Tag: garden

Homeschooling

by Ariana Peters, posted in kids, school/studying, Uncategorized

My children are not school aged so I am not doing any formal schooling yet. But I am trying to foster a love for learning and put as many learning opportunities in our lives as possible.

We love to read

I bought a nature study curriculum called exploring nature with children that I am currently dipping in and out of for inspiration. When we are playing in our yard or taking walks I mention the seasons and ask about flower colors and flower bulbs and on and on.

The other curriculum I was introduced to by my friend Stephanie is by a company called Timberdoodle. So far I love, love, love it. They have curriculum for kids from 0 years old to a senior in high school. I don’t know how long I will homschool for but the state of public education in this country is scaring me more and more.

Farmland math
Working dates, seasons and weather

I picked and chose what I liked and wanted to start with. We don’t touch on everything every week but i try and hit 1-2 things a day m-f. The weekends are just bonuses if we manage anything because our schedule is different.

Threading is great for dexterity and motor skills
He LOVES these smart workbooks
Puzzles are still a work in progress hahaha
These 2 are more advanced and not quite as ‘fun’ as the smart workbooks so he’s less into them right now.
Bunny boo. He is supposed to recreate the example on the card. Eventually he gets it but currently needs a lot of prompting.
We also count chicken eggs and fruits and vegetables when they are growing. My 2 yr old helps me in the kitchen sometimes. I’m basically just trying for a wellrounded introduction to life and education hahaha.

I just love when they understand something, when they learn something new, and when he tells me something I taught him 5 min ago, 5 hours ago or 5 days ago. I love when she actually communicates something to me bub pointing or bringing something to me.

Come on this crazy journey with me!

August Garden Update

by Ariana Peters, posted in baby, food, healthy lifestyle, mini-farm
Jalapenos
Tomatoes
Serrano peppers
Peas not doing so good this year
Thyme
My helper
Chickens eating the last corn that the dog didnt destroy
Cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin and watermelon all torn out by the dog. But volunteer tomatoes are here
Bell peppers are doing great
2nd carrot planting……and somehow tomatoes
1st carrots and leeks. I am pulling these as we need them. I need to devote a day to Dehyrating and freezing them soon
Celery going to seed
Lima beans
Some kind of beans, don’t remember what I planted lol
Cherry tomatoes
Baby eggplants
Sweet potatoes
2nd onion planting
Cabbage and Brussels sprouts totally bug infested so chickens will get them
Aloe
Dill, smells sooooo good
Raspberries
Chives
Eggs from our chickens!!

Garden update 8/1

by Ariana Peters, posted in mini-farm

Happy August 1st!!!!

Traffic was not horrendous today which was nice. Got home, a quick snack and changed into partial workout gear hahaha.

She is impatiently waiting for us to go do out watering in the yard.

Raspberries!!!! Well raspberry plants, they are still growing but not really producing anymore.

One of Brandon’s newly panted areas. The front yard is mostly his domain and he wants it to look presentable.

More newly planted flowers…..that i got free from someone at work woohoo!!!

broccoli!!!!!!

mixture of lettuce, flowers and my herb garden. we have basil, sage, thyme, rosemary, and oregano along with my little fig plant that is very SLOWLY growing.

My pear tree is having a growth spurt

Another area that Brandon has created. He has a good eye for yards actually.

Pea season has definitely come to an end. I am slowly getting one or two peas here and there that are no where near as sweet and wonderful as the ones at the beginning of the season. I have a bag in the freezer that i am slowly adding to, it will be good to throw in soups over the winter.

These tomatoes are finally starting produce a bit. The artichoke plant is still just there lol. The cucumber plant is hanging on, i have gotten one cucumber off it so far. The bell pepper plant is just starting to get its first pepper. and the chive are new and doing pretty well.

She LOVES to roll around in the grass. She never did this before we moved here. I think she likes it a lot.

2nd batch of onions, they are surviving!!!!

Pepper plants!

Summer squash…….do you see it?

My 2 lone pumpkins. I have cut them from the stalks and they are starting their curing process. I don’t need them to last months though, just until classes are over then i will cook with them.

This is our neighbors plum tree, i would say 1/3 is hanging over into our yard and i am watching like a hawk for ripe plumbs i can take from out side!!!!!!

Zucchini is still producing like crazy!!!!

Look how many are starting to turn colors!!!! Just a few more days!!!!

That is a cucumber plant growing in among the tomatoes, snaking its vines wherever it can find space.

The last bit of lettuce is holding on in the heat and letting us get a few leaves here and there as we need them.

That is the garden currently.

Today i made zucchini bread and zucchini pasta salad for lunch tomorrow.

