Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Henrietta Creek Apple Orchard

We went to the Apple Orchard today where they went over cotton spinning, pollination, how beehives work (with a inside look at a beehive behind plexiglass), how apples grow (weather conditions, good and bad insects), they had a pizza garden, a butterfly garden, an organic pond with fish and frogs and dragonflies, and a whole assortment of animals to look at. It was a great time.
The only funny thing was that since we are in Texas, (who can forget?) we had a very mild winter last year, resulting in no apples! There were apples all right, but straight from Washington! They had to purchase apples for the kids to eat! It was pretty funny. But they said next fall they will get a bumper crop (double). It was a great teaching opportunity and we really enjoyed it! The best thing was the hot fried apple pies they made but we didn't get a picture because we were too busy cramming our mouths! Wouldn't you?






Sweet Avery relaxing on the porch after a day at the Apple Orchard.




In the Butterfly Garden. We are going to make a lapbook of each area of the Orchard, there was so much!! The Butterfly garden has plants specific to what attracts butterflies.
Johnny Appleseed. The apple orchard actually has some trees that are certified as being grafted from original trees planted by John Chapman. Very cool.
The vine tepee. This beautiful vine is made from loofah gourds. That's right-when they die they become loofah sponges. They had seeds you could buy to plant your own!
A moth perched on my arm. They were EVERYWHERE!! They are what pollinates the apple blossoms and are vital to the Orchard's success.
Trace and Avery enjoying a Washington apple. But with Henrietta creek honey on top!!


My beautiful daughter in the Pizza garden.
There was oregano, parsley, garlic and peppers.
Yum! It smelled awesome!


A demonstration of how cotton is spun into thread. They had a cotton garden with red, green and white cotton!









Trace found a crabapple he thought looked like a green brain. Boys.






Me and Tracer with the scarecrow!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

40th Carnival of Homeschooling

I love this one, it's retro, 40's baby! Take a look, great links.

Monday, October 09, 2006

We got Booed!


We got booed today! Our neighborhood is so cute! I haven't heard of this, but our neighbors said this is a tradition in our new neighborhood. Someone comes and leaves you a treat with a poem and a copy of a ghost. When someone boos you, you hang the ghost up so you don't get booed twice, and you make copies of the poem and ghost and deliver secretly two more treats to neighbors. Here's ours, it's really cute! If you want to do this in your neighborhood, I found a cute link here.