Berries and chives and frog eating chickens??! Oh my!

 

 

Headed out for a little walk in the woods near our property and was pleasantly surprised to find loads of blueberry bushes scattered all around! I headed home for a bowl and my boots and went in search of some delicious blue treasure. I was able to bring back a decent amount of berries with the help of the kids...they did however abandon the task after they saw me get bit by a couple of ants :) I don't blame them, it was warm and the fact that our dog feels the need to point out every single snake or moving object in the brush underfoot doesn't help either....truth be told, we all know they are lurking there somewhere when we go berry picking but out of sight, out of mind right? I doubt we will bring her back berry picking LOL

                                                        All that aside - Here is the loot!

This evening I headed out to the herb garden with my kitchen scissors in hand to snip some chives for preserving. I have been trying to snip what I can once a week so I can fill a few little bags for the freezer. By the end of season, I am hoping to have chives for the whole winter. I also made some chive vinegar tonight. (Fill a glass bottle with vinegar and add a handful of chives and chive blossoms if you wish...let sit for about a week or two and then strain before using. Can be kept for several months and apparently it is lovely for tenderizing and marinating meat.

While I snipped chives, Emily took the chickens for their little evening walk :) Yes, we love our chickens and they love their free time. I didn't have my camera with me but sure wish I did when Emily's chicken called Honey caught and ate a frog!!! We knew they loved bugs but had no idea they ate frogs too! I guess you really do learn something new everyday.

                                                        Chickens are so much fun!

Bringing back the homemade popsicle....health style :)

   Making treats from scratch is always so much more rewarding isn't it? Everything tastes better when you have put in the time and effort to make it yourself. Lately we have been making up our own homemade popsicle recipes and we are sharing our favorite with you ;)

                                                      Homemade Healthy Popsicles

                                                        1 cup homemade applesauce 
                                                        1 cup pure orange juice
                                                        1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

                                                       Mix together and freeze in molds. 


Of course no rainy day is complete without homemade cookies made with coconut oil! If you haven't researched the health benefits of coconut oil, I suggest you take a minute and google it. Your body will thank you ;)  You can replace the butter or oil in most recipes for coconut oil and reap the benefits of this super food while devouring a delicious dessert or snack. I know coconut oil isn't something made locally but you can buy organic sustainable coconut oil in bulk at Costco for a really great price! 

Some pics of our outdoor cooker :)

These pics are from the fall (hence the hunting beard on my husband). We were having such a good time yesterday I completely forget to take some pics. But it will give you an idea of what I am talking about when I talk about our outdoor cooker.

                                                He cooks such great burgers on his grill!

Soaking up the sunshine :)

We decided to spend the weekend out in the great outdoors with friends and family. The kids pitched a tent and we took out all the outdoor games that had been collecting dust in the shed. It seems we are always so busy running around and getting things done that we don't have the time to just sit out and enjoy our own backyard oasis.

We headed to the local Farmer's market, fruit stand and butcher shop early in the morning yesterday and were blessed with a delicious meal cooked on the outdoor cooker that my husband built. Of course the laughter of friends and family always make for a magical evening around the campfire.

Life is good when you just take the time to stop and smell the roses.

Speaking of......our bee box is finally starting to bloom! :) We planted a wild flower box this year to encourage the bees to visit and pollinate our fruit trees and pumpkins...so far so good :)

                   

The benefits of boredom

 So this year we decided to forgo all the structured activities, overrated summer camps and rigid schedules and allow the kids (and us) to just be. It has been wonderful. It is amazing what you can come up with given the time and ability. It has been magical watching the kids learn to enjoy the simple things in life without having to rush them from one activity to another. There is a sense of calm in the house this summer. It is likely due to the friendship that is created between siblings when boredom meets imagination. It could also be due to the fact that no one is running around the house hollering for everyone to hurry up because we can't be late for swimming lessons again or the lack of stress from the chaos that ensues when you can't find the soccer shoes or the water bottles or the gas light comes on just as you pull out of the driveway in a hurry.

No, there has been none of that stress here this summer. Just a summer full of homemade fun, memories and laughter. Truth be told, our 5 year old is teaching himself to swim at the beach and the kids have enjoyed several spur of the moment games of soccer, football and basketball without the coaches, competition and rushing. Who knew?

It is so much fun to watch the kids come up with all kinds of things to keep themselves busy without me trying to schedule all their time away. I haven't even had to consult my insanely long list of boredom buster pins on pinterest! They make up their own boredom busters, especially since their screen time is limited.

