Winter Sowing

It's that time of year again! Time to start getting your seeds going for the garden this summer. Last year was our second time with starting seeds, and it was quite successful considering we didn't have a grow light system, didn't have much space, and lots of our seeds were quite old. It was super rewarding to plant seedlings in the garden that we grew ourselves instead of just going out and buying them.

This year, the space thing is still an issue and to be quite honest I'm just feeling plain lazy when I think about trying to make a space to start seeds indoors. Sooooo...we are attempting something called Winter Sowing. I tried this one year when we lived in Oregon, but started too late so it wasn't as successful as it could have been. Since we are in a much colder climate out here in Colorado, March is still a fine time to attempt this experiment.

So what is Winter Sowing you ask? Well, in a nutshell it is basically starting your seeds outside, in the Winter. Using recycled containers (think milk jugs, yogurt containers, etc.), seeds are sown and left to outside to germinate naturally. With the freezing and thawing that happen to the soil in the containers in the Winter, this helps prep the seeds for germination. Then when the time is right the seeds will (hopefully!) grow. Good ol' Mother Nature doing what she does best. And something else really great about this method is that your baby plants will be super sturdy and won't need your typical hardening off to get them used to outside because, well, they're already out there. Win!

Recycling at it's finest! We used milk jugs, yogurt containers, and even the container from the roast chicken we had for dinner the other night! A super benefit of this method is the money you will save by using what you have on hand.

We had beautiful weather today and I had two very sweet assistants, so it made for a lovely time planting seeds. We planted several different herbs, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage and even onions. Now we get to sit by and watch and wait.

Relaxing in the sun, soaking up some vitamin D.

Making plans in the garden notebook.

Watering those seeds!

If you'd like to know more about Winter Sowing be sure to jump over to WinterSown.org. This is where I first came across this method and they have lots of great info to get you started. It really is sooo easy!

I do have a bit of proof that this method works. In November I planted some lettuce and spinach seeds out in the garden. This was supposed to happen in September, but somehow time got away from me. I made a nice little greenhouse tent for them, hoping to have a little "winter garden". Well, the wind took that dream away and I figured all was lost. Then a few weeks ago when we were having some superb weather for this time of year, I was poking around in the garden and there were little green sprouts popping up!! There was my lettuce and spinach! I quickly made a new greenhouse over them and they are slowly growing and we should maybe have some yummies for snacking on in a few more weeks! I am quite amazed that throwing seeds in the ground so crazily in November is actually paying off!

My "greenhouse".

Lettuce!

Spinach!

I have great hopes and expectations for our Winter sown seeds. We will be sure to keep you updated with our successes and failures. Though I hope there won't be so much of the latter.

What are your gardening activities this time of year where you live?

Blessings!

Berry Delightful Smoothie

Hello, there! I think we may finally be ready to join the ranks of healthy humans again. We have been battling some terrible, horrible, no good, very bad virus and have finally come out on the other side. There's been no nature walks, and not much else going on in life other than tissues and rest and tea and more tissues. Nothing terribly exciting to blog about, you know. But we're back now and hope to start getting our adventure on again!

For the first order of business I thought I'd share a recipe for a smoothie that we've been enjoying to nurse ourselves back to good health. It's very simple and easy, but so tasty and full of lots of good stuff to nourish your body. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Start off with some home-brewed water kefir which is an amazing probiotic drink. You can find out more about water kefir from the good people at Cultures for Health.

Add a heaping scoop of your favorite green drink powder. I'm not at all a picky eater, but green drinks still make me want to gag sometimes, so putting this delightfully healthful powder in a smoothie is a great option.

Next throw in some chia seeds. I never measure, but at least a tablespoon or so. These guys are full of great things like fiber, omega fatty acids, calcium, and antioxidants.

Then of course we need some berries, or this smoothie wouldn't be called Berry Delightful. So throw in some berries of  your choosing. We use blueberries and strawberries. But use whatever you like. You really can't go wrong with berries. Unless it's huckleberries. In a pie. With no sugar. But that's a whole different story.

Now if you'd like at this point you can either blend it as is or throw in a dash of vanilla, a squeeze of honey, and maybe even a drop of Wild Orange essential oil. Whatever suits your fancy. We've done it several ways and it's good any way you make it.

And there you have it. Quick, healthy AND tasty! You're welcome. :)


Berry Delightful Smoothie

2 cups water kefir
1 heaping scoop green powder
1-2 tablespoons chia seeds
Couple handfuls of frozen berries
Honey, vanilla, Wild Orange essential oil to taste

Blend on high until everything is well mixed. Pour into cute cups, throw in a straw and drink to your health!

Blessings!

Outdoor Hour: Backyard Time

This week we didn't make it out for our usual nature walk. We've been trying to recover from a cold, and we ended up taking a really long nap today and didn't have time for our walk. But that nap sure felt good! And hopefully that was just what we needed to kick this bug to the curb!

It was such a beautiful day though we had to squeeze in a little outside time. We grabbed our notebooks and headed out to the backyard to see what we could find. Not much is happening out there this time of year, but when you look hard enough you can still find some interesting things.

