Amber Dusick

home depot for the birds

So our garden is coming along nicely, with wee little tomato plants transferred into the ground.  The other day though I heard such a ruckus near them, with a couple of birds just flipping out.  It was like they were attacking the tomato cages. 

I feared for the plants until I realized that they were frantically trying to pull off the strings that were left on from last year.  They just wanted the cotton string!  To build nests with!  The poor dears.  

So we made a little cardboard nesting supply center for them.  And I'm happy to say that they went crazy over it!  Pretty much all the strings are gone after just two days but they only took about half of the wood shavings.  

I remember finding bird nests when I was a child and seeing the different threads and strings woven in them.  This still fascinates me.  I'm happy to have helped them out with some cozy string.  Just as long as they stay away from my tomato plants.    

 

Seeking Snow in Sunny Southern California

My four year old has been infatuated with the idea of snow since we started reading wintery books in early December.  "Will it snow on Solstice?"  Not where we live.  "Will it snow on Christmas?"  Nope.  "Will it snow on New Year's Eve, Mama?"  Uh, no dear.  He had a long list of what he'd like to do:  build a snowman, make snow angels, snowball fight and of course taste the snow.  All the things I spent many a Minnesota winter doing as a child.    

Fortunately, we realized yet another bonus of living where we do.  Mountains.  Mountains = snow.  So this weekend we left our warm and sunny yard and we drove up, up, up for just one hour and poof, we were in a winter wonderland! 

My southern California boys stepped out of the car pondering, "What IS this stuff?"

The first thing they learned was that snow is cold.  Like, painfully cold if you hold it in your hands too long - cold.  That really put a damper on much snowman building or snowball throwing.  No, we didn't bring gloves.  We don't own gloves.  What on earth would we own gloves for?  It is 70 degrees outside as I type this post.  In January.  Enough said.    

Still, a wee little snowman was built with an acorn cap for hat.  And snow was tasted.  And Mama was pelted with a few snowballs (though mostly by Papa) and on the way back through the trees to the car we found the biggest acorn treasure ever which really, made the whole trip worthwhile in the eyes of a certain four year old with painfully cold hands.

And next time we're bringing gloves.  And maybe hot cocoa too.

A Fresh (squeezed) Start

Our orange tree is ripe and I'm so grateful for it.  So grateful for how it marks this season for us.  This is the second year we've had fresh squeezed orange juice for our winter morning breakfasts.  This is the second year we've had a rainy season that brings trails of confused ants into our family room.  This is the second year that we've spent weekends raking up leaves from the apple tree.    

This is the second year in our own home.

Recognizing this seasonal rhythm playing out in our home has made me giddy with excitement for the upcoming year.  For spring and summer and so on...          

I hope you are looking forward to the coming year and all that it brings.  Happy New Year!      

Compost Post Hijacked by Spiders

I had the very best intentions for a post on composting.  We were cleaning up the yard and we had this old metal tub to collect stuff.  It looked rustic.  The leaves were falling, I had my camera and everything was falling into place.

We compost and I was going to go blah, blah, blah about it and how my son has learned so much from it.  About things returning to the earth and that some things can easily while others can't.

And then.  And THEN!  We ran out of room in our compost bin.  Happens every fall.  So I had to sheepishly go drag over the "green waste" trash bin collected by the city.  We never use it.  Well, rarely.  So I dragged it over while holding the baby on my hip because everything I ever do in life is with a baby on my hip.  And I flipped open the lid and...

There she was.  A black widow.  Another one.  Shudder.

Just casually hanging out just inches from where my hand gripped the handle.  From where my baby's foot dangled from my hip. 

And now I can't possibly wax poetic about composting.  Composting sucks.  Composting sucks because it means we never use our green bin and then the spiders hijack it. 

And as it turns out, they have also hijacked the compost bin itself.  Oodles of them live in it.  It is like a black widow condo.  The other night our kitchen scrap pail was getting stinky so I grabbed it to take it outside to the bin. I started to walk towards the bin.  In the dark.  What was I thinking?  I came to my senses and stopped right there in the yard, dropped the kitchen pail and ran back into the house, admitting to my husband that I was too scared.  He took it out.  Because he is awesome.  He is a black widow killing ninja.   

So yeah.  Compost schmompost.  It now falls entirely in my husband's domain along with most of the cooking, anything that involves math and changing lightbulbs.  So I'm not even going to post about it. 

PS - Spiders are assholes. 

 

 

raspberry pickin' and apple pickin' and pumpkin patchin' tradition

Our weekend included our autumn tradition that I look forward to all year.  Check out last year's raspberry picking photo next to this year:

My what a difference a year makes.  Can you believe that one year old in a carrier is the same little baby inside my belly just a year prior?  Amazing.  I'm pretty sure my oldest is wearing the same green shirt  and I can see how quickly he switched from toddler to boy.  I look forward to marking the season with this tradition though the years.  We've been doing this before we had kids.  

My my the raspberries were abundant this year.  I think we polished off half of those before we even started on the road home.  Tradition!

So fun to try to find the most perfect pumpkin.  Tradition! 

Mini-donuts fried in apple cider from the little shop at the orchard?  Another tradition!

Each person picking out a special pumpkin to represent ourselves on our porch with a family of pumpkins?  Tradition!

Eating homemade donuts with fresh cider and local honey for breakfast the following day?  A new tradition!

