This week a boy in our Taekwondo school passed away. It has made me think a lot about 2009 when we lost a young family member too soon. To experience the death of a child you love is possibly the most tragic thing that can happen in a person's life. The affects are lifelong. The following is a story I wrote to comfort my family after our loss. I hope it can help others.
Michael Goes to Earth
Once upon a time there was a tiny angel in heaven named Michael. Michael was smaller than all the other angels but God had given him an important job. He was in charge of Heaven’s Nursery. Most people don’t know that there is a nursery in heaven. But there is - ALL the children and babies who for one reason or another do not grow up to be adults go there. It is the place all the babies go if they die.
All the other angels loved to visit the nursery and play with the children. Michael loved all the children too - but he especially loved the babies. He loved giving them baths, snuggling with them, feeding them, and even changing their diapers. He cared for them so much, but since he had never been a baby (since he was an angel and angels come into being in very different ways than humans), he always wondered what it would be like to be born, have a mommy and maybe even a sister like some of the other babies in heaven. Michael loved being an angel - but he was a very curious sort of spirit.
And he wondered often about things outside of heaven. What is earth like? What do animals feel like? He was especially fascinated with Iguanas and Dogs - he’d seen pictures in one of the story books he read to the nursery children and really wanted to see and touch an iguana’s scales and feel a dog’s fur.
Michael was also very curious about mommies. “What do Mommies smell like?” he asked God.
God replied, “Well, Michael, mommies smell like hot chocolate, cookies and microwave pop corn all mixed together.”
“What do Mommies feel like?” Michael asked.
“Mommies are soft and squishy like the warmest feather pillow. Mommies have gentle hands, warm skin, and they have warm salty tears that they shed when they really love something - especially their children.” God told Michael.
Michael asked God about all of these things constantly! God was very kind and told him what these things felt like, but while God is a master at describing things, Michael was still very curious about the Earth. Finally, after being asked about iguanas and dogs for the hundredth time, God asked Michael if he would like a brief opportunity to fulfill all his dreams and experience: the feel of iguanas and dogs, what it is like to have a sister, but most of all what it is like to have a mommy. God told him that it would only be brief - that he would only have a very short time to experience all these things. After all, the other angels were not nearly as good at caring for the nursery as Michael was and he was needed back in heaven just as soon as possible.
Michael was so excited! He could not wait to be and do the things he had always wondered about. He looked at God and said, “Let’s do this thing! I’m ready!” So God reached out a solitary finger and touched the very tip of Michael’s tiny little nose. WHOOSH! POP! Michael found himself floating around in a warm liquid space. Over time, he began to see his new environment. It smelled like hot chocolate, cookies and microwave pop corn. He began to explore his new body - it was GROWING! He was so excited to be growing. Soon he had fingers and toes just like the babies in heaven. He loved baby fingers and baby toes so much. They were so cute and he wiggled them and watched them and savored every minute of it. What adorable fingers and toes he had!
He learned to suck his thumb - which was something that he had learned to do from the babies in heaven. After all, they loved to suck their thumbs. He learned to kick his legs. Soon he realized that he wasn’t alone. He could hear a “Thump! Thump!” and he began to hear a voice. This voice sounded like an angel when she sang. He certainly knew angel song when he heard it. When she would sing, he would kick and squirm with pure joy! He soon realized that this voice was so close and he could reach out and touch its owner. This must be his mother he decided. Only his mother would know how to sing like an angel, after all.
Soon Michael ran out of room in his comfy little liquid place. He was so squished he thought he’d pop! Then he did! Right out of his mommy’s tummy. He came out and it was so cold. It was very bright and for the first time ever, he became scared - and he let everyone know he was scared. He wanted his mommy! Then, suddenly, there she was and just as beautiful as he expected. She had golden hair and deep brown eyes. She looked at him with so much love that Michael knew this must be her. She was soft and warm just like God had promised and he nuzzled right up to her and snuggled down.
Finally, Michael’s mommy told him it was time to go home. At first, he was shocked by this, because he knew that his real home was in heaven. But she took him to a warm house with lots of people and he even had a sister! His sister loved him so much - she had big brown eyes and looked a lot like his mommy only quite a bit shorter.
