oops, i missed it

kim's kinderGARDENS party ended over the weekend.  i planned on writing a final post early this week, but i missed the deadline.  something about an eye doctor, a sick kid, and a fall retreat.  oh well.  stay tuned for our follow-up coming soon.  for now, check out what others did and learned this year over at the inadvertent farmer.

on asking for help (and gardening)

i confessed earlier that our backyard took a backseat this summer.  but did i mention that the whole place had turned into wild jungle-land?  completely out of control.  weeds waist high.  sprawling tomatoes blanketing strawberry beds.  grape vines choking out apple trees.  gravel paths covered in green.  it was bad.  we needed to be rescued.

so we asked for help.

i know, i know.  crazy talk.  but we asked for help.

why is that such a big deal?  we live like we can do it all ourselves and we do not need each other.  this is such a lie. 









i think it is great to consider how we can encourage servanthood in our children.  we want our kids to give and give and give again.  we want them to be compassionate and loving.  we want to raise servant leaders.

but do we encourage them to ask for help?  is it okay that they communicate their needs? 

do they see us modeling this?











it is hard.  we are not great at it.  but that does not mean we can not try.  we simply asked for help.

it meant letting others into the mess.  it meant being open with the waist high weeds and out of control potager.  it meant exposing the chaos. 

(other times it could mean unearthing the laundry piles and dirty bathrooms.  yes, dirty bathrooms.  am i too proud to let someone clean my bathroom?)

and how often does a five year old show an adult how to dig up potatoes?  or a three year old wash off freshly pulled carrots with a hose to share with her uncle?  just two of many memorable moments.











midday, i took in the scene.  two college sophomores from church sitting at the patio table deep in conversation with jesse while chowing on chili and cornbread.  our retired next door neighbors joining us for a meal and being entertained by the kiddos.  my youngest brother pruning apple trees with my dad kneeling in the weeds nearby.  a beautiful intersection of our life.  my heart was warmed by the sight of all before me.





i am hoping our littles will remember this day.  one year we may give away half the produce from our yard to neighbors and friends, but the next we need to ask those same friends to come to the rescue.  i want them to remember that we asked for help. that we took an honest look at our needs and weaknesses.  that we were not too proud to be blessed by others.  that we gave others the opportunity to serve.  that we were able to receive this gift.

because being part of a community means giving and receiving.



(and for all that we received, we tried to give a little sweetness in return.)

if i had the chance to be cured from fibromyalgia today i would take it.  without a thought.  but i would be wise to remember - God has been able to speak to me so clearly in my weakness.  this thorn in my flesh has refined me.  would i be so willing to ask for help otherwise?

(linked up to kinderGARDENS.)

guess that color (or how to make eating carrots more fun)

we have it fairly easy when it comes to feeding our kiddos goodies from the potager.  they are basically little rabbits.  but even then, growing carrots that are not orange ranks high on the hart family excitement scale.  i ran out to the overgrown jungle that has replaced our garden and pulled a handful of carrots this afternoon.



a little stumpy, but cute.  we have included "add a ton more soil to the raised beds" for next spring's to-do list.  i think it will help the carrots growth.



so, what color do you think purple carrots are inside?  we had never had one before, so we played a game.  we brainstormed the three most likely colors.  then each of us picked one.  (jesse picked purple.)



then the unveiling.  what would it be?  the excitement was building.  children were giggling with anticipation.



ta-da!



it is. . .yellow?  huh.  yes there is some green, but really we all basically agreed it was yellow.  which was hilarious to my little ones.  absolutely hilarious. 





okay.  yellow.  super tasty purple and yellow (with a bit green) carrots.  yum. 

the tree fort (aka a dream deferred)

if you have been keeping up with goings-on at casa hart, it is pretty obvious we have had a summer of plans changed, hopes delayed and flexibility relearned.  such is life when mama has a chronic illness.  our kiddos have learned first hand that life is unpredictable.  

one of the major items on our summer to-do list was a tree fort.  visions of rope bridges and afternoon snacks on a raised porch were sadly put off for this year.

but back in early june, we were still planning.

these are the results of a sunday afternoon brainstorming session.  we let our imagination run a bit wild.  i think we would have the craziest wonkiest coolest tree fort ever if we included all of this.  but. . . i am okay with that.

 and sometimes planning requires a quick break into the next yard to pick golden raspberries.  we love our neighbors.

oh tree fort, maybe next year i can take a photo of you.  not just make a silly bad drawing of you.

earlier this week, luca asked to play at a friend's house; his reasoning was our backyard was boring without a tree fort.  well, i convinced him there *is* to plenty to do out here without one, but i acknowledged his sadness of a dream deferred.

