steel) and add the citric acid solution at 55 degrees F and mix thouroughly.

Step 2
Heat the milk to 90 degrees F over medium/low heat. The milk will start to curdle at this point.

Step 3.
Gently stir in the diluted rennet with an up-and-down motion, while heating the milk to around 105 degrees F. Turn off the heath. The curd should be pulling away from the sides of the pot and are ready to scoop out. The curds will look like thick yogurt and have a but of a shine to them and the whey will be clear. If the whey is still milky, wait a few more minutes.

Step 4:
Scoop out the curs with a slotted spoon and put into a microwavable bowl. Press the curds gently with your hands (using rubber gloves), pouring off as much whey as possible.

Step 5.
Heat the curds in your microwave for 15-20 seconds. While they are hot, stretch and knead the cheese. It should be like taffy, stretching really far. If the stings break or it feels tough, heat it again in the microwave. You'll be doing this several times as you prepare your mozzarella. While it is hot and stringy, knead in the salt and form the mozzarella into little balls, braids, ropes or whatever shape you'd like. The mozzarella will cool quickly so you'll need to keep heating it back up every couple of minutes to keep it hot and stretchy.

Store your mozzarella in the fridge. It should be good for a couple weeks.

Mira's Play: The House at Pooh Corner Part II

The last three weekends have been busy with Friday, Saturday and Sunday productions of Mira's play. She loved it so much that she announced after the first show that she wants to be a theater director when she grows up!

I did Mira's makeup before each show and it took about 45 minutes to get her ready each time. It was crazy backstage before the show and to make it even crazier, the stage manager gave all the kids Coca-Cola to give them "energy" for the show!

Here's a short clip from one of Mira's funniest scenes. She is throwing a fit because she is a hungry Tigger and wants to go home with Kanga and Roo.