Arbor Day: Be Prepared for a Transplant

There is a saying that I love, "Grow where you're planted." I have to constantly remind myself of that right now, because I am having a hard time living and growing where I'm planted. You see, we live in the middle of the city. We don't have a huge yard. I am very content with the house that we have made into a cozy home, but we need and want more land. We don't plan to stay here forever, but a lot of things have to happen before we can move. Bryan mentioned something the other day that I really needed to hear. We need to "grow where we're planted, but be prepared for a transplant."
So when it came to Arbor Day, we had to get a little creative. We wanted something that could be transplanted. I already had a two year old blueberry bush growing in a pot. This year I added a raspberry bush, a kiwi tree, and a brown turkey fig tree to the mix. They are all in pots and ready to be transplanted when we eventually make the move to the country.

Every time I go outside and see these bushes and trees on the deck, 

I'm reminded to grow where I'm planted. 

They are a reminder that it's the best I can do right now.

Releasing Ladybugs

I thought it would be neat and beneficial for our garden to release some ladybugs for Earth Day (and Earth week for us). I ordered 300 live ladybugs last week. They arrived in the mail today.  

The boys and I were so excited to open the box.

 The ladybugs started crawling all over us. The boys loved this!

 We spent some time gently shaking ladybugs in the garden.

This was so much fun and just might have to be a yearly tradition!

The Spring Garden 2013

Although it doesn't really feel spring like today, 

the last few weeks have been filled with warmth and sunshine. 

We've spent lots of time outside, preparing the spring garden, 

and planting vegetables, herbs, and flowers. 

The herb garden is beginning to take shape on our outdoor baker's rack.

We are taking a different approach to gardening this year. Bryan double dug our entire garden. That took a while. He started it over a month ago. We have added lots of compost and we are not planting in rows. We are using How to Grow More Vegetables as our guide for spacing and companion planting.

 

We bought heirloom seeds from Burpee (because I had a really good coupon) 

and transplants from local farmers' markets and a few from Ace Hardware.

 Bryan made a map of the garden for us so that we would know where to plant everything.

  
  Along with a lot of new varieties of vegetables,
I thought we would try planting potatoes this year.

 

We also added mulch to our walkways and 

we have straw to help prevent weeds around our crops.

We have to wait until most of our seeds sprout 

before adding straw to the rest of the garden.

 Gardening is a learning experience.

 
I'm looking forward to the many lessons we learn this year. 

Earth Day 2013

It was a great day to...

hit the trails...

 

walk under bridges...

 

do a little bird watching...

search for squirrels...

 white wooden ones in particular...

 visit streams...

 plant a salad bowl...

 sow seeds...

 

tie up tomatoes...

  

begin making an egg carton wreath...

 and blow dandelions.

Happy Earth Day!

Preschool at Home: Week 13

Last week we learned about the letter "M," the number 13, the song/rhyme 5 Little Monkeys,  and focused on the story of Moses. It was a busy week, but we were able to squeeze in a few things. We even started going to a Preschool Spanish class at the library.
Here's a look at our board:

 
We went on a number hunt. This was a favorite activity throughout the week.
 I would hide the numbers around the yard. Seth and Silas would find them and...

then we would line them up and count them to make sure that we found them all.

We read lots of books! We read If You Give a Moose a Muffin 

and made a craft to go along with it.

 

We read Happy Birthday, Moon (one of my favorites, by the way).

  
We also read a lot about Moses.
We started at the beginning of Moses' life and worked our
way through the story of the 10 Commandments.

We made this cute baby Moses craft.

We colored this coloring sheet.

We also sang 5 Little Monkeys throughout the week.

Since Monday is Earth Day and Friday is Arbor Day, we will spend the week doing some fun crafts and activities that go along with loving and taking care of the Earth.

The Defense

I used to be so driven by school. Teaching and learning. The research, the conferences, the world of academia thrilled me. But everything changed when the kids came. After a very long and much needed break, I am finally finishing my Master's degree. In a few short hours I will defend all the work that I have done this last year. It has taken every ounce of motivation in me to finish this thing. Stress overwhelmed me just before Christmas. I wanted to give up, but I was too close to the end to do that. Learning how to manage the stress has been my priority this semester. Things like meditation, yoga, playing Mumford and Sons constantly on Pandora, occupying my time with fun adventures, and just keeping the end in sight has helped significantly. It's so not in my character to not care, but I have had to consciously not care too much. My family and health had to be the priority and for the most part they were.

Three years ago I would have been so happy to have this degree and status. I can't deny there have been many opportunities that have arisen because of the pursuit of a Master's degree in Literacy, and for that I'm thankful. But, I am so happy that it's the end of a chapter and that I can move on. I've got big dreams and more higher education is not a part of them. That just feels really good.

{Gratitude} Lately

Lately I've been grateful for...

beautiful tulips on the dining room table.

having lots of fun in the dirt...

two little boys who love each other dearly...

 the sweet tastes of Olive & Sinclair Sea Salt chocolate...

and afternoons sipping Rooibee Red Tea and reading about keeping bees.

A Glimpse at the Market We Love

The Community Farmers' Market is a year round market, but today was the first day this year the vendors set up outside (previously they were inside the old mall ). It was a beautiful day and I thought I would bring the camera along to share what we love and some of the things we buy each week.

 

We get staples like Hillbilly Grillers BBQ sauce, honey, maple syrup, and salt. 

We also buy pulled pork which has become one of our convenience foods.

 We buy lots of veggies each week. Kale is abundant right now!

 

 We always admire the work of local crafters and 

even buy some things for special events.

 

 Beautiful plants are popping up now that it's Spring.

This week, we also started our market style CSA (community supported agriculture). 

We get to pick what we want in our basket and the foods come from three of our favorite farms. 

This is such a delightful idea since we hope to have 

lots of our own fruits and vegetables from our garden very soon.

We're grateful to have a great source for quality, local food. 

It makes eating the way we do a whole lot easier.

Spring Celebration 2013

Today we invited our friends over for a Spring party! 

We made crafts.

 

(this was Silas')

We ate snacks.

 We hunted for eggs and returned them to their nest...

 so that they could "hatch" into baby birds.

 We played a bit.

 We read a story and planted some seeds.

 We looked for signs of spring with tiny magnifying glasses.

 We had tons of fun with our friends and

 had a great time celebrating Spring!