Day in Dallas

On a whim, we skipped our weekly library storytime and went to Dallas to see the butterflies. We ended up doing so much more! Discovery Gardens and butterfly house, lagoon to watch the turtles, children's aquarium for shark feeding, and then met up with our unschooling group for fun at the Dallas museum of art, klyde warren park splash pad and food trucks. we had ice cream for dinner and then went back to the museum for third Friday festivities including a children's yoga class. It was one of those days where the kids were thoroughly engaged all day, got along beautifully and made new friends and then were dead asleep before we were back on the interstate headed home! 

Garden Journal #10

The battle against the squash beetle continues. We seem to have a handle on it. Plants are surviving, flowering and producing so we have hope. I still have to go out at least every couple of days to check under leaves for eggs and pick off bugs. I usually bring a bucket of soapy water and just drown the poor guys, but other times I toss them over the short fence straight onto the dinner plate of a waiting chicken. Either way, we've harvested a variety of squashes and are waiting for the cucumber to mature.

The beans are flowering and growing like mad, but still no actual bean pods. We have entered the hot season and most of our plants are fading. We'll harvest what we can in the next few weeks and then give the garden a break during the month of August before planting the fall/winter garden. 

The mammoth sunflower opened today -Aoife is enamored! She wants to touch it everyday.

See all those lovely tomatoes? They are being guarded. By this guy:

Tell me how to get past this grasshopper-eating zipper spider without pissing her off? These are the most beautiful tomatoes I've grown in years, and I kinda want to eat them...

The chickens are surviving our 100+ weather with the aid of a fan in the hen house and the daily creation of a mudpit under a shady tree. Nothing like standing in cold mud to cool down! And as soon as the World Cup final is over, i'm taking the girls to the "big" pool to cool them down as well! Here's to the next 8 weeks of hot weather and timing water adventures and meal prepping to minimize sun exposure and overheating! Happy Summer!