Salsipuedes Garden-Squash blooms

The rain we've been having has helped my squash. All four plants have blooms.

Zuchhini squash bloom

My yellow squash have blooms also. The sugar snap peas are just beginning to bloom.

Soon to be sugar snap peas!

My carrots, however, have not fared as well. I used straight top soil in their pot, and it doesn't drain quickly enough. Hope they aren't rotting!

Help! We're under water!!

It is exciting to think that soon I will have fresh vegetables just for the picking! I like this gardening, but am very happy it is not my sole support. :)

Stay tuned!

Library Learning Patch-Corn and Venus Fly Trap

Today was action packed. First our 4 year old member gave a very informative report on corn.He told us that there are three types of corn.  He also passed out coloring sheets for everyone to take home.

Good report!

Then I read a wonderful book from the library, Secrets of the Venus's Flytrap.

                                                  

All of us were fascinated by what we learned. We did not realize that it was such a small plant! We also learned that even though Venus Flytraps do not grow here, there are other carnivorous plants in East Texas.

                                                                  

We  made Venus  Flytraps out of paper plates and played a game to demonstrate that an insect must touch the sensors two times in order to trigger the plant to close.

We did not get to go out to the garden today, as it was raining all afternoon. Next week we will harvest the lettuce. Stay tuned!

Additions to Bucket List

I've added two more items to my bucket list and have partially checked one off. I have harvested lettuce from my garden! Delicious. The two items I've added are:

Learn to do watercolor
Learn about dragonflies

So my entire list now is:

To learn Portuguese
Train Bochica to be less afraid (more or less)
To have a Paso Fino professional evaluate Bochica and me (too late)(
Pass on my love of the land to my grandchildren (in progress)
Become proficient in using  Photoshop Elements
Write a book
Learn more about web design
Go to Chile one more time and ride a Criollo horse through a vineyard
Vacation in  Charleston, S.C.
Visit the redwood forest
Make a good friend that I can talk to about anything
Sew a hand pieced quilt for my granddaughter
Teach my youngest grandchildren how to fish
Learn to do pen and ink drawings
Learn all about cows (any ideas how I can do this???)
Finally learn to meditate (know of any classes, anyone?) (in process)
Organize my house! (in process)
Visit Lost Maples State Park in the autumn 
Eat home grown vegetables from my garden (accomplished)

Learn to do watercolor

Learn about dragonflies

A book from our local library, When Wanderer's Cease to Roam: a traveler's journal of staying put, has inspired me to learn to do watercolor. It is, I believe, the prettiest book I've seen. The soft watercolors on each page just call out to me. I plan to check it out soon and then on some rainy afternoon, make a cup of tea and just sit for a while and look at the beautiful watercolors in it. I plan to purchase it sometime and place it on my coffee table,  together with the one, What the World Eats.

I am signed up for a one day class through my Texas Master Naturalist chapter to learn to draw plants. That is the first step to learn about watercolors - I need to draw better first! :)

I learned a little about dragonflies last year at a meeting of my chapter of Texas Master Naturalist. They are in abundance at my pond and even come up to the front porch and fly around. My granddaughter said they look like helicopters and was fascinated by them.  Have you ever noticed that children tend to make the world more interesting?

I'll share some of the things I learn. Stay tuned!

Rufus-the talking dog

Remember when I first brought Rufus home, how shy he was? Well, he has definitely overcome that in some areas. When he wants me to go to the living room and turn on the TV, he talks to me. Here is a short clip!

He doesn't stop this infernal whining (he calls it talking)  until I go to the living room, turn on the TV and sit down! And he doesn't even watch it now. He did as a puppy, though, so maybe he just likes the sound. Some spoiled dog!

Stay tuned for more Rufus clips!

Bluebirds Have Fledged

Well, the baby bluebirds fledged and I missed it again. My mother and I were sitting on the porch Saturday night watching the parents feed the babies. The babies kept poking their head out and I just knew they were getting ready to fledge. Well, we went inside to have dinner and I guess they fledged then. Drat! Oh well, maybe next time.

I checked the nest this morning to just make sure-and sure enough, they were gone. There was one egg that didn't hatch. It was smaller than the others, so maybe that is why.

The egg that didn't hatch

I cleaned out the nest box and disposed of the old nest. Now I'll need to keep an eye out for the next courtship ritual. Stay tuned!

Wildflowers or Weeds?

After living in several neighborhoods where "weeds" were frowned upon and I was expected to use chemicals to get rid of every single one of them and water constantly to have a lush lawn, I am so relieved to be living in the country. My  lawn here is "native". Whatever comes up gets to stay (except maybe stickers). What a revelation! I will never be able to identify all of them.   So, do I consider the flowering ones wild flowers or weeds?? I'm sure you know the answer to that--wildflowers of course!

A new clover to identify

Plantain

Wild onion

Evening primrose

It seems that every year I see different things. Last year I didn't notice the the blooms of my Virginia Pines. They re so very different from the Loblolly.

