Eat Like a Local: NorthernBaby Style

Step One: Fix The Old Coop

While Little Man and I were taking a nap Sunday afternoon, Andy decided he was going to take advantage of the unusually warm weather to start getting the coop ready for our chickens in the spring. The only thing we had done up to this point was clear out some of the Japanese Knotweed that was surrounding it (we still have a lot to clear out). As you can see from the chicken run we are going to have to take the whole thing down and start over because of the Knotweed.

(And at this point, Andy takes over the post...) As you can see in the photo above, it takes a special kind of moron to start renovating a chicken coop in the middle of winter. Tromp out to the coop, clear the snow to get in the door, and start making it home for the future feathery fried fowl. (Oops!-I meant, 'the egg-providing hens'.)

Below is a picture of the inside of the coop before sweeping and weed removal commenced. It's in fairly good condition - I swept out the hornet nests and pulled the weeds, and all that's left is patching a few holes. Weather-tight and cozy (for a chicken).

Below is a picture of the laying boxes. Should be enough to cover the small number of birds we'll be keeping. Add some litter, set up a feeder and fountain, and we'll be ready to open the Chicken Chateau! Sounds great, right? Take another look at the first picture showing the outside of the coop and the dilapidated run to the right. Yeah...going to need to rebuild the run. Right now, it's choked with knotweed and falling down. I've started to pull the wire and supports down, but there's still a full day's work left to remove it. Then I have to build the new run. (Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to get some eggs at the market?!) Hopefully, it will get warm for a few days next month, and the work can continue.

Romance???? Kind of......

You always hear about the hardcore energy savers, shutting everything down at night. So, I got this bright idea, Andy and I really need to set aside a night for us as a date night, I figured why not power everything down once a week and have a nice candlelit night. Now I should preface this with we have an almost two year old and really have not truly had a romantic night since he was born, so as we discovered it may take a while to really get back to the romantic part; keep reading.



We put some parameters around the night. Everything except for the clocks, furnace, refrigerator and baby monitor, is powered down and unplugged. Therefore creating a technology free environment.



It was a little haphazard to say the least the first night. We found out that all the little tea lights and votives, really don't give off a whole lot of light. However, the one candle I had in a wine bottle was pretty good. Needless to say we ended up both sitting a little closer to the wine bottle and made the decision we are going to need more wine bottles, any one want to come over for a drink????? I spent most of the time reading and Andy who is far better than I am wrote a wonderfully romantic love note (no, I am not going to share). Then, after reverting back to my childhood, I ended up playing with melted wax, which resulted in Andy suggesting I take a picture of the wine bottle for my blog. This of course lead to a twenty minute tutoring session since apparently I am incapable of taking a picture without the flash and not being shaky(for those of you who don't know, you have to be really still in order to take a picture without the flash). The picture below was taken by my wonderfully patient husband:) We may have to work on this whole romance thing........

Winter Composting

Ok, so having to plow a new path to the compost bin every week, not so much fun.

That Took Way Too Long......

When we moved into our house about a year and a half ago, we inherited this fire engine red desk. Not a color I really wanted in my living room. The original plan was that I was going to spend hours sanding and painting it. The truth was Andy spent hours sanding and I painted it. I actually started painting it last winter and finished over Christmas break. The original version did not have the flowers on it. In my mind, the colors I had picked out were perfect and it was going to be so great; and then I finished and put it all back together and wasn't happy with the results. I consulted my Aunt who is a very 'crafty' person and her recommendation was to stencil it. So finally, over break,I did just that and you can see the results above. Now I am blaming little man for causing the smudges when the stencil was taken off (even though he was asleep at the time).

Drink Like a Local

I should start by saying I am not a heavy drinker; my drinking for the week consists of a glass of wine with a group of moms on Thursday nights. However, since moving to Vermont I have become a bit of an alcohol snob. I have to admit local micro brews such as Long Trail, Otter Creek and Switchback are much better than the usual mass produced brews most people outside of Vermont drink. And wine is so much more enjoyable when you have meet the person who crafted it.

Did I Make That?

Ever since I sat watching one of my college roommate knit like crazy during our times in chapel, I have always wanted to make myself a scarf. However, a much admired and loved mentor once told us a story about her adventures in knitting. She tells the story 100 times better than I ever could, but it pretty much ends with a few rows of knitting and her never touching the thing again. Not because she got mad at it, but because she lacked the patience to make it any further. The day I heard that story, I knew that was exactly what I thought would happen if I attempted to knit. And that is pretty close to what happened with my current project.

Why the interest in knitting you ask? Well, there is just something about a handmade gift that has been made for you with care. My grandmother was a quilter,and when I was a kid I had this ugly brown quilt she gave me. It was my favorite blanket and I wore the thing out so badly that there were so many holes in it I could sleep inside the thing. I loved that quilt. However, my mom convinced me to trade it in for something that may have lasted a week and off to the dump it went. I am 30 years old and still think that was one of the worst decisions I ever made. My husband still has his ratty old dog "Scruffy" (no he does not sleep with it anymore). What do I have? Nothing......

My son received a handmade teddy bear for Christmas and formed an immediate attachment to the thing. It is actually really cute. Although, I have to admit, the late night wake up calls (11:30 and 3:30) for mommy and daddy because he lost "B" in the middle of the night are making me question how cute I think it is.

Back to my adventures in knitting. Since my son was 4 weeks old, I was blessed with a wonderful group of moms who entered my life. I have heard it said that the best way to become a better person is to surround yourself with amazing people and I think I have done just that. This past spring two of the ladies made these amazing hat and bootie sets for two of the other moms who were pregnant. It sparked an interest in knitting again, although I almost completely threw in the towel on my first project. I decided I would make a felted bag, because the the process of felting would cover up any mistakes I could possibly make on my first project. Let's just say that I made so many mistakes on the stupid thing that there was no way any amount of felting could possibly cover it up, and there was no way that thing was ever leaving the house. I pretty much gave up on it. Then entered my wonderful friend Julie, who offered to teach all of us non-knittingly inclined moms (3 of us) to knit scarfs. I thought, what the heck I am a glutton for punishment. I finished a beautiful gray scarf yesterday and am thinking I might make one for little man now. As for the dreaded felted bag: that same friend taught me that you can't become attached to the work in progress, so I tore months of work apart and am starting over because I really like the blue-green color of the wool and would hate to not use it for something.

Get Your Butt Outside

I fully intended on talking about something else, but since there is over two feet of snow on the ground and it's still falling this seemed more appropriate.

My absolute favorite way to be a little bit more sustainable, is getting my butt outside. Why not, it uses no energy and no resources and feels great. I spent an hour outside today shoveling the driveway and then another hour out playing in the snow with the boys. What better way to enjoy living in Vermont?!

Ok, so maybe hangining out under the pine tree is not a good idea when the branches are being weighed down by snow.

Why not be a kid again?