The Howe Family

During college, my roommate and I would joke about a barefoot revolution. It’s not that we didn’t appreciate cute shoes. Or that we wanted to start any foot-borne public health epidemics. We just preferred to be barefooted. The moment I’m home (or in the car) I kick off my shoes. The summer makes this really simple because of sandals. Now that we have our own garden, this barefoot revolution is getting to be tricky. I really hate stopping to put shoes on before I enter the garden. But the manure and other composty goodness in our soil is so squishy. And mixed with our clay-like soil it becomes an impenetrable sludge that is even difficult for my hose to spray off. So, I confess, that I have begun wearing sandals in the garden. It is really difficult to remember this. Seriously hard.

Here are some pictures featuring our homegrown produce. Today we even enjoyed fresh rainbow chard with our baked potatoes.

Summer is in full swing at our house. The boys are delightfully covered in bug bites. My shoulders are peeling from a recent burn. I ate a salad today with bibb lettuce from the garden. Nate is home. These are the best days.

Here are some recent photos of our happy summer:

Phin and Eil are officially friends. They light up when they realize that the other has finally awoken from their nap. They squeal and growl back and forth until one of them laughs. Phin will crawl around on the floor with Eli and attempt to carry him. Today he was lifting him and thoughtfully looks at me and said, “Mama, is Eli heavy?” (He is a very sturdy boy, about 19 lbs.) Phin gives him kisses and asks for kisses in return. When Eli slobbers on him, Phin informs me that it was a kiss, then wipes away the sweet brother slobber. I am so excited to see this dynamic in our family, the Sibling Love.

Eli has started crawling, crawling UP the stairs, and pulling himself up on ANYTHING. He prefers to stand, but will gladly chase me around the house on all-fours. I expect him to be walking well before his first birthday.

Phin is pictured here with a chocolate gelato goatee. We spent a day with family in Boulder, Colorado. Phin thoroughly enjoyed the public buses, street performers, water splash fountains, and gelato. He was amazingly well-behaved on the bus. (It got me fantasizing about how much fun it would be to live in a giant city and take public transport every where.)

I am seriously thrilled to have discovered gardening for myself. I would help out in the garden during my childhood- but I never saw the beauty in the process. Now I am completely hooked! I will post pics soon of our vegetable paradise soon.

LOVE YOU ALL!