Science

We recently visited a hands-on science museum in Albuquerque called Explora. It was so much fun and geared for kids as young as Camryn (and probably younger!) to adults. The best part was that every display allowed you to play or interact with it. Fun!!! Zoey and Cams loved it! Here are just a few of the pictures that we took that afternoon. If you are in the Albuquerque area, I highly recommend spending a day at Explora--we can't wait to go back!

Planning

2010 Garden Roster

Tomatoes: Old Fashioned Goliath, Amish Paste, Big Zac Hybrid, Sugar Snack, Super Marzano, Red Alert, Big Mamma Hybrid, Beefsteak, Jersey Giant, Mortgage Lifter, Brandywine, Purple Kalabash, and Rinaldo.

Peppers: Quadrato Giallo D'Asti, California Wonder, Yellow Monster, Pequis, NuMex Sunrise

Cucumbers: Armenian and Pionner Hybrid

Also have Romano bush beans, Lungo Bianco squash, Chinese Long Bean, Black zucchini, Crenshaw melon, Tigger melon, Rocky Top lettuce, Chioggia beets, chives, Ali Baba watermelon, Cinderella pumpkin, Thai White Ribbed eggplant, Scarlet Nantes carrot, Desert King watermelon, Tromboncineo squash and Buttercrunch lettuce.

Long live the homegrown revolution!

Mommy Brag

My Kindergartner read her first book by herself! I am completely amazed how much Z has learned since she began school--what a smarty pants! Meme Jo was visiting us and got to share in the excitement :)

Ready, Set, Grow!

February marks a flurry of garden activity here in Hartland, time to get seeds growing indoors and to start early spring veggies outside. I am blissful! After being taunted by seed catalogs for the last 2 months, I can finally play in the dirt! I wanted to share a few garden prep pictures with you all. This year, I'm trying something a little different for my seed starting. I purchased several lidded, shallow storage containers to place my homemade newspaper pots in (Love holiday clearance!!!). They have made it easy to transport the seedlings to sunny windows around the house, plus with the lids on, I have a mini greenhouse. If you ask my wonderful husband how many mini greenhouses I have, you'll probably just get a "too many..." My newspaper pot maker proved invaluable again this year--I would recommend anyone getting one! Once the seedlings are ready to put into the garden beds, I plant the whole pot and the newspaper composts into the soil.

In the raised bed closest to our back porch I have garlic sprouting, and have since added red and yellow onions. Beets and carrots will also be direct sowed here once the weather warms just a tad. It won't be long!

Recycled restaurant containers have a new life now as my indoor salad greenhouses. Cams helped me with the soil filling and in the seeds went!

At least until the seeds sprout, I have the container lids in place and here they sit in a sunny south facing window. I plan on planting lettuce outdoors as well, but the sooner I can harvest, the better!