Michael found out soon that his mommy loved animals of all sorts. She always had animals around her and Michael thought to himself that God had been very wise to give him to this mommy. She had an iguana and a dog - and he got to feel both of these animals. The iguana was warmish and scaly and he decided, that while it was an awesome animal, only experiencing that feeling a few times was plenty. The dog was very soft and warm and fuzzy. He loved the feel of the dog and decided that when he got back to heaven, he must take the children from the nursery on a field trip to Heaven’s Kennel.
Michael didn’t only experience the good things on earth though. He went through all the experiences that little babies go through. He had tummy aches and colds. He began getting sore gums. Oh, Michael was not happy at these times. He would fuss and tell his mommy all about it. You see, Michael had never experienced anything like a tummy ache in heaven. These things just didn’t exist there! These experiences were so different for him that he just didn’t know what to do with them other than cry and tell everyone around him that tummy aches did not make him happy one teensy tiny bit!
One night, after Michael had kissed his mommy goodnight for the third time, God came to him in a dream. God said, “Michael, it is time to come home now. It has been 14 months and the children in the nursery keep asking about you. The kids need for you to referee the kick ball game. The babies need for you to read stories to them.”
Michael awoke with a start. His dream had startled him but he realized that he was needed in heaven - he had a job to do and he had experienced all of his dreams here on earth. He began to cry out for his mommy - could he just smell her and touch her one more time? The lights around him began to dim. He closed his eyes...
When Michael opened his eyes again, God was standing over him with one finger touching the end of Michael’s tiny nose. God smiled at Michael and said, “Welcome back, my tiny angel. We are so glad you are home!” God patted Michael on his head and ruffled his curly blonde locks.
Michael looked to God and smiled. “Oh, God, you are not gonna believe all of this!” and he told God of all he had experienced on Earth. About his dog, his iguana, his beautiful sister, and most of all about his mommy. He told God about how she smelled and how she felt. God was pleased that Michael was so happy with all he had done on Earth. But he was anxious for Michael to take up his post in the nursery because all the other angels who had been filling in were so very busy with other tasks.
God looked at him with a big grin and said, “And now, Michael, get back to work. Vacation is over.”
Michael happily went back to his job at the nursery caring for all the babies and children of heaven - and knowing and understanding now what it was like to be a child, his job meant so much more to him. He thought of his mommy and smiled as he picked up one of his own beautiful babies and began bouncing her on his knee.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Friday, August 19, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
When decisions are made for you
Just found out that my kids' theatre troupe is shutting down. This saddens me greatly. I had pondered not doing classes this coming year, but couldn't imagine my kids life without Kelly Slusarick and her staff diligently teaching them the ins and outs of the theatre. So I had decided to make sure we made theatre part of our priorities this year. Unfortunately, that is not in the cards.
Kelly has been teaching Asher for six years and Evie for four years. Isaac had just begun her program this year and last with one of Kelly's staff and was enjoying it thoroughly. She has been a gigantic part of my children's lives nearly every week for the past six years. Some of them since birth! She saw me through my pregnancies with both Oz and Isaac. They have relished their time with Kelly. I have never had to make them to go to class, they were eager and ready to go every week. When classes were cancelled or were over for a semester, I dreaded telling them because of how sad they would be not to have their time with Kelly at drama class.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the rest of Kelly's family as well. From Scott's dedication, his role as "The Gruffalo" which I will always remember and set building talent, to Sarah's exuberance for life, to Zoe's friendship to my kids. They are an amazing and multitalented family. My family has been lucky to have them in our lives.
My kids have all learned so much from Kelly's program, but I think Asher has benefitted the most. He has gone from being pretty scared to be on stage to belting out a solo from a broadway musical on stage for an audience with absolutely no shyness. He has come so far under her tutelage and encouragement. She has played a vital role in shaping him into the mature and wonderful young man he is today.
