In A Nutshell

seeds

Ever since Isaiah and I planted his "tickle me" plants (wiki link), I have been itching to grow something that I can eat. I really miss our community garden days. There is so much satisfaction to be had in growing your own food.

I did a little research on the internets and found a list of things I can grow now, even though it is late in the season. I picked what I thought we would have the most fun with and get the most use out of from Johnny's. I figured that would be a good place to start when selecting seeds for ones garden. 

Here's what we'll be working with:

beets

kohlrabi

runner beans

pok choi

Now, when I say "garden", I actually mean a bunch of pots. We live in a condo with a front and back patio, and no ground space, so I have to do what I can in pots. Hmmm... anyone have any tips for growing edible food in a container garden? I'm just kind of winging it here. 

southern california wild flower of the week - quail plant

This is my favorite wildflower. I just think it's so cute, tiny, and pretty. It appears to be delicate, but must be hardy to live in such a dry climate. This is the flower of the quail plant, so named for the tiny fruits it bears that quails love to eat. 

Wiki link.

the big o-three

Phoenix turned three yesterday and I was constantly reminded of just how precious these fleeting moments of his childhood are. He's not a baby anymore; he's a little boy. Dang, that was fast. Too fast. I nearly cried several times today, but I'll try not to get all mushy on you.

I decided not to bake a birthday cake for him this year. With all the other stuff we had going on I felt it was justified. Instead, I put colored sprinkles on the tops of pan-cakes as they cooked, doused them in maple syrup, and topped the stack off with three star shaped candles. We sang happy birthday, and it was a great start to our day.

Pre-pancake making, I realized we were out of maple syrup. I ran over to the grocery store to get some and nabbed the monkey balloon while I was at it. It's about the same size as he is (Awesome, right?), and everywhere he went this morning, the balloon went too. 

Presents were opened and played with. 

My dad and step-mom have a penchant for buying my children ridiculously loud and/or obnoxious sounding toys. I consider it an act of well deserved retribution.

On my way back home from the above mentioned maple syrup run, I crossed paths with our neighbors. I mentioned that it was Phoenix's birthday and 20 minutes later they were at our doorstep making a personal delivery; a gift bag filled with an automatic bubble blower and three big boxes of candy. Isn't that just the nicest thing?

This photo only tells half the story. After the bubbles came the hose war with Logan. Both Phoenix and Isaiah were both soaked from head to toe, with smiles from ear to ear. After having them dry off and change their clothes I tried to get Phoenix to take a nap. That was a definite no-go, so we just headed over to the beach as planned.

We went to Doheny which is a great location for a number of reasons, numero uno being that it parallels the rail road. I don't know any three year old boys who aren't completely fascinated with trains. 

Logan built a fire that made the children from the neighboring campsite flock to us like we were Egyptian gods descending from the heavens. I think it was the popping of the seaweed pods in the fire that piqued their curiosity. Nothing like a little snap, crackle, and pop. Fortunately, they quickly made friends with our children and they had a great time together.

We made s'mores and had ourselves a little picnic. That's two things I can tick off our summer to-do list. Woot!

However, Phoenix didn't want to have anything to do with the s'more I made him. Apparently, blackened marshmallows are not his style. He pointed a condemning finger to the scorched mallow and declared, "I don't want to eat this mommy, it's disgusting." Um... okay. So I made separate piles of grahams, un-toasted mallows, and chocolate which he ate happily.

It's all you little man. Happy birthday.

southern california wild flower of the week - jimson weed

This flower is from the jimson weed plant. The pretty violet star shaped flower makes the potentially deadly plant look so innocent.

southern california wild flower of the week - yerba mansa

This week we are crunching the last bits of the third grade into the next three months, and gearing up for fourth. 

Swimming classes have begun and I am truly amazed at what has been accomplished by my boys in just the four classes they've had so far. 

I am considering Spanish classes at the local college for the eldest, but am hemming and hawing over the schedule and weather or not we can make it work.

I'm crocheting cookies for the middle child when I should be doing the dishes. 

southern california wild flower of the week - buffalo gourd

Hi. 

I was hoping that I would have some content to stuff in here between these wildflower photos, but as you can see, it didn't work out for me this week. I had a couple of posts that never came to fruition; they're still rough drafts. Maybe tomorrow I can get something going. Maybe. ;)

So I leave you with a photo of a buffalo gourd flower, and a piece of useless knowledge. Apparently, the buffalo gourd gets its name because of its foul smell. Who knew?

southern california wild flower of the week - bird vetch

The family and I go on nature walks regularly throughout the week, and I can't help but notice all of the interesting and beautiful wildflowers out there. The landscape, at first glance, may appear to be nothing but dead grass, but these little treasures are tucked away between the brown blades and beneath trees just waiting for their chance to shine. 

Instead of showing them off in one post, I thought I would spread the love around a little bit and feature one each week until I run out of photos, whenever that may be. 

This weeks wildflower is bird vetch, also known as cow vetch and tufted vetch. While this is not a native species, it is a wildflower, and a pretty one at that.

Wiki link.

outside

Here's a bit of what we saw yesterday.

oak glen

Last week we made our annual trek out to Oak Glen. Logan and I have both been going there since we were kids. Now that we are adults of course, we look at things a bit differently and have more responsibilities... like setting a budget for the trip, trying to avoid the driver who just veered into our lane on the freeway, and making sure one the kids doesn't obliviously step on a bee/wasp/hornet infested apple lying on the ground. However, as adults, we are just as excited (if not, more) as our children to make the trip. This is our little getaway; our slice of family tradition.

We had fun meandering around gift shops and a petting zoo, then trod off to have a very relaxing picnic lunch.

We hiked up the huge hill in search for pumpkins in a field. The last time we went, Logan made the trek up the muddy hill in the freezing rain while Isaiah and I waited in the packing shed. (What a sweet daddy.) This time I had insisted that everyone bring extra sweaters, jackets, and socks... and temperatures hit the mid 80's. Go fig.

 

We found apples in trees. Who knew that's where they came from? (I kid.) I say this because Logan and I had overheard a woman exclaim "Oh look, sugar cane!" while pointing to a corn field as we passed her by. Sugar cane? At 5,000ft? Hmm...

After all that, Logan was feeling like a moth to a flame... I just wanted some food. Immediately.

share day

I guess when one writes in a blog, every day is share day. Although, I thought this particular site deserves a merit badge, or rather, a post of its own.

If you, your significant other, or your kids are at all interested in bugs/entomology, What's That Bug? is definitely worth checking out. People from all over the world send in photos of bugs that they haven't been able to identify and these folks do the rest. So cool. I have referred to the site on a couple of occasions when we can't find a bug we're looking for in any of our reference books, which can be incredibly frustrating.

Take tonight for instance; Logan found a Eucalyptus long-horned borer beetle (14th one down) on our front patio. For those of you who aren't family and in the know, Logan wears many hats, one of them being "the bug guy". He said it looked like a borer beetle and left me to figure out the rest, and thanks to Lisa Anne and Daniel at What's that Bug?, I did. Case closed, and I didn't even break a sweat. =)

Oh, I also found out that it was first found in 1984, originates from Australia, and is now killing many of our Eucalyptus trees because it has no natural predators. Although, scientists are attempting to keep the population in check with certain types of wasps. Logan didn't hesitate to drop it in a bottle of alcohol and add it to his collection.