Archives January 2021

Posted by Mom on August 11, 2016

We can’t seem to get enough of gardening at our country home. Our latest addition is a garden of native flowering plants chosen specifically for winged pollinators.

The previous owner of our property was a prolific gardener. The abundance of gardens and variety of plants were a major factor in the aesthetic appeal of the property. She even went so far as to label each of her varieties of hostas, daylilies, peonies and non-native trees and shrubs. We never actually counted how many varieties of each there were and now our opportunity is lost, thanks to the toll children, chickens, rakes, and lawnmowers play on these labels. We try to preserve the labels that remain, but should probably just face reality and forgo the labels.

These perennial gardens are not the same as when we first arrived in 2011; trees and shrubs have since grown and the gardens are now better suited to shade tolerant species. We find it harder to find space for the species requiring full to partial sun. Each spring/summer mom goes on a thinning and pruning spree. Dad has spotted her and warned the children “uh-oh, there goes mommy with the clippers again.” When she really has the pruning bug, she will request that dad pull out the chainsaw for some serious modifications.

Despite the amount of work required to maintain a (pretty lax) feeling of order in the gardens, winter is a time when we tend to make plans to expand our gardens. Our latest endeavour is a garden along the side of our drive shed. The deck, which is a wonderful example of dad’s craftsmanship and pragmatism, does not have a picturesque view. In fact, it probably has the worst view possible; it faces an expanse of green corrugated steel that is broken up by a double-wide window. Where the drive shed is not obstructing the view, we gaze upon our gravel driveway and barn.

After some discussion and planning, dad built four beautiful cedar trellises and we dug a foot wide garden to run along the side of the drive shed. The bed’s exposure is full sun and southern (a rare aspect around here) and is nicely protected from prevailing winds by the cedar hedge that straddles the border between our house and the field.

We wanted to fill this garden with native plants that would attract butterflies, hummingbirds and bees. We find a visit from such a creature to be an exciting occurrence. A bit of researching led us to compose a list of sun-loving, native plants. In turn, dad began to hunt down our wish-list plants at Sheridan Nurseries: Goldflame Honeysuckle (Loincera x heckrotti ‘Goldflame’), Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias Incarnata) and a new variety of aster (Aster Kickin Lavender). We also added some non-native but bee, hummingbird and butterfly attracting plants: Purrsian Blue Catmint (Nepeta faassenii), Deep Rose Improved Saliva (Salvia nemorosa), Grape Gumball Beebalm (Monarda ‘Grape Gumball’ PPAF).

To improve the attraction to hummingbirds, we hung a nectar feeder (with a 1 part sugar to 4 part water mixture). We also set up a water feature for butterflies based upon one was saw at a butterfly conservatory – a small birdbath filled with pebbles and shallow water which permit the butterflies to safely land and drink without falling into the water. Our Rhode Island Red hens also like to hop up and drink from this feature!

We’re glad to report that our efforts are being rewarded. A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird patrols the feeder and flowers and Monarch, Red-spotted Purple, Giant Swallowtail and Red Admirals are among the butterflies that feed from the flowers. We even witnessed a Monarch laying eggs on the Swamp Milkweed. We enjoy watching the fruit of our labours while eating our dinner al fresco.

Posted by Mom on July 28, 2016

Educating our children at home means, obviously, that we are always together. Some people cannot imagine what constantly being with one’s children might be like (as evidenced by the trepidation some parents feel about summer vacation). Yes, I admit that always being together can be trying at times, but it is also beautiful. The beauty comes from knowing that we are the ones who care deepest for our children and know their hearts’ better than anyone else. We are the ones nurturing their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual development. We are not entrusting our children to others, we are raising them hour by hour, day by day, year by year.

The natural outcome from this “always being together” is continual opportunities for learning. Children are extremely curious and have a God-ordained desire to acquire knowledge about the world around them. Being with them allows for us to grab-a-hold of learning opportunities and explore them deeply. Simply living together presents a multitude of opportunities; for example, consider how many skills are involved in the routine task of preparing a meal, from grocery shopping, through reading a recipe, to prepping the ingredients, and finally to cooking the food and presenting the meal. 

