Saturday, August 22, 2009

Planning for the upcoming school year

I have been super busy this last week getting everything ready for our official first day of school next Monday. The children are so excited they can hardly wait! It is so much fun to see them happy about learning.

We have tried nature journals in the past but we tend to be stop and go. This year I am beyond thrilled to have found this blog. http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/ (Can anyone help me put links in my blog posts?)

Here is a quick show of last weekend in pictures:




I found this yummy blueberry cake recipe at http://totallysmittenmama.blogspot.com/



Sunday, August 09, 2009

Sunshine




"Keep your face to the sunshine
and you cannot see the shadow.
It's what sunflowers do."
by Helen Keller

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Neglected garden

We didn't expand our garden this year as planned. Our little garden was planted but pretty much neglected. I have a few pictures to show you though.



Round Black Spanish Radish:



Royalty Purple Podded Snap Bush Bean:



Tomatoes:



Moon and Stars Watermelon:


Basil:



Flowers:




I leave you with this thought:

Connection with gardens, even small ones, even potted plants, can
become windows to the inner life. The simple act of stopping and
looking at the beauty around us can be prayer.
- Patricia R. Barrett, The Sacred Garden

Friday, August 07, 2009

Garden Sanctuary

I will have garden pictures tomorrow. For now I leave you with a lovely gardening poem.



Garden Sanctuary~
You who walk,
Maybe with troubled thoughts,
Come, enter here and rest;
And may the sweet serenity of growing things,
And the heavenly peace,
Be mirrored in thy soul.

-Doxis M. Palmer

Monday, January 05, 2009

Back at it

We have officially started school again. We are more than ready. It seems that things fall apart here without our normal routine. We are supposed to get a lot of snow here again today and it is the perfect setting for snuggling up with my children and reading and baking.

I think today calls for homemade soup and bread. The children and I could eat soup and bread every night for dinner and be perfectly content. John, on the other hand, prefers to not eat soup. I have expanded my soup repertoire to include more hearty soups and stews and the husband is much happier. Our new favorite is Linda's Lentil Soup. I doubled the garlic. I LOVE garlic!
http://fourlittlebirds.blogsome.com/2008/12/01/lindas-lentil-soup/

The seed catalogs continue to pour in and I often find myself lost in dreamy thought. The day the first one came I threw myself in my cozy chair and time melted away as I devoured it. John would make comments about, well I do not know what exactly, and I would answer and get back to my seeds. Eventually he started laughing and I pulled myself out of my happy place and asked him what he was laughing about. He said that every time he said something I would look at him and start talking about different seeds. Apparently I didn't even realize what I was doing. Later that day I asked him if he would go shovel the snow from our walk and he looked at me and said, "So, what about those seeds?" LOL!

I must go and deal with the laundry but I leave you with this thought.

IT IS GOOD TO BE ALONE IN A GARDEN AT DAWN OR DARK SO THAT ALL ITS SHY PRESENCES MAY HAUNT YOU AND POSSESS YOU IN A REVERIE OF SUSPENDED THOUGHT. ~JAMES DOUGLAS, DOWN SHOE LANE

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Saturday, December 20, 2008

A Tea Party for Hannah

After felting. All done!
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pattern: The Pattern Box Tea Cup and Saucer
yarn: Peace Fleece Worsted
colorway: Natural and Glastnost Gold
yarn: Pattons SWS
colorway: Natural Denim
needles: US 8

Notice the Ravenclaw colors? That is my House. My daughter Hannah (2 years old) has claimed the tea cup and saucer. She asked me what I was knitting and when I told her she started clapping her hands and jumping up and down saying, "Mama knitt'n a tea parteee for meeee!" How could I refuse?

This was very fun and a fast knit. I haven't been inspired by my knitting in a while and this was just what I needed. I was so eager to finish and I really enjoyed this little project.

Saturday, December 06, 2008

A couple of knitting projects I finished this summer

First up, John's socks-

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pattern: Country Socks
yarn:Nature Spun Sport
colorway: Charcoal and Natural
needles: US 2

And then some socks I knit for my sister's birthday-

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pattern: Yarn Harlot's Basic Sock Pattern
yarn: Socks That Rock Lightweight
colorway: Lucy
needles: US 1.5

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

So happy

Monday my landlady and I were talking about the economy and the hard times. She was telling me how her daughter had put up a bunch of food from her garden and was sharing with her. I mentioned how our little garden had provided good things for us this summer but not enough to put away for the winter. She commiserated with me and then I asked her if I could put in more boxes next year. She said YES!!! I am so happy and so very grateful. She said we could put in as many as we want.

Now my head is spinning with ideas........

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Putting the garden to bed

Yesterday morning I put the garden to bed. While I pulled out dead plants John and Jack raked up leaves.

Putting the garden to bed

These are our five 3x3 boxes. John and the boys built the trellises on the back.


Here is an up close picture of one of our boxes. We have one square of carrots left. I will pull them next time I make soup.

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Last but not least, a picture of one of my little garden gnomes. I have one in each box!

Garden gnome

Monday, November 24, 2008

Garden lessons of 2008

Lots of lessons learned this year!

-Next year I am going to triple my tomato plants. We had 5 and that was enough to eat but we did not have any to make into salsa or sauce to bottle for the winter.