So Kelly, Kelly's family, and staff from Acting Up Children's Theatre(especially Elise Dukette) - thank you so much for not only accepting my kids for who they are, but embracing all their uniqueness quite thoroughly. Thank you for teaching, thank you for being there, and for being part of our lives for six years!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Kelly has been teaching Asher for six years and Evie for four years. Isaac had just begun her program this year and last with one of Kelly's staff and was enjoying it thoroughly. She has been a gigantic part of my children's lives nearly every week for the past six years. Some of them since birth! She saw me through my pregnancies with both Oz and Isaac. They have relished their time with Kelly. I have never had to make them to go to class, they were eager and ready to go every week. When classes were cancelled or were over for a semester, I dreaded telling them because of how sad they would be not to have their time with Kelly at drama class.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the rest of Kelly's family as well. From Scott's dedication, his role as "The Gruffalo" which I will always remember and set building talent, to Sarah's exuberance for life, to Zoe's friendship to my kids. They are an amazing and multitalented family. My family has been lucky to have them in our lives.
My kids have all learned so much from Kelly's program, but I think Asher has benefitted the most. He has gone from being pretty scared to be on stage to belting out a solo from a broadway musical on stage for an audience with absolutely no shyness. He has come so far under her tutelage and encouragement. She has played a vital role in shaping him into the mature and wonderful young man he is today.
So Kelly, Kelly's family, and staff from Acting Up Children's Theatre(especially Elise Dukette) - thank you so much for not only accepting my kids for who they are, but embracing all their uniqueness quite thoroughly. Thank you for teaching, thank you for being there, and for being part of our lives for six years!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Giving yourself time to implement new things -or- what my garden has taught me about homeschooling
I've been working more on my gardening blog and less on this one of lately. Not sure who reads any of it anyway, but here goes! While I have worked in my garden this year, I have thought a lot about patience. It takes about 60 days from the time the bean sprouts, until you get your first handful of green beans off the vine. It takes that much or longer for so many of my other crops. I get so impatient with my garden, but there is nothing I can do to hurry it along any faster than the plants can actually grow. I can fertilize them, make sure they are planted properly, weed them, squish the buggies that invade, etc. In the end, the fruit comes when it is ready. Which is usually about two or three weeks after I start saying, "Hurry up!!". If I pick the fruit early, it doesn't taste very good. And if I give up, the weeds or pests take over and I don't get much fruit. Sometimes even if I try my hardest, I still don't succeed.
Gardening has taught me to slow down and to savor what I have while I have it. After all, fresh tomato sandwiches only come for me as long as I can keep up my garden. But these lessons apply to my children as well. We have found ourselves way too busy and hurried this past school year. We took some classes on Tuesdays with our homeschooling group, had Theatre classes on Mondays and Thursdays, Taekwondo on Mondays, Tuesdays, and sometimes Wednesdays, once a month games night, homeschool skating, park days, Science Olympiad. We ate a lot of fast food, drank a lot of sodas, didn't get enough rest, didn't get enough academics, didn't have a set schedule, didn't have a clean house, and ached for time to just be a family. By May 31, I was celebrating because we could do school work all summer and that the only activity we had going through the summer regularly was Taekwondo.
July has been our official start to our new school year since we started homeschooling because of the Carolina heat in July and August. This year, we worked all through June as well. We do morning and evening activities and jam on our school work after lunch. It has worked out well and is the schedule I hope to keep for the school year. We will still have a megaton of activities gearing up around September, but my hope is to get enough school work in these three months, so we can scale back to three days a week for the weeks we will be doing our Tuesday classes. (September through the beginning of December then January through the end of April).
Tuesday classes will help me cover Science, History, Art, and PE for the school aged kids. Though I am teaching Evie's Science Olympiad Class, so I have a lot of work to do in preparation for that class. Time4Learning is going to help me cover the other subjects. I will be supplementing Math with Life of Fred, adding in some additional reading time, writing, and literature for the older two, lots of picture books and early readers for the younger two, and doing a couple of hands on nature projects with all the kids.
I am also implementing a new chore system to help us use our time more wisely. I've broken down all our daily and weekly chores into a manageable list. Fifteen tasks on the daily list and 15 tasks on the weekly list. Evie, Asher, Josh and I will each take 3-4 things on the daily list every day. Isaac and Oz have to be helpers on at least four chores of their choosing. We will work as a team on two or three of the weekly chores. I will also make a detail cleaning list for our once monthly deep clean we already do. Hopefully, this bit by bit system will help the weekly and monthly chores a bit easier.