 

soon, my son, soon.  until then, let's keep on dreaming.  i think the basket and pulley (so i can send up chocolate chip cookies, of course) needs to be tweaked.

as much as it has been painful to see the garden and backyard take such a backseat this summer, i know my littles have learned a lot this season.  come back next week for a post on the neglected potager and how i am using it to teach the kiddos.

berry feasting

the last two weeks have been all about the strawberries at casa hart.  we eat them every day.  i know, right?  we have two varieties - one larger, sweeter, perfect for popping into your mouth.  the other is smaller, a bit more tart, still plenty good for snacking, but also delicious when simmered into a lovely deep red sauce for drizzling over vanilla ice cream.

they are just wonderful. 



lovin' the berry stained teeth




the (berry) princess and the pea



our total harvest has been close to 6 pounds and we have a week or so to pick the final goods.  that's a whole lot o' berry goodness.

with this kind of sweet treat waiting to be savored, destination backyard is coming along quite nicely.  check out the inadvertant farmer for more kinderGARDENS fun.

our garden journal

one of the ways i thought up to involve the littles (even more) in gardening this year was to create a garden journal.  this is a place to keep a record of a select group of plants.  not only is this educational, but it combines a lot of great kiddo friendly projects.

want to make your own?

it is super simple.  i let luca and gia go to town on some of this year's seed catalogs to cut out pictures.  (i trimmed their selections - see above - due to their luca's desire for straight lines, but a more collage-y untrimmed look would be great too!) we laid out the pictures until we were satisfied with our beautiful cover and then mod podged them to the binder.



each of them picked plants to "be in charge of" and we added one piece of lined paper and several pieces of blank paper to the binder for each.

luca's choices: blueberries, raspberries, cherry tomatoes, chocolate tomatoes, dill, cilantro, radishes, spinach, and lettuces

gia's choices: strawberries, raspberries, carrots, cucumbers

on the lined paper, i wrote out several categories (name, sowing/planting date, days to germination, date harvested, and observations) and where possible, luca is filling out the information.  for observations, i ask them to describe the plant to me.

what do you see?  what color is it?  what shape is it? 

with the blank paper, we draw our visual observations of the plants.  (reminder to self: pick up clipboards!)




it was a bit sunny this day. 




in the array above, we have (starting at upper left and going clockwise) a radish, clematis, luca's blurry hand, and mulit-colored lettuce leaves. (all drawn by luca)  aren't they great?

what i love most about this project is that the love of writing & drawing and the love growing things just feed off of each other.  such a fun cycle.  its a pretty great educational tool, don't you think?

luca has been much more interested than gia-bee, but that is understandable with skill level and attention span taken into account. luca is quite alright with that.  no sharing colored pencils with little sister is a plus i guess.  sigh




these two didn't seem to mind. they were off in their own little gia-goo world.  all wrapped up in each other.  love it.
 
want to see other great "gardening with littles" ideas?  check out the kinderGARDENS link party for this week!

(and check below for some other fun parties too)

wormies

if you head down into our basement and see a grey plastic bin on a shelf near the bottom of the stairs, you might not want to open it.

i wouldn't.

i don't.

i can't. 

i just really can not.



because that bin is full of worms.  and as far as i have come in the whole creepy crawly wiggly department, i have only come so far.  and that degree of far-ness has not brought me to opening a bin full of worms.  (even if they are mine.)  that's what jesses are for.  and littles.




here we they are harvesting our vermicompost earlier this month.  we have been adding it to the garden where needed to provide an extra kick of nutrients to our veggies, fruits, herbs and flowers.




and i am so glad that we are raising three kiddos who will be able to harvest their own vermicompost.  because when they grow up and leave, i am keeping jesse.  (but they do have a plan to build a house in the front yard to be close, so i guess they can borrow him when needed.)

a bit late, but i am linking up to this week's kinderGARDENS party over at the inadvertent farmer.  check out all the great ideas and progress!