The Family

I want to tell you a little bit about our household, before we get too far in our relationship. You might just decide this blog will be a little too wacky for you, but I think you will find us to be wacky in an endearing sort of way. I hope you do anyway.

Here is a list of the people/animals who live at our house:

First there's me: Venessa. I am a pastry chef by trade but mostly just a person with a passion for creating. I grew up in the Great Pacific Northwest and I am so so glad I still get to live here. My parents are both artists so I grew up with a bedroom full of paints and dress-up. It pretty much hasn't changed, except that I added passions for cooking and urban farming on top of that. 

Next up is Joe: He's my amazing husband, and this blog was really his idea. He planted the seed in my head while I was out planting seeds in the dirt. He's an avid cyclist; he loves my cooking; and he makes me laugh everyday, even when I don't want to be in a good mood. I could go on and on about him, but I'll save that for later. He's also the reason we keep Kosher. 

Tagging along with Joe are his two sons, my super funny and bright step-sons: Isaac and Aaron. They're 8 now, but when I met them they were just 2 1/2 and cute as buttons. They're witty and energetic and they keep me on my toes. They also dearly adore the next member of our little clan...

Our littlest farmhand: Lilli! She's 8 1/2 months old now, and is my treasure. She always has a smile for you, especially if you happen to be a member of the animal kingdom. She's just started crawling, and the world better watch out because she is going to do big things someday. She was born at home (someday maybe I'll tell you about it, if you're curious) and she is the inspiration for a lot of the projects I have found myself in the middle of lately. 

We also are fortunate to have a whole circus of animals who live with us:

Scourge, the cat. She's a little bit on the silly side and we love her for it. She puts up with our antics pretty well, and as a reward she gets to eat challah with us on Fridays.

Our veteran laying hens: Mambo, Andromeda and Effie. These girls are going on their 3rd summer and they are still laying like champs for now. They love love love our new house, because there is a much bigger yard for them to rule. Also, who knew that chickens could climb stairs?

And our newest members of the flock: Shadowfax, Harriet, Minnie, Hot Dog and Reepicheep. We brought these gals home in March, and they are almost full grown now. All the names have a story, but it's a long one to tell  so I'll spare you for now.

Recently we added a colony of bees. We're keeping them at the house of a friend who has a much bigger yard than us, and also fruit trees to benefit from the pollinating goodness of a couple of beehives on the property. They don't have names really, but they sure are fun!

We also have a plethora of fish, who I can't leave out because Isaac and Aaron are very proud of them. Diz, the goldfish, is at least 20 years old. There are the cloudfish, who all have names but I can't remember any of them. And then there is Bloody Mary--she was adopted when the boys were going through a scary stories phase. 

All in all, it's a pretty full house. But, I don't think it would be our house if it wasn't for all the friends we live with.