chickens!

so we now have chickens. a hen belonging to the people that dave works for hatched 10 chicks and since we were interested in raising some chickens, they gave us these chicks. with them came the mom, a black and white banti, who has been tirelessly taking care of these babies. they lived in our stove room, next to the wood stove for the first three weeks and are now residing in the greenhouse. i had some wonderful pictures of them as 3 day old chicks, but lost these =(

so here's two videos of our little chickies.








and, dani and i have started making underwear.


unfortunately, i lost a lot of really good pictures that i was planning on putting up here, but such is life.

until then, peace and wellness,

penny

October

As it always seems, its been a long time since we've updated our blog. Time goes by much more quickly than I do, so it seems. I'm on my lunch break at farmer's market at the Eugene City Library. Dave is at home with his new chain saw cutting up some of our firewood. I'm about halfway through my work day and cannot wait to get back to the farm. As cool as a city Eugene is, I miss being at the farm, in the woods, with dave.

Anyway, there's so much I could write all day about, but I don't know where to get started. I've heard it said that pictures speak louder than words, so here's at it.




Dave started a new job a month ago at a place in Lorane, OR called the Balance Restoration Nursery. They grow and collect native wet land plants for wetland restoration projects all over the pacific northwest. He's completely in love with the work he's doing and has gotten to do some pretty adventurous stuff like wade out into a lake wearing a wet suit and collecting water lily roots.

I spend 5 of my 7 seven days a week at the cabin, keeping up our home, getting ready for winter, visiting neighbors, feeding the pets. Since we moved in, we acquired two new kitties:

Skylar

and
Jasper

Both are wonderful cats and eat a lot.

We've been recording!!! Some people have gotten to hear a little of what we've been doing, but there's so much more on the way. We've recently been given some really interesting, inspiring music by friends out here (mum, canada boards, doc watson), and its been giving us some really great ideas.


So, hopefully more soon.

I love you,

penny

new pictures

so, new pictures on the web albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/pennymj

we've just spent the last couple days hanging out with chris and kate from back east and it was great. it was wonderful to have a nice, solid break from the work we've been doing, but we're back on it and i'm here at the library on my break from market.

check out the pictures and we'll have much more to come soon.

peace and love and joy,

penny and dave

welcome to the hilltop house

as hopefully a lot of you already know, dave and i will be changing our residence to the rainbow farm, which is right next door to the farm we've been living on. our friends, lexi and rob, have extended an invitation for us to caretake the cabin they are living in, as they are seldom there. we'll be living there fulltime, taking care of the cabin and land around it and they'll come to stay every now and then.

our cabin is called the hilltop house. its a magical place that is enchanted by the wood surrounding it. there's no electricity, but there's running water and we're working on hot water. the yard needs loads of work, but we're really excited to be doing it. we've already planted catnip in front of the porch and begun the peace garden:


this will be a perennial herb garden with sage, lavender, oregano, thyme, and lupine. we'll be adding a brick pathway in the shape of a peace sign!

here's our outhouse


it needs some fixing up, but you get the idea.

here's our washtub fuchsias



boyd


and an awesome cabbage



oddly enough, percy has already moved in. he followed us over there one day and came back to the yurt a couple times, but now takes up his permanent residence at the hilltop house. there's another cat that lives there and they seem to get along.

there's an apple tree laden with big fat granny smiths and two undetermined plum trees. berries are ripening all over the place! you can go anywhere on the farm and pick wild fresh dew berries, black cap raspberries, and thimble berries. the blackberries and huckleberries with be coming on soon!

go to our web albums http://picasaweb.google.com/pennymj for more pictures of the cabin, wildflowers, zucchinis and loads more cool stuff.

peace and love,

penny and dave

meet the neighbors

as many of you know, we live nextdoor to an intentional co-op community called the rainbow farm.

There are several cabins on the farm:

main house

main house is intended to be the central hub of the community. the caretaker, eugene, lives there with his partner dani, dani's daughter millie, and their son journey. this is where potlucks happen and where people meet up on hot days to head down to the river. there are solar panels on the roof that provide over half the power for the cabin.

the schoolbus house

the house was actually built around a schoolbus, and the origional frame is still sticking out. in the photo you can see it on the left, above millie's head, with plants sitting atop it. this house is completely powered by solar. angel and justin live there with their children savannah and zia, two chickens, a rooster, a llama and olive the dog.

the hilltop house

we think this is the prettiest house. its the house most set back into the woods (and up the hill) and surrounded by trees. it has a beautiful stained glass window that was made by a woman named joy who lived there many years ago, a kitchen floor with pictures of slugs, suns and moons, and a battery-opereated wall clock that makes a different bird song every hour. our good friend lexie (dani's sister) lives there, but spends most of her time in Eugene. living in town makes her commute to a farm in junction city significantly shorter.

the dome and the yurt (not our yurt)

the dome (sorry, no pictures yet) is lived in by a guy named mark that we haven't met yet. he works in town, and hasn't visited the farm since we've been here. its an incredible cabin, with a geodesic dome built on the side. bill and raymond live in the yurt on the corner of the field in which eugene grows organic timothy hay. bill has lived on the farm for two many years to count and raymond has been there with him for several years now.

jacob, tera, millie and dani

jacob and millie


dave leaning against a drum made by eugene at main house

millie and me

olive the dog

we showed our photo albums to the neighbors so that they could meet our family, and now you, our family, has met our neighbors. hopefully visits out here in the future will enable some of you to meet them in person!!!

we love and miss everyone more than words could ever say....

be well,

penny and dave

on the smith river

Hello!!!




