So, I am taking up a new hobby, exercise, fun time. What ever you want to call it. I got a bike. In fact it was gifted to me by a lovely friend who used it for 3 years as her only transportation. I am blessed not to have to do that, but I do plan to use it to get around town to places like the farmers market, the library, the bookstore and others. I am so excited to get going on this. I only need a helmet and a basket now. I want to be able to carry anything I 'd  like. And eventually I will get a cargo bike for even more possibilities. Stay tuned.. Peace~Yarrow

New Bohemian Home!

We finally found the perfect home for us. It is just right, on a beautiful piece of fenced property in the school district that we wanted to keep Sophie in. It has space, space for all four of us, and for the four pets, as well as the puppy that Sophie is requesting for her 10th birthday next year. I am so thrilled with it. I was at work today thinking about how the light shines through the many windows in the living/dining room and catches the sparkles in the sun catchers and crystals that hang there. I was wondering what my hubby was doing in our lovely new home. I have so many bohemian plans for the space, and especially the garden/yard. More on that to come. Peace.

Countdown to School

Sophie has only three weeks left of summer vacation,(she attends on a year-round schedule) so naturally I am already thinking about her Laptop Lunches. While we had a blast using her lunch box system last year, I want to spice it up a little this year by getting her a couple of new items for it. The first being a few extra containers in bright colors. She loves rainbows so I think she'd like containers in different colors in her lunchbox. Then I'd eventually like to get her a Klean Kanteen, they are quite expensive though, so it will have to wait.

Last year I added a thermos container for hot foods, it went over very well and I am sure we will use it even more as her tastes mature and she tries more foods. I am getting excited about her first grade Laptop Lunches this year. Looking forward to continuing her on the road of good nutrition.

What did you do for Earth Day?

So what did you do? Here is a little sample of what we did. We went with the kids to the civic center park, the one that hosts the Earth Day event each year. We cleaned up the stream. It wasn't too bad where we were, but we did get two trash bags full. And there was a strange large copper wire thing lying in the stream. Sophie and David and Jonathan enjoyed catching and releasing minnows, crayfish, and salamanders. Joshua spent a lot of time in the trees and I enjoyed cleaning up and resting under the beautiful old oak we were picnicking by. Sophie also had a good time at the playground with her dad. Back at home we got the gardens ready for planting and found that our compost bin was very busy over the winter and we have about 8-10 gallons of beautiful, black, sweet smelling compost to add to our gardens. Woo hoo! Gotta love those worms too, there were many HUGE ones in the compost. Lovely. More on the gardens coming up. I hope you all had a wonderful Earth Day and that you did something special for the original mother~Mother Earth. Blessings.

Garden Update

We have corn seedlings!! They're about 3-4 inches high, looking very healthy. This photo is right before thinning and weeding. We planted three rows of them, so hopefully they will pollinate, they are open pollinated Hickory Cane corn. Just like my dad always grew. I am so excited, I can't wait to have corn fresh from the stalk.

Sophie's precious pea plants are growing vigorously up the trellis and have beautiful white blooms on them now. How exciting!

We also have Summer Squash, Broccoli, Spinach and potatoes, both white and red coming up. We are off to a good start. The bottle gourds are also up. We still need to plant a few more things, but its still early here. We have at least another week or two to get it all in the ground.

Here is the lovely shrub in our front yard. Blooming it's heart out.

Earth Day Festival & an Organic Farm

Look at this face. :) At the Earth Day Festival in our city last Saturday, Sophie had such a good time. Te petting zoo was there and she was in heaven. Newborn baby goats to hold and cuddle everywhere!

The Purple Paper Eater, Waste Connections, and the Tennessee Volunteers waste and recycling trucks.

The city fountain made a great impromptu wading pool for some of the children that were at Earth Day.

Of course, our gang prefers the real thing. The creek that runs through the park was a huge hit with kids and adults alike. They found crawdads (cray fish), minnows and unfortunately, some trash too, which they very happily cleaned up and tossed in the recycling or trash containers that provided around the park.

Down by the playground, a man was blowing huge bubbles for the children. They enjoyed them very much. Very impressive too!

As for learning about eco living, environmentalism and saving the planet, there was a lot of that too. Our city's 2ND Earth Day event beat out the Knoxville Earthfest that is in its 10th year. There was so much more for families and children to do and see. Not so much commercialism and more fun.

