Tree Gnomes and Alligators!

My friend, Laura, and I took the kiddos out to the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge one morning last week.

The kids had a blast exploring and we decided to make a point to come out to this local gem more often. 

 Tripp and Henry examining things from the nature table inside the Visitor's Center.

Charlie really liked the turtle shell.

and this shell...

 Looking out over Bluff Lake behind the Visitor's Center

 Yep.

That's an alligator. 

 Putting their binoculars to use.

I promise they lined up in order on their own.

 Searching for bugs and mushrooms on old logs

 He's part dog.

 Smelling all the different wildflowers in bloom

Liza was so proud of her little leaf.

 I promise, we did line them up like this ;)

Sitting amongst the Tree Gnomes (aka Cypress knobs)

Raising Butterflies!

Black Swallowtails to be exact!

We found some caterpillars munching down on my parsley, so we looked them up to see what butterfly they changed into before feeding them to the birds :)

When I realized they were black swallowtails (duh! how was this tidbit unbeknownst to me this long?), I suggested we raise them.
Cool educational opportunity for all, right?

 I'm really sad that my laptop crashed and I lost all our pictures from day 1 until now.

But these are our first butterflies to emerge from their cocoons!

The setup: an old fish bowl w/ a piece of mesh tied over the top with sticks and their daily ration of parsley

 Getting ready to release our first swallowtails

 These had been pumping their wings for a few hours and were ready to go! I hope to see them around the yard again.

 2 cocoons from the first butterflies...

I was quite interested by these particular 2.

They attached themselves to the glass instead of the sticks like the rest.
I was really wondering what color they'd choose for their cocoons because generally they are the color of whatever they attach to which is normally green or brown.

Considering the glass bowl was facing out to a white-ish wall, my interest was justified.

One chose green and the other chose brown...cool huh?

Another caterpillar getting ready to shed his skin and form his cocoon with another readying himself to become a butterfly inside his cocoon already. 

So far, we've had 4 hatch and have 4 more incubating.

Just the Boys

Today, I left early in the morning headed down to Jackson to meet with a coalition of healthcare associations across our state that the Mississippi Nurses Association organizes. I attended on behalf of Mississippi Friends of Midwives with our president, Bianca Wooden and the president of the Mississippi Midwives Alliance, Renata Hillman. ANYways, long story short, Will and the boys had the day all to themselves which was a first.

Being the super dad that he is, he packed them a picnic and took them to the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge.

 a bird! Charlie's fave!

I'm not sure what I love more about their clothes today...

The fact that Will put them in matching shorts or that their shirts do not match said shorts at all.

This sums it up really...

Our Spring Equinox Feast

I was almost hesitant to plan a large Spring meal today.

Last year, we didn't do too much and the year before, we went all out celebrating the arrival of Spring.

And Spring is historically and physically associated with fertility.

It is the time of the year that new life is everywhere.

After our first, big Vernal Equinox celebration 2 years ago, I got pregnant with Charlie not long afterwards.

And BOY, was that a surprise!!

Seriously.

A big surprise.

I didn't want to dare tempt the Universe with too much attention towards fertility at this very moment, but we were travelling home on Will's birthday, I was sick the following day, and so we never had our big meal and cake to celebrate his 32nd year of life.

So, I thought...well, what the heck?

Let's do it big...

but hopefully, all that fertility energy of spring will manifest itself in other ways in our life that need it.

The Menu:

Deviled Eggs

Honey Lime Couscous and Avocado Salad

Broiled Lamb Chops over Organic heirloom Lettuce w/ Sesame Mustard Sauce

Challah

Strawberry Cupcakes  

The deviled eggs are easy to make and need little explanation in regards to their significance. An egg is the essence of fertility and life. In fact, dying and decorating eggs in most common thought to be an Easter tradition, but actually it originates in pagan celebrations on the Vernal Equinox...Ostara or Eostre (which is the original word origin for easter). 

This quick and easy appetizer or snack can be made in a variety of ways. I went with a more classic approach. I took the yolks from 6 boiled eggs (they didn't all make it to the final plate thanks to my helpers) and mixed them with a tablespoon or so of mayo, 2 teaspoons of prepared mustard, 2 pinches of dill weed (my special twist), salt/pepper to taste and then, filled the centers of the eggs. To serve, I sprinkled the tops with paprika. Tripp wanted his eggs plain as you can see in the pic above :)

The honey-lime couscous and avocado salad was meant to be this recipe with quinoa, but I didn't realize I was out of it, so I just made a pot of couscous instead. We pretended the couscous were tiny seeds and the presence of avocado is not only delicious, but also is an in-season food and adds a nice springy green coloring. This was YUMMY!

The lamb was my version of PF Chang's wok-seared lamb that they serve on a bed of iceberg lettuce. I broiled the lamb chops with a touch of sesame oil and salt & pepper. Then, I thinly sliced it and served it on top of some beautiful and tasty organic lettuce from Isis Gardens in Tupelo, MS at the North MS Green Festival that a friend and I attended. On top of the slices of lamb and lettuce, I drizzled the oh-so-delicious  sesame mustard sauce. 
If there were actual good sources for lamb around here, I would eat it (this) more often.
So.Good.

Oh, and let's not forget the symbolism...
Lamb is a traditional Ostara/Easter food and the gorgeous green of the lettuce adds fantastic color to remind us of the life returning back to mother earth as well as a tasty representation of her bounty.


And the Challah...Oh my favorite bread on this planet.
A few years ago, I made this for the first time and have been hunting down the recipe ever since. I can NOT find it anywhere on this wide world of webs! And, ya know, that particular challah could have been so good because we were using the fresh eggs from our chickens.
Nonetheless, today's loaf was perfection.
And guess what?!
I didn't bookmark the recipe.
And, now I can't find it anywhere including my history.
I think there is a conspiracy against me and challah.

Anyways, I think I remember everything, so here goes:

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

3 2/3 flour

1 t salt
1/4 cup sugar 

2 t yeast

I added the ingredients in this order to my bread machine and turned on the dough cycle. When it was all done, I divided my dough into thirds and braided it. It rose for about 45 minutes and then, I brushed it with and egg wash, sprinkled on the poppy seeds and baked it at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
Y'all...this loaf was amazing!
My braiding skills have really improved as well.

My mom calls challah, egg bread, so in that, you can see the connection to our Spring feast. We also topped it with the poppy seeds for an added equinox bonus.

For dessert, I went with my favorite strawberry cupcake recipe.
You can't go wrong with these.
Seriously.
Yum.
Strawberries ripen in the spring and the color is a nice pastel for the season as well.
I thought they'd be a nice addition since I didn't get to bake my hubby a birthday cake this week.
We didn't stick candles in and sing "happy birthday" to Will, but I'm sure he didn't mind.

So, we welcomed Spring with a lovely meal and enjoyed this gorgeous, albeit more like Summer Solstice with regards to weather, first day of Spring.

Stay tuned for more to come as we welcome Spring with our Spring Nature Table, do a little Spring gardening and more!