Spring Activities

As we snuggle under blankets working on Science and Social Studies, snowflakes blow past the window during our last blizzard of the year. It is hard to imagine that we were outside in our shirt sleeves yesterday but such is the spring weather in Colorado. In addition to frantically finishing up this year’s curriculum and testing so we can enjoy a relaxing summer break; we are delving deeper into the back yard mini farming movement.

 

This year, although we are still carrying on with the robotics club, I have started another club that is close to my own heart. Gardening club! We are having several families come over and use one of my garden plots this year.  Yesterday they finished digging it up and mixing in compost and fertilizer. Then I showed the kids how to make a hoop house so they could plant carrots just before the blizzard hit.

My own hoop house is beginning to look quite lovely inside and I can’t wait to eat those spinach and onions.

 

For a long while now I have been pondering the meat question. How can we get fresh, organic meat? An organic, free range chicken can cost $12 and that makes it difficult to keep the grocery bill down with a family for four, especially when two of us are growing. We could compromise our health and buy the mass produced, corn fed, hormone stuffed meat at the store, or we can figure out a way to raise fresh meat and eggs. We have decided to try quail. They are small, and quiet making them perfect low profile neighborhood residents. Their maturity cycle only takes six weeks from egg to plate which makes them an extremely productive possibility. Their eggs are extremley nutritious as well.  It took quite a bit of hunting to find some local chicks, but we got ahold of six. They are very small but how adorable!  I can't wait to see how many girls we got. They all look the same at this point.