Our constant togetherness allows us to nurture the fertile growing conditions that Miss Mason implores parents and educators to uphold. She maintains that education should be the very essence of daily life. As Miss Mason so eloquently states, “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.”

Education is an Atmosphere
A home’s atmosphere pertains to the physical, emotional and spiritual ambiance within a family and its home. A healthy, peaceful and God-fearing atmosphere will nurture a child’s development because children thrive when they exist within a home where their curious minds are continually offered new ideas and where they feel comfortable being who they were designed to be. A safe and comfortable home where children know their individuality and personhood are respected and where they can bloom amid an array of living books, quality art and music is an ideal atmosphere to foster a lifetime love of learning.

We are working to provide our little Harrolds with a healthy, peaceful, and God-fearing home. For instance, we strive to feed them home-cooked meals prepared with organic ingredients; we endeavour to treat one another with kindness; and we honour the Lord as saviour and strive to live a life that glorifies him. We are also building an appreciation for quality books and art by amassing a library of living books and housing them in easy to see and to access locations, and by displaying prints by favourite artists, listening to classical musicians, and reading poetry. We are embracing the fact that if you feed your children a diet of the best, they develop a taste for true beauty and higher living.

Education is a Discipline
Habits are the subconscious modes of thinking and behaving that govern our interactions with others and establish the trajectory for future successes or failures. Discipline will hone the good habits and weed out the bad. Again, always being together provides continual opportunities to grow the good habits. A parent can watch his/her children, identify which habits require practice and, with gentle admonition, guide the children to practice their good habits until they become second nature.

Miss Mason identifies obedience, truthfulness, and attention as primary habits to focus on because upon their foundation other good habits are established. We are continually working on these three habits. When a little one has a lapse in obedience, we re-establish the importance of obeying and, through real-life consequences, remind him/her that obedience brings trust and freedom. Being together allows us to identify which areas in our children’s lives need improvement.

Education is a Life
Education is a combination of body, mind and spirit; you cannot emphasize one or two at the expense of another. A child’s physical, mental, and spiritual growth occur simultaneously. But education, as we typically understand and discuss it today, pertains to the mind and how successfully it can absorb, process, and assimilate new information. Miss Mason identified that the mind grows best on a steady flow of new ideas, which come from a varied and liberal curriculum. Her pupils had foundational lessons not only in reading, writing and arithmetic, but also lessons in Bible, language arts, social studies, and (even) science that were steeped in literary language and high moral standards. In addition, the students learnt to appreciate fine art, music, and theatre. All of these lessons taken together are a liberal curriculum.  

We wanted to give our little Harrolds the education that we wish we had had. We found Charlotte Mason’s methods to fit perfectly with our educational ideal. But how to make it work? and where to start? were intimidating questions for homeschool newbies. We found two websites (Simply Charlotte Mason and Ambleside Online) and two books (Karen Andreola’s A Charlotte Mason Companion and Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s For The Children’s Sake) to be particularly helpful. For our first two years I followed Ambleside Online’s curriculum to teach our eldest daughter. Now that our second daughter is joining her sister, I’ve made the leap to creating our own curriculum – with some help from Ambleside Online for resource suggestions.

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Our decision to home educate was weighed and discussed for years before we made our final choice. Now that we are three years into the journey, we can confidently say that it is a lot of work! But our always being together allows us to experience life together and this has been a precious reward. For us, the price is insignificant in light of the outcome.

“Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.” C.S. Lewis 

Posted by Mom on July 1, 2016

When we first set up our raised bed gardens we did not see the need for a fence – the height of the beds would keep out any of the nibbling herbivores who might visit our gardens. Fortunately, we do not have to contend with visit from browsing deer. For aesthetic reasons, we did put up a fence; an old picket fence from another location on the property that had already seen many years of use and copious amounts of weathering and rot. This fence lasted two years before a section of it was smashed into by a kindergartener driving our golf cart.

We came to realize the value of a fence when we set-up a free-ranging flock of chickens. Upon discovering the raised bed gardens, the birds liked to scratch about in the mulch between the beds and hop up into the raised beds to scratch around in that soil too; and with the missing section of fence, they could come and go from the gardens as they liked. This foraging is welcome (free pest control!) at any time other than during the planting season when our flock must stay out of our raised beds to give the seedlings an opportunity to sprout and grow. What we needed was a fence that would allow us to control when the chickens entered the gardens.

Mom saw a photo of a fence surrounding a vegetable garden in an article in Mother Earth News and showed it to Dad. The fence was comprised of rectangle frames and poultry wire, and while separating the garden area from the rest of the yard, it still provided an unobstructed view of the gardens. We are fortunate to have an uncle who knows Dad’s affinity to carpentry and gifted us with used cedar deck boards. Over the winter, this reclaimed wood became our fence. For this project I was conscripted to help Dad plane the wood; a noisy, dusty job; but one that yielded plenty of sawdust to line our hens’ nest boxes!

To enclose our raised beds, we built 16 fence panels of six feet by two and a half feet. Each piece is a rectangle frame made from the reclaimed cedar with a centre panel of hexagonal poultry wire with a 1 inch opening. We also have two gates on the east and west sides, as well as a removable panel on the south. The gates are each 4 feet wide.

Keeping the chickens from hopping up onto the top of the fence and then down into our gardens was a bit more challenging, especially since the birds were used to coming and going as they liked. Dad built some removable pickets and attached them to the top of the fence. Unfortunately, he used whatever available cedar he could find, which resulted in pickets that were still wide enough for some of the hens to fit between. We strung up some clothesline wire between the pickets to prevent the birds from hopping up. The picket-clothesline combination worked to keep out the larger Chanteclers, but the smaller and more tenacious Rhode Island Reds could still find gaps big enough to fit through. We finally kept these wily birds out when we stuck whatever we could find onto the pickets and through the wire: watering cans, buckets, rakes, shovels, bungee cords and Frisbees (the most effective). Very Redneck Chic!

Following the few tender weeks in spring, we removed the pickets. We can report that we’ve found fewer caterpillars and all the garden implements are back in their proper places. We like to know we are growing our produce within nature’s rhythms by making use of the food chain rather than creating an artificial environment stuck within a single trophic level and battling against any intrusions from any other levels.

Posted by Grandma on June 27, 2016

Losing your first tooth is such a dramatic thing when you are five years old. My granddaughter was so excited that a tooth fairy would be coming to exchange her tooth for money. In fact couldn’t wait till bedtime. This made me remember the time I lost my first tooth over sixty years ago. The family was living with my grandparents at the time. I too was excited and especially so when I discovered she had left me a whole nickel. What I could do with a nickel at the candy counter. The black balls were my favourite. They lasted the longest and you could pop them in and out of your mouth checking to see what colour they had changed to. One morning, not long after, the house was awoken in the early hours. Not the children though as they were too young to assist in the search. Grandma, who left her false upper plate in a glass jar by the sink, said her teeth were missing. Every adult was in on the search but they couldn’t be found. Grandma went to work on the streetcar early that morning to do her job as a seamstress on Spadina.   When I got up hours later to go to kindergarten I was sorely disappointed to find grandma’s teeth still under my pillow. Mom said that I’d be lucky if that was all that was going to be sore when grandma got home. Well, luckily for me the entire thing was found to be very funny by her, in fact she even stated that I was bound to be an entrepreneur.

