Chicken coop progress.

Our birds are trying so hard to roost at night on top of the coop we have. They are getting way too big for the tractor. Thank goodness the coop is almost finished. Paul is building this out of re-purposed materials. He had some of the stuff left over from old jobs and and purchased some material at the Rebuilding Center. He came to show me pictures of the progress so i showed him pictures of money hoping that would move the project along a little faster. Instead he sat down at the table and drank the rest of the beer we had in the house since their day was done. Hopefully it will be ready this week. I am not sure how the runs he is building will attach, but he says he's got it figured.
He put a sliding metal tray in it that will pull out for easy clean up. Pretty cool. I love that the windows will open but the chickens will still be safe with the wire behind it. Pretty clever. The floor is two separate framed wire panels that can come out for easy scrubbing. (See Photos of floor placement and tray). This is his first chicken coop and I don't think he had any idea what he was getting into!
I hope to purchase some sort of green roof system to put on the roof. Sounds like he is hitting our budget limit so the galvanized steel roof with the green box is out. Sharon's nephew Rob's wife emailed me to tell me about a great product called liveRoof. I will check this out for possible green roofs.

pinky pearl

I had no idea that Pink Pearl Apples would make pink applesauce! Carson (superguuuurl) and I went to the market and got 6 pounds of fresh organic apples. Some green tart ones and then the Pink ones and made some sauce. Sharon and I have a date night tonight. The kids are both at sleepovers. Sounds like heaven.
Funny that all my posts are about food. We will probably go somewhere yummy for dinner too.

Sam say "Mamish, Delish!"

I made the bread and it was SO easy. Wow. And with my jam....double delish mamish.

First Day!

Tuesday was Carson's first day of 3rd grade and Sam's introduction to Kindergarten. Sam's real first day will be on Friday. He is excited to learn, but his teacher was quite pleased with his reading skills already. Sharon and I can't really take any credit for his abilities since Carson is the one who taught him to read. She was so proud of him when he showed her his first origami cup he folded.
The big news though......Third graders get lockers!

I am like a squirell with my NUT stash.

Baking, planning, canning, planning, cooking, planning.... I feel completely back to school crazy. I want to get this two kid in school thing right so we are planning like crazy. I don't know if it will get us anywhere, but we are trying. So far we are planning to make whole wheat waffle batter at the beginning of the week and give the kids warm, fresh waffles from the waffle iron in the mornings with some fruit and yogurt before school. I hate sending them to school after eating a bowl of cold cereal (which is their preference). I am sure the sugar crash happens about 45 minutes after school starts and then their little tummies wait all morning for lunch. Which leads me to my next worry. What to feed them for lunch? Portland Public Schools has just started a new food program with much fresher choices, but Carson is still a skeptic. She wants to bring cold lunch this year which means Sam does too. The answer......I am currently obsessing over Bento Blogs. I can't imagine the time spent on these dramatic scenes in a bento box, but it does give me some ideas outside of pb&j. Luckily, they go to a Japanese Immersion school so there are kids with full on sushi style bento and they aren't set on chips and a sandwich. I think I have some good ideas and some yummy treats in mind. I remember how much I enjoyed my Hostess Ho-Hos and Twinkies, but I can't in good conscious send these in their lunch boxes now that we know they aren't really made of food, but chemicals.

Now for the kicker. We have decided to bake our own bread. We invested in the book Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Dear God, do I really need another project? Anyway, the idea is that at the beginning of the week you make a big hunk of dough that keeps in the fridge all week. Our friends have the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, but we opted for the one made with whole wheat flour since the last thing I need is more white flour in my bread filled life.
This weekend I made blueberry nectarine jam. I have two trays of roma tomatoes slow roasting in the oven right now and Sharon is whipping up the WW waffle mix as I write this. I am sure we will peter out within a month, but for now it is fun.

day with manu and fun camera

Pretty Birds.