Plus, I found out that we have an organic teaching farm right next door in Rockwood! It's called Broadened Horizons Organic Farm!

I met the owner, Leaf Myczack at the festival and spoke to him about his farm. They grow and sell fresh brown free range eggs, honey, figs and in season vegetables. They also teach sustainability and rainwater harvesting and organic gardening. I bought these gorgeous heirloom organic bean seeds. I cannot wait to get them planted. They are:

Christmas Limas, Black & White Lima, Jacob Cattle, and Hutterite Soup Beans. These will add an interesting addition to our gardens. We are planning a visit to the farm soon!

Do check them out and support local farmers. They are our future.

Earthfest 2009

Wow, its been over a week since I posted. Time flies when we are so busy, we have also ha continuing problems with our wireless internet. Ugh! We've been so busy with the garden and spring, oh so nice.

On Saturday we went to the 10th annual Earthfest in Knoxville. It was pretty nice, though it didn't have a lot to actually "do", it was very informational and a bit too much commercialism for my taste, but I guess it has to be paid for somehow. lol







Here is one of several awesome painted rain barrels that were up for auction.















It was held again at the beautiful campus of Pellissippi State College.















Emily snapped this of me having a rest by the water.















May people came out, it was very festive and there was continuous live music.















Sophie and David creating at the Montessori school's tent.



















My own credit union had this cool guy set up.















A glassblower/farmer from North Carolina, had some gorgeous glass balls.















David and Sophie digging for worms in the compost!




These little guys were folowing their mama and papa around on the pond. A sure sign that spring is here!



This coming Saturday is the Oak Ridge Earth Day event and I am really looking forward to it. It promises to be bigger and better than last year. It is advertised as kid and pet friendly.

Garden News

Well this year we will have an even bigger planting area. We tilled up a 12x15 foot area in the front of the house. My extremely strong hubby used a mattock and made short work of the grass and weeds. We decided to do it by hand since it is such a small area and using a machine like a tiller, disturbs too much of the soil's microorganisms that are so important to plant growth and health. All of the kids helped out in removing the roots and weeds after it was tilled. It was a real family affair. Sophie used her little wheel barrel to haul away the weeds to the compost bin. During this week we are working on it a little each day to get it ready for planting this weekend. I wonder what the neighbors will think about corn growing in our front yard. :)

At the market on Saturday, I scored twelve tomato seedlings, four each of three different ones. They were set in the earth on Saturday evening and look very much at home in one of the raised beds. We also have a couple of volunteer squash/pumpkin seedlings coming up with them. I am so happy to be able to do so much more this year. And so happy that spring has finally arrived.

In my garden

We finally got our rain barrels set up, just in time for April's rains. We now have two of them, with plans for two more. One on each corner of the house. Since we have a multi level house, we can actually accommodate two more, for a total of six. But I don't know if we will try for that many or not. The first one is set up by the back door near the recycle bin. David rigged it up to the gutter downspout with another piece of gutter acting as a sealed off diverter. It works wonderfully and the barrel was full to the brim after the rains last week. We just need to get a piece of screen to keep the mosquitoes out this summer.

The second one is on the front corner of the house. He used a recycled hose to connect it to the gutter, via a hole drilled into it. This is a permanent fix, so don't do this if you are renting or don't plan to keep your rain barrel up for good. We are waiting for the rains today to see how well this works because it is a smaller opening than the other one.

These barrels are blue, but I would love to paint them up something like some of these I found around the web.

Love the sunflowers and the frog! What a wonderful way to save water this is. We saved alot last year and this year we will have so much more. Once they are all four set up we will have water within a short distance of every garden area we have. Yeah!

In other news.....our peas are up and growing well. Sophie is very excited and cannot wait to be able to eat sweet peas fresh from the garden where she grew them herself.

First Harvest~Lammas

Here are our first harvests from our very own garden, no less! The first sunflower blooming on Lammas! What a blessing! I love sunflowers!
Next is Sweet Basil, oh yes. Soon to be delicious pesto.This is the first summer I have not had to buy my basil from the Farmer's Market to make pesto. Also tonight we have Fried Green Tomatoes! Ah, I have never made them before, but have always wanted to try them. Sophie got a little carried away picking them, so we have plenty. Yum! Happy harvesting! And a blessed Lammas/Lughnassad to all.