kindergardens - week 2 {big gardener, little gardener}

This week, Kiddo has been racing through his homework as soon as he gets home from school.

Why?

So that he can spend the whole evening in the garden with Daddy.

My "little gardener" can't wait to get out there with my "big gardener," and they are usually there until bedtime.  I expect some of the novelty will wear off soon, but I am treasuring his excitement and enthusiasm while it lasts.

The other night we were spreading a layer of mushroom soil (aged manure) on our garden - partly for the nutrient value for our plants, partly because it is a proven method for somewhat effective at deterring the barn cats. 

Kiddo was very eager to help.  He got out his trusty "Little Tikes" wheelbarrow.

 

(note wilty rhubarb in the background that is understandably 

upset with me for transplanting it right at its peak)

"Little Tikes" is a little too little.

  

 So he went to the next size up.

It was a little bit big.

 

But we managed.

Sort of.

By the way...what were we thinking putting our garden as far from the driveway as possible?  That little blob of blue in the background is the tarp covering our dirt pile.  It's a looooong trek with a heavy wheelbarrow.  Even if you're not 7 years old.

The barn cats were very interested in the goings-on.  This one came over to check things out.

("what are you doing to my perfect litter box?")

He tried to schmooze his way into our hearts by being friendly and cute.

It may have even worked...until I saw him scratching in the mushroom soil the next morning.

This week, Kim shared her heart for sharing our gardens with others.  I love her idea of growing extra veggies to donate to needy families who don't have the time, money or space for a garden.  We are so blessed by our garden, and it would be so cool to share that blessing, and to teach Kiddo the joy of giving.  We are fortunate that our church already has a "Vegetable Basket" program.  Families from our church collect garden produce weekly, and then it is trucked to several food pantries in the area.  While we haven't set aside specific areas of our garden for that purpose, I am sure that we will have veggies to share!  Kim will be keeping a running tally of the pounds of food donated by KinderGARDENers this summer, so I am excited to see how much we can add to the total!

Now, check out what more KinderGARDENers are doing over at The Inadvertent Farmer! 

P.S.  As Kim mentions in her post, it's never too late to join in the KinderGARDEN fun!!  ;)

10 things i learned this weekend

1.  This is a red-winged blackbird.  Not an oriole.

This is me telling my brother- and sister-in-law that they have a whole flock of orioles blackbirds in their back field.

2.  Baby goats have umbilical cords.

It makes sense, I suppose.  Do you think they have belly buttons?

3.  Baby goats have a defense mechanism that makes their legs turn into jelly and collapse under them when they get scared so that they lie flat on the ground (and hide in the grass, I'm guessing).  Really funny to watch.

4.  Momma goats stick out their tongues.  A lot.  Or, at least, this one does.

5.  Kittens are cuter when their eyes are open.

6.  Guineas are goofy. And over-exposed.

7.  Those things the guineas are hiding in are may apples.

8.  They bloom!

9.  I have an awesome kid (but I knew that already).  He loves me "because I am nice." 

He gave me a card the other day: 
          Front:  Hi Mommy!  I would like to give you a nice duck card (with a picture of three ducks).
          Inside:  Even when I am in my room or haveing daddy time look at this card with some duckies for
                      you!  I LOVE DUCKS AND YOU! (with a picture of seven ducks).
          Back:  This is the rigt card for you (with three more ducks).

I think I'll keep him.
 
10.  I have an awesome husband (I knew that already, too).

He is the gentlest of men.
I love that. 
He wrote me the sweetest note for Mother's Day.  You don't get to hear what was in it.  But it made me feel special and appreciated and loved.
I'm keeping him, too.  :)

fickle weather

Today it was sunny...and then rainy...and then sunny...and then rainy...and then sunny AND rainy.  Which led to this:

The garden at the end of the rainbow! 