I'm getting anxious to start working in the garden again!

Buds are starting to form on the lilac bush. Spring is coming!

Peter Rabbit

Peter let the girls get really close to him.

Hopefully next week we'll be ready to take our nature walk on the road and go explore some of the beautiful areas outside of our neighborhood.

Blessings!

Happy 15th Birthday, James!!!

Today we celebrated the birth of a very special young man. 15 years ago today, James came into the world and the world has never been the same. He brought fun and adventure and laughter as well as thoughtfulness and lotsa brains. He is an amazing athlete and student and is dedicated to always improving himself. He is a super son and big brother, and we are so blessed that he is a part of this family! And even though I wasn't a part of his first few years on this earth, I'm so grateful that I have had the privilege to be a part of his life and have him call me "mom". Sure, it isn't always a bed of roses (yes, I am the "wicked step-mother" sometimes...if only he didn't always insist that he knows EVERYTHING...lol!). But I wouldn't trade him for the world. 

James, we are super proud of you and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for you as you continue to grow and mature in this crazy journey called life. Love you tons and oodles and oodles of tons!

Oh, and just a PSA for all the rest of you out there...you know what 15 means. He's gonna have his permit soon! Eeek! Stay off the sidewalks! LOL!

Can't believe he used to be small enough to sit on my lap!

Hiking buddy.

Happy, happy, happy 15th Birthday, James!!!

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

Outdoor Hour: Let it Snow!

We woke up to a lovely surprise this morning! It was snowing! Apparently I don't pay too much attention to the weather forecast because I had no clue it was supposed to snow. Ellie came prancing into my bedroom this morning with a big grin on her face and informed me that it was snowing. A lot. Sure enough, when I looked out the window, the snowflakes were furiously coming down and piling up quickly. There was about an inch when we got up and in just a few hours we had close to 4 inches.

Since we had other things going on this afternoon, we didn't take our usual Wednesday nature walk. We just donned our snow gear this morning after finishing our school work and headed out to play.

We shoveled the driveway, tried catching snowflakes on our tongues, made snowballs and snow angels, tracked Peter Rabbit in the snow, and just generally had a splendid time enjoying the snow. Well, I shoveled the driveway and the girls did all that other stuff. But it was still splendid. And the girls DID help shovel a little bit. They are little people with little shovels, so I guess I'll give them a break. The snow is much more fun to play in than to shovel out of the way.

Ellie catching snowflakes on paper so we could see them better.

Peter Rabbit has been hanging out in the garden, nestled in next to the trellis where we had some straw leftover. He sat out there most of the morning while it snowed on him. When we went outside, he was gone, so we followed his tracks to see where he went. We found him hiding under a piece of plywood and some hoses. He finally decided to find a covered shelter AFTER it stopped snowing. Silly rabbit!

Peek-a-boo, Peter Rabbit!

Our weather vane got buried in the snow, but the arrow was still turning to show the wind direction!

This morning dove sat on the the fence all morning while it was snowing. It looked so pretty with the big, fluffy flakes falling all around.

It was another great nature day! Just quite different from last week's. Can't wait to see what NEXT week brings!

Blessings!

Weekly Happenings

Here's a quick update on what we did this week. We had absolutely gorgeous weather the beginning of the week so we spent LOTS of time outside. It was around 70 degrees! In January! I was ready to go start digging and planting in the garden! Had to remind myself it's not quite time for that yet.

Monday we spent the afternoon at one of our favorite parks. We played on the playground, walked on the trails and had fun exploring and playing in the "fort tree". The girls were even complaining about how "hot" it was outside! How are they going to survive when July hits??? 

It was so nice again on Tuesday we decided to have another park day and met up with some of our favorite homeschool friends and played the afternoon away. Such good times!

My monkey girl, Hannah. She LOVES climbing trees!

It wasn't quite as nice on Wednesday, but still quite fabulous for January, so we had ANOTHER park day with some other friends we hadn't gotten to play with in a long time. So thankful for all of our wonderful friends!

Friday wasn't quite as nice as the beginning of the week, but we spent another afternoon at...you guessed it...a park. We had our little neighbor friend with us and took her to the park in our neighborhood. We had the place all to ourselves except for a very pretty calico kitty.

This has been a fabulous week for playing outside!

In the times we weren't outside at a park, we worked on the usual...school work, laundry, cleaning, cooking, reading and more. I even taught myself how to crochet little hearts. YouTube is great for that kind of stuff! Now to see if I can figure out how to crochet other things. 

Ellie woke up Saturday with a fever so we just relaxed and watched movies and drank bone broth and snuggled. I also introduced the girls to the old Zorro TV show, which they now love. Even though my baby was sick, we had a great day being together and relaxing. Sometimes you just need a day like that. And I'm happy to report that she went to bed last night without a fever and woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning.

Now the girls are snuggled in bed and I'm finishing up a few things so I can watch Downton Abbey this evening. Hopefully those Seahawks and Patriots finish their game in time. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Blessings!