kindergardens - week 22 {paint and peanuts}

With our garden getting ready to sleep for the winter, we decided to go for "whimsy" this week by adding some color to our yard...

I scrubbed the pollen and grime off, Hubby sanded...

I painted on a couple of coats of white house paint (we thought it would take three or four gallons to paint our garage last year - it took half a gallon.  We have LOTS of house paint), and then I handed the paint brush to Kiddo and let him loose!

...and here's the end result!  Ta-dah!  Bet you don't have a picnic table like this one.  Meg was our inspiration.  You should go visit her and fall in love with her blog.  I even stole her colors, as I was feeling pretty indecisive, standing in the paint aisle at Lowe's.  You should have seen the looks they gave me when I asked for five different (bright!) colors of exterior paint.

We tried it out on Labor Day.  Next to our drying gourds (not rotting yet - yay!).

(I caught Hubby mid-chew.  Sorry, Hubby!)

The picnic table is actually a part of Kiddo's swing set.  We are talking about using the rest of the paint to do the whole swing set.  The neighbors won't mind seeing a rainbow swing set outside their kitchen window every morning, right?

In other gardening news...drum roll, please...

we've got PEANUTS!!

My hubby is the next George Washington Carver.

We are looking forward to roasting them (or attempting to), but apparently we are supposed to let them dry for a couple of weeks first.  More waiting.  Sigh...

And finally, last week I wondered aloud about why purple beans turn green when their cooked.  And Grace found the answer for me!  Thanks, Grace!

Be sure to check out the Inadvertent Farmer for more kindergarden news.  This week, Kim posted about the Oregon Gardens.  They have some awesome ideas in their children's garden - including a hobbit house and awesome pot people.  I'm really tempted to find a place for some pot people next year.