Ran some sprints for run training……..my fastest sprints were in the 8 min mile time frame hahahahahaha this is hilarious because that is a lot of runners normal or slightly pushing it pace……there are people who run marathons doing 5 min miles and i am dying doing 8 min for 45 secs. But you know what………I AM DOING IT!!!! And i am proud of that no matter how slow I am.

I am about 1/2 of the way done with my essay that is due tomorrow at midnight but it is 10pm and that is my bedtime if i don’t want to be a zombie tomorrow. Plus the due date is tomorrow so i can afford to go to sleep.

Thank you for following along!!!

Hope you had a wonderful day!!!!

My Garden is Growing

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, House/dating/life

Today’s post will be a series of videos

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The garden is doing amazing!!! Now when dinner time comes it is like ok, what do we have from the garden that we need to use!

Weeds and the organic garden

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, House/dating/life

This isn’t about weeds or a garden but I finally hung up a wind chime that I bought at some swap meet on a family camping trip…..14 years ago!!!! I kid you not, it was wrapped in a newspaper from 2004.

Peas !!!!! So excited to start eating some sugar snap peas!

Hanging basket from Costco, I’m pretty happy with it. It’s really pretty.

Ok so weeds, I let Brandon spray some of the yard when we started on the yard but not the majority of it. I didn’t want a bunch of pesticides in the ground right before we planted crops. And of course we aren’t spraying the plants now so we inevitably get weeds.

I let them get a little ahead of me in the beginning which i won’t do next year but now everyday when I water i spend about 15-20 minutes weeding one area of the garden. It’s not much time and I just pick out what I can see or easily get to. There are always still weeds left and sometimes I look back where I was just weeding and swear there is a weed in the exact spot I already pulled one but i also love those few quiet moments in the garden.

Basically if you dont use anything to kill the weeds there will always be weeds, don’t stress too much about it. Make sure your plants have room to grow and their roots have room to grow and don’t worry too much about the rest. Just do what you can.

Do you have a garden?

What are you growing?

House catch-up

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, House/dating/life

Here is a lovely picture of me from when I was in the emergency room with the flu. They take this stuff seriously now!

Moving this past weekend! Shout out to the mama! She has helped me with every move. She is pretty much a life saver.

Managed to get some meal prep in! Mojito Pork Chops from a Home Chef meal box.

Just ordered this since currently our mail gets left to the side of the front door or on the counter and days later we realize one of them is a bill. Time to organize!

The coffee bar is slowly coming along! and check out the pretty flowers from my backyard!

We planted our first tree! Yep that large twig is a tree, a pear tree to be exact. Hopefully in about 2-3 years it will start producing many pears for us.

We also got 1 fig plant planted as well as 5-6 raspberry plants.

I have biodegradable seed pot starting things arriving tonight so I can get my seed starts done and just plant the whole thing in the ground in a month instead of having to take them out of the starts for transplanting.

I can’t wait to see how my garden grows!

We move really soon!!!!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, House/dating/life

WOW so we thought we had at least a week but we got the keys last Friday!!! We immediately got in and started cleaning. We got some basic cleaning done, a little mopping and wiping down of things. We are borrowing Brandon’s brother’s carpet shampooer washer thing and I have managed to get 2 rooms done so far.

And we started demo on the bathroom!!!! It was pretty bad so we are gutting it and redoing it….on a strict budget lol.

Before:

Currently:

Check out my YouTube for a few videos that I uploaded there but didn’t get a change to add to this blog.

I also got a pear tree ordered as well as a fig tree/bush and a raspberry bush. They will ship out to us the 1st week of March. Slowly but surely we are picking things up. Brandon researched internet companies and picked up a modem for us as well as new locks for the doors.

I have also been picking up fun but cheap decorating ideas on pinterest, can we say coffee/tea bar!!!!! Yes!!!!

I have also been working on the layout for the backyard garden. I can’t wait to see everything come to life!

I have been having a lot of fun practicing my mini-farming/homesteading skills. Last week I took the leftover stuff from the roast chicken I made and threw it in a pot, added a little extra seasoning and the tops and bottoms of some of the veggies I juiced, covered it all with water and made some chicken stock to freeze for later. I also made slow cooker dog food to mix with Artemis’ dry food and shook whipping cream into homemade butter hahahahaha! Then I split that butter in half and made some honey butter to freeze! Now I can’t wait to try and get some raw milk and try to really make our own butter, the hunt is on! It was actually really fun and a good workout.

I think with school though I am going to have to ease into the mini-farm a bit slower than I would have liked, we might hold off on chickens until next year when I have a rhythm down a little more and we are more settled. But I will still be planting a good amount.

I will keep you posted!