Today's Harvest

One of B's favorite activities is picking flowers and vegetables from the garden.  So far this year, we've harvested:

4 Zucchinis
2 Yellow Squash
7 Cucumbers
Lots of Yellow Wax Beans
Lots and lots of Cherry Tomatoes & SunSugar Tomatoes
Some Snap Peas
Lettuce, Spinach, Arugula, other salad greens, and Swiss Chard
and every couple of days we get a handful of Strawberries (which are B's favorite)

Veggies from the garden

Our garden is really starting to produce veggies for us.  I don't have to purchase many veggies on my weekly shopping trips anymore - now they're coming fresh picked from the garden!  So far, this summer, we've eaten yellow wax beans, swiss chard, tomatoes, toy choi (baby bok choi), strawberries, and zucchini all from our garden here.

Our beans are growing!

The bean seeds that L and I planted last week have now sprouted.  We planted green string beans and yellow wax bush beans.

And the pea seeds that V planted are just beginning to sprout too.

Outdoor play area is all set up for the season!

 Well, I've got our outdoor play area all set up for the summer season now.

There is an adult size table with umbrella and a kid size one too.  There is a sand table and a separate water table.  There is our play house and a little slide.  There is also a shaded seating area for when the sun is really hot.

Recently, I've purchased a couple more riding toys, a magnetic fishing set, a plastic bowling set, more bouncy balls, a couple of sand & water mills, and some more sand toys too.  There are plenty of things for the kids to do outside now and they've been loving their outside time each day.

I've also gotten around to planting and setting up all the pots in my container garden.  In addition to flowers, I'm also growing 15 containers of fruits, veggies, and herbs.

On Monday, L helped me plant bean seeds in one of the raised beds in the front yard.  He did a great job and enjoyed watering it with the hose after we finished.

Today, V helped me plant snap pea seeds in a large container out back.  She likes the helper role and did a really great job too.

Beans from the garden

Today we picked some yellow beans from the garden to go with our lunch.  We steamed the beans and also made mashed potatoes and mini-meat loaves.  D likes to pick vegetables and she loves cooking... but eating, that's another story.  I figure that she is my payback for being such a picky eater myself, when I was a kid.  Hey, at least she drank all her milk!  Sometimes I've got to count the small victories.

Flower Garden

I wanted to post some pictures of the flower garden because it adds so much to the outdoor environment.  The earlier pictures of the outdoor areas were taken in May before the garden really had a chance to get growing. 

The front garden passed it's prime a few weeks ago.  The raised beds containing vegetables are still growing strong, but most of the flowers that hide it have already bloomed and faded.

The container garden in back is just about at it's peak.  Each summer I grow well over 60 containers and hanging baskets filled with flowers and herbs.  This year, I'm growing cherry tomatoes too.

I think the colorful flowers add a lot to the outdoor environment and kids like to help water the plants.

Next year, I hope to involve kids in the process of starting seeds indoors, and also in preparing and planting the many containers.

The butterflies and bees that the bright flowers attract are good for learning about insects and how the natural world works.  There are a lot of things for us to sketch and make note of in our nature journals.

Being able to pick some flowers and make a colorful arrangement is a nice way to bring the outdoors inside too.

Vegetable Garden Update

Here's what the beans we planted last month look like now!

The yellow bush beans have lots of buds that will soon start growing into beans.

The green pole beans just got to the top of the bean tower, but I expect them to fill-in all the way over the next few weeks.

D can't wait to pick beans and asks to check on them daily.

And she likes to pick the cherry tomatoes that we are growing in containers in the backyard.  

Unfortunately, she still refuses to eat them.

Picking Flowers and Making Rangoli Designs

Today we did our outdoor activities in the morning, before it got too hot out.

First we picked lots of flowers from the garden and arranged them in 3 vases.  Don't they look gorgeous?

D saw a big yellow flower that she wanted to pick but I told her that it wasn't the right kind of flower for picking because it was on our pumpkin vine.  I told her it was the kind of flower that only lasts a day or two and that with any luck, soon it would start to grow into a pumpkin.  So we let that one be for now.

This week we are learning about India.  The other outside activity we did this morning was inspired by reading about Rangoli in a book we got from the library called:  Recipe and Craft Guide to India.  Rangoli is the Indian art of making designs with colored sand or rice flour.

Since I didn't want lots of sand or flour where the dogs frequently walk, we decided to just draw our designs with colored chalk instead.

We started by looking up "rangoli designs" on google.  We choose 3 that we liked best and that seemed easy enough for us to do a good job with.

These are the first two that we made.  I think they turned out great!

We made a third one too, but by then the heat was starting to get to us as we were rushing to get it done quick.  D wanted to do more but there was a heat advisory today and so we spent the rest of the day indoors.

Our Beans Are Growing!

Last week, Thursday, we planted bean seeds in one of our raised beds.  We planted two varieties:  green pole beans and yellow wax bush beans.  We've been making sure they get lots of water (kids love watering).  Many of our seeds have already sprouted!

Yesterday we read one of our "Let's-Read-And-Find-Out-Science" books called How A Seed Grows.  And we started more pole bean seeds in an egg carton, just like the book instructs.

We also started a variety of seeds (pumpkin, pea, bean, spinach) on a plate using a few layers of wet paper towels.  These will be easier (less messy) for us to observe each day and sketch in our journals.  Yesterday they were hard dry seeds when we started them.  Today they've nearly doubled in size as they've been absorbing water.

So far, this is not D's most favorite activity but I hope she'll like it better when she can see the roots starting soon.

Parts of a Flower

We sculpted flowers  out of clay, painted them, glued them to a sturdy piece of board, and labeled their basic parts.

We've also been drawing flowers that we pick from the garden in our journals.  We've drawn shasta daisies, marigolds, zinnias, snapdragons, catchfly, and daylilies.

Picking Strawberries

Picked this whole basket of strawberries from our garden this morning.

It's great for kids to learn where food really comes from.

Kids are more likely to try different foods if they had a hand in growing, picking, and preparing the meal.  Real concrete experiences!  It gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment.