Maddy's First Bike Ride

She loved it, and has declared that she's "never going back to that slow-moving stroller again!"

Growing Indoors

Today in Portland was sunny and the temperature made it up to 65 degrees; not too bad! And today in my basement it was 68 and sunny for 13 hours straight, just like it is every day--not a cloud in the full-spectrum sky! I planted these seedlings on the 19th, and the lettuce, peas, and some of the tomatoes are up.

My brother's start technique is to plant just the right number of plants for what he wants, and to do it in big peat pots suitable for transfering out of doors. I do things differently, and plant in a 4-to-1 ratio of seedlings to desired transplants. I sow into small trays and along the way select out the most robust starts to transplant into bigger pots. Thus as the plants grow larger and there is less space under the T5s, I've selected out the most vigorous plants.

On Egg Duty

Maddy is trying to crawl up the ramp into the coop but look out, there's a chicken on your 6! Good thing your bum is well padded. Wait.... chickens don't eat dirty diapers, do they?

Warm Spring and Sunshine Brings Backyard Flowers

Suddenly I'm into womens' fashion...

Mmmmm, bacon-y shoe goodness!

Cheap Labor

I need to get the farm in order, and I don't want to turn it over by hand. Fortunately I know where to get some free help!

Garlic

Here's the garlic bed that I put in last fall. Some of it was from seed, some from garlic cloves. I wish I could remember--hopefully I wrote it down in my garden notebook. If not, no matter. The garlic is now about 1 foot tall, which is even better than the weeds in other beds!

Looking Pretty for Baptism Day!

Who doesn't love a good book about Monkey's?!

Waiting for the bus to the next beach?

poolside at the Maui house

Bundled up in PDX (and needing a trip to Maui!)

Mossy Tillamook Tree Monster!

Cheerio on the noseio

Loves to eat!

Mmmm, Thai food again! I love my spicy vegetables!

Maddy Crawls!!!!

Family Portrait

A nice warm sunny day in February, time for a hike up Angel's Rest. Last time we did this hike was about a year ago and Gretel was carrying Madeleine inside....now she gets to ride in style thanks to her hand-me-down backpack.