A couple gardening friends of mine let me in on a secret location of this amazing grove of large cane golden bamboo. It is amazing! I can't wait to knock on their door to see if they might spare a specimen.
He has been collecting random electronic parts for years from friends and at garage sales. The most amazing part of this collection is the working clock, three CPU fans turned on by light switches and a radio that plays music.
He said that his project was like a magnet and the kids were steel balls attracted to it when he brought it in to share with his schoolmates.
Here's a list of all the 100 parts!
Enjoy words from John - Matt's father who married us with heartfelt words, this sweet poem, and a butterfly adorned silk scarf.
Enjoy words from my Dad Jon - who rode with me in a white wagon drawn by a horse named named Dammit, then walked with me down the straw and flower strewn pathway to share these wonderful words...These hills have been here for thousands of years. They survived the great floods, which passed only 12 miles west of here. The very hill we are on now, which has come to be known as "Mt. Nuptial", looks now as it has looked for all those eons of time. However, when Nadja's great grandfather came to Eureka Farm it was a little different. The original homesteader had planted a 40 acre Walnut Grove in this very spot! An island forest of trees in the Palouse Prairie! We could use some of that shade today. The trees are long gone, along with he horse drawn wheat combines. The last wheat crop harvested some years ago. The hills have been returned to native grasses.
In this unique place where the earth and the sky collide in such a spectacular way...
The mountains in the distance that mark that boundary were called the Blue Mountains by the tribe that lived her for their purity of air...
Here we come to celebrate the union of my most cherished first born daughter to my very dear soon to be eldest son. We know that ALL IS CHANGE and are reminded by the poet of the space that must be maintained between to allow for growth and definition. But we are also reminded in a place like this of the permanency of beauty, the endurance of love between two people, and the wonder of the Great Spirit.
As a community, we need to support and nurture Matt and Nadja in their journey towards union. We can become like a force of nature as powerful as the wind and rain that have created and maintained these hills. Their relationship will have its harvest and Walnut groves. In the end, their community well represented here today through their love, understanding, and collective wisdom will make a profound difference. Who can say but I like to think that in some future time, Nadja and Matt's great grand children will stand in this spot and say their vows and think "It all started here, upon this hill."
Papa
Then artfully arranging them into patterns for baking. 
Then decorating each one with precisely one perfect pink flower from a piping bag. It was the cutestest thing watching him with the piping bag held against his forehead, bent over, so focused on making the most perfect little piped flowers! He got really good at it. I know who's decorating the next cake in this family.
Then squirting and spreading them with wild frosting designs and circles to match the dots on her cute little shirt.
Our gorgeous rooster needs a name. Help us give him the name he deserves and one dozen eggs are yours! If you win and happen to live far away, I'll blow you a dozen and ship them so you can use the lovely shells for Easter decorations.
He's a wonderful fellow. The third in a long line of what we call "Son of Satan" roosters. But somehow the Satan gene switched off for him thank goodness! He doesn't turn on the typical "killer rooster attack mode" of his forefeathers. He hardly flinches when we enter the coop. No baseball bat or steel toed boots required around this guy.
Two years ago he hatched from a mixed breed egg, by our wonderful and sweet little French Millefleur hen named Freckles. I think his breed mix is part Black Australorp and part Wellsummer Satan Hell II. Sadly his surrogate mother's life was taken by our bird dog puppy. I cried. No more free ranging.
This guy is looking particularly proud now that his ladies are laying again. His gorgeous feathers of brown, gold, black and burgundy are brilliant. He's proud of his plumage.
We got electricity to the coop, the classical music is back on and they are back at it again! Our lovely Ameraucana Araucana hens a breed originally from Chili who give us the glorious green, pink and blue eggs are gearing up for Easter!
Here's a picture of Avril's little felt sheep we made with my 4-H kids at Foothills Academy. Thanks to Catherine of Foothills Farm for an educational and fun time learning about and working with fiber! Catherine is hosting a needle felted honey bees class and has a local honey bee farmer sharing about life with bees on Friday. Looks like fun, want to join me?
February is my favorite time to organize seeds and order from colorful seed catalogs.
Here's my must order suggestions from my top two favorite catalogs:
and a burning sunset to top it off...
