Sweet Summer Connections

 Valerie Andrews, A Passion for this Earth
"As a child, one has that magical capacity to move among the many eras of the earth; to see the land as an animal does; to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee; to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us; to know a hundred different smells of mud and listen unself- consciously to the soughing of the trees."

 I love the passion that my kiddos have for anything that has to do with nature and animals. They have such a special connection with animals of the earth. My daughter Caila says she's the bird queen because they all talk to her when she's outside, and Ricky my son loves his"pet" chicken Mama Rosa if he could I think he would carry his chicken all day.(hey that could take baby wearing to a whole new level)

 I definitely believe  that animals and children have a deep rooted connection with each other...they just seem to be drawn to each other....maybe it's because they still have such gentle hearts.

 Although we do formally homeschool I believe that the summer weeks that we have off are an important part of "school" as well...it's when they connect without the rush of everyday living...they can explore the greatest classroom ever. 

They really do marvel at all that nature has to offer...  it's a magical thing to watch the kids and see the twinkle in their eye as they hunt for nature's little secrets and take glory in finding the water snake at the park pond,  or the frog sunning himself on the lily pad.

My bigger kids are only 8 and 6 and they already hold the key to life in their hearts...

Thank you Barefoot Mama for hosting such a sweet link up...please blog hop over to her touch the earth weekly posts to see her magical picture this week. it's so wonderful to see how other families connect with the world around them!!

Annabelle's Tree

Today we spent the morning doodling and writing well wishes for our little Annabelle on some cotton fabric because it was tree planting day.

I finally picked the perfect tree for her...it's called a Lavendar twist redbud . it's this really cool twisty whimsical looking tree that blooms in the springtime...just like she did...

So Daddy dug a giant hole and we placed my placenta on the bottom. The circle of life...my placenta fed and  nurtured Annabelle for almost 9 months...and now it will feed and nurture Annabelle's special tree for many years to come. 

Some may not understand the "placenta thing" but to me it's this special circular shaped organ that connected me to Annabelle and Annabelle to me again it's the circle of life.

 Rick and Caila watering Annabelle's tree with her leftover bath water...

I know I'm a big cornball about this circle of life thing but I truly believe that we are all connected to each other and if we just slow down to take things in.we will find that were more connected to the earth then we think. 

Annabelle next to her tree with her well wishes blowing from the branches. 

Happy tree day Annabelle we love you so much!!!
Linking up for the first time with  happy whimsical hearts

Also linking up with Barefoot Mama

 

http://www.barefootfive.com/2012/07/touch-the-earth-a-barefoot-link-up/

Summer sweetness is abound

Here's our freshly picked strawberry's that we harvested from a local farm that I've been going to since I was a child. It's a yearly tradition that the kids and I look forward to every year. I hope they look back someday with fond memories of these precious days. 

So I figured we should start canning them before we eat them all they are just so de-lish and hard to resist popping one in your mouth every time you walk by.

Today we're going to make strawberry jam one of my favorites!! I would also like to try my hand at making fruit leather but I think that will be on another day....I need to do some research although I think it's just dried out jam. So first what you do is your going to wash your strawberries and them hull and cut them up.Then have the kids smash and mash them up like so...

Then your going to transfer them to your big canning pot (I ran out of memory in my camera so I didn't get anymore pictures..sorry) You are then going to add your sugar and your lemon juice..bring to a roaring boil and then add your package of liquid pectin and return to a hard boil for 1 min. Remove from heat and skim off the foam. LADLE hot jam into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.the your going to process in your canning pot for 10 min.

THE NEXT DAY TASTE TEST....

 

"Mommy I wish we could have it in a bowl to eat for lunch" 

Linking this post up to happy whimsical hearts and her happy little hearts are baking head over to her blog to see what they baked up this week and to join in on the fun!!