Strawberry picking

We went strawberry picking earlier this week. I think we were too hasty as many of the berries were nowhere near ripe. We still managed to fill a basket though and most of them have already been eaten.







We do have a few strawberry plants in the garden but not many. What we do have seem to be producing masses of leaves and not many fruit too. Considering the price of strawberries I think we should make efforts to grow our own next year. I've heard that they grow well in guttering and that would save space on my patch. Just pondering where to attach the guttering too though. Thankfully I've a few months to figure that one out.

Sports Day

We had a Sports Day at one of our local home ed groups today. It was brilliant. The place where we generally hire the hall agreed to us using a large area of their grassland for the event and even mowed it for us specially. The rain stayed away until we were making our way back to the hall and thanks to the hard work of some parents, (not me I hasten to add), all went like clockwork.

It was a real traditional sort of affair with egg and spoon races, sack races, wheel barrow races, three legged race and water events. Hermione and Miles had an excellent time and judging by the looks on the faces of the other children they did too.







I have sometimes feared that by choosing to home educate my children would miss out on what I feel to be some of the more enjoyable aspects of school life - such as sports days. That concern was blown away today and whats more the event was managed in a way that there was no big thing made of winners or loosers - it was all about having fun and taking part. Excellent!

Magic

The postie arrived with my Amazon order today, Raw Magic by Kate Wood. It is a beautiful book full of wonderful colour photographs. All of my other raw books look very drab in comparison. There are some really exciting recipes and lots of nutritional info too. I suppose the only downside from my point of view is that virtually every recipe contains a high percentage of super foods, making them quite expensive. I suspect I will adapt some of the recipes to make them more affordable for day to day consumption. Lots in there to inspire me, from cakes, dips, breads and more!









Something else happened today which felt almost magical. We were driving along in the car and Hermione started to ask what is A add F, what is B add two times H and so on. When I didn't know the answers she told me and I quickly realised she had assigned a value to every letter depending upon it's place in the alphabet. She's very excited about her new mathematical approach - I think she believes she's invented it! I love it when things happen like this. Had I said to her, 'now let me tell you all about the basics of algebra' there would most likely have been moans and groans.

On the not so magic front Miles has been unwell today. Not terribly unwell in himself but he's had a very high temperature. Along with my Amazon delivery came my delivery from Thompson and Morgan and I hoped to get some seeds planted. That wasn't possible with Miles being as he was and will have to wait till another day. I'm really happy with my seed delivery too. I've bought some carrot and parsnip seeds which grow rounded vegetables for use in clay soils - where the vegetable can't develop because it can't get through the hard earth. I also bought a promotional pack of seeds for £1 and when they arrived they included a packet each of melon, cabbage, parsley, strawberries and rocket - not bad at all!

The Nettle and the Butterfly

We read this book today.



I think the text was possibly too detailed for Miles and insufficiently detailed for Hermione, however, we all enjoyed the fantastic colourful illustrations.

We now have two beautiful caterpillar hotels here in which we hope to watch the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly - just as soon as we find a caterpillar looking for four star treatment with a guaranteed supply of nettles.

Best made plans

I don't usually make plans but I did for this weekend - and nothing turned out to plan at all! It started out that we were going to spend part of the weekend camping and celebrate the Solstice with friends at an outdoor event. However once we factored in Craig's work commitments and the strong wind warning issued by the Met Office we ended up in a caravan on a cliff top (still not the best place to be in high winds but certainly better than a tent), swimming in the indoor pool and making the best of what was round and about between torrential downpours.

I'm not sure why it is but I always feel that caravans are even more claustrophobic than tents. I think one factor is that they don't lend themselves well to the needs of co-sleeping families and the living area ends up resembling some sort of nest - which some people can't resist bouncing about on!



Some things that made me smile this weekend.

Welly boot washing line.



A den.



A den with a very impressive roof I should say.



His and hers scarecrows.



A willow dome that someone should rightfully be most proud of...



...complete with seat.



Clay oven.



The sound of wind and torrential rain outside when I was cosy in the caravan also made me smile but there are no photos of that - thankfully.

We read Ellen Jacksons Summer Solstice book.

As a wholly unrelated aside, do you know that you can now get purple sweet potatoes? I didn't until we visited frineds for dinner on Friday evening and they were on the menu. They are delicious, really chestnutty. Even Craig the usually reluctant sweet potatoe muncher enjoyed them. I recommend them!

I will not succumb

Repeat, I will not succumb....

Ok, so after much humming and hahing I have decided that Miles is not too old to still be slung (in the nicest possible sense). I have parted with my stash of slings much too early. So, this morning I went to meet with a lady who sells Eden Mei Tais so that I could indulge Miles and myself in more cosy carries. I think he's too big for anything other than a back carry now and it will take a little while for us to a new carrying style, but we'll get there.

One of the good thing about traditional baby wearing slings is that the resale value is good. Although the initial investment can be high you know you will recoup most of it.

Anyway, when we met up with the lady her little children were riding these fabulous bikes with no pedals. They were excellent. You could just see them exuding confidence as they whizzed along on what at a glance looked like a big kids bike. Cycling at a much earlier age than would be possible with a traditional bike.



They are called LikeABike and unfortunately they are quite pricey. I'm hoping I won't succumb but I suspect I might. Probably best not to even mention that thought to Craig till we pay the bill for damage to the car I pranged this morning *sigh*. Thankfully no one was hurt but someone is now driving a car with a crumpled door and I have a dented boot.

Fusion

Take three plastic carrier bags, an iron, a scrap of material and some thread. Put them all together and complete with original handle from bag. Voila!







It's very touchy feely. The reformed plastic tiles are quite strong but flexible. I guess you could use this technique for making all kinds of things - plastic bags which are durable, place mats for cats - there are endless possibilities. I like it!