All this seems like I am adding more and more to my schedule of the things we do. But just like my garden, getting us set up to succeed before things really start "blooming" in September is essential. Getting my calendar planned for the year is essential. Getting all the planning and preparation done so we can execute with efficiency is the only way to prevent burn out for the kids and for myself.
I start planning my garden in December and begin adding layers to my raised lasagna beds in September! I don't plant until March and April. Why do I think I can homeschool successfully and seamlessly without planning at least a few months in advance? Why am I just now realizing this EIGHT YEARS into my homeschooling experience?? Not that we haven't been successful, but I don't feel we have been as successful as we could have been if I had thought of some of this before.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Gardening has taught me to slow down and to savor what I have while I have it. After all, fresh tomato sandwiches only come for me as long as I can keep up my garden. But these lessons apply to my children as well. We have found ourselves way too busy and hurried this past school year. We took some classes on Tuesdays with our homeschooling group, had Theatre classes on Mondays and Thursdays, Taekwondo on Mondays, Tuesdays, and sometimes Wednesdays, once a month games night, homeschool skating, park days, Science Olympiad. We ate a lot of fast food, drank a lot of sodas, didn't get enough rest, didn't get enough academics, didn't have a set schedule, didn't have a clean house, and ached for time to just be a family. By May 31, I was celebrating because we could do school work all summer and that the only activity we had going through the summer regularly was Taekwondo.
July has been our official start to our new school year since we started homeschooling because of the Carolina heat in July and August. This year, we worked all through June as well. We do morning and evening activities and jam on our school work after lunch. It has worked out well and is the schedule I hope to keep for the school year. We will still have a megaton of activities gearing up around September, but my hope is to get enough school work in these three months, so we can scale back to three days a week for the weeks we will be doing our Tuesday classes. (September through the beginning of December then January through the end of April).
Tuesday classes will help me cover Science, History, Art, and PE for the school aged kids. Though I am teaching Evie's Science Olympiad Class, so I have a lot of work to do in preparation for that class. Time4Learning is going to help me cover the other subjects. I will be supplementing Math with Life of Fred, adding in some additional reading time, writing, and literature for the older two, lots of picture books and early readers for the younger two, and doing a couple of hands on nature projects with all the kids.
I am also implementing a new chore system to help us use our time more wisely. I've broken down all our daily and weekly chores into a manageable list. Fifteen tasks on the daily list and 15 tasks on the weekly list. Evie, Asher, Josh and I will each take 3-4 things on the daily list every day. Isaac and Oz have to be helpers on at least four chores of their choosing. We will work as a team on two or three of the weekly chores. I will also make a detail cleaning list for our once monthly deep clean we already do. Hopefully, this bit by bit system will help the weekly and monthly chores a bit easier.
All this seems like I am adding more and more to my schedule of the things we do. But just like my garden, getting us set up to succeed before things really start "blooming" in September is essential. Getting my calendar planned for the year is essential. Getting all the planning and preparation done so we can execute with efficiency is the only way to prevent burn out for the kids and for myself.
I start planning my garden in December and begin adding layers to my raised lasagna beds in September! I don't plant until March and April. Why do I think I can homeschool successfully and seamlessly without planning at least a few months in advance? Why am I just now realizing this EIGHT YEARS into my homeschooling experience?? Not that we haven't been successful, but I don't feel we have been as successful as we could have been if I had thought of some of this before.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Lasagna Gardening Ingredients
I'm teaching a class on March 5 on Lasagna Gardening. In preparation, some folks have asked me for a supply list. So here it is! I will cover this again in class along with what to do do with all the ingredients. After The class, I will also post my notes and ideas from the class and in general about gardening.
Cardboard Is your official weed reducer. It kills the grass and most of the weeds growing in with the grass. You will need enough to cover the ground where you plan to build your bed.
Straw is not a necessity but will add a level of aeration to the growing medium you are creating for your plants.
Newspaper - can be used in addition to or instead of straw.
Soil is important the first year. A layer or two of sandy top soil is always helpful in introducing the soil borne organisms that will help produce more soils and encourage composting worms to inhabit your garden.
Manure - poo provides a lot of nutrients. Cow poo, horse poo and worm poo work great. As does elephant poo if you can find a circus to obtain it from!
