Often I wake up in the middle of the night and look in on my daughter sleeping soundly, and think to myself how perfect my little life is.

First time for everything!

Spring is, as we all know and have heard, a time for new beginnings. It is also a good time for firsts.
My daughter learned how to climb a tree this weekend, and now all she wants to do is climb trees! Yesterday she climbed an apple tree and maple tree in Michigan, and she climbed our old crabapple here at home in Chicago. She asked me what kind of trees I climbed as a boy- maples, boysenberry, oaks.... I climbed a few! It brought up some fond memories. It's like you get to relive your own childhood at times with your children, and I am thankful for that.
I started thinking about my firsts. My first day of school. My first kiss. My first apartment on my own. My first dog. Mostly all of these I smile about when I start to remember. It is very interesting to allow yourself to go back and focus on a first- really have some good time to just sit and remember. It's a cool mental exercise! (But know I don't advocate living in the past!)
So what about you? What are your firsts going to be this year?

Seeds and herbs and veggies- oh my!

All right, this is it. I am going to try to grow some herbs and veggies this year in whatever corner of my yard that has enough sun!

I mostly ordered seeds with my friend Julianna from an awesome source, Landreths Seed Co. We are giddy in excitement for their arrival! We are planning on nourishing ourselves with succulent veggies, flavoring our cooking with fresh herbs plucked from our own pots, and enjoying them knowing we raised them ourselves!

And of course my mind has been wandering as to WHAT ELSE I could possibly do for my family that would include growing things myself, and, well, much to the absolute horror of Layne, I've been thinking, you know, my back yard may actually be big enough for, lets say, three chickens! I've already checked out some of the urban chicken websites, and it seems pretty cool! I don't think it will go unnoticed though, so no sneaking in a few chicks... this one has to be carefully planned out! I've raised them before, once upon a time on our llama farm in Michigan, and it was so rewarding collecting eggs from "the girls", and giving the egg-cess (sorry for the pun!) to neighbors and friends back in Chicago was fun.

Would this be homesteading? In Chicago? Oh I don't know, but hopefully my enthusiasm for these new projects will be catchy!
And Jules, I am looking forward to our fish n chips dinner and talk of seeds as we ooh and ahh over the packets we'll be holding in our hands!