Quote of the Day

"So, dude. What are you going to do all summer now that you're done school?"

"I'm gonna stay inside a lot ... and play school."

(Now there's a dedicated student!)

First Harvest!

We ate our first harvest from the garden today! It was a radish. A single, tiny, lonely radish we carefully sliced into four little pieces :-). Many of the radish's friends should be ready to pluck from the ground this weekend!

In other gardening news, we have plenty of green poking up through the soil. The spinach, peas, beans and sunflowers appear to be growing especially well. Sadly, the zucchini is nowhere to be found. (We planted the seeds over three weeks ago, so we should have sprouts by now. Right?) This past weekend we sowed our second crop of beets, carrots and lettuce. We also thinned all those cute little seedlings.

Gardening is turning out to be really fun. Our three-year-old especially enjoys helping mommy water the plants each morning. (She also enjoys digging up the plants. Yikes!)

The Big Green Field

Our family loves the big soccer field behind our house. It is truly an endless source of entertainment. Right now I am watching (what I suspect is a church group) play a rowdy game of dodge ball. Yup. Dodge ball. It is hilarious.

In other parts of the field I see a young family chasing after toddlers, another family lounging in the grass, and a couple of soccer players. Earlier this afternoon I saw a man flying a huge kite. A cricket league plays in our field several nights per week. Kids' soccer practices are always fun to watch at supper time.

I think we love our field because it is fun. Almost without fail, people visit the field to play and relax. We hear lots of laughter. The sea of lush, green grass is rather intoxicating and people enjoy playing within it.

When I think of all the ways God has blessed our family, I am truly thankful for our beautiful house. Most of all, I am grateful for the huge grassy field it sits upon.

Quote of the Day

This morning I cracked open a jar of mayonnaise to use in a recipe. Our little girl saw the jar and exclaimed:

"Hey look, Mommy! It's egg butter!"

The Whirlwind

Phew! We're caught in a busy season around here. End of school activities fill our calendar for the next couple of weeks. For a family who plays it very low-key, we're not used to all the excitement! I'm looking forward to the end of the craziness next week!

We've been...

Dancin' up a storm

Celebrating kindergarten graduation

Crafting for a special birthday girl

Baking for a party

Practicing piano

Shopping for the teachers

Working on the yard

Going on a field trip

Hangin' at a picnic

And trying desperately to stay caught up on sleep!

Menu Plan Monday

June 8, 2009

Here's our menu plan for the upcoming week:

Monday:  No cooking (supper with my parents)

Tuesday:  Chicken, tomato and red pepper pilaf, green salad

Wednesday:  Super-easy quesilldias, sliced oranges  

Thursday:  Meaty noodle casserole, fruit salad

Friday:  Leftover night

Saturday:  Homemade pizza, veggies with dip, cupcakes for the Birthday Girl!

Sunday:  No cooking (supper with Ben's parents)

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Org Junkie!

Who Ordered This Crazy Weather???

Tonight they're forecasting frost for the third night in a row.  It's June!  Where is all this cold weather coming from?

I've diligently covered our garden each night with old sheets.  I think almost everything has survived.  The peas actually seem to be loving the cold temperatures.  Only the tomato plants look frost-bitten (and I think they'll bite the dust, sadly).  At least it's early enough in the season to try the tomatoes again. 

Here's to hoping tonight is the last we see of winter!

Say It Ain't So!

Here's to hoping our cute little sprouts don't freeze tonight.  They're predicting a chance of SNOW!  It's June, for goodness sake!  I'll definitely put our garden to bed under some comfy old sheets tonight.

Let the Sun Shine In!

The big gardening news of the day?

We have sunflower sprouts!  In one day they are already becoming HUGE (compared to our other little seedlings).  I'm curious to see how quickly they grow.  The variety we chose is supposed to reach six feet tall!

I'll need to buy some garden stakes this weekend...

Great Books for Children:

How Groundhog's Garden Grew

by Lynne Cherry

Gardening seems to be the topic of the moment around here :-).  Our family has shared much excitement this week watching tiny sprouts emerge in our backyard garden.  It's been fun and a terrific learning experience for us all.

Our family is also reading the following fantastic book:

Lynne Cherry wrote and illustrated How Groundhog's Garden Grew during several artist-in-residencies at institutions such as the Smithsonian Museum and Cornell University.  Cherry's illustrations are beautifully detailed.  Our family particularly enjoyed the pages depicting many types of sprouts!  The story "introduces children to the cycle of an entire gardening year: gathering seeds in fall; storing them in winter; planting in spring; weeding and watering in summer; and a delicious and bountiful harvest at Thanksgiving time."

I can only hope our little backyard garden grows to be as lush and green as Mr. Groundhog's ....

Green Update

This morning we found buttercrunch lettuce and tiny pea sprouts!

Hooray!

More sprouts today!  

Black seeded simpson lettuce and lots of radishes.

Big Excitement!

Sprouts!  We have sprouts!  Hooray!

We planted our garden a mere 6 days ago, so I wasn't expecting to see any green for another week or so.  However, this morning my little helper and I spotted tiny green sprouts poking through the soil!  We have a wee row of spinach and a few eager radishes!

