Spring Fever

I have a serious case of spring fever. I'm not sure if it's just my norm for this time of year or if it's Mother Nature's flip-flopping. All I seem to be able to think about is gardening, spending the majority of the day outside, hikes, setting up my hammock, camping...etc. I know I'm not the only one. Who's with me? I'm just not made for this nasty cold winter weather. Winter is my least favorite season but at least it's followed by my favorite!

For now I...

Plan:

I have several plans/ideas running through my head. For the garden: first thing is I need to move my Passion Flower Vine. It took off last year. Which is great except it took over the butterfly garden, killing other plants in the process. I need to give it its own place and something to grow on. Moving it out of the main butterfly garden will allow me to expand the butterfly garden this year. I collected a lot of Milkweed seeds last year. I want to have more Milkweed outside but also have some Milkweed that is only in the caterpillar nursery. I also want to do the same for the Black Swallowtails. I want to add Parsley to where the Fennel is and have some for the caterpillar nursery.

This spring I want to give the ducks a better pool/pond. Ideally, I want a self-sufficient mini pond. I don't want to have to constantly dump and refill it....especially if I want a bigger one. ...that's a lot of water we will be wasting! So I am researching and brainstorming. I'm thinking about adding plants and animals (snails, fish) to the pond to keep it cleaner. I have the idea of finding an old tub someone is trying to get rid of and converting it into the duck pond. I think it would look neat and it already has a drain if I need to drain it. But that's only one idea. I'm not exactly sure how it's going to turn out. I'd love to hear some tips and ideas!!

** I had to come back and add this little bit. I was looking over the post, about to hit "publish" and remembered something else I need to be planning. ...A bigger, better caterpillar nursery!! Last year I raised and released 46 butterflies. I hope to raise and release more this year!!

Prep:

As I said above, I collected a lot of Milkweed seeds this year. They are currently in the fridge going through a cold moist stratification. I will be able to plant these seeds about mid-February. I think will plant the Parsley at the same time.

"Cold stratification is very important for the germination and growth of Milkweed. It helps to break the seeds natural dormancy cycle by exposing the seed to winter-like temperatures that help soften or crack its hard outer casing. Without prolonged exposure to cold temperatures, your milkweed seed is unlikely to sprout." - American Meadows

Enjoy some houseplants:

I bought a couple of houseplants when I was at Walmart yesterday. I also used some Christmas money to order a bonsai tree. It should be here this week! I can't wait to try my hand at taking care of a bonsai tree!!

And look back:

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this past spring/summer:

I just love bumble bees!!

One of the 17 Monarchs I raised and released in 2017...It's a girl!

One of the 29 Black Swallowtails I raised and released in 2017...It's also a girl!!

Female vs male Monarchs...notice the black dots on the male's bottom wings

A Black Swallowtail laying an egg on Fennel

Please comment below! I'd love to hear from you! 

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March 18th - April 14th in Pictures

Wow, I'm behind! This should be a month worth of pictures but I forgot to take pictures about 10 of those days. Oops!! Some of the days will just be teaser pictures b/c I took a lot of pictures that day. Be on the look out for posts about Maddy's 4th birthday, Sean starting soccer and our eggs hatching. Hopefully it won't take me long to finish those posts.

Now, on with the show!

March 18th

Someone found a lost marker...

March 19th

First time doing a word search

March 21st

Homeschooling/homework/drawing

March 24th

We live near train tracks but it's very rare for a steam engine to go by so we went to watch.

March 26th

Sleepy baby

March 27th

Sean's first time at soccer!

March 30th

First butterfly sighting of the year!!

April 1st

First over wintered butterfly to be released.

Lunch on the porch on a beautiful day!

April 4th

More soccer

April 6th

Birthday party teaser

April 7th

It's not child labor when they want to do it, right?

April 8th

Loving the beautiful weather we're having!

April 9th

A surprise litter. Cottontail turned out to be Mopsy's brother, not sister. She had 9 kits. None made it. We'll try again soon...except Peter will be the daddy.

April 10th

It's too nice out to do school inside.

April 11th

Day 20: first pip (there will be more in a later post)

April 12th

Day 21: another pip (there will be more in a later post)

April 13th

Up to 5 chicks!

April 14th

Our last chick to hatch. It had a splayed leg. This picture is after a day of having it braced to the other leg. It still needs to be braced but the fact that it's standing on it's own is a big improvement.

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First Day of School 2012 (And a Peek into Our Setup)

Today was the kids' first day of school. I'm not sure who was more excited; the kids or I. I feel much more prepared this year than I did last year. The day started with a small photo shoot:

Today went very well. I noted a couple of things to change around, like doing more planning for Maddy's lessons. Playing it mostly by ear worked really well with Sean but now that I'm teaching 2 kids at once, I think I need to change that. Mostly, I just need some activities set aside for her for when she gets done with her activity and is looking for more and I'm helping Sean with something. Today we had calender time, literature (Aesop's Fables - both), writing (journals - both), reading (word families - Sean), math (coins - Sean, number match 1-10 - Maddy), and geography (passport for our world traveling unit - Sean). Emily's sign says "no school for me" but today she did get introduced to baby sign language. She's starting to wave and trying to communicate so I figured it's the best time to start.

Pictures from today:

1 & 2: Journals ...Maddy just draws

3: Break to check out the newly emerged butterflies  4: Number match

And lastly, our set up:

Left is our calender. That and reading is done in the living room. We do most of everything else in the kitchen. The pictures at the bottom: 1: All set up for today. 2: A close up; the little cubby works great for things we need on hand. Next to it is our counting school days chart (to help Maddy with numbers). And next to that is my hand made filing chart (a lovely Pinterest find!) that holds papers for the week. 3: Our storage is a trophy case in the kitchen. The note cards on the side are a visual of the subjects we've covered during the day.  

How was everyone else's first day? 

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