Household food plant based waste. - potato peels, banana peels, coffee grounds, rusty lettuce leaves, broccoli stalks, etc. Anything that grows in the ground can be recycled into garden soil.
Organic Plant Matter (Leaves, Grass Clippings, Store Bought Mulch) start a collection pile this summer as you mow your grass for adding to your garden next fall. My best investment ever was my grass catcher for my mower. Not only does it catch piles and piles of grass, but in the fall, it does a great job of picking up leaves from the 7 pecan trees that incircle my property.
That is really it. Keep in mind that when you build your bed you will need to layer this stuff up about 24 inches deep, at the least.
Cardboard Is your official weed reducer. It kills the grass and most of the weeds growing in with the grass. You will need enough to cover the ground where you plan to build your bed.
Straw is not a necessity but will add a level of aeration to the growing medium you are creating for your plants.
Newspaper - can be used in addition to or instead of straw.
Soil is important the first year. A layer or two of sandy top soil is always helpful in introducing the soil borne organisms that will help produce more soils and encourage composting worms to inhabit your garden.
Manure - poo provides a lot of nutrients. Cow poo, horse poo and worm poo work great. As does elephant poo if you can find a circus to obtain it from!
Household food plant based waste. - potato peels, banana peels, coffee grounds, rusty lettuce leaves, broccoli stalks, etc. Anything that grows in the ground can be recycled into garden soil.
Organic Plant Matter (Leaves, Grass Clippings, Store Bought Mulch) start a collection pile this summer as you mow your grass for adding to your garden next fall. My best investment ever was my grass catcher for my mower. Not only does it catch piles and piles of grass, but in the fall, it does a great job of picking up leaves from the 7 pecan trees that incircle my property.
That is really it. Keep in mind that when you build your bed you will need to layer this stuff up about 24 inches deep, at the least.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The seriously crazy mom's life...
Ever get so busy, annoyed, and moody that you just want to check out on responsibility for a while? I am so there right now. As I sit in my back yard (by my new fire pit I received for Mother's Day posting this on our wireless network with iPad on my lap) I can't help, but be thankful for the many wonderful things in my life. But it is so easy to get stressed.
First, let us talk about my little stresses. I am currently convinced that preschool aged children all have multiple personality disorder... Osric is kissing me one instant and kicking me the next. Sometimes I just can't get a read on this child. He gives me such a hard time. And god help us all if he misses nap time. And Isaac is as moody and dramatic as a teenage soap opera. He is convinced that every bump he gets to his shin is a broken leg and every time his feelings get hurt he is just going to die. Being little isn't easy... Poor guys.
Then there are my bigger stresses - the school aged kids. Be it aggressive 11 year old testosterone filled Asher or highly sensitive cries at the drop of a hat almost 8 year old Evie, I am constantly worried about these two kids. We had a minor tragedy with Evie this morning when the ladybugs she was raising turned cannibal and began eating one another. It was time for them to be released anyway, but she bawled like she had lost a relative. I was so sad for her. Asher on the other hand seems to think that the world currently owes him and everything he is asked to do is unfair. I am trying very hard to convince him otherwise and figure by the time he is 25, we will have it all straightened out.
My kids are the least of my craziness. Even though I long for future days of no diapers and children who can all read and write, and I ache for a tantrum free day more than anything, my biggest stress right now has to be my self imposed life of servitude and constant responsibility. Having kids and a wonderful marriage was a choice I do not regret, but my lack of 'me time' (and I don't just mean the occasional mommy night out and date night, I mean real vacations with just my husband or by myself) is really starting to get to me. I see some mothers who seem so content to be with their kids all the time and I feel horribly guilty that I cannot be that way. I find myself snapping at the kids and my husband when *anyone* disturbs my only alone time - when I am sleeping and when I am in the bathroom. Then, when I do get some real alone time, I find myself feeling horribly guilty for needing it - like I should want my children to be with me where I am. I know my lack of 'me time' is really my own fault and that I just need to take the time if I need it, but I feel guilty for needing it in the first place so would it be more stressful take it and feel guilty than to continue suffering in my self imposed misery?
I am honestly not sure what the answer is. I'd like to spend about three days all by myself and find out...
