IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

And yes, in case you are wondering (because I get asked this a lot), I think getting a real tree is better for the environment then getting an artificial tree (and supports the local economy) and this is why:

Earth 911
Living Green

Organic Gardening
Mother Jones

The absolute best live tree you can get to minimize impact to the environment is one that is grown on an organic tree farm or one that remains in a pot so it can be planted after the holidays (if you are in a location where you can keep the tree alive for replanting when the time comes - Minnesota not included).

The absolute best environmental choice of Christmas tree is no tree at all.

(oh, and the above is referring to tree farms and not just running out into the wilds on land you don't own and chopping down a tree, that would hardly be a good eco choice).

What do we do with our tree after Christmas? We put our tree outside in its stand and hang seed ornaments on it for the birds and we don't remove it until the tree is completely dead (brown and dry). Once the tree is obviously dead, which oddly isn't until the end of summer usually (balsams tend to be hardly little suckers after they are cut), we chop it up and use it in our fire place or we'll do something even more cool which I'll share in my next blog post so stay tuned.

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BUTTERFLIES, BUTTERFLIES, BUTTERFLIES

Yesterday we went to the Minnesota Science Museum to check out the Monarch exhibit.  If it wasn't for a time constraint I could have stayed in the butterfly house all day, as it was we had to bribe Aiyana with better things to come just to get her to leave.  

Who knew insects could be so fascinating but I'm finding myself more and more interested in learning about them, and not just the pretty ones either.

Mating pair.

Apparently I am the only one who thought this was fascinating. Mating butterflies. Maya kept telling me to stop taking pictures but I thought it was cool to see.

Monarch (male) - the swollen pouches (circles/balls) along the veins near the ends of it wings tells you it is a male.

Painted Lady Butterfly hitching a ride on Aiyana's head.

Maya and Monarch posing for the camera.

Painted Lady Butterfly

Monarch (female) having a conversation with my husband.  I think she had a crush on him :P

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FUN IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS

I meant to post this much earlier but I didn't get around to uploading all of my BWCA pictures to the computer until now.

In early July our family took a trip up to the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area), one of our most favorite places to visit in the U.S.  We spent 4 days canoeing, hiking, fishing, camping in addition to looking for bears and wolves.  Unfortunately we didn't find any wolves or bears :( but maybe next time.

It was a great trip (aside from the whole "losing my dog" situation).  Our guide Kate was absolutely amazing!  We met Kate back in winter 2011 when we were up in Ely for a Wintergreen dogsledding adventure but we didn't have the pleasure of her guiding us on any sort of trip until this year.  She's fantastic with kids and overall just wonderful with families.  Our daughter Middy is tough to please but Kate kept her busy, didn't take no for an answer, and in the end Middy really enjoyed being in the BWCA again and having Kate as a mentor.  Middy learned to bait a hook with leeches, remove her fish from the line, build and start a campfire, prepare and cook camp food, identify wild plants, etc...  Some of the valuable things that not many kids get to learn today.

I really liked that the trip our guide Kate and the owner Jason from Ely Outfitting Company planned for our family was perfect for the energy and enthusiasm level of our kids.  We stayed at one camp site this year, were able to visit several different areas in the BWCA, divide equal time between hiking around and canoeing and we also had some fun fishing and the kids were able to squeeze in some swimming.  Kate is such an awesome guide that when we had one day of solid rain she still managed to keep the entire family entertained by playing cards and other games.  

I recommend Ely Outfitting Company and any one of Jason's guides to anybody interested in visiting the BWCA and not wanting to think about possibly getting lost because you have no idea how to read a topography map or a compass (like me) or if you don't want to go through all the work of packing enough food, finding and transporting a canoe and other equipment.  With Ely Outfitting Company it is all done for you and worth every penny spent.  

Here are some of our pix from this years visit to the BWCA:

Gypsy resting in the canoe.

Pure and beautiful BWCA water (courtesy of Kate Ford).   

Aiyana releasing her floating art (courtesy of Kate Ford).  Kate had the kids create art from pieces of nature and when they released their floating art into the lake they were to make a wish.

