What we want for our children

 

This is what I want for my children. John and I have discussed this. We must allow our kids, especially our Sidge who has a great propensity for nature, to dilly-dally. Sometimes, we get outside, and we are on a mission to get this farm chore done. Or that farm chore done. But Sidge never is. He's enjoying being outside. He's looking around. It's about the journey. Not the destination.

This story reminds me of a trip I took with three friends. Angelica (from Spain), Rana (from Turkey), and my friends Sarah and I (Americans.) We were in DC. Sarah and I wanted to get to our destination. We could stop and talk once we got there. But for Rana and Angelica it was about taking the trip, making the walk, enjoying the time together. When Sarah and I (sort of) said: "Let's keep walking!" they were like, "Why? We can stop and talk! It's about enjoying the journey to the spot."

Such a different perspective that I think parallels how Americans just ARE about things sometimes.

We Bought a Farm: The Natural World

Love sharing the natural world with my kids, and there has been lots of wild animal interactions on the farm over the past few weeks.

This Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio) was found by our cousins after being attacked by some animal and unfortunately wouldn’t be able to survive much longer. It had an injured skull and eye. It had to be euthanized by a vet/friend of ours, but we got to spend a few hours with it first.

This Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) managed to get in the house and find its own way out... only to return again within the hour, the second time we finally caught it and got it outside for good.

Then there’s the Southern Two-Lined Salamander (Eurycea cirrigera).

And a Five-Lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus).

Good memories!

(Stolen from a Facebook post JB wrote)

We Bought a Farm: Women Live Longer When Surrounded By Nature, According to Science

Cool article! Click here to read more!

We Bought a Farm: Get them outside

If this doesn't make you think, I'm not sure what will:

We Bought a Farm: First bug collection!

My husband is amazing! 

Our seven-year-old little Isaac is not an outdoor lover by nature, but he absolutely loves to organize, collect, and group things. 

When we moved to the farm, JB told me that it was this aspect of his personality that would intrigue him to be outside and love it.

We have since found many things Isaac loves doing outside: digging plants up from the garden and organizing what he finds, picking blackberries, searching and identifying mushrooms, and harvesting anything that he can use in homemade ice cream.

But he also started expressing interest in starting a bug collection with JB. He actually got a can and was catching bugs himself, and JB decided to purchase a few things online and help him really get into it.

They made the collection (pictured above) all in one day. Obviously, the insects aren't in pristine condition, but as JB said, the time spent with the kids was fantastic and it was a very educational and fun-filled day.

I truly love that my husband has such an incredible love for science. Couple this with the intense duck-chasing-after-they-escaped-from-their-pen we did, and putting in the final touches on a guinea hen coop, and this was one FULL day of nature!

Duck Lake: Part II

JB found a blackberry bush at the top of the hill. As he spotted it, the kids came running. Isaac loved them, but in typical Isaac style, approached them gently and at his own pace. Sidge went running at them, discovered he didn't like how they tasted too much, but wanting to keep picking them, decided to bring them to other people to eat. And Abigail, as usual, went crazy eating them. This is how she is in JB's garden with tomatoes as well. We usually have to drag her away from them. And this time we did too! I thought it quite cute, how she quickly followed JB's lead and understood that the red ones weren't ripe and that it was the black ones she wanted to eat. Here are some pictures of our blackberry expedition. (Click here to see Part I of our adventures.)

Gardening with dad

I'm not sure I enjoy anything more than seeing my kids with their Dad. Isaac enjoys his time with Daddy on the rocks by the beach. He loves to climb. Sidge, however, really enjoys being in the garden with John. They both have different interests, and JB finds a way to get outside with each of them. Abigail will go anywhere if she gets to sit on Daddy's hip.

Here are some pictures of the new plant beds JB just finished. You can also see the compost bins in the background of picture #3.

And here are some other posts from JB's blog featuring his adventures with his children outside. I love when he writes about his kids and nature coupled together. We are so lucky to be raising our children in such a beautiful place with so much outside at our fingertips.

Picking and Eating Tomatoes with my Daughter

Let your Kids DO Something in the Garden

Tidepooling with my Son

Adventure with my boys

Boys meet Grasshoppers

Turkish Animals

JB's Farewell to Turkish Soil

JB wrote a post today that I just had to share with my blog readers. My husband said good bye to Turkey in his own way -- a "nature-al" way. His post capured the beautiful flowers, abundance of fruit trees, and unique birds that he has seen during his two years in this beautiful country. He took pictures on a walk with Isaac of all the beauty on our Base alone. (The picture above is just one of them.)

You can visit JB's post by clicking here. While John's posts often go over my head, this one is a piece we can all appreciate, just on pictures alone!

So Proudof JB

JB has been published in the very prestigious American Family Physician magazine. Just shoot me an email at flakymn@hotmail.com if you would like to receive a copy of this article. The article is on "Acute Mountain Sickness" -- a good match for my John. He was also recently awarded a fellowship in Wilderness Medicine with the Wilderness Medical Society.* JB's blog illustrates his love for the outdoors, and I am so glad he found a wat to merge his love for medicine and nature in so many great ways!

*Founded in 1983, the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS) is the world's leading organization devoted to wilderness medical challenges. Wilderness medicine topics include expedition and disaster medicine, dive medicine, search and rescue, altitude illness, cold- and heat-related illness, wilderness trauma, and wild animal attacks. WMS explores health risks and safety issues in extreme situations such as mountains, jungles, deserts, caves, marine environments, and space.

Japanese Gardens

We got rained out on Thursday, but we tried again today: Saturday. While it was a little cool (can you believe we are wearing jackets and pants in late June?) it was otherwise a perfect day. The gardens were beautiful. A little bit smaller than we had envisioned, but the boys loved running on the paths, climbing up the steps, watching the Koi, and tromping over bridges. Daddy and boys also loved walking over stones that crossed the river while all I could think was: please don't fall in and get soaking wet in this cool weather.

