At the fair
River and I spent the afternoon a few days ago at the Oregon State Fair. We’ve never been, so it was a new experience for us.
I shot lots of pictures, though when I got home, I realized that the majority of my photos were of the pigs. I really love pigs. When you look in their eyes, it really feels like they are right there with you. Perhaps it is partly because we are currently reading Charlotte’s Web. Anyhow, if I ever had a farm, I would take in a rescued pig to live out his or her days in peace.
rides
The only ride River would go on, because it was one of the few children
Many of the pigs had these horrible scratches on their sides. Does anyone know what causes them?
The black pig was doing what seemed liked kissing the pink pig, who was sleeping. This went on few a few minutes while I stood watching.
He said he wanted to have a serious face for the photo here.
An overnight trip
It isn’t a far away and exciting trip, but I do get to spend the night away tonight in a hotel that I have booked with a fellow midwife friend. 
Early this afternoon, I will be heading down to Eugene to relax and chit chat and maybe study. Tomorrow, I will be sitting for the NARM written exam, to become a Certified Professional Midwife.
Wish me luck!!
Homeschooling
We are a homeschooling family, most closely aligned to the unschooling philosophy. As such, I really don’t ever initiate times when we sit down and learn about letters, numbers, etc. It’s up to River as to when he wants to do that. We read all the time (both us adults on our own for pleasure, as well as out loud to River), have maps up on our walls, have lots of different ‘tools’ available (paper, art supplies, toys, duct tape, etc), and involve River in our day to day activities, if he is interested.
(One of these days, I will have to devote an entire post to duct tape alone. It holds an important place in our home. lol.)
River plays a select number of computer games, primarily those on pbskids.org . It is amazing to see how well he can navigate around on the computer all by himself now. (There was a part of me that was resistant to letting him spend time of the computer at this age, but at this point, I feel like the new generation of kids is hard wired for all of this technology; it’s simply part of their reality.)
I’ve never actually tried to ‘teach’ him the alphabet or numbers. If he asks about them, I will answer his questions, and if he asks me to write this or that, I will of course do that for him.
For a while now, I’ve found scraps of paper on which he has methodically written columns of letters, the same 3 or 4, over and over again. The other day, he asked us to write down all of the letters for him. He then taped it on the wall (with duct tape) next to his chalkboard, and started writing different letters together, asking us what words they made. Then he asked us to tell him how to spell a few different words, and he did his best to write them out.
Yesterday morning, the very first thing he asked me after he woke up was: “How do you spell ‘nut’?” So, I told him, and asked if he wanted me to write it down when we got out of bed. So, about an hour later, when I remembered, I wrote it down on paper for him. While I was doing that, he also asked me to write down the word ‘orange’. Then he took the paper and disappeared.
About 10 minutes later, he came and got me, taking me outside to show me his words.
(sidewalk chalk)
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It’s been SO hot! Today and tomorrow will be about 100 degrees!
More summer food
Our latest CSA delivery:
It included: beet greens, TONS of summer squash/zucchini, red potatoes, small onions, tomatoes, green beans, basil, lettuce, cucumbers, and parsley.
Here’s a fun squash:
We went fig picking again. This time, we paid $1/lb, and picked 18lbs.
I’ve made more jam, and frozen some. There is still a huge bowl sitting in the fridge from which we all enjoying snacking all day long. I can’t believe I had never tried a fresh fig until a few years ago. All the years that I was missing out…..
jam making
Japanese plums:
only slightly bigger than cherries
These were purchased from a local farm. They are so, so sweet! I bought 10lbs, and I’ve made (and canned) Chinese plum sauce and gingery plum chutney. We still have a big bowl in the fridge, and I am trying to figure out what to do with the rest.
Dar la TETA es dar VIDA
(To give the breast is to give life)
Summer days
Today, I picked a 2 gallon bucketful of fresh green figs….for FREE. I posted a request for figs on craigslist, and I was connected with a woman in town who has a huge fig tree. She said that no one in her house liked them, so each year, she lets people into her back yard to pick as they life, free of charge. There weren’t near as many ripe ones as I would have liked, but I made do. I’m not complaining, when it comes to free figs!! The soft and mushy ripe ones became a batch of jam: 12 1/2 pints. The firmer ones in the process of becoming pickles as I type. I’ll can them tomorrow, after they’ve sat out for the night. I’ve never had a pickled fig, but from everything I have read, I’m in for a huge treat!
I’m starting to feel a sense of anxiety now that it is nearly mid August, since the growing season will be over soon. I’m hoping I can still find plums in the next week. I have a recipe for spicy Chinese plum sauce that I really want to try out. It’s going to be autumn before we know it.
I don’t have pictures of my figs from today; my batteries in my camera are dead. There was just enough power to download the pictures that have been sitting on the memory card, waiting to be uploaded. So, here are those:
cherry cobbler
Made from the cherries I previously wrote about. I used a slightly modified version of Heidi Swanson’s wonderful recipe. It was so delicious: not too sweet, not too bread-y, just PERFECT! I’ve since made 2 fresh blueberry cobblers. My modifications included using ‘flax-egg’ replacer for the egg, arrowroot in place of the cornstarch, coconut oil in place of the butter, and soy milk + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar in place of the buttermilk.
knex tow truck
I thought this deserved a place on my blog, if only in homage to the HOURS it took Walter and I to put together. The directions were downloaded from the Knex website, and seemed simple enough. It took us about 2 hours to finish it, with minor interruptions of course.
chalk art
River was so proud of his creation. He thought told me that he made ‘beautiful art!”. Chalk and a hammer can be a good combination.
using a marker to paint his face
I was busy in the kitchen when this happened. He had climbed up onto the counter, and got busy. You may not be able to tell, but he did a very good job, making sure his entire eye lids were colored. Luckily, the marker is washable (I don’t buy them otherwise). So, his face was cleaned up easily with a quick wipe down with a damp diaper.
Random update
It has been a few days since I’ve updated this blog.
I’ve attended 2 births within a 3 day time period. Beautiful babies!!!
I’ve had 2 nights of full sleep in the last 5 days. And, I feel rested.
I’ve been working on my new website. (Don’t judge it just yet; I’m not done writing a few of the pages, and I need to fix some formatting problems, add some pictures, etc).
I made 2 pints of Russian pickled cherries, now aging in the fridge for a month.
We went blueberry picking again.
I’ve come to terms with the fact that River didn’t catch chicken pox. Oh well; we’ll try again some other time.
I began reading a new book.
I repaired our inflatable pool and this morning, scrubbed it out and began filling it. It’s going to be a HOT day today.
I’ve been thinking about my answers to MN’s meme.
I’ve been informed by River that he doesn’t just want a new brother OR sister; he wants ‘a brother AND a sister: TWINS!’ I’ll keep his request in mind.
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We are headed to the library today to renew our membership. I had let it lapse, since it costs $60/year. River was still able to check out a limited number of books, I could check out ONE adult book on my card. But because trips to the library aren’t enjoyable to me when we have to limit what we can check out, I’ve avoided going for the last few months, and I miss it. I miss having stacks of books to flip through, books on tapes, and new music. So, today, I’ll be fixing the situation, and giving the library $60 in addition to whatever late fines I owe at the moment. It’s worth it.
