Monday, May 17, 2010

Gardening Season Begins

This year, I got an early start on my garden, and I have been very pleased so far. In early spring, I planted peas, onions, carrots, radishes, spinach, broccoli transplants, cauliflower transplants, and brussels sprouts transplants. Oh, and lettuce... lots of lettuce. Actually, I attempted to remove the seeds from the packet and slipped, spilling the tiny seeds into the dirt. I sighed, decided not even to try extracting the nearly invisible seeds from the soil, and waited to see what would come up. As the picture shows, I will be doing quite a bit of thinning, but at least I can tell which kind is which, so we will have a variety of lettuces this year. I also planted strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries in various locations around my house and yard.

This weekend, Josh built me a second box garden next to the one we built last year. We even used some of our worm compost when filling the garden! I have so much more space now, and I also have more opportunity to rotate crops a bit to reduce pests and diseases. I could not believe how easily I filled the extra 32 square feet of space, though! I added butternut squash and two kinds of bush beans to the side garden, and I planted cucumbers, swiss chard, and celery in the old box garden with my spring veggies. I also put one asparagus plant along the side of my house, to see if it does well there. I would love fresh asparagus in the spring, but I do not want such a large perennial plant in my box gardens! In the new garden, I transplanted three kinds of tomatoes, two kinds of bell peppers, swiss chard, and a bunch of herbs, leaving myself plenty of space for a few more staggered plantings of bush beans.

Before we put in the side garden last year, weeds abounded in that spot next to our garage. Once I pulled out all the weeds and put in the veggies, however, I noticed something that was not visible before. The water run-off from our garage roof poured right into the middle of that garden, leaving a trench that eroded the soil from around any plants in that location. On Saturday, as I shopped for herbs at my favorite local greenhouse, I noticed watercress for sale. The sign said that the plants propagate themselves well in wet locations. I explained my garden situation to a person on staff, and he told me that his watercress has grown into a small waterfall in his yard and that it loves water! So, now I have watercress growing all along the edge of the trench in that garden. I hope that it will utilize previously unusable garden space, as well as hold the soil in place to prevent erosion during heavy rains. I really hope it works!

The kids, of course, love the garden and willingly eat anything we harvest - including onions, radishes, and leafy vegetables! They already love raw veggies, but they will even eat food that they typically dislike, as long as it comes from our own garden. I cannot wait to see how everything grows this year. I chose plants more wisely this year, after seeing what pests and diseases struck last year, and I think we will have a better harvest because of that. In a society in which many kids cannot even identify common vegetables, I love that my kids beg for things like eggplant and radishes! I cannot imagine a better way to teach kids about healthy eating than allowing them to harvest their own food directly from the family garden. Now, if only we lived in a neighborhood that allowed me to raise chickens...

Thursday, May 13, 2010

A Super Soccer Season

We did not realize when we signed Hannah up for soccer in the fall that it included the spring season as well. After some of the tired tantrums in the fall, we were not sure how this season would go, but we were pleasantly surprised. Hannah's skill and confidence has grown dramatically since the fall, and she dealt a little better with playing soccer after a long day at school.

Hannah's soccer coach motivates each kid to do his or her best on the field. He rotates the kids into different positions, giving everyone a chance to take the ball down the field. Finally, during a Saturday game, Hannah scored her first goal! She could not stop talking about it, and the story got better with each telling. She described to Ben how the other team had really huge kids but she got around them and kicked the ball in the goal!

Because of prior commitments, Hannah's coach needed Josh to help out with some of the games, so Josh got his first taste of coaching little league soccer. I am not sure how much he enjoyed it. I think he prefers soccer on a more competitive level, and he gets frustrated that the teams do not even keep score at this age. I think he felt tired after a long day at work, too! Still, he worked well with the kids and got to watch Hannah score two more goals in another game.

In spite of the craziness of soccer season, I am glad that Hannah participated. I can tell that she learned some valuable lessons.

She learned to have confidence instead of fear. In the fall, she often hesitated instead of going after the ball when another kid had it. She wanted someone to give her the ball instead of having to take it. This season, we actually had to teach her a bit of restraint. We praised her aggressiveness in attacking the ball, but asked her to stop stiff-arming and pushing anyone who came too close to taking it away. The same child who sobs hysterically at even the tiniest scratches and bumps will get up after being flattened on the soccer field, brush herself off, and keep chasing the ball!

In addition, she learned to work with other kids as a team. I often witnessed her conferring with her team mates, deciding how they should line up to block a kick. She passed the ball instead of keeping it to herself, and she dropped back to the goal to support her team mates on defense. She celebrated the other kids' goals almost as much as she celebrated her own. When she was on the soccer field, she placed her ambitions lower than the success of her team. If she learns only this, soccer has been worthwhile!

At the end of every game, the parents from both teams run out on the field and make a tunnel with their arms. Then, all of the parents cheer as both teams run through the tunnel.

I know that someday sports must become competitive, and she will learn important lessons from that as well. Still, I appreciate the joy on the kids' faces as we cheer them on, knowing that they all played their best and that we celebrate each of them as special. And that is a lesson that I hope she will never stop learning!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

The Ponderings of a 6 Year Old

I love how Hannah writes and keeps a journal of her life. She also illustrates each entry with a detailed drawing. The journal is not private (yet) so she allows me to read what she writes and share it with others.

Here are a few recent entries:

My Soccer Game on Girls Weekend

We went to my game. I played soccer. I got the snack. We got extra snack. We got gaterade and sugar cookies and goldfish. It is girl weekend. Girl secret - girls are better than boys. Shhhhh.
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho

Bug Fun

I played soccer with a beetle on my hand! Here is a close up of the beetle.

(There is a drawing of a beetle on the page with a circle around it and the words "close up" inside.)

The Trip to the Zoo

Once mom took us to the zoo. We went on a bridge. I slid my hand down the rail. Then a yellow jaket stung me. We had so much fun. I love the zoo.

Just thought I would share a brief glimpse into the mind of my sweet six-year-old daughter.

Where homeschooling is just a small part of becoming life-long learners.