The End

It's finally the end of our school year!!!!
(Yes, it deserved that many exclamation marks, becuase I'm that excited and quite relieved.)

Dash finished up and passed his last final exam today. Latin had given him a bit of trouble the last couple weeks, so we are both looking forward to a break from lessons. Zeke finished up his year the end of April and Angelina finished a couple weeks ago.

Dash, Angelina, and Zeke are OFFICIALLY now in the 7th, 4th and 1st grades, respectively. Congratulations, kids!

We are planning to continue the following throughout June: handwriting, Math review, Latin word review for Angelina and Dash, spelling - just until Dash and Angelina are done with their current level of Phonetic Zoo, reading, maps workbook - only Angelina, and piano lessons for Dash and Anglina.

We are going to take a break in July for a vacation and two weeks of Vacation Bible School - one in a local parish and the other up at Grandma & Grandpa Golden Acres' parish. The kids look forward to the week up at Grandma & Grandpa Green Acres because they attend with thier relatives (I cannot remember the proper terminology, but it's my cousin's kids).

We'll resume some lessons again in August; most likely those mentioned above and I also want Angelina to start her ND History lessons. I don't plan to do all of these lessons every day, but want to do each at least three times each week. I think that's manageable and it will help retention - especially with the math, Latin words, handwriting and piano.

Bird-watching and feeding

I stayed with a good friend a couple weekends ago, and she is a bird-watcher. She has at least three bird feeders outside her kitchen window. It was fun to watch - I learned that the yellow bird that's been flitting around my flower/herb pots is actually is an American Goldfinch. Their color makes them easy to spot (well, actually it was easier before all the dandelions started blooming!).

Anyway, when at Tractor Supply on a rabbit supply run, I talked my hubby into getting a double sock finch feeder and finch 'food'. Yesterday, Angelina, Graham and I hung it on a tree in the tree row - planted by Grandma & Grandpa Green Acres - that isn't too far from the kitchen/dining room windows. We can see the feeder, but not really up close.

My helpers - Angelina & Graham posing with the feeder after hanging.

Angelina worried that the birds wouldn't find it, but the finches found it within a half hour and have been enjoying their newfound source of seed since. The neat thing about this feeder is that the finches are the only ones which will perch/hang on the bags to eat the seeds. Their bright yellow color makes them easy to spot when they are feeding. I just wonder how long a bag of seed will last out here!!

The lilacs are blooming!

I don't have grass, but thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Green Acres' choice in tree rows, I have plenty of lilacs to color one edge of our property. We chose lilacs, too, but it will be a couple years before they are big enough to produce blooms. The smell is wonderful, but who knew that lilacs could be the source of noise??

I was able to capture - in a picture - one bee to the left in the above photo.

The bees absolutely LOVE the lilacs. The buzz is really quite loud ... it sounds like we are near a hive when we are standing near the shrubs. A bee farmer lives down the road from our farm, so we do get honey as a thank you. I've never been stung and I hope that is never an issue for the kids, either.

Anyway, the scene and color is beautiful. God's creation for us to enjoy!!

No to Dog, Yes to Rabbits!

Dash and Angelina enrolled in 4-H this Fall. Having showed animals in our 4-H days, their dad and I wanted them to have the same experience ... we just weren't ready for the 'larger' animal experience of sheep, pigs or beef! So, rabbits became the animal of choice. I showed rabbits as a 4-Her, so I know a little bit that I can pass on to them. Rabbits seemed less over-whelming.





Grandpa Golden Acres has had rabbits since the last of my siblings graduated high-school (that was about six years ago - I think). He had cages and either two or three rabbits at the farm. I think he was looking forward to one less chore, so he agreed to let us inherit his brood. Turns out there were two, but they were a bit wild. So, he called up a rabbit breeder in his area and arranged for a few more to join the trip to our farm.

Mini Lops - Checkers (Angelina's) and Comet (Dash's)

We now have six rabbits! Two Mini Lops (called such because their ears lay down), a Mini Rex (my favorite breed while showing), and three belted (two grey & white and one black & white). The Mini Lops are pedigreed, so the kids will be showing those two - they are also the tamest. The pedigree means that they are registered and the kids will be receiving papers for each.

The kids have divied up ownership of all the rabbits, but I am not in the know, as of yet! You can be sure that future posts will share more info.

Wordless Wednesday - with explanation

In April, my hubby and I (actually, the whole family went on the short trip) attended the First Communion of one of our Godchildren. We visited the whole weekend and had a great time. Before leaving, my God-daughter presented me with this hand-crafted friendship bracelet and artwork. I though it very sweet.

Square Foot Gardening

Well, it's started ... the square foot gardening, that is. We set up six boxes on Saturday, and filled two with a mixture of vermiculite, spaghnum peat moss, and compost (equal parts by volume). The kids all helped in various ways - carrying bags to the site, getting tools, mixing, filling the boxes, and wetting down the planting mix. Unfortunately, the planting itself did not get done. By noon, I had run out of energy!

1. Getting the boxes in location and properly spaced. Thank goodness my hubby was around for this portion or I would've run out of steam much earlier. We lined the bottom of each box with landscape fabric before adding the soil-less mix.

2. Measuring out the 'mix' components onto the tarp. We used shovels to mix, but mostly used the tarp to 'roll' the mixture around to combine it. It was a lot of work, IMHO! After it was mixed, we shoveled and dumped it into the boxes. It seemed to take a lot more mix than I calculated.

3. Dash wet down 'his' SFG. This will be his 4-H gardening project. He'll be planting peppers, onions, lettuce, and beets. He'll be taking care of any weeds (there shouldn't be too many) and managing the watering.

4. Eva wetting down her SFG. She'll be planting sugar snap peas, carrots, red onions, and spinach in her plot. This will also be a 4-H project for her.

5. Before we plant, we'll be making a square foot grid in each box with nails and twine. The whole premise behind SFG is that each plant needs only a little space to produce. Marking out the grid helps to space plants and conserve space in your SFG. More pics later!