Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[keljonma]

Sounds like the reunion was grand! It is always nice when they work out that way.

Ohio... well stop on by if you're in the area!

Just a thought outloud here, Lori. Can you locate a local homeschoolers group? My grands have always been homeschooled (the oldest is 13 now) and dd found a faith-based homeschool group online. The group members live throughout north east Texas, down to the Houston area. So they meet 2x a month in a central location. The first meeting of the month, the kids report on what they are working on and is usually held at a library or one of the members' homes. The second meeting of the month, they usually meet at a park where they celebrate all the birthdays of the past month with a cupcake and drink. But sometimes the second meeting of the month is a field trip.

 

[lorihadams]

We have some homeschoolers at our church but they have older children in their early teens so with a 4 and 6 yr old it is a bit awkward. That being said, we have a homeschooling family down the road from us that we have never met and I seriously need to introduce myself to them. They have young children, I know cause I see them outside every time I drive by. They also have lots of chickens....I know cause I hit one of them with my car at least once a month :/ or know someone else that does.

I am gonna try to see if I can make some contacts when we do VBS this year. Having someone in the family that has been there and done that is nice cause I can always call her and she can talk me down when I am wavering. She told me that one of her "lessons" every day was for her children to watch The Waltons every day from 10 to 11am. She says that it helped instill some family values and break up the schoolwork. She said she also had to threaten her boys with beatings to get them to do seatwork too but they are fine respectable men now.

She also told me that she let them play outside in the afternoons and after several months the boys came to her and said they wanted her to come with them cause they wanted to show her what they had been doing every afternoon for the last few months. They took her back into the woods and they had been cutting down saplings and small trees from the back of the property (and some of the neighbor's land) and had built a 2 story fort!

To this day they say that was one of the best things they ever did as children.

 

[lorihadams]

Well, I have been busy the last few days. All this heat has been awful. We have been running a lot and been to the pool a couple times. I wanted to go yesterday but we went to story time and then ate lunch at hubby's work and then hit the Goodwill (got 6 shirts and a dress for $19) and the Dairy Queen for some ice cream with the kids.

I found some lady's bank card outside on the sidewalk at the Goodwill and brought it back into the store in case she came back looking for it. The girl at the register actually looked surprised when I told her I found it and wanted to bring it in so no one would go on a shopping spree. Have we really fallen so far as a society that when someone does a good deed it is a shock?

Last night my husband got his first milking lesson. His hands are so much bigger and Aliana's teats are so small....they are just fine for me, they are actually quite long for a Nigi but for him it was just funny. I had to finish milking her out for him but he did pretty well. At least I know that if I'm away somewhere (yeah, what are the chances of THAT) then he can milk her for me.

This morning we got a bowl full of sugar snap peas. At least something in the garden produced something. I'm thinking our soil we bought is just bad. Gonna have to do some serious amendments to them this fall so this doesn't happen again next year. My cucumbers are only 3 inches tall. They have flowers on them but they are only 3 inches tall.

My lettuce hasn't grown at all, the spinach died, none of my beets, chard, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, kohlrabi, beans, corn, tomatoes, or peppers have done a thing. My peppers are still only 3 inches tall. I have one tomato plant that has a tiny tomato on it finally and they are only about a foot tall. All my beans have turned yellow and the leaves are falling off.

I'm watering everything about every other day and that seems to be okay. My strawberries are looking good but I doubt I will get any fruit off them this year, blueberries are almost done, blackberries are getting close, we got a handful of cherries before the birds swooped in and ate the other handful, no pears or apples this year, and my carrots have finally started to grow. The potatoes and sweet potatoes seem to be doing well and the pumpkins and watermelons are growing well in the other garden as well as the squash and corn, even without being watered at all.

This has just been a funky year for the garden. Two days ago one of uncle's cows got out and ran through our neighbors garden. Fun stuff.

At TSC the other day my children begged me for pink flamingos to put in the garden. I caved, they were on sale anyway and so now I have 2 pink flamingos in the middle of the pumpkin patch. Maddie made me put eyelashes on hers so it would be a girl.

 

[Javamama]

Yep, a funky gardening year for sure. First it was too wet and now it's too hot.
Love the flamingo idea!

 

[lorihadams]

We'll see if they scare the deer away....I may have a whole army of the buggers if they do!

 

[old fashioned]

Maddie made me put eyelashes on hers so it would be a girl.

I understand about the garden frustrations as we've had similar problems the last couple of years, so it may not be your soil. I had started several things early to try to get a jump on our cooler season and alot of those starts either didn't sprout (newly purchased seed), or bugs or whatever. I've had to start or direct plant several times and only have marginal results.
The only things right now over 3 inches are the peas (about 2 ft high) & still no flowers, the sickly corn plants I ended up buying at discount cause the seed I had planted just sat there doing nothing, one purchased tomatoe plant about 8in high has one flower (MY seeds, saved or purchased, either spouted up all gangly then toppled or since I direct sowed-are just sprouting the first leaves).
Oh I almost forgot, my spinach, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, parsnips, etc have come up to maybe 3 in high and then have been just sitting there! The spinach then bolted to seed but atleast I got a few cuttings off of it. And the lettuce & cukes has done NOTHING!

 

[lorihadams]

Isn't it maddening? How do you screw up a cucumber? Please tell me how I can possibly screw up a cucumber? The first time I planted cukes they grew like crazy, I haven't even needed a trellis for mine yet and this month the last time we had a garden we were pulling them already. Lettuce too.

I've never had luck with spinach so that's not a big loss. I can always plant the brassicas later in the summer for cool weather crops so I'm not totally in despair over those but the lettuce, cukes, beans, and tomatoes could just make me cry. My carrots are finally starting to get some height to them too but they are only about 2 1/2 inches tall right now.

It is hazy right now and we are supposed to get some spotty storms later this evening. I hope we get a good shower cause we need it. My squash is starting to look a little weak.

 

[gettinaclue]

I'm really sorry about your garden. I know it's incredibly frustrating when things don't grow.

 

[lorihadams]

Thanks....on the upside I was able to hoard enough milk away from the kids to make some yogurt today! It is hanging out in a cooler now. We'll see what I have tonight.

I used my raw milk and heated it to 180 degrees and then cooled it to 115, added some plain greek yogurt and put it in water at 120 degrees inside a cooler wrapped in a towel.

It was too easy to work....I'm awaiting a massive yogurt failure

Hopefully it comes out okay....I am planning on adding some strawberry jam, honey and a bit of vanilla to it cause strawberry is our favorite...

My DD, who is 4, just told me that she wants a "Va Cay Shway dress" courtesy of the Old Navy commercial. We're watching Barefoot Contessa, darn commercials. I just told her that's why we went to Goodwill yesterday and got her one from there and now we don't need to go to Old Navy. Think it'll work???

 

[gettinaclue]

ummm...don't hold your breath LOL

How much milk are you getting daily now?

Are you using it all?