Posted by Grandma on June 21, 2016

When my youngest son was a baby he loved to climb. He climbed out of his crib, opened his dresser drawers to use as a ladder and climbed to the top. He climbed anything and everything. The older he got the more he climbed. One day I went outside to find that he had scaled the house and was sitting comfortably on the peak of the roof. He loved to impress his brothers and friends by hanging from a tree branch by one arm, drawing up his legs, scratching his armpit with his other arm and grunting like a monkey.

One day while shopping for Christmas presents my husband and I came across an unusual piece. A twelve inch by twelve inch clay etching of a monkey. It was one solid piece that consisted of a frame, flat background and monkey. It was painted in lovely jungle shades. It even had hooks on it to hang on a wall. We hung it over his bedroom door.

Decades later while downsizing we decided to give the monkey to my son. Well he loved it, or perhaps the memories of it so much that he hung it in his kitchen. His wife didn’t mind as she was one of the ones he impressed with his branch hanging routine. My two grandchildren didn’t say anything as they were too young to care about decor. Until one day…

The conversation went something like this:

Dad: Eat your dinner.

Son: I don’t like it.

Dad: How do you know you haven’t even tried it?

Son: I can tell just by looking at it.

Dad: Well you better eat it or you’ll end up like your brother.

Son: What brother?

Dad: That brother ( my son points to the monkey on the wall.) Rodriguez wouldn’t eat his supper either.

It’s now a year later and they are enrolling my grandson into kindergarten. Today he comes along to see his classroom and meet his teacher. The parents stand back and let the two get to know each other. The teacher asks if he has any sisters or brothers. My grandson answers that yes he has a little sister named Sophie and a brother named Rodriguez. The adults are stunned. The teacher knows there is no brother but continues with her meeting. Meanwhile, my son and wife decide that if asked they foster a child in South America, and will do so as soon as possible. The truth would be too much. They are shocked that he remembered that conversation never mind that he believed it. What he must have thought this past year every time he saw the monkey. When they got home they tried to explain and took the monkey off the kitchen wall. My grandson said that it was okay that he only had a sister but would they please hang Rodriguez in his bedroom.

Sometimes we don’t realize how what we say is interpreted or believed by young children. All this time my poor grandson thought the story of Rodriguez was real. And now as I think about this I wonder did we, by calling my son a monkey, create this chain of events or was he really such a climber to begin with. I guess we’ll never know.

Posted by Mom on May 26, 2016

We have an ancient apple tree growing next to our house that provides us with apples. The view from our dining room window is of this apple tree. In spring, when blossoms cover the tree, we can watch the orioles, warblers, and bees that visit the tree and anticipate all the apples that will hang from the branches come fall. However, an apple grown on our tree is definitely not the same as the one we could be buy at the grocery store.

Our apples are not super-sized, glossy, or spherical. Instead they are small, have brown spots and are asymmetrical. But you know what, they seem infinitely fresher, crisper and more satisfying. We have found many uses for our apples, besides eating them fresh: apple pie filling, apple pie jam, applesauce and apple butter. And whenever I serve a pie or preserve made from these apples, I am sure to inform the people about to partake that “these apples came from our tree.”

We are unsure of the age of our apple tree. But it appears larger in diameter than the trees we  have seen growing in orchards. It has undergone some chainsaw pruning in the past and has more of an oval than a round shape to its crown. The tree was never trained or pruned to make harvesting an easy chore. It simply reached for sunlight and grew up – it was likely a tree someone planted with good intentions, but for whatever reasons, the tree appears to have been neglected. As a result, we can reach only a tiny fraction of the apples by standing on the ground. Even a ladder propped on a branch provides only a small increase in our yield. Looking up, we can see beautiful, red apples hanging so temptingly from the upper branches.

In an attempt to use these “higher apples” rather than having them drop to the ground, bruise and rot, last summer we rigged up a net below the tree. Again, this increased our yield by only a small margin. I think we could make a better increase if we improved on our apple-catching device. Mom saw an image of an apple-catcher made from an old canvas tarp. The middle was cut out to fit around the tree and then a slit made from this hole out to an edge. Once around the tree, the slit was then stitched together to create a net to catch the falling apples. One corner of the tarp was lower than the others and caused the apples to gently roll into a bucket for easy collecting. Perhaps we will have enough foresight this year to rig up an apple catching tarp? Only time will tell. But if we don’t, I will pick what I can and scrounge up the least bruised apples and transform them into some preserves that we can enjoy any time of year.