First, let us talk about my little stresses. I am currently convinced that preschool aged children all have multiple personality disorder... Osric is kissing me one instant and kicking me the next. Sometimes I just can't get a read on this child. He gives me such a hard time. And god help us all if he misses nap time. And Isaac is as moody and dramatic as a teenage soap opera. He is convinced that every bump he gets to his shin is a broken leg and every time his feelings get hurt he is just going to die. Being little isn't easy... Poor guys.
Then there are my bigger stresses - the school aged kids. Be it aggressive 11 year old testosterone filled Asher or highly sensitive cries at the drop of a hat almost 8 year old Evie, I am constantly worried about these two kids. We had a minor tragedy with Evie this morning when the ladybugs she was raising turned cannibal and began eating one another. It was time for them to be released anyway, but she bawled like she had lost a relative. I was so sad for her. Asher on the other hand seems to think that the world currently owes him and everything he is asked to do is unfair. I am trying very hard to convince him otherwise and figure by the time he is 25, we will have it all straightened out.
My kids are the least of my craziness. Even though I long for future days of no diapers and children who can all read and write, and I ache for a tantrum free day more than anything, my biggest stress right now has to be my self imposed life of servitude and constant responsibility. Having kids and a wonderful marriage was a choice I do not regret, but my lack of 'me time' (and I don't just mean the occasional mommy night out and date night, I mean real vacations with just my husband or by myself) is really starting to get to me. I see some mothers who seem so content to be with their kids all the time and I feel horribly guilty that I cannot be that way. I find myself snapping at the kids and my husband when *anyone* disturbs my only alone time - when I am sleeping and when I am in the bathroom. Then, when I do get some real alone time, I find myself feeling horribly guilty for needing it - like I should want my children to be with me where I am. I know my lack of 'me time' is really my own fault and that I just need to take the time if I need it, but I feel guilty for needing it in the first place so would it be more stressful take it and feel guilty than to continue suffering in my self imposed misery?
I am honestly not sure what the answer is. I'd like to spend about three days all by myself and find out...
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Summer plans and more gardening
Trying to work out a 'summer schedule' for school work, field trips, gardening, etc. is proving really challenging. We have been so busy the past several weeks that getting *any* school work done has been next to impossible. The social aspect of our lives is all consuming and I really need to take a step back and really examine the activities we do, when we are out of the house. We eat out more than we eat in and that is really hard on the wallet and not healthy at all. How can I manage to stay at home more? Getting my head wrapped around all that we do is even harder... It's so overwhelming.
The kids have summer theatre camp this year and we have our vacation this summer as well. Next fall, I will be making some hard decisions on what activities we do and don't do, but for now, we will just keep plugging away getting in as much as we can until the activities wind down a bit. The kids' plays are on May 21st, and we won't have theatre again until late summer for theatre camp. This will free our Mondays up for a while. I am trying to plan more weekend activities for our family because midweek field trips really throw off our school schedule. Working with three children has proven really difficult this year and I have floundered quite a bit on how to do it. So frustrating...
On the plus side, the few hours a week, I spend tending my garden have begun bearing fruit both literally and figuratively. My 5 gallon bucket of spinach and quart of strawberries were very tasty! When I go out in the evenings to tug at the weeds, pick off the pests, water, fertilize and train the vining plants, I totally relax. I long for the moment that I can escape out into the yard each day to play in my garden.
Evie helped me weed for a while today and it was a lot of fun describing the differences between the weeds and the plants. She is raising some lady bugs to go into the garden in a kit we ordered for her at Christmas. She's really loving watching her larvae turn into pupae. They are kind of creepy little things, but the end result, will hopefully be some lady bugs that can eat any mites, mealy worms, and aphids in my garden! I may have to order a few more kits for her to increase our lady bug numbers.
Asher is not too keen on the garden, mostly because he knows there are brussel sprouts out there that will hit his plate this summer. But he accepts that I love my garden and that it is important to me, so he leaves me to it. Oz and Isaac still love watering the plants, but sometimes try to help a little too much. Oz is really quick to help pull weeds and pull up things that aren't weeds.
Promising to post pictures soon of my garden, I have some I took several weeks ago, but the plants have grown to enormous proportions since then and I just don't think the pictures I have do it all justice!
