Wordless Wednesday: December

more Wordless Wednesday posts at Wordless Wednesday and 5 Minutes for Mom

Red

This is the strawberry patch we planted last year to replace the old ones. I planted 50 plants in 3 rows. Then I let the runners take over. I probably should have taken some off and transplanted them, because my 3 neat rows are now a jungle. But that jungle is paying off.


I promised this year that I would not buy strawberries from the store. I told the boys that they had to wait until strawberry season when we could go to the farm and our own berries started coming in. A couple weeks ago ours started coming. First one basket, the next night 3. They are slowing down to 2 big baskets a night. That is about 5+ lbs a day.

This is what my hands look like every night.

And this is on my counter, ready for the chickens and ducks to fight over.

These are for dinner....and breakfast too.

And here is my freezer.

For the past week and a half I have put between 2-5 qt sized bags in the freezer a day. Now I just need to get a new blender so we can use them!

Art and Science Day

Today we had a group of kids over to do some art and science activities. We started with art and a project using warm and cool colors and patterns.

First the kids divided up their papers with vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines.

Then they traced their handprints in the center of the paper. Inside their handprint they used 2 warm or 2 cool colors and outside their hands they did the opposite.

Here's the toddler table...

Hard at work



And the bigger kids...

They all did a fabulous job on their projects

As they finished we started them making plastic bag kites...

And after a discussion on wind and how it is made and some of its uses we made tornadoes in a jar using water, food coloring and dish soap.

Then shake it in a circular motion for 15 seconds or so...

And watch the tornado spin.

Knoxville Zoo Field Trip

This past Monday we went to the Knoxville Zoo with a few friends.

The little camels were out and very hungry....

Cale had a very loose tooth which he stuck out of his closed mouth any chance he got....

Lots of turtle watching and counting...

The butterflies were finally out; lots were emerging from their cocoons while were in the exhibit


And they were very willing to be handled


I think all of the kids in our group got to hold one...if they wanted to...


George, the baby chimp, was up and playing- although it's hard to get good pictures of him through the glass....so I'll just end with a picture of one of my monkeys....

Mother's Day Weekend

Saturday we went up to Townsend. We mostly fished since it was cool and the fish were biting. As the oldest, Rylan has the most patience for it.

He caught 4 total.

And wasn't ready to leave when it was time to go.

Cale has hardly any patience. He's too busy.

But he still caught two.


Lakin caught one. He was a little shocked at the whole experience and didn't help too much with the reeling in process....


Cohen caught one too. He was equally as shocked. Though I am not sure why since it isn't the first fish he's ever caught.

Today was an at home day. Since we were out late on Saturday we didn't make it back to the garden in the evening as usual. So we went out first thing this morning...

We came back in with these:

We had strawberry crepes for lunch. My favorite "breakfast". I had to make them myself....but that's okay.

Garden2010

The growing season is here, the garden is mostly planted. We've planted a few new things this year- garlic, kohlrabi, odd melon and cucumber varieties. And some that are tried and true.


For the first time since we began growing them we are having trouble with the peas. They went in about a month late due to too much rain and really cold temps making the ground unworkable. Then it got really hot for a little while....peas don't like 80+ temps. But the few that did germinate seem to be doing okay now.


Our strawberries are coming in good....this is the first producing year for this bed and it looks to be a good one.

We got the first one yesterday and 2 more today...

But most are small and green still

I've upped my tomatoes again this year since my 25 plants from last year provided us with sauce through December and ketchup through February. I planted 42 plants this year.


One of our blueberry bushes.

And our little Meyer Lemon Tree. It'll move inside in the winter and should produce within a year.

We've also got cucumbers, carrots, radishes, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, corn, okra, red and hot peppers....and more to come as the weather gets warmer.

And the bird's nest in the bucket in the shed....this year I discovered it early and the mom is still in place. So there should be no tragedy this year.