Posted by Grandma on May 20, 2016

“Grandma will you read to me?” My six year old granddaughter asked. Sure, I loved to read stories to my grandchildren. The book she placed on my lap was about where babies come from. The cover photo was of a mother holding her newborn. I could tell this wasn’t a cabbage patch or here comes the stork type book. I know there was more honesty about these things nowadays and thought I can handle that. Well, when I started reading the book I could have kicked myself for not perusing it more thoroughly. There were proper anatomical names. Words I didn’t know until I was in my twenties. I did my best to cover photos and skipped many paragraphs. I didn’t know how to stop without drawing attention to what I thought was inappropriate for a six year old.

As it turned out mom thought so as well when she came into the room and found me reading one of the books in a series she’d purchased. The one I was reading was meant for years down the road. My granddaughter had picked it because of the cover. She loves babies. I finished the book as quickly as I could. So now we both knew better. Mom to place some books out of reach of little hands and me, do a quick preview.

Time goes on and you think little minds forget. Not so. Their brains are like sponges, eyes and ears are everywhere but what I’m referring to is the book I read on the story of birth. My granddaughter got a new baby doll. She fed it, changed its diaper, loved it and you may have already guessed it…

My youngest son came over to borrow a tool. He had called earlier so we had it ready for him at the door. No sooner had he stepped in when my granddaughter slips her baby doll out from under her skirt for its debut. Oh no. I hope my son doesn’t make a fuss. But quick thinking as he is he says, “she’s sunny side up, turn her over.” And that was the end of it, for now.

Posted by Mom on May 14, 2016

Being a homeschool family, we had a growing collection of books and a dwindling amount of space to keep them. A dilemma ensued: how can we create an environment for learning while simultaneously not getting overwhelmed with too many books and nowhere to put them?

The books we accumulated could be added to shelves or cupboards in an out of the way spot to keep the appearance of a tidier home. But we did not want to tuck the children’s books away because we want books to play a central role in our home; we want the children to see their storybooks and feel the urge to go over, grab one and sit down to enjoy it. We want our nature guides to be quickly grabbed when a new flower or insect is discovered. But we also want these books to be given a place of honour and not just stuffed onto shelves with no thought to aesthetics or the atmosphere of the room.

To encourage our books to be enjoyed, we needed a place that invites a person to sit comfortably and get lost in a book. The main room in our home is the kitchen-great room. The room is bookended by the kitchen area on one side and a sitting area on the other. In the centre is our table/school desk and wood burning stove. I hoped to keep our books in this room where we spend most of our day. We needed a solution that could house many books, look pleasing to the eye, and provide a comfortable place to read. We needed a reading bench!

I’ve always liked the look of a reading bench in front of a window; an upholstered bench with cushions just waiting to have a person cozy up with a good book and sit for a spell. Of course, the window behind such a bench looks upon a verdant garden. To me, window benches hold a romantic appeal; they suggest luxury, leisure and elegance. Three things I have always dreamt of having. My reality however is hard work, an unending to-do list and country charm. So while we saw that a reading bench was what we wanted, my visions of elegance needed to be tapered with a dose of reality: 3 children and constant use.  

Dad and I talked it over and planned our reading bench. A day’s worth of construction and painting in the barn was followed by a few hours of cushion assembly. We placed the bench in its spot beneath a window, topped it with throw pillows and filled the cubbies our treasured storybooks and nature guides. Now when it’s time to read we pile onto the bench and snuggle in for a good story.

