Spring Travels!

What a whirlwind the past few days have been!  In a good way : )  A long time friend and coworker of Cameron's got married in Newport Beach, California and asked if Cam could shoot her wedding.  They used to work together at Caesar's Palace in the Wedding Chapel and he couldn't pass up the opportunity to see an old friend and stay at a beach front hotel for a couple of days. I wasn't sure if my work schedule would allow me to tag along or not but when Ellen sent the hotel confirmation and I found out that her husband worked for the airline so the airfare was included I made it work! We flew on standby which was VERY nerve wracking, but luckily we both made it on the same flight.  Cam got on first and I thought I didn't make it on.  Through teary eyes I said goodbye and wished him luck, but fortunately the last passenger on the plane never arrived at the gate and I got on at the very last second!  We checked into our hotel late Friday night and although it was dark we could hear the waves crashing against the sand from our hotel room. We put down our stuff and ran over to the ocean.  I'm not much of a beach bum but I really love the water and the ocean air... it's fascinating.  

The next day we found a little place called The Stand that served all natural vegan food, and then had some coffee and walked the beach.  The wedding was at 3 that afternoon right on the sand, followed by a cocktail hour and reception overlooking the beach.  It was a beautiful afternoon and evening, and I am so happy that I got to attend!

Cam had some business to do back in Las Vegas so we had planned on me going home the next day, and him hitching a ride back to LV with friends of the bride.  Turns out that the flights were pretty full on Sunday because of Spring Break, and it was easiest for me to drive with Cam back to Vegas and catch a flight from there the next day.  We ate at our favorite place again that morning, then played tourist and checked out the city and had a couple of beers.  We hit the road in the afternoon, and got to Vegas around 9pm.  I had to leave for the airport the next morning at 4am, but we still found some time to grab a couple of drinks and walk up and down Fremont Street.  We played a couple of hands of Roulette, then had a nightcap (a 24oz PBR and a shot of jaeger!) at Hogs and Heifers where Cam would be working the next couple of nights. Traveling back to home the next day was a bit hectic, but we're both home now and even though it was a quick trip I'm glad it went down in the books!

It's funny, because when we lived in Vegas I really counted down the days until we were going on a vacation.  I still love traveling and am eager to visit more places, but since we've moved to Portland I don't get as excited when it's time to hit the road.  We're really happy here and I'm glad to call PDX our home. I'm sure it's also a combination of me getting older but as much as I like getting out and seeing new things, I also don't mind when the party's over and it's time to go home. We were only gone 3 full days, but being that it's Spring there were so many changes back on the "farm" in that short period of time.  Even driving down the street you can see new buds on the trees and bushes.  On our walk earlier today you could smell the sweetness in the air.  It's so great!

Speaking of Spring, the Tuesday before we left for California we took at trip to the  Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival!  It was only 45 minutes from here and it was GORGEOUS!  Over 40 acres of beautiful, different varieties of Tulips.  We took the dogs, and my dad, and my dad's dog and had a really nice time. It was surreal!

Me, Dad, Slim, Stan, and Maggie

Compassionate Eating

For whatever reason and however long, I have loved chickens!  I'm sure it must've started out with something simple, like a kitchen towel or something but I somehow started collecting them.  Long before moving to Portland was even a thought, I had quite the collection of chicken things :)  You could imagine my surprised delight when upon moving here my landlord said we could get a couple of real hens!!

When I started my chicken "craze" I began eating less chicken.  Nothing in particular made me do it, I just thought they were cute creatures and eating them just didn't seem right!  That being said, I still had chicken wings on Super Bowl or on vacation or what not.   After moving to Portland and having hens of my own, I became aware of  how unique and funny chickens are first hand!  After they became my pets with names I stopped eating chicken completely.  If I happened to be at a friends house and they were serving chicken I would eat it (as not to waste it) but I stopped buying it for home consumption and at the store.  But then I realized, why do I protect chickens and not other animals?  Why do I consider Slim and Stan, and LayLay, Martini, and EggBerta my pets, yet I have no problem eating a pig for bacon or a cow for a burger?  After watching many documentaries, and undercover farm factory footage, vegetarianism became the only way.  But wait!  Dairy Cows and Laying Hens (besides mine) aren't treated any better than animals that are raised for meat!  And so emerged my motivation to eat a plant based, vegan diet.

