..mary, mary, quite contrary..

My garden is growing quite well, thank you. We have finished the radishes, and have harvested some peppers, cilantro, and parsley. But I am getting ahead of myself.

parsley, mint, basil, cilantro

 

I felt I was doing so well with my gardening, that on a recent trip to a local nursery, I picked up more gardening goodness. Enter thyme, rosemary, 2 heirloom tomato plants (names escape me, and I don't keep those plastic tags), 4 pepper plants (2 red bell, 2 cayenne), rose geranium, dill, parsley, basil, lemongrass, and mint.

 thyme, rosemary

Initially when I started this container garden, I had planted 4 small pots with mint, dill, parsley, and basil. After planting my seeds, carefully fertilizing and watering them gently, I looked through the booklet that came with the seeds. I wanted to make sure that I was putting them in the correct light, keeping them watered just enough, in the hopes of enjoying a bounty of herbal goodness.Then I saw the expiration date. It was staring me in the face, all faded and worn. 2003. Crap.

 rose geranium.....smells heavenly

I remained optomistic. Surely some seeds would prove hardy enough and show me some love. And I truly thought that I had beat the odds when I saw small little leaves start to sprout up. I watched and waited, expecting these leaves to grow and change into leaves that were more familiar, more like the herbs I was anticipating. Instead, I got a lesson on what weeds look like. That is all that filled my pots....weeds.

do you see all those peas?

 

And I decided to start over. This is where my new plants come in.

 tomato and peppers

 

I opted for small plants, not seeds. After acquiring these herbs and vegetables, I carefully put them in their new pots. Success. No more weeds, or, at least, now I know what those mangy creatures look like. And all is well with my garden.

strawberry pot

I think the only other thing I will add to my garden is some cucumbers. I plan to put those in the empty space left by my radishes. And my peas? I haven't yet eaten any of them, but they are covered with pea pods. I am waiting until they are swollen just enough. I have a few tomatoes and a couple of peppers as well, but I am trying desperately to keep my girls from yanking these burgeoning fruits from my plants. What about my strawberries, you ask? Well, the plants continue to flower, and now that it's June, I think I will let them go (I have been pinching them off up to this point). The plants seem to be thriving, and a couple of the ones that seemed dead, have now returned, albeit much smaller. I hope to enjoy some strawberries soon.

more strawberries

 

It continually surprises me how much pride I have for this little garden. There is so much satisfaction derived from going out and finding something to use for a meal. Whether it's a radish for a salad, or some cilantro for a garnish. To me, it's far more appealing to turn to a patch of earth for my food than to the inside of a refrigerator. And as it turns out, the more I utilize the herbs and veg in my little "patch," the more it produces. Who knew? (Be nice, I'm still a novice).

..for the birds...

A couple of years ago, my husband took an interest in birds. It had something to do with the fact that some Mississippi Kites were breeding/nesting in the park across from his parents house. This is apparently a big deal for bird enthusiasts...but for myself (unenthused, at that point), I could not wrap my head around the fact that there existed a bird called a "Kite." Huh.

Time passed, and I took the opportunity to learn a little about these winged creatures, by listening to my husband try to identify different species, and by attempting to provide nourishment for them throughout the seasons. I think the moment the tides turned for me was when I was driving over a bridge in town and noticed bald eagles fishing in the rapids of the river below. Bald eagles. In late winter. Soaring right in front of my eyes. For the first time, I felt the magnificence of these birds.

When driving, or when on the phone, in the midst of a conversation, my husband will stop everything to announce whatever feathered friend he sees. BLUE HERON! TURKEY VULTURE! RED-TAILED HAWK! DOWNY WOODPECKER! He does have a pretty good eye. I do NOT have as good an eye, but I make every attempt to see what he's seeing. I'm just fairly certain that when he sees distinctive markings, I see blurs in the distance. But my resolve is strong and I remain interested.

 In our yard, we have added a few bird feeders and a bird bath over the last year. This has resulted in our backyard becoming akin to an aviary. Over the past few seasons we have seen hummingbirds, robins, black-capped chickadees, juncos, finches, cardinals, bluejays, and woodpeckers. Roaming the neighborhood you can find an occasional duck or goose, and then there is the gang of turkeys. Yes, turkeys.

