Down on the farm

We had an impromptu trip to a local farm today.  There was no tour or real lessons learned, but the kids got to run around, see the chickens, follow some deer tracks and harvest a bounty of fresh veggies!  We had fun, but it was HOT.  It has been at least 105 degrees here everyday, so today's 97 degrees felt rather cool.  That is until we started trekking about the grounds. 

The kids immediately made a bee line for the closest by of water.  Unfortunately it was so shallow that it was mostly a giant mud puddle.

But we did find some animal tracks.

Good to know that if push comes to shove, the kids can create shelter for themselves.  I just hope it doesn't rain.

There's chickens in that coop, I swear.  They were hiding in the shade (smart chickens).

Zion's face expresses how hot it is out there.  She was NOT a happy camper in the heat.

 Bijou scavenging for ripe tomatoes among the green ones.  She didn't have to scavenge for long.

 Jena was not happy in the heat either.  I think that she is losing her tropical roots.  She was ready to go back to the car after 10 minutes.

 But there were tomatoes to be picked!

After a quick drink break with Ashni, Jena was ready to get back to picking!

Our bounty of tomatoes!  There's a lot of cherry tomatoes in there.  I'm pretty sure the kids ate about this many as they picked.

This is our mixed bag of tomatoes, baby squash and zucchini, and a couple of other odds and ends.

Eggplant and pattypan squash.  The colors are so nice together.

The entire spread!  We are going out of town on Sunday.  I don't think we will be able to eat all of this.

Purple peppers (which I'd never even seen before) and okra!

One of the great things (and sometimes the worst thing too) about living in a small town is that everyone knows everyone else.  We were actually supposed to get a tour of the farm from one of my husband's friends, but she couldn't be there.  So she let the head field hand know that we were coming and he just let us wander freely and pick whatever we wanted.  Yay for free produce!

The girls' garden

The girls are in full gardening mode now.  This year they planted cucumbers, lettuce, green beans, tomatoes, banana peppers and I transplanted some mint from our herb garden at school.  So far, all of the plants look pretty strong and healthy, so hopefully they will get a good harvest this year.  Keep you fingers crossed.

(this box just has cucumbers and lettuce)

Spring has sprung?

The weather is warming up here.  Today, it was a sweat producing 85 degrees.  That type of weather calls us all out to the garden (barefoot of course).  I am on spring break this week, so the girls and I have been catching up on some school, some chores and preparing our garden for spring.  This year we are planing green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and spinach.  Hopefully we will be able to grow enough to make at least a couple of meals. 

These boxes will hold spinach, lettuce and mint.

You can't see it, but Zion is holding a stick that Ashni painted last summer.  It has been in our backyard all winter.

 Ashni making rows in the small boxes (despite the fact that I said they didn't need rows).

Did I mention that Zion was wearing pants with a bunny tail?

Bijou's muddy toes (well, muddy toe).

That is hysterical laughter on Bijou's face.  I swear.

I was quite impressed with Jena's strength.  Zion is little, but she weighs a TON.

The Kids' Garden

We had our first attempt at a garden last spring and the girls could not wait to start their garden again as soon as the weather warmed up. This year their garden contains potatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce and tomatoes. We planted spinach, but I don't think it gets enough sun, so the plants sprouted and then stopped growing. Last year, we got a good amount of basil and rosemary, but just a few tomatoes. Hopefully we will have a more bountiful harvest this year. The girls love being able to eat food that they've grown.

Oh yeah, we also accidentally "planted" some black beans. Bijou and Zion were playing with a big bowl of dried back beans in the backyard and dumped a bunch in a pot of dirt. A few weeks later, we had a pot of little bean plants.

Mini Farmers

I finally got around to making boxes for the kids to put their plant in. I've had scrap wood laying around the garage forever, so I just took it to Home Depot and got the pieces cut down evenly. A few weeks ago I came across a very cool little project to make garden markers from old spoons. Of course I can't remember what blog it was from, but they had great letters to stamp into the metal. i don't have those, but I do have a sort of metal punching tool. I bought some old spoons (and a couple of butter knives) at a garage sale on Saturday for a quarter. I wrote the names of the plants on each spoon and used the punch to go over the letters (making a dotted line of sorts). So now the girls have their very own little plot of land to take care of. Jena feels like the plants are her babies, so if no one else takes care of them, Jena will.

This picture is really just to show off Ashni's fabulous outfit. She has her own style!

Parsley, basil and rosemary.

Zion is in charge of picking all of the flowers from the plants when no one is looking.

Starter Pots and Terrariums

We are desperately awaiting the arrival of spring in our house. The winter has taken its toll and my vitamin D deficiency is at an all time low (okay, so I really don't have a vitamin D deficiency, I just REALLY miss the sun). So to lift our spirits we decided to exercise our green thumbs. None of us actually have a green thumb, but we're working on developing one. I, personally, know my limitations in the care of plants, so the girls and I made mini terrariums. I figured moss grows under our trees in the backyard with no help, it seems like something that we could keep alive. I like the little burst of green that these bring into the house (seeing as we have no house plants).



My mother is a little more adventurous and much better at keeping plants alive (I need verbal cues for food and drink, not just silently waiting for water in a little pot). She and the girls planted their flower seeds in starter pots. Hopefully they will sprout and we will be able to transfer them when the weather gets warmer. The cashier at Home Depot seemed very surprised that the girls wanted to plant their own garden and that we were letting them. I guess they don't get too many kids in to buy potting soil and seeds (which is unfortunate).