Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! After stuffing ourselves with turkey and fixin's, we made a trip to Ft Myers beach to enjoy the beautiful day :)
The little ones found a girl from Naples to swim with... there weren't too many brave souls in the water that day ;)
The water was a bit too cold for Noah and Elena... they opted out this time!
The big kids' sand fort was pretty elaborate when they finally finished!
A beautiful sunset to end a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!
Gabe's Americauna hen, Mrs. Fluffles, is finally laying eggs! Americaunas lay green or blue eggs, and so far Fluffles is giving us one pretty green egg per day :) Way to go, Fluffles!!
He even perched on Gabe's finger for a minute or so after being rescued from the coop! I predict Gabe will work with animals in the future...
Here's Elena selling her crafts at the Homeschool Craft Fair we hosted recently... All together, we had 10 crafting families set up to sell various items! We saw everything from jewelry to potted plants...
Noah's friend, Nick, set up a lemonade stand for the fair. Noah was the appointed spokesman for the stand and got a percentage of the profits :) I think everyone had a good time!
The little ones found a snapping turtle in the yard burying its eggs. We need to look up turtle gestation schedules and see if we can catch them hatching!
Look at this beauty! We were delighted to find a goose-sized egg in the nesting box recently :) You can see how much larger it is than the everyday eggs we're used to... The kids couldn't get it to fit in the carton, so we decided to eat it right away!
And here was what we found inside! Our second double-yolked egg from the Reds :) We think it was Patty who laid it this time...
The wonderful weather has made Nibbles a very lazy dog. She no longer wants to come inside, but lays on the cool sidewalk in the afternoons... she would also rather drink from the creek instead of her water dish! Annalee is being a little dramatic about wearing a coat- hahaha! I think it was about 60 degrees, and she's become a Florida wimp when it comes to cool temps!
It's official. We are country folk. We wake up every morning to the sound of our beautiful rooster crowing :) He is finally taking the flock under his wing and protecting the girls from predators (including taking a flying ninja kick at Nibbles! hehe). He is also keeping the flock more united... they no longer split up to free-range but stay together in the same area!
Our garden is coming along nicely! The chickens have paid little attention to it, and I've been using D.E. for an organic pesticide... since this picture was taken, our lettuce, spinach and carrots have sprouted, too!
After 4 months of living right down the street from ECHO, we finally made a trip there to learn about what they do around the world...
The bamboo at ECHO is fantastic! I'd love to see the bamboo forests some day... bamboo is a wonderful building material, and a lot of the buildings on-site were made from it.
Here the kids are learning about composting with worms. All the kitchen scraps are thrown into this covered area and it's turned into rich soil for farming! Since a lot of 3rd-world countries don't have good soil, this practice is taught to enrich their garden plots.
This was set up as a 3rd-world schoolhouse. The community garden is planted around the schoolhouse to persuade parents to send their kids to school. They work a bit to take care of their crops then stop to do some schooling- that way, school isn't considered a complete waste of time and energy :)
I thought this picture was funny... the girls to the right are trying to listen to our guide, and the boys in the foreground are trying very hard to ignore her! The boy to the far left even has a shirt that says, "I'M NOT LISTENING". Hahahahaha
Elena is half-way through her poultry project for 4H. Here she is with a feather collection that includes feathers from our Ameraucanas and Brahmas. She's really into birds and feathers, and is always looking up different species in her Audubon field guide :)
Noah is completing an electricity project for 4H this year. He rediscovered a Snap Circuit kit that he got for Christmas a couple years ago, and he's also built a solar-powered car! On a side note, can you believe Noah will be 12 in less than a week?!!
We found this beauty in our creek a few days ago... Elena looked it up- it's a Great Egret, and she's made our creek her new fishing grounds! Nibbles doesn't know what to do... she'll chase the bird from one side to the other but can't seem to catch it :)
Gabe the bird whisperer caught another winged friend! This is a Mourning Dove, according to Elena's field guide. We found it floundering in the chicken coop, and Gabe was able to calm it down and pick it up with no problems!
He even perched on Gabe's finger for a minute or so after being rescued from the coop! I predict Gabe will work with animals in the future...
Here's Elena selling her crafts at the Homeschool Craft Fair we hosted recently... All together, we had 10 crafting families set up to sell various items! We saw everything from jewelry to potted plants...
Noah's friend, Nick, set up a lemonade stand for the fair. Noah was the appointed spokesman for the stand and got a percentage of the profits :) I think everyone had a good time!
The little ones found a snapping turtle in the yard burying its eggs. We need to look up turtle gestation schedules and see if we can catch them hatching!
Look at this beauty! We were delighted to find a goose-sized egg in the nesting box recently :) You can see how much larger it is than the everyday eggs we're used to... The kids couldn't get it to fit in the carton, so we decided to eat it right away!
And here was what we found inside! Our second double-yolked egg from the Reds :) We think it was Patty who laid it this time...
The wonderful weather has made Nibbles a very lazy dog. She no longer wants to come inside, but lays on the cool sidewalk in the afternoons... she would also rather drink from the creek instead of her water dish! Annalee is being a little dramatic about wearing a coat- hahaha! I think it was about 60 degrees, and she's become a Florida wimp when it comes to cool temps!
It's official. We are country folk. We wake up every morning to the sound of our beautiful rooster crowing :) He is finally taking the flock under his wing and protecting the girls from predators (including taking a flying ninja kick at Nibbles! hehe). He is also keeping the flock more united... they no longer split up to free-range but stay together in the same area!
Our garden is coming along nicely! The chickens have paid little attention to it, and I've been using D.E. for an organic pesticide... since this picture was taken, our lettuce, spinach and carrots have sprouted, too!
After 4 months of living right down the street from ECHO, we finally made a trip there to learn about what they do around the world...
The bamboo at ECHO is fantastic! I'd love to see the bamboo forests some day... bamboo is a wonderful building material, and a lot of the buildings on-site were made from it.
Here the kids are learning about composting with worms. All the kitchen scraps are thrown into this covered area and it's turned into rich soil for farming! Since a lot of 3rd-world countries don't have good soil, this practice is taught to enrich their garden plots.
This was set up as a 3rd-world schoolhouse. The community garden is planted around the schoolhouse to persuade parents to send their kids to school. They work a bit to take care of their crops then stop to do some schooling- that way, school isn't considered a complete waste of time and energy :)
I thought this picture was funny... the girls to the right are trying to listen to our guide, and the boys in the foreground are trying very hard to ignore her! The boy to the far left even has a shirt that says, "I'M NOT LISTENING". Hahahahaha
Here's Gabe with his buddy Indigo. These two are inseparable when we meet up at field trips!
Elena is half-way through her poultry project for 4H. Here she is with a feather collection that includes feathers from our Ameraucanas and Brahmas. She's really into birds and feathers, and is always looking up different species in her Audubon field guide :)
Noah is completing an electricity project for 4H this year. He rediscovered a Snap Circuit kit that he got for Christmas a couple years ago, and he's also built a solar-powered car! On a side note, can you believe Noah will be 12 in less than a week?!!
We found this beauty in our creek a few days ago... Elena looked it up- it's a Great Egret, and she's made our creek her new fishing grounds! Nibbles doesn't know what to do... she'll chase the bird from one side to the other but can't seem to catch it :)
