7:15 pm

So it's 7:15 p.m. and in my bed, there's this:

In the livingroom, there's this:

I think 1st grade must be tough! ;)
 

Ode to Tomatoes

I have a whole container FULL of tomatoes, and they're really starting to ripen up nicely!

Found this amazing poem by Pablo Neruda that I put on the refrigerator as we're trying to work our way through our yummy harvest.

The street
filled with tomatoes,
midday,
summer,
light is
halved
like
a
tomato,
its juice
runs
through the streets.
In December,
unabated,
the tomato
invades
the kitchen,
it enters at lunchtime,
takes
its ease
on countertops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.
Unfortunately, we must
murder it:
the knife
sinks
into living flesh,
red
viscera,
a cool
sun,
profound,
inexhaustible,
populates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
we
pour
oil,
essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,
pepper
adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;
it is the wedding
of the day,
parsley
hoists
its flag,
potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks
at the door,
it’s time!
come on!
and, on
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth,
recurrent
and fertile
star,
displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness.

First Day of School 2008

Here they are, waiting for the bus to come take them to first grade: 

Yes, I'm the anal retentive mother who actually made name tags for each kid with their school name, bus numbers, teachers' names and room numbers. Hey, at least I didn't actually GO to the school on the first day this time! 

The bus, thankfully, drops off and picks up right in front of the house. Yay! Makes life so much easier. They've got a short bus ride there and a loooooong bus ride home, so we'll see how they do. No incidents yesterday, and both of them came home with lots of stories about the playground and new friends.

Zoe said: "We're not doing math and hard stuff - we're doing fun stuff!"  Ha. One the first day? Of course! :)

Dmitri said, "My teacher is very pretty and very nice!" Whew. Last year, his teacher was "very pretty and very mean." LOL

Now we'll just have to see how things go when they start doing the "hard stuff" and the teachers don't seem quite so nice anymore...

Shrinking?

So Dmitri is getting a "jammie shirt" on... one of those really big kids shirts he inherited that we use as pajamas, along with a pull-up. He notices it doesn't even come to his knees anymore.

"Mom, how do shirts get smaller?"

"...um... they don't. You get bigger."

"Oh!"

Early Harvest

If we'd stayed another month, we would have had a full harvest... Oh well. At least I know I can grow a garden!

Look at those tomatoes! Only half of them ripened by the time we had to harvest... anyone know how to make fried green ones? lol

 

Little baby cabbage - not even enough to make saurkraut! 

  

Yummy broccoli!

  

And cherry tomatoes! 

  

And pole beans...

  

And cucumbers...

The pumpkins were growing, but didn't get time enough to get big...

 

Neat to see what a pumpkin starts out as, though, isn't it?

 

Oh, well... there's always next year!

Moving!

I've been holding my breath, waiting...but it's official now. We're moving! 

More square footage, more bedrooms, closer to M's work, less land, 2 acres instead of 6, but I'm discovering that more land just equals more grass to mow! 

We can still have our garden and our chickens and our bees, though. And the best news - cable Internet!  WOOT!

The Rabbit Died (I Wish!)

I've never liked the story of Peter Rabbit. We're supposed to be all sad and sorry for poor Peter, who was just looking for something to eat in Mr. McGregor's garden. And, of course, we know that the evil Mr. McGregor has previously shot and killed (and presumably eaten in a stew) Peter's father for getting into the garden.

But I've always leaned toward Mr. McGregor's side, and now I know why.

The rabbits ate my melons! (My organically grown very expensive melons, I might add!!)

BEFORE:



AFTER: (I planted some winter squash and pumpkins in their place - they're just sprouting)



Talk about evil! They did that in ONE night, and the next night, they ate all my beet tops! (Not to mention eating right through the twine I use to section off my squares!)

BEFORE (front row, closest to you):



LOOK how pretty they were!:



And now, AFTER Bugs n Company had their fill:



This is another box they've gotten into, chewed through the twine... although I don't know what they're eating, because I just planted these, spinach and lettuce... I think they just did it to say, "Hey, where's our food, lady?!"



I found a recipe for "rabbit tea" (which isn't made of rabbits, although the way I feel about fluffy bunnies right now, I'd be happy to drink them through a straw!) that's supposed to keep them from eating anymore. 2 TBSP cayenne pepper and 2 TBSP garlic powder, put into a coffee filter and secured, with 32 ounces of hot water, left overnight. Then you add a TBSP of dishsoap (to make it stick to the leaves of plants) and spray.

It didn't work. They'd eaten about half the beet tops when I sprayed it. The next day, they were all gone. Guess it just served to spice up their dinner! GRRR

Michael says he's getting a gun. I'm thinking...Good! :P

The pole beans are wrapping nicely around our wire though, kind of neat!



And the pumpkins I planted are growing gangbusters (I'm going to grow them over the side and see if it works!)



And my spinach is bolting in the heat (I need shade cloth!) but the bunnies don't seem to mind the bitter taste!



Well, at least the sunflowers are growing nicely.



Almost ready to flower!



And our tiger lilies (is that what these are?)



Are simply gorgeous.



Breathtaking!



Now I just have to figure out what's putting all the holes in my cabbages!