Watching Things Grow

I love watching things grow!   Yesterday I discovered a birds nest in our backyard with 4-5 tiny little eggs in it.  So, today we had little "field trips" in the backyard.  Sienna was content playing in the dining room, so I told the older four that I would take them out in pairs for a little backyard field trip.  This would leave one older child watching over Sienna while we were outside.  I took them out and showed them the little nest and eggs and also, I took this time to show them the progress of some seeds I planted on March 19th.  It is so neat to see things springing to life and pushing through the dirt.  I am not sharing pics at this point because really you would be looking a little patches of dirt with tiny specks of green.  It is not quite photo worthy in my opinion at this point.  The most remarkable growth (and this one is actually photo worthy to some degree) is the Morning Glory seeds I planted.  Those seedlings are actually already 3-4 inches in heighth and the leaves are about one inch long.  I had no idea they are such fast growers, so if you are wanting your kids to see some action in a hurry I would highly recommend planting some morning glories.  It might be a long time before blooming and full maturity, but you do see quick growth early on.  In addition to that I have dill, oregano, basil, and chives sprouting up.  All of those are super tiny, but definitely pushing there way into the world.  I also have a pot that I planted a full packet of Cosmo seeds in and they are sprouting up quickly, as well. 

Each day we are going to continue to watch for growth in the backyard.  I can not wait to see those little baby birds hatch out.  And the kids are so excited to take our daily little backyard field trips.
 
This Saturday I think we will try to do some planting of our veggie garden items.  I tend to get ahead of myself and buy lots of seeds, so I am all ready to go.  I really want to get out of my box and just start planting things and taking a chance on how they do.  Sometimes I think I need a well planned garden, but I am starting to think that I need to just start marking off some little areas and poking seeds in the ground.  I need to take that chance and see what will just grow easily here.  I think we tend to make it more complicated sometimes.  I would love to look up one day and have growth all over out little acre here in town.  I want to use this acre... really use it.  I am thankful in many ways that I do not have several acres to manage, because let's face it.  Most of us aren't even "using" the acre we have.  If I can learn to manage this one little acre well, then one day I hope to add more.  I grew up on land.  My parents had eleven acres... and for the most part we were the only things growing on it.  I loved the large piece of land, but honestly I think I can grow as much right here where I am at.  Of course, I am not going to have any livestock that would have odor issues here in town, but we can choose other things to do.  I want to continue with raising chickens for eggs.  I would like to raise ducks for eggs and hatchlings.  The rabbits will always be just a fun project for our kids, I think.  Selling the babies is not profitable for us, but we never meant for it to be.  I would like to raise chickens for meat, but first I have to convince my husband to kill them.  He likes them.  I do, too.  He does not like the idea of killing them... so, I guess I need to find some ugly chickens for the cause.  I want to learn to garden.  I can grow flowers well.  Surely, I can manage to improve with the veggies and fruits.  The first step is getting it in the ground.  Then, we can watch it grow.