October Instagram Photo-a-Day Challenge: Week 1

Day 1: Red

Day 2: Pumpkins

Day 3: Hay

Day 4: Scarecrows

Day 5 : Fruit

Day 6: Happy

Day 7: Leaves

October Photo Challenge

Since October is my absolutely favourite month, I decided to try out one of those photo challenge things I always see people do.  I am 5 days behind but I will catch up today.

Fresh Meat

 

Since leaving school and deciding to stay at home with Lyric, I have felt like the ‘grown-up’ part of me was missing.  I love spending time with my daughter but I crave adult interaction.  Enter roller derby.  Tonight is my first ‘fresh meat’ practice with The Harbour City Rollers.  I will go through training twice a week through October and November.  I don’t know how to skate yet but I am determined!  Here goes nothing….

It’s Been a While…

And by a while, I mean over a year and a half.  It has been a year of ups and downs but mostly downs.  In this time, two major things happened: I went back to school in January to study horticulture which I loved.  On the night of April 7 (early April 8) my dad suffered a stroke, which led us to discover the cancer which had spread through his body.  My Dad left this world on Sunday, July 14.  I quit school and am currently staying at home with my kid.  I am not the same person I was before and for some reason I want to document the person I am becoming.  So that’s it, I am back.

Not much

I don’t have much to say right now because it is STILL RAINING and we still have had no sun.  My garden is water-logged and my tomatoes and craving some sunshine.  The peas are still delicious and my lettuce (the 2 heads out of about 100 that actually grew) are happy and delicious.

This weather is really starting to get to me.  I have never been a summer person but gloomy skies and rain clouds at the end of June are too much for even this Fall-lover.  Rain rain, go away!

Rain

Our current weather (zero sun, ALL THE RAIN!) is starting to depress me.  At this rate I fear I will have no peppers at all and very few tomatoes.  Caterpillars or slugs or some sort of critter have been eating my lettuce.  I had to replant all of my carrots and parsnips because I think that part of my garden was being used as a cat littler box.

In happy news though, my peas are growing beautifully and tasting even better!  My first strawberry ripened the other day and it tasted DELICIOUS.  Hopefully more strawberries will follow and I can make some jam.

PEAS!

The yummiest strawberry I have ever had

In other fun news…

I got new hair!

Two

I haven’t posted in a few weeks because I’ve been busy out in the garden and at work.  Our other excitement was that Lyric turned two on May 11.  It’s hard to believe that it has been two whole years since my little Fledgling was born.  She has grown into one of the coolest people I have ever met.  Every day she learns a new word or a new ‘trick’ that she can do.  She is the little Hippie Faerie Child I always dreamed I would have when I grew up.  I can’t believe that someone this awesome chose me to be her mother.  Thank you Lyric and thank you Universe for bringing us together xo

Meeting my girl for the first time

Little Punk

This is the face I live for

Nibblet’s First Christmas

Mama’s Valentine’s present: A Mohawked Nibby

Birthday Fae

Dirty Kid

Tinkerbell

Apparently not a fan of Santa

Dancing Pixie

Toddler

Gardener Girl

Birthday Feast

Wishes

Earth Day

I decided to spend Earth Day (April 22, when I started writing this post) this year doing what made sense — working in the garden!  There were various events taking place in our town to celebrate Earth Day but it just seemed much more fitting to spend the day worshiping the Goddess in the dirt.

My little rock star celebrating Earth Day in the dirt and grass

I came home from work the other day to find that James had built me a third raised bed.  We hadn’t thought we had long enough pieces of wood to build a proper box but James pieced them all together and build a 3×6 box!  $35 later (and with the help of my dad’s truck!) we had soil to fill the new box and the remainder of our second box.

Our eldest getting in on the work (this is his guarantee that he will eat this summer)

I jumped the gun a little bit and put some tomatoes out in the garden.  They were some of my weaker seedlings and I wasn’t sure if they stood much of a chance regardless of when I put them out.  (two weeks later as I finish writing this post they are doing fabulously!).

The milk jugs are mini greenhouses 🙂

I spent too long in the sun and ended up with my first OFFICIAL Farmer Tan.

Chicks!

Well… it’s official!  I am a *real* country girl now.  I stopped by Buckerfields to ‘inquire’ about their chickens.  While chatting with the young woman who works ther I learned that they had already pre-sold two of their three upcoming chick orders.  Not wanting to miss out on my chance, I put in an order to pick up 5 chicks on May 2!!!  I’m getting chickens!!!!!!!!!

Our girls will be 2 days old when we bring them home.  They’ll be living in the house (most likely our bathroom) for their first 4 weeks or so so I have until then to build a chicken coop.  And to decide on names for them of course.

Red Sussex hens (these are not ours!)