Its been too long since this thing got updated. Our internet access is beyond limited...we've only got dial up on the farm and our laptop won't make it into town since we can't run it without it being plugged in. Oh well =(

Anyway, we've both been working on blog entries with pictures to describe our experiences thus far, but I figured I could do a little update before that. We're working like crazy, as this is the busiest part of our season. I now work at the consignment booth at farmer's market. It s a booth run by the market to sell for farmer's who don't have their own booths. My friend Dani, who lives on the rainbow farm next door, manages the booth and got me the job. Dave brings our starts in the van to market, sets up the Morning Sun Organics booth and runs that with Tera. The two of them are actually making delivery to an organic garden center in Eugene right now.

We've been learning the business, making friends and finding new hobbies. We've become avid mushroom hunters and will be consigning oyster mushrooms at market. Spring and fall are really good times for mushrooms, so we're hunting!!! We've found oysters, chantrelles and hedgehogs, and they've all been really yummy. Now we're going to try selling them to make some extra loot. I'm also going to be crocheting some market bags to sell.



Boyd and percy love it out here. Percy has been catching mice, moles and snakes and Boyd has swam in the Pacific Ocean.

So, that's all for now I'm sorry to say. Sooooon we will get our grand posts up with tons of pictures and it will be like you're right here with us.

Until then, we love and miss our friends and family more than we can say. We think of you everyday.

peace and love,

penny and dave

shout your name into the wind....

this is it....our last drive of the trip....out to the farm.

driving across the country has been the most freeing feeling we've ever felt and now to end it and have our dreams come true is unfathomable.

don't listen to anyone that tells you you can't live your dreams. we're doing it.

life is beautiful and God is in everything.



be joyful!!!

penny and dave

show me what this thought is worth...

there are no words to describe what we've experienced in the last few days.

divine maybe.....

see for yourself:

click here for Wyoming

click here for utah and idaho


click here for oregon

we're in a lovely holiday inn tonight....so warm and comfy, a half hour from portland and 3 and a half hours from home!!! next sunday is the farmer's market meeting in eugene for all people who will be selling at it. needless to say, we are beyond excited about that.

there are so many people i wish we could share this experience with...so many people that we miss. we love you and love you even more now that we've seen a bigger sliver of god's vast creation...and seen you in it.

be well and be still,

penny

Halfway There

Wow, so much has happened since our last post.





Last night we stayed in Davenport, IA. Tonight we're in Sydney, NE!!! Its about 30 miles from Wyoming, which we're really excited to see in the day time.

Iowa was absolutely beautiful. The land was very humble, very flat and treeless. Patches on trees scattered themselves along the fields and houses were group around these trees. It was a very peaceful drive. We've taken a lot of pictures with out 35 mm, but won't be able to add them until we get the film developed. We listened to Johnny cash for the drive, as well as iron and wine, which made it feel like home.

But here's a good one:



Tomorrow is Wyoming, Utah and Idaho? Who knows....

Until then, be well and be still,

Penny

p.s.


We hit our 1,000 mile mark!!!

PEPPER SPRAY AND STUN GUNS - THIS EXIT!

hey everyone....this is dave here on my first post on the mustard & cress blog. i'm excited to say that this is our first post from the road. as of 10am today, we were on our way west. the sign above shows just how awesome upstate new york can be. after we hit buffalo, the weather began to get worse until we finally decided to chill for the night just inside ohio. we're at a days inn and boyd and percy are in here with us. below are some pics from our travels today....

1. boyd has been great in the car....he seems to be very comfortable sleeping in the backseat most of the day. he got pretty wild when we let him out though...

___________________________________________

2. i love this picture the most......

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3. at the rest areas, because we have a trailer (no matter how small) we have to park in the "trailer" spots which is basically the "trucker" spots. we think our car looks pretty silly in the midst of all the big rigs.


_________________________________________

4. this is how much percy likes riding in the car....

well....tomorrow we're headed to nebraska...more to come...

do good work.

~dave

Happy Birthday Bart!!

My Nephew Bart turns 1 year old today!

Dave, do you think you'll like living in a yurt??

Bowling (again!) and Glen and Marketa

We went bowling again with the family on Saturday. We were given two beautiful going away presents: a photo album with pictures of everyone and a CD made by Anthony and Vinny. Thank you Brian, Carolyn, Ethan, Angie, Jon, AJ and Vin.

Glen and Marketa won an Oscar!! If you don't know who they are, you're not a whole person yet.

THE SWELL SEASON

One Week Left!!!