Posted by Grandma on April 26, 2016

How we got here is a long story. Besides, the getting here is not what matters. It’s that we are here. Three generations learning, trying and living together. Mom, dad and three grandchildren live in, what my husband and I like to refer to as, the Big House. Grandpa and I live in the addition we built. As you leave the big houses’ kitchen you enter the utility room then go through the laundry room where you may knock on my door. We have taught the grandchildren that this must be so and in return we knock as well. We must respect each other’s privacy.

When outside we work and play together. Me not so much work because of my ailments but I do know how to keep the grandchildren busy. In summer months I tend to man the barbecue while everyone works. My eldest grandchild has shown an interest in cooking so this year I’ll hand over the tongues and teach her some recipes. Recipes my grandmother, and her great-great-grandmother, taught me like potato beet salad. This recipe and more I’ll share with you at a later date. The younger granddaughter likes to work in the vegetable garden where she supplies us with a variety of vegetables to accompany our meal.

Grandpa does all the lawn cutting and there is a lot of lawn to cut. He puts on his iPod and listens to his favourite tunes, probably Bob Dylan, Van Morrison or The Eagles. Besides lawn cutting he does a variety of jobs. Taking care of the garbage and recycling is one of them. He’s always going to the hardware store for something or other.

What I find most important about our arrangement is that both grandpa and I have found a purpose. We lived many years after the boys moved out and grandpa retired just living, if you know what I mean. The days just seemed to melt into each other. Sure we enjoyed our vacations to Florida and our time in cottage country but otherwise our lives were like a melting candle and our wick getting shorter and shorter. I remember saying to grandpa one day that without a job to go to and no children to care for, what is our purpose? Do we live the rest of our days just entertaining ourselves. Read books, watch television and do our chores. I think we should have a purpose. It seems meaningless otherwise.

So by happenstance we fell into this arrangement and now our lives have purpose.

Posted by Mom on April 7, 2016

While some people’s wintery visions may include sugarplums dancing through their head or palm trees swaying in the breeze, come January, and the arrival of the seed catalogues, it’s visions of vegetables dancing through my head.

Of course, these vegetables look plump, glossy, and free of dirt, pests and disease. That is a vision we strive for, but by sticking to the principles of organic gardening, our harvest can be smaller or bear the evidence of dirt, pests or disease. That is the sacrifice we make for the uniqueness, the flavour, and the health of the food we grow for our family. In addition, we know that we are cutting back on our carbon footprint and food miles, while simultaneously involving our children in the growing, harvesting, and preserving of our food.

Our children are learning the value of hard work and tasting the fruits of their labours – literally! They witness and partake in all the steps of a home harvest:

• preparing the garden beds for planting
• starting seedlings indoors (and then later transplanting those same seeds)
• planting seeds directly into the beds
• caring for the plants by watering and weeding
• reaping the bounty
• cooking, preserving and freezing the harvest

The children are also coming to appreciate the fact that homegrown veggies and fruits are not the same as their supermarket counterparts. Our produce is ugly when compared to the standards of beauty you find on the supermarket shelves; our harvest can be asymmetrical, bumpy, and variable in colour. But, oh the flavours and nutrients – all present in the food as nature intended it to be. To grow such crops, we do our best to adhere to the principles of organic gardening.

The foundational principle of organic gardening is to work with nature; if we can provide an environment that nourishes growth and mimics the natural processes of decomposition and nutrient recycling, then we won’t need to use man-made inputs. And, if we can take measures to limit stress to our plants and to prevent pests, blights, and diseases, then we will not need to treat problems with the “icides” (i.e., fungicides, pesticides, insecticides or herbicides). Organic gardening makes sense if we want to sustainably grow healthy food.

Here is a list of some of the tenets of organic gardening.

1. Feed your soil
2. Replenish your nutrients
3. Interplant your crops
4. Apply companion planting
5. Rotate your crops
6. Know your insect and bird allies
7. Use barriers to protect your crops
8. Mulch your soil
9. Use alternative pest control products

In following posts I will explain these principles in more detail and explain how we apply them at our country home.