Can’t Stand the Heatstroke: Getting Out of the Kitchen!

~ Kana Smith ~ 24 Comments

When my sister and I were kids, we spent a good chunk of every summer with our grandparents in Colorado. We both remember fondly the traditions and rituals of those summers---the daily swimming lessons at their pool, the picnic pool-lunches (fingers coated orange by Cheetohs, and purple tongues from grape soda), the yellow slip-n-slide on … Continue reading Can’t Stand the Heatstroke: Getting Out of the Kitchen!

A Tattooed Chicken-Farmer in Heat (Wait, that didn’t come out right…)

~ Kana Smith ~ 30 Comments

Okay, okay: "A Tattooed Chicken-Farmer in THE Heat." That's what I meant. (Though our teenager, who has learned to approach our door warily if he arrives home unexpectedly, might vote for the original...) Point is, it's HOT in high-desert Idaho in the summer. Too hot to think. Too hot to remember all the, um... the … Continue reading A Tattooed Chicken-Farmer in Heat (Wait, that didn’t come out right…)

“Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens…” (Part 1)

~ Kana Smith ~ 35 Comments

Well, after tackling the political angle of backyard chickens and mustering our (mostly free) resources, we finally got our start on building the chicken house...  Or, to use the Hawai'ian handle, the Hale Moa (HAH-lay MO-wah). We got through the framing today, so here's our chicken-house-building (part one)---mostly in pictures, because I'm saving up most of … Continue reading “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens…” (Part 1)

His Worst Week, His Best Week. Same Week.

~ Kana Smith ~ 51 Comments

Life has its ups and downs---true for all of us. But magnify those altitude-adjustments by whatever mysterious hormonal algorithm determines teenage moods, and we're talking about emotional topography to rival Idaho's Sawtooth mountains. Having said that, though, teenagers' experience of life isn't any less real for the fact that they're hormonal or young. And sometimes … Continue reading His Worst Week, His Best Week. Same Week.