Wonderful Weekend

To me, this weekend was perfection. We were all together, working outside all bundled up in 20 degree weather, interspersed with great food. We started out our day with pancakes -- a recipe given to me by my Aunt Janie and one Victor and I have recently decided (after much tasting) is the best there is. Then we went outdoors to tackle my wood inventory. Our wood burning stove insert is new to us, so we weren't busily squirreling away wood all summer and fall. It was past time to get busy.

Thankfully, in our back woods there are countless -- who knows how many years worth -- standing dead and fallen trees that are all ready "seasoned". Victor cut and chopped and the kids and I carried and stacked. Mid-day, we had an outdoor hot chocolate break with marshmallows. For lunch we took a break and had chicken soup and corn bread that I had stashed away in the freezer. We went back at it after lunch and worked until the sun was low on the horizon. I made egg rolls and fried rice with eggs and beef from a nearby farm, and sweet peppers, cayenne peppers, broccoli and carrots from our garden. How wonderful. We ate our feast while watching A Christmas Story.

On Sunday, after church, the boys were back outside.

Benjamin was very excited to learn how to split wood.

Last count was six logs that he'd split by himself -- and proud!

Benjamin and Ripley take a "play" break from work -- which left to their own devices outside usually includes mud, dirt and water. (Notice Benjamin's knees -- yep, that's my boy.)

Our progress.

Isn't my Siberian Kale gorgeous in the sunlight?

Here is my Arugula, making progress and looking cozy in the closed cold frame.

Mesclun Mix Greens churning away and getting big.