made merry

to my surprise...dh brought home some wonderful goodies for a mid~day meal. garlic bread...an assortment of cheeses...clos de bois...bruschetta...kalamata olive tapenade...maille corninchons(french style gherkins w/pearl onions.)

roasted garlic and fig spread...capers...a beautiful bouquet from the farmer's market...sparkling french limonade...

...so we ate....drank....and made merry. it was a lovely surprise and very romantic.

homeschool...dash home farm

one of the many benefits to schooling at home...



...is the whole wide world is your classroom.

all of nature is at your disposal...

we had beautiful weather for our first couple of days...

so nature came to us...we are studying in science about

being observers of nature...we are science detectives...always on the

lookout for what is happening in the world around us.

...this is so right up my alley...and abbey loves it too.

we set out on a journey to see why insects do what they do...

we are learning about pollination...bees...flies...

our views are green....blue....

we are armed with science detective tools....field guides...magnifying glass

.....range maps...paper for writing observations and sketching....

oh yes and a quilt for a place to study our books.

the dogs joined us for our class today.

the view from the quilt is illuminated by the sun...

and glows all around us as we...observe....read.....learn.

one of our assignments is to make a living flower exhibit...so

we collect our specimens.

and have a little fun doing it.

"the wise Author of Nature has not made even a single hair without a definite design."

christian konrad sprengel...a teacher that studied nature in his spare time until he finally devoted his life to being a naturalist. (early 1800's)

there will be lots of nature walks...

of course there are all the other subjects too...math...language...

history...
when we do have to be inside....we are fine with that.

after all some days it rains.

our first day was monday.

an assignment for indoors...creating a science museum...another thing

i love...museums.
this is a place we will bring things from our walks...

we have also created a terrarium...we are growing cat grass (oats)/ averna sativa in it...to give our cats to satisfy their craving for fresh greens.

we have crickets...a couple of walking sticks...some moths...
we are observing them for a few days and then we will release them in the wildflower meadow.

it has been a good first week and we are grateful.

summer images of beauty

isn't she lovely...isn't she wonderful.

the weather was delightful yesterday...so we decided to take a
walk into the fields and woods. with camera in hand and a
late summer zephyr blowing at our backs...we walked.

how nice to experience summer with balmy breezes.

there are so many things growing...wild honeysuckle...acorns...

dh found these adorable clusters of acorns...i love them.

walnuts were in clusters too.

there are drifts of white flowers lining the back of our property.
nature is stunning.

so many wildflowers...i will be breaking out the id book...

(national audubon society's field guide to wildflowers) but

for now i am just enjoying the variety in nature.

i am so glad it cooled off a bit so i could see all these wondrous sights.

wild susans?

.

.

this is the tiniest little flower almost unnoticeable until the lens

captures it's light lavender petals.

the two youngest children decided to join us.

jesse

the back of our land is left to be cut for hay...it has a glorious

purple hue...i love seeing grasses allowed to grow wild.

they stand erect against the blue sky...and right in their midst are

wildflowers of all sizes and colours...

.

.

.

painted by the hand of God.

today they are swaying gently back and forth...as if to beckon

you to take a closer look... to look at it's form...shape...details.

upon closer inspection...you notice things... things that you don't normally

pay any attention to when looking at the big picture...like how

poke weed looks like little flowers after the berries have been eaten.

~click to see what i mean~

...or how the tiniest little blossoms are literally under your feet.

...or how leaves unfurl like the petals of flowers.

...or how you can see the mating ritual of two insects.

it is all so fascinatingly beautiful.

as we continue our walk we find several felled trees.

it makes a perfect resting spot 'til...

we head home through fields of wildflowers

abbey has found something that attracts her attention.

;)

i love her little face as she ponders the intricacies of the passion flower.

then she does what any romantic would do...places the flower in her hair.

isn't she lovely....isn't she beautiful.

the bare thistle stands tall and catches our eyes on the way back.

we both admire it for a good long while.

as we arrive home i see a new bloom in the fenced veggie garden.
i can't even remember what it is...but it is beautiful(and my favourite colour.)

now we are on the home stretch...

what wonderful weather we have been provided with

for our family to go walking...fall is coming.