In Which we Dig a Garden and Build a Birdhouse

We changed our mind on the garden location, based on the amt of sun it gets by the house. So we're doing a little one in the same place as last year, and a bigger one at the back of the yard. Here are our little seed beds; I hope the bunnies don't eat all the sprouts, we found bunny poop in them today! Not sure what to do about that, other then let Suzie out more often....






Here's Paul, doing the hard work of digging up the top layer of sod - look at the muscles popping out...











The next day we got a roto-tiller and he went to town. We also dug up the front yard, as long as we've got the machine, to do some strawberries, since they grew so good there last year. I intended to do a double-dig to loosen up the dirt 24"below the surface, but after all this, I'm just happy to have the top 8-12" all loose and good to go. Maybe next year I can double-dig.....
















Here's our little side-garden













Here's the front; we planted strawberries, spinach, lettuce and merrigolds this afternoon on the front section and then I ran out of steam.
(Hmmm.....hope that's not an indicator of the summer to come)











Ok, so ALSO today, besides planting, I decided to build a bird house with the girls. And as I am thinking about it, I think I have just invented a totally new method of homeschooling - I call it the RANDOM method, where there is no rhyme or reason to anything, I just skip around as we please, and do a little here, a little there, with absolutely NO connection to the previous thing we did. I figure that will make them well-rounded, right??!! A little gardening, a little bird watching, a little solar-system, a little math & reading thrown in for good measure, and walla! Poof! and hey, what about trying the Prairie Primer? (actually I really like that curriculum, a good way to tie the girls together into 1 core thing and branch off) Ok, maybe it's not so bad as that, but some days that's how I feel.

Here is the finished bird feeder. It turned out cute, with a little trough at the bottom where the food comes out, and even a perch. The roof hinges open so we can fill it easily. (I think they are going to be architects when they grow up) Or Natalie will be the architect and Olivia will be a vet.

In Which we get a New Piano and Shadow gets a Cone

Poor Shadow, got fixed yesterday. Of course he wants to lick the wound so we had to "cone" him. He's doing pretty good, tho, aside from bumping into everything and feeling miserable.

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but Olivia felt the need to have a "sympathy cone" around her neck, and she crawls around like a kitty. She tried to give a vacant stare like a cat would do, but I made her smile for the camera.

Our friends generously gave us their old piano, all we had to do was move it here and tune it! It even blends in with the other wood we have. The girls are really excited!

We had to move our furniture around to fit in the piano so thisis what we came up with. Not too bad...

By the way, the reason I titled this entry "In Which...." is because we are reading My Side of the Mountain and every chapter starts with "In Which", which Natalie thinks is funny. I would recommend this book to anyone, the kids LOVE it, and I really enjoy it too.

Starting our 4-Person "Survival" Vegetable Garden!

Just got back from Home Depot getting supplies, and of course it's raining! (It never rains in Southern California)

Here they are adding the "brown stuff" - I think it's carbon (?)

This is the tiny area I am going to work on this year, I think I'll do a 9' x 3' strip on the right (that's where our last year's garden was) and then add a new 15' x 3' strip on the left, with a walkway in the middle. Then the compost and supplies can go toward the back, where it is shadier.
















Here's the crummy little spot of last year's garden. The dirt back here is like concrete; this will be interesting!

















The last dump of the day; we will add the "green" (nitrogen) layer and the dirt layer tomorrow. This is real fun-school!