They are loving the simple things like biking to the store, spending the day at the beach, making popsicles, going to the the library, having backyard water fights or playing games together.

Yesterday our oldest daughter started collecting books from around the house to exchange for new ones at our local book exchange shop.

The kids have even come to me several times in the last few weeks and asked if I needed help with anything. There is nothing that fills my heart with joy more than working around the yard or preparing food with my children by my side.

So why are we so afraid of letting our kids get bored? Why do we worry so much about what all the other families are doing? Why do we feel like bad parents if we don't enroll our kids in piano, dance, soccer, swimming, hockey, gymnastics, guitar, football....the list goes on and on and on.

We fill our homes with video games, computers and satellite TVs. We buy prepackaged craft kits with detailed instructions and spend hours planning fun things for our kids to do. But the reality is....they don't need it and less is more.

 Remember when we were kids and the only time the networks would put anything interesting for kids on TV was on Saturday mornings? I don't think my sister and I even bothered turning on the TV during summer break because all we could find were soap operas and daytime talk shows. We would venture out into the woods. We would head down to the brook or build forts in the trees. We would create clubs and invite our friends to join. It didn't cost our parents a cent but we were happy as can be.

Mom used to save all sorts of things for us to use for crafts and we had a blast creating whatever we wanted and we felt proud when we created something really cool.

No one ever spent hours planning out activities for us because we came up with all sorts of crazy fun things to do all on our own. I remember jumping off the picnic table wearing pillow case capes we made and pretending to be superheroes for an entire afternoon. LOL Those are some of my fondest childhood memories.

Our kids need time to be creative. They need freedom. They need to get bored. They need to be shipped out into the great outdoors so you can wash the floors...they may head out grumbling but given enough time they will come up with all kinds of fun stuff to do out there. Truth be told, kids want to feel independent and helpful. They hate being micromanaged. Most kids would rather hang out at home than be dragged to yet another activity.

All that to say, we are having a magical summer here. A summer full of time, imagination, memories and possibilities. Every day brings with it another adventure. Maybe we will spend the night lying in the trampoline star gazing and trying to find all the constellations or maybe we will adventure into the woods in the search of wild blueberries...who knows what tomorrow will bring but whatever it brings it is sure to be spontaneous and rewarding.

Made homemade laundry detergent today! So far so good.....

 We got up bright and early this morning and made some homemade laundry soap! We had a lot of fun making this together and the end result was really great. The clothes smelled fresh and looked really clean when I hung them out to dry. 

The kids thought it was funny to grate soap with the cheese grater :)

Adding the tangerine essential oil to the fabric softener crystals.

                                     Mixing it all together. 

                     Proud of their yummy smelling laundry soap :)


Here is the recipe for all the brave souls willing to give it a try:

1 cup grated bar of soap (We used Dr. Bronner's natural lemon scented soap)
2 cups Washing soda
2 cups Borax
1/2 cup baking soda

Mix it all together and add your own blend of essential oils if you wish. Have fun creating different laundry scents. About 40 drops or less should do it. 

Add 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of laundry soap per load. 

We also made homemade fabric softener crystals since we were hanging our laundry out to dry. 

2 cups epsom salt
20 drops essential oils (If desired) We used the same tangerine we had used for our dishwasher detergent and it smelled really good. 

Add 1-2 Tbsp per load. 

Enjoy your natural and economical laundry soap :)

Making homemade dishwasher detergent!!

Most of us know it is possible to escape all the hype of big company cleaning products by using a little baking soda and vinegar to clean most things in our homes but I was always very skeptical about making dishwasher soap or laundry soap since I always assumed it would be impossible to replicate the cleaning power that these products offer. I was so wrong!

With a few simple ingredients you can free yourself from the big corporations and all the chemicals by making your own homemade dishwasher detergent in a few minutes.

                It smelled great but we weren't convinced that it would clean as well as the big brands so we gave it a try and it worked great! It even cleaned up all the hard water deposits in the dishwasher! Here is the recipe for those willing to give it a try :)

                                                    1 cup washing soda
                                                    1 cup baking soad
                                                    1 cup kosher salt
                                                    1/2 cup citric acid
                                                    20-30 drops of favorite essential oil (optional)

We used tangerine oil and it smells so good! Just add 1 Tbsp per washload and enjoy chemical free homemade dishwasher soap!