Worms and Ladybugs

Nick often benefits from many of the lessons I'm preparing for my elementary school students. I think this year my tax write-offs for things I bought for students will be especially peculiar. For two weeks I had 1,500 ladybugs and nearly 100 worms in my refrigerator. I sometimes think I have the weirdest (and the coolest) job in the world.

Right now, I'm teaching a summer school program with an ecological focus, and my students and I even put in a school garden. It's been hard work and a lot of research. Nick loves previewing the video clips and shopping for supplies with me. Oh, and playing with the ladybugs. That, too.

Since I'm creating the lessons and projects from scratch, I try to teach Nick some of what I'm working on with my K-5 students. My philosophy of teaching relies on realia, which just means using real stuff to teach whenever possible. This works just as well for teaching Nick. Last week I let him release a bucket of worms and several hundred ladybugs into our vegetable garden. It was really cool to see how excited he got at those little critters.

The ladybugs were indeed a bit freaky when they crawled around en masse, but Nick loved touching them and learning about their bodies.

I even taught him the insect song we sing at school.

"Head and thorax, abdomen, abdomen,
Head and thorax, abdomen, abdomen,
six legs, two antennae, compound eyes,
don't forget the ones with wings, ones with wings!

We were really surprised to find many ladybugs still hanging out on the plants this weekend, especially on my tomato plants. I had thought many of them would fly away, but my tomatoes must have had lots of aphids.

This week, I'm going to be bringing home some of the books I read with my students about gardens and wildlife.

Poor Henry. He'll have to wait until he's a little older to join us on our science adventures. I'm too afraid he'd have eaten the worms and ladybugs. Actually, I'm pretty sure Henry would have done just that.

I Must Have Been Slacking

Last year, apparently I was slacking at the end of the season with my gardening. Greg had the boys outside the other day and Nick decided to check out the garden. While Greg was doing something else, Nick climbed into the garden. He climbed out eating one of these:

Greg said he plucked it right out of the dirt. Nick knew what it was right away, because he'd planted them last year and helped me pick them in the fall. I guess he ate several of them.

I started out last year with spectacular plans for a great garden. Nick helped me plant it. Then, you see, I had a baby. I sort of slacked off with the gardening for the rest of the season. I guess I forgot some carrots.

I am rather new to gardening, and I was not aware that carrots can survive under the ground all winter. I have a raised bed garden, so maybe that kept the soil warm. And it was a warm winter. . .

Picking Strawberries and Making Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins

My strawberry crop is in a little later this year, but we're still getting a pretty good amount. There's nothing like fresh picked strawberries from your own backyard. They are smaller than the ones from the grocery store, but they are sweeter, too, and far more delicious, in my opinion.

I think I got even more strawberries this year than last, but Nick was a little more helpful this year. Although he did eat more strawberries than he put into the bowl!

We've been picking strawberries every two days or so since I've been out of the hospital, and the crop isn't showing signs of slowing down quite yet. Check out Nick's strawberry hands.

Today, after we picked a few cups of fresh strawberries, Nick and I decided to make some muffins. I recently found a recipe I wanted to tweak, and I haven't gotten to do much baking lately. So I put Henry in the sling, and we all proceeded to make quite the mess of our kitchen.

I started with this recipe, but made lots of changes.

Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins

-1 c. old fashioned oats
-1 c. sour cream
-2 T. ground flaxseed
-2 eggs
-1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
-3/4 c. of brown sugar
-1 c. white whole wheat flour
-1T vital wheat gluten
-1 t. cinnamon (I use Penzey’s Vietnamese Extra Fancy)
-1 ¼ c. fresh strawberries, sliced very small
-3/4 t. baking soda
-1/2 t. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a muffin tin generously with non-stick spray.

Mix everything through the brown sugar, then add the dry ingredients. DO NOT over mix. Stir in the strawberries last, then pour batter into each muffin cup (about 2/3 full). I sprinkled some oats on top for decoration. Bake 18-20 minutes, then let cool slightly before taking out of the muffin tin.

Here's what the final product looked like.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nick ate two of them, and begged for more.
 
 

Gardening Update

We finally got the garden ready for spring on Sunday. Despite the threat of rain, we went to Lowe's and filled the cart with soil, compost, mulch, a new rake, and some anti-rabbit fencing. I'm determined to defeat the bunnies this year.

It didn't end up raining until after dark, and Sunday turned out to be lovely--it even got into the 70s. We added the good stuff into the soil and mixed it all up, and Greg put up the bunny fence. Do you think it will work? (Oh, how I hope so!) I'm so proud of how we all worked together to get the garden ready. Greg was really helpful, now that I'm getting bigger and can't lift anything.

I planted spinach, early peas, and tons of carrots so far. I also planted a bunch more seeds to go under the lights inside. I'm hoping we'll be able to eat some spinach this year, unless we have kamikaze bunnies who try to jump the fence. Last year they ate every single morsel of spinach.

Oh, and remember when I had to rake leaves with a snow shovel, because we didn't have a rake? Not only did Greg buy a new rake, we also found a little man rake for Nick. He loves it, though he hasn't mastered the art of actually raking quite yet. But he's trying.  :)

Raking Leaves in March (With a Snow Shovel)

Since spring is officially here, of course snow is expected later this week. That's what happens in this part of Illinois. We get teased with lovely weather for a few days, and then get slapped in the face with the remnants of winter. During one of our last "teaser" days of nice weather, Nick and I decided to go out and see what'd happened with the garden. Grandma Toni joined us, too.

Before you say anything, yes, I am indeed aware that my garden was covered with leaves and dead plants. I know that gardeners are supposed to do some work in the fall to clean up. My excuse? Last fall I was in the first trimester of this pregnancy, and I was more than a little nervous about overexerting myself. So we did nothing. We didn't even rake the leaves.

So that's why we were outside on a sunny day in March, raking leaves and turning over the soil. Nick was actually pretty good at helping with this. He loves digging in the dirt, and preparing the soil, at this point, involves nothing more than a bit of digging.

Nick even helped us gather the leaves and put them into the yard waste bags. Would you believe we filled two entire bags just with leaves and old plants from our small raised bed garden? Really.

Oh, and the snow shovel? I couldn't find the rake--later Greg told me he'd thrown it out because it was in bad shape. At first we tried picking up the leaves with our hands, but that was frustrating and not very successful. So I pulled out the snow shovel, and that did the trick fairly well. I also used my funky twisty tool (that green thing with the handle) to turn over the soil. I'll probably supplement the soil a bit with some compost, but it still looks decent. I like raised beds because the soil doesn't get packed down as much.

We already planted some seeds, and they're growing well indoors. Now the garden is mostly ready for planting. I'm thinking the spinach will go in first, sometime soon. This year we're going to put in some chicken wire, because the bunnies around here are ravenous, and they've eaten quite a bit of my produce in the last few years.

I am totally ready for spring to arrive, this time for good! If we get both nice weather and time this weekend, we'll be doing some planting. I ordered a whole bunch of new seeds from the Seed Saver's Exchange, and I can't wait to see how they'll do.

Please don't eat the seeds!

Last week, on one of those random warm days, Nick and I decided that it was time to plant some of our seeds. I'm obviously not going to be as gung ho about my planting as I was last year, but I'm still hoping for some decent produce. My weeding, however, might be significantly reduced, seeing as it takes me a sold minute to get down to the ground. Let's not talk about how long it takes my pregnant body to get up.

Our first step was hydrating the soil pellets in the little greenhouse. Nick enjoyed helping with that, although he spilled as much water on the floor as he got onto the soil pellets. Kids always love when the pellets start to grow--it looks like magic to them.  I bought one of the greenhouses that had 75 little pellets. That should be enough seeds to get me started. I still had plenty of seeds left over from last year, when I ordered from the Seed Saver's Exchange.

I think Nick is just excited to be outside again. I am too, to tell you the truth. It's interesting how we don't go outside at all for four or five months out of the year, and then suddenly it's nice enough to sit on the porch. We did notice something fishy on our front porch, though. . .

Yup, that "Welcome" pole with fall decorations and the scarecrow has been there since September. My mother-in-law got that for us a few years back, and this year we forgot to bring it in. At one point it was covered in snow. I guess it's time to bring it in, since it is now officially SPRING.

Here are the seeds tonight, about a week later. They've pretty much all sprouted and are doing well under the lights. I just bought another ten kinds of seeds from the Seed Saver's Exchange, so we'll see if I'm too late to plant those as well, once they arrive in the mail.

