New computer, new hair

Things are changing around here! I used my new MacBook to take a photo of myself with my new hair. Because my birthday is this week and we are leaving for the Live and Learn Conference the day before, I decided to do something I've never done and go blonde! I had a great time at the salon with my friend Crystal and her stylist. It was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday.

So here's fair warning to those of you who will see me on the upcoming trip:

Hello Bonniejean and other lurkers!

I just got your comment about lurking on my blog and I wanted to let you know that I'm thrilled to hear from you! One of our goals is to share what we know about sustainable living, attachment parenting, and homeschooling with whomever will listen so we are glad to know you are out there.

If you like, any lurkers out there can take this opportunity to comment and ask questions. I'll answer them all and I'd sure love to know who is reading.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share with your friends!

Ride for Hannah

There had been a bike ride for Hannah Jenner scheduled at this year's Live and Learn Conference but it was canceled due to logistical problems. Our tribe decided to have our own ride for Hannah, which benefits the Lance Armstrong Foundation, at our regular park day yesterday. We thought of Hannah and her family and all children who are affected by cancer. We thought about each other, our tribe-mates, our kids, our families. We enjoyed the day and felt how fortunate we were to be able to ride our bikes, trikes, scooters, rollerblades, heelies, or just walk around our favorite park on a day in late August just a few days before Hannah's birthday.

Beth did a wonderful blog post about the ride HERE.

Getting ready.



In this photo Crystal is taking a picture of me holding Hannah. Hannah rode around the park with us several times. I've been holding on to the part of Hannah that Diana shared with me last fall for nearly a year. I'm now ready to let her go and I'll do so on her birthday later this week.



This photo of Crystal on Sorscha's bike just cracks me up. I know what it's like to be all knees and elbows!



Sylvia volunteered to accompany Eliza on her trike.



Some chose a faster pace.



At the end of the day we decided to leave a little bit of Hannah at our favorite park. She will now be with us every week! Eliza chose to leave her Hannah blessing on the slide. Just as I leaned over to snap this photo, a cottonwood leaf fell next to Hannah's ashes at the base of the slide.



Thanks to Ben and Diana for inspiring us to ride for Hannah. It was truly a day to remember!

Sustainable foods at the BioPark

Last weekend Chris participated in a sustainable foods festival at the BioPark. He designed an exhibit about home aquaculture which featured live fish and some great information. The kids and I, along with Beth, Kevin, Emma, and Nina, all attended and ate great food. Then we wandered the aquarium and botanic gardens at night, which was a treat.

Here's Eli in the gift shop.



Our spread of delicious food.



The kids exploring the pond.



Here's Chris with his exhibit.



I love this photo of Emma.



The girls checking out the fish.



The little girls.



And the big girls.



And the other big girl making trouble.



And the boy.



The girls got to paint flower pots.



And goof off in the aquarium.






This is Terina's little boy Griffin. He's so big already!



Giddyup ant!



Night owls.



The evening ended with a bit of dancing. It was a lovely, warm summer night with good friends and good food. Who could ask for anything more?

Food, glorious food

We have been eating like royalty around here lately. The tomatoes are finally in, and I mean IN! This despite the efforts of the chickens, who have managed to penetrate every barrier we have constructed thus far and are eating the fruits as they ripen. I've taken to bagging the individual tomatoes (which for some varieties are over one pound each) in paper lunch sacks to conceal them from the chickens. This works pretty well, and there are so many ripe tomatoes right now that even the chickens can't keep up with them. One good thing about the chicken situation though is that we haven't had a single tomato hornworm! They are at least paying us back slightly.

It is now routine to eat entire meals off the farm. The other night we ate a wonderful meal of kebabs, all from the farm. Breakfasts have been off the farm too. Some eggs, hash browns, and a deep red sliced tomato makes a seriously good breakfast.



And despite the oppressive heat, which isn't letting up even at night, I have been canning. Normally I would freeze stuff until later in the season and can in the fall, but I won't be here for the entire month of September AND we just butchered a cow so all the freezers are quite full. I'm doing the more complicated stuff first. Here's some salsa roja, salsa verde, and ketchup. I made 3.5 pints of ketchup, 3.5 pints of salsa verde, and 7.5 pints of salsa roja. I'm estimating that between selling at market, giving away, eating, and canning tomatoes we have been through 200 pounds already.



We've decided that Tuesday night makes for a great putting-food-up night. Chris had a great time this evening putting up green chile while I did tomatoes, all the while listening to the Home of Happy Feet show on KUNM. Hopefully the heat wave will break soon so we can do more canning without creating a sauna in the house.

Summer recital

Last weekend we had our annual summer flamenco recital at Civic Plaza. It was brutally hot but fun nonetheless. I was truly touched by my friends and family who came out to endure the heat and help watch my kids while I danced. I only get to perform twice a year and it means a lot to me.

Thanks also to the Fullers for taking and sharing some great photos.

Fishing

Last month Chris took the kids fishing with friends Dave and Sorscha. Crystal posted the photos that Dave took at her blog HERE

Check it out!

Eliza's first baseball game

Eliza and I were invited recently to join our friends Kevin and Emma at the Albuquerque Isotopes baseball game. Kevin had some tickets for his office VIP suite, which was air conditioned and behind glass and very swanky. I was glad to see that we could sit outside though, because being at a ball park again really brought back a flood of memories from my childhood. Isotopes park is no Wrigley Field, but the sounds and smells were similar. Eli and I both had a great time. Thanks Kevin and Emma!

I lifted these photos from Kevin's blog, where you can see all of them. Here are the girls in the suite, and outside next to the press box.




After the game the kids got to run the bases. Eli and Emma are among the gang crossing home plate.


And here they are posing for Kevin after the run.

Room with a view

For the first time since we moved in, the view from our living room window is really lovely. Chris has recently made a massive weed control effort, the piles of construction materials are gone, and the veggies and flowers are lush and blooming.



In this photo you can see the new peach trees in pots waiting to be planted. They are in the ground now, planted between the apple trees. The idea is that the young-lived peaches will come out in 10 years or so, just as the apples start to need the space. In the foreground are my zinnias, bloodflowers, forget-me-nots, calendulas, and a few chrysanthemums. Also herbs and volunteer cherry tomatoes.

It was great to mead you!

Last month we had the pleasure of meeting four really cool new friends. Alan, Kat, Tristan, and Jenny (gee, what are the odds?) joined us for another delicious farm meal. They not only contributed great company and delicious fresh chard, but they also brought along some of Tristan's homebrewed prickly pear mead. Both food and drink were delicious and we really enjoyed getting to know these folks better. Younger than us and without children yet, their worlds are very different than ours but we share many of the same goals and values and it was a pleasure to hear about their plans for a sustainable homestead.

We look forward to their return soon to pick plums (and we have some ripe apples too). It was great to meet you guys!