The Mountain State Fair: Project Round Up

 It's that time of year again. For the past 3 years my kids have enjoyed entering projects in the fair. Drop off day is Tuesday. Which means Monday will be spent in the kitchen- since Lakin is finally old enough for the competition we have a total of 11 baked goods to be entered. I capped them at 4 each and one didn't go through. It'll be a long day with lots of dish washing! I will apologize in advance that most of the pictures are from my phone and instagram!

This year the boys are entering more from the garden. Rylan is going for the largest watermelon.  I don't have a picture of it since it's still out in the garden. He had plans for other squashes- winter and summer, but with all the rain and other odd weather, the plants had a hard time. Cale and Cohen are both entering winter squashes seen below, and Lakin is entering his butternut squash (not pictured)

Cale, Cohen and Lakin have also been working on some of the craft categories, here are a few of their projects. Cohen's santa ornament made from a recycled coke can, felt and alpaca fiber. Cale's basket made from a hose and zip ties. 

This one has been hanging in the living room for months now. It's Cale's recycled decoration- a skeleton made out of  milk jugs.

Lakin's jewelry. Beaded earrings and a bracelet for the recycled jewelry category.  Do you remember Cale's peacock sculpture from last year? This year he's entering this Big Head as his sculpture. It's still a work in progress- which must be finished tomorrow! Cohen is also making a sculpture- of a beetle. And we have a couple more Christmas ornaments not shown as well as some art- oil pastels, watercolors, etc.

Of course, I have mentioned Cale's big pumpkins. The stems were getting soft- some sort of fungus I think- so we picked them since the bugs were starting to pick at the soft spots. We crossed our fingers that they would last until the drop off date.

But today this happened. The smaller of the 2 giants...rotted from the stem and bottom. It was great fun considering this occurred in the living room! It smelled TERRIBLE and took about 20 or more towels to clean up and Rylan, Cale and me to drag it out of the house- gagging all the way. We are still hoping the biggest will last. Like I said- not a good squash year. 

 

 This year Rylan didn't enter many arts and crafts- 2 pieces of art work was it. He did enter 3 model kits, a lot from the garden, baked goods and 6 photographs. My dad let him use his camera, and I thought he got some great shots!

So there are just a few of their projects. I'll post pictures of their baked goods on Tuesday once they are all done!

Life and Garden via Instagram

From the top, L to R:

1. Produce basket from our nightly harvests 2. Making fresh rainbow salsa
3. Refrigerator pickles 4. Eggplant Crisp
5. Cohen's Red Mini Bell Pepper 6. Cale's huge pumpkins
7. Making garden veggie soup  8. Cale's favorite place to be

April Showers Bring....Rising Creeks

It was a wet winter. It's been a wet spring.
 

 And that means the creek at the bottom of our pasture has more water.

The kids, both human and goat, have been going down almost daily to play in the water.

 Finding newts and salamanders. Building dams. Making a "moss floor".

Sometimes their boots will get stuck in the mud. Or Annika will slip and be covered in water and mud.

Have you played in a creek lately?

This post is part of the Blog Every Day in May blog challenge. Click below to find a list of blog topics or to link up!

Mountain Science Expo

Yesterday we went to the NC Arboretum for the Mountain Science Expo (part of the NC Science Festival). There was a ton of booths set up with things for the kids to see, touch and learn about.  Everything from the fish hatchery and trout identification to energy use and alternative energy sources.

And tree identification, soil types and all sorts of bugs and other specimen to look at.

Making gummy creations. Learning how to use a compass. Eating EarthFare snacks.

 Outside was set up for the messy, hands on sort of science. I think Cohen got about 20 pencils in before he sprung a huge leak.

Annika enjoyed the bubbles the most. And the puppies.

 Of course no science festival could be complete without Legos.

Downstairs they had opened up their classroom. And we got to explore animal skeletons as well as meet some of the resident animals- such as Snickerdoodle the rat and Salazar the king snake.

 On to Earth Science- with all sorts of rocks, minerals and fossils. As well as a laser thermometer to play around with.

Looking at the sun and the sun spots with the telescope.

Then we took a break to play like maniacs, and try to save each other from falling through the drainage grate.

And finally stopping to smell all of the flowers before leaving. 

April 6, 2013

Bones. Found outside and claimed by Annika.

The next round of tomato seedlings growing strong. About 80-90 total tomato plants.

1 of 5 lavender plants. Also growing strong.

Eggplant. It finally got warmer in the house, which means the eggplant finally took off.

Peppers. They grow slower than the tomatoes. But they are getting there. We are trying lots of new varieties this year.

Rhubarb.

And basil. I've got about 7 different varieties.

Spending time with the babies. They are phone pics, so not the best. But they are growing bigger everyday. We'll have some new ones to introduce soon too!

How was your day?