2015 Garden Plan

For record keeping purposes (mostly for myself), here is our garden plan for this year. As mentioned in a previous post, we like to order seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, though we were more intentional this year about taking stock of what seeds we already had and trying to use up some old stock. As of Memorial Day weekend, all had been planted in the garden except for the sweet potatoes, which hadn't yet arrived from Southern Exposure.

Peppers and tomatoes waiting to be planted

This year's garden has a walkway through the middle, dividing it into a northern half (to the right when facing Grandma's house) and a southern half (to the left). Each half of the garden has eleven rows. Here's what's planted in each:

Southern Half (rows numbered from west to east)
1 - Ashley cucumber (2), pickling cucumber (2), unknown cucumber (2)
2 - Golden Jenny muskmelon, Ali Baba watermelon
3 - Golden Jenny muskmelon, Seminole pumpkin, Ali Baba watermelon
4 - Seminole pumpkin, Strawberry watermelon
5 - Crimson Sweet watermelon (2), Strawberry watermelon
6 - Carolina Ruby sweet potato (12)
7 - Carolina Ruby sweet potato (12)
8 - Caroline Wonder pepper (6), Purple Beauty pepper (6)
9 - Abe Lincoln tomato (2), Eva Purple Ball tomato (2), Amish Paste tomato (4), Oxheart tomato (2), Sugar Cherry tomato (2)
10 - Yukon Gold potatoes, Eggplant (2 - as a trap crop for potato beetles)
11 - Dark Red Norland potatoes

Northern Half (rows numbered from west to east)
1 - Early Sunglow sweet corn
2 - Early Sunglow sweet corn
3 - Evergreen sweet corn
4 - Evergreen sweet corn
5 - Dynamite popcorn
6 - Dynamite popcorn
7 - Delicata squash, Sugar pumpkin, Acorn squash
8 - Delicata squash, Sugar pumpkin, Acorn squash
9 - Butternut squash, Spaghetti squash, Butternut squash
10 - Summer squash, Black Beauty zucchini (trap), Spaghetti squash, Black Beauty zucchini (trap), Summer squash
11 - Summer squash (4)

Cilantro and basil

Then we have a few things planted in other areas around the house:
Raised bed - asparagus, spinach, lettuce, green beans, mint
West side of garden - raspberry canes
Under kitchen window - blueberry plants
Various containers - basil, cilantro, rosemary
Mulched areas around patio - basil, kale, swiss chard, collard greens

I'm hopeful that our garden will be a good producer this year, as we're doing what we can to try to nourish the soil and plants better than we have in the past. Now that the garden is planted I'm ready to see it grow and grow!

EMES Spring Concert 2015

May 14th was Hannah's final elementary school concert. Fifth graders get to do things like introduce songs and sing solos or in small ensembles. Hannah introduced two songs:

Another fifth grade tradition is the sword dance. You'll see Hannah in the center group:

Hannah sang in a small ensemble for the "Ballad of John Henry." Sophie's third grade class acted out the story of John Henry. Sophie played Polly Ann:

This concert marked the 10th anniversary of EMES, so a few alums joined to help sing the theme song:

I don't have video of the "Coffee Canon," but the students dedicated this song to the teachers because of their dependence on their daily dose of caffeine. The teachers even joined in singing, with coffee cups in hand!

My favorite song was the "Galop" using solfege (do re mi fa sol la ti do). Sophie got annoyed with her classmates continually pointing out that the end of the song has her name in it:

The fifth graders also used solfege in their instrumental song where they played orff instruments:

Finally, I just really enjoyed the beauty of this Hebrew song that also focuses on peace. It's lyrics are "The world is sustained by three things: by truth, by justice, and by peace."

After the concert Charles gave each of the girls a bouquet of flowers and we took some photos of them with the quilt and with friends. I can hardly believe we've been attending these concerts for six years already!

Field Trip to Baltimore Aquarium

On May 8th, I got to chaperone my first elementary field trip, and it only took me until Hannah's 5th grade year! This year's 3rd through 5th grade field trip took the girls to Baltimore Aquarium. Just weeks before the trip Baltimore erupted in race riots over police brutality. Thankfully the protests were not near the inner harbor and had calmed to peaceful protests by the time of our trip. Sophie asked Grandma to be her chaperone for the trip. Here are photos from our day:

Bus ride on the way there

Huge shark's jaw

Rays and other creatures in the touch tank

At the dolphin show

Picture taking galore, all day long

Sophie got splashed by the dolphins

Looks like she survived!

In the rainforest

Watching a tortoise walk over a turtle

View of the harbor from inside the walkway

Divers feeding the fish a head of lettuce

Dolphin show selfie

Calypso, the huge turtle who's missing one fin

EMES ROCKS!

Soapbox Derby Trial Run

On May 3rd, Sophie hopped in a soapbox derby car for her first ride down a track at Roanoke's Walrond Park.

All ready to go!

Granny and Papa came to watch, but we had to wait awhile for the real racing that day to conclude before Sophie could give her borrowed car a couple of test runs.

The wait got a little long, and it was a hot day

Charles' friend Matt is big into the soapbox derby scene. He's offered for Sophie to race one of his cars at Harrisonburg's June event that is sponsored and run by Rockingham Rotary. Sophie was a bit hesitant at first, but once she got a chance to try out the car she was all for it.

Sizing up the car

Here's Matt giving Sophie some coaching

Matt and Charles first took Sophie down the track in little segments to let her figure out how to steer and use the brakes.

One of Matt's friends who helped haul the car up to the top of the track

Coming down the track just a bit at a time

After the first time down, they took her about halfway up the track to run the bottom portion, which is not as steep as the top. She had no trepidation at all!

Approaching the finish line

Then finally they took her all the way to the top. She came down that hill like she's been doing this all her life.

I think she's all ready for the race on June 13th. Can't wait to see her complete!

Food and Fitness E-Term

Each week our school enjoys a week of experiential learning. For all of my years so far, I've accompanied either the 7th or 8th grade on their class trips. This year I co-led a high school e-term experience that we called Food and Fitness. The idea was to learn about healthy habits in eating and fitness through hands-on experiences in cooking and various types of physical activity. Here are some photos from our week of learning, which I enjoyed immensely.

Zumba with Julianne

Ready for our first lunch!

Setting up "myfitnesspal" to track our eating for the week

Planning the week's meals

Tuesday's lunch: stuffed shells and salad with vinaigrette

Dancer pose in yoga

Partner yoga

We enjoyed our afternoon of yoga at "The Nest" yoga studio

Reverse planks during Group FX at Achieve Studio

Trampolines work the quads and glutes!

Our instructor Tori is on the right front

Wednesday we served lunch to the staff on campus

Phil, the trainer at Harrisonburg Fitness, teaching us about strength training

Assisted pull-ups are still tough!

Flexing our muscles :)

Delicious colors as part of Thursday's lunch

The chefs hard at work

Our ladies, ready to eat

Thursday's meal was German inspired

Special guest experts joined us on Monday and Thursday afternoon to talk nutrition

By Friday we were all worn out!

We enjoyed a pizza cook-off lunch with the Sewing & Service e-term group

Here's our pizza chefs

Here's some of what we learned this week