down at the farm

(*warning, this post is not for the faint of heart or vegetarians. blood and guts ahead.)

We have always joked that because we live on a boat that one day our children would grow up to be farmers. And the way Zach is leaning, it just may be true. For about a year and a half we have been finding ourselves on a regular basis down at Hard Bargain Farm for our homeschool farm class. This is not a cutesy farm outing for soft suburban kids where they feed a goat some kibble and get a hay ride. Last year the emphasis was on conservation and science, focusing more on the environment and human activity that impacts farmland and all land.  This year they are going hard core farm life, right down to the slaughtering of your own dinner.

Our amazing farmer/ teacher Sharon has set up a set of activities that will guide the kids through the seasons of the farm and what it would be like to get by on this farm way back when.

They learned all about preserving meat, root cellars, milking cows, making yogurt and cheese, and canning. And further on in the year they will be doing everything from candle making to wool spinning to hatching their own chicks (no, I don't have any idea where we will keep chicks on a boat but we'll cross that bridge when the time comes.)

But this month, this month was chicken slaughtering month. The two farmers who lead our group, Sharon and Eileen, couldn't have handled the whole thing any better than they did. They were so matter of fact, yet gentle with the kids explaining the how and why of the whole process. Of course there was lots of talk about where meat comes from, why what your food eats when it's alive matters to you, and treating animals humanely right up to the ax blade.

(the chickens are not kept in there normally, just were just put in there for a few minutes while we were doing the deed)

The kids were equally amazing. There was a little wincing as each chicken met his fate, but more than anything there was curiosity.

The kids bled out their chicken in a bucket, and then they dipped them in boiling water for a few minutes.

Once that was finished, the mood shifted gears as they all gathered around the picnic table to pluck off the feathers.

Everyone was sharing experiences with animals, swapping recipes, and making dinner plans and the mood was down right festive and even a little silly.

I was so so so very proud of all of the kids in Zach's group. They did not utter one word of complaint. Bloody fingernails and gooey hands they were so determined and so proud of preparing their own dinners. These kids are not prissy couch potato types, they rocked!

Feet off, guts out, and cleaned in ice water we all got to take a whole bird home. We always buy our eggs, milk when it's available, and pork and beef from this farm when we come. But this was farm food on a whole different level. Zach was so proud that dinner that night was a chicken he butchered, rosemary he grew, cocoa made from the milk he and his friends got from the cows, and applesauce from one of our canning days.

If he becomes a farmer one day, I'll be more than happy with that choice, as long as he lives close enough to a coast for his old mom and dad to sail by and provision.

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I flaked out on mentioning earlier this month that the lovely folks over at Rhythm Of The Home invited me to guest blog this month, each Monday all month long. I love ROTH so very much and was thrilled they asked me. Head on over, there should be a fresh post this morning and the past couple of ones are up as well.  http://rhythmofthehomeblog.com/

GIVEAWAY! Made By Alejandro

Zach is starting to inch slowly out of the stage where dress up and make believe is the center of his world. The change is expected, but I do so love when I see him slip back into pure fantasy land every now and again. Something about the package that arrived from Made By Alejandro did that. When he laid eyes on the bejeweled leather crown there was no hesitation, no worrying about what others might think. His face lit up and the crown stayed on his head for 3 straight days.

Alejandro Ortega's work is truly breathtaking. His background is in Commedia d'el Arte mask making which he studied in Italy. After making some sword sets for his kids, he realized there was a real appreciation for heirloom quality leather swords and shields for play and he started his Etsy shop, Made By Alejandro.

The leather swords, daggers, and shields are extremely sturdy and stand up to the action of kid play. Zach tells me he likes them because they are "the most authentic".

And now Made by Alejandro is making beautiful leather crowns.  Zach loves that they have real looking gems set in the leather. I love how he created a leather tie with a bead in the back making the crowns easily and endlessly adjustable so that even the wee members of the royal family can have some fun.

Today Alejandro is giving away the leather crown pictured below.

All you need to do is leave a comment here for a chance to win. If you want an extra chance to win, go like the Made By Alejandro facebook page and then leave an additional comment here telling us you did.

Alejandro is also offering 10% off your entire purchase with the code "zachaboard2012" from today through November 21, 2012. 

Thank you Made By Alejandro!

p.s. I was so excited about Alejandro's work I forgot to tell you all that the comments will close Friday night, November 16 and a winner picked at random and announced or contacted Saturday morning. Thanks!

COMMENTS CLOSED! WINNER IS EIDOLONS! THANK YOU EVERYONE!

last hurrah 2012

I'll admit I push for overnight sailing trips more often than not. It seems that once we shove off, I would rather not come back for a spell. I want to pick a destination and aim our bow and get there and anchor and settle in. Yes, point A to point B.  But the other week I gained a new appreciation for the joy of the journey. No destination, no overnights, just around and away and around again with no agenda, following the wind.

Without watching our waypoints and speed-over-ground I noticed how fabulous our dear Chesapeake Bay can be on a picture perfect October morning. Classic skipjacks...

 Huge ships coming and going...

The kids went crazy at the sight of this submarine and the armed navy tender guarding...

And just other sailboats out there following the sparkles in the water just like us.

We went under the bridge again and again (more bridge, more bridge pwease!!) and circled the buoys just to hear the bells.

We didn't know it at the time, but that was the last sail for the season. There used to be a time when we would keep the boat in a constant state of ready for that odd January day where the temps soar to 60 and the sun shines all day so we could throw off the dock lines along with our wool scarves and do some deep winter sailing. Then we discovered the joy and warmth of shrink wrapping for winter. We made a decisions during this cold snap between the hurricane and the impending Nor'easter that we would take off the mainsail and call it a wrap. The bubble will go up soon, and we won't raise our sails again until spring 2013.

I'm glad I didn't know that beautiful day was the last one of the season. It was a good exercise in sailing just for sailing and appreciating the nuance of the journey. It's a beautiful way to view the world.

her little book

I have been meaning to share this little project I made for Naia's 2nd birthday, but the project had a delivery problem and only just now showed up. Luckily, being 2 she didn't realize that her birthday gift was a couple of weeks late.

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and knew right away Naia would love it. Basically, we created an ABC book using family photos.

We used Blurb to print the book. For me it was the easiest, most intuitive site to use. Other sites had too many frilly layouts and crazy additions, I just wanted to upload one photo per page and go, and Blurb let me do that.

She loves, loves, loves the book. It's one of the few she will look through on her own rather than ask someone else to read to her. I hear her talking about each picture, jabbering about what's familiar. So sweet.

It was such a simple, easy gift, and if you are a shutterbug parent then the most difficult part will be deciding which photos to use for each letter.