Chicken love

Yes, there is some chicken love going on at our homestead...

Summer birthday cake

We've celebrated several birthdays around here in the past little while, and our favourite zucchini chocolate cake always makes an appearance for these occasions.  We usually add 2 eggs to the recipe for a lighter cake that rises well, but this time we modified it with banana in place of eggs for a vegan version.  We've made it with gluten free flour in place of wheat for a GF version, and used chocolate-avocado-maple icing for a sugar-free version.  Any way you make this cake it always turns out perfectly, and uses up a good load of zucchini which is in abundance at this time.

This Moment

{This moment} - This moment - an end of week ritual, no words, just a special photo to remember, savour, enjoy. 

Wonders in the garden

The August garden is full and ripening, despite the lack of rain over the past many weeks.  Some things have not grown so well this year (zucchini and sunflowers, for example!) but there are other wonders we discover as we weed our way through the rows and peek under leaves...ripening dragon beans, scarlet runners climbing high, a rainbow of tomatoes everywhere, first cucumbers, first carrots, first edamame...also crickets hiding under every garden pot, and delicate little star-shaped mushrooms (non edible) growing out among the woodchips.  So good to remember the beauty in imperfection and be open to surprises.

This Moment

{This moment} - This moment - an end of week ritual, no words, just a special photo to remember, savour, enjoy. 

Being thankful

A few things we are grateful for at our homestead this week:

1. The two long days of cool refreshing oh-so-needed rain.
2. Our youngest hens are starting to lay eggs!
3. First ripe tomatoes from the garden.
4. Buttons, our 5 year old hen who appeared sick seems to be getting stronger again.
5. A little holiday time away where we got to reconnect with friends and family.