Toffee Apples!

How exciting! Today we made toffee apples. They smell so good and the kids are really looking forward to eating them a bit later on. I forgot to take photos of the process (!) so I only have shots of their drooling faces.
The kids measured, poured, stirred, timed, and swirled our skewered apples in the hot toffee.  We had to be really quick with swirling the toffee because the toffee was going hard so quickly!
I thought the clean up was going to be disastrous and take forever, especially when some toffee got dripped on the floor but hot water was all we needed :)
As you can see from these photos, the kids are delighted...

Crazy Kids making these funny faces at the Toffee Apples.

What a lot of fun we had. I wonder what we will cook next time?...The kids would like to make Rocky Road... sounds delicious :)

Enriching our Soil

Today we got some nutrients into our soil in our Veggie Patch.  We had purchased fertiliser and soil wetting agent last week but have been so busy that today was our first chance to get down there.
The funniest part of this adventure was Jemma exclaiming "I love the smell of chook poo in the morning!" What a character :)
We took the Dynamic Lifter and the WettaSoil down to our dry, water-resistant earth and started the process of making it suitable for plants.
The boys picked up all the big sticks and scattered the Dynamic Lifter first.  They used hoes to spread it out and dig the fertiliser into the ground:

 

 Once that was added we decided to water it in a bit.  We turned the hose on and got only the smallest dribble out of it.  Aaron was determined to find out what was wrong. Benson suggested there could be a knot in the hose. We followed the hose and discovered there were a few issues with the joins between hoses. 

 

Water sprayed everywhere when we turned the hose on and, as we added pressure by putting our fingers over the hose end, the joins popped apart.  Even the join at the tap exploded off and left water pouring out. Once we got the hoses sorted we were ready to water.

We watered the soil so that it was damp all over, then we added the WettaSoil jug to the hose end.  This product is supposed to help soils retain moisture.  Hopefully this will work otherwise we'll have to look at some other options. 

It's times like this I wish we hadn't had to leave all our beautiful compost at our old house. It would have come in handy right now. We will see what happens.  As our worm farm starts producing more waste we will be able to add those great nutrients to our garden too, but it is still in its baby stages.  When we finally get our chooks, we'll have instant fertiliser all the time :)

Stage 3 of this grand adventure is well underway... I can't say complete because it relies on the soil improving... watch this space!

Art Gallery Fun

We haven't sat down at the computer for a few days because we have been so busy with activities and other school related things.  Today, we adventured out to Campbelltown as Aaron had an Orthodontic appointment. His braces came off today, how very exciting! Toffee Apples will be made this week :)
While in Campbelltown we visited Nanna at the Embroiderer's Guild based at the Campbelltown Art Gallery.  A great opportunity to walk around these beautiful gardens and check out some of the exhibits.  The kids loved the sculpture garden.

Here are some of the photos of our adventure.

The Koi in the Art Gallery Garden pond.

Benson's photograph of the Waterfall into the Art Gallery Garden pond.

Benson snaps Aaron and Jemma.

Aaron captures Jemma trying to give Benson a kiss.

Aaron and Jemma crouch into shot as Benson tests out his photographic skills.

Jemma takes an "Arty" photograph of her brothers.

Aaron's Blog:
I thought the Art Gallery had a very nice feel to it. You know that joyful feeling and sense of peace that you get when everything feels right. My favourite sculpture was "The Wind Tells a Tale". I loved that you could put your ear up to some wood and metal and hear the vibrations of the wind. It was cool. We saw some of the work of the ladies in the Embroiderer's Guild, there was one about the Camden Fair, it was awesome.  It showed our town's character and was a very joyful artwork.  The lady who made it must really love our town, it shows in her work.


Benson's Blog:
I thought the Art Gallery was awesome. I loved the drawing of the pattern in the rocks. I liked it because it shows the patterns were made out of tools that were next to it.  You could see how they scraped the tools over all the small rocks to make the patterns.  It was the coolest thing I've ever seen.



Jemma's Blog:
I liked Benson taking a picture of Aaron and me. I also liked Aaron taking a picture of Benson and Me.

The Worm Farm

Today we bought our worm farm. The boys were very excited, particularly Benson. I have no idea why, but from an early age he loved bugs! Bugs, of all things to love, why did he have to love bugs? He has always brought his finds inside to show me, a look of pure delight on his little face.  So, I squirm inside but smile at him and say "That's fantastic, what sort of bug is that?"
Anyway, we bought our worm farm and some worms and came home to set it up.

It was a fascinating process, particularly the "bedding" block that you soak in water.  The kids were fascinated by how much it grew.

We poured the soggy "bedding" block into the base of the worm farm to make it ready for our worms. Then, finally we could put our worms in.  So exciting!

  Look at our worms! Don't they look happy? There were so many, wriggling around everywhere, Benson loved it. Jemma obviously isn't like her brother "I am NOT touching that!" she declared. Aaron kept his distance, I'm not sure why, he usually doesn't mind these things. To add to the moisture and the darkness, we added a "worm blanket" that is soaked with water on top of the worms.

And finally, we added the lid and our worm farm is complete!

Now we let them rest for a couple of days so they can settle in to their new home. Stage Two of this Grand Adventure is complete.

Starting Our Veggie Patch

Homeschooling has been my life for the past 5 years.  We were registered with a wonderful school and classified as Distance Education students with them.  As our life has changed, we found this system wasn't working for us.  We are still unsure whether this is just for a season or not but it is the right decision for now.  Now, as we homeschool independently, we have freed our schedule to work on activities that the children are really keen to do.  This blog is part of our education too. The kids will be posting on here and sharing their experience of our homeschool adventures.
Today we started our Veggie Patch.  We've talked about it for a while and have the plot for it but just haven't had the time to get around to it. So, today we trotted down the back to start work. It was overgrown with weeds, and really was a mess but we set to it. Unfortuntely the boys have grown out of their gumboots so they were constantly getting dirt and other garden materials lodged in their shoes. Jem and I had our gumboots on and got set to work.

We hoed and dug and cut and pulled and removed weeds and plants that were overgown and taking over the yard. It was pretty physical stuff, but heaps of fun.  We cleared our patch of earth and then we looked at the soil. 

 

Aaron and Benson were keen to start planting straight away but I was sure the soil was in no condition for plants to thrive. I explained about the need for nutrient rich soil and moisture for plants to do well. "Would you like me to hose the veggie patch, mum?" Aaron asked. "Yep, let's get some water on there and it will tell us more about the condition of the soil." So, we watered.

 Once we had watered for a while we noticed puddles forming on top of the soil. "I reckon that's enough water," said Aaron. The hose was turned off and we looked at the soil more closely. Hmmm, the water is just sitting on top of the soil, it isn't soaking in at all! The soil is dry underneath, only about 5mm down. "I wonder what will fix this?" I asked.

Aaron shot off like a rocket, up to the computer to investigate what was wrong with the soil and what we needed to do to make it a great place to grow vegetables. While he did this, Benson helped me get some trellis work installed and a mesh grid path laid so our boots didn't get too muddy over the next few days as we enriched the soil.

Aaron ran down just as we finished, "We need a worm farm! That will help our garden so much." "I guess that will be our next purchase then... That and some great compost," I replied. "What is great compost mum?" Benson asked. "Cow poo," said Aaron. "Cool"
So, our veggie patch has begun and plans are being made. Children are delighted about the prospect of worms and cow poo. The boys are investigating all kinds of remedies for our dry, water - resistant soil and loving it.  Learning at its best! Stage One of this Grand Adventure is complete.