Home Gardening

One of the things we love most about summer is our organic garden.  All of us love veggies, and nothing beats fresh ones right out of your very own garden.  This year, we've all taken turns watering, pulling weeds, and carefully picking.  Little G and Reezle both planted flowers along the perimeter and they did a fabulous job.  I was really impressed because it's the first time they've done that without any assistance from us.  With everyone assigned to a task and working together, our planting went quickly. 

Little G waters newly-planted seeds, tomato plants, and flowers

It was a slow summer in terms of garden growth.  Our weather has been strange this year, and we think that the decline in the bee populations isn't helping matters.  But Reezle and I love our zucchini, and once it starts to yield, it's the gift that keeps on giving.  Well, unless you get squash bugs like we did last year.  So this little one was a welcome sight!

Delicious organic zucchini

The other day, Little G asked if he could check the garden to see if any more zucchini had grown large enough to pick.  This is what he found!  Needless to say, we've been eating lots and lots of zucchini!

Little G's proud zucchini harvest

For perspective on how gigantic these bad boys can get, this is Little G holding the zucchini that is in the far right of the picture above.  He said he got his exercise picking these, and he wasn't kidding!

Little G and big zucchini

We're also getting some delicious cucumbers, and the rain over the past couple of days will no doubt move things right along.  No tomatoes or peppers yet, everything is still very green, but hopefully soon.  I wish we could garden year-round, and I've been looking into hydroponics and various greenhouse setups.  Our winters get blistering cold, and stay that way for long periods of time, so I need an option that will be able to withstand occasional sub-zero temperatures without failing.  However, even if I could have an option to extend our growing season so we can start earlier in the spring and continue enjoying fresh produce even after the first frost, I'd be very pleased with that.

Summer Wrap Up

I have no idea where the summer went, but the beginning of the new school year is less than a week away now. I feel at peace about that, and I'm looking forward to a year of new opportunities, experiences, and challenges. Little G can't stop talking about his Math Orange workbook, and it's been very difficult to keep him from starting (and finishing) it before school even starts. I suspect he will be joining his sister in Math Purple (3rd grade) before long. Reezle is certainly capable of working at grade level, and Little G is helping her understand things she gets stuck on.

Little G's K12 teacher called yesterday, and we had a chance to discuss the upcoming school year and G's various diagnoses. She seems very nice, and I think G is finally accepting the fact that his teacher from last year cannot be his teacher this year. He doesn't like change. Mama understands.

I have not spoken to Reezle's new teacher yet, but that should be happening soon. I don't think my little girl is quite as excited as her brother is to start the new school year, but she much prefers K12 to her former school experiences. Once we start planning trips to the museums and other various places, I know she will be more enthusiastic.

Autumn is fast approaching, and it's so nice to have cool evenings instead of 80-degree temperatures through the nights. Mornings come later, the sun sets earlier, and there is a distinct chill in the air after the sun sets each night. I love this time of year, remembering the fun we had over the summer, looking forward to costumes and trick-or-treating, watching leaves turn, and celebrating the kids' birthdays. Before long, we'll be planning our holiday dinners and cooking and baking more. Reezle talks endlessly about the things she wants to bake when the weather is cool enough to use the oven more frequently. She has a real interest in cooking, so I hope she inherited her Daddy's talents and not my, er, lack thereof. Ha!

For now, I am off to enjoy this lovely quiet morning with a cup of coffee and a determination to finish the blanket I'm crocheting for my daughter's birthday. I have all the yarn I need and plenty of free time in the mornings; no excuses!

Hooray For August

August is here! For the first two years of my daughter's elementary education, I dreaded this month because it meant there were mere days remaining before I had to put her on a bus five mornings a week and not see her again until evening. I hated that. It didn't feel right. But now August brings excitement and anticipation of all the cool things we'll be learning and doing this school year! The kiddos are literally counting the days until their lessons appear in the OLS (online school) and are looking through their materials eagerly awaiting the day they can start using them.

I love this. I'm so grateful that we have this option, and that our first year of homeschooling was such a success that they look forward with such enthusiasm to this new year and all that it will bring. If homeschooling is in your heart, but you're worried about whether you can do it, I really urge you to look into K12. No, I'm not encouraged to say nice things or compensated for my opinion in any way - I just genuinely love this program and how much flexibility and support there is. Most of all, I love how happy my kiddos are and how they genuinely want to learn.

Summer Days

My latest little obsession is Instagram. Typically, other than Facebook, I'm not much of a fan of social networks or having my information or photos splattered across the interwebs. But Instagram is just too fun to ignore.

Couple that and an adorable little moment where my son is reading a bird book like it's his job, and mommy can't resist the photo op. Doesn't he look comfy, all snuggled up on the couch among big pillows with a cozy blanket over him? It's miserably hot here in the Midwest, but we're staying cool inside and enjoying some lazy afternoons with some old school Star Trek reruns and piles of good books. Outside, the birds have been largely absent from the feeders and our grass is turning a parched shade of pale yellow. The garden, however, is producing some tasty organic treats in spite of the heat.


That picture is of one of the most perfect zucchinis I have ever seen. Delicious. If last year is any indication, we should have enough for ourselves and half the neighborhood. And, if we could get some rain, there's a variety of other delicious vegetables out there, too.

On an unrelated note, our new school materials will be shipping soon! We're very excited about this. I still have to hammer out some details about the upcoming school year and the foreign language Reezle is hoping to take, but this is so much better than the typical back-to-school circus each year. We don't miss it. At all.

Backyard Birding

With our summer vacation already in-progress, I admittedly found myself feeling a bit out of sorts with not having hours each day dedicated to learning with my children. I have them each doing 2 hours of some kind of language activity, be it reading or writing, daily to keep their minds sharp and their creativity skills strong. I get little resistance.

Reezle has been using her new free time to observe, take notes on, and read more about the local birds.

We're trying new seed varieties in the feeders to see which birds show up for each mix, and so far the only thing we've found is that the American Goldfinches love the mix with the sunflower in it (actually, they all do - you've never seen a feeder get emptied so fast) and have been noticeably absent since we switched.

Also, the Mourning Doves really like whatever the other birds are dropping on the ground from the current seed mix; they've been out there pecking at the ground almost constantly for the past few days, sometimes as many as four of them at once! The closest I'd previously seen one, other than in books and online, was on the power lines out front of our home. They're very cool.


Our most common visitors, at least for now, are House Finches (there is a male on the left of the feeder) and House Sparrows (right).

A couple of my personal favorite visitors to the feeder have to be the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak and Northern Cardinal. They are gorgeous, their calls are beautiful, and they have such personality!

And I only recently (since Reezle's interest in birding was sparked) learned that female cardinals look quite a bit different in color than their male counterparts. Check this out:


That's Redfeather (top photo) and Ruby (bottom photo), two of our most common visitors. Yes, we name them. And no, we're not 100% certain we're not calling forty different cardinals by the same name. Oh well. But we do know Star for certain - he was the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak on the pole for the feeder a few photos up. He was named Star because all of the white spots on his otherwise stark black feathers make him look like the stars in the night sky. He's the only one we've seen like him, and he has a major attitude. We love him anyway.

My bird post wouldn't be complete if I didn't share this story. About 12 years ago while rollerblading on a park trail, I saw a black bird, which I thought at first was a baby crow, take flight. When it spread its wings, I saw the most beautiful red and yellow on its wings. I never saw one again until my daughter started birding and they began showing up regularly at the feeders. They are fairly common in our area, and are called Red-Winged Blackbirds. Cool, right?

Yes, I'll be blogging more about birds over the summer. I didn't include Yellow Warblers, Blue Jays, or even a Robin in this post! It seems my daughter's interest is now a shared one.