Initially, this sent me into a tizzy because we have quite a bit of expensive furniture that all matches in the room the girls will be sharing.  with every lease convertible crib we had just planned to buy the whole furniture set she’d  need as she got older. We have a dresser, hutch and armoire that all match her  bed. The hope was to just buy an additional convertible crib and to keep everything matching since they’ll likely be sharing a room for several years. But when does anything go exactly as planned?

So after several months of hunting around we finally found a crib in a similar finish to the furniture that’s already in the girl’s room. with our tax return money we bought it over the weekend.

Now comes the fun of gradually easing Adalyn into sleeping in the room with Everly!This last week has been filled with lots of talk to prepare Everly for the fact that Adalyn will soon be sleeping in the room she had herself for almost 3 years. We put the crib together in their room and are just waiting for the crib mattress to arrive now.

I’ve been gradually raiding her room of choking hazard toys and we redid the toy organization in her room so that only baby friendly items are accessible from the floor. I’m gradually teaching Everly to utilize shelves that are higher for special books and toys that she doesn’t want her sister getting to. Everly is actually quite excited about it all.

The thing that worries me is that Everly’s excitement will likely result in lots of sleeping time spent awake, if you know what I mean. Everly typically has about 30 min. of ” unwind time” after we read to her and tuck her in before she falls asleep. This ” unwind time” is usually spent reading herself stories aloud, talking to herself in silly voices or singing quite loudly so it will be interesting to see how she acts when Adalyn is sleeping in the room with her. We are also interested to see how Adalyn reacts to Everly’s shenanigans at bedtime.

I plan to start out easing the girls into a shared naptime for now. Adalyn isn’t quite sleeping through the nights and I don’t really think I want to subject Everly to her baby sister is nighttime waking. Somehow I think it will just be more trouble than it’s worth for everybody.

So wish us luck, *fingers crossed* that this transition is smooth sailing. Can you believe how fast these girls have grown up?

This is a backdated journal post that I’m publishing for all those considering raising chickens. If you’re wondering about raising chickens alongside a kitchen garden, in your backyard then you’ll probably gain insight from our experiences below.

From Chicks to The First Eggs…

Journal Entry Oct 2011:
Our hens have now supplied us with just over a dozen of our own homegrown eggs.

We still are not in a groove with our Aracauna hens and their egg laying though. Bernice, the hen that can fly over the chicken fencing to destroy our vegetable garden (despite having her wings clipped) is our best laying hen so far. She lays a blue & green egg for us about every other day when she’s got access to the hen house.

Bernice, the largest of all the hens is likely not an Aracauna hen based on her size, shape and the fact that she lays brown eggs. She’s not laying consistently yet but has given us several brown eggs since we’ve returned home. Our last hen, called Blue-Red (as nicknamed by Everly) might have possibly laid a semi-shellless egg this weekend.

Nathan said Bernice took a squat at his feet the other days and laid an egg as he released them from the coop one morning. Bertha also laid an egg while sitting on the perch in their house one night. Of course, being that the perch is about a foot off the floor of the coop the egg broke. Nathan said it was an almost shellless egg again.

I’ve been told it is common for the first eggs to be without shell or with a very thin, crushable shell when hens first start laying. Typically hens will begin laying at about 7 months of age but I figured with the cooler temperatures of fall and the decrease in daylight hours we wouldn’t see any eggs until spring.

The hens sure surprised us with their first laid eggs while we were off having Adalyn in Tennessee. The garden was seriously thrashed when we returned.

Upon arriving back at home we limited their access to the hen house during the day when they were free ranging, to protect our remaining garden plants that Bernice was destroying. Unfortunately, with the hen house blocked off during the day their laying stopped.

Who knew hens could refuse to lay if they didn’t feel like it? We sure didn’t.

As a result, we had to revisit the idea of having the hen house in the garden area. We moved the hen house outside the garden space and in to the yard area so they can have free run of the yard and also easy access to the hen house without having to enter the garden.