March 3rd....I can't believe it. When we made the decision to go to Oregon at the end of December, we knew the following 2 months would fly by, but the went faster than I could have imagined. We've met a lot of obstacles, but we've had faith and hope and persevered.

Tera sent us a list of the various seeds we will be starting. Here's a sample:

HERBS-BASIL
CATNIP
CHAMOMILE
CHIVES
CREEPING THYME
DILL
ECHINACEA P.
FENNEL, ZEFA FINO, BRONZE AND GREEN
GERMAN WINTER THYME
MUNSTEAD LAVENDER
OREGANO
SAGE
PUMPKINS-NEW ENGLAND PIE
CONNECTICUT FIELD
SPINACH-TYEE
BLOOMSDALE SAVOY
SQUASH-SUMMER-BENNING'S GREEN TINT
BLACK BEAUTY
GOLD RUSH
SENECA SUPREME
SUNBURST
SPACEMISER
YELLOW CROOKNECK
WINTER-VEGETABLE SPAGHETTI
TUFFY
DELICATA-
WALTHAM BUTTERNUT
SWISS CHARD-FORDHOOK GIANT
RHUBARB CHARD

This is about a third of the list! Tera mentioned that there are a good amount of seedlings that end up just being composted. I'm excited to be able to send home some of these seedlings to all our friends and family.

We're leaving our apartment on Friday (eek!) and will be staying with family and friends until Monday.....when we hit the road!

Be well, do good works and keep in touch,

penny

Since Its Been Awhile...

Here's a killer recipe I found on Veg Cooking.

Linda McCartney’s Avocado-and-Green Chili Soup

2 ripe avocados
3 cups soy milk
1 4-oz. can or jar of green chilies
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. dry sherry
Chopped chilies or fresh parsley, for garnish

• Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits. Scoop out the pulp and purée in a blender.
• Add the remaining ingredients, except the garnish, to the blender and purée until smooth. Put the mixture into a serving bowl, garnish, and serve immediately.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Enjoy!!

bowling!

Last night we went candle pin bowling with our family. Here are a couple pictures:

First Seedlings of theYear

We got another email from Tera! Exciting news because she has another WWOOFer at the farm right now who's helping her get things started. This WWOOFer, Carley, got there about a week ago and Tera said they've been having a great time. They will get the first seedlings of the season started so that when we get there, we can jump right in. When the farm was running to full capacity, they would start seedlings right after christmas, to get a head start and make the earliest dent in the market that they could. What is also exciting is that Tera said a lot of the seedlings end up getting composted, so Dave and I will be able to send home presents to all our gardening friends.

What's so exciting for me is that growing is going to be our jobs! Meaning, no challenge will be too hard. I've been wanting to grown lavender for a long time now, but the germination period is so long it makes this task very difficult. But this Tera's help and the professional equipment we'll have access to, I'll be able to grow lavender all around the yurt.

Its nerve-wracking that we only have about 5 weeks to go and our apartment is still mess. Next week we're having a psuedo-estate sale, but its really just our friends coming over and taking what they want out of the stuff we can't take. We bought 4 18-gallon bins and our going to limit ourselves to these bins for personal items that we're bringing. I already filled one with my sewing machine and various craft stuff. The good things is that clothes, books and records are not included in this. We're trying to find a trailer to tow our things in, but they're expensive! We're looking for something in the $100-$200 range and they're out there, just hard to find. If anyone sees one, let us know!!!

Until then, peace and love, and I leave you with this



Penny

Morning Sun Organics

Back in September of 2007, Dave and I joined an organization called World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. After our first year running the Root Project, though successful, we realized that there is still so much about farming that we don't know. What do you plant in place of spinach after it sucks all the iron out of the soil? Farms across the country who are looking for volunteers list in a WWOOF directory and offer room and board to people seeking education and experience. In exchange for 10-30 hours of work per week, volunteers get warm food, a warm place to sleep and a season's experience working on an organic farm. This was our intention...to spend a season on a farm, learning the ins-and-outs, and use that knowledge for whatever came next. But what ended up happening was that we found:


Morning Sun Organics is run by a woman named Tera in Drain, Oregon. She starts seedlings in three big greenhouses and sells these seedlings to nurseries and at farmer's markets. A couple years ago the farm was run by Tera and three others, but now it is her alone. After we found Tera through WOOF in November, we've sent emails back and forth, had a couple phone calls and got to know each other. She has sent pictures of the farm and we have sent pictures of ourselves, our family and our life here. Below are a couple pictures from the farm. Here are more.













We'll be living on the farm with Tera in a yurt. Its 20 feet in diameter, with a little over 300 square feet. Inside, there's a wood stove, queen bed, couch, bookcase, end table, kitchen table and 6x8 rug (which nothing else is touching! roomy.) The bubble up top is the skylight!

The weather in Drain is beautiful....75 in July and 40 in January. Its a rainy place but hardly any snow.

On top of the business, we'll be growing our own food, preserving for the winter and selling surplus at the farmer's market in Eugene. Its the life we were meant to live!!!

Until next time, peace and love,
penny