Eating a Vegan diet is fun.  Instead of my husband and I eating "steak and potatoes" for dinner, we explore different recipes and unique foods.  Cooking together in the kitchen is even more enjoyable when trying new things.  Tonight we invited my dad over and made Buffalo Chick"pea" Pitas as an appetizer,  "ChickPea" Cutlets for an entree, and Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies with Almond Dream ice cream.  It blows my mind that we, as a society, eat animals when there are so many healthier plant based options.  I always had this fanciful idea that the meat that I was eating was from a happy farm with tons of space and sun, if I even thought about it at all. There is so much to thing about that it makes my brain hurt, but for now I am completely happy living on a plant based diet.  

Buffalo ChickPea Pita with Ranch

ChickPea Cutlets!

mmmm fruit.

Guess who's back....!

Shamrock Run 2014!!

It's been quite a while since I last posted on this blog...almost a year actually!  Lot's have things have happened over the past year, and let me tell ya ~ Time sure Flies!!

Over the past few months we traveled to Buenos Aires and North Carolina.  My mother passed away in June so I spent a couple of weeks in New York.  That alone is enough material for me to write a few pages of blog, and maybe I should but for right now I won't.  My Poppa Bert moved from Long Island to the great North West last August and is currently living in the 'Couve!  Vancouver, WA is just 2 exits from the "Smith Farm" in Portland, OR so it's nice to have him so close but just far enough : )

Cam and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary last July 2013 on the beach where we got married!  We had a fantastic time hanging out with his mom and sister, and also spent a couple of days at a family reunion for his dads side of the family.  It really was a lovely trip!  Can you believe that we met in 1998!  Wowza we're getting old ;)

We have a couple of trips planned in the next few months!  Cam is photographing a former co-workers wedding in Newport Beach, CA so we're making a mini vaca out of it.  In two weeks we'll be heading to the beach for a couple of days, I can't believe it's so soon!  In June I have a cousin getting married in Georgia so we'll be heading down south for a full week. Cam's sister lives in Atlanta so we are going to spend a few days with my side of the family at the wedding, and then we will be hitting the ATL so spend time with Regan and Cam's mom who will be flying in to meet us all for a few days!  Cam has his annual trip to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans in July, and in August we're heading to Bethlehem, PA for my cousin Jason's wedding.  He's getting married on an old Christmas Tree farm and rented an old farmhouse that we will be staying at.  It even has a red barn!!

Last summer I enrolled in a Vet Tech program and am currently taking online course to become a CVT (certified vet tech). I love my job at the Oregon Humane Society and it as encouraged me to take my love for animals a step further!  Before my job at OHS I had considered becoming a CVT but didn't know if I would have the "guts" for it.  Working as an Animal Care Technician has exposed me to lot of things that have made me realize that I am up for the challenge :)  I recently got certified as a Euthanasia Technician which is a strange thing to be proud of but I am. 

Ok so now that we're all caught up (not really but good enough) on to the "FARM"!  We have 4 laying hens right now.  Last May we added an additional hen to our flock and she is an Ameracauna named pEGG that lays BLUE eggs!  She is the most petite hen out of them all but she lays big, beautiful eggs.  Our plymouth rock LayLa is the egg laying winner, followed by pEGG, EggBerta, and Martini. 

Last weekend (i have off Tues/Weds so I consider that the weekend) Cameron expanded our garden space by building an additional 12x9 raised garden bed!  He also blocked it off with a gate so now we have open garden beds that the chickens can't access (I'm sure at some point this summer they are gonna sneak in but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!!).  Slim and Stan are excited because now they have full day access to the deck and outdoor without the chickens coming around and peckin' at them.  And now we can have company over on our back deck without having to worry about bird poop!

It's still pretty early in the growing season but we do have some things in the ground already. We have the two 12x9 beds and a side area that we call Lettuce Lane.  So far it has some spinach and kale started in it (that the chickens got a hold of in 5 seconds but they're doing ok) and in the main bed we have 4 different varieties of radishes and a whole lotta sugar snap peas!  We've also started cilantro, chives, parsley, kale, and basil in pots and I have seedlings of pumpkins, marigolds, tomatoes, and kale started in the house.  I tried Eggplant, Pepperoncinis, and Red Pepper seeds AGAIN this year but they don't appear to be doing so hot.  Which is funny because I'm pretty sure that they just need hotter weather.

