4 Etsy Finds

Well hey y'all!!!  I've been off work since Thursday... needed a little Laurie time... and I've thought about blogging every day.  It really doesn't take that much time but it's the fact of stopping what I am doing to stare a the computer.  No thanks.  But over coffee on Sunday morning.... OK! 

I've been on Etsy this morning... drooling. 

I am in absolute love with the morel walking stick.  Amazing.  I showed it to Shaun and he said "oh, you need that!"  Here is the LINK.

These earrings!  I've got to where I don't ever wear earrings because they make my earlobe itch.  But these are beautiful!  Here is the LINK.

I actually did buy this soap.  Activated charcoal is supposed to be good for skin problems as is rosemary.  This soap has both.  Here is the LINK.

1OneCraftyMomma has some fantastic handmade shirts.  This is one of my faves from her.  It looks so comfy!  Here is the LINK. 

Maybe my blogging inspiration will continue and I'll walk around the house taking pictures so I can show you what I've been up to.

Have a great day!  And Happy Father's Day!  Not that any Fathers read this :)

spring

Ah the wonderful things that Spring has brought us this year.  For starters, I am sad and happy to say, that I am closing my day care.  It is time that I rejoin the outside world of work.  I am seriously going to miss the kids, all of my crafting, cooking, mothering and loving, but it is time for me to move on.  We initially opened the day care so that I could make money and be able to raise our own kids here instead of sending them to day care.  A year into my business we found out that I couldn't have children.  I am thankful that I had loving kids around me at that time and since then, otherwise I might not have made it through the depression of life not turning out the way I had expected. 

Katie Bug and I have spent a lot of time in the woods lately.  She plays in the creek while I hunt for mushrooms and all of the wonders that Spring brings.  I am so happy to say that I found five mushrooms this year... as of yet.  Most years I only find one.  I don't know if I am getting better at spotting them or if this is just a good year for them.  I think I am getting better at it and knowing were to look.  Each one I found was nearest to a Sycamore tree.  I have tried to make mental notes on the condition of the ground, the leaves and what was going on around the sites where I found them.  You just never know.  They have been the tastiest morels ever! 

I got really sick last week.  Sicker than I think I have ever been.  The doctor said it could be from tick bites as I also picked up some of them while mushroom hunting.  I went back in the woods as soon as I was better.  Call me silly... but I've killed a lot more ticks than ticks have killed me!  You gotta get right back on that bike. 

I got a new job!  I am supposed to start on the 25th so please say a little prayer for me.  My new job came a lot faster than I really expected.  I made the decision to close my business and start job hunting and within two weeks had a job to go to.  I feel it is a sign that I am doing the right thing. 

Here is a peek of mine and Kate's time in the woods.


The first morel I found this year on 3/26/16. 

Along with a shed that One Nut found while mowing.

One of the many gorgeous sparkly rocks on our place.

These come up down the creek.

We got to see all of the dog toothed violets in all of their beauty.

Trillium everywhere.

Lots of little violets.

I didn't pick and fry any fiddleheads this year.

The second morel I found.

And third.

And fourth... hiding under a downed tree.

This is where Kate stays while I hunt.  She splashes and barks at the water until she hears a gun shot somewhere and becomes attached to me.

I cam across Shaun's dad hunting for mushrooms last Saturday.  He found some good ones and when I got home he had left them on our front porch!  Thanks Gary!

Weekend Adventures

I wanted to share some pictures from the woods that I took this weekend.  I spent around eight hours this weekend in the woods (honestly more)  searching for morels, violets and fiddleheads.  Two of those were easier to come by than one but I am happy with what I did find.  I looked and gathered and wound up with two mushrooms, two cups of violets and one cup of fiddleheads.  We cooked supper over our camp fire Saturday night and that is also when I cooked the fiddleheads which were pretty divine along with the one mushroom that was fit for eating.  The violets became jars of jelly that I am afraid aren't going to set today... we'll see.

Mushroom hunting is fun but can be a tad exhausting.  They are hard to spot, especially when you've not found many where you are looking.  They don't grow in particular spots.  Oh you might think you know what they grow around or what trees they may grow under, so you spot these things and hike up the hills and through the creek only to find they aren't there.  So I wonder if my hunches are true.  But I try to mentally note what the area is made up of when I do find one.  Although I am tired and my body is aching from roaming up and down and all around about 15 acres or more I'm not giving up.  They are here somewhere.  I will try again maybe tomorrow evening and for sure next weekend.

Morel Mushroom

 

Fiddlehead

Violets

Bellwort

This is the first time I have ever seen the Bellworts.  Things flower and then finish flowering so fast in the woods that if you turn around twice you'll miss something.  Last weekend I didn't have my camera when the Trout Lillies were blooming and this weekend they were pretty much done.  I love knowing where all these flowers are in patches of our woods and adore the fact that I can take the time and care enough to venture out to see it all.