FreeLearningMama

almost ready...

We've been working hard to have the garden ready in time for sowing and transplanting at the end of the month. The rest of the fence will go up later, for now we just need to have the beds prepared. My job is to measure, shovel, hoe, and rake the soil into beds while removing weeds and rocks. Danny is in charge of putting up the cedar edging along the sides, bringing me iced tea, and taking care of the kids.

Dylan and I love checking in on our seedlings to see how they've grown overnight. Here are a few:

(3 varieties of tomato plants: black cherry, ropreco paste, and arbuznyi)

(acorn squash)

(lettuce, with cucumbers in the background)

(basil)

(zucchini)

This week we'll start hardening them off outdoors little by little. They are taking up so much space on all our window ledges, I'm itching to put them into the ground!

revisiting...this time of year, 4 years ago

 

 

 

 

 

garden building

Earlier this week my mother-in-law took the boys up to her place for three full days. I can't remember how long it's been since we've been kid-free for a decent stretch of time (well over a year, certainly) and never before when neither one of us was busy with work. If we were normal people we'd have probably booked some kind of weekend get-away but in all honesty what we both wanted to do most of all was work outside on the house and in the garden. Oh, the pleasure of getting stuff done uninterrupted. No hungry little mouths to stop and feed, no squabbles to deal with, no incessant chit-chatting to pretend to listen to. It was amazing. And on the first evening, after we'd called it a day, I put on a black slinky dress and some lipstick and we went out on a 'hot date', as my sister would say.

Here's what we got done:

It doesn't look like much but it was a huge amount of work (and it's not even close to finished). I think the hardest part was the Reno-Depot run we had to do. How many divorces are preceded by a visit to such a store, do you think (it might be a close second after IKEA)?.  Actually, we had such a lovely time together (Reno-Depot aside), working side-by-side in the quiet, under the hot sun, surrounded by chirping birds.

We have been so lucky. A fence was not originally in the garden plan because of the extra expense but we fell upon some materials and decided to go for it, since the deer are plentiful here (and have I mentioned the groundhog?). The cedar boards used as trimming were given to us by Danny's father who said they were a steal at one of the bargain places he loves to go to. We had planned to use them to build our chicken-coop but couldn't resist the cost-savings and convenience of using them for the garden, especially since the garden is a bigger priority at the moment. The chain-linked fence was given to us by my uncle who said it's been sitting in his garage collecting dust for a few years. 

The cedar wood chips (for mulch) were a bit of a splurge and I was curious to see what one huge bag ($8) would get me in terms of 'mileage'. I managed to cover about 1/3 of just one walking path. We'll be using dried leaves for the rest, that's for sure!

The other good news is that there are enough cedar boards leftover to make a few raised beds! There will always be time for chickens later, right?

Turning our attention away from the veggie patch, here are some other photos I took just outside our house...

(forget-me-nots, one of my faves)

(first tulip of the season, right by the front door)

(creeping charlie, aka 'ground ivy')

(forsythia, aka 'golden bells')

(the line is up!! Clothes dry faster on a hot day than they would in the dryer and they smell like sunshine, too)

 

just a photo

listening

Occasionally there is a s week or so of really good podcasts that I want to share with you here - I have the best of intentions but I forget. These are so enjoyable for the whole family and they are a great way to introduce calm in the house when energy levels are rising (and the grown-ups' blood pressure is rising right along with it!). Sometimes when we are all feeling a bit grumpy and the boys are itching to provoke one another, I go grab my iPod, plug it into the stereo and select something we haven't listened to yet. Suddenly everyone is quiet and listening. It's like magic. 

Podcasts are of course also great for car rides, or doing work in and around the house. 

Here are some particular episodes that we've enjoyed recently:

CBC's Rewind (segments aired years ago)

This week, we hear from space travellers themselves- astronauts Marc Garneau, Roberta Bondar, Steve MacLean and of course Chris Hadfield, who returns to earth this month after five months on the international space station.  Click here to listen.

CBC's The Vinyl Café

Often the kids ask me to skip through most of this show and get straight to the Story Excahnge and then again to the Dave & Morley story. But this week the whole show was a winner for them, probably because Stuart was visiting the Sunshine Coast where my mom, sister and neices are living.