Virginia Pines

Loblolly

Salsipuedes Garden-My First Harvest

Exciting day! Even though my lettuce was rather small, I decided to pick enough for a salad.

Black seeded and buttercrunch lettuce

And am I glad I did!  I added a few bites of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers and feta cheese, then drizzled it with just a tiny amount of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Mmmm-I had forgotten how good fresh home grown lettuce was! Definitely worth the effort.

My first salad from my lettuce!

 The two varities I grew this year were black seeded and buttercrunch. Both had a mild flavor. Next year I shall plant more and place them in a shadier spot to help them last longer in the heat. It would be nice if they would hold out until my tomatoes were ready, but I don't know if that is possible in this Texas heat in the summer. Salad will definitely be on my menu every day as long as the lettuce lasts!

As you may have guessed, I tend to go overboard with my hobbies/interests. Now I'm into gardening and already planning a larger one for next year.

On another note, the garden project that I'm leading at the library with the children as my Master Naturalist project is doing even better than mine in some areas. The tomatoes there are about 5 times as large--maybe containers aren't the way to go.

Hurry up garden--grow! I'm ready for more vegetables!!
Stay tuned.

Library Learning Patch-making maple syrup

Today we learned about something new--how maple syrup is made. We first discussed different ways of learning about things--reading fiction, non-fiction and using the internet. I read two cute books. One in particular was both funny and informative.  Our  library has great children's books!

The children discussed what parts of the book are probably true. It did give a good description of gathering the syrup.
I then read from an encyclopedia about how maple syrup is made. We also watched a neat video about making maple syrup. The children were very impressed.

We learn in many ways!

Now it was fun time--the children all pretended to be trees going through winter and spring. One of the group served as the gatherer and drilled holes in the trees and gathered the sap (all pretend of course).

It's fun being a tree!

We learned that it takes 10 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Wow!

Thanks to our library director, Lisa,  for this great demonstration!

Of course it is more fun when you can actually taste the finished product!

Delicious!

The boys in our group were out today because of illness, so the girls will demonstrate the process to them next week.
Then out to the garden for our chores. These children are the best--they even weed with enthusiasm. Wish they would come to my house! :) They also brought in more soil to our flower bed. The garden is looking great!

More fun next week-if we can just get a few more days of warm weather, we may be able to harvest the lettuce. Stay tuned!

Library Learning Patch

Baby Bluebirds-Feathers

Today is my last check on the nest box--I don't want to disturb them again before they fledge. The babies all looked well-I tried to get them to raise their heads, but with no luck. I guess I don't sound like Mama or Papa. :)

Snug in their nest

I was relieved to see that the storm the other night didn't hurt them!

Another view

Now I'll wait. I do hope I get to see them fledge, but that is difficult to time. Last year I missed all three groups of fledglings when they flew. Wish me luck!

Bluebird Eggs Have Hatched

I checked the nest box yesterday, and the eggs have hatched. There are five babies. My photo isn't as clear as I would like, but I do not want to disturb them again. Mama and Papa are very busy feeding them. There is constant activity at the nest box. What fun!

Babies all huddled together

Now I need to begin counting days. I shouldn't check the box after 12 days--I don't want the babies to fledge before they are ready. I will check it again in a few days, though and try to get a better photo. Stay tuned!

Library Learning Patch-Success and Failure!

One of our group read a very interesting report that he had prepared about squash. I learn something every time from these children--for instance, I didn't know that squash was  related to the pumpkin. Today we talked about diet in different countries. First we made a list of the food everyone had eaten yesterday. Then I read from a book, What the World Eats. I believe all of us found it very interesting to learn how different the diet is in different countries. We observed that here in the U.S. we seem to eat much more processed food than people do in other countries.

A totally fascinating book!

Then it was outside to the garden! Everyone was eager to see the progress. Our sunflowers had grown so much that the children needed to stake them up with longer stakes. And of course the weeding needed to be done. They worked like troopers. After the chores came the fun part--planting and watering. Our squash seeds never did sprout--so we planted zucchini and crookneck plants. We also planted a cucumber.

Team effort!

Then of course everything was watered very thoroughly. It's a good think we have sandy soil! It drains well. :)

Now it was time to enjoy the first fruits of our labor--wrong!! We pulled two radishes and lo and behold--they didn't make. They were long and stringy. So we replanted them to give them another week. Disappointing!

Our first failure!!

But  we did have success after all. We decided to check the onions. Each child pulled an onion--and washed them and ate them! Yummy!!  The library smelled like onions for a while.

Hurray!

We were also excited to see tiny peppers beginning to grow! And our tomatoes look great also.

Exciting!

What a great day we had--I just love the enthusiasm of these children!

Our lettuce is beginning to look like lettuce!

Our garden looks great!

Stay tuned for our next report--next week we will learn about how maple syrup is collected from the trees.