The kids have summer theatre camp this year and we have our vacation this summer as well. Next fall, I will be making some hard decisions on what activities we do and don't do, but for now, we will just keep plugging away getting in as much as we can until the activities wind down a bit. The kids' plays are on May 21st, and we won't have theatre again until late summer for theatre camp. This will free our Mondays up for a while. I am trying to plan more weekend activities for our family because midweek field trips really throw off our school schedule. Working with three children has proven really difficult this year and I have floundered quite a bit on how to do it. So frustrating...
On the plus side, the few hours a week, I spend tending my garden have begun bearing fruit both literally and figuratively. My 5 gallon bucket of spinach and quart of strawberries were very tasty! When I go out in the evenings to tug at the weeds, pick off the pests, water, fertilize and train the vining plants, I totally relax. I long for the moment that I can escape out into the yard each day to play in my garden.
Evie helped me weed for a while today and it was a lot of fun describing the differences between the weeds and the plants. She is raising some lady bugs to go into the garden in a kit we ordered for her at Christmas. She's really loving watching her larvae turn into pupae. They are kind of creepy little things, but the end result, will hopefully be some lady bugs that can eat any mites, mealy worms, and aphids in my garden! I may have to order a few more kits for her to increase our lady bug numbers.
Asher is not too keen on the garden, mostly because he knows there are brussel sprouts out there that will hit his plate this summer. But he accepts that I love my garden and that it is important to me, so he leaves me to it. Oz and Isaac still love watering the plants, but sometimes try to help a little too much. Oz is really quick to help pull weeds and pull up things that aren't weeds.
Promising to post pictures soon of my garden, I have some I took several weeks ago, but the plants have grown to enormous proportions since then and I just don't think the pictures I have do it all justice!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
More gardening
Okay, so I've totally overdone it on my garden... I've been working on it every day I can since the end of February when it started to warm up. It is looking beautiful. I'll draw you all a mental picture. Visualize my back yard. Our lot is 1 1/3 acres. The back 1/4 is covered in trees, the first 1/4 is front yard and house, behind the house 1/4 is about 6 pecan trees, a magnolia, and some other trees. The next 1/4 is my garden space.
I love my garden space! In this space, I have three east to west raised lasagna beds, a compost bin, two rows of fruit trees/bushes and a raised strawberry bed. A dear friend in my autism parent support group taught me lots about lasagna gardening... Lasagna gardening involves starting with a layer of newspaper or cardboard as your base layer and then layer upon layer of soil and other compostable materials. Every layer brings so much organic goodness and my garden has the biggest pill bugs and worms! They just love it. Let me describe my set up.
I'll start with the lasagna beds. The on farthest to the right if you are standing with your back to the house is about 20 feet long. On the front end, I have a salvaged grape arbor with a red and a green seedless grape on it. Behind the grapes I have planted 10 asparagus roots that have not come up yet, but the roots looked good when I dug into them yesterday.. Behind the asparagus, I have carrots, then, parsnips, spinach, cilantro, and wavy parsley. I've also planted three hills of cucumbers and a row of bush beans in this bed. On the right of the bed, I just discovered the concord grape I planted after I first moved into this house and then mowed over... It somehow survived and I need to buy another grape arbor for it.
The next bed, also about 20 feet, contains a row of sugar snap peas in the middle, 16 baby tomato plants encircling the peas, and both iceberg and romaine lettuce encircling the entire bed on the outside (15 lettuce plants have survived out of about 25 that I planted).
The next row is my big row, it is about 80 feet long and 4 ft - 6 ft wide. Starting at the front of the bed, I have about 5 volunteer pumpkin plants, three rows of four varieties of potato (red, white, Yukon gold, and purple). Outside the potatoes, I've planted a row of watermelon. Next comes three short rows of bush beans I planted three weeks ago. Next to the beans is some volunteer spaghetti squash (I think). Behind the beans, I have two sections of onions. One is yellow the other red. After the onions are 18 broccoli plants, then 9 cabbage, then, 4 hills of zucchini, then 9 brussels sprouts, and 18 cauliflower. Outside of the cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, I've put 5 more hills of zucchini. In between each section of crops, I have planted 2 tomato plants except near the potatoes for a total of 31 tomato plants in 7 separate varieties in all in the entire garden. (those varieties are purple cherokee, brandywine, jubilee, curry, super beefsteak, superboy, and mortgage maker. Two pinks, three reds, a yellow and a purple heirloom).
