On Growing

Spring is a quick passing breeze in Texas. We start to feel rather summery in May. This year seems to have been pretty mild as far as the weather goes, though. We are just now beginning to get the first signs of the heat waves that will be here in June.



Being as preoccupied as I have been with homeschooling, planning, paperwork, and the logistics of running a house with a kid in every age group... we completely neglected the garden this year. It was good to us, anyway. We had LOTS of cilantro. Yep - that's the white stuff with the bees and butterflies in it. It begins to taste funny after it flowers, and it dies off at the first sign of heat, but apparently, it seeds itself and takes over your entire garden if you leave it alone and let it do "its thing". This is the second year we've let it alone in the garden, so next year, I suspect our entire yard may be one big forest of cilantro.



I enjoyed eating dishes with cilantro, making salads with it, using it in soups and stuffing it in tacos... but it eventually begins to look REAL tacky in the yard as it dries up. Currently, you can hardly see the raised flower beds. We are going to go out and gather some seed to take to my mom's garden, and cut the rest of it down to clear the beds. We missed the growing season for any other type of veggie this year due to this mess of cilantro weed. If we tried to grow anything now, the heat of summer would surely kill it (or cost us a fortune in water bills).



There was one other thing that grew in the raised beds - I forgot - just one thing: a lone stalk of dill weed. And sadly, I didn't make good use of it before it dried up.



Most of what we've done in the yard this year is enjoy feeding the birds, mulch, weed flower beds, water trees, and mow. It has been great seeing the tiny trees get so big. For instance... these were the purple Vitex trees when we planted them...



They were knee-high!



And then there's the mulberry tree we planted on Arbor Day when the 3yo was about the same age as the 1yo is now. It's huge.



Let's just say that the birds are plenty in our yard. We have a resident mockingbird or two, a family of red house sparrows, a bunch of humming birds, and a slew of other seasonal visitors that enjoy the seed, flowers, berries, and bugs.



My son even picked one and ate it. Don't eat them until they are ripe, though. They have a hallucinogenic affect if you eat too many unripe berries. I haven't ever tried to use any of the ripe berries in recipes. Maybe someday I'll have time for those types of domestic gardening pursuits. I imagined having a yard full of crops to harvest when we started our raised bed project, but the amount of work I have indoors with 4 kids and homeschooling keeps me from all those green thumb ideals.



Sweet berries remind me of my sweet sugar lumps that cry when we make them come inside to take a bath after playing in the yard. Yesterday they enjoyed spraying each other with the water hose until the three year old sprayed the one year old in the face and nearly drowned him. Should have seen that one coming.

We keep our trees green using child labor. Shhhh! They don't know they are working.



There are more important things growing on the inside of our home, though. Tiny hearts, minds, little bodies growing bigger (and hopefully wiser) each day. I love tending that garden the best... so I don't mind so much that there are a few weeds that got away from me outdoors. I'll get around to those later.

If you think in seasons, plant cereals. If you think in decades, plant trees. If you think in centuries, educate your children.  ~Chinese Proverb

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Bluebonnet Time (every Texas spring)

In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm a native Texan... and we Texans have a little crush on our state. Especially lovely are the things we think make Texas wonderful: like bluebonnets, which happen to be the state flower.



This year's bluebonnets were THICK, y'all. Maybe it was the drought last year? That's what we were guessing. I wondered if we would ever see green again after being in the worst drought in Texas history last summer.



Anyway, whatever the reason, we were delighted to get out and enjoy them... and to do a little science and research lesson about our bold, blue floral friends with Lucas Miller's book: Bluebonnet Time



I love a good Texan picturebook... especially one with cute illustrations and lots of fun facts in the margins. This one came with MUSIC, too!



There's a CD that has fun bluebonnet hunting (and photo-taking adventure) music for your drive!



The book is an Evan Wilder science journal - and it includes everything you might want to learn about bluebonnets. Fancy that!



The author of Bluebonnet Time is also a singer-songwriter that goes by the nickname "the Singing Zoologist". In fact, you can listen to his bluebonnet theme song in the little movie above.