They are all 4 laying almost daily. You have all heard about the giant egg recall for salmonella. This is what happens when giant corporations take over our food production. I guarantee their chickens never see the light of day and are pumped up with antibiotics. I bet their little chicken feet have never even touched grass. They peck each other to death in the "factories" and are pushed to the egg limit. They are treated poorly and live in extremely unsanitary conditions. I strongly feel like my kids should know where food comes from. Eggs are from actual living beings. Carson watched Bobsyouruncle lay an egg yesterday and she was in awe. Sam ate two eggs yesterday that were laid not 1 hour earlier. Tasty.
We are raising Sam and Carson as a vegetarian. As they get older, we are giving them choices and offering them fresh fish and farm raised meats. Sam has tried a few things including, gasp, a McDonald's hamburger, but Carson refuses any type of meat. I feel strongly that most people have no idea what is in the meat they buy at the grocery store. It is pumped up with colors, antibiotics, and growth hormones. I have read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen 3 times and recently bought the young readers version for Carson. In my opinion, Michael Pollen is a genius. It is something that I want to read together with her to make sure she understands it.
I do appreciate that I live in a city that supports local farms and foods with an amazing farmer's market and access to fresh food. don't get me wrong. My kids will enjoy the occasional twinkie or McDonalds fries, but I want them to see those things aren't actually food.
People have told me that chickens are dirty animals and they wouldn't want them in their yard, but these are the same people eating food from dirty food factories. I wish everyone would listen to Michael Pollen.
Anyway. Enough ranting. I just wanted to say thank you to my beautiful chickens for providing us fresh, nutrient rich (because i know exactly what they eat) beautiful eggs.

pickle making fools

Last weekend I joined the nabes for a little pickle making. 50 pounds of pickles, 2 gallons of vinegar, three huge bouquets of dill, dried peppers, and way too much garlic = tons of fun. These girls were serious. The pickles were washed and placed in ice packed coolers the night before and all the garlic was peeled. Thankfully, the garlic was not my job. The pickle packing went on all day with a break in the middle for some feasting. In the end there were nearly 45 quarts of spicy, dilly pickles and 5 little jars of pickled garlic cloves. I will let you know in 3 months how they turned out.

Is it legal to have so much fun in one month?

Wow. The Dody's have really been rolling. We have been partying nonstop for one month. This is the way life should be lived. Full of family and friends who are like family. My cheeks hurt from smiles and laughing. But this morning there is calm in my house. I am drinking coffee and sitting down with quiet.
It started with my mom's visit. She was here for a few days and we filled the trip up with outings and fun. Then Sharon's brother, Jeff, was here for a weekend to visit before moving to London. We spent three days Pickathoning and then Rock camp for Carson started.
Last week the Kempens and the Luciani/Charles family landed in Portland and we spent three days in Portland and three days in Rockaway beach. Our fantastic neighbors, Maggie and Melissa, offered up their guest room to Anne and Anna which was way beyond neighborly love.
We took the 6 adults and 5 kids to Rockaway Beach and rented an awesome beach house. We rode bikes, played foosball and pool, sat by a fire each night with smores, played on the beach, had hot tub fun and got to know each other a little better. Sharon and I felt like the grampa and gramma of the trip. (Sharon actually looked like a grampa one day). The last day of the trip, Jose and Manu landed in Rockaway to have some fun with us. The beach looked like and old tree cemetary and there were forts everywhere. The kids had fun making club houses and the grown-ups tried to build forts too.
This morning there is quiet. This morning there is quiet. This morning there is quiet. But I am ready to start all over again.

Pickathon

VIEW AFTER KNOCKING DOWN CHAIRS


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VIEW WITH THE CHAIRS

Well folks, I am not going to bore you with the Pickathon story. It was amazing and the weather was perfect. We heard some fantastic musicians and had a terrific weekend. So I will tell you about an annoyance. Tall back chairs. We got to the stage fairly early and got a great spot for music viewing. The spot had to be near beer garden so we could parent from inside whilst enjoying a cold beverage. Ahhh. This is fun. But wait, who is that annoying family who just brought their high back chairs and set them up right in front of us? And why do they not even sit in them? Do they wonder why we knock them over each and every time they leave for hours at a time? No, they do not. I know, I know.....we could just move our blanket, LOW BACK chairs, cooler, hoola hoop, frisbee, children, friends, and their children somewhere else. but we don't. We just knock over their chairs and talk trash. Because that is the way the Dody's Roll.

bye bye trailer

Craigslisted!

