Transplants, Sprouts, and Southern Hospitality

Those rumors you've heard about Southern hospitality? All true.


Before settling on the little brick house, we walked through dozens of others, including a charming historical home with a stunning organic garden. For the record, I'd have made an offer on a spot if it hadn't been zoned "residential." Darn laws! The home's owner was incredibly gracious. She asked us to come back and collect several transplants, and invited us to a party where she introduced us to local beekeepers, farmers, and homeschooling families. We took all that we could from her perennial bed, including berries, a three-year-old asparagus bush and several varieties of wildflowers. The cosmos and bee balm are still in bloom.

We also purchased our first five chickens from her son. He was upgrading to heritage breeds. That's what I call raisin'em up right. Because we didn't yet have a house of our own, Nate rigged up a makeshift chicken coup with a couple of found pallets and our bicycle trailer.

Another generous friend, Mike, offered his home to us while his family was away for the summer. So we filled his yard with buckets of plants and started sprouting seeds in rain gutters on his back porch. Unfortunately, the bulk of our plants were lost one late tornado night, but we still had tomatoes, peppers, soy beans, peas, bush beans, collards, sorghum, corn, butternut squash, cucumbers, and watermelon ready for a permanent piece of dirt when we moved.

Thinking back, Nate adds, "The leeks and celery would've done great if they hadn't blown away in the wind!" Pros and cons of the sunny South.

The Almost Homestead

We bought a little house on three shady acres. It's not what we expected- classic case of real life vs. the master plan. While our larger goal remains, we'll stay here a while and learn to feed ourselves. It isn't a farm, but it's a lovely little homestead. At least, it almost is.

Stick around and watch us grow!

Bryce Museum and Duck Creek Pond

The Bryce Museum is not what it seems. From the road it looks like a giant warehouse--inside it's a world class wildlife museum that rivals some of the best we've seen. The kids loved the African room, I was impressed with the exquisite butterfly collection, and we spent hours out back feeding the deer and chickens. AAA calls it, "a must see." We're concur.

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The kids love to hear about Nate's "Huck Finn" childhood. Like when he piled up garter snakes and threw them down the path at his sisters to keep them from walking home from school. Or the time his cousin dared him to swim in a near-frozen lake for five minutes in exchange for an ice cream cone. Despite his descriptions of the biting cold, the kids have long been sure that given the chance they'd prove to be just as tough as Dad.  

After our trip to the museum, Asher and I hung out at the cabin while Nate took the girls exploring. Destination: Duck Creek Pond. They didn't dunk themselves in the glacial water like their old man, but both waded in a bit and swear they had a great time

Red Canyon

Another red rock favorite! The Pink Ledges Trail is a short 3/4 mile hike just off the highway. We'd only planned a quick stop, but spent the whole day playing Hide-N-Seek among the sweet-smelling Ponderosas.

 Spotted! Can't lose with a little camouflage.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon is calling to me

This land of mystery

The valley of hoodoos and warriors of stone

Creation and nature set free

I sang those words at the 1996 Utah Sesquicentennial Celebration but hadn't actually been to Bryce Canyon until this week. It is truly the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Add it to your bucket list! As a non-photographer I simply could not do the landscape justice.

For pictures of the park, head to Google. For pictures of my people, carry on.

 

Zion National Park

 

We got there. We walked around. We dug it.

Ven. Vedi. Vici.

You know. 

Greetings from Base Camp

We're in Utah. Surprise! The kids and I returned to the states in early January after Asher became ill in Korea. He was immediately diagnosed with Lyme disease (say what?!) and is responding extraordinarily well to treatment--a triple-antibiotic cocktail and a daily dose of hefty vitamins and probiotics. Nate will be in Seoul another few months, but flew in this week to join us for some much needed family R&R.

A friend tipped us off to vrbo.com (vacation rentals by owner) and we found a great little condo in Duck Creek, a couple-cabins town tucked away deep in the high desert. After only a  few days of red rock dust and Nate by my side, I feel good as new. So great, in fact, I thought I'd take a minute to rejuvenate the ol' blog. "[We're] not dead yet!"

We'd planned to visit nearby Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks--where weather was predicted to be hot and sunny. We neglected to check temps in Duck Creek itself however, and packed only t-shirts and warm-weather hiking gear. Imagine our surprise when we pulled up to the condo and found the place covered in nearly three feet of snow!

Luckily, we came loaded with plenty of firewood and S'mores supplies. The advertised fire pit is buried in ice, but Nate got a roaring fire going in the driveway and our "winter camping" adventure turned into an unexpected bonus!

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Everything,

Nate, Erin, Jensie, Asher, & Frances

This One is Six

Celebrating at school with her best friend Chanel. Thanks for the party goods Grandi!

One gets all the weird stuff, the other has a flair for the dramatic, but this one, well, we never worry about this one. This birthday girl is sweeter than sugar. She is independent and quiet and self-assured and always happy. A friend told me, "I need a Frankie in my life." Everyone without a Frances Amelia is really missing out.

Frankie likes to chop veggies and surprise salad is her breakfast-in-bed specialty. A real serial artist, Little Miss cranks out hundreds of drawings a day--most of them identical. She has recently started stapling them together and sells her "books" on our street corner. I think I am her only customer thus far. She took a bundle of her books to school and read them to the class for show and tell. When the teacher asked why she'd written so many books she replied, "To make money of course!"

She is a laundry pro. She enjoys it so much she tried to talk her friends into doing "all the laundry in the house" when they came to play.

She is generally agreeable and very obedient. We only ever argue about her hair. That mop is tangled, wild and out of control. I say we should wash and comb it now and then. She disagrees! But I can't get enough of those yellow curls--they get bouncier every year.

The first time I wised up and sent her to bed with "product" in her hair. She's using Curly Q's. Great stuff for kids.

Little Miss for Levi's. She's thought it was so fun to model with Jensie.

And now for the birthday quiz I mean to ask every year but always forget about...

1. What is your favorite color? Pink and purple and blue and yellow.

2. What is your favorite toy? My doggy named "Snowy"
3. What is your favorite fruit? Watermelon!
4. What is your favorite TV show? The Last Unicorn
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pizza
6. What is your favorite outfit? Skirt and a shirt
7. What is your favorite game? Mouse Trap
8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks
9. What is your favorite animal? Hedgehogs
10. What is your favorite song? I am a Child of God
11. What is your favorite book? Pink Priscilla (Priscilla and the Pink Planet)
12. Who is your best friend? Ellena and Chanel and Maggie
13. What is your favorite cereal? The flake ones
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike
15. What is your favorite drink? Ice-cream with soda
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My money
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Ice-cream cake with the flower that explodes
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor