Wow, Week 20 is upon us! How nice it is to see September drawing near, and the intense weather start to break. This week has seen more in the way of education for the kids relating to their food instead of the usual tending the garden.
I met a wonderful gal a few months ago at a seed swap party and she is a fellow blogger as well, and has been following the kids' garden adventures and took time out of her busy schedule to mail a card to the kids this week and enclosed some seeds for them to plant - so cute, the card was addressed to "Farmers Finn & Loch", they were ecstatic!
That same day, in the evening, we went out to her flower farm and homestead to pick up some fresh eggs from her, and the kids loved it! They got to enjoy and pet the chickens while we were there, and Loch remarked how nice it was to see who laid "his eggs"! On the way home he commented that he didn't know that chicken butts were cute - they are cute, indeed!
She took time to grab a bucket and snips and let them pick some flowers to bring home, showing them where to cut and how to strip the leaves
Take a minute and meet Gina at Back Bay Botanicals! She is raising chickens and bees on their flower farm as well as building a farm stand all while working full time and preparing for her upcoming wedding, I don't know how she does it all! It's always so nice to connect with fellow bloggers in person!
Thanks for taking the time to show us around, we loved it!
And who else loved it? When we got home the dogs know the smell of fresh eggs right away - Marley's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree! She was a rescue from a "real farm" and although she is much loved and cherished, she has had to "settle" for becoming a frisbee dog at our little suburban homestead instead of herding chicks and goats.
Finnegan showing off the eggs and flowers, not sure what that expression is about!
As far as the kids' garden goes, a few lessons learned:
The peanut box: looks great, healthy, unaffected by insects... the problem?
Peanuts grow by these little "shoots" or "pegs" growing downward into the soil and forming the peanuts... they are in a container, so there was no soil for them to bury themselves in on the edge!
Here is a close-up of the "pegs" that would each become peanuts if they could reach the soil! We will be checking the box itself soon, but just think how many there would be had they been in the ground instead of a container!
Check out Kim at The Inadvertent Farmer for updates on all the kinderGARDENS participants' activities. She has a guest author this week who wrote about a school garden and educating our kids through being outside, what a concept! :)
That is so awesome that the kids got to see what a chicken butt can do!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have always wondered about peanuts! Maybe I should join your class with the kiddies!
What a fun trip for the boys and flowers for mom too! Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteAppreciated all your pictures as usual but especially liked the one of the dogs and fresh eggs! I could almost see their noses twitching!
ReplyDeleteErin, you do SUCH a good job of making sure your boys have neat experiences.
I'm glad the boys agree with me that chicken butts are cute. I keep telling Kate & Crew that their Clementine has the cutest chicken butt I ever did see.
ReplyDeleteCould you put a pot for peanuts?
ReplyDeleteChickens are so cute with their little pantaloons. But oh well. Erin, you know you're totally a homeschooler at heart. Hee.
That's such a wonderful experience for your boys! Caleb has been asking for chickens lately, but his egg fascination is mostly about splatting them on the kitchen floor these days...
ReplyDeleteReally cute post. Thanks for the tips about peanuts. Are they a hot weather plant? I doubt we can grow them in the NorthWest.
ReplyDeleteYour boys look like they were cut from the same cookie cutter!! SOOOO adorable!!
It's so great to meet blogger buddies in person. And how nice she was to give the boys seeds!
ReplyDeleteChicken fluffy butts really are the cutest.:)
To all: I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks fluffy chicken butts are cute! Especially when they started hurriedly waddling away when the saw the boys running towards them LOL!
ReplyDeleteStefaneener, pots around the edge would have been a good idea if I would have caught it in time, but there are that many pegs dangling all around the 4 ft box! I would really love to homeschool, but I'm not sure I have the right personality for it, it's really hard for me to be able to put aside cleaning and all other "stuff" and just concentrate on their work! I also feel that I will have to go back to work/school at some point myself and would hate to have to stop homeschooling once I had started.
Cathryn, peanuts are a huge cash crop here, most peanuts you see come from VA, it's hot and humid here and bad, sandy soil, so I'm thinking they wouldn't do the best in the PacNorthwest.
Dani, it was no nice to go see her place, it's only a 15 drive from me but worlds away in that she is on a peaceful spot out in the country in the middle of the Back Bay watershed and near the wildlife refuge. Interesting here the farmland in my immediate area is all located in tidally affected bays and waterways, beautiful area!
MamaPea, there's one experience they haven't had yet.... snow shoveling LOL!
How sweet! What an awesome week they've had. I just have to get chickens, just have to! I wonder if peanuts would grow in my area? They look like alot of fun.
ReplyDeleteSo sad! To thing of all of the peanuts that might have been! I never knew that peanuts were so resilient....I wish soybeans were!
ReplyDeleteThomas, sadly I only got one freezer bag of Edamame put away this year, the birds got every sowing I did this summer!
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