Science loves Spring!!

The change of season always brings about a serious love of science. It's the time in the world when the earth comes alive and we marvel and wonder that everything didn't die without the heat and shelter we need as humans. We praise green shoots that bring flowers and food. We admire birds and hopefully feel enthusiastic as we seek energy after a resting winter. The natural flow of the world just drives my kids to ask a million questions - and what home school mother wouldn't use this to her advantage?!

We're planting things left and right, raising baby chickens, baby goats, and studying water cycles. It's a very fluid study that follows their demands and expands far greater than I expect.

Have I mentioned I love Spring?!

Daunika, Aurora, Declan and me set out to full understand how the rain comes to be. Enter these nifty little bags of water, sealed of course, and sharpies. Now, Aurora wrote the cycle as Clouds > Rain > Water  and Daunika and I discussed it further and she wrote Condensation > Precipitation > Liquid form > Evaporation.

And of course, I made one for Declan to "experiment" with us. He was thrilled and in true Moose fashion, he held his own with asking his questions.

To further develop this - we heated up the bags with a hair dryer to create evaporation. Once enough evaporation had occurred  the water droplets became heavy and began to fall creating precipitation. The kids were THRILLED!!!

So, for hours, our kids ran around yelling "I can make RAIN, I can make real RAIN!!!!!" What a success. Getting kids excited about learning is amazing and Daunika can recite the cycle and explain it fairly in depth without skipping a beat because her learning was fun and that helped her really remember it. She wrote a beautiful journal entry about rain helping our earth too.

Letti is our remaining baby goat. She is so loving and free spirited. She is getting big fast too!

Our lettuces, despite complete and total neglect (literally!) they are surviving. We placed several seeds all in the planters and set them outside. I haven't covered them up because I wanted to see how they would fair honestly. It's so early in the season, I am seeing what a few seeds do in response to cold. So far, our peas are grumpy and only a few sprouted but our lettuce and spinach is rocking it!

I'm getting ready to move our chickens over into a new set up, I'll update soon loves!

Mornings

I always chuckle when I hear people who rave about "eating dinner as a family" is essential to family unity. Well, we're screwed if that's true! I absolutely love eating dinner together as a family, don't get me wrong, but in my own home - dinner is often rushed, forgotten in the midst, and often easily thrown together in the crock pot for the simple fact that I know I'll completely forget it the rest of the day! So in my own home, dinners are not our meal - nor is really breakfast - but actually mornings.

We begin our day together. Unified. No two days ever exactly look the same but our mornings include a variety of activities such as snuggling in bed (this usually means a giant dog pile that crushes all important organs, but who cares?!) Damon and I are polar opposites in snuggling. He could have all of us sit on him and snuggle forever. I can NOT stand to be squished long. I'm always the first to jump out of bed... Damon mosies out of bed. We start a pot of coffee, or a pot of tea, and usually tackle some dishes. We feed kiddos, sit together in the comfort of our couch or in the sun shine outside. We slow down before the day begins because we understand that the moment that it starts, we don't get another chance to truly BE.

This morning I got up and worked out a bit before waking my dear husband. When I checked in to see where everyone was... this was what I found in my bed. Pretty darn perfect huh?

Daunika has been enjoying having junk food for breakfast this week. Usually it's something more than cereal, but these past few weeks are seeming like a complete blur to me and I admit that the break from cooking every meal is much needed right now.

This was us this morning. Our nifty big-kid snapped this for me <3

And how I ended my morning.... In the sunshine with kids running around me and loud music while hula hooping? Pretty much perfection! 

Spring Spring Spring!

Oh oh oh. I love Spring.

Truth be told, I actually love all seasons. Growing up in such a wet and rainy area, I didn't realize what I missing out on until 9 years ago when we decided to be weird and move to Idaho. At first, I hated the changes. I wasn't used to them. Now, I love them. It's amazing how your body begins to long for the sunshine and warmth in the midst of winter and then in the fall, you long for hearty soups, fireplaces and snuggling. It's really fascinating!

Around here, we're enjoying Spring!

Kalani enjoyed her first egg hunt. Every year we do one Easter egg hunt with dear friends. It's a good time for the kids and great fellow shipping with yummy foods and great conversations! 

We've also spent time prepping our garden area. Early in the morning after spreading several yards of manure, Damon got up and rototilled this awesome area. We're hoping to have a rocking garden this year!