I put my crappy travel trailer on Craigslist. Free to a good home. I got 5 immediate responses of people telling me they would come right now. Someone is coming on Thursday morning to haul it away! YAY! Next up. Move over travel trailer. Next up.....Giant chicken coop.

Sam's Photos

Took the fam and my mom to the Kruger's Farm concert. Beautiful night. The kids got to dance and take a hayride and pick berries while listening to some ho-down. Sam left us to go take sunflower photos in the rows of blooms.

Gramma Judy's fast Oregon trip

What? You are only here for 4 days?

My mom is visiting for a very short trip, so that means we have to have fun every single day. The kids wanted to go to Enchanted Forest, so we hit Gramma up for the spendy entrance fee. The place is so great and it reminds me of going to Storybook Forest when I was little.
Yesterday we went to Wahclella Falls in the Columbia Gorge. It was a great easy hike for the kids with a big payoff at the end. The falls were beautiful. Sam was able to do the 2 mile round trip without getting crabby. We decided to go on to Hood River for Lunch at the Historic Columbia Gorge Hotel. Next, a drive down the Fruit Loop with a stop at the Alpaca Farm. We drove back home on Mt. Hood and made it just in time for Sushi with Share. Gramma was a little skeptical, but she did it and I think she even liked it. They won't even believe her when she goes back to WV.
Today Sam wants to take Gramma to The Grotto. Who knew he was Catholic? Tonight...summer concert at Kruger's Farm and then gramma is catching the red-eye.

Bridget's "now famous" hummus recipe

One can of great northern white beans
4 TBS of the bean juice from the can
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup tahini
1 TBS olive oil
1 heaping tsp of cumin
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt
3 TBS lemon juice


YUM

Tour de Coop

Chickens Chickens everywhere. We took the kids on the Tour de Coop yesterday in Portland. Backyard chickens are everywhere and we wanted to check out the coop construction. I am thinking that mama Share's Jersey Giant (Bobsyouruncle) is going to need a much bigger area to live since she is going to be about 10 pounds full grown. I wanted to check out some local coops. I was really impressed with the coop with the "green" roof. The top of the coop was basically a 4 inch deep planter with succulents growing. Really cool to see from the kitchen window. Maybe late august after our summer plans start to die down a bit, we can work on a new coop.




After the coop tour, we headed over to the Lone Fir Cemetery for a Heritage Festival and to watch a documentary about the Chinese Immigrants whose remains have been "found" in the cemetery. Our neighbor told us that central catholic high school used to me a monastery and that the football field covers the burial ground of the monks. She also said that legend says our whole block is built over grave stones?????

Addy and Denver

Last week I went to Denver for a few days to offer some help to old friends who are more like family. Their 5 year old daughter was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation, which is a deformity in the base of the skull. It was diagnosed on her 5 year old well child visit + MRI. Needless to say, they were frightened and anxious about the surgery.
I made it to the hospital while they were in pre-op and found Addy with all her "stuff" she brought to the hospital for the surgery. The fav. was a GIANT rubber snake which made it's way around to everyone including the staff of The Denver Children's Hospital. It was great to go back and visit with old co-workers and friends from Denver. I spent most of my time hanging out with Lida (8 and Carson's BFF) and Gertrude (Gma). \
Addy must have read the guide to Chiari Surgery because she ended up going home in 4 days! She is home and back to her normal routine and her parents can breath a sigh of relief now.

Some of my co-workers

are awesome. SOME are not so awesome. HMMMMM?

The pie. The best one yet. Fresh Ranier Cherry and Blueberry. Yum.

Each pie is getting better and better. I may get the hang of it yet!

Horseshoe Lake and Cherry Pies

Sheesh, we asked for sun, but this is crazy! The last two days have been around 100 degrees so we had to find someplace to cool off. We headed off to Lewis River for a lazy day but got sidetracked to a "warmer more welcoming" waters. Horseshoe Lake in Woodland, Washington. Worked out great for all! Carson made a new friend and Sam found lots of floaties to kick around on. I baked in the sun and ended up with bright red shoulders. Carson borrowed sam's goggles and it made me remember going to Rock Lake when I was little. I went with Ann Ann and had a Wonderwoman bathing suit. Wish I had one like it now.

Viva Frida

My tribute to the most beautiful, tragic, and talented woman, Frida.