Surprisingly enough, we do not currently live in a small, rural area.....yet. I live in what is considered a mid-size city, and I am astonished and in awe of all the small creatures a few nuts, seeds and fruit will attract. I have come to enjoy watching these animals. They swoop in, take a few nibbles, take off again, flit from branch to branch, tree to tree, and, more than I care to think of, sometimes smack into our picture windows. I've seen them playfully chase each other, jockey for prime position at the feeder, chirp and sing their itty-bitty lungs out, and build nests and raise young in our yard.

So, I guess I'm ok with these fowl. I'm enjoying all the life they bring to our little backyard.

Note: All pictures were taken in our backyard, both from the inside and out. I apologize for any unseemly glares.

..gridiron fun..

My son has developed a love for football. It began months ago, during the last football season. He took an interest in the games that were being played (my husband belongs to a few fantasy football leagues), and began a search for a football to throw around. My proud husband found and dusted off his childhood football, which proved to be a little too big for my 7 year old's hands. The aunties were more than happy to gift many a football to the pigskin-cravin' boy. Oh yes, that green one is glow-in-the-dark, dontcha know.

And once the footballs were procured, the practicing began. This boy has had a football within a foot of him for the last 6 months. He throws it, he catches it, he sleeps with it. He has recorded on our DVR about 30 minutes of the Super Bowl, which in the few times he has watched it, he now has memorized the plays that are recorded within. (?!)

My husband makes it a priority to have lunch with my son every Tuesday at school. During recess, weather permitting, they play football. When the weather is uncooperative, they sit in the classroom and create plays. And some of these plays are the most bizarre, creative masterpieces you could ever lay eyes on. It should go without saying that my husband is the most popular kid in the 2nd grade.

(Not even the snow of winter slowed down the football-playing!)

With summer inching closer, we have made the decision to sign him up for Flag Football. He is over the moon about getting to play a proper game on a proper team. He has even taken to doing sit-ups and push-ups to condition himself for the start of the 'season.'

With all the football fun had around here on a daily basis, there have been some interesting 'situations.'

This has proven to be the most interesting of dilemmas. I chose to let the young ones figure it out, until Miss E decided to pull out the barstool that twists to reach the football. To prevent any broken bones and sprained joints, of which they could be genetically pre-dispositioned to, I quickly handed my son the broom. This effectively removed the football from it's perch.

And back to the passing, punting, and playing we go!

..the harvest begins..

Garden in early April and early May

 
So I had every intention of giving garden updates as I watched my little seeds grow and flourish. But I am still trying to be mindful of taking pictures, and everytime the urge strikes, it is rainy or overcast. But as of this week, we are now harvesting. The French Breakfast radishes are ready.

Radish-y goodness.

Now I am only a novice gardener. I am slowly learning terms and practices, as I hurriedly refer to gardening books borrowed from the library. I allow myself some room for error, and sometimes making the mistakes and learning from them first-hand is the best way for me to go about learning. Thankfully, seeds are cheap.

So reflecting on this garden, I would perhaps thin these radishes instead of just dumping the seeds into the earth and letting them go. It might make for more uniformly sized radishes. And let's be clear...my remembering to water them was a huge accomplishment. I always try to find something positive.

 My peas.

The peas are making their way up my makeshift poles. The River Birch out front is kind enough to provide more than enough branches..much to my husband's dismay. But I am happy to utilize all that I can laying around the house and yard.

I wish I could say the strawberries are doing better. Somehow it looks as if a few of the plants have withered away and died. I'm not quite sure why. It may be that they are too low in the boxes, or that they have just gotten too much/too little sun or water. The strawberry pot seems to be fine, and with the plants that are thriving, I have pinched off a few flowers. So I remain hopeful.

Strawberries in April

And I am so optimistic about this gardening thing, that I ventured out and added some new characters to my cast of green goodness. But in the interest of not rambling on for too much longer, I shall share those another day.

If you have any gardening tips or suggestions, feel free to share!

..deep breath..

It's spring break in these parts, and around here, we're taking it easy.

A week full of sleeping in.

A week full of lazy meals.

A week full of field trip, basketball, and other games.

A week full of art projects.

No worries, just easy.

Happy spring!

 

..gardening experiment..

Spring has come early this year. And realistically, in our corner of the world, it has felt like summer until just a couple of days ago. With this warmer weather, I have felt the itch to do some planting. I have thought carefully about how to garden, since we are longtime CSA members. Our boxes start in June and can go all the way until December, and doing double-garden duty is only setting myself up for failure.

