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Simple Joys

A Perfect Gift for Little Girls

I have four girls.  That’s a lot of little friends’ birthdays.  It’s always hard to find the perfect gift on a budget, but there’s one gift that has been a hit each time: artificial flowers. We discovered this with our older children.  They loved their flowers and used them all the time, to decorate their […]

The First Big Frost

Last night we had the first big frost of the year.  The grass was white and crisp, the roof covered with crunchy white…and all the frost-tender food was out of the garden.  What a blessing that was! We do have a lot of greens in the fridge that need to be frozen, and the leeks, […]

Another Day of Summer!

Here’s our forecast for today:  27oC and mostly sunny! Or, in Fahrenheit, 81oF. Usually the late September high is around 16oC (or 61oF)—real jacket and rainboot weather! We’re planning to spend as much time outside as possible: harvesting, hiking, and probably also picnicking. Wishing you a happy day, regardless of your weather.

Real Life Learning: Insects and Harvests

We had no time for bookwork this afternoon.  Instead, we harvested.  The children picked two wheelbarrows of tomatoes, all the red and orange ones in our patch.  Then they discovered a tomato hornworm.  It is huge and oh, so beautiful.  I tried to feed it a tomato leaf, but didn’t realize that the horn was at the […]

Goldfinch Update

Remember that goldfinch nest full of tiny eggs that the Little Misses found in a purple loosestrife plant? They’ve hatched! We hate to disturb the birds, but this morning we went with my camera and got this shot. Miss 8 was disappointed because she had expected brilliant yellow hatchlings, not half-naked ones.  According to our bird book, […]