I thought I would share a little of our family’s gardening history in our Outdoor Hour post this week. We have always been a gardening sort of family and the kids have grown up with their hands in the dirt. Each child has had their own garden box and when spring rolls around they get busy planting.
This is my youngest son working in his garden in 2001….that would have made him five years old. I think the look on his face says it all.
This year he has planted a zuchinni, some spinach, and is now going to add some dill and some violoas to his box. He has herbs from last year growing…chives, oregano, and basil I think.
We went to Home Depot to look for some new things and he wanted something colorful and he wanted seeds so we found some on this really big rack of seed packets. He also picked out a pepper called “garden salsa” and this one he wanted as a seedling. I picked up some morning glories after being inspired by Jenn and I also picked out some coleus seeds for my pot on my back deck.
Our nature study this week has been filled with observing each morning the signs of a skunk in our backyard. Here is what it looks like. They make swirly holes looking for grubs and other tasty treats. I am so glad they are doing this in the unlandscaped side of our yard and not in the grass….yet.
Can you believe how busy these guys are looking for things to eat? Here is my son’s drawing for his nature journal of a striped skunk.
We had another relaxed Outdoor Hour week with a little time each day in the garden and observing birds and reptiles in our backyard. We did have one really sad incident. The baby blue jays that we had in a nest near our window were taken by some bird and then the nest was damaged so there are no longer any babies for us to observe. It has been hard on everyone to watch the “circle of life” drama this week.
I hope that everyone else has an enjoyable week for their Outdoor Hour. Remember, you do not have to focus on garden flowers if you are into another focus or you have something else in mind for your family.
Looking good! On both blogs! Are you finding it easier to streamline the 2 better now?
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
It has been so much better keeping the two blogs separate the last few days. I have been able to clear up my sidebars so they are more organized, especially with the three column format on the Harmony Art Mom blog.
I am saving a lot of time with uploading photos too since on blogger you can directly load and manipulate the photos without using Flickr.com.
I think it was a good move. 🙂
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Better to see signs of skunks than to SMELL them! I’m enjoying this new blog of yours!
Jamie,
We do smell them just about every morning. Last summer we had them living under our house but now we think they are under our neighbor’s shed which backs up to our fence so at night they scoot over for some dinner in our yard and then go back under the shed when the sun rises.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
You know how excited I get about seeds and planting! I can’t wait to see them as they progress.
Jenn
Oh…I like seeing your son and journal entry… SEVEN YEARS AGO!
Skunks…I have not seen any, but the squirrels here are pests. They dig up my sunflowers seeds.
I too love the new way you are doing the two blogs. I have been seriously considering switching to blogger lately, because of the amount of time uploading photos and the general speed of the site, but I’m scared of how long it will take to switch things over!
A skunk! I’m glad to say even though we back up to lots of woods that we haven’t had the displeasure of dealing with one.
And how sad about the baby Blue Jays; yes, circle of life.
Blessings,
Melissa
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/melissal89
You might try moth balls where the skunks are digging. This is suppose to be a good bug/pest repellant.
That’s a great skunk picture – I love his face. I am a jewellery artist dedicated to turning children’s drawings into jewellery and am always surfing the web for examples of drawings. I am researching for a new online gallery I am planning for my website to celebrate the creativity of children and wondered if you would be interested in displaying your child’s drawing there? My website can be found at http://www.amjewellery.co.uk