(Quinalt pot)

After pondering the garden question, I settled upon a few things to try in a container garden on our deck. I settled on English peas, Quinalt strawberries, French breakfast radishes, Cilantro, Dill, Mint, Lavender, and Parsley. I may add some English thyme to the mix, and perhaps a smaller variety pumpkin, but we'll see how things go with these first few containers. Once upon a time, I planted 12 tomato plants in our yard, right before giving birth to our son. That story ended with an exhausted new mother and an overly frustrated new father and a heap of rotting tomatoes. I will not make the same mistake twice.

In deciding what containers to use, I wanted to re-purpose containers we already had around the house. I was happy to discover that we had two unused flower boxes against our fence in the backyard. They work perfectly, and are large enough to accommodate the peas, radishes, and half of the strawberries.

 (Radish/Quinalt box)

I have enlisted the help of my kids to assist me in caring for the plants. Both of my girls are always looking for something to "garden," which, loosely translated, means "something I can water with my watering can." They helped me to put the rocks/chards of terra cotta at the bottom of the planters for drainage, scoop the potting soil into the container, and take compost from our yard to add to the potting soil. They were very industrious and helpful, and completely in awe of the number of worms we dug up. *yay, compost!*

Now that everything has been planted, we are just checking up on our little containers every morning. Fortunately for us, it has been particularly rainy so far, so watering hasn't been overly necessary. And we are happy to announce that our peas are coming in nicely. It is quite fun planting with my little girls, and, when he's not busy dribbling a basketball in every corner of our home, my boy.

(Pea sprouts)

How is your garden growing?

..the conference..

Has it really been over a month? My how time flies. The last month has been filled with sickness, end of year paperwork, catching up, impromptu travel, and much higher than normal outside temps. In short, there have been numerous other things to occupy my attention than sitting at the computer...which in the end is a good thing, I suppose.

(springtime in our front yard)

This past week, my husband and I celebrated our birthdays. We share the very same day as our birthday, and it has it's benefits, to be sure. There is no forgetting and there is not much pomp and circumstance surrounding the day for either of us. Keeping it low-key is what we like, and if anything out of the ordinary is done, it's usually on a small scale (like on our 40th birthdays). It is a frightful reminder, however, that I am and always will be, one year older than my love. But I can get over that pretty quickly.

This year, my gift came somewhat unexpectedly. We had a conference scheduled for Miss E the day before our big day. We were exhausted that day, having gotten up in the wee hours of the morning to travel home from a last-minute family gathering. I think we both consumed a fair amount of caffeine that day, but no amount would jolt us up out of the funk we were in. It didn't help that our 3 kids were well-rested and restless from having had to sit in small, confined spaces for the better part of 5 hours. So we dragged ourselves into the school, all kids in tow, to hear what the teacher had to say.

(springtime in our backyard)

The conference started out the traditional way, "..she's performing at this level, here are some work samples, she's on target for 1st grade, blah, blah, blah..." We didn't have any major concerns, as she is a good worker and seems to be progressing well. My only concern is with how she gets along with other kids. At home, Miss E likes to be in control of a situation. She has a perfectionist streak in her and if things are not done to her liking, she can be shrill and demanding. If she is not the leader, she can very well slip into her own little world and ignore everything around her. She has a grand imagination and is fascinating to listen to. At the beginning of the year, she had a difficult transition to kindergarten because she didn't know quite how to acclimate to a class that was double in size to her preschool class. She was known to spend recess time all by herself, and had some difficulty in making new friends. It was less of a concern to me now, but I was still curious. So I asked.

(Nest built under our deck, virtually overnight)

The teacher's response is what caught me completely off-guard. She sighed and said, "I wish that everyone was as patient and kind to other classmates as Miss E is." She went on to explain that in her classroom, there is an autistic child and a couple of other children with special needs. It is my little drill sergeant that they listen to. She approaches each of them fearlessly, with a gentleness that allows them to seamlessly become a part of the class. Miss E sets the example that these children, despite their differences, hold a place in the classroom that is just as significant as everyone else's. She insist they be treated with the same amount of respect, kindness, and attention, doing so through her own actions. And she's only 5.

(Miss E enjoying the water, Christmas 2011)

It was a proud parent moment, to be sure. Both my husband and I were touched. Sometimes, you focus on the academic side of things too much. And for two parents who both have worked as educators, the focus is even more intense. The praises that were sung about my daughter were a reality check. I am proud of her intellectual growth, but I am even more proud that this little girl we're raising, can be an example to us all. That tolerance of those that are different from us, in any way, can make this world a kinder, gentler place.

A special birthday present, indeed.