A Morning with an Herbalist and then a Farmer

This past week, we had two adventurous outings. Earlier in the week, we met with a group for a wild plant walk with the fabulous herbalist, Ginger Webb of Texas Medicinals.  We have some of the most useful herbal remedies right in our own backyard and we saw (and tasted) several of them along our walk down to Bull Creek. I had taken extensive notes on which plants aid in certain ailments in my iPhone to only discover Sophia had erased them when she played with my phone later. *sigh* So, all I have is a photowalk.


Ginger pretends to be like a deer and eat one of their favorite plants, which is only the tip.


Very tasty!

 




A safe alternative if one doesn't have TP in the wildnerness. ;)






Sucking on the ends of these to get the nectar out is a super sweet treat.


Frolicking in the creek



Then we finished off our week with a farm day at Amy Kirk's property in Dripping Springs. Nestled on 4 acres, she's utilized the space well. We searched for eggs, visited with a friendly bull calf, Clovis, and dairy cow, Novella, made an earthworm habitat, ate lunch with other homeschoolers, and watched the beehive get prepared for its colony's arrival next week.

Animals, Animals

Once a week, on Mondays, we take a little drive to Ms. Jessica's Ranch for Sophia's horse riding classes. One of the perks of this weekly rendezvous is the animal watching on the property. I have never seen more varieties of chickens, bunnies, ducks, geese, guineas, and goats, in one place. And there is a noisy rooster too, and a small dog that comes and goes. We've yet to be able to get up close and pet any of the chickens, bunnies, or guineas, but the goals never seem to leave us alone.












Over the last few weeks, a few of the older children have been working on digging a reservoir for the ducks to have a pond. When I see moments like this, I see one of the many perks of homeschooling, and love that children are learning through real world experiences--how deep do we need to dig? how do we get water to flow into the reservoir? This is math and science, coupled with some good physical activity.



Sophia is doing really well with her lessons. She's learned how to stop her horse, walk, and is now learning how to turn. Below, she and her good friend Skye, help tack Mr. C. She is the proud owner of official saddle boots too.

[Field Trip] All About Bees!

We took a field trip yesterday for homeschooling families to learn about beekeeping. It was wonderful for the children to learn and see how the bees work together, how bees are responsible for 1/3 of the food we have, what foods they help pollinate, and the sweet story of honey!



Pointing out the Queen bee (she is marked with a red dot)










The children got to roll their own wax candles at the end.




Picnic at the park. A few bees even buzzed by to see if we had anything to offer and nobody freaked out. Imagine that!


Queen Bee and her Worker Bees by Sophia


Some fun new vocabulary the children learned:

beekeeper
beeswax
clover
colony
drone
flower
hexagon
hive
honey
insect
nectar
pollen
pollination
queen
worker

The Little Schoolhouse

Big things are going to happen in this little house.
It never ceases to amaze me how the universe lines things up.

Selfless Acts of Giving

The disaster brought by the earthquake followed by the tsumani that crashed into Japan on March 11th, has been such a terrifying and heartwrenching event.

So when I saw on facebook that two of Sophia's dear friends, along with their mommies, had made cupcakes and delicious quinoa bars to sell at the park to raise money to send to Japan, I gathered up my brood and we went to support their efforts. Before this event, Sophia didn't know what an earthquake or tsumani was. This tragic event has given us an opportunity to have some deep discussions. What these mamas did was a wondeful thing. A gift to our children of awareness, selfless giving and service to those in need, even when they are halfway across the world.

Ebb and Flow

With the arrival of spring, my mind has been whirling around like crazy. Many things are stirring in our lives. I feel like I'm constantly researching, reading, researching, and reading more. Researching expanding our veggie garden, learning about sustainable landscaping (still stuck here), getting ready for Domi to graduate in June (such an exciting time!) but even moreso, heavy on my mind is trying to soak up and gather as much information on homeschooling co-ops because, yes, it's that time for my almost 5 year old. My eldest is finishing up his schooling, and my youngest is preparing to begin her journey.

Kindergarten roundups are right around the corner, and I just can't bring myself to enroll her in our public school. The idea of it puts my stomach in knots. Don't get me wrong, I know if I had no other choice, she would be fine in the public school system. She'd get good grades, she'd pass the standardized testing, her teachers would love her.

But I want more for her.

