Berries and Birds

The annual battle of the birds has started at our house which amounts to trying to get the berries before the birds pick them clean. We do not seem to have that much problem with the strawberries. They are near the house and there are not a lot of places to perch. The cat spends a lot of time guarding them each year. I have never really had much problem with them. The raspberries on the other hand are a whole different thing.

We have had raspberries for years. We have had very few crops. The birds seem to get to them before we do almost each year. Unfortunately none of the measures which keep our strawberries safe are available for the raspberries. Our patch is in the back of the yard. There are plenty of perching places for birds to land. There are also lots of hiding places so it is harder for our cat to chase them away from them. Today, we spent the morning cleaning out all the weeds, tying the canes up and then netting them. We will see if we have anymore luck with this method. We will keep you posted.  

Refurbishing Landscaping

My sister moved into her new house over the weekend. I have spent the weekend getting her garden in the ground and planting her annual flowers and herbs. In addition, I have already started scoping out the future relandscaping of her yard. The owners before her did a great job and so it is a matter of dividing and redoing a few things.

The first thing I recommend to people when they move into a new home is to not do a whole lot the first season. Take note of the different plants and flowers over the different seasons. If there are plants you do not know, research them and find out about them. Look for places that need improvement. Do areas need to be thinned out or are there sparse areas? Do the plants seem to be planted in the best area such as shade plants in shady areas or sun plants in sunny areas?

The next step is to make out a long range plan. What are the most important areas that need to be done first? Are the beds easy to maintain and mow around? What kind of projects do you see in each area? What of your current plants can be divided and added elsewhere? Are there family or friends who may have plants they would share with you? Write down these plans and then decide a budget for each year. Do the project that your budget allows. Always start with the highest priority. (What area of the yard is the most important to upgrade or fix?)

Upgrading or relandscaping a yard does not have to be expensive. It just takes some long range planning and use of the resources at hand. 

Busy Times

The past week has flown by here at the Webb Homestead. Last weekend, Mary's graduation and party went very well. It was fun to share it with our friends and family. Makenzie and I spent a couple of days at the beginning of the week at Cincinnati Children's Hospital for some EEG monitoring to tune up her seizure regimen. Then, we came home and caught up briefly here at the house. Since Friday, we have been working on getting my sister moved in and unpacked in her new home here locally. She has been transferred to Lexington and this will be our first time in 23 years to have family in the same city. We are so excited about having her here. We have also slipped in two graduation parties of friend's families. The next two weeks prove to be just as busy but then things should slow down for a while. Will catch you as I can until it does. Hope you are all enjoying your summers. 

Seasoned Salt Recipe

A couple of years ago I found this seasoned salt recipe substitute. It rivals the taste of Lowry's but is cheaper and probably a little healthier. I keep it mixed in one of my empty spice bottles. Use the same amount you would use of store bought seasoned salt in your recipes.

Seasoned Salt Recipe

2 Tbls salt

2 tsps sugar

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp turmeric

¼ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp cornstarch (this helps keep it from caking together)

Mix all ingredients together and store in airtight container.

Baby Chicks-1 Month Old

Last night marked another milestone for the baby chicks. They spent their first night in the dark. We let them get all cozy in the coop and then shut the heat lamp off for the first night. They cried a little bit but not too much. At 1 month old, they are fully feathered now, love perching on the bars we put in the run and are eating bits and pieces of table scraps. From the looks of the yard they are in I would say they are also learning how to scratch up the dirt to look for bugs. It has been fun watching them develop over the last month. For the next couple of months they will mostly change in their overall size. I think they will be excited about being on a full grassy area here in a couple of days. 

Home Schooling Completion

This weekend my oldest daughter graduates from home school high school. When we embarked on this journey, we were going to try home schooling for a year because our school system had all day kindergarten and our daughter, Mary, at the time was still taking a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. We floundered our way through the first year and started finding some home school friends and groups. We enrolled her in way too many extracurricular activities to make sure she developed "social skills". By the end of Kindergarten, Mary had taught herself to read. Our parents and friends still worried if she would be social enough and if she learning what she was supposed to be learning.

The next year we decided to continue home schooling Mary. We started a home school co-op where I taught elementary science on a trial basis. That year we decreased some of the extracurricular activities because we realized she was getting plenty of social time. She started reading chapter books and did well in all her subjects. Math, though seemed to be hard for her. We found that this lifestyle fit our family well. We turned our vacations into educational field trips. We discovered as most home school families do that schooling our child reached way beyond our school time. We incorporated math, science and other subjects into our everyday routines as well because we knew what they were working on each day in school .

We kept saying we would put Mary back into school during middle school. Then, Out of the Zone, classes came into our lives. When high school decision making time came, NHA found us. It is a small co-op of mothers who worked together to educate their high school children. We decided to give high school a try. We then found out about dual credit through our local community college. We found a small private college that let seniors take one free course a semester their senior year. We learned together about testing and getting into college. Then this year, the senior year arrived. Good news kept coming. Three of the six students, including Mary, received full scholarships to universities. Most of the others received some kind of merit scholarship. They all had developed deep relationships with their friends. They continued their very active home school social lives.

I tell you a brief history of our home school journey not to brag or say this is the best way to educate your child. That is up to each individual family because they know their children and family structure best. I tell you this that if you are considering home schooling, give it a try. Find a local support group or co-op. You do not need to commit for your child's whole school career. Tell yourself you will try it and see where it takes you.

Mary graduates in a local home school graduation ceremony on Saturday morning. There will be 54 participants in this years program. We will meet our daughter with pride in the center of the stage to present her with her diploma from our school. She is a well rounded young lady with a good head on her shoulder. She has many dear friends and a very active social life. During her home school high school career, she has attended basketball and soccer games, participated in musicals, gone to prom and the Christmas dance. She does not feel like she has missed anything by not being in a more "traditional" school setting like many of her friends. She will attend Morehead State University this fall on a full scholarship that covers everything. I feel home schooling her was a good decision.

Happy Mother's Day!!!