Recently in garden laughs Category
3:57 PM Mon, May 12, 2008 | Permalink
Cindy Brummer
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Covered in dirt = Good day gardening
It's that time of year again... the time of year when I can spend just about all day outside in the yard, pulling up this... planting that... shaping the earth with my own two hands.
And this year... I have more help.
Yesterday (Sunday), I lathered Luke and myself up in sunblock and we headed outside to take advantage of the unusually cool day. We explored, we pulled up some weeds... then we settled down with shovels, wheelbarrow and bags for a project I've wanted to tackle since moving into my house more than 3 years ago -- digging up the grass in the little strip of land between the public sidewalk and the street.
My square-blade shovel is supposed to do wonders for taking the lawn out... but I've never had luck with it. My husband thinks I don't have enough body weight to use it efficiently... I figured I was just a weakling. After about 30 minutes of struggling with it, a neighbor took pity on me and loaned me a landscaping pickax. The weight of the ax made the difference in pulling up the grass, and Luke and I worked for hours.
He has a little spade that's just his size, and he would put dirt on the shovel and run and dump it in the wheelbarrow.
Sometimes he would put the shovel head on the sidewalk and run up and down, listening to the sound of the scraping metal and yelling as loud as he could.
We stopped to eat watermelon and 'ooh and ahh' at the bugs unearthed in our work. We saw a grub, and watched it crawl its way back into the earth. We saw a really cool spider, and it popped its legs out and began running all over the sidewalk -- causing my son to scream with glee. We watched butterflies chase each other and beetles crawl through the dirt.
By the end of the day, both of us were covered in dirt and sweat. Luke's bath water turned brown the moment he stepped into it... and I was very grateful for my shower later that night. I was sore and achy from the weight of the ax, but I couldn't help but think that it had been a very fun day with my son... and maybe -- just maybe -- he learned something. I know I did... he made me notice all the stuff I normally don't notice when I'm outside and showed me how important it is to stop and enjoy.
11:17 AM Tue, Oct 23, 2007 | Permalink
Cindy Brummer
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Plum-good persimmon
 Luke and I feasted on the first ripe persimmon from the tree |
I read a blog yesterday that talked about how kids love homegrown veggies. It talked about a study that showed the benefits of homegrown:
"The study found that preschool kids served homegrown fruits and vegetables were nearly twice as likely to eat five servings per day than those who rarely or never had homegrown produce."
I can testify to the idea that kids love food out of the garden. My Luke makes a beeline to the tomatoes EVERY TIME we're outside. And it's a good thing I'm there to watch, because he'd eat the green tomatoes if I let him (of course, I don't).
He also loves fruit, and when I noticed this weekend that one of the persimmons on the tree was finally ripe, I got out a knife and plucked it off the branch. He had his hand out sooner than I could cut him a piece off the fruit.
Continue reading "Plum-good persimmon" »
3:51 PM Mon, Oct 22, 2007 | Permalink
Cindy Brummer
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The tomato cages ran away
This morning I woke up around 4 a.m. to the sound of pecans pelting my roof. I can hear them especially well in my bedroom -- which is right underneath the pecan tree -- because it has a flat roof. The wind was whipping the tree around good and sending those pecans flying.
It sounded like a bunch of kids were throwing hundreds of snowballs at my house. (I grew up in Virginia, and we had snow days most winters.)
I listened for a while and eventually fell back to sleep, until the rain started. My husband and I jumped out of bed, suddenly remembering the multitude of things we had left outside that would almost certainly already be soaked.
Yep, Luke's stroller and wagon were really wet -- but they'll dry.
Later that morning, when I finally left for work, I noticed a white cylinder right in front of someone's SUV parked down the block.
"Wow, that's really weird -- and really familiar... oh my gosh!" I thought to myself.
Continue reading "The tomato cages ran away" »
6:04 PM Mon, Oct 15, 2007 | Permalink
Cindy Brummer
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Mmmmmm... pecans
My pecan tree is stuffed -- STUFFED, I tell you -- with nuts, and the first ones that are ready to eat are just beginning to fall.
Luke and I spent half an hour yesterday running around the back and side yards looking for nuts and stuffing them into a brown paper bag. Well, I was actually the only one putting them in the bag. My 14 month-old thought it would be way more fun to take them out of the bag and give them to Goose -- one of our family dogs -- who also loves pecans.
Continue reading "Mmmmmm... pecans" »