-I am going to plant the pumpkins somewhere else, probably along the fence. They took up so many squares in our boxes and I need those to plant tomatoes. I baked tons of pumpkin seeds and they are already mostly gone.

-The watermelons just didn't work. They were all gushy and rotten inside.

-The zucchini did great! I planted 4 plants out by our mail box. We had lots! Plenty of zucchini bread and fried zucchini for dinner. I also have 24 cups of shredded zucchini in my freezer.

-We need more green beans. We had enough to eat while we played in the backyard and for dinner a couple of times a week but not enough to bottle for the winter.

-We need more radishes. They grew so well and we loved them!

-We need more carrots too.

-My spring crop didn't do so well. The radishes and carrots did great. The spinach, lettuce, chard and peas did not. I think it was just too cold at first so they did not grow well. Then it got too hot and they wilted. The peas finally started growing just when it was time to plant the tomatoes and I needed those squares. We had one good salad from the lettuce, spinach and chard.

-I want to more than double our garden space next year. We have five 3x3 boxes. I want to add four 4x4 boxes come spring time. I am not sure our landlady will approve that though.

-I also want to do a 4x4 herb garden. So I guess I need five 4x4 boxes.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

It's about time!

I finished John's socks. Really, I did. I am so happy and relieved. Seriously, it is a very good thing. John is very happy and put them on right away. I can now knit other things and not feel guilty.

Pictures to come.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Slow start

It has been a pretty cold wet spring thus far. We have had some nice warm days lately but it is has been raining 4 of the last 5 days here. My little garden was very slow to start. Everything is growing now but soon it will be too hot for things like my peas and spinach. They are just getting started. As soon as it warms up later this week I will plant the tomatoes and peppers, beans and squash.

As far as knitting goes, well it's laughable! I have so many projects going at once that I never finish anything. I believe it is time for another UFO-a- thon. I need to get these finished.

I have been working on de-cluttering and I feel good about it. Right now I am in that horrible place where I have worked my tail off but there is still so much to do, *just keep working, just keep working* and, we will be debt free by the end of this summer. The end is in sight!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Peas are planted!

Monday we planted our peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, beets, and chard. Oh, and Hannah's strawberries and Christy's pansy's. Our little garden boxes look so cute and I am really enjoying this gardening thing. :) Pictures will come..............

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Knitting content

I actually have knitting to show you today. :)

I am working on a little sweater for my nephew. Here is all of the yarn for it:
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And here is the beginning of the front:
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It is going to be super cute! I also knit a Mason-Dixon Baby Kimono which I will post pictures of soon and I am almost done with John's socks!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Apricot Jam

So, a few years a go I tried my hand at canning for the fist time. I canned apricots and made apricot jam. The jam was fabulous but the fruit was a disaster. We don't like them and haven't eaten them. The jam was gone in a matter of months. I realized that the problem was I processed them far too long in the water bath. They are just a mushy mess. I decided to make them into apricot jam and I have been doing that today.
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20 pints done, many more to do. It feels good!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Seeds are here!

A box of seeds arrived today! This is most of them, a few are backordered and will ship when they are in.

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Aren't they pretty?

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Baking bread is good for the soul

Jack, Hannah and I made banana bread this morning. Three beautiful loaves!
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While we baked bread Toby laid in misery on the living room floor and Christy read to him. We are having banana bread, cheese and juice for lunch.

We have decided(starting this year)that we are going to focus on the Resurrection on Easter and not do secular Easter stuff. We are going to do "spring" baskets instead of Easter baskets. We will give the children these baskets on the first day of Spring. This way they still get the fun of Easter eggs and hunts and baskets and Easter Sunday will be about Christ.

I am planning on our Easter supper being broiled fish and honeycomb. I will probably add something to the meal as that seems not a lot to eat. I was thinking of serving cheese, and grapes, dates, flat bread...

We are also taking a few minutes each evening this week and talking about what Christ did on that day during His last week. So, Sunday we talked about His Triumphal Entry, yesterday about cleansing the Temple and tonight we will talk about some of His parables and teachings.

I have this great book called A Christ-Centered Easter that has a bunch of great ideas and has been very inspirational in our quest to truly have a Christ-Centered Easter. The authors are LDS. I picked it up at Walgreens a couple of years ago and am just now getting around to making the changes.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Nothing to say and too much to say

It seems that I have nothing to say, and too much to say all at the same time.

Life goes on and for that I am grateful. I have four beautiful children who are the light of my life. I have lost three little ones and I mourn them and the "could have beens".

I am about to the heal flap on John's second sock. I am trying to finish it before Friday(our anniversary). He loves these socks so much and I have been dragging my feet knitting them. Poor guy! What better way to show him I love him than give him squishy, wooly hand knit socks?

Little Tobias started throwing up last night. He was vomiting every two hours all night long and it has continued this morning. I had the pleasure of washing towels last night because there are never clean towels when the children are puking. This morning I washed bedding. Gah! I hope the other children do not get sick too!

We are spending the day camped out in front of the t.v. I do not have it in me to be creative today.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Another Loss

I lost another sweet baby last week.

I knew from the moment of conception that I was pregnant. I felt her spirit and energy so strongly around me and inside of me. We weren't trying to conceive but I absolutely fell in love with the baby and desperately wanted her. I knit two tiny baby items(the longies and the sleepy soaker sack that I posted here earlier)and had such hopes and dreams. I was pregnant and then I was not. Just like that.

My heart hurts.