Added any new autumn traditions lately?

 

 

 

 

 

Eco-Friendly Piñata & Birthday Festivities

Our birthday festivities are over (still clean up to do out back though) and I'll share what we did for our homemade eco-friendly pinata other than the felted wool balls that I already mentioned. 

Other than these organic lollipops, we did a mostly toy piñata.  The NaturalCandyStore.com is a great source for organic & natural candy. 

Colored twig pencil bundles were a huge hit.  I got these in bulk from an eBay seller a few years back for Halloween and still had these left over. 

These mini play clay samples from Mama K were also well received.  They are scented in unusual scents like lemongrass, cardamom and lavender with real essential oils.  We love them!  You could of course get some tiny containers and make your own play dough if you are so inclined.  I'm so in love with the texture and scent of these I'm taking a break from making my own.  

Little handmade wee wooden vehicles.  I only had a handful of these.

Other things we included that I don't have photos of that I found in local craft stores:  bouncy balls, mini-watercolor pan sets, erasers, crayons and tiny bubble jars.

The finished handmade pumpkin piñata!  My son helped me paint it.  I'll post a tutorial soon.

We glued some leaf cut outs to small kraft gift bags for the the kids to collect their loot in. 

Party decorations!  Most everything we used was handmade or from our yard.  He wanted an "autumn theme" this year so it was lovely.  Except the part that it was 108 degrees on party day.  Didn't feel like autumn, that is for sure.  

Did I mention the boy asked for pumpkin pie in lieu of cake this year?  It was my tradition when I was a child, I never had cake - always pumpkin pie for my October birthday.  Remember the cake fiasco last year?  I was relieved when he suggested pie this year, and pumpkin at that.  No suggestion from me even.  Not that it didn't come with its own problems.  We accidentally made a double batch.  So instead of three pies we wound up with SIX.  Oops!  Pie anyone?

This is the kids table.  Sadly, I don't have any photos of the finished space with the chairs and the rest of the decorations.  Such is the case when you are in a whirlwind of birthday partying. 

It was the perfect way to celebrate my eldest autumn boy.  Pumpkins, acorns, friends, family and food outdoors. 

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PS - Welcome to all the new folks that headed over from SouleMama!  I'm so happy you are popping over to check out my corner of the web and hope you stick around. 

 

 

 

 

 

      

harvesting sunflower seeds

We are harvesting sunflower seeds this week!  

We brush off the yellow flower fuzz.

And see they are striped and ready!

Then we cut off their heads (is there a nicer way to say this?) and hang them upside down to fully dry.  We left some standing for the birds so they could have a treat too.  I'm loving how much more flavorful these homegrown seeds are.  So...nutty.  I'd like to do something with them, some sort of salt mix, but I have a feeling they'll be eaten before I get around to it.

Gratuitous garden shoe photo.  Okay, wait, I do actually have a reason for posting this!  I stepped on a bee last week.  Holy macaroni that itched.  Stung at first yes, but then wow, the itch!  More itchy than anything I've ever experienced and remember I lived in Minnesota for ten years where the mosquito is like their honorary state bird.  A hundred mosquito bites don't match this itchy, raised golf ball sized welt on the bottom of my foot.  Kept me up at night.  So we are all getting better about wearing garden shoes in the yard.

Children of Nature Toy Series, Autumn 2010

The Children of Nature on parade! 

A dozen designs for this autumn.  I meant to keep these under wraps until September 1st because it feels odd to be all "Look at my fall stuff!!!" when it is still August but I couldn't wait.  It is pure torture for me to sit on something that is ready and not share it. 

(PS - thank you for all the lovely comments on our anniversary!  We had a great weekend of food, fun and family)

End of Summer, Just Before Sunset

Digging in the dirt is one of the best ways to spend a late afternoon.

And tasting an apple that fell only a few feet away from where you were standing. 

And finding half an egg hidden among the lavender bushes. 

And then laying in the tall grass until dark and it is time to go inside.   

Just before sunset is my favorite time of day in summer.  The shadows stretch out.  The air cools.  The crickets chirp.  It is the winding down of the day and I love it when it comes to us relaxed.  It is the time in between.  Too early for bedtime yet the day feels complete.   

And it never fails to bring random late summer memories of my own childhood, playing outside just before getting called in for the evening.  Excited and nervous for school to start soon yet sad that summer was ending.  I wanted to squeeze out every drop of summer and this meant staying outside until it was nearly dark every night. 

Some things haven't changed a bit.            

 

Autumn Children of Nature 2010 Coming Soon

Autumn is usually the most juicy creative time of the year for me, I find the season so inspiring it is almost overwhelming.  For every new design for the series I sketch I think of ten more.  My sketchbook is filled with lists and lists of ideas and sometimes I get frozen in not knowing what to do first.

I took this with my phone yesterday, right after I finished painting the very last one.  I will finish and share them properly but I just couldn't wait to give a sneak peek.  Turnip, butternut squash and squash blossoms!  Apples, milkweed and sunflowers! 

Autumn for me as a child meant pumpkin patches and apple orchards.  Chasing the fluff of milkweed pods.  Butternut squash with lots of brown sugar.  Sunflowers towering over my head.  Digging up root vegetables. 

When you think back to autumn as a child, what comes to mind?    

PS - In case you are new here, I introduced my first Children of Nature series in fall of 2008 with this post.  Some of those may appear again too from time to time.