Sunset in the BWCA (courtesy of Kate Ford).  Kate got up really early to take some fantastic shots of the BWCA.

Early morning in the BWCA (courtesy of Kate Ford).

Middy with one of the fish she caught (courtesy of Kate Ford).  This little baby was returned to the lake.

Me showing Aiyana how to bait a hook with a worm (courtesy of Kate Ford)
This was actually a good lesson for Yana.  She learned a bit about the process of fishing and what it all entails in addition to seeing a living thing going from nature to her plate.  She decided that keeping fish and eating it wasn't for her (she liked catch and release much better), she also decided on this trip that she'd much rather use fake bait over live bait.

Kate and Middy sunk the canoe and played around in the water with it (courtesy of Kate Ford)

Kate making us dinner.

Pictographs (If I remember correctly these were done by the Ojibwe).

Kate, Maya, Gypsy,  Middy, Ulises, Me, Aiyana

Our little crew in the BWCA

Maya Fishing.

Tea made from nature (I forget the name of the plant)

Scenery from above our campsite.

Wintergreen.

Ulises and I.

Our state bird: the loon.

Kate teaching Middy to put a leech on a hook (you have to look closely to see the leech on Kate's boot)

Aiyana waiting for a big fish.

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GOODBYE TECHI

We just returned from four days in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and a 2 day visit to Ely.  Initially our trip north was filled with lots of excitement because not only were we going to be able to relax for the first time in 2 years but we were also going to meet a fellow wolf advocate that I'd only had the pleasure of knowing through Facebook.  Unfortunately three hours into our 4 hour road trip things took a turn for the worst.

We had all four of our dogs with us and two of our chi's were going to stay at a kennel in Embarrass, MN (the other two were going to the BWCA).  About 15 minutes before we arrived at Black Wolf Kennels, which is where Lisa, a fellow wolf advocate and owner of the kennel lives, one of our male chi's (Techi) started having trouble breathing.  Lisa took one look at him and sent us to the Ely Vet Clinic just north of where she lives.  His tongue was bluish, he kept panting, it wasn't good.  Long story short, Techi didn't make it.  
Techi has a story (like all of my dogs), we bought him as a pup, the neighbor boy (spawn of satan) poisoned him, against the vet's advice and through my tears I begged Dr. Pomeroy to revive my little dog, which he did, and like the vet warned Techi was never the same again.  Fast forward 7 years and now we are standing in the middle of the Ely Vet Clinic and I'm being told once again, in the subtle way that vet's tell you, it is time to let my dog go.  Anyone who has had to put a pet to death knows how painful it is (and I say death and not sleep because death is what it is).   You're being "advised" to take life from another living being and it can really make a person physically ill.  It's the second time I've personally had to do it (Chelsea, another one of our chi's had a brain tumor) but this time I walked out before our dog was sedated and left my husband to deal with the rest.  I'm not good with death, never have been and never will be no matter if it is a human or an animal it always hurts and I never get over it.   Then, to make matters worse, while we are going through the process of losing our  beloved chihuahua my daughter comes running into the exam room yelling that our female chihuahua Franny was dying.  She was holding a limp Fran in her arms so the vet scooped her up and began treating her immediately.   The initial diagnosis was possible seizure or stroke, I don't think there was ever any certainty about what it could be but it was touch and go as to whether she'd recover.   Fran did recover but had to stay behind for observation in Ely when we went into the BWCA (to avoid the stress).   We've returned home now... one dog less.  Techi's energy has disappeared into the universe and all we have left of him are his ashes and our memories.   R.I.P Techi boy

Techi meeting Gypsy

Techi lounging while Middy decorates his face with American Girl Doll Glasses

THANK YOU Lisa Fabish at Black Wolf Kennels for running a really great dog kennel (loved everything about it), taking awesome care of our Santi and for getting Techi excellent medical care.  I wish you and I were neighbors :-) You are a genuinely caring person! So happy we finally met face to face.  We will see you in a few months...    I'll be back to post about the BWCA trip in a couple days.

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GYPSY vs. LEMON

I saw a funny video on YouTube showing various dogs fighting with a citrus fruit and so I thought I'd see how my dog Gypsy, the one that EATS EVERYTHING, would react to a lemon.