My AWESOME brother and his lovely wife welcomed their first child 2 weeks ago. Athena is a tiny peanut and I am enjoying snuggling a tiny babe on Monday nights for family potluck! 

Warm weather always brings the loading up on all veggies!! Last week we ate 3 bunches of spinach, 1 head of lettuce, 4 bunches of bananas, 10 lbs of apples, 7 bell peppers, 3 heads of cauliflower, and 5 pounds of carrots. Can I tell you how excited I am to be growing a GARDEN again?! We eat amazing amounts of veggies. 

I'll be the first to admit I have absolutely no idea what my husband and girls are doing in this picture. I snapped it because it shows our typical life! I was cooking pancakes and looking out the window and saw our kiddos with shovels and my husband out there digging to his hearts contentment. Leveling the ground by hand? Sounds fun right?! 

I drove 170 miles round trip to bring 1000 lbs of chicken food home. I've been frustrated with my options in the valley for GMO free feed. What's so interesting to me is that people will rave all about their healthy chickens and fresh eggs, but are feeding them cheap chicken food that has gmo corn and gmo wheat and worse, some of the cheap brands directly add in "fillers" that just makes me want to hurl thinking about it! So, I was thrilled to post up on facebook a group run to Wieser Idaho for GMO FREE chicken feed!! I came home with 1000 lbs of feed. WHOO HOOO!!!! 

This weekend we watched the LDS General Conference. It was a wonderful experience for us as a family to unify ourselves to slow down this weekend and rest after a hectic week and another one right around the corner! 

We printed some little work books for the kids. We sat around, listened, enjoyed, reflected, colored, ate, and then for Sunday afternoon we joined some wonderful people in the ward for lunch and watching conference with them! It was great :)

We're carrying on around here indeed, I love Spring! What are YOU doing this Spring!? 

Folks, it was in your back yard.

Can I hear a AMEN!? Joel Salatin is a great inspiration to my soul. In the wake of hearing that H.R. 993 passed silently without a fight, I am battling being defeated. Another name for H.R. 933 is the Monsanto Protection Act, it's a rider in the bill that slipped through congress while my heart sank watching it. 

Well, there's two things I can do - I can bitch, moan, and whine about it. Or I can DO SOMETHING myself. Therein lays the power I want to spread - This idea that food comes from stores and that we are helpless whimps that have to whine all the time like spoiled children is complete shit. We ARE a beautiful, powerful, hard working, dedicated species. We aren't mindless nor helpless. Let me encourage each of you to enact change. Start small. 

Well, beyond my crazy activism by taking control of our lives - here's a peak into what else is going on around here :)

That gorgeous piece of man swinging that friggin sledge hammer would be my awesome Mr. A la Carte is certainly growing!

Aurora waited almost a full 7 weeks for her birthday party but had a BLAST! Such a fun group of ladies came to celebrate with her. 

Other than a birthday party, there was one thing she had asked for : her ears pierced. So, we said YES! This lovely 5 year old girl is sporting a lovely pair of purple stars now. We did them in front of her friends, which cured them of wanting their ears pierced (nice side effect, your welcome mothers!) and made her so brave. She looks in the mirror about every 5 minutes or so to stare and admire. She is SO proud of them!

The barn fridge is full of life these days. Between eggs fresh from our hens to milk directly from the farmer, it's a bustling little place! We've been blessed to use our barn as a drop point for this milk for not just our family but several other families! 

Those are organic yukon gold potatoes starting in my window sill. The fully developed one in the back is a yam :) Oh SO excited spring is here!

And what would 70 degree weather bring but a baby in a new white dress enjoying the dirt? 

Yep, REALLY enjoying the dirt. Bath time is a daily must now. 

All this playing in the dirt lead to Declan getting his hair chopped off last week. It was getting long, which he loved, but I was hating trying to tackle him to brush it and it was impossible to keep him any where close to clean. This should be much easier to shampoo... 

That's the back of my suburban the day I picked up Daunika's girl scout order! She rocked it indeed :)

This week I have hopes to plant strawberries, host Easter dinner, play with my kids, deliver a mountain of girl scout cookies, make soap, plan a biology class, and fully enjoy my life. 

Blessed Day.