Bluebonnets are awesome - who wouldn't want to learn more about them? If you are a Texas educator, a Texas parent, or just a bluebonnet lover, I'd say this book would be a perfect fit for your library.



As good as the book was, though, the flowers are what took the cake on our bluebonnet photo field-trip this year. I thought we might lose a three year old in the deeper spots.



The rain has been awesome this spring... and things are lovely here. Now that these pretty blue flowers are gone, there are fields of yellow in their place.



I'm still remembering the blue. See you next spring, bluebonnets!







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disclosure: I was provided a free copy of this book to review, but the opinions are my own.

I is for Insect

I took this photo in Asheville, NC. We saw some of the prettiest scenes there. It really is a lovely place. I can't wait to go on our next road trip to DC and PA. We love to take road trips and see the country. It will be even more fun in a shiny, new Chevy (thank-you to GM Texas for the awesome donation of a lease vehicle).

The Homeschool Post has resurrected their A B See Meme (an alphabetical photo meme) and a lot of us are enjoying playing again. Each week they put FIVE of the best alphabet pictures on their blog each week to showcase them and once a month, someone wins a prize. There is a Flickr Group set up just for the meme - so you don't even technically have to be a blogger to join... you just have to have an alphabetical themed photo and a flickr account!



Way cool.

The meme is posted on Fridays each week and you don't necessarily have to start on the letter A or go in any particular order or at any particular speed... and you can skip weeks or not - up to you entirely.

Here are the links to the past few 'A B See' posts I have done here:
A is for antique.
B is for bugging big-sis.
C is for computer.
D is for digger.
E is for eat... and Elmers.
F is for fried rice.
G is for goofy girl.
H is for Heather.

Tip: Use the dictionary to get ideas if you are stumped on a letter. No excuses! Get clicking!

You have until Friday morning (early) to load your picture on the Flickr group and be considered for the top five that will be displayed next week. One top photo will move on to win a prize once a month!

Fourth and Fifth Grade Field Trips

As promised, here is my field trip list for:

OUR 6th YEAR OF HOMESCHOOL: 4th GRADE and 5th GRADE (2007-8)!

Do you have kids that are younger than 4th and 5th Grade? Go visit my previous field trip lists (linked with photos and reviews). They can be found on my Homeschool Series post by year/grade level.



Below is a list of field trips we took when my children were in Fourth and Fifth Grade during the 2007-8 school year. In case you are just "tuning in" (and I apologize up front to the regular visitors for sounding like a broken record), our kiddos were 8 and 10 at the time. As my "Field Trip Foto Friday" Series progresses, I'll try and stop back in here to add links with detailed reviews of these field trips.

If there is a review of the field trip, it will be linked below and marked with asterisks (***) so you can go read the review.


Field trips are our favorite part of the school year. Of course, I did not list the numerous times we went to the park or library - those are frequent 'field trips' for us. Some of these are pretty unconventional (I included my kids in a few voting and political processes to help teach them good citizenship as required by Texas law)... but you would be amazed at what you can learn if you HEAD OUT SOMEWHERE with the intention of LEARNING something new! Even a trip to the grocery store can be an educational experience if you set goals, bring tools (calculator), have an idea of what you aim to teach, and make it FUN!

The ones that I have good photos for will eventually appear in my Field Trip Foto Friday series and I'll link them back on this post.

Enjoy!

2007-2008 Field Trips (Fourth/Fifth Grade)

• Pioneer Farms Homeschool Day
• Visit a small airport, get in a Cyrus plane
• Fossil Hunt with co-op Friends (nature walk)
• Singing carols at a nursing home
• Diversity Training: Field Trip to a Public School ***
• George Washington Carver Museum
• River Nature Walk
• Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
• Voting and Precinct Convention with Mom
• Piano Recital
• Regional Robofest Competition
• National Robofest Competition in Michigan ***
• Cross-Country road-trip (9 states) ***
• Horseriding Competition (cousin's)
• Meramec Caves ***
• Zilker Botanical Gardens
• Nature walk and picnic lunch at the 'Pond' (err... Drainage Ditch) ***
• County Republican Delegate Meeting (and a soap box) ***
• Easter Egg Hunt at the Nursing Home
• Go to a Court Hearing

Up next in the series will be my list of learning enrichment ideas and then a post about our favorite memories from our school year in 2007-8. Check back in here next week for more homeschool records for fourth and fifth grades.