My Dog Gypsy

Gypsy didn't eat the lemon (even if she wanted to eat it I wouldn't let her - I'm sure it isn't good for dogs), she took one lick and what you see in the video was her reaction to it.

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STRAWBERRIES!!

If you can't grow your own do the next best thing... PICK SOMEONE ELSES!!

The family and I drove over to Sam Kedem's  Farm in Hastings yesterday and picked over 12 pounds of big juicy organic strawberries.  Sam is the only one I know that grows organic PYO fruits, at least within driving distance from my house so we visit his farm several times a summer to get blueberries, raspberries and strawberries.  Since I didn't get started until later in the evening I only canned 3 jars of strawberry jam.  As you can probably tell by my photo collage my jars have that ugly foamy swirl in them.  I've read in one of my Ball canning books that the foam can lessen the shelf life of the jam so I'll make sure to eat them in the next month.  I should have spent some time scraping off that frothy mess but I was just so darn excited to making jam again that I didn't pay attention to that last step.

Anyone have an opinion on the foamy stuff that appears when boiling the strawberries?  To what extent does it shorten the shelf life?

For anyone else that would like to try making strawberry jam I have two recommendations:

My friend Teresa turned me on to this ebook by her friend Robin.  It is very informative!  I've always struggled to find good canning books that are easy to understand for the beginner but also contain recipes that even the experienced canner will enjoy (once I get there); Robin's book is perfect!

The other "very easy" go to source for canning strawberries is this video:



I don't recommend the video for those wanting to learn about canning per se but more for those who just want to whip up a small batch of strawberry jam quickly without getting into all the details about canning.

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REVIVING THE BLOG

Starting with a random post about everything.

Well, in the last couple years I've been a complete failure when it comes to this blog.  I delete, undelete, delete, undelete, promise to post more regularly and then don't, promise again and fail once more. So... Here I go again.
I've held back on making a lot of posts just because there has already been something similar on another blog or website somewhere but I'm no longer going to let that hold me back.  I was talking to someone recently about handmade laundry soap and she asked if I ever blogged about it and I said no because there are numerous blog posts about it already, lots of links to great laundry soap recipes on Pinterest also.  This individual tells me that she never goes on Pinterest and doesn't have time to follow a bunch of blogs but if I wrote something about it she'd check it out.  Hmmmm... I thought.  So maybe it doesn't hurt too much to blog about something that's already out in cyberspace??? With that in mind, I guess I'll just blog about whatever the heck I want and if no one reads it, oh well, someone may find it useful.

So... as for random whatever's that someone else has probably already blogged about here goes nothing:

Midwest Shepherd's Harvest Festival 2013

Lama

Sheep Shearing

 Yana Pretending to Spin

Spinning Demo

Maya & Yana petting the angora rabbits

Lots of raw fiber

Creative Activities

I purchased a bunch of stuff too but I'll share that in a later post :D

I have to toot my own horn here.  I knitted a washcloth! Yes, yes, you can stop the applause.  The washcloth was easy but since I'm a wee bit "special" (ahem... perfectionist) it only took me a month to make just one O_O

Making candles! Lots and lots of candles!  I'm up to 20 so far.

New Addition to the Family

Last but should have been first, our beautiful little dog.  She came to live with us this winter and my husband is so in love with her.  She's not your typical American looking chihuahua, my husband says she's a Mexican version :-) I think she looks like a baby seal.  Here's Gypsy:

My next post will be a bit more coherent. 

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WINTER SOLSTICE 2012

Happy Winter Solstice Everyone!

The Solstice marks the Mayan rebirth and according to American Indian prophesy we are in the time of the 7th Fire.  

We humans are at a crossroads.  We can choose to continue down the path humanity has been traveling for decades or find a new direction, one where our thoughts and feelings are no longer controlled by the media and/or politicians but instead guided by our inner wisdom that tells us the difference between right and wrong.  It is time to treat all sentient beings as equals, recognize their value in this world and fight for their protection.

The choice is ours... we can walk into the new world the same people we were yesterday or we can be better.  

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