Life With Nine Kids: Spring Turns Into Summer

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Spring Turns Into Summer

Grilling

I love grilling because the oven stays off and the kitchen stays cool, there are less dishes and clean up, and it tastes good. We love grilled pineapple and veggies! In search of a healthier version of hot wings I invented (with the help of some online suggestions and searches) a fry-free non breaded grilled hot wing. The recipe will be posted on my food blog later today.

I love when the little kids take pictures of me because I get to see myself from their point of view.

Harvest

We are enjoying lots of fruit. The blackberry bushes are heavy with fruit, it's really exciting to see them flourish. We bought all our raspberry (thorn and thorn-less varieties) and blackberry (thorn-less) bushes from www.gurneys.com two years ago, I think. I'm so very happy with them I plan on planting more for sure. There is something so amazing about planting a 3-7 inch twig into

the ground and watch it grow delicious berries.

Poison Ivy

The poison ivy has gotten way worse on us both. We itch, bust mostly we have rashes, headaches and we are tired all the time. We had to cancel our all day trip away and swimming plans for the rest of the weekend because Ricky breaks out too bad when out in the heat. His rash and energy level don't do well if he does anything other than than hang out on the couch. (Ha, the perfect ailment for him on a 3 day weekend, lucky guy!)

Yesterday he finished extending the fence to my guinea and goose pen and adding a gate, it wiped him totally out even though it only took him an hour. He broke out horribly (way worse than the picture above). I made a slippery elm paste and rubbed it all over him. It helped take the swelling down.

I swear by slippery elm bark. It is good for so many things, but for anything skin related if it's: red, raw, weepy, blistery, sore, crusty or wet then slippery elm bark is your cure. I used it on chicken pox and it was amazing. When Layla was a nine month old baby with chicken pox she ended up getting them so bad on her face she had deep blistery wet pits. They were very deep, wet and weeping. I sprinkled or dabbed dry slippery elm powder on her constantly and it kept them clean and dry. Slippery elm has antibacterial and anti fungal properties, its soothing and can help with itchy and soreness. She once got impetigo, too, and it totally cured it where most would have needed to go to the doctor.

Ricky's now crashed out on Zyrtec (allergy pill). He said it already seems to be helping the swelling around his eyes. If he gets any worse we'll take him to the Walgreen's Take Care Clinic. We've always had great luck and helpfulness there.

Guinea Fowl

Guinea raising has been totally satisfying! We have worked hard on taming them! They are not totally tame (I'm not sure that's possible), they are however just skittish enough that you remember they are a game bird, but they are mostly calm and easy to be around without them getting spooked much. I was thrilled when I was working in the garden and they came near me! I'm able to easily herd them into their house each night, which his really fun and neat! I had read guineas like routine and we have them on one. They are really a lot of fun. I see them out my kitchen window guarding the garden, eating bugs and grain, and visiting their house several times a day. I also see them admiring themselves in the several mirrors I put around for them. I love them and think of them as pets more than any fowl I've ever had. For the first time I got to see their watch dog instincts kick in as they freaked out squawking and carrying on when we started using the weed eater the other day. It was hilarious. I think we have two females and one male, but it's very hard to tell. They have gotten big very quickly!

Goslings snuggling up in the grass