summer garden

Summer weather is upon us.  I love peeking out the windows as the beautiful sun feeds everything green around us.  I love the smell of the warm air, mingled with fragrances from plants and flowers, as we spend time outside, soaking it all in.  I love to see the kids play in the hose outside, run game after game of tag or basketball, ride bikes all day, and then come in tired and sweaty and ready for a good, cool bath and some reading time indoors.  What a glorious time of year!!

First harvested garden greens, made into a yummy arugula pizza on whole wheat flatbread with melted aged gouda cheese.  Yummmm!!

herbs.

french heirloom radishes.

spinach, swiss chard, kale, cabbage.

lettuce, arugula, mixed greens.

We are enjoying fresh salads every day, and look forward to eating more home-grown foods all summer!  One of my favorite things about the season.  Love!!

backyard picnic and spring days

It's time to enjoy this lovely spring weather!!

We had a family picnic outside on Saturday,

with kite-flying, trampoline-jumping, soccer, football, and lots of yummy food.

Today we'll be out working in the yard all day.

The kids are rushing through chores and schoolwork, so we can get outside.

We'll pick up the millions of branches and sticks that have fallen from our giant elm trees during the windstorms this past week.

We'll pull weeds, clean out the barn, and lay fresh straw in the chicken coop.

And we'll tidy up the beds and plant the first seeds of our summer garden.

All while enjoying that glorious sunshine!!

Have a great spring day!

hens a-layin'

Happy, happy April everyone!!

Hope you had a beautiful weekend.

We spent ours gathered around the television, watching General Conference...something we look forward to every six months.

It was wonderful and I feel inspired to be a better person.

I can't believe spring is here!

After a long winter hiatus, our hens have decided to start laying eggs again.  Hooray!!

We love fresh eggs!  In fact, we just don't eat a lot of eggs when we can't get the fresh kind...the storebought variety pales in comparison to the fresh, bright-yellow-yoked, fetched-from-the-coop kind.  We're so thankful for our little feathered friends in the springtime, and for the excellent source of nutrition they give us.  And we're thankful that beautiful spring has arrived...like all of nature at this time of year, it is such a productive time for these backyard mama hens of ours! 

The girls are the self-designated egg collectors.

They love going out to the coop and hunting around for the colored eggs...

...kinda' like Easter every day!

(They also like showing off...notice Eliza's boot flying across the yard when she saw me pull out the camera...?!)

Then, the washing and sorting.

And counting, of course.

The boys want to know when we'll have enough eggs to start selling them for money.

I tell them: when we have more than we can eat.

So far, no surplus...

...just lots of omelets, poached eggs with toast, crepes, puffed dutch pancakes, muffins, and good 'ol scrambled eggs for any meal of the day.

And just in time...I'm finally getting over the long bout of morning sickness I've had all winter. Spring is looking more productive for this mama hen too!!  :)

fall harvest and real food

We pulled up the rest of the carrots, cabbages, chard, pumpkins, and squash from the garden this week.  We had such a sunny October, which lengthened our harvest a bit.  The kids and I are heading out there this afternoon to bring in the herbs, and gut out the rest of this summer's remains, which are looking rather dry and weedy and ready to retire for a long winter's rest.  We expect snow tonight, so we'd better go dig everything out before it all freezes!

I'll be roasting pumpkins today to start making yummy pumpkin treats, soups, and custard.  I love anything made of pumpkin!  I want to try some of these recipes...don't they look delicious?

We've been adding grated carrots and chopped swiss chard to some of our favorite dinner dishes.  We made this favorite gluten-free carrot cake this week.  Yum!

Our favorite way to eat cabbage is chopped and sauteed in pastured butter or good olive oil, with shredded carrots and lots of Real Salt and pepper.  It's one of our favorite comfort foods.  I'd like to try to make fermented sauerkraut with my cabbage too, but we've eaten most of it!  Maybe next year...

I love eating, preparing, and serving fresh, local, seasonal foods.  And I love eating real foods.  I read this great post about real food this morning.  Summed up so well!  Check it out.  (Oh, and don't you love the photographed chicken foot in her header?  Great photo!)

My favorite real, traditional food blog is Nourished Kitchen.  Stunning photography, well-documented research and facts, excellent writing, stunning photography, and fabulous recipes.  We've loved every recipe from Jenny that we've tried.  Go have a look.  Seriously good stuff.

And for anyone who's interested, the handout (summary) from my Healthy Eating and Happy Memories presentation at the 2011 BYU Women's Conference is up on their website.  You can view the pdf here.  I included some simple, nutritious snack and meal ideas, along with a recommended reading list.

And look through the Women's Conference transcripts for lots of inspiring talks by amazing women.  Also, if you emailed me for a copy of my entire presentation, and never received it, please leave a comment with your email address, or email me at triciacope@gmail.com, and I'll send you a copy.  Thanks!


PS...There was Christmas music blasting in the background while I wrote this, and kids making Christmas wish lists by the fire.  Yes, I know it's early, but December goes by way to quickly for me!!  So, bring it on, I say!  Andy Williams rocks.

on keeping animals

Funny...neither of us were ever animal people.

But with this little patch of land, we've been able to spread out a bit and speckle it with life.

I love looking out the kitchen window while I wash dishes.  

(love the window, not the dishes...just clarifying.)  

I see life in many forms.  

Chickens pecking at the grass, 

goats playfully bucking at each other, 

and cats at play, wandering, lounging, wrestling, and chasing around the yard.

And of course, I see children interacting with all of the creatures, big and small, 

and having the time of their lives.

Life 

(in all its forms) 

is good. 

happy weekend!

in the saddle

The trend for fall at our house?

HORSES.

The girls started riding lessons this fall.

And they're having the time of their lives.

Can you tell?