It's All Fun and Games, until someone answers a survey...

A few days ago my sweet and oh-so-DIY-talented friend Kirsti included me in a survey game on her blog.  I have to post 12 interesting things about myself and then answer her 12 questions.

Brace yourself.  I'm digging deep to find 12 interesting things about me...

Interesting Thing (IT) #1:
I love humor, comedy, things that make me laugh.  I also love parodies of popular songs, piano playing and singing off key...hence, I love, LOVE Mylo!!  I have almost all of his CDs and make sure to teach the lyrics to my nieces and nephews and send them home crooning "Country bus, come to us.  There's no hurry, there's no fuss."  I'll make a pilgrimage to see Mylo just about anywhere he's playing and drag along many an unsuspecting friend to see a "rock concert".

IT #2:  I love this guy.  I love that on our honeymoon he drank coffee and ate wedding cake in the hottub every morning.  And I love how excited he got when he discovered that the cake container floated and the hot tub water gently warmed the frosting to a delectable consistency.  This is one of my favorite photos of Hubby not holding a newborn child.

IT #3:  I hate to shop.  Really, I do.  And please don't try and reform me.  It's been done.  It hasn't worked.  I bought my wedding dress off the rack.

 This was the first ring I tried on.  It fit perfectly, we bought it.  See?  I don't even spend time shopping for the "big" things!

IT#4:  I love to grow things.  Food, specifically.  I love to grow good food.  And I love to share it with people.  Local people, specifically.  For you out-of-staters, come to the farm.  We don't ship and we'd love to have you!

IT#5:  I also love flowers.  Food may feed the body, but flowers feed the soul.  These are two of my favorites:  zinnia and bells of ireland.  I'll always find room in the garden to squeeze these two beauties in...and probably a dozen other kinds.

IT#6:  I'm a canner.  Not as in round metal receptacle used for preserving food.  I'm a canner in that I am a preserver of food.  Lots of food.  Lots of different foods.  I love it.  I love teaching others to do it.

 IT#7:  I love bib overalls or "shoulder britches" as they are known in the south and now in my house.  My dad wore them every day, EVERY DAY.  Hubby wears them often and the kiddos love them.  I don't think you can work on a farm and not love shoulder britches.

IT#8:  I'm a quilter.  I quilted in my wild single days.  (Which should indicate just how wild those single days were...)  I still try and find time to sew but gone are the days when I would lock myself in my basement for an entire weekend watching basketball and quilting.  I started as a cross-stitcher in 2nd grade and have added embroidery, knitting and most recently crocheting to the list of hand-crafts I love to do!

IT#9:  I love to hang laundry out to dry.  And I have a very specific system.  I do not like my current clothesline as it doesn't fit well with my "system".  The line at THE FARM is much more conducive, due in no small part to the fact that's where the "system" was born.

IT#10:  I'm passionate about the right of farmers to keep their own seed, maintaining and growing the seed diversity in the public domain, and having access to seed.  It frightens me (as it should you) that certain multi-national corporations continue to restrict seed access and genetic diversity by buying up small seed companies and then replacing their seed stock and narrowing your choices for seeds...of all kinds.  And I'm appalled by the severe lack of funds for plant breeding and research for public use.  The vast majority of plant research money (funded by taxpayers) is for private seed stocks.  You couldn't use it if you wanted to.  Just remember, whoever controls the seeds controls the food.

IT#11:  I'm a lunatic.  And proud of it.  Our hens are in the equivalent of a giant plastic bag for the winter.

 We pasture our chickens instead of having them in a biohazard, factory confinement house.

 We strive to grow as much of our own food as possible.  We don't have TV.  And that's just the beginning!

 IT#12:  And because I talked to my mom tonight and she said Duke was playing Wake Forest.  I've been to a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.  I sat second row, courtside.  They played Michigan State and won. My brother, then a grad student at Duke, got me my ticket.  It was so much better than I ever thought it would be.

 Kirsti also had some questions she wanted me to answer.  So, here they are!

1. What's your favorite thing about blogging?
• I like talking about food and farming and whatever else is happening, but I'm also an introvert so the blog is a great way to talk to people without having to actually talk to them. :)
2. What's your ideal breakfast?

• We have a family favorite.  We call it Toads, as in Toads in the Hole.  We cut a circle out of a piece of bread, crack an egg in and fry it on the griddle.  Then I make homemade hollandaise sauce with chives and fry up some bacon.  It's the 'special occasion breakfast' in our house.

     3.  Do you crave salty or sweet snacks most often?

•          I crave chocolate.

     4.  If your family could share one crazy story about you, what do you think it'd be?

• I took a dead sheep to basketball practice in the back of a pickup.  And I sprained my ankle sitting on the bench during a basketball game.  Those two stories live on in infamy, not just in my family but in my entire home town.  

     5.  Do you have any collections? What do you collect?

• I'm trying desperately to pare down my house so I'm not collecting anything except boxes of stuff for the Salvation Army store!

     6.  What's your favorite place to shop online?

• Amazon.  One stop shop is the name of this game.  Where else can I get a pressure canner, Ancho chili powder, a preschool devotional AND free shipping??

     7.  What's your favorite way to get a workout in?

• I have three children age 3 and under.  I have a 1.75 acre garden.  That's all the workout I have time for these days.  I'd love to be a runner, I'd really love to.  But I'm so not right now.  

     8.  Do you cook, bake or both? What do you prefer?

• I do both.  I love them both.  Too much.  See #7.

     9.  Who is one of your favorite authors?

• Usually whoever I'm reading at the moment.  Right now it's Ann Voskamp.  She's really hitting me hard and moving me out of a comfortable place into where I should be spiritually.

     10.  A favorite movie?

• The top of the list has always been "The Man From Snowy River".  

     11.  What's your favorite season of the year?

• They all are really.  I love spring and all the newness that comes with it.  I love the growing and harvest of summer.  I love the slowing down and putting away of fall.  I love the rest and relaxation of winter.  

     12.  What's your favorite color to decorate with?

• I'm pretty eclectic, I like different colors for different spaces.  But I like color.  No Captain White Walls in this house.