this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual.  A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week.  I want to pause and savor this moment.

eating local ::

Eating local has become more important to us over the years.  There is nothing like eating local when it means "backyard" local; "backyard - garden wish we had our own farm"- local, or "this is the best we can do and are making the most of it"- local.  You get my drift I'm sure, my heart is fondly desiring more acreage in our future.  But for now in making the most of what we have, we expanded our garden this year.



Daniel has done an amazing job this year tending to our garden.  The most I could do this year is help organize seeds and make row markers.  New this year to our garden has been potatoes, turnips, radishes, beets, carrots.  We expanded our corn, have less tomatoes, but our squash are doing well for once.  It has taken us a few years to learn where there is more sun and where spots are less fertile,  which crops do better on which row and on and on.  I even played around a little this year with planting by the moon.  I wanted to do a post on it earlier this Spring, but it just got too complicated.  So far it has served us well.  I like to think of gardening as a school of nature.

This is the time of the gardening season, where I get to go out and freshly pick our dinner each afternoon.  I prefer to pick and eat as we need the food each day, while my husband on the other hand loves to "surprise" me by harvesting a whole row at one time to preserve.  A few weeks ago, a lot got wasted because we weren't prepared for the amount of work it takes to preserve that much food (it was turnip greens).  As I said, successful gardening is a learned process.  Next year, I will be ready and prepared for that type of cooking and preserving, but for now, I'm learning as much as I can and am enjoying what is and what is left to come.  It only gets better each year.

Nathaniel - one month

He's one month today, it's hard to believe.  Each week as I mark off one more week of my postpartum period, I am grateful that I feel better than the week prior and am able to do a bit "more" around the house and with the rest of the family, yet there is plenty of still-ness with this little one.  Cuddling, nursing, holding a sleeping baby.  Last night, I caught of glimpse in the mirror across the room of me holding him on my shoulder - his preferred place to sleep these days - he seemed to fit onto my chest and arms so perfectly. Thinking to today with him turning one month reminded me of how short lived these days are.  So for now, I am content with holding him as much as I need to, or he needs me to.  It has been one delightful month for us all!

in the coolness of June

While today was 95 degrees and was nothing "cool" about it, there has been a few days this month where I was able to don Nathaniel in some knitted goodness. 

:: this hat that goes with these booties, {oh I love!} was finished a few weeks after the birth.  Even if we're up against almost 100 degree weather, every baby should have a pilot cap in his pile of baby knits, don't you think?





These booties are new to me this time around, I like them, they knit up quickly and are lovely in style.







This morning while all was still asleep, I snuck in a few knitted rows of his baby sweater that's taken months to get around to finishing.  Hopefully it will get cast off of the needles and onto his little body before he outgrows it!  Oh how I never get tired of watching a baby sleeping . . .

our first days together ::

These first days have been very full and happy ones.





























The past three weeks have been nothing short of bliss.  **Bliss**  It's so good to feel the bliss.