The Bounty of the earth

This spring we have had a lot of rain and many wonderful wild flowers.  As a result of the rain we also have a bounty of dewberries.  They grow wild around here and are wonderful to eat.  They are just beginning to ripen and we spent about 20 minutes today and harvested the first bowl full.  We have them everywhere and hope to have pies and dewberries on our cereal and also have enough to can/freeze.  The Turpins are planning on coming up next week to pick also.  It is always so fun to share.  We also have two trees full of plums, thanks to Bob.  The first year we were here we had plums but since then we haven’t had any.  Bob was here in the Spring and pruned the trees back and then we cut back the grapes and finally pulled them out and our trees now have a chance.  Yeah! 

Here are a few pictures of our little pioneers picking dewberries and then a few shots of our little plums.

Beginning the picking.  Nathan will jump in, while Mandy is a little more deliberate.

   

                                    The dewberries are ripe when they are black.  It is tempting to pick them when they are red but don’t do it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            getting into the brier patch!

                                       The first bowlful of the season

  If you look close you will see small plums in each branch.

The last couple of weeks

I have been very busy and kept taking pictures and meaning to post but haven’t gotten around to it.  I may need to do a once a week thing.  Spring is here and so we have been working in our garden.  It is still a work in process but we are getting there.  Last year we decided to totally change the way we garden and it has taken a little while to move everything around, pull all of the wooden logs out, etc.  We are now trying to garden using black plastic which is supposed to keep the weeds out.  We will see.

We bought seeds and planted seeds in each little compartment.  I did buy tomato plants though.

 

 

Nathan and Daddy working sand into the dirt for the carrots.

 

We are hoping to have a nice garden this year.  Last year it was so hot and dry everything just dried up and blew away.

We had Easter and the kids searched for eggs.  Here they are in their new clothes.

                    Mandy has really grown.  Nathan and his new suit.We have some beautiful flowers this year as we have had a lot of rain and it has been a banner year for wildflowers and roses. 

 

 

I really like to take pictures of flowers and outdoor scenes.   I get kidded about it all the time.

We have also added baby chicks and guinea fowl to our menagerie.  Goldie, our hen became broody (sitting on the eggs and never leaving the nest) about a month ago.  She sat on 6 eggs for a month.  One of them hatched but died that night and the others didn’t hatch for some unknown reason.  We went to the local “chicken lady” and bought some days old chicks and placed them under her in the evening.  The next morning she was clucking at them and they were following her around.  Very cute.We also bought some guinea fowls.   They are smallish birds that take care of themselves after they are feathered out.  They will (supposedly) sleep in the chicken coop but fly out in the morning and they eat bugs and ticks.  They will fly into the garden and not bother the plants but eat the bugs.  We shall see.Last but not least – Mandy has been cleared by the surgeon. She had her rod taken out of her leg and is now doing great.  Her prize for that long, long recovery is a new bike.  Mandy was able to pick out her own and it is of course, pink.  She had a couple of days of not being steady but is doing well now.  Whew! it has been a long road.

We are looking forward to having school out soon and a wonderful summer full of family, swimming lessons, scout day camp, and a art camp or maybe a horse riding camp for Mandy.

Conversation with Mandy

in the car on the way home from the library.

We were talking about a Barbie book that she had checked out.  "Look, here are Barbie's two girls." 

"Barbie isn't married Mandy, as far as I know.  She is single in all of her books" said Mom. 

"Where does she get her money?  Is she poor?" asked Mandy. 

"No, not that I know of.  Barbie always seems to have money " said Mom.  ""Kathie is single and she has a job and supports herself but you have to have an education" said Mom.

"What if I am have a (??pause) Daddy?  Do I have to have (another pause) babies?  I don't want babies" asked my six-year-old.

"No, you don't have to have babies if you don't want to" answered Mom.

"What if he wants to have babies and I don't?"

How do you answer that to a six-year-old? My only answer was "Then you have to talk to him about it, Mandy"

OOOHHHH!

Scouts, basketball and concussions -

Yesterday was Wednesday and we have scouts on Wednesday night.  I asked Mandy if she was up to going to scouts and she said "yes".  I wish she had said no!

I received a call before we were to leave asking me to help out in scouts, the leader was sick and just needed a warm body to help out.  We drove to the Church and let everyone in.  I had a key.  Nathan went in to the cultural hall to play basketball until everything started.  We have three wards that share our building and Wednesday night gets very busy.  I was standing in the hall talking to the other den leader and a mother came up to me and said that Nathan needed me.  He was seated in a chair and crying.  Oh, no.

He was playing basketball with some older boys and got knocked flat.  His head bounced on the hard cement.  Nathan is a tough kid but he cried all the way home and then started vomiting.

He has now had a CAT scan and he didn't scramble his brains too badly.  He doesn't remember anything about last night and still has an enormous headache and his neck is sore from the fall but he will be fine.  The Doctor said it could take up to 2 weeks before all of the side effects are gone.

Big sigh. It has been a long week.