This week's funny story: Stephanie reluctantly brings her father, Dave, along with her on a yoga retreat. Click here to listen.

CBC's DNTO

The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wrote: "into every life, a little rain must fall." But sometimes a lot of rain falls - and you're stuck in a bad situation. So this week, DNTO wonders: what do you do when life hands you lemons? When the chips were down, how did you turn it around? Listen here. 

CBC's Ideas

What is it about rhythm, pattern, and synchronization that fascinate us? How do pacemaker cells in a heart synchronize? How can thousands of people unconsciously walk in step? There are so many recurring patterns in nature like ripples in sand and the stripes of a zebra. In speaking with musicians, mathematicians, and psychologists, filmmaker Tess Girard explores the idea of rhythm and what it means to us. Listen here.

NPR's This American Life

We asked listeners to send us their best coincidence stories, and we got more than 1,300 submissions! There were so many good ones we decided to make a whole show about them. Listen here.

CBC's Wire Tap

Why do awkward situations make us so uncomfortable? We speak with an expert on the subject for tips on how to deal with discomforting situations, and a story from writer Lydia Davis about navigating one of life's more awkward moments.  

Plus, Jonathan is thrown out of his comfort zone when Howard shows up in the studio with a CBC tour group to observe Jon's every more.  Click here to listen.

CBC's Under the Influence

In the world of marketing, the use of colour is a studied science. Colours play a bigger role in your purchasing decisions than you may think, because colours have a secret language. A colour can make you feel a certain way about a company, or it can trigger a specific desire. A simple change in colours can affect the sales of a product immediately, or a certain colour can make us seem more desirable to the opposite sex. Colours can even encourage us to spend money - or even gamble.

This episode actually aired a few weeks back but it's one of our favourites. Listen to it here (click on the link just under the 'Under the Influence' logo or the little iTunes tab).

TED Talks

Humankind has been looking for the giant squid (Architeuthis) since we first started taking pictures underwater. But the elusive deep-sea predator could never be caught on film. Oceanographer and inventor Edith Widder shares the key insight -- and the teamwork -- that helped to capture the squid on film for the first time. You can listen to the podcast by subscribing to TEDTalks (audio) in iTunes or click here to watch the video.

CBC's Q

This week Jian Ghomeshi interviews primatologist and conservation activist Jane Goodall (click here) and also Marina Chapman: Kidnapped at the age of 4, she was left in the jungle by her captors, where she was taken in by a family of monkeys. Now, decades later she's written a memoir about her experience called The Girl With No Name: The True Story of a Girl Who Lived With Monkeys. (click here)

CBC's Quirks and Quarks

This week, we have two exciting dinosaur discoveries involving Canadian researchers, one looking at how dinosaurs grew, and the other an insight into how they might have swum. Plus, we'll find out how monarch butterflies manage to keep their course; we'll hear about Pacific islanders who made ferocious weapons from shark's teeth; we'll learn how humans pushed hundreds of bird species to extinction; and we'll hear about the latest idea for airplane propulsion. Click here to listen.

 

 

good work, satisfying work... outside work!

We have been taking full advantage of this beautiful summery weather by chipping away at the outdoor items on our long 'to-do' list. Today we took a little break and headed into Magog for a walk along the water and some ice cream.

(before)

 
(garden plot has been tilled, topped off with manure and topsoil, and beds are being raised)

(the top of a tower overlooking Lake Memphramagog)

Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine too!

lazy sunny Sunday

We went to Quebec City with 8 other families from Communidée for two days last week. Sonya had organized a group activity at the Plains of Abraham followed by a meet-up with some homeschooling locals. We all stayed at a hotel with a pool and the kids had a blast. We also spent some time in Montreal and today we were just so happy to hang out at home, without an agenda.

It wasn't just sunny today, it was warm. It was open-all-the-windows-to-let-some-air-in-and-pull-out-the-sandals-from-the-storage-bin kind of warm. Today was all about being outside.

There are so many things about Springtime in the country that I am loving. And there are many things about this house that I am appreciating so very much. Today I'll be shamelessly copying Amanda Soule with my very own list of 'things I am loving right now':

Our screen porch:

I really missed being able to eat meals out here. While we ate breakfast this morning we thought about what we'd like to do to fix it up just a little bit. A new wall is definitely needed on the house-side. A lick of paint around all the borders. Maybe a hammock needs to hang from one of the rafters. But in the meantime, it's perfect just the way it is.

