We had several fun outings in April, read lots of books, and kept working on our gardening project. (I even decided that I need to add another heading to keep you posted on that.)
Read
For my Book of Centuries challenge I finished listening to Gulliver’s Travels. In April I also read St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. (Anne Tyler sure has written a lot of novels. This one was fairly sad, but maybe they are all sadder than I remember!) I’m glad I read Slow Productivity by Cal Newport, but it’s not as applicable to my life as Digital Minimalism.
I read Winnie-the-Pooh aloud and started another bedtime book that should appear in next month’s roundup. For a while I wasn’t reading to the kids in the evening because I do so much reading at school time, but I’m glad I got back into it. (And now I have a mental list of the next several to read…)
As for picture books, The King of Little Things is a clever story with fun illustrations.
Eat
By a circuitous route, Smitten Kitchen led me to this recipe for dal makhani (I didn’t have the correct type of lentils, but Andrew and I both loved it and I made it twice).
I took two pans of hot cross buns to the fellowship dinner on Easter Sunday.
We’ve been eating a lot of asparagus, though it is from the grocery store. Someday I’ll have my own asparagus patch!
The annual Men’s Supper was back, this time with a Southern theme. The men planned, cooked, and served chicken on a bun, mac and cheese, salads, blooming vidalia onions, sweet tea, Scarlett O’Hara punch, peach cobbler, peanut butter brownies, and pecan bars! The evening ended with some hilarious entertainment.
Do
- I took the kids to see the Willy Wonka musical at Lisbon School; everyone had a good time and the sets were especially impressive.
- We managed to not be sick and so we went to the monthly kids’ program at the Ogdensburg History Museum.
- I took the older boys to see a play of Charlotte’s Web; the mics were not working well but the bluegrass music was a fun touch and I’m glad we had a little field trip.
- A friend of ours did a fiber arts demonstration at the library and let us touch different types of wool, linen, and cotton, and see her spindles and spinning wheels.
- We joined with friends to pick up trash around town on Earth Day and then ate pizza at the Youth for Christ building.
- The next day I dropped the kids off for a one-day VBS at YFC and did some school planning at a lovely coffee shop.
- Last but not least, we were invited to a first birthday party by some home school friends. (Their little boy got a remote control tractor to ride on; he seemed confused at first as his dad steered him around but then cried when he had to get off!)
Grow
This month I pored over The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible and followed its instructions to make self-watering containers out of old 5- and 2-gallon buckets. We were fortunate to borrow some tools, as well as get many free seeds from the public library, and the kids continue to enjoy collecting buckets from sundry stores and restaurants. So far we have planted peas, lettuce, kale, and carrots and we have many more crops planned!
I was trying to figure out what kind of potting soil to buy and whether I needed additional fertilizer. In the end I decided it would be interesting to make my own mix. I have been gathering quite a collection of potting mix, sand, peat, lime, perlite, bonemeal, bloodmeal, greensand, soft rock phosphate, and azomite! I hope to buy some local aged compost on the weekend and get to work on the next round of planting. (Along with the book mentioned above, this website has been helpful in my research on potting mix and fertilizer.)
By the way, the indoor basil and rosemary are looking good and soon to be repotted. Stay tuned.
Listen
I find this song catchy and realized that I hadn’t shared it on the blog.
Meditate
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
– Psalm 16:5-8