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Curious George Teaches Kids to Garden
I’m now into my second decade of watching Curious George on PBS Kids. My kids (10 & 13) are definitely out of the target age bracket, but we still have it going on the tv now and then. We have memorized most the episodes. We sometimes laugh as we try repeating “George speak”, and I secretly wish I were the voice actor for Curious George. I would be so good at it. This probably isn’t normal, maybe even a little strange, but we are in a global pandemic, and Curious George is like comfort food to us. As I reflect on this decade of watching George bumble through lessons about…
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Before the Last Frost
Way back in 2011 I posted a series “10 Weeks of Vegetable Gardening” sharing how I prepare for the upcoming spring and summer garden before the last killing frost of the season. That series was created on my previous blog, and some of the content and pictures have been lost in the migration. As I was scrolling through those old posts yesterday, I also realized how much has changed in the garden and how much my boys have grown! Just look at this bit of sweetness: I want to breathe new life into those old posts and into my own vegetable garden preparations. The past few years seem to have…
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Morning Garden Walk with Cameras and Kids
It is the day before the first day of school, and we’ve had a summer full on sunshine, friends, light saber battles, and swimming. It also seems to be ending just in time. Earlier in the week, the boys followed me out to the garden and begged to take pictures, so I let them. The baby indiscriminately snapped shots of everything along his path. The big boy was more deliberate. They both wanted to take shots of me. I wondered if they even noticed my raggedy sweatpants, chubby belly and puffy morning eyes as I sat on the bricks and leaned my back on the place where the house foundation…
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Watching Hummingbirds
We may think it is the fancy toys, exciting play dates, overpriced kids museums that our kids are craving, but really, I think what our kids truly long for is just a moment with us. Tonight Scooby and I sat out the in the garden in the twilight watching the humming birds zip in and around the feeder and hover around us just to see what we were doing. They are such curious birds and are perfect for a curious little boy to get caught up in watching. Scooby was concerned that they were chasing each other away and fighting over the feeder, and he suggested that we teach them…
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Treehouse on a Low Budget
For months now, Scooby has been talking about building a tree house. We’ve had a tree picked out for a year, but no funds to build it. This past weekend, we went to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore center to find some free or cheap lumber so I could build a raised bed for fall and winter lettuces. We ended up finding up to 16′ long 2″x 8″, 10″ and 12″ boards for $1 each. I also sent out a Facebook blast asking if any friends had free lumber scraps they were looking to unload. That lead to three pallets in good condition, a whole pile of decking slats, and…
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Harvesting Beans with Kids
Daily I am learning that my four-year-old is capable of much more than I ask of him. I find that the more responsibility and tasks he is given, the less he whines and the more he takes pride in his abilities and being helpful. I suppose preschoolers do have something in common with Thomas & Friends – they want to be very useful! This brings us to beans. Our garden is jam-packed with pole beans, bush beans, edamame, peas, and a variety of other beans we plan on harvesting to dry. I like that the legumes return nitrogen to the soil, and I like that they are easy to enjoy.…