Daffodils:

I planted a couple of dozen in front of the house last fall and none of them surfaced. Fortunately my grandfather must have planted some because there are clusters of them out back. There were quite a number of them that even survived the backhoe that tore up the ground where our vegetable garden will be. Since we'll have to till that area very soon, I saved them and transplanted them out front where I originally wanted some. In the process I ended up unearthing several bulbs that had evidently been planted too deep (yes, I know the proper depth is printed on the package. Danny had even laughed at me when he'd seen me out there with my ruler! ). Lesson learned.

Speaking of gardening, my next favourite thing is just that. Right now we're transplanting tomato seedlings into bigger pots. 

(I'm also loving lemon water and these mason jar mugs)

Did you know that you're actually supposed to bury the stem when you re-pot tomato seedlings? Other plants would die but these guys grow more roots and thicker stems.  I just learned this and it explains why my tomato plants in the past have been weak and spindly. Looking forward to seeing what a difference this will make.

Bikes:

Our house is on a cul-de-sac that is great for bike riding. There's even a bit of a stretch that is straight and flat, perfect for Dylan who is determined to ride on two wheels this year.

Our running creek:

Today we ventured into the woods. While the boys threw rocks into the stream Danny and I fantasized about the swimming hole we're hoping to build by creating a small dam.

Other things I'm loving right now that aren't pictured here: drinking my coffee out on the front porch in the warmth of the morning sun; meeting neighbours who are coming out of the woodwork (or rather, the city); listening to music, radio, and podcasts while doing yard work; and watching the birds from our kitchen window.

Lastly: favourite thing overheard today, coming from Dylan: "Noah! Danny and I are about to show you the awesomeness of nature."

 

wildlife in Spring

This morning as I was washing up after breakfast I looked out the window and spotted about ten wild turkeys in our field.

They are beautiful and extremely timid. Not to mention fast on those short little legs! Taking this photo was a real challenge because they wouldn't let me get close, even with a zoom lens. 

Later in the day we headed for the pond. Lately it's been teeming with loud, copulating frogs but we noticed today that things were much quieter so we determined it would be alright to try to catch one. 

(Success! One frog and two tadpoles)

This evening Danny and I were in the kitchen making dinner and I was telling him how pleased I was that our cats are excellent at hunting mice but terrible at catching birds (yes, I'm shamelessly biased). I glanced up out the window and said, "look, there she is now stalking another bird. She's been at it all day but she never catches one...... wait, hold on.... that's not a bird she's stalking, that's a groundhog!!" It was much bigger than her but somehow she was able to intimidate it back into its den. I'm trying not to think about the damage it will do to my vegetable garden.

bookworm

This proud mama needs to brag a little. You've been warned.

This boy here, the little-est of the two, was reading picture books last week. Today, he is on the 90th page of his first chapter book. It has been four days since he first picked it up and almost every time he spots it where he last left it, he snatches it up in his hungry little hands, walks out of the room, and disappears quietly for a long while. 

I have here myself two readers, two bookworms, neither of whom were ever given a forced 'lesson' in reading, nor been told to read or subjected to being assessed and compared with their peers. It's not always easy to have trust in the self-directed reading approach, to be mindful of their youth and have the patience to hold the space they often need to develop a skill. It takes a support system, people who are there for reassurance in those moments of doubt or panic (because we all have those moments).  I am reminded of this quote: “Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. It will take you.” – Chan Master Sheng-yen

I am so proud of my boy. While these milestones don't necessarily surprise me, they always amaze me.

bittersweet spring

I don't understand all this complaining about the fickle weather of March and April in Quebec. Listen, people: in March we get a few days of warmth and it's just a tease (albeit a lovely tease) because an impressive blizzard follows. Every single year this happens (just about). And then April comes along, and the warm sun kisses our cheecks, crocuses bloom, the snow melts away, winter jackets are shed, and then... it snows. Every single year. Please, stop complaining about it. Enjoy the days of Spring when we are lucky enough to have them, expect that it will snow again and stop grumbling about it. It's boring.

(is it hypocritical to complain about complaining?)

Anyway, yes it did snow over the weekend but here's what Monday looked like over here:

(I made myself another gardening apron)