Our garden destroying issue seems to be solved now, the hens aren’t trying to go in there at all now (despite the fact that Bernice can still fly the 4+ feet over the fence with her wings clipped).

I am told the key to keeping your chickens from destroying your garden is managing boredom. A board chicken much like a bored toddler will play with and destroy everything in sight.

• Placed mirrors in the garden, mirrors are said to keep the chickens entertained.
• Only allow your chickens around mature plants. Freshly disturbed dirt or tiny sprouts are irresistible to them.
• Keep them well fed so they aren’t zeroing in on your plants out of starvation.
•  Think of chicken friendly functionality. One gardener shares how he allowed his chickens access to his compost piles which kept them well fed, entertained and it also kept the compost well turned.

The new hen house location allowed us to hook up the heat lamp for them this week too. Now we have warm hens that are laying again. Their schedule is a bit wonky with the addition of the heat lamp but we will find I groove I am sure.

Do you have advice to share regarding keeping chickens in your back yard/garden? Share them below in the comments.

We built a spiffy fence panel that will divide our deck area from the rest of the backyard so that the free ranging chickens won’t be able to come up onto the deck and cover it with poop this year.

While grocery shopping over the weekend we scored some fun discount flowering bulbs to add to our garden that include hyacinth, lily of the valley and peony.

Bulb buying tip: buy spent plants!

I love buying the reject pots of decorative seasonal flower bulbs that have already bloomed. Sooo many people over look these for lack of knowledge about the plant and don’t realize they CAN be planed in the garden and will rebloom next year.

Also, the discount/ reject price is often way lower than what you’d pay for the plain old bulb it’s self in a catalog.

Take my hyacinth bulbs for example (I am so very excited about these!). I scored them for just under $1 a bulb when they normal sell in catalogs for $8-12 a piece. That is anywhere from a $63-$99 savings on the nine hyacinth bulbs I bought. Squee!!

Nathan planted about 5 rows of corn this weekend so now we have the tomato trellis behind our back garden fence and a mini cornfield growing in addition to our square-foot garden beds and our sunflower/bean tee-pee that we added this year.

One of the things we’ve been particularly annoyed with this year is the lack of grass freely growing in our front and backyard.

We decided to experiment with grass alternatives instead of re-seeding the lawn this year. Not only is re-seeding the lawn a financial burden but it also wastes a lot of water and precious time that could be spent focusing on more important things.

So, in the backyard we have several wild clover transplants that we are allowing to take over since all the dormant grass roots have been ripped out by our rambunctious, running dog. All winter and spring the backyard has been a mud bog.

Clover is a great, low growing ground-cover that the chickens will enjoy eating plus it doesn’t require as much mowing. When it blooms the flowers will benefit wild bees and the bees will benefit our garden, added bonus! Hopefully the clover will better withstand our soggy winter months and all the foot traffic!

In the front yard we are converting the lawn to a cottage garden that is a mix of flowering perennials and edible annuals. We already have a service berry bush bordered in irises as the focal point of the yard. When it’s done the goal is that it will not only be visually appealing but also a great source of produce for our family.

We also remedied our restless dog syndrome. Some of you may have seen my post on Facebook about our latest dog frustrations.

Dixie has been ripping our chicken fencing so that she can get to and scarf the chicken feed each day. Not only is this frustrating because she is destroying the fencing but it’s also frustrating because she’s taking food away from the chickens who need it right now since our yard has no grass for them to eat.

Turns out, a giant cow bone can occupy a high energy dog for days and days. The bone may have been the best $10 we’ve ever spent.

So those are the updates here on the half-acre homestead. How does your garden grow? Are you working on anything new this spring for the house or garden?

The idea of no dig seedling starting is to start the seeds in something that doesn’t require you to uproot the seedlings and transplant them in your garden. The planter and the planting material all go with the seedling right into the hole in your garden and the seedling just grows through the decomposing planter material and into your garden soil.

The plus to this technique is your fragile seedlings are less likely to experience shock. Also, you are replenishing your garden soil with compostable often nutrient rich material in the form of a decomposing planter.