As of the New Year Cam has started running and we have been eating mainly a plant based diet.  I wouldn't call us Vegan yet, but Vegan"ish" for sure!  We still eat our chickens eggs and an occasional slice of pizza or chocolate chip cookie.  There are so many delicious, fun to make, healthy recipes out there and Cam and I are really enjoying the new way of eating, thinking, and feeling!  We ran our first race together just last week.  We did the Shamrock Run!  Cam signed up for the 5k (well I signed him up on NYE after a few IPA's lol) and day of the race he went to the registration booth and switched to the 8k...5 miles!!  He did so great.  I did the 15k and being that it was my second time I don't think I'll do it again ~ the hills are SO hard!!  My dad came down and cheered for us at the finish line, and then we went out and had a couple St. Patrick's Day brews.  Next up is the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon and 10k on May 18th.  I'm doing the 1/2 and cam's doing the 10k!  G Love is headlining after the race and there will be music at every mile. 

So that's about it for now.  I'll post more often I hope so I can keep up.  Stay tuned for lots of pictures of veggies and flowers....!  Woo Hoo!

"In Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like Dirt"

Working Hard : )

Seedlings!

Pumpkin Seedlings!

Beet (not meat) Burgers!

Pretty Eggs!

pEGG and LayLa

Tulips I planted on my mom's birthday.

Buenos Aires Bound!

I can't believe that in 2 days we will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina!  We've had our passports for 4 years, and are finally putting them to use outside of Mexico and Canada.  We've conquored lots of cities in the US of A and now it's time to explore other parts of the world!  I feel so lucky to be able to accompany Cam and be a part of Tales of the Cocktail on Tour.  It'll be nice to be in a foreign country and recognize familiar faces.  Tales has their annual event in New Orleans in July and since 2008 we've been turning Cam's work assignment into a mini NOLA vacation, and making some pretty cool bayou friends!  We arrive to Argentina on Saturday morning and will be attending seminars and amazing meals as part of Tales while Cam does the documenting and I do the eating and drinking ;)  The convention is over on Monday, and then we are on our own to relax and explore!  It's the end of summer, beginning of fall in Argentina, which south of the equator means 70 degree days! We've got a tango lesson under our belts, but I have a feeling we won't be doing much dancing.  My Poppa Bert arrives to Portland tomorrow to house sit and take care of the dogs, hens, and garden!  He'll probably head back to NY wearing overalls!

As excited as I am to explore new territory, I'm also really looking forward to getting back!  I love Portland and all that goes along with it. I love our simple house, our slim dogs, and our crazy chickens!  We'll only be gone for 10 days but I know when we get back we are going to notice many changes around the 'hood and in the garden.  My dad has visited once before and we had a lot of fun, but it was in the beginning of the year when things were cold, wet, dreary and dark!  There are so many outdoor things we can do with him when we get return.  This morning at 6:30am the sun was shining bright and it's not supposed to set until 8:08pm tonight.  It'll be nice to come home from a vacation to a few days of hanging out with Poppa Bert. 

See ya in May Portlandia!

April Showers bring May Flowers!

 

Spring Fever!

Spring is in the air! 

The days are getting longer, flowers and trees are blossoming, and the birds are singing at 6am!  I love having the windows open and listening to all of the sounds.  Cam and  I heard a woodpecker the other day - it was cute!

 

Garden Preparations!

Before we moved to Portland I read that for the most part you can think of the rain as being broken up into three categories.  4 months of constant rain, 4 months of equal parts rain and sunshine, and 4 months of constant sunshine with barely any rain.  We're in the 50/50 stretch right now for sure!  The mixture of rain and sun not only makes beautiful rainbows, but everything is coming alive and growing so quickly and lushly.  The lawn grows so fast it could be mowed every day, and the dandelions are growing like the weeds they are! ;)  The plum tree is blossoming, the dogwood tree is blooming, and the sunflower and poppy seeds that we planted are starting to sprout...I LOVE IT! 


"Making It"

I enjoy all of the seasons but Autumn has always been my favorite, followed by Spring, Summer then Winter.  Having lived in Portland for a little over a year now I have to say I enjoy them all equally! I'm definitely getting a little "cabin fever" and the occasional sunshine and nice weather, although a tease, has me really excited to start planning the garden!  I want to start right now (because the sun is out) but last year I started seeds indoors a little too early and none of them made it. 