Have a super Thursday!

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When You Aren't the Best Gardener

Last year I was having a baby in March, so we never got around to planting anything in our raised bed gardens. It had been fun during the summer of 2008 when we created the beds to practice growing things for the first time with the kids. We figured this year we would try our hand at it again.

We planted:
Corn
Radishes
Tomatoes (a few different varieties)
Spinach
Onion
Cilantro
Bell Peppers
Banana Peppers
Carrots
Lettuce

I think that's it. And of course we have three different herbs growing... Chocolate Mint (which has taken over an entire flower bed - if you don't love mint: PLANT IN POTS), Lemon Basil (still in my kitchen window in a tiny pot) and Lemon Balm (the best thing since sliced bread - wish I had more of it).

This year, the basil didn't re-seed. I was kind of depressed about that because last year it was everywhere and I had fresh basil on hand whenever I needed it. I figured I might try to replace it with the lemon basil this year... but it's so tiny still, that I haven't even been able to use it in one dish yet.

Texas is hard on gardens... the heat is rough. The nice thing, though, is that we have at least three growing seasons. Our lettuce is bitter (heat) but beautiful, the radishes and spinach really look bleak (doubt we'll get even one bowl of either), and the corn.... OH, woe is the corn.

TWO tiny nibbler sized cobs have been harvested so far - from four huge stalks. The other two rows of corn never got tall enough before they started growing... so I am not sure what will come of them. At least the fire ants are getting fed.

The cilantro never was. It sprouted and immediately died in the summer sun. I've never been able to grow it, so I buy it at the grocery store; just like I have been my lettuce this year. It's rough watching the lettuce grow in your back yard and having to eat the boxed stuff - because yours tastes like it has aspirin sprinkled all over it.

I did get three or four banana peppers and used them in some Mexican pinto beans one night for dinner. There are two bell peppers looking shiny and green on the plants right now. I can't wait to pick them. They aren't big enough yet.

I only got 4 little onions from the big one I planted. Still not sure how I went wrong there. I'll be planting those again later this fall from seed.

Our tomatoes are pretty much the big winners in our garden. They seem hearty enough to stand on their own - despite our lack of gardening skills. I love picking them just when they are turning yellow-orange and watching them finish to red on my kitchen window sill. Tomatoes are so much better home grown! The baby says, 'Mato' when he sees them, so he usually is the recipient of the cherry tomatoes that we bring in. One day he sank his face into a Roma (before we even knew he liked tomatoes). He just leaned forward when Chickie was telling him what it was and took a huge bite! Now we feed him tomatoes all the time.



If anything, our garden is pretty. My husband loves to water and care for it. It's his "therapy". He likes to unwind after a long day at work by taking the baby out with him to fiddle for a little bit. Baby K now requests that "dada" takes him "ouside" (and he points excitedly) as soon as he walks in the door.

I guess if there isn't much edible out there, at least our garden is serving other purposes. We sure enjoy using the few foods we grow when we are able to harvest our tiny crops. Even if you stink at gardening, I'd still recommend it. Keep trying. Eventually, you are bound to grow something worthwhile!

To Spray or Not to Spray - A Bugged Out Dilemma

Yesterday, the bugs in my house got terminated. Not long afterwards, I lost a battle with a tiny pink Benadryl. I’m not sure how long it has been since I’ve had to take it – being pregnant and nursing has prevented me from it for almost two years… but after the bug man sprayed in my house, I got the most horrendous allergy attack I’ve had in ages. It was almost like the bugs were paying me back. It was crazy. I couldn’t stop sneezing. They say you can’t smell the chemicals, but my nose sure knew something was up.

“We had to spray,” I told myself. But now, I’m not so sure I would have done it again, if I had the chance for a do-over.