Once we saw how easy it is to make your own seedling starters we’ve never gone back. Some seedling starting ideas that we tried in the past are:

Starting seeds in cardboard egg cartons

This works because the cardboard egg carton is a nice rectangle shape, plus the little egg holes are perfect seedling size and the egg carton is easily cut or separated when it is time to plant your seedlings in the garden.

Make papier-mâché cups from old newspaper.

These can also be planted directly in your dirt like the egg carton. All you do is shape cups out of sheets of newspaper, wet them, reshape them and then leave them to dry. In our experience these were less sturdy than the egg carton method.

With both of the above methods you just place your repurposed planter in a dish, tray or even a lipped cookie sheet to catch water seepage. Or you can just place your seedling planter in an existing pot of soil so the water seepage transfers to another growing plant.

There is new interesting idea we are testing out this year that you can also try:

Repurpose cardboard cereal boxes & paper product rolls

This is great with cereal boxes, cardboard freezer boxes, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls and similar items. Here is how:

1. Take your toilet paper roll or cardboard box and cut them in half (or in sections depending on the size end product you want). Toilet paper rolls, cardboard cereal boxes can make 2 or more seed trays depending on your preferences about taping or folding corners under.
2. Take your toilet paper roll cardboard box and and fold or tape depending on preferences.

Now you are set to sow some seedlings on the cheap and reduce household waste while replenishing the land around you. Go forth, plant and dream of spring.

Besides parenting and taking care the homestead, I  am teaching dance again. This time it’s a bit different though…

I am now teaching preschool and toddler movement and ballet…

and never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined this would be what I’m doing.

It all started as a result of casual conversation between myself and a couple of the other playgroup parents and now I am teaching a group of children that are part of our little eco-minded group of parents and children.

I’ll admit, I was a bit unsure about taking on the endeavor because of my own lack of experience with age group.  However, it is going well. Although my own preschooler isn’t so sure about it.

It’s funny because while I was playing with the idea of teaching a preschool/toddler dance class I tested some stuff out on her and she was stoked. She loves to dance already and is very into music so I figured this would be a great activity for us.

She’s super excited when we talk about it at home but once we get to the class so to clams up. Actually, she really is more of an observer when it comes to social situations, much like her mom…

So, I’m the dance teacher with the kid that isn’t sure if she wants to participate. And I’m okay with that because I never wanted to be one of those parents who pushes their kids to do things… but secretly I think she’s going to want to join in eventually.

Well, that is the latest news. The former color guard instructor/dance teacher turned wife and mother is now back to teaching, just a different age group now.

The evolution of my teaching career has been interesting. Having started out teaching teens/ young adults, I’ve gradually worked my way back through the ages and no matter what age group I’m working with, teaching proves to be not only rewarding but educational. Plus it gets me off my butt and active again (which my body is currently hating!).

So what are your experiences with toddler/preschool dance classes? Anything you really liked or disliked about them? Were your kids shy or reluctant to participate?

The grapes are setting little grape clusters that need pinching off, the strawberry plants are flowering and seedlings are coming up everywhere.

We even got some “circle of life” learning under the belt today when Everly discovered a quickly drying out worm in the dirt.

She informed me the worm was “all dried up” and continued to watch it and poke it. “Mama it is moving! Let’s fix it” she said.

I told her to get a small amount of water from our rain barrel so we could make some mud to cover it with. Then we talked about how worms need mud and to be burred in the dirt.

Next I was unpleasantly surprised by a dead field mouse the cat left for us on top of the chicken hutch. While I scraped it up and tossed it in the trash we talked about how the cat likely played it to death. Everly wanted to take it to a doctor but I explained that it had been dead too long and that it couldn’t be saved. “Oh, okay mama. Poor guy” was her response as we tossed the poor thing in the trash.

Then we planted some annual flower seeds in places around the yard and she picked some pretty weeds that she wanted to keep on the table in a vase.

