Happy Project

There's this thing, 100 days of happy.

I can do this. I do this every day already. Even if I am having a crappy day, I can find 5 minutes to be happy, to look around and be grateful, to love. If the day is collapsing on my head, I step outside and look at the stars, sit and drink tea alone, or snuggle my babies.

Why take part in this then? To help others do it too. 3 years ago, when Isaac was diagnosed with 22q11 Deletion Syndrome, I thought I could not/should not share his story. I thought that violating his personal medical privacy was a horrible crime to commit, so I kept to the private boards. I only shared happy pictures and good things on the blog. But then? Someone, an expectant mother with a prenatal diagnosis of 22q, who was given the choice to abort her baby and was seriously considering it...found my blog through those groups. She saw happy. Today, that baby is a thriving toddler.

Sometimes when we show others the possibility of something as simple as happy, a miracle happens.

Here's to that miracle. Here's to happy.

A February Thaw and Babies on our Farm: Pictures

Happy: Starring, Children of the Boxes and the Queen of Balloon People

Walnut Syrup Part Two

So here are the photos of the final straining and jarring up of the walnut syrup. Usually, we strain as the sap comes in the house before it goes to boil, but this time we were working with frozen chunks, so straining came after it was syrup.

It is more jelly like than maple syrup, but sweeter. Not so much walnut flavour as the boil smell hinted at (you know, making my house smell like German Chocolate Cake....), more of a plain sweet. This may be because it was very early sap (see the light colour). Early maple is like this too, the later sap is darker and more maple-y.

We got just shy of 1 quart. Not bad for 4 stock pots of sap, actually. This is just the beginning of sugar season, friends. The new cold snap and deep freeze means y'all have plenty of time to order supplies and get your own syrup made this year. So easy. So very worth it.

Three trees in your yard? That can provide 2 gallons of syrup and that's enough for my whole family for a year AND sugar my coffee every morning. That's a pretty amazing thing that even an urban homesteader can do.

Still need convincing? Ok. Here: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5602/2
Does your coffee sweetener have iron, magnesium, calcium, and potassium and like 5+ more minerals that you might take a multivitamin to get? No?

Seriously. SERIOUSLY. GO TAP YOUR TREES.

Oh and this. Make this and dream of summer.