Abigail's Diary From School

Abigail came home from school on Friday with a special gift. Her pages say it all about her life in Urbanna.

"I went to the beach in the summer and I went in the water"

"My garden is pretty and I like it, and it has two flowers and I like it"

"This is my backyard and it is pretty. I like it and I like the flowers"

"I am back from Mimi's. The flowers are daisy's. I see a bird, it is dancing"

"This is my backyard. It has a garden. It is pretty"

"This is my fairy house. I like my fairy house. It is pretty. Fairy's live in it"
I am guessing Abigail Cola is responsible for this one, 

"I see a dolphin and a fish swimming in the sea. Wow, how do they do that?"

"I do swim team. I like swim team. We have fun. I swim the whole pool."
I like the fact that she put 100 degrees in her journal....it was hot!!

Life is Better with Rainbow Chard

This spring has a been a good one for our swiss chard. Chard, along with blueberries are my favorite super foods! I got the seeds in the ground in very early March and we have been eating five color silverbeet since early May. We also had a few rows overwinter in the big garden and have been harvesting it since April. Rainbow chard makes you happy when you see it growing in the garden...red stems, white, pink and my favorite yellow brighten any weedy patch! It actually is a great ground cover and keeps the weeds under control.

In the kitchen I have tried cooking chard with various ingredients. It basically tastes great with anything. Tonight...sauted onions, garlic scapes, yellow squash, tomatoes, and chard. You can even make a great sandwich with chard...saute a little onion with the chopped stems of chard, add chopped leaves with some salt, pepper and Soul Seasoning. Slice muenster cheese and place on bread, add cooked chard and a little seasoning. Makes a delicious grilled cheese and chard sandwich. This will definitely hold me over until tomato sandwich season! In the fall I will cook apples with chard...really anything works with this garden jewel.

So pretty, so tasty and so good for you. I am glad that I discovered chard several years ago when we joined our CSA, Dayspring Farm. Spinach used to be my go to green, but it is tough to grow tender spinach in Tidewater Virginia. Chard doesn't even get very dirty...a quick rinse and it is dirt and grit free. Life is better with rainbow chard.

Relief from Above

After 5 weeks without rain, we finally received some relief from above. It came at a perfect time. The past two days have been brutally hot including one day that hit 100. As the clouds moved across the sun this afternoon, I feel like I felt the earth breathe a sigh of relief. After about a half an hour of thunder raindrops finally begun to fall. We are suppose to receive more storms this weekend and next week is going to stay under 90 degrees.

Ability to Recognize Small Natural Cycles

Hiding from 100 degrees

Mollie and I took the kids to the river to swim after we picked up Abigail from school. It was a scorcher, so no projects were going to happen. The only place to hide was in the river. When we got to the beach, Abigail said,"Yeagh, it's high tide! A good time to swim!" I was floored, thrilled, and speechless! This is a great sign that we are getting our kids in tune with their ecological identity. She not only knew that it was high tide by making an observation at the beach, but she also knew that high tide is a good time to swim! Most kids know the changing of the seasons, but hopefully we can teach our kids about smaller natural cycles, including phases and changes in the moon.

Going on a Fern Hunt

Going on a Fern Hunt!

This weekend we went out to Old Spring Farm in Lynchburg (Daddy and Dorie's house, Dodie and Paw) Saturday morning we went out on the tractor to go on a fern hunt. Riding around the farm with Daddy and Dorie is great for the kids and their step toward understanding the natural world around them. The purpose of the trip is simple... to find plants that we can take back to Snuggle Acres and put in various places in the yard. However, the pay back is much greater than items for landscaping. The kids get a chance to identify the differences between similar looking plants. They helped dig the ferns up and recognized which ferns they thought would look good in their own yard. The kids will notice the plants in the yard and will know where they came from. In the future, Abigail and Owen will have a greater respect for these plants in their yard and in the woods, when they see then again.

Throughout the weekend, the kids got chances to use their observation skills around the farm. Sunday morning they sat with Dodie and Paw on the side porch and observed the different birds that landed on the bird feeders. This is a simple activity but allows the kids to begin to notice the critters that live in their own backyard.

We have our shovels ready!!

Paw knows where the best ones are!!

Cruizin' back in the woods

We found good ones, we will take care of you back at Snuggle Acres

Riding with Dodie

Time to get ready for the ride back to Urbanna

Abigail gets a chance to drive

Summer time croaker tacos!!

Cola's Croaker

During the summer the river is full of Croaker and we love to eat them. However it is always a daunting task of cleaning a pile of croaker after fishing. Plus you always loose a lot of meat when you filet out a croaker. Dave came up with a delicious solution to loosing meat when cleaning. Granted you do not save a lot of time when cleaning, because you do have to scale all the fish. This was the second time this summer we had Cola's croaker and we decided to make Croaker taco's on the patio.
Cola's croaker
1) Scale the fish completely
2) Cut all the way down the belly and remove all insides (return to the bay)
3) Cut out the gills!!
4) Place whole fish on a cookie sheet
5) Get the grill "fired up"
6) make cuts down the sides of the fish (4-5 on each side)
7) oil down the fish with canola oil
8) Season with old bay, blackened fish seasoning, soul seasoning, and pepper
9) Then grill the whole fish (a large spatula is handy)
10) Grill until you can pull the fish apart
11) Picking through a fish is fun and there is a lot less meat wasted when eating this way

Last night dave kept the cookie sheet on the grill and picked through the fish while people put together taco's! On a soft shell we placed cheese, lettuce from the garden, salsa (can't wait till we have our own salsa), avocado, lime, sour cream, and a big scoop of croaker!!! The kids loved it!! It was delicious. The best part... is the process. Hanging out on the patio, thankfully cooler evening, mojito's, kids playing, and people could eat when they were hungry. Eric came over after he and I were unsuccessful catching a carp in Rosegill (he wants to add a carp to his species list of fish caught) He takes off on Tuesday, we are going to miss him, but we will visit him in British Columbia and I hopefully can add salmon to my species list!!! Maybe we will make salmon taco's?

 (See the rest of the dinner photo's using the link below) 

https://picasaweb.google.com/108337845857265033397/CroakerTacoS?authkey=Gv1sRgCOi2k6nIyqiCpQE#slideshow/5614350384039078514

Bass Masters 2011

Bass Tournament After Graduation (click on "Bass Tourney" below to see pics)

Bass Tourney after Graduation

In between Urbanna and School lie two ponds that are not known by many. After graduation, 6 of us headed into the ponds to have a tournament. 6 guys, 3 boats, 3 hours + 100 fish!!!! 1st place Eric and Dave 31 fish and 4 fish in topwater challenge, 2nd place Jeff and Donny 31 fish and 1 fish in topwater challenge, 3rd place Will and Scott 30 FISH, yes we lost by one fish to two boats!!! 0 fish topwater challenge. Anywho, Scott and I caught some nice fish and some of the larger fish we had seen this season. Next time