Next, we planted Everly the highly anticipated Sunflower/ Bean Tepee that we had thought up after seeing a similar Bean Tepee on Pintrest.The goal is to grow beans up the sunflower stalks for added functionality and fun. Here is how you can do it too:

Planting a Sunflower/ Bean Tepee-

Just take about 19 sunflower seeds and plant them in a semi-circle/ rounded horse shoe shape that is big enough for your kiddo to go in. Once the seeds sprout, plant about 10 or 15 bean seeds along the outside of the semi-circle.

Train the bean stalks to grow around the sunflower stalks. When sunflowers grow to about 2-3ft tall you can braid and twist their tops together to make a Tepee like roof. They will continue to grow upward and then bloom while their stalks make an exciting little hiding area for curious kiddos and a sturdy support for the beans.

Sunflower stalks are strong and roots go deep so chances are your teepee frame will remain after the end of the growing season and can be used to grow beans the following season. Just be sure to clip off your dried sunflower heads and put the seeds in a bird feeder after the season or the entire area surrounding your teepee will become a sunflower forest the following season as the seeds fall from the bloom heads and germinate.

Everly and I also clipped some kale to cook up today which was another nice adventure for her. She loves to do big person stuff like harvesting foods from the garden. Last year she loved to be in charge of carrying the “picking bucket” when we harvested things, this year she’s full on harvesting stuff herself which is great for her.

We also explored the mint plants, complete with taste testing their leaves and she found a wild onion bulb while helping me plant seeds that she washed and added to the harvest pile all on her own.

Now we are off to bake some yummy kale chips with the large kale plants that overwintered in our garden and are about to go to seed. Here is a recipe you can try:

Baked Kale Chips

• 1 bunch (about 6 ounces) kale
• 1 tablespoon olive oil grapeseed oil (or other heat stable non GMO oil. Note: olive oil isn’t heat stable and isn’t good for cooking.)
• Sea salt to taste. (I used raw Hemalayan Pink Salt for added nutritional value.)

Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems and tough center ribs. Cut into large pieces, toss with oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Place baking sheet on a rack to cool.

Do you grow a garden that your kids help with? If not I’d highly recommend you start a kitchen garden, even if it is just a few plants that you’ll know you can use for eating.

Getting the kids out and letting them get dirty is wonderful for them! Not only is it an activity you do together but it teaches them about responsibility, food, nutrition, cooking, resourcefulness and even life lessons if you are mindful of the fleeting opportunities.

If you haven’t already, unplug from technology for a bit and go get those hands dirty with your kids.

Adalyn is still miss fussy-pants with the pooping issues. She’s also still working on her first teeth. Everly is pushing boundaries and being a pistol too, add those with an exhausted (and now detoxing) mama and you’ve got a barrel full of “omg-how-will-I-get-through-this-day” monkeys. The detoxing is the result of my swift diet changes that I shared in my previous post about leaky gut.

Taking over-processed carbs and sugars out of my diet as well as limiting gluten intake has basically owned me. My patience is short, emotions are high and low (all at once) and man am I grouchy!

I know the diet changes are not only necessary for me but they are also priority if they are impacting Adalyn… but man it is hard! The kicker is that removing gluten, if I do manage to avoid ALL the foods it is hidden in, will take months to leave our bodies before we’ll see results (maybe as many as 4-6 months). So Adalyn will likely be weaned and eating mostly solids at the point when potential positive results are seen, if ever…

It is a tall mountain to climb and looking ahead makes me tired and hopeless right now. I’d love to talk myself out of having to remove gluten from my diet or to turn to easier solutions such as supplementing formula or weaning Adalyn but the truth is those are only temporary fixes.

The underlying issues will likely return and rear their ugly heads in other forms if we continue to deny and avoid what needs to be done. That said, I am also continuing to explore other potential fixes for Adalyn. Her breastfeeding is still not where it needs to be so an official tongue tie evaluation is scheduled. We had on-going chiropractic neck adjustments for  her birth trauma that are no longer necessary but she’s still having issues.

