Ah the u-pick! If I could I would have the kids and I either at the u-pick or in the woods every day this summer. And why can't I? Well, they are not always quite as enthusiastic as I am about picking large quantities of fruit. We are working that one out as best we can. It helps to make yummy things out of the fruit!
Today I made some raspberry jam. I love making jam and the kids love to eat it. They eat it straight- right out of the jar or in a bowl with a spoon (they also like it on toast or bagels). Today I canned ten jelly jars of raspberry jam. I am hoping to do another ten or so of raspberry and also several jars of boysenberry jam, which I tried for the first time last year and which was a huge hit. Boysenberry is definitely one of my favorite berries. Eva is asking for blueberry jam, which I have never tried. We have four huge blueberry bushes out front and are definitely going to pick some more blueberries soon.
Today was very exciting for Samuel! He had his weekly riding lesson and he decided to TROT today! Yeah! He looked like he was having so much fun, smiling all the while. I was so touched seeing him so happy and free up there on that horse that I felt all teary. It is really wonderful to see Samuel and Eva when they are so happy and free. They are so alive! Wonderful. The trot is a bit faster than a walk but not as fast as a cantor. It is a bit bumpy, though. The cantor, I am told, while faster, is smoother. Samuel was really relaxing into the trot, as they say, and truly getting the hang of it!
After trotting around beside him for a while, his riding teacher suggested the lunge line (which we have talked about before but never tried) and then he rode around, trotting, on the lunge line! I tell you it is so true, when they are ready they are really ready! This photo shows a rider on a lunge line- not totally free but the instructor isn't walking next to them either.
I have been reading quite a bit lately. I finished A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, which I loved! I also finished, albeit heavily skimmed, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which I did not love. I am reading two books on visual spatial learning, Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World and Upside Down Brilliance. I like the first one better mainly because the author focuses on different learning styles and the different strengths found in these styles.
Oh! And this great inspiring book called Plenty about a couple who decides to eat very local for a year. They eat nothing that has not been grown or raised within one hundred miles of their home in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I like how they call weeds optimists! Looking forward to reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I am on the wait list at the library, #168!
I like this quote from Plenty- "When the world wearies, and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden"-Minnie Anmaries (I can't read my hand-writing for this note I wrote and I remember this name being somewhat French looking. I will have to take my chances on this!)
1 comment:
I remember that you were the one that first introduced me to Boysenberry yogurt, probably back in grade school or middle school! Good to see that boysenberries are still one of your favorites.
The local food debate is an interesting one. It's a huge movement right now here in the UK. Actually, it's pretty cool because in supermarkets, all produce is labeled with where it comes from. The other day I needed to buy some string beans for a curry and was surprised to learn that they were grown in Kenya. Interestingly, a lot of produce in the UK comes from Kenya, Morocco, and Zambia. Italy and Spain are also huge producers.
Anyway, an interesting debate around the local food movement is the charge that buying local hurts producers in "developing" countries. Francis Moore Lappe offers an interesting rebuttal to that argument here: http://www.alternet.org/story/44518/
Keep on blogging, Jessica!
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