I've started keeping a gardening journal to log these exciting discoveries.  The journal is nothing fancy.  I'm using a pretty notebook I've been squirreling away for ages.  (The notebook is perfect because it says "maison des gardins" on the cover.)  Each day I jot down the little things that happen and the work we accomplish in the yard.  Since gardening is a new adventure, I'm hoping the notebook will prove to be a handy record.

Joke of the Day

Our (almost) three-year-old was in an especially good mood this morning.  Here are two of the gems she shared with us:

Knock, knock!

Who's there?

Cookie and banana and apple

Cookie and banana and apple who?

Don't cry, it's just a joke!

Q: What did the chicken say when she burped?

A:  Excuse me!  

Quote of the Day

"Mommy, I don't know how anteaters kiss."

Shopping Online (with a six-year-old)

"Hey Mom!"

"Yes?"

"I can't wait until I'm older."

"Why's that?"

"Well, then I can buy things on eBay."

"Oh?  And what will you buy on eBay."

"Good stuff, like bows and arrows..."

"Oh, really?"

"... Yep.  And maybe even a ninja sword!"

Menu Plan Monday

May 25, 2009

We've had a full weekend --- full of work and fun and visiting.  Now it's time to plan for the week to come!

Here's my proposed menu plan for the upcoming week:

Monday:  No cooking (supper with my parents)

Tuesday:  Orange-glazed salmon, brown rice, green salad

Wednesday:  Hamburger soup, homemade bread

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday:  (Carried over from last week) chicken skewers, baked beans with pineapple, poppy seed tossed salad, blueberry ice cream tart

Saturday:  Homemade pizza

Sunday:  No cooking (supper with Ben's parents)

Our family especially enjoyed two recipes from last week's menu.  The kids loved the meaty noodle casserole and also the crispy pretzel bars. (I actually made those sweet treats twice last week!)

If you would like to browse other great meal plans and recipes, check out Menu Plan Monday hosted by Org Junkie.

The Garden is Planted!

Didn't Ben do a great job building our garden beds?  

The veggies are planted and now we wait!  I followed the plan for "square foot gardening" and between our two beds we have about 30 sq. ft. of space to work with.  Today only half the beds are actually planted, though.  We'll successively plant the rest of the garden over the next few weeks in hopes of spacing out our harvest.

What did we plant?

Carrots

Radishes

Beets

Zucchini

Pole beans

Peas

Black Seeded Simpson lettuce

Buttercrunch lettuce

Spinach

Sweet peas

The kids and I will plant sunflowers at the corners of the garden this afternoon.  Next week I also plan to plant one or two tomato seedlings. This is all a grand adventure, so we'll see what actually grows :-).

Next on the list ... put up those gates to keep the bunnies at bay!

All About the Yard

This week it's been the number one topic of conversation. 

The yard.

What to do with the yard?

The good thing is this:  Ben's plans and my plans are pretty well in agreement.  We are certainly on the same page.

The bad thing is this:  We don't have enough time!  A few hours each weekend just aren't going to cut it.  (And let's face it --- we don't want to be slaves to our yard either.)

Oh yes, and there's also the issue of our budget.  Home improvement projects can get very, very expensive.

Ben and I have been riding high from last weekend's productivity.  Ben did a fantastic job with the raised garden beds.  They truly look great!  I was also happy to get the weed barrier put down under our mulch.  We reached our goals before the poor weather set in and it felt good to work out in the sun.

So, what's the plan of attack for this weekend?  Here are our priorities:

1.  Mow and water the grass.  Green Drop is scheduled to aerate and spray our lawn today.  They were supposed to arrive a few days ago, so Ben's been putting off the mowing and our yard looks like a jungle!

2.  Plant the veggie garden.  I am very much looking forward to this! Last night I actually dreamed about planting our garden.  I was worried we were planting too late in the season, however I found an extremely useful chart in The Calgary Gardener.  The chart lists May 24 as the best day to plant many veggies in Calgary.  Looks like we're right on track!

3.  Figure out where to build gates.  This is a rather pressing concern. Our yard is fenced but not gated.  Ben and I discovered evidence of a furry friend living under our deck (a veggie-loving rabbit) and need to fortify the yard!  We may rig a temporary barricade until we decided where to install gates.  Sadly, utility lines and a water spigot interfere with the most logical placement.

4.  Power wash the house and deck.  This is ambitious, and if it doesn't get finished I won't sweat it.  The house is grimy from winter.  The deck is in sorry shape.  We were upset to discover the previous owner failed to seal our deck last year.  It is now a mess!  We don't want our beautiful deck to rot away and need to strip, stain and seal pronto.  This was not a project we had anticipated and it will likely require a lot of effort.

I think my mom and I will visit the garden centre on Saturday.  I may be sorely tempted but I'll probably wait another week before buying flowers.  (We had a frost advisory last night in Calgary!)  It will be fun the look, though.

Crafty Goodness:

Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts

If you love crafts and are looking for some serious eye candy, this is the book for you.  Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts is a gorgeous compilation of inspiring projects and stunning photography.  This is a must-read for craft enthusiasts.

Imagine my surprise when I caught Ben reading this book a few days ago.  We actually shared a cozy moment leafing through the book together.  My (secretly crafty) husband was especially inspired by Martha's section on punched tin and created the following project in response:

Ben used baby food jars to make these cute salt and pepper shakers.  Not only that --- he also constructed a thrifty homemade light box in order to photograph them.  Who knew I had married such a crafty dude?

It just goes to show Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts is a truly great book!