Busy Summer Schedule

Hi all. I'm late to my own blog. That's a sad comment on how much I've been doing lately... Too much to keep up with everything. I have a job, I volunteer at a local farm, I volunteer at Creamers Field, I serve on a church board, and I'm taking a summer class. Plus, raising my two lovely girls, now 3 & 5 years old, while enjoying our warm summer sun.

So, how did I begin doing all of this you ask... Let me tell you. This winter it was cold and dark and I got cabin-fever while cooped up inside. So this spring when oppurtunity came, I said yes to everything! Have you ever done that? I usually have more common sense than that... But perhaps that dissipates as life rolls on at a fevered pace.

let me tell you a little about each of the things I'm involved with this simmer. The biggest change is working at a co-op of 9 differ artists here in Fairbanks. It's Cabin 13, at Pioneer Park. I have taken all of my things that have been in storage to sell on Etsy and put them all in this cabin. I have nearly 100 items in the store. This week I added: 8 schlep bags, 6 girls totes, 2 handbags, 10 coffee cozys, 2 wall hanging quilts, and 7 aprons. I didn't make all of them this past week... But I finished and added the 4 schlep bags from last week, and embroidered 2 new totes, and made 2 new wall hangings. The rest I had already done but hadn't added them yet to the store. I am finishing one more tote now, then I will turn my attention back to making a quilt.

Secondly, I volunteer at Calypso Farm in Ester. Last year we joined the Calypso CSA, and that's how I began volunteering out there. I help lead groups of young kids, with my girls along, as a tour guide. My training as a teacher comes in handy while leading a large group of excited kids! It is a lot of fun at the Pizza Farm as Jessica calls it. They have an outdoor wood fired pizza oven. I love making pizza! So, I volunteer to help out with the pizza making. Most kids haven't ever made bread or dough before so it's rewarding to show them how.

My girls especially love petting and feeding the goats and sheep up there too. Sometimes I'm in charge of the animal visits with the kids. They get to feed them farm scraps and weeds. It's fun to see kids who have never seen a farm get so excited to feed animals, make pizza from scraps, and harvest veggies. We go to lead a field trip tomorrow at 9:45 am.

I took a class at Creamers field (CF) this spring to help with my continuing education credits to keep my teaching certificate. Part of the class is to lead 3 tours of CF as a naturalist. I haven't done any yet, but I want to do one next week. So, I will be going to see how someone else does it to give me ideas for my own tours. I love going to CF and walking around enjoying the wildlife and the peace and quiet there. Jessica went to a week long summer camp there two weeks ago, called Camp Habitat. She had fun, and got the "most polite camper" award at the end. How cute!

Volunteering to be on my church board as a Deaconess is a two year commitment. We meet twice a month on Thursday nights. Lately we've been looking at renewing Our nursery procedures. Not my favorite thing, but necessary for the church. My good friend runs the nursery now. She does a great job! We meet tonight.

Lastly, my summer class is a web-based class to become a Master Gardener. I love gardening, but I lack any sort of training. I have a friend that is a Master Garderner, and she seems to know everything! I aspire to become a fount of knowledge regarding gardening. But, in the months I've been registered, there hasn't been any assignments or any other way to learn. Very disappointing. I still hope to learn more soon.

That's been my summer obligations. It is fun to be busy, but nearly too busy. Wish me luck!