That barn is our neighbor's.  It is full of barn cats.  Barn cats who think our fresh, fluffy garden dirt is perfect for pooping in.  This afternoon (when it wasn't raining), I was replanting several onion sets that they had dug out last night and early this morning during their toilette.  Perhaps the cats thought they needed thinning?

We went ahead and planted our tomatoes and peppers today, and Kiddo already has annuals in his flower bed, so it is not, I repeat, NOT allowed to freeze until fall.

Kiddo has taken to gardening with gusto this year.  He has been planning and raking and digging and planting and watering...and having a ball.  And I've been having a lot of fun, too!  I am really enjoying being in the garden as a family this spring.  With a "unique" kid, there are lots of traditional family activities that we can't or don't do (movie nights, sports, bike rides, etc.), and it warms my heart to find something we can all do together and enjoy.  So...I guess that means you'll be seeing lots of pictures of our garden this summer.  :)

pardon the dust

I'm playing around with the look of the blog over the next few days...bear with me as I wrestle with chronic indecisiveness!  :)

sorry

The game of Sorry! I played yesterday - with Kiddo, three stuffed animal kitties, and one real kitty who badly wanted a piece of the action, but settled for repeatedly walking in front of me and running his tail under my nose.

(The little kitty on the right ended up winning).

it came!

After I just finished whining about not having any dirt - guess what showed up in our driveway this afternoon!

What a beautiful sight.  :)

Now we know what's on our agenda for tomorrow...

K is for KinderGARDEN

It's KinderGARDEN time again over at The Inadvertent Farmer!  Woohoo!  We had a blast last year spending our summer out in the garden as a family, and we are so excited about diving in again this year!

Kim's assignment this week is to write a little about ourselves and our plans for the garden, so here is a little bit about us and our garden...

My husband and I have enjoyed gardening since we got married 10(!) years ago.  While we have been gardening for a decade, we are definitely not experts - but we sure have fun learning through our successes and failures.  Ever since he was a toddler, we have tried to include our now-7-year-old son in the mix.  He's really starting to get the hang of it!

 
Last year Kiddo wanted an entire flower bed all to himself.  He planned what flowers he wanted and did most of the planting himself.  He was so proud of his little piece of the yard.

This year, he has already been busy picking out seed packets and starting seeds for his flower garden.
 

 

He's got lots of little babies, and hopefully we'll be able to get them in the ground soon. 

Based on the number of seedlings he's got, he will be asking Daddy to drag out the tiller and expand his flower bed - he is going to quickly run out of room!

Out in the vegetable garden, we've been busy adding some new raised beds.  So far, all they have in them is a goofy Kiddo. 

I called about getting some dirt delivered, but we have had so much rain this spring, dry dirt is in short supply.  Hopefully we will be able to fill them up soon and start planting!

We expanded our garden so that we would have room for the alphabet - we are hoping to grow an alphabet garden this year, with at least one plant for each letter.  We will have to do a little cheating - we are growing squash for "Q" and we are planning on substituting some flowers for a few letters that we couldn't find edible options for - but we are really excited!  We are trying a lot of new things that we've never grown before, so it should be an adventure.  There is some trepidation about all of the vine plants we are planning (cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin, gourds) after our debacle with cucumber beetles last year...

...but the gardener is the eternal optimist, right?

Kiddo has also asked for a garden house this year.  Last year's tunnel turned out so well, we knew we definitely wanted to do something similar again and finally decided on a house.  It will be a whole lot sturdier than our tunnel, thanks to Hubby's hard work and engineering mind.  We are excited to see his "green house" take shape over the next few weeks and months.  Kiddo is beside himself with anticipation.

Today we are off to my brother-in-laws' greenhouses, where we hope to pick up a few more plants (tomatoes and peppers and parsley, oh my!).  Then this afternoon Kiddo and I are planning on planting our onions and checking the few early things we've planted.

We are really looking forward to following along with the other Kindergardeners this year.  Hop on over to the Inadvertent Farmer to see who else is participating (and then join in yourself - I promise it will be fun)!