{life with a curious and crazy 10 yr old}
Happy Midwinter! Our Imbolc holiday was nice – we put away our Winter celebratory stuffs (take down the tree, put away the lights, stockings, and decorations of which I try and keep to 2-3 medium boxes, no more), we cleaned (it’s so important to take the holidays to clean out the old, encourage the new), and we had our traditional dinner of our version of Clapshot/Colcannon (we vary, sometimes just making a classic version with cabbage, onion, and mashed potatoes, this year we made it with kale chopped fine/mashed potatoes/cheddar cheese, served with lovely sausages) – which Duende likes to imagine as the Farmer’s meal in ‘Shawn the Sheep’ (he makes his as a big pile of mashed potatoes with sausages poking out of it in all directions).
They said we were in for a big storm, and the weather was certainly crappy but we only got a couple of inches of crusty cold snow (as much as I would’ve preferred wonderfully fluffy mounds of snow, I hope everyone who was hit harder is safe and sound). But since today is markedly warmer (at a whopping “feels like” temperature of 27 degrees) and sunny, the kid is already out and about in the snow building things while Josh shovels.
Duende has taken on the chicken-business apparently. She has to get up earlier now and let the girls out, water and feed them, gather eggs, clean nesting boxes and check on them during the day. Josh still does the heavy lifting and helps out (cleaning the regular coop litter every couple of weeks, rolling/unrolling weather tarps for their run, etc) but it’s mostly her show. And she can reap the monetary rewards if she sells them (which means I don’t have to sort or clean them anymore either, though I do, because I like to check them out). She’s pretty excited – I’m sure she thinks all this ‘money’ will get her closer to getting a new puppy but the agreement is still ‘when she’s 12’ (so far, it’s likely at this point I’m open to it, sorta, with reservations).
Here’s some lovely stuff she’s been doing – snowman/snowdog building (from the last snow), last Duendesday’s amazing dinner of Pork Tenderloin and Mash Gratin with Appelpaj, and her incredible mid-week bake of Orange zest/Chocolate Shortbread (thank you, Jamie Oliver!), and some cardboard creations (dog flip-flops, and a chihuahua in a paper purse, cause y’know, why not?).
May your Mid-Winter give you strength.
Rock Bottom Homestead 