Homemade bars of Soap, "rebatched" soap in molds

Winter's the perfect time to be lazy and snuggle up on the couch and gear up for the exciting months ahead. Although the days are cold and dark (and super short!) I've been keeping myself busy with plenty of homesteading projects.   I've been "making" soap for the past year - and by that I mean melting down pre-made bars of soap, adding essential oils, color, and exfoliants (oatmeal, crushed almonds, etc.) and pouring them into my own molds.  I have a book called "Making It" that has the recipe for making soap the "real" way.  Cam and I looked like we were filming an episode of Breaking Bad the first time we made, it wearing goggles and rubber gloves!  The bars seem to be a success but won't be ready to test for four weeks.  Right now they are still chemically changing and would be too harsh on our skin.  When they're done I can melt them down and do what I have been doing but the result will be completely homemade soap.  So if the zombies attack come find me if you want to clean up ;)
I've also been making all of our own cleaning products such as laundry detergent, dish soap, window cleanser, floor cleanser.  I've tried making homemade essential oils from our own dried lavender, and one of my latest winter projects has been homemade lip balm and muscle salve.  I really enjoy playing with the recipes and testing my creations!  I hope one day to not have to follow any instructions. 

For Christmas, Rebekka and Damien gave us a cheese making kit so that has started us on a whole new venture!  We were set on making "Farmhouse Cheddar" but decided to start with a simpler, "Frommage Blanc" when we realized how complicated the cheddar was.  We've been experimenting with it but for the most part it's super easy - slowly heat milk to 86 degrees, add cheese cultures and let sit for 12 hours at room temperature. After that you just ladle the curd into cheese cloth and hang dry for 4-8 hours.  It's a very versatile cheese similar to a sour cream or cream cheese (depending on how long you dry it). The problem we have been running into is that the milk me buy at the store is homogenized so you have to play with different ratios of whole milk and heavy cream to compensate for it, which has proven to be a bit tricky.  Instead of a gallon of milk yielding 2lbs of cheese, we've only been getting about a cup of the finished product - but it's SO GOOD!  I'm taking a 

Mozzarella and Ricotta making class next week so I hope to be a semi-pro after that!

Overall we're just trying to live a simpler lifestyle.  Why buy it when you can grow it, or make it on your own.  We like knowing what's in our food and where it comes from.  For Superbowl we were making a french onion dip and started looking at the ingredients in the dry packet mix.  It was a ton of stuff we couldn't pronounce.  I went on the good ole' internet and quickly found a recipe to make our own "dry" ranch and french onion mix.  It was a hit at the party.  We've added it to our homemade cheese a couple times and it's definitely quite the accomplishment to eat it knowing that we made it from scratch ourselves!  Homemade Italian Dressing is on our list, so is homemade bread!  But mostly I'm just so excited to start playing in the garden again!

 





Breaking Bad!

LayLa dustbathing dreaming of summer

 

February already! 2012

The first day of February has brought beautiful weather.  Although I usually enjoy a cloudy day with rain, today's sunshine is getting me excited for the spring and I'm eager to start planning the garden!  With Shelldon gone, the hens are happily sun bathing and the yard is mostly quiet except for the normal cooing and clucking of the ladies.  Slim and Stan are building up the courage to go back out in the backyard without the fear of the rooster coming and pecking them in the behind!  What an experience having a rooster was!  I hope that one of the hens goes broody again soon, this way we can try all over again.  Pete from the farm store said they just got in some Cream Legbar hens and will be expecting baby chicks in a couple of months. 

"The Cream Legbar is an autosexing type of chicken. This means that you can tell the sex of the chick at hatch, and they breed true. The Cream Legbar originated as a cross between Brown Leghorns and Barred Rock with some Araucana blood in them."
 

So a guaranteed hen - and they lay blue eggs!  Very appropriate too because they are a mix of LayLa's breed with a little bit of Shelldon's blood. I hope the timing works out! 

Cream LegBar Hen

Cream Legbars lay only blue eggs!

It's hard to say if the chickens know that Shelldon is gone.  Today they went about their business but last night EggBerta was the last one in the run at night and I believe she was looking for her "son".  The rooster was always the last one in for the night making sure his ladies were safe and sound.  I'm looking forward to visiting him next week, but overall I'm happy that he's gone and glad that he is in a safe place where he can happily live his days!