I am working to make the house more and more gluten free as I go. First breads have been replaced, next are baking mixes and pastas. I am also looking for more gluten and processed food replacement items to fuel me and the family.

If you’ve never tried limiting your gluten intake than you seriously have no idea how rampant it is in our diets and how tremendously addictive it is. Honestly, cutting gluten has been worse than removing sugar or caffeine, for me. It is BAD!

So if you see this mama on the street and I’ve got a sour look on my face (or if I bite your head off), know it is just my food addictions and detox speaking, not my heart. This process has been (and still is) a doozie.

I think the key is to get over the negative perceptions and to reeducate ourselves on ways to live most economically. In an effort to wave my crunchy flag and inspire or educate others on reusing, re-purposing and wasting less I’ve been compiling a fun little “Crunchy Confessions” list to share with you. Some confessions are mine, some are others. All are interesting. Try a few in your home!

1. Reuse plastic bags: Those unwanted and always mounting plastic grocery bags that always find a way to our house despite our best efforts are reused for scooped dog poop each day. We scoop poop then tie the bag off and trash it. One day’s scooping per bag and doing this keeps the stink and flies away from our trash can. You can also use plastic grocery bags for the cat litter box scoopings and any other nasty stuff you want to tie off and toss out.
2. Just rinse off in the yard: Sometimes instead of wipes or bathing I let my poopy toddler swim in the old kiddie pool water to get clean, then I just empty the pool and refill it later.
3. No thread goes to waste: I can’t throw old clothes away, like hubby’s undershirts and t-shirts. So I re-purpose them and make reusable “swiffer sweeper” pads, or braided rag rugs, t-shirt quilts, dust cloths or diaper liners from them. They can also make good kitchen cleanup rags or garage mess rags. Like for oil messes and other hubby stuff
4. Use those blown out socks as dust rags! Wash and repeat.
5. Replace facial tissues: Snot rags often replace kleenex when we’ve got sniffly people. I just use soft cotton fabrics that have come from diapers, old receiving blankets, undershirts, etc and cut them to a reasonable size so they are used to dry running noses and then rewashed and reused.
6. Replace toilet paper: Teresa says, “yeah, this is a combo frugal/lazy/gross/crunchy. Sometimes when we’re almost out of toilet paper and i can’t bring myself to buy @ today’s prices (remember when under $0.25/roll was normal? it’s twice that now. and i’m not old.) or am too lazy to go to the store, i wipe with the baby washcloths we used for reusable diaper wipes and wash them like i did the diapers.
7. Save clean foil: I also reuse aluminum foil! Like when I’ve made a baked potato or something else that has left me with clean crumpled foil. I just smooth it out gently, fold and reuse at another date.
8. Reuse and re-gift gift packaging: Reuse gift bags & untorn tissue paper or better yet use comics to wrap things!
9. Recycle cardboard in your own home:Make seedling starters from cardboard cereal boxes or toilet paper/ paper towel rolls.
10. Hold the clippings: I wind all the grapevine clippings (when we prune for a new year’s growth) and turn them to wreaths. You can also do this with trimmed evergreen bushes or vine plants.
11. Replace the lawn: Instead of seeding the yard or spraying to kill weeds use a free lawn replacement plant=clover! I just dug clumps of clover from back behind my backyard and planted them inside the back yard. It will be our lawn replacement, it feeds the chickens, feels great to walk on, needs less mowing, when flowering it attracts beneficial bees oh yeah it is free too and will suffocate out other weeds/ grasses so no more spraying or seeding the lawn.
12. Catch the rain: Harvest rain water and use it for watering the lawn/ garden.
13. TapThatMom says, “I wash out baggies and reuse them. Only shave my legs once a week, water down my juices so we get more ounces per jug. I could go on and on!”

Now, I’d love to have you share your own confessions in the comments below…

or to tweet them with this link-> “Do you have a #crunchyconfession? http://wp.me/pbXEE-287 Mine is:________”