InstaFriday 8.24.12

1. learning to play Uno, kicking mom's butt 2. quilted into the wee hours, but it's done! 3. fitting into my favorite again.  4.  garden harvest.  5. backyard cinema  6. art project  7.  the after-library sprawl  8. the finished trebuchet  9.  following a trip to blueberry park.  10.  basil cubes  11.  knitting work-in-progress.  12.  waking up is hard some days 

Instafriday 8.17.12

1.Building a trebuchet.   Yeah, we are.  

2. Sunshine squash, this years attempt at "pumpkins."  

3. Just before a date to go get school shirts.  

4. Playing nicely (it's been a rarity this week).  

5. Building a wooden helicopter (Stinky's choice of dollar store treat was the kit.)  

6. Kindergarten countdown 

Other cool stuff  that happened this week: 

-Backyard Cousin Campout

- Cast Party ( gosh, I miss those people)

- WBH and I hitting lower weights we haven't seen in years. 

-Rotten 'reading' a mash-up of Slippery Fish and Rainbow Fish

-Realizing there's just 3 weeks until the big boy is a school kid.  Killing me, but so excited for him.  

-One week until the Rotten one turns two.  Though, he's gotten really, really good at two already. 

Linked Up! 

Gardening With Your Kids Without Losing Your Mind

Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden. -Orson Scott Card

Well, it's not that bad. In fact, we know that WBH's teaching job is secure for another year, but I think the truth holds just as well if you substitute "a lousy economy." We had an absolutely glorious day this weekend, and we took advantage of it- yes, a little late in the season. We're experimenting in square foot gardening this year, and I planted the first seeds.

This is the third year Stinky has helped with our garden. I really believe in involving kids with a garden for several reasons:

• You can get kids to try eating what they've helped grow. Last summer, Stinky would grab snap peas right off the vine and eat them while he played.




• Children gain a sense of accomplishment and contribution to the family from working together.




• You're teaching math and science concepts without really having to try.




• Kids become connected to their food, seeing it in it's whole, fresh form and learn to value that.

Here's what works for us:

• Know ahead what you'll have your child do: Stinky got to help push in the stakes on the outside of the garden, cut the yarn, push in the seeds where I poked holes in the soil.




• Remember that it will take two to three times as long with your helper.




• Let them help shop for seeds and help plan, as they are able: Our rule is that he has to try eating whatever he wants us to buy.




• Small children are usually happy to dig or rake next to you if they're not ready to follow directions (we ended up with more spinach than we could eat due to eager hands tossing seeds by the fistful).




• Plan other projects around it. We made markers for our squares from Popsicle sticks. You could paint rocks, draw pictures- just makes sure it's waterproof.




• To keep costs down, if you're local, we used TAGRO's you-shovel pile. Stinky got to help with that, too.

I'm excited to see how our garden comes in using the square-foot technique, and excited to add our other plants later on. The coldest spring in over a hundred years has kept us inside for so long. It felt great to be in the sun and working.

He's pretending to eat a carrot here, by the way. Thanks for reading this epic post today! Happy Monday!

Garden Therapy

I spent time in our garden yesterday. My nails got dirt under them as I ripped out the grass that crept in over the winter. I was really therapeutic, tearing out the things that would hinder the progress of the good things we want to grow, and kind of a metaphor, too. I'm thinking about the things I need to weed out of my mind right now.

What do you need to weed out, literally and figuratively, this spring?

How does our garden grow?

Our garden has been a bit of an experiment this year. We planted beans, but they never grew, and we're not sure why. We planted sugar peas and they've taken over the world. They get harvested daily now, with no end in sight. The broccoli didn't grow well and tastes funny. It feels like wasted garden real estate for so little harvest, and I don't think we'll do it again. We'll probably tear all that out soon and replace it with some zucchini starts. Our carrots probably won't grow too big, as they're planted really closely together (I had a jr. gardener helping me sow them). I want to try the seed tape method for them next year- check it out, it's really cool! The spinach was a big success. We had a huge harvest, and two tomato plants have taken up residence in their old spot. Living in a cooler climate, we can re-sow spinach here when the tomatoes are spent and get a second harvest. I'm thinking about trying some swiss chard at that time as well.

We transplanted strawberries from last year's container garden and have they ever multiplied and replenished. My dad has had strawberries as groundcover for as long as I can remember, and it always impressed those who sneaked a strawberry on their way to knock on the door. We added some blueberries and raspberries well, and look forward to future harvests from them.

My favorite part of growing the garden has been watching Stinky grab a pea pod right off the vine and pop it in his mouth (he still likes it better with some ranch dip). Next year, I hope to get more starts going early in the spring, and look at adding another raised bed so we can play with some more variety.

I'd love to hear what's worked for others. Have you gotten a garden going this year?

Making it Monday: Growing Things

Thanks to everyone for the supportive response last week. I sometimes wonder why I write here, and then I remember: I think the blogging makes me feel more normal.

This week, our family is preparing for what will need to be a quick out of state trip for a funeral, when the time comes. I'm running around like one of the unwise virgins, trying for the life of me to find oil in time. That's me trying to make being up to my eyeballs in laundry and housework sound more poetic than it is. My posts this week will have to be kept short, to keep me on track.

That said, I'm excited to share that I'm going to be making dinner, a crust-less quiche, with our first spinach harvest of the season, and it looked so pretty in my overcast kitchen lighting that I had to share. Spinach has been the easiest thing to grow, hands down. I think it would probably do pretty well in a pot, if you were doing container gardening, too.

Now, if anyone has any suggestions for getting rid of garden gnats, we would appreciate them. Our vinegar/sugar/water jug has only taken care of about half of the problem.