welcome to my garden, part 5

 My Compost Pile

To my own surprise, I have found that I really enjoy the process of composting. I tell those who visit my garden, "I'm good at making dirt." The compost box (a leftover from our first attempt at gardening) sits in the southwest corner and is about an 8th of the greenhouse. 

 My compost recipe: generous amounts of horse manure procured from a friend, a scoop of sand from the wash, a shovel or two of organic dirt, and a sprinkle of diatomaceous earth. Use the above mixture to cover material to be composted. (First dibs for food scraps go to the chickens but there is typically plenty of non-chicken kitchen, yard and garden waste to make a good sized batch of dirt.) Water and stir periodically. Wait patiently. When soil is a rich brown and composted items are no longer evident in the mixture scoop into growing containers and start planting.

butterfly kisses

When I wrote an email asking for suggestions for things to do together during my visit to Midland my niece-in-law suggested a trip to the butterfly house. I had never had the chance to see this Dow Garden's annual event so thought it sounded like a great idea.

It was a blustery-cold day but warm and moist in the tropical butterfly paradise in the middle of the garden. Lauren Mae, I and my bff Grace fluttered about in the big glass house chasing colorful wings with our camera lenses until we were all shuttered out.

 

 

(the butterfly's nemesis-

there always has to be an evil to overcome in every good buttertale)

Lauren Mae befriended two Painted Ladies and carried them around on her hand for a spell.

Then someone overheard Grace say, "I want a butterfly on my nose". 

No sooner was it spoken than a Painted Lady was fetched and deposited gently on the end of her little Mexican nose. 

The moral of the story: butterfly kisses tickle.

potty art

I found this wonderful tile mural at the entrance to the women's restroom in the Minneapolis airport during my brief but pleasant visit to that, as of April 4th, still snow covered state. I have never had a plane change in the Twin Cities before and was delighted with what they have done with the place. I only wish I had thought to visit the entrance of the men's restroom as well.

side kick

Monday late afternoon Jay was home cleaning out his van before heading to Yuma the next morning. Tessa, having finished school was playing outside while I worked in the kitchen. I wasn't paying too much attention to her play because I knew Jay was outside with her. When I did stop to check on her she was nowhere in sight. I asked Jay where she had gone and he pointed to his van. She was playing inside the van while he cleaned.

welcome to my garden, part four

 

(facing north)

In the middle of my garden are containers, barrels, and pots of various sizes. I've been learning companion planting so most containers have two or more types of plants together. Currently there are lettuce, kale, swiss chard, tomatoes, onions, garlic, squash, cucumber, broccoli, asparagus, melon, Moringa, blueberries, Marigolds (to keep the bugs away) and grapes.

 (facing east)

 

(facing south)

(the salad bar)

think before you leap

 The best laid plans of Gramma School was to have one day of preschool with Tessa, one day with both girls on Tuesday, and a third day focused on first grade language skills with Natale. And it worked quite well- the first week. Because of schedule changes, illnesses, vacations etc. Tessa's first day, back in January, was the only day I've had with just her- until this week. 

This week we had two days of  concentrated preschool. We worked played hard and accomplished much. After reviewing the 18 letters that have been introduced so far we played a sidewalk game to practice the letters that were still proving to be tricky. I had Tessa help me make the game board which tripled as a review of letter sounds and a handwriting lesson. Then the work began as I would call out letter sounds and Tessa located the letter before jumping to that letter. You can see from the look of concentration that preschool is more than just fun and games, there is serious thinking going on here.

pre-school

I woke early this morning, just a few minutes past five, quietly rolled out of bed and into a warm cup of choffee. As I padded silently through the kitchen in hopes of a quiet hour by myself before the barrage of four year old "Why's" begin a line from The Three Little Pigs, the version my father read to me when I was little, came to my mind. It reads something like this...So the next morning the little pig got up at 5 AM... each day being an hour earlier than the previous day in an effort to be up before the big bad wolf. The last several times Tessa has spent the night she has awaken earlier than her usual 7 AM...apparently laying quietly in bed waiting to see lights come on downstairs indicating that I am up. 


When I met Tessa's mom at the half way point yesterday she told me that each prayer that Tessa prayed this past week contained the words, "And that I could go to my grandma's house". 

Oh, how that little one has snuggled her way into my heart.