Garden Progress: Harvesting Corn

Our first ever corn crop was a grand success.  I used the Territorial Seed organic fertilizer and also rabbit manure from a local farmer. It grew more than 6 feet tall and taught me the meaning of "rustling in the corn field".  We harvested half the cobs when the stalks turned brown and hung them to dry in the garage. The rest were finally harvested this week since the internet says to harvest it just before the first frost.  We used the stalks as part of our Fall/Party decorating (more on that later).
Here are some pictures of the kiddos shelling the popcorn off the cob and then popping it in our air popper.

The kids quickly got the hang of shelling corn and really enjoyed it. As in, they enjoyed it so much that they did not want to stop until all the ears were shelled. We ended up with about 1.25 quarts of kernels.  The ears and the kernels are so beautiful - deep reds, golden brown, black, and yellow. Husking the corn was fun too because the color was such a wonderful surprise each time.

According to popcorn.org there is an ideal moisture content of 14% and certain size specifications that need to be met for the corn to pop. We put in a big scoop and were sad to see that only about 1/4 of the corn kernels popped fully. I am not sure yet what that means about the moisture content, but we were happy to enjoy the part that did pop and are making plans to try to grind some cornmeal flour with a portion of the remaining kernels. We will try popping again after the kernels have had some time to sit. Maybe I should store them in a woven bag instead of a jar? so that they can continue to dry out?

Sew Special: Cinderella Costume

The theme of this week's posts is A's Halloween Birthday Party. For anyone who has not already heard about the rationale for having her birthday party two months early - it was a question of weather. The thing that daughter A wanted most of all for her party was a pinata. It would not have been a safe game to do in the house.  Plus this way I was able to keep most of the craziness and mess making outside.

Here is daughter A hitting the super homemade bat pinata (inspiration found here) and wearing the Cinderella dress that I made for her. All the dress materials, including the pattern, were leftovers from other projects - so it was a very low cost affair. We found the Cinderella shoes in Texas over summer vacation at a thrift store with Aunt E. And those were her "party day present" from us. 

Husband A. attached the pinata to a long board and hung it off the deck while the kids swung at it. We do not have any trees mature enough to hang it from their branches.

It was ahem a very well made pinata and took several rounds of swinging kids to break it apart. We realized half way through that the wings acted as a shield for the body. Once we took them off it went much faster. In terms of being easy for little kids to break - I recommend the flour and water type of paper mache. I used that for the head and the diluted glue type of paper mache for the body.

Here is the birthday girl with her candy haul after the pinata broke. Also this gives a nice view of the front of her Cinderella dress and little brother M in his turtle costume.

Homeschooling Summary for the Last 2 Weeks

We have a regular routine for homeschooling these days:

Monday - Reading and Math

Tuesday - Science class with friends and Drawing class for daughter A.

Wednesday - Reading and Math

Thursday - History and Gymnastics

Friday - Reading and Math

There are a plenty of field trips, cooking lessons, art time, and nature center classes thrown in. Our Music Together class was cancelled and we (especially brother M) are sad about that.  Hopefully over the winter we can work on incorporating some music appreciation beyond listening to the ipod while dancing around the living room. 

This week we had our traditional trip to our local orchard's Harvest Festival. 

Anyone else hear Gwen Stefani singing in the background when they see this picture?

This was a cool new addition this year - a maze made of giant hay bales.

Recommended Reading: The Last Dragon

The Last Dragon is a translation from L'Ultimo Elfo written originally in Italian. I gave the writing style, which sounded a bit silly to me, a lot of leeway since I knew it was a translation. The author, Silvano De Mari, also wrote this story from multiple first person perspectives. I have heard that that is not a good idea because it can be unwieldy and confusing for readers. It was a little rough in some places and I found the infantile "voice" of the elf child annoying. On the other hand, I thought his perspective gave the story a lot of depth.  Writing it in the first person allowed me as the reader to understand the thinking of, and then commiserate with, each character in turn.

My favorite part of the story was that it concluded one tale and then it skipped forward 13 years to tell what happened after that first "happily ever after". 

Summary from GoodReads:

When the last dragon and the last elf break the circle, the past and the future will meet, and the sun of a new summer will shine in the sky.

In a world shrouded in darkness and continually lashed by rain, a young elf named Yorsh struggles to survive. His village has been destroyed by the torrential waters, leaving Yorsh suddenly orphaned and alone-the earth's last elf. But soon Yorsh discovers he is part of a powerful prophecy to save the world from the Dark Age that has begun. First, however, the young elf will have to find another orphaned creature-the world's last dragon.

Full of great tenderness and humor, this magical journey tells the story of a world plagued by intolerance and wickedness, and the elf and the dragon who will fight for its redemption and bring it back into the light.

Reuse Recipe: How to Make Real French Toast

Dear friends- this is a recipe worth letting good bread go stale for.  My host mother made this for me a couple times when I lived in France (about 18 years ago now) and the memory of its deliciousness never disappeared. I finally asked her about it when she was here a few weeks ago. 

REAL French Toast

1. Cut up stale bread in cubes.  Fry in salty butter until crispy.

 2. Have cooked apple slices standing by. They should be apple pie soft and not mushy

3. Mix 4-6 eggs with some milk (like you are making scrambled eggs). Add cinnamon and sugar to taste.

4. When the bread cubes are nice and crispy - pour the egg mixture over top and quickly stir. Thereafter just shake the pan a little. The egg part needs to cook quickly or the bread will get mushy and not be as tasty - this is what makes this recipe yummier than bread pudding - crisp buttery toast on the bottom. 

5. About a minute later spread the apple slices around on top in an attractive way and pat them in with your spatula. 

6. Serve immediately. Delicious fall comfort food. 

Garden Progress: Fall Plantings

Gardening is always so experimental. I think that this fall is going to stay warm for awhile, and so I have these hopeful notions about beets and rutabaga having time to grow. That may come to nothing. But at the very least I will have beet greens, chard greens, basil, and some lettuce to enjoy until Thanksgiving. 

Swiss Chard

Basil (lower half) and Beets

Rutabaga and Rosemary in the corner 

Sew Special: Baby Wash Cloths

With 6 babies expected among my friends at church in the next 2 months, I am working on using up some of my knitting stash making baby wash cloths. There are a ton of fun patterns out there for these, but I have been enjoying the All Washed Up pattern from Jill Arnusch.  I am planning to do a pair of wash cloths and some of my special herbal baby bum cream for each of the ladies expecting babies -- 4 done and about 8 more to go. These are fun because they only take a couple hours to complete and they are so soft - perfect for babies. The 2 yellow ones shown here are bamboo fleece yarn and the other 2 are cotton.