Next comes my fruit - an east to west row containing about 6-8 feet apart each - 3 thornless blackberries, a red raspberry, two blue berries, a dwarf cherry and a pitiful little stick of a fig tree. The next row has a raised bed of strawberry plants which I plan to expand this fall - big time- then two more blue berry plants (I want another blue berry or 10 as well) and a semi-dwarf cherry tree.
If all of these plants do well, I will have produce coming out of my ears this summer! I will hopefully have enough to do lots of freezing, canning, and preserving as well as plenty of fresh veggies to snack on and use in recipes. And some to give away and maybe even sell! I already have a good bit of spinach that is very near harvesting and can't wait to start munching. The best thing about the way I garden how little weeding you have to do. I mow around the outsides of the beds and pull up the few weeds that invade. But the invaders are a lot less than when I was tilling the yard for traditional garden space. I can't wait to see what grows well!
I love my garden space! In this space, I have three east to west raised lasagna beds, a compost bin, two rows of fruit trees/bushes and a raised strawberry bed. A dear friend in my autism parent support group taught me lots about lasagna gardening... Lasagna gardening involves starting with a layer of newspaper or cardboard as your base layer and then layer upon layer of soil and other compostable materials. Every layer brings so much organic goodness and my garden has the biggest pill bugs and worms! They just love it. Let me describe my set up.
I'll start with the lasagna beds. The on farthest to the right if you are standing with your back to the house is about 20 feet long. On the front end, I have a salvaged grape arbor with a red and a green seedless grape on it. Behind the grapes I have planted 10 asparagus roots that have not come up yet, but the roots looked good when I dug into them yesterday.. Behind the asparagus, I have carrots, then, parsnips, spinach, cilantro, and wavy parsley. I've also planted three hills of cucumbers and a row of bush beans in this bed. On the right of the bed, I just discovered the concord grape I planted after I first moved into this house and then mowed over... It somehow survived and I need to buy another grape arbor for it.
The next bed, also about 20 feet, contains a row of sugar snap peas in the middle, 16 baby tomato plants encircling the peas, and both iceberg and romaine lettuce encircling the entire bed on the outside (15 lettuce plants have survived out of about 25 that I planted).
The next row is my big row, it is about 80 feet long and 4 ft - 6 ft wide. Starting at the front of the bed, I have about 5 volunteer pumpkin plants, three rows of four varieties of potato (red, white, Yukon gold, and purple). Outside the potatoes, I've planted a row of watermelon. Next comes three short rows of bush beans I planted three weeks ago. Next to the beans is some volunteer spaghetti squash (I think). Behind the beans, I have two sections of onions. One is yellow the other red. After the onions are 18 broccoli plants, then 9 cabbage, then, 4 hills of zucchini, then 9 brussels sprouts, and 18 cauliflower. Outside of the cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, I've put 5 more hills of zucchini. In between each section of crops, I have planted 2 tomato plants except near the potatoes for a total of 31 tomato plants in 7 separate varieties in all in the entire garden. (those varieties are purple cherokee, brandywine, jubilee, curry, super beefsteak, superboy, and mortgage maker. Two pinks, three reds, a yellow and a purple heirloom).
Next comes my fruit - an east to west row containing about 6-8 feet apart each - 3 thornless blackberries, a red raspberry, two blue berries, a dwarf cherry and a pitiful little stick of a fig tree. The next row has a raised bed of strawberry plants which I plan to expand this fall - big time- then two more blue berry plants (I want another blue berry or 10 as well) and a semi-dwarf cherry tree.
If all of these plants do well, I will have produce coming out of my ears this summer! I will hopefully have enough to do lots of freezing, canning, and preserving as well as plenty of fresh veggies to snack on and use in recipes. And some to give away and maybe even sell! I already have a good bit of spinach that is very near harvesting and can't wait to start munching. The best thing about the way I garden how little weeding you have to do. I mow around the outsides of the beds and pull up the few weeds that invade. But the invaders are a lot less than when I was tilling the yard for traditional garden space. I can't wait to see what grows well!
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