Super-Dee-Dooper Dark Chocolate Cookies

Soft, dense and fluffy at the same time, with just the right amount of gooey... a crowd pleaser every time. Good fresh or a few days later, and especially good with a scoop of ice cream 

sandwiched in the middle!

Super-Dee-Dooper Dark Chocolate Cookies

Makes 12-15, depending on how big you make 'em

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 sticks butter at room temp

3/4 cup evaporated cane juice 

(or sub 2/3 cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar)

1 egg at room temp

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp instant espresso powder, ground superfine

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper (don't skip the parchment, these cookies bake up super soft and you would destroy them trying to spatula them off a bare cookie sheet). Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. 

Beat butter with sugar(s) until fluffy and add egg and vanilla. Beat again until fluffy. Add dry ingredients to butter fluff and beat until very stiff dough forms. Add chocolate chips and mix to combine. 

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets, allowing room between cookies for them to spread out in the oven. Bake for about 10 minutes or until surface of cookies no longer look super shiny (they will not firm up much or brown). Remove from oven and slip the parchment paper- cookies and all- off the cookie sheets and on to the counter top. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes or until they're firm enough to pick up. 

Pick up.

Devour.

Repeat.

Right Now

Right now, I'm...

...obsessing over Jon Bellion's album 'The Human Condition' and listening to it on repeat whenever the kids aren't around (explicit lyrics, fyi).
...feeling frustrated about my chicken girls... instead of their egg production ramping up with the increasing daylight hours like it's supposed to, I still have only the one girl laying her solo egg. The other three remain totally freeloading. Jerks.
...looking forward to when the time is right to get more spring peeps and change it up out there in the hen house!
...listening to my kiddos play 'rocket ship' with a box, a blanket, and their walkie-talkies.
...snacking on some super-dee-dooper dark chocolate cookies (check back for the recipe, coming soon!).
...planning on mixing up another three-gallon batch of sugar syrup for my bees, who are starting to feel a little light in the stored honey department. All this warm weather gets them out foraging with nothing blooming to forage on, and before you know it you have a starving hive. I'm so glad I noticed before it was too late!
...prepping for another weekend spent shaping up our various outdoor spaces.
...resigning myself to the fact that my floors will always be dirty now that we're gardening again.
...loving the early blooms from my purple and white iris. Hands-down my favorite flower to grow.

Right now there's another warm spell a-comin', there are indoor and outdoor chores a-callin', and Spring is just around the corner... which is why I've been slacking off a little in the blog department... but good work is getting done!

I'll check back in soon!

What We're Reading

It's no secret that we all love to read around here. Little Brother has just started realizing that- now that he can read too- he can read the books Sissy's been reading. Oh man, finally. Although he skims more than reads those chapter books, give him a Lego Star Wars book and he'll sit there and go page-by-page. My thoughts on that? I just love that they love books like their Mama.

I was asked recently what we've been reading these days, and when I got to thinking about it, there's quite a running list! So here's what we've been reading:

Audrey: more often than not, you'll find Sissy in some odd position- draped over the arm of a couch or halfway slipping out of a chair- with her nose in one of the American Girl books. She's never shown an interest in the dolls (which is a relief because holy cowcow they're expensive), but she devours their historical fiction. She's reading the Josefina series and the Caroline series right now.

Henry: give him anything Lego- Star Wars, Avengers, Ninjas... he bee-lines straight for the level 1 readers in the library and pulls out every. single. one.

Me: I have a growing pile of books that I'm reading simultaneously, depending on my mood and how much time I think I'll have undisturbed. It's kinda a bummer that I only have the ability to read one at a time, really. My newest addition to the pile is Witches, Midwives and Nurses: a History of Women Healers. It's probably closer to a pamphlet than a book (I think it has only 100 pages), but it's amazing so far. Sad and amazing. I'm also reading George Orwell's 1984 because I feel a duty to read it right now. Underneath that is my favorite gardening book, Gaia's Garden, and underneath all that are the last three books of the Odd Thomas series.

One would think that, this being early February, there would be lots of opportunities to curl up and read with a hot bev, a warm blanket, maybe even a fire... but noooooooooo, it's been in the high 70's and low 80's and we've been outside working our tails off like it's early Spring. So sadly our books sit and wait... they wait for either the winter weather to return, or the heat and humidity to rise high enough to drive us back inside.

One way or another though, fear not my loves, I'll come for you.........

Hogs

 Well, it only took two nights after the trap was set for some of our local feral hogs to make an appearance and check things out. We were thinking it would be 1-2 weeks before we saw them again. Granted- according to these trail cam photos- only about seven of the little ones ventured close enough to the trap to trigger the cameras (none of them have gone inside the trap yet), but surely it won't be long before the giant one(s) will want a share of that sour corn!