We certainly have enough pests around here. A gigantic black widow with a huge egg sack lived on our porch overhang. The bug man kindly pointed her out while he was soliciting. There were fire ants inside the house, too. I’d even seen a scorpion on the driveway under our porch light a few days back. My son wanted to kill it, but it was cowering in fear – flattening itself into the cracks where two slabs of concrete come together - and I just couldn’t hurt the little fella. We captured him in a glass jar (very carefully), tossed him on the street and turned him loose. [I haven’t seen him since… but that doesn’t mean much since scorpions are masters at staying hidden.]

I’m a softie when it comes to killing things (even evil bugs that can kill or hurt you). I had a hard time letting the bug man kill the monstrous ‘Queen of Death’ black widow on my porch. He convinced me that while ONE black widow that you can SEE is not bad, a gazillion tiny babies in every crevice of my porch and yard (and even inside my house since they were close and small enough to get in) would NOT be wise. Still, killing her had to be done far from view. He took her, dangling politely on a thin thread of webbing, down to the curb before he squashed her and the egg sack she had worked so hard on. I screamed a few times when the wind blew her towards him, that brave soul.

I owed him one. So I bought his service. It was, after all, "below half price" - kind of cheap at 60-something dollars. I figured it was past due since we haven’t paid a bug dude in the entire 3 years we have lived here.

I asked him if I should leave while he was working, but he told me it wasn’t necessary. He dusted my attic, sprayed the exterior of the house down, and left granules on the grass around my trees. Walking through my house, he sprayed ‘troubled’ areas, too. When my husband came home he said he could smell it. Being home all day, I never did – but my nose went on strike and I zonked out soon after dinner in an antihistamine high. Thankfully the baby went to sleep with me and didn’t wake up until the wee hours of the night to nurse, well after the stupor had worn off.

The moral of the story? Now you know how to sell a woman a pesticide treatment service if you decide to go door-to-door for your local bug guy: just kindly point out the deadly spider on her porch and offer to kill it for her. Voila! Instant hero.

The other moral? Now you know how to get a night-owl blogger to bed before 9pm: drug her. [I highly suggest you make sure you have her permission first, however.]



I’ll be glad that we don’t have any more fire-ants inside, but I have to admit that I’m worried about our birds eating tainted crickets. We spent the better part of the hours after the bug man’s visit running around on the porch making noise to keep the birds away; since they were flocking to the fleeing bugs like it was an all-you-can-eat buffet.

You live and learn. Between my sinuses and the pretty birds in our yard we feed and have come to love, I doubt I’ll be signing up for bug spraying again any time soon. Just don’t let the spiders know! [Particularly the black widows!]

Drifting off to Sleep... Remembering the Bluebonnets

I was tired tonight when I finally had time to get online. I sat down tonight to post and was flipping through my photos for inspiration. I got caught in the bluebonnets (they are almost all gone now - replaced by bright, sunny yellow wildflowers along the roadsides). Needed to share a few more shots from that day with you... straight out of the camera... before moving them all to my external drive where they await eternal storage or hopefully, printing.

They weren't perfect shots, but I love them anyway.

Just like life - wonderfully imperfect.

We pass up oportunities (like my extra outing I kept promising I would make to take more photos in the bluebonnets) all the time. Every day we miss chances. I've been pondering a lot lately about missed chances - about fleeting things I need to grasp... and somehow it seems far more important than blogging.

Not that blogging isn't wonderful, but it takes time... and thought... and lately my thoughts have been on the here and now.

Most of the time I have a posting schedule with a lot of ideas for things that I want to write about. Even on nights when I don't have a set topic I have been working on, the thoughts will follow if I just let my fingers hit the keyboard running.



Tonight wasn't one of those nights. Sorry for pulling a random on you.

I sat here for a while.

I stared at the blank screen with my fingers resting on the keys.

I wandered through the bluebonnets - remembering my promise, now broken, of taking more pictures before the flowers went to seed.

I felt my eyelids droop and imagined all the things I had to do tomorrow - the things I should have been doing tonight... like paying bills (ick) or putting away laundry (double ick).