And now with the budget cuts our state is facing next year, makes this option even more appealing. The elementary school we're zoned for is over capacity by 200 students. The school under construction set to open this fall to alleviate overcrowding in our district, has been halted because of the budget deficit.  I honestly feel, I can do better. I can do better outside of the 4 walls that enclose an over-crowded classroom, and over-extended teachers. I believe, that a group of like-minded mothers and I, can do better working collectively.

Still, this is new territory for me. Even as a certified teacher, with a Master's degree in Education, I'm a bit nervous. However, I am relieved that I'm not doing this alone and have a support system and community.   I've got to just go with the flow.

Our New Addition

Now that Sophia is going to turn 5, Mike and I felt the time was right to bring in a furry friend to our home to offer companionship to our family. After a month of searching, today, we finally met our match! A beautiful 2 year old female Labrador!

After we made the decision to adopt a dog, we decided that the best fit for our family would be a Labrador, and it was NOT easy to find what we were looking for. I love that labs are devoted, obedient, friendly, and most importantly, good with children.

This morning, Sophia and I went to the Humane Society to visit a different dog that we had seen on their website. I called Mike at work to meet us there so he could be with us during our visit. While we were waiting for a staff member to get the initial dog for us to visit with, I turned and saw "Lana", and I was immediately drawn to her bright and soulful eyes, and her sweet and calm demeanor. She is a tad older than what we were looking for, but after we visited with the 11month old [super energetic and rambunctious] lab mix, I wasn't sure about the 11month dog. I wasn't feeling it. So, I asked if we could visit with Lana. The staff member said she wasn't sure if she was still under clinic care, but would check. Her file was pulled and we were told she did test positive for heartworms and will require treatment at home. (They don't do treatment at the humane society because it's too stressful for an animal for peaceful and quiet healing). Asked if we still wanted to visit with her and I said yes. She was very excited at first, yet was so gentle and sweet with Sophia. I knew instantly. I wanted her. My mind was made up.

So we will begin heartworm treatment in the coming week, which will be a long 2 month process. We'll have to keep her calm and severly restrict her exercise during this time. The timing is perfect though since I'm at home, and she will have a peaceful restful recovery.

I can definitely see our forever friend being a calm house dog, playful yard dog and intense field dog, all on the same day. She's already proven that today.

We are all in love! Now we just need a name...

Pretty in Purple

Charming little wrist corsage he had made for her for the military ball. To match her dress.

From El Jardin

*WTH is up with blogger's formatting now? Trying to figure it out, but in the meantime, I've got a little gardening update.

Spring cannot arrrive soon enough for me. I've started a majority of our veggies from heirloom seeds this year and our first set is sprouting nicely. The only seedlings that haven't shown any signs yet are some of the peppers; the purple tomatillos, godfather peppers, and one orange roma tomato finally sprouted yesterday. I feel like the the little boy from the classic story, The Carrot Seed, watching and waiting, but nothing comes up. :) I'm also starting many herbs from seed as well and so far the two basil varieties have sprouted. I'll learn to can and preserve this summer, and have many different varieties of tomatoes this year. I look forward to no longer buying tomato sauce from the store, and I'm contemplating a little urban porch stand for my neighboring friends.

Garden soil has been gently tilled and just the beds need to be made, and as you can see, the only items left from our fall and winter garden is some lettuce and spinach, so the hubby kept the tiller away from those. We pulled up the rest of the carrots, and the artichoke plant looks like it survived the recent freezes.

Another project we have is relandscaping the large plant bed in the front yard. A few weeks ago, Mike removed the large old bushes which were an eyesore and the rose bushes which just weren't producing anymore. My goal is to replace sustainable native and adapted plants, which also provide some greenery during the winter. I've been researching, but really feel at a loss with landscape design. So I keep putting it off since it's still February, and instead I go watch the seedlings.

Roses bushes from the front yard hibernating in the wheelbarrow. Will probably put them in pots and go from there.

Our baby citrus trees hopefully survived the recent freezes and even though Mike protected them with plastic and heat lamps during the low temps, we still don't know how they will fare. The trunks look ok so far.  We'll know soon.

Some petunias that the nursery was giving away for free post freeze, so I scooped up half a dozen. After a couple weeks here, colorful petals have emerged.

Welcome 2011

New Year's Eve, we played outside with light. This one happens to be my favorite. It's beautiful to me because it reminds me of my zodiac sign. I also see some yin yang in there too.

Here's to a new beginning and a harmonious 2011. Happy New Year!