I'm kinda disappointed that we haven't seen any other wildlife alongside the hogs (except squirrels... there were lots and lots of squirrel photos). I was wishing for a shot of an owl, a coyote, a bobcat... something else! But at least hog shots give us the hope that the trap will soon be filled and the immediate population dented, and that's what we're really watching for!

Feral Hogs

The first weekend in after the turning of the new year, we all went down to my Aunt and Uncle's place to celebrate the belated holiday. During conversation, my Uncle asked me if we had noticed any signs or had any trouble with feral hogs. Oh noooooooooo, I said, not a one! Not a hint!

The. Next. Night. The very next night we were visited by a "sounder of swine," as I've learned you call them (or team, or passel), and regularly ever since we've started noticing their destruction. The morning after each visit, more and more land is torn up like a rototiller went through it, there's scat and cloven prints everywhere, and they've even broken through a fence and moved the chicken tractor!

Then, one night (really, it was the wee hours of the morning), as I was laying in bed half-awake, I heard a growling-screaming sound outside our bedroom window. I crept to the window and peeked out, and what to my wondering eyes did appear? At least twenty feral hogs of various sizes- and some were huge- running all over the backyard. Dark ones, light ones, spotted ones... I tried to get a picture but even with my special low-light camera lens I couldn't find anything to focus on...

...though you can tell by the big, light blob that some of these hogs are giants! We knew we had to do something (I started worrying that they'd make it down near my bees and either accidentally or intentionally knock the hives over...).

To make a long story short, after a morning of phone calls, I found a guy who was willing to come out and set a no-kill 'corral' trap that can trap 20-25 hogs... for free! His fee will be any hogs he catches (though I think I've convinced him to leave us a small one if possible, yay!).

Yesterday, he came out and set up the trap.

 At the same time as he was building this trap, UPS pulled up and delivered a box from my Uncle containing two trail cams... such perfect timing! So now we have a plan, a trap, and a way to monitor these pests. I've actually found myself wishing they'd come back now!

I can't wait to lay eyes on these things, though we've been told to be patient, as pigs are very intelligent and will shy away from new things in their environment until they get used to them and grow bold. It could be a while.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere piggy piggy piggy!

Weekending :: Garden Progress

This weekend, with some extra hands on deck, we shaped up the garden space and got all the raised beds built. I can't believe we once again started and finished the designated weekend project by the end of the weekend! High five!

 I'll be working this week to fill up the beds with layers of rotting wood, straw, sand and compost, inspired by a hybrid of the lasagna method and hugelkultur for soil building. Once the layers are complete, we'll figure out something to do with the paths, put the fence back up, and install cattle panels for climbing vines (kinda like this). And then? Then we plant seeds!

I'm so thankful for the willing help, the space, and the opportunity to finally get another garden going. Sitting out from the process last year really made me realize how important gardening is to my psyche and my identity. I've felt at a bit of a loss not having that outlet, and my fingers are practically tingling with the anticipation of participating in that Spring magic once again.

Yay for garden progress!

Not All Rainbows and Butterflies

I woke up this morning feeling a strange sorrow I couldn't put my finger on. I'm not sure if I was having some kind of sad dream that was forgotten as I awoke or what, but as I got breakfasts and packed lunches, my thoughts began to rest on memories of my babies when they were tiny... and that feeling of sorrow evolved into regret.

Now, for some reason, the memories that my mind keeps chewing on are all the memories of frustration, angry words, and actions taken without much thought and directed towards my strong-willed Littles. I could easily take a few moments for each memory that pops up and justify, justify, justify... but instead I just find myself wondering if my kiddos will remember what I remember.

As a parent, I try so hard to maintain a balance of freedom and rules, of lightness and seriousness, of mistakes and correction. However I can't escape those days when I go to bed feeling like the entire day was spent fighting, struggling, and yelling. On those days my cruel memory makes it easy for me to look back into my early parenthood and taint all those memories with the same feeling.

I know I've got good intentions and everyone's best interests at heart, but am I missing a better way of going about it all? Is it possible that I'm creating darkness in their childhood that they'll look back on with regret, too?

So this morning I dove into the archives to remind myself of the happiness that has been with us, balancing the hard stuff and outweighing the struggles that everyone- everyone- feels at times.

My babies were happy, and they are happy. Not because I've made them happy, but because I've given them the tools to make themselves happy. The balance I work to achieve in our lives would not exist without a counterpoint of conflict. It can't be all rainbows and butterflies all the time. That's how psychos are made.

Today, I just needed to make that point to myself.