I kept reminding myself of how I needed to post something, but my mind continued to drift off to the sleeping baby upstairs...

... the smell of lavendar linen spray on the sheets...

... the promise of darkness and quiet to come...

Sleep is a sweet blessing.



Even if there are things forgotten today. Even if there are things left undone. Even if the bluebonnets are gone.

What a gift to know that there's a new day waiting tomorrow. New adventures and wildflowers to discover.

See you there.

Smelling the Roses and Other Small Adventures

I know that I don't blog as regularly as I used to - before we had the baby. Sometimes life (and dark chocolate) call your name and you have to answer that call. Lately that's what's been happening here at the 'beehive'. We've been "smelling the flowers"... quite literally.

I have this amazing pink rosebush. The gnats are after it - and the flowers aren't perfect - but the smell is enough to intoxicate me. It sets the world right. Just one sniff.



Blogging is hard to do when your non-sleeping baby (13 year old big brother calls him the "undead" because he sometimes stays up until past 11pm and refuses to go to sleep) is learning to WALK (he's so proud of himself).

That means said baby is MOBILE. And said 'Pacman' baby eats every microscopic (and not so microscopic) thing he sees. I caught him shoving a plastic coke bottle cap down his throat the other day - thankfully. That could have turned ugly. Praise the Lord that he hasn't eaten anything seriously hazardous to his health so far. He's got some real busy guardian angels, that one.



When he started walking he did this leg hike thing. He would crawl across the room with one leg up. It was so cute. I wish I had gotten a video of it. We were thinking the stage would last longer than it did - and POOF, he's a biped all of the sudden.



When we aren't busy chasing the baby, we have been spending quite a lot of time outside. The weather is wonderful in Texas in spring. Once the heat of summer gets here, we'll spend more time indoors. But right now, we've been tending our little above bed gardens and enjoying the flocks of birds that come to our feeders.

Do you know the name of the yellow and black bird up there? I'd venture to guess that it is a "yellow-headed blackbird"... but I'm really not certain. We have red-wing blackbirds, but this is a first for the handsome dude in the photo.

Another wonderful thing we have discovered outdoors are ladybug eggs... and this pretty pastel fellow:



We love bugs.



We love trees, too.

So we planted ANOTHER one. This one is a mulberry tree that Nana and Pawpaw grew for us from a mulberry that fell off of their tree. It sprung up in their yard where their old mulberry tree was that Nana cut down. It grew so fast and so big that it broke her fence and made her neighbor mad... so she cut it down. We were all really sad because it was the biggest and prettiest tree she had... but we're really happy to have this tiny piece of it to grow in our own yard.



And what's neat? We planted it on ARBOR DAY.

That makes me sound really organized, doesn't it? Planting a tree on a tree-planting holiday? I did do it on purpose, but I am not usually that punctual. Nor planned. Even though I desperately try.

We're behind with school this year because of losing our groove so miserably after having the baby last March. Yes, it took us almost a year to find our groove. Isn't that crazy? So our 2009-2010 school year that started in JULY of 2009 is ending in SEPTEMBER of 2010. That's YEAR-ROUND+ school for you. By necessity, not choice.



You do what you gotta do.

Lately we've been catching up with all the assignments we missed while taking time to play outdoors and do co-op with friends. OK, we also took a day off last week to go grocery shopping.

I wait until we have nothing to eat before going grocery shopping. Because I hate to shop. I called my husband from the store to ask if he needed anything and he almost fainted (even though we had been foodless for days and eating strange canned foods and cereal). "YOU went grocery shopping?" He said in an incredulous voice. He knew I was desperate.



So not only are we well fed now (the above photo was taco soup), but we have lots of school messes to clean up.



Which means the school lists are getting checked off. And that makes mama happy.



And so does my clean refrigerator. Which means that MY list is getting checked off as well.

My 13 year old doesn't get happy about school lists getting checked off or grocery shopping. He doesn't even like Taco Soup (he's my spice wimp). He does, however, love his cat.



Which has nothing to do with this post.

The end.