New adventures

Assalamu alaikom

I tried something new this past weekend. I canned figs. I tried three different recipes, and they are all good. My favorite is the third one I tried, otherwise known as "Batch C". I was always afraid of the process of canning as each time I read a recipe I felt like it too much of a fuss. But somehow, this past weekend, I felt like I could handle it. Perhaps it was the 200 fresh figs sitting in my fridge that needing tending to? I don't know, but I knew I couldn't eat them all! It was fun, and I"ll do it again if the fruit and time are both right. Just not for a while, probably!

I'm trying something else 'new', and that is homeschooling my children. 3 of the 4 will be in school this year, so I have done my research, ordered my materials, and now just need to figure out the scheduling. So many things lead up to this decision, and now looking back it seems more and more reasons add up for it. And, you know, I won't go into those details here because, really, it is a very personal decision to make and those reasons I might list could easily sound petty or insignificant to some. But all together, combined, and multiplied by 4 (are you doing the math now?) it made sense for my family. And I do intend for it to go on for a long time, hopefully all the way through graduation. But.. if for some reason one or all of them ended up back in public school, I would (try) to be OK with that, too. Currently, though, I feel very strongly about teaching them in the home, together, with our values, our rhythm, and our expectations of behavior and character. They are so different when they don't go to school every day. Compared to their attitudes during the school year, their summer time selves are sooo much nicer to live with. They are more relaxed, they play together, and they don't seem as cranky or stressed. So that's about all there is to that. I feel it's just another natural extension of my philosophy of parenting, and I pray it will be beneficial to me and to them.

I'm starting to check out what is good to plant in July for a fall harvest.

What's next

Assalamu alaikom
I still love my wooden garden box I got earlier this year. The crops I planted in it this spring didn't turn out well, but I think I can improve the situation for next time. For starters, I can block the air ducts where some parent birds set up house. I think they did the most damage to the new little seedlings. Secondly, I can make sure they get tons of water as I suspect I might not have given them enough at first. Third, I don't have a third. I'll just try, try again! I think July is actually a good time to put in seeds for fall crop, so I will get to researching that insha'Allah.

I also still love my wooden composting box I got earlier this year (or was it end of last year?) I filled it and it sure stank, but it finally turned into good ol' black gold. The only thing holding me back from starting it anew is that I'm afraid I don't have enough materials besides kitchen scrap, and that will cause more stink and more fruitflies. I noticed my neighbor has a lot of cut grass heaping up in piles in his yard! His grass got really long, and it looks like he had a hard time cutting it b/c he only cut some of it. And what he did cut is sitting there in piles. If I could guarantee that kind of stuff regularly I wouldn't hesitate, but I don't have that kind of grass.

Soooo.... I do have on big fat confession. Coming back from our (almost) 4 weeks in Jordan, I found it hard to cope being the sole grown-up with 4 young children. During the trip I had my mom and my husband with me at all times, and at my inlaws house I had my MIL and their maid around as well. So when I found myself alone with the kids the following Monday morning after getting back I felt like there surely was no way I could go back to doing it solo. What's the confession you ask... I buckled and let my husband buy paper towels again to make clean-ups a little easier. *gasp* I know, it's shocking. LOL I said 'yes' and then 'no', and then I said 'fine just get them'. He said to me: "You're really struggling with this aren't you". Yes!!! It's the principle of it!!!! So now I *sparingly* use the paper towels, and I hope it's something I won't buy more of in the future.

Till next time....
Z

Oh where did my garden go?

Assalamu alaikom dear readers,

I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. At times I think about many topics I'd like to blog about and share. Other times I wonder why on earth I ever created this thing. That's why you don't find me updating it very often. Sometimes I feel too busy with Life, and other times I am eager to share the busy-ness of Life. So.... this afternoon I'm excited to update about my compost situation. I started it a few months ago as many of you know. We went through some tough times. Odors, fruitflies, odors, and stagnation. No progress seemed to be in the future. I finally stopped adding to the pile and prayed that it would just rot on its own. A couple of months later I was overjoyed to peek inside and find a whole bunch of dirt! I stirred it some more and decided to let it sit a few more weeks just be sure everything got all rotted out just the same. Last night I emptied the contents over most of my garden area, and I finished spreading it over the front garden this morning. The bin was hardly half way full after all was said and done, and it yielded about a whole 20gallon garbage can. I will probably try for another pile later, but I want to be sure I have more than just kitchen scraps to put in there.

We have a gorgeous sunflower growing by the front door thanks to Maryam's preK class. They put sunflower seeds in a little soil back in March. The kids brought the little plastic cups with the seedlings in them home in May. I put Maryam's in the front garden and watched it grow. We were out of town for a month and were shocked to see the growth it had made in that time! I will hopefully post a picture.

The vegetables didn't turn out so well. Most were eaten by birds as seedlings. The ones that made it were probably not watered enough and were in too much sun. I will try again for some fall crops insha'Allah.

Alright, well, it's taken me about 3 hours to type up this short entry, so I will wrap it up now. hopefully I'll get pictures up soon. Thanks for reading!