Friday, March 11, 2011

Happy Saint Patricks Day!!

The month of March is my month to plan activities for our homeschool group in Verrado.

(Every single one of these ideas was given to me by a wonderfully creative friend Heather Haupt, Who I credit and thank for these wonderful suggestions that I could copy.)

Today, we had our St Patricks Day party. There was a bit of preparation before the event. Such as buying
prizes dowels, paint, pretzels, white chocolate, heart-shaped cookie cutters etc. But it was so fun putting it together and hoping the kids would learn something!

We borrowed and read "Patrick"  by Tomie Depaola

I also made clover pretzels with white chocolate! Very easy and yummy! All were eaten at the party!







At the party the kids were encouraged to make a card with a shamrock on it, representing the trinity.
This card could then be used to share the Good News with a friend:)
None of the male children participated. Whatever! I can only control so much.




I then asked the girls what the Guinness World Record was for leaves found on a shamrock?
 The answer is-18 leaves & found in Japan!
(winner received prize)




Afterwards, there was a relay race where the children passed a baton to each other signifying the sharing of the Good News.  Just as Patrick, patron saint of Ireland did!
(Baton I painted)

A day at Blue Sky Organic Farms

We are very blessed to live about 2 miles from Blue Sky Organic farms.
 http://start.cortera.com/company/research/k3j2juj5s/blue-sky-organic-farms/


A friend of mine, Carl Seacat, has an acre there, where he plants heirloom tomatoes, flowers and different varieties of lettuce, vegetables and melons.
He sells to local and renowned restaurants around the valley including the Wigwam Resort and Sauce in Phoenix.


After a particularly long week, I stopped out there to see if I could help Carl with anything around the garden


 He told me that since tomorrow was the farmer's market in Phoenix and Scottsdale- He needed hundreds of Poppies and Calendulas cut to be sold in the morning.


What fun! I spent about 1.5 hours just cutting flowers while the girls picked/washed/ate- fresh out of the dirt carrots! 


It felt so peaceful to just have the sun shining, & the wind whipping my skirt as I cut flower, after flower, placing it in the metal tub--monotonous perhaps, but therapeutic.
Here is my bounty!! (doesn't look like much, but those little suckers cost .75 a stem!)




I don't know what it is about gardening for me. Perhaps because life began in a quiet beautiful garden?
My soul is made whole there. I no longer feel the brokeness of life. It is when I feel closest to God. Alone, quiet, reflective......
I found this funny hat in a pile of gardening equipment, It isn't pretty, but it still did its job! LOL

HAPPY SPRING GARDENING!





Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Science Experiments gone crazy! PART II

Well we have finished our science experiment and loan behold, seeds like water the best! (who knew right?)
The second runner up was a Diet Coke seedling which was all puny and yellowed, but still growing, and quite a ways behind the growth of the plant which received water.

Jessica threw the D.C. seedling somewhere in the grass so I was unable to get a picture! :(

The milk seed did horrible. Milk does not have the same draining abilities that water has, and it just rotted the whole amount of soil in the cup. (seed was found unchanged) I am now curious about Almonzo's milk fed pumpkin in Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls. This maybe be coming to you this summer in Wacky experiments part 3! LOL

The orange juice cup had molded on the top where the OJ had sat exposed to air. below the layer of mold, the seed was found..undisturbed....:) Until I disturbed it.

I thought it would be neat to try and plant the 3 "losing" seeds in a normal condition and see what happened, but I did not.

So, You Are What You Eat! And water is really good for seeds. God knew, again, what was best for us and everything He created.