Here's a couple of quick pictures I took:

Elijah saw a Buddha and decided he needed to kiss Buddha's head. I have no why idea why he felt the need to do it (or how I happened to have the camera ready at just that moment.)

Love this picture of John and the boys investigating moss under the rock. We stopped to look at different types of bamboo and moss and bees and slug slime. JB is loving his boys being old enough to enjoy the world with him.

As I mentioned on a previous blog, my nature loving husband has started his own blog. You can visit it by clicking here. I link to it now because whenever I discuss nature, I think of his blog now.

For updates on how I am doing in the last 30 days of Abigail's life in my womb, click here.

Yes there are ...

... mushrooms growing in my bathroom.

When we moved into our new house, I told JB that I really wanted to make our bedroom and bathroom a "sanctuary." He agreed.

Then a box arrived. Then the box was opened. Then the opened contents moved into our upstairs bathroom.

I love my husband but I had to ask. I had to question. I had to ascertain whether there was anywhere else in our house that these mushrooms could grow.

He explained that they need a moist, damp "climate." They also needed a place where they could get some light but a limited amount.

"I can't think of anywhere else we can put them but in our bathroom," he explained.

Again, I love my husband, and I love his incredible love for nature. We have had snakes and plants of all sorts growing in our home at different times. I've had black widows in Tupperware containers. I have come home to find a sign that read: "Caution. Wild birds in bathroom." We have tended to hurt bunnies and birds and studied spiders. We have had books on everything and anything in our home.

In fact, I remember my cousin Josh telling me that he knew he had spent too much time with JB when: "I saw a book in your living room entitled: Swine Science and I actually thought about flipping through it."

But mushrooms in the bathroom? Hatice saw them. She said: "Me like this."

But I'm not sure I do.

P.S. And yes these are mushrooms you eat. From our bathroom to our pasta dishes and salads. I kid you not.

Another snake

Yesterday Jessie and I took the boys for a walk on the Bay. Scrubs couldn't come with us as his feet are still healing. He is doing MUCH better however, and we have realized that his apparent distrust of Jessie while he was injured was actually his attempting to get Jessie to play with him. We just couldn't tell because he couldn't get up to initiate the play. We thought he didn't like her but yesterday he climbed into bed with her and started licking her face. It just took him being able to walk to show her what he was trying to say all along.

Anyways. The Bay. The Bay and ... a snake. No joke. As soon as we descended the stairs, I heard Jessie say, "Oh my gosh." Then Wendi said, "Oh my gosh." Then we decided to leave the premises. A snake. The third snake I have run into in as many years.

Later that evening while talking to JB, I brought up the snake.

"What'd it look like?" he asked.

I knew he would ask. And I had tried, as I backed up with one boy in my arms and the other by the hand, to photograph the snake in my memory so I could relate the information to my husband when he would inevitably ask later. But something about being afraid and protecting my sons seems to make the coloring of a snake a little less important in the big scheme of things.

"I'm not sure. I think it was brown," I said in reply.

"Like brown stripes or dark brown or brown splotches?"

I wrinkled my nose and turned and asked Jessie what she thought. "Splotches?" she said, more asking then saying.

John signed. "What about the tail. What did it look like?"

I sighed back. "Ummm . . . give me some choices?"

"Did it have a rattle?"

"No. That I know. No rattle," I said excitedly. "But actually that's all I know because he was lying on his tail I think."

"Was he thick or thin?"

"Thin?" Again my answer was more question than statement and so, at this, John gave up trying to determine what kind of snake it was. "Anyways," I said. "Don't you think I did the right thing?"

"The right thing?" John asked.

"Yeah. I mean, when I see a snake I should immediately remove everyone from the area, right?"I heard JB pause. A pause? I mean this is a snake? How could I have done the wrong thing? "John?"

"Well," he said. "Actually, the right thing would be being able to distinguish what kind of snake it was so that if it is not poisonous, you could show it to the boys so that they develop an appreciation of snakes and not a fear."

That was word for word. No exaggeration there at all. And folks ... he was serious. Dead serious. I should learn how to identify snakes so as to teach my sons. I should not necessarily retreat.

The truth? I am not deathly afraid of snakes. We used to have four of them. Two milk snakes and two corn snakes when we were first married. Each set had an albino which JB was using to work on some experiment with dominant and recessive traits. I named them: Cheetah, Bonita, Pongo, and Perdita. This irritated JB as he said you don't name reptiles. I'm not sure who decided that, but it became a running annoyance for me to call them by name and for him to tell whoever we were talking to that they, in fact, did not have names. We eventually sold them when our lifestyle indicated that keeping them around wouldn't be feasible. But while we had them, I would hold them while JB was cleaning out the cages. I wasn't afraid of them. Not at all. They weren't poisonous. They didn't bite. Heck our first lovebird would do more damage than Cheeta, Bonita, Pongo, or Perdita.

But still? A snake on the beach?

I think not.

Even if I thought I knew what it was, what if I was wrong?

Sigh . . . further proof that there are some differences in marriage that will never be bridged by all the respect in the world. JB can name his snakes and identify them.

I, on the other hand, will walk away. Don't you agree?

Movin' in

I've been asking JB to please seal up the little hole in one of our pillars on our porch that a family of squirrels has decided to call home. I am afraid to leave our sliding glass door open for a second in fear that one of them will come busting in, and they drive Scrubs crazy. JB was planning on sealing up the hole until he realized that there were two babies (one shown in picture) included in the family. He has decided to wait until the babies move out on their own before telling the squirrels they have to find a new place to live!