Reset

What your looking at is a whole lemon, 20 cloves of raw glaric, and a drizzle of honey. This lovely, you-might-think-your-dying-while-you-chug, mixture is in my blender just before pouring in a tad bit of hot water and turning the blender on. Yep, I've been drinking these a lot lately. Is it just me or is this cold and flu season especially bad this year?

This drink feels like death going down and the burping affect for the next hour as your body processes it nearly does kill you. Brush your teeth 10 times after and you'll still taste garlic..... however, it's MAGIC. This drink concoction has saved me countless times from misery this cold and flu season. Recommended to me from a friend, you make this the moment the cold is beginning to take root in your body and just trust me, it works. Life changing stuff right there!

Food is a big deal in our home. This lovely spread is what our makes taco night from boring to amazing. I mean really, look at all those yummy toppings to choose from!

Food isn't just a way to survive, it's a way to thrive. I've spent a good portion of the week finding a new hay vendor for certified organic alfalfa for our dairy goats. We're in the process of switching over our chickens to GMO free, corn free, soy free layer feed.

Just one step at a time.

These are the lovely need additions to the Huberty Homestead. 15 beautiful chicks have found there way into our lives with intention. We had planned to expand our flock but when that vicious dog took out half our hens 2 weeks ago, this order of chicks became a replacement not a increase. We have 5 black sex links, 5 black australorps and 5 buff orpingtons. We'll also be raising 3 little auracaunas (need to purchase still) for the awesome family we know that "lent" us three hens that are great layers when we lost our flock. We are going to raise them some auracaunas so they get some lovely little colored eggs in the fall to add to their flock of brown egg layers :)

Here we grow again!

It's a great day to be THREE!

Our Moose. Oh how special you are little man. Happy Happy Happy Birthday Declan Morrow!! I cannot believe you are THREE today! You are such a bright light in our home, thank you for being so totally you.

You are loud, busy and such a little man. You look at the world through your wonderful lens. Today was a relaxed day hanging out with you. Here's a peak into your lovely day turning three!

In all your silliness, you were so excited to have a chocolate cake! 

And tradition rolls on........

Make a Wish!! 

I love you little man. 

Better!

Oh how my heart delights to report we're all feeling much better. We have had an exceptionally hard week around this little homestead of ours. In addition to seizures and illness that plagued our children over the last 10 days, we had a vicious dog attack and kill half our flock. To our devastation  we didn't catch him in time and our chickens are still very shy and hiding out anytime our own pup comes around. My husband and some kind helpful missionaries helped us build fences and secure our flock. I'm sad they cannot truly free range but I'll rest better knowing they are safe.

It's hard to imagine a dog killing for fun when our own dog is such a kind and gentle soul. Zoey is 7 now and beginning to really change her color as she grows a bit older. Such a wonderful animal indeed.

Kalani is back to her usual self. Her little spirit is so bubbly and Damon had it pegged right : we knew something wasn't right when she lost her 'fight'. When she was sick, she didn't act herself. She was weak, mellow, clingy and really a different child. We're glad to have Lani back full swing... She terrorized the cat, dumped flour all over the floor and is generally wrecking havoc this morning :)

After a week off for illness, we're back full swing for school around here. Daunika created her very own project that was awesome to watch her creativity and thought process. She created a "puppet show" staring our very own goats. She took great care in building the stage to ensure that the proper paper was used showing hay and even colored the two goats the same colors as our goats. really awesome indeed!!

Aurora's sweet personality is up to the usual antics.  Watch out world, this little one is going some where, don't under estimate her quiet presence.

Life skills are full swing in the works around here. Our remaining hens are great layers thankfully and provide enough eggs for us comfortably. The kids all made their own eggs this morning with different amounts of help from me. Daunika was able to turn on the pan, add olive oil, crack eggs, flip them and put them on her plate without a stitch of help from me! Aurora cracked eggs and took them from the pan to the plate (I flipped) and Declan picked his eggs and tried very hard at cracking them (minimal mess, some shells, whatever, he was proud!)

This morning both Aurora and Declan joined me at 6:45 to milk Mama. It was too cold for me to even consider taking a camera outside, I was in a hurry but the kids delighted in the experience. I'm glad they were there with me. Aurora had a million questions and Declan collected eggs bright and early. It was a great way to start the day! We are getting about 18 ounces every morning. We're happy with that and the kids seem to like it. It is a transition indeed.

Life is better around here!