Oh, what did I plant? Is that the question? Sigh. Nick kept trying to eat the seeds. He called the bigger ones "beans" and it was all I could do to keep them away from him. I wasn't paying attention while I was planting, so I couldn't tell you what is what.

I'm never very good at remembering what I planted where. I remember I had the same problem last year. I know that I did 2 rows of tomatoes and peppers and at least 1 row of everything else, including lots of herbs. I think I planted broccoli, too. Nick was distracting me as I was planting, and I lost the paper where I had written down which seeds are which. Oh well. I'll figure it out eventually. I'm just proud of myself for remembering to plant the seeds!

A Trip to Iowa: Part Five

It's Alive! It's Huge!

For the last part of my Iowa trip, I got the grand tour of my friend Gardenmom's gigantic garden. Nick and I were both awed by the size of this garden. I cannot imagine the amount of produce she got from a garden this size. Wow. All the plants look so healthy, too--even in October. I didn't even realize that this much stuff would be alive this late in the season. Greg demolished all of our growing things about two weeks ago--said the season was over and we might as well accept it.

In fact, I think poor Nick was worried that it was going to swallow him right up. I do believe that this garden is at least twenty times the size of mine. The height of these plants makes Nick look downright tiny.

I think seeing this garden inspired me to make mine much bigger next year. I'll have all winter to work on my husband.  ;)  It would just be less grass for him to mow. Although I don't think I'd want one this big. Nick acted like he was in wonderland. He had this look on his face, as if he were saying, "Very strange place."



After our garden tour, I cleaned out my car, and Nick helped. You would be surprised at the mess one mommy and one toddler can make during a very long car trip. (Or if you know me, maybe you wouldn't be surprised.)

It was a really long drive, but the visit was definitely worth it. I want to make a trip out there again next year sometime, maybe when I can see more things in bloom. Nick loved playing with all the other kids best--he got mad when they had to leave. He was so happy and entertained all weekend. We really did have a great time.   : )

Carrots From The Garden and The Best "Mummins" Ever

Okay, as promised, here is my extra-long post about the best muffins (or "mummins," in Nick-speak) ever. Even if you're not into recipes, please scroll down to the bottom, where I've included a little video clip of Nick chatting with me about his tasty snack.

I finally got some carrots from my garden a few weeks ago. In fact, I got a nice sized crop for a small garden. Next year I want to plant more. Nick loved the carrots, but he especially liked the long tails they had.

My husband, however, thought that these carrots were lumpy and misshapen. He wasn't too keen on eating them raw. I guess they did look a little silly. You see, where they grow the carrots in California, the soil is sandy and the carrots turn out perfectly shaped. Here in Illinois, our soil is thicker and thus the carrots are lumpier. See what I mean?

Well, crooked or not, we were eating those carrots! So I found a recipe for carrot cream cheese muffins, and I decided to alter it significantly to make it at least a little healthier. I'm sure the original recipe would be delicious, but I wanted muffins with enough fiber to have for breakfast. I'm also pretty sensitive to sugar, so I tried to reduce it without eliminating it entirely. I do some baking with Splenda, but I always leave some sugar in it or the recipe won't brown correctly. I think these muffins are a good balance of nice and naughty.

What I came up with was a delicious miracle. These muffins are quite delectable, and I've lowered the sugar as well as significantly upping the fiber. Nick absolutely loves them, and he calls them "Mummins."

I'm going to share the recipe here, because about four people have asked me for this particular recipe. Trust me, this one is worth the trouble. I even doubled the recipe last week to make another huge batch, and all of the mummins were gone in just three days.

Carrot Mummins with Cream Cheese


In one huge bowl… mix together the dry ingredients…

• 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ t. baking soda
• 1T. vital wheat gluten
• 1 t. baking powder
• ½ t. salt
• 1 ½ t. cinnamon
• ½ t. nutmeg
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup baking Splenda

In another bowl, mix together:

• 3 eggs
• 1 T. ground flax seed
• 1/3 cup of melted butter (unsalted)
• 2/3 cup applesauce

Then add in:
• 1 ½ cups shredded carrots (I'd suggest a food processor for this.)

• ½ cup walnuts, chopped finely
Now take ½ cup of raisins and soak them in very hot water for about ten minutes. Drain, and add them to the carrot mixture.

For the cream cheese filling, get a completely separate bowl and stir together until smooth:

• 4+ ounces of Neufchatel cream cheese
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 t. vanilla
• ½ cup sugar

Pour the carrot mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and stir to mix. (Don’t stir too much or the muffins will be tough.)

These “mummins” have a filling, and you can just put the cream cheese mixture (about 1T on top of each muffin if you'd like. I did my mummins half with the filling inside and half with the filling on top. Personally, I like the filling inside better. When the filling is on top, sometimes it bubbles over and you lose a bit of the cream cheese. I don't like to lose even a little bit of that filling. Yum!

If you want the filling inside, you have to follow these steps to make your mummins:

1. Fill each muffin cup about ½ full with the muffin mixture.
2. Add a tablespoon or so of the cream cheese mixture.
3. Put just enough muffin mixture on top of the cream cheese to cover the filling.

Bake the mummins at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes. Smaller muffins bake more quickly, and larger ones may take a little longer than 20 minutes.

You’ll know they’re done when you can stick a toothpick into one and it comes out clean. (Stick the toothpick in a non-cream cheesy part.) Enjoy your mummins. I know Nick sure loved his!

Now, here's some video of Nick enjoying his mummin. I rather enjoy these little snippets of toddler conversation. When I got my master's degree (ESL concentration), I had to take a lot of classes about how people learn language. Linguistics taught me about the stages of learning a first language, and it is very fascinating to see Nick go through those stages. He's a chatty little guy. Hungry, too.  :)

Naper Settlement, Complete with Heat and Mosquitoes

Last summer, we had planned to take my mother in law to Naper Settlement. It kept raining everyday we planned to go. So this year we tried again, and yup, it rained. Thankfully the rain was done by the time we got to the parking lot, but the humidity was still there, and the air was heavy. Too bad the early settlers of Naperville didn't have air conditioning.  ;)  The temperature and humidity were really bad on Sunday, and we were covered in sweat within three minutes of being outside. This summer has been really bad, at least as heat goes.

Nick loved walking the paths, although he didn't necessarily want to go the way we wanted to go. I love the expression on Grandma Toni's face in the above picture. Nick always seems to take three times as long to walk to any given destination, even though he practically runs everywhere.



















Anyway, Naper Settlement was just lovely, despite the crushing humidity. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Naper Settlement is a living history place where you can learn about the early settlers in this part of Illinois. I'm a history buff, and I really enjoyed this visit. My minor in college was actually history, and social studies is always one of my favorite subjects to teach.

I think my favorite part was the tour of the Martin Mitchell mansion, and the stories of the strong women who lived there. I did feel bad for the people dressed in historical costumes in 90 plus degree heat, though.We want to go back and visit Naper Settlement again, on a less humid day, because we didn't get to see all of the buildings. They have limited hours on Sundays, and we figured a few hours would be enough. It wasn't. This place is gorgeous, and the grounds are meticulously kept. The beautiful sunflowers in the picture from yesterday's post (with Nick and Greg) are from the grounds of Naper Settlement. Check out the giant garden below. I asked Greg if I could have a garden that big, and he said sure, because it'd be less grass to mow. I was just kidding, though. It looks like a lot of work.

Actually, visiting Naper Settlement reminded me of when my mom and my sister and I used to volunteer at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago, back in the early 1990s. We dressed in those heavy petticoats and bonnets and worked in the chicken coops and the kitchen and on the grounds. Cleaning out the chicken coops was my least favorite job. My mom actually worked the old wood stove in the kitchen, and I remember leading tours in the dining room around Christmastime one year.

Volunteering was kind of fun, and got me into history. But I remember how uncomfortable those dresses were. I'm on the left in the picture above, standing with my mom. I was probably in junior high, which is why my bangs look so hideous. They were long because I usually wore them sprayed four inches into the air. When in costume, we had to wear our hair traditionally. I remember that the chickens were really mean, and I was glad when they killed them for a chicken dinner.

Nick really enjoyed walking around the grounds of this place, because there were no cars and he could roam free. The only issue we had, other than the heat, was the mosquito problem. Has anyone else noticed that there are more mosquitoes around than ever before? I can currently count at least twenty four mosquito bites on my body. The little buggers tend to prefer me, and I believe it has to do with insulin resistance (IR). My body is a feast for mosquitoes. Sigh.

I'll end with one final picture--this is Nick with his Grandma Toni at Heaven on Seven, a restaurant we go to quite often in Downtown